Calvary Chapel At The Cross teaches Bible Studies through the entirety of the Holy Bible, every book, every chapter and every verse. Through the grace of God, our church has completed the teaching through of the entire New Testament’s 27 books, and the entire Old Testament’s 5 book Torah (Pentateuch).
On Sunday mornings, we are now on our 2nd time teaching through the entire New Testament.
Susan Segawa, Pastor Drew’s wife, shares publicly for the first time, her painful past of child sexual abuse and her road to forgiveness and healing. It’s wise to remember that we can grant forgiveness right away to someone who has hurt us, however the path to our healing from their sin may take some time.
While Joseph was in Egypt, God gave him grace and wisdom to forgive – and to also figure out, that what others used as evil against him, God is able to use for His good and to help many people (Genesis 50:15-21). In a similar way, God used Susan’s tremendous pain to draw her close to Him so that she could receive Christ’s forgiveness and to also forgive others and heal. Thus, from her youth, she developed a personal relationship with the LORD, a love for God’s Word and the ability to become a worshipper. Today, Susan is not only a victor in Christ and a survivor, but God used the pain and suffering – in His hands – to direct her into her calling in the ministry of Worship. “And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me; Therefore I will offer sacrifices of joy in His tabernacle; I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to the LORD.” (Psalm 27:6)
One of the songs Susan wrote as a teenager that was produced as fruit from the pain of her childhood years, is In God’s Own Time, which is shared in this audio message. This song comes from Psalm 27:14 – “Wait on the LORD; Be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the LORD!”
As Christians in the church spend more time with one another, we’ll inevitably rub each other the wrong way. At times, this can be due to the healing process that each Christian is going through, and also as each person goes through their own growing pains. Before we were Christians, we would treat each other badly. But now as we follow Christ, we should examine each complaint against another, and utilize it as an opportunity to grow in God’s grace and to forgive, even as Christ forgave us. These choices will either lead us to Christian growth and maturity with healthy relationships, or to backsliding and bitterness as we destroy our relationships with God and each other. We must put off the old ways, and force ourselves to put on Christlikeness!
As Christians who have been born again, we cannot live in our old nature, for that way is dead. Christians now have a new nature, which is in Christ. We must learn to live in this new nature so that it’s possible for us to give godly grace, forgiveness, love and mercy to others. The butterfly can serve as an illustration for us, as a butterfly has a new nature and can never go back to living in its old nature, as a caterpillar. Everything’s new, including its food source, way of eating, its mobility and its appearance among many other things.
The Old Testament gave us a picture of forgiveness of sins, where your sins were sent away when God forgave you. God only forgave sins through the Sin Offering offered up at The Altar, a picture of our Messiah Jesus dying on the cross for our sins. After Jesus died for our sins and was Resurrected, the New Testament letters instruct Christians to now forgive one another, just as Christ forgave us, for now we have a new nature, which is in Christ!