The Lord's Favor: Releasing Others (North OC)

Daniel Sumoge: Oh man, there it is.

I love it.

I'm so excited.

As you know, my Dodgers, they just won, so we're gonna the World

Series back to back, so come on.

Dodger fans.

Yeah.

Wanna say thank you on behalf of Artie Moreno and the Angels Organization

for blessing us with Shhe Tani.

Thank you once again.

I'm just kidding.

Well, good morning Church.

My name is Daniel Sumoge and uh, my name is Daniel Sumoge.

Helped serve as a high school minister here in Orange County.

I've been doing this for about two years now.

Uh, and man, I love being here in Orange County.

Uh, I moved here from the metro, a region during Covid in 2020.

And man, this fellowship had just wrapped their arms around me.

I moved here just in a bad spot, just in my relationship with God.

Just a lot of stuff happening in my own personal life.

But coming here, you guys wrapped your arms around me.

You guys remind me of God's love.

So I'm so grateful for each and every one of you.

Uh, I was here in Orange County where I was.

I started dating, got engaged, and now married to my wife Savannah.

Right now we've been married for a year and a half.

So that's been great.

And, um, also, uh, her parents are here.

So my, uh, in-laws are in town right now.

They're from the Lifeway Church, Frank and Florence Carillo.

Uh, they're amazing.

I love them so much.

They definitely welcome me into their, uh, family with open arms.

So I definitely love them and I just love God's kingdom.

Uh, with that being said, I just have to address something.

A few people have come up to me and they're like, Daniel, were

you supposed to preach today?

Yes.

Okay.

It was on the schedule I was supposed to preach today.

You know, last week Marcel mentioned how, you know, when he comes up on, you

know, Sundays it's 'cause of USC win.

But, you know, I think God was just protecting him right now.

All right.

It was an unfortunate loss.

We're praying for Marcel.

I we're praying for my father-in-law, or, yeah, my father-in-law,

Frank, he's a USC fan, so I'm, that's enough said right there.

He is gonna talk to me during lunch to shut up, so I'm gonna

shut up right there about that.

All right.

Uh, but with that being said, we are continuing a sermon series

called Season of the Lord's Favor.

Where is it?

Uhoh Click.

There it is The Season of the Lord's Favor, and it comes from, uh, Luke chapter

four, which is also, uh, quoted in, uh, the scripture from the prophet Isaiah.

But in it in Luke chapter four, it reads The spirit of the Lord is

on me because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.

He sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for

the blind, to set the oppressed free to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.

You know, in this moment, this is Jesus making himself known onto the scene.

He's saying, I am the fulfillment to the jubilee.

Now, in this moment here, you know, with Jubilee, I just wanna say it

wasn't just a conference we attended this past summer here in Orange County,

although that was great, but the Jubilee.

Was a way of life, and Jesus invites us to live in that way of life.

It's about, you know, reset, having a relational reset with God, a

relational reset with one another.

It's about releasing what's holding us back from experiencing the jubilee.

And then lastly to restore.

And today what we're gonna talk about, well, you know, last week

Marcel talked about re releasing worthiness, but this morning what I'm

gonna talk about is something that's difficult and that's releasing others.

Now, what do I mean by releasing others?

What does that mean?

It means letting go.

Learning how to forgive.

It means releasing the people who've hurt us, who've probably

disappointed us, who've let us down.

And if we're being honest, you know, forgiveness isn't something

that's always easy, church, right?

We say I moved on, but maybe deep down we still replay that moment.

Maybe we still feel that sting of someone, uh, what someone said to us or maybe what

they didn't say to us in that moment.

Have you ever been in that place where you find yourself asking, man, I'm

fine, but really your heart isn't free

because the truth is you can't fully experience the freedom of Jubilee while

being a prisoner of unforgiveness.

You cannot fully experience the jubilee while holding someone else

in the prison of unforgiveness.

So this morning we're gonna walk through a story in Matthew chapter 18.

Matthew 18 · chapter mention

We're gonna read a parable.

About a servant and a king is gonna help us understand truly

what it means to release others.

Let's go to our father in prayer.

Heavenly Father God, we are just so grateful for you this morning.

God.

God, I pray that your word just comes to life.

God.

God, I pray that you minister to each and every one of our hearts this morning.

God, I pray that we hear your words spoken and not mine.

God, please remove me completely, God and just have you be honored and glorified.

Lord.

Lord, I pray that we walk away, encourage, inspired, and just wanting

to make a difference in our lives.

God, I pray we can be extenders of grace and give it to others

just as you giving it to us.

God, we love you so much.

In your son's name we pray, amen.

Amen.

So if you're with, if we are with me, you have a Bible.

Let's turn to Matthew chapter 18, and we're gonna read a story, like I said,

Matthew 18 · chapter mention

about a parable and all of this started.

With a question that one of Jesus's close friends asked him,

it's close disciple, it's Peter.

And he asked a question that many of us would probably ask him if we were

there in, uh, that time with Jesus.

It says in verse 21, it says, then Peter came to Jesus and asked, Lord,

how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me?

Up to seven times?

Jesus answered, I tell you, not seven times, but 77 times.

You know, in other words, here, Jesus is saying to Peter.

Just stop counting.

Alright?

Stop counting how many times you forgive one another because

forgiveness isn't about a number.

Now I know Jesus says, you know, or seven times, uh, 77 times or four, nine times,

regardless of the number, whatever it is, Jesus saying, do not keep count of it.

You know, one, one who is a disciple, one who is a follower of Jesus is

one that never stops forgiving.

But here's the challenge, right?

There's always a challenge when it comes to forgiveness.

Unforgiveness, in my opinion, is one of those things, one of

those sins that's become socially acceptable in the Christian life.

We all know anger, we all know lust, we all know greed.

We all know those are bad things.

But when someone hurts us deeply, it feels reasonable to hold onto that hurt.

We think, man, that person, they don't deserve my forgiveness.

And you know what?

Sometimes they, they may not 'cause people do evil, hurtful, wicked things.

And when it happens.

Pain feels justified.

But here's the problem with that pain is when we try to keep that pain

and not work through it, not try to reconcile the pain doesn't just stay.

The pain becomes poison, it becomes a cancer to our soul.

You know, I like to think as unforgiveness is like that old comfy T-shirt that

you probably have in your closet or in your drawer right now, right?

That comfy t-shirt where you probably had for years is probably like all holy now.

It has stains on it.

You like to wear, you just love it.

You probably wear it when you clean the house.

You know, when I got married, my wife, she has this one shirt in

particular, which I want to get rid of 'cause it has stains on it.

And it has holes in it.

And it's a USC shirt actually she got back in high school.

It's an oversized USC shirt.

Exactly.

And she's like, no, Daniel, I can't do it.

It's just, I, it just feels so comfortable.

I got it back in high school and it just reminds me of home.

That's what unforgiveness is like.

It's comfortable.

It feels right, even makes you feel justified like you're protecting yourself.

But deep down, you're not gonna display that publicly.

My wife's not gonna wear that USC shirt here to Sunday service.

She won't wear it out to a restaurant we go out to, but she'll wear it at home.

When it's time to clean.

She'll wear it when it's time to bed.

She'll wear it.

We won't display unforgiveness publicly because we're not gonna go up to someone.

I'm not gonna say, hi, my name's Daniel.

I'm a resentful person.

I like to hold grudges.

No, we're not gonna do that.

Of course not.

We hide it, but just because it's hidden doesn't mean it's not harmless.

And that's what Jesus confronts here in this parable.

He stands directly against that mindset that says, I'm gonna hold

this over you, that I'm gonna have this upper hand on you.

Jesus says, no.

That is not how the forgiven live.

If you are a disciple this morning, you are forgiven.

So we are called not to live that way.

When you've been forgiven by God, it changes not only how it affects

us, but really how we treat others.

So if you're taking notes this morning, and if there's something I

want you to walk away with, if you guys have that TikTok, you know, uh,

mindset where it's like, just gimme a minute or a seven second clip.

Here's what it is.

I want you guys to remember this is that forgiven people forgive people.

Stay with me.

Forgiven people, forgive people.

And we're gonna see that here.

We're gonna continue on reading in Matthew, uh, 18 verse 23.

Here, here it is.

It says, therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to

settle, uh, settle counts with his servants, and he began the settlement.

A man who owed him 10,000 bags of gold was brought to him.

Since he was not able to the master order that he and his wife and his children and

all he had to be sold to repay the debt.

Uh, there it is at this time, the servant fell on his knees

before him be patient with me.

He begged me and I will pay back everything.

The servant master took pity on him, cancel the debt, and let him go.

Now, I love this passage here, so let's kind of break this down.

You know, the first part here is.

Jesus says, the kingdom of heaven is like, so what we're about to

read is a window to God's heart.

We see you have a king who's powerful, who's wealthy, who's well off, and

then you have a servant who's ordinary, who's powerless, who is completely

in debt, and we see that the servant owes him 10,000 bags of gold, which

is a ridiculous money back then and a ridiculous amount of money right now.

So, in other words, is impossible to repay.

So what does the king do?

You know, he calls the servant in and he says, you owe me, right?

You have to pay.

Justice demands payment here.

But we see how the servant responds to this.

He was desperate, he was terrified.

He fell on his knees and pleased for mercy.

He says, be patient with me.

I will pay it back.

Know about you.

But if I was the king right there, I would be laughing right there.

Like, there's no way you can pay all this money back, but the king sees something

deeper, says the king looks at this man.

We see that this servant is broken, that he's begging.

He's on his knees, he's helpless, and the king is moved with compassion.

You know, we see that the king doesn't give him more time.

He doesn't cut the debt in half, but he cancels the entire debt just like that.

Gone.

No payment plan, no conditions, no interest rate, just

forgiven, released and freed.

You know, this is Jesus's picture of our relationship with our God.

The king obviously represents God and the servant represents you and I.

We owe God and unpayable debt for our sins.

There's no amount of good deeds, no amount of church going, no matter, uh,

how hard we try that can make up for it.

When we fall on our knees and cry out for mercy, God doesn't,

doesn't just delay the punishment, he erases the record completely.

He doesn't say, okay, let's see if you can do this for a little while.

He doesn't say any of that.

He just says, your debt is canceled, you are free.

You know, that's grace right there.

That's the gospel of Jesus.

And when we truly get grasp that, when we truly grasp how much we have been forgiven

of it changes how we see and view others.

We stop holding their debts over their heads because we remember how our

king, how God wiped our debt clean.

You know, that's what forgiveness is meant to do.

It transforms us from, from grace givers or grace receivers into givers of grace.

Let's continue in verse 28.

Here it says, but when the servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants

who owed him a hundred silver coins.

He grabbed them and began to choke him, pay back what you owe me.

He demanded.

His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, be patient with me and

I will pay it back, but he refused.

Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison

until he could pay the debt.

Now we see the same servant who is forgiven of billions now finds a

fellow servant, a coworker, possibly a friend, owes him just a small

amount, and instead of showing mercy.

We see him show no mercy.

Like Cobra Kite grabs him by the throat, chokes him, says, pay me what you owe.

But we see the man, he falls to his knees, this servant he falls to.

He's pleading with the same words that this first servant said to the king.

He said, be patient with me.

I'll pay you back.

But this time there's no compassion.

There's no mercy.

There's no grace, only judgment.

He throws the man in prison and waits for him to pay it back.

How about you guys?

But can we all agree that this is the peak of hypo hypocrisy right here?

How can someone who's been shown so much forgiveness then turn

around and show none after that?

We see the king who forgave this servant of an impossible debt, and

the man he refused to forgive owed him very little, and that's just insane.

Not even close yet.

This man who was set free, who walked around the palace, debt

free, turns around, imprisoned someone else over pocket change.

Basically, this is what happens when we forget what we've been forgiven of.

When we forget the size of our own debt, he easily magnifies everyone else's

and this forgiven servant, rather than extending grace, he extends judgment.

He extends punishment.

And let's be honest, sometimes we can do the same things.

Church.

We hold people hostage in our own hearts.

We replay what they did to us.

We may not throw them into a literal prison, but we'll throw 'em into a

mental one where in our hearts, in our heads, we're like, no, there's no

way you're getting out of this one.

We locked them up with bitterment, with resentment, with anger.

We think that they don't deserve my forgiveness, but

the truth is neither did we.

That's the point.

Jesus is driving home forgiven.

People are called to forgive people.

Forgiven people or called to forgive people, not because it's easy, not because

the hurt doesn't matter, but because we remember how much we've been forgiven.

We'll continue here in verse 31, it says, when the other servants saw

what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master

everything of what had happened.

You know, I want to give credit to my wife, Savannah here, because

she was like, Daniel, did you ever notice this part of the story?

He says, the other servants saw this, you know, they're probably whispering,

man, can you believe this servant?

Like he was just forgiven of this debt.

And then it made her, and I think, how do we see our brothers and sisters

when they're struggling with their unforgiveness, like, do we even see it?

Church?

Do we care enough to step gently into that situation, not to shame them, but

to help them find freedom in Jesus again?

Because sometimes the people sitting right next to us in church or at work, they're

the one carrying years of pain and they just need someone to walk with them.

They need someone to remind them of God's grace.

You know?

That's what real love looks like.

Not staying silent, but helping each other heal.

You know, sometimes in helping others, I know God reveals something in me.

It can reveal something in you guys.

You know, maybe that reason, you know, we, we try to help and we

feel a little uncomfortable is because maybe we see a little bit of

ourselves in that person's struggle.

The truth is other people are often aware of your unforgiveness,

even when you think it's hidden.

In other words, unforgiveness is not hidden as much as you think it is.

It's not.

We like to think, no one sees that side of me.

We tell ourselves, I don't let that bitterness come out.

It's just between God and I.

But the truth is unforgiveness, it's visible.

People can see it in the way we, we talk, in our tone, in our body language.

The way we withdraw or even avoid one another.

It's kind of like that comfy t-shirt my wife has so comfortable but too

embarrassing to wear in public.

Unforgiveness is just like that.

You think it's private, you think it's something you wear at home,

but really when you wear it at home, the windows are wide open.

Your neighbors can see it.

Everyone around you sees it.

Everyone knows Savannah.

Everyone knows your USC shirt now.

I'm sorry.

This is one of those lies we often believe about sin is that my sin is just my sin.

It doesn't affect anyone else, and that's completely false.

It's beyond not true, especially when it comes to unforgiveness.

'cause unforgiveness always affects us and also other people as well.

I mean, unforgiveness, it affects your attitude, can affect your

relationship, can affect your joy, can even affect your physical appearance.

My kindergarten teacher always told me it takes more muscle to frown than to smile.

You know, when you do that, like you're you, the face is not meant to just, it's

meant to smile less muscles that way, and I've seen it both in myself and in others,

how bitterness can change a person.

It makes you colder, it makes you shorter with people, makes you less

trusting of them because in their face and their eyes and their posture, I've

seen it firsthand in my own family.

Through watching within my own family, it taught me something that I'll never

forget about unforgiveness is that there is nothing more destructive to the human

heart than deep-seated unforgiveness.

There is nothing more destructive to the human heart than deep seated

unforgiveness and bitterness in the heart.

Now, growing up I saw my dad, who, man, I saw some deep seated bitterness

and unforgiveness towards his dad.

My grandfather, he was not the best dad to my father.

And there were deep wounds there.

And as I got older, I saw how my dad started carrying those pains.

For years.

He had this deep hurt.

He had this unforgiveness towards his father.

That Nev never really went away.

It affected him.

I saw it, how it affected his peace, how it affected his joy, even how

he related to others, how he was at home with my mom and my siblings.

But here's the amazing thing that I saw though, with that, you know, all my life I

kind of saw my dad for the past 20 years.

That was his life.

But the last year before he passed, I got to see him release that pain to

God months before he passed church.

And those were the best months I ever saw my dad.

I saw him smiling more like a genuine smile.

It wasn't a fake one.

He was laughing more.

He and I were praying together something we didn't do as much.

He was back in his word.

We had quiet times together.

Church.

He even went up on stage to sing for the Sunday worship band, and he wasn't

the best singer, but he didn't care.

He had that joy.

But there was something different about him, and I saw that he was free.

All of this showed me that holding onto bitterness ruins you, but forgiveness,

this genuine real forgiveness.

It sets you free.

You know, maybe some of you have seen it in your own families.

Someone holding onto that pain that eats away at them.

Or maybe it's you.

You know, church, I learned through my dad's forgiveness.

And even though it doesn't excuse what happened, it frees

you from being chained to it.

And listen, I don't say this church to shame anyone because I know there

are real people who are carrying real pain and I'm just a young man

who really hasn't experienced life and I don't have that many wounds.

But I know church that some of us, you guys were lied to.

You guys were probably betrayed, probably gossiped about.

Maybe someone took advantage of you or abandoned you broke your trust.

So Hope Church, when when I talk about forgiveness, I'm not

trying to minimize your pain.

'cause truly I grieve with you this morning if you're carrying that,

especially if it's years of wound and unforgiveness that you have.

'cause I know that unforgiveness church, it doesn't start with bitterness.

Unforgiveness starts with hurt.

We don't choose unforgiveness because we wanna ruin the other

person's life or even our own lives.

We end up there because someone did wrong by us, and now we're left, you

know, trying to hold the pieces together, trying to figure out how to move

forward when the wound still stings.

And sometimes the only thing that feels right is to hold a grudge.

But Jesus, I believe Jesus tells this par.

He tells this story not to dismiss your pain, but he tells you to,

uh, to remind us and to lead us and guide us back to freedom.

Forgiveness isn't primarily for the person who hurt you.

Forgiveness really is for you.

Forgiveness is what sets you free.

Church, when Jesus calls us to forgive again and again, it's not

because he wants us to be weak.

It's 'cause he doesn't want us to be weighed down by it.

You see, I don't forgive people church just to release them from their debt.

I forgive because I know I'm not built to carry that burden.

My heart's not built to carry that burden, to carry that pain.

My heart was designed to hold on.

Was not, uh, built to hold on to hate or resentment or revenge.

Those things rot your soul from the inside out.

And if I'm being honest, when my, when someone hurts me, my heart wants to

harden, it wants to lash out, it wants to curse at them, it wants to stay

angry, but that's not the way of Jesus.

But way of Jesus is to release it, to hand it over to God, to say,

Lord, I can't carry this anymore.

You carry it.

And so we come back.

To this message today.

Once again, forgiveness is not for the other person, it's for you.

And it goes back to the main heart of this message, as I mentioned earlier,

is that forgiven people, forgive people.

Can you guys say with me, forgiven people, forgive people, church of God extended

grace and cancel your debt and my debt.

How can we look at someone else and say, I'm gonna hold this

against you, your debt and my debt.

Against God was infinitely greater than what any person has ever done to us.

That's the lens Jesus wants us to have when it comes to forgiveness.

And now Jesus is gonna show us what happens when we don't have that

gospel lens, when we don't have that perspective of forgiveness

as we pick it up here in verse 32.

Are you still with me?

Church?

Amen.

All right.

In verse 32, it says, then the master called the servant in you, wicked servant.

He said, I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to.

Student, you had mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had on you in anger.

His master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured until

he should pay back all he owed.

You know, the king finds out what happens.

The man he forgave, refuses to forgive someone else, and the

king calls him a wicked servant.

Notice he didn't call him a lazy servant.

He didn't call him a lazy servant or an ungrateful or a foolish servant.

He calls him wicked.

Church there is simply, deeply evil about receiving mercy and refusing to extend it.

There is something deeply evil about receiving mercy and refusing to extend it.

You know, the king reminds him that he canceled the debt that he begged him to,

and he asked, shouldn't you have mercy?

Just as I had on you?

And that's the heart of this whole parable.

Forgiveness isn't just something we we receive, it's something we give as well.

We're meant to forgive the way we've been forgiven.

But we see how this servant did not do that.

He wanted to, for, for him to have grace for himself, but

justice for everyone else.

And so the same king turn him over to the jailers to be tortured until

he pays everything back that he owes.

Now, let's stop and think about that for a second.

Obviously, it's like billions of dollars he owes.

So the king knows, man, you're not gonna repay this.

He knows he won't get out.

He knows that he's gonna live the rest of his days in prison,

not because of the debt itself, but because of his unforgiveness.

I mean, isn't that a chilling image?

You're in prison because of your unforgiveness, not because

of the amount of money This man had already been set free.

He was living in grace, but through his own heart, his heart and heart, he

walked himself right back into prison.

I believe this is what Jesus is showing us.

That unforgiveness leads you to prison.

Unforgiveness leads you to prison.

It's not always a physical one, but it's a prison of the heart, A prison

of anger, of bitterness, of resentment.

When we hold on to unforgiveness, it's like locking ourselves up and

just handing the enemy the key.

We think we're punishing the other person, but really we're just punishing ourselves.

And I've seen it happen so many times that someone gets hurt deeply and

understandably so, but years later, they're still replaying that same story,

still carrying that same bitterness.

And it's not the other person who's suffering, it's them.

They become prisoners of their own pain.

And if we're honest, some of us prison is all we've ever known.

Probably.

You know, there's a term, I'm a criminal justice major.

There's a term called institutionalization.

And this means that when someone has been released from prison, who's been there for

so long, when they're finally set free, they don't, they don't know what it's

like to live outside those prison walls.

Freedom feels foreign to them, almost uncomfortable.

So they end up going right back to what they know.

They commit a crime just to go back to prison.

And that's exactly what Jesus is trying to warn us about.

The For the Forgiven servant went back into prison on his own making, not

because the king put him there first, but because his heart never left that prison.

He didn't know how to live in the freedom of forgiveness.

And maybe that's where some of us are today.

Maybe some of us started to decorate those prisons inside our

heart, making it our our home.

Maybe you've forgotten what it feels like to live free, free from bitterness,

from anger, from replaying that moment over and over in your mind.

Maybe you've carried that grudge or that pain for so long's

become a part of who you are.

And I get it, that pain can run deep, but there's a difference

when you wrestle to forgive and we just flat out refuse to forgive.

Wrestling means you're trying, you're trying to put it at the foot of the cross.

You're really trying to say, God, take this away from me.

I don't know how to do it, but God, I know you are powerful.

I know you show favor for your people, but when you refuse, it just shows

that you just stopped fighting.

That your heart is just hardened that that's saying,

I'm never gonna let this go.

And you're completely fine with that.

And that's what Jesus is addressing next.

He's addressing the condition of the heart, because forgiveness isn't just

about words, it's about transformation.

In verse 35, it resists how my Heavenly Father will treat each of

you unless you forgive your brother or your sister from your heart.

You know when you read that verse, you can't help and pause

and think that Jesus, what?

What are you talking about here?

You know, for me, I believe that Jesus is drawing us back to the heart

of this entire parable itself, that forgiven people, forgive people.

This isn't just a story about a servant.

This isn't a story about a king.

This is a story.

About you and I.

It's a soy that reveals that either our heart has been truly changed by

grace, or it reveals a heart that hasn't yet experienced that grace.

A heart still holding on bound by unforgiveness.

That's how serious this is.

Forgiveness isn't just a good Christian practice.

It's evidence of a forgiven life.

It's either proof that you've truly met Jesus or a sign you haven't

let him transform your heart yet.

Jesus makes this crystal clear in Matthew six, verse 14 through 15.

It reads four.

If you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father

will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their sins, your

father will not forgive your sins.

You know, he shows that forgiveness is an optional for those who

belong to him, that if we belong to 'em, it's our response to grace.

And when you've been forgiven of much, you can't help but just

forgive others of much as well.

Church.

And that brings us to the story and a question we all have to wrestle with

today is who are we in this story?

Excuse me.

You know, if we're honest.

I know for me this week I was like, man, I really think I'm the king here Actually,

I, I extend compassion pretty well.

I extend grace, I extend mercy.

But when I remove that stuff, when I remove my pride, and I look at it from

the gospel standpoint, every single one of us is that wicked servant.

We're all owed a massive and unpayable debt to God, and yet through the

cross, Jesus looks at us and says It's forgiven and paid in full.

The entire parable here points us to the cross.

How could we who have been forgiven with so much sin?

Look at someone else and say, I can't forgive you for that.

It's crazy to think about it.

We've been forgetting so much yet we hold on to so little.

Now.

Listen, I know talking about forgiveness.

I know forgiveness isn't always instant.

I'm not expecting us after this to forgive and let go, although that'll be great.

But some of you may be thinking, I want to forgive, but I still feel anger inside.

I still feel that bitterness and resentment.

I just wanna say, that's okay.

The fact that you're wrestling with it, you're praying about it, feeling convicted

about it, I think that's evidence of God just working in your heart.

It means the Holy Spirit is softening your heart and shaping

you into the likeness of Jesus.

All of this forgiving, giving grace, humbling ourselves.

It isn't just about doing the right thing, it's about who we are becoming.

You know, God's ultimate desire is isn't just for us to act right?

It's for us to become more like him.

He wants our heart, our hearts, our thoughts, our attitude.

He wants us to reflect his character.

In other words, likeness to Christ is God's will for my life.

Likeness for Christ is God's will for my life.

If you understand that, you understand everything else, even your

struggles, your pain, your broken relationships, God can use all of

that to make you more like Jesus.

What the enemy meant for evil.

Jesus can turn for good.

He doesn't just erase the pain he uses to shape us, to mature us, and to grow us.

So the real question for us this morning is.

What does growth in Christ look like?

What does growth in Christ look like for in my life?

Well, I believe in Matthew 18, we see three clear things.

Growth in Christ, for one, looks like forgiveness.

God calls us to forgive, especially those who have heard us, and it's not easy.

But as my boy, Chris Lewis says, it's essential.

It's essential for us to forgive.

Maybe for you, forgiveness means writing a letter, making a phone call, or simply

just praying, God help me release this.

Forgiveness is a first step towards freedom.

You know, when you forgive, you're not saying what they did was right,

but what you're saying is this will no longer hold me in chains.

Forgiveness frees your heart to live in grace that God has given

you second growth in Christ.

It looks like giving grace.

Let's be honest, giving grace, that's not a a natural human reaction.

What does come natural for us?

For humans to be cynical, to be guarded.

It's quick to assume the worst, but when the Holy Spirit softens our heart, we be,

we begin to look and think differently.

You start to say, maybe they didn't mean it that way, or

they've been through a lot.

I'll just give 'em the benefit of the doubt.

We've all heard that phrase before.

Hurt people.

Hurt people, and sometimes giving grace means recognizing that someone's behavior

may be coming from their own pain.

With my own dad.

I had to realize like, man, my dad, he doesn't hate me.

He doesn't not love me.

He just had a terrible example, and that's all he knows.

You know?

Could it be that God wants to show his grace through you, that someone might

come to see the love of Jesus, by the way, you extend grace to them, you know?

Lastly, growth in Christ.

It looks like humility.

At the heart of this parable is humility.

You know, when I realized the massive debt.

I can never repay because of my sin.

It crushes my pride.

There's, there's a reason why pride and unforgiveness, they go hand in hand.

They love each other, they feed off one another.

Pride says, you've hurt me, so now I'm gonna have this upper ground.

I'm gonna have this moral advantage above you.

Pride wants you to keep people at a distance, but Jesus calls us to

be on our knees and beg like the first servant did, and remember

how much we have been forgiven.

Maybe what you need to release today probably isn't just unforgiveness, maybe

it's pride as well, because humility is, is opening the door for healing.

It allows mercy and grace to flow again, both from God and towards others.

So as we're coming in for a landing, the question I wanna leave with you is,

if Jesus has forgiven us of everything forgiven you and I of everything, who is

it that you still need to forgive today?

Maybe it's someone who hurt you deeply.

Maybe it's someone who disappointed you.

Maybe it's even yourself, you know, whatever it is, Jesus is inviting

you to release it, to let it go, to walk in the freedom that he has given

you and I, because say it with me, church, forgiven people forgive people.

And when you forgive, you don't just free someone else.

You reflect the heart of Jesus himself.

So before we close today, I wanna leave us with a few practical action steps,

ways we can begin to walk in freedom this week and we can release others first.

Let's identify who do you need to release?

Who do you need to release?

Ask God this week, who am I still holding this unforgiving heart towards?

Maybe it's someone from years ago.

Maybe it's a family member, a friend, or maybe someone in this room.

You can't release what you don't recognize.

First church start by writing their name down and just praying,

God, help me let this go.

And second, I want us to pray for that person.

I know it may seem hard, but it's powerful.

You're not just praying to justify what they did, but you're

praying to free your own heart.

Ask God to soften your heart to bless them.

And every time you pray church, I know you're gonna feel that God

is just chipping away at the walls of bitterness and unforgiveness

that was built up in your hearts.

And lastly, let's take a step towards reconciliation this week.

Maybe for you it's sending a message, making a call, or simply

choosing not to speak negatively about that person anymore.

If you're not responsible church for how they respond, you're just

responsible how God calls you to obey.

Even if reconciliation doesn't happen right away, your heart is

moving towards Freedom Church.

Just imagine this church.

You know, as I was thinking about this lesson, praying about it, I

just thought, what would this church look like if every person here truly

release what was holding them back?

If instead of walking into a service carrying old wounds,

we came carrying in peace.

When people looked at the North, north OEA church family, they didn't

just see a group of believers.

They saw a family that forgives quickly, that loves deeply

and reflects Jesus completely.

That's what revival looks like, and that's what healing looks like.

That what?

That's what God wants to do.

Starting with us today.

You know, I'm excited.

I know Marcel Mason announce announcement, but next Sunday we're gonna have a time of

reconciliation as a family, and it's gonna be a time where we come before together

to God, to pray, to worship, to forgive.

To commune and to release the things that have been imprisoning our own hearts.

So as you go through this week, start preparing your heart.

Ask God, what do I need to release before you?

Because next week, I believe God is gonna bring healing, unity, and freedom

for our North, north Sea Church family.

Amen.

You know, it's to close out with scripture here from the Apostle Paul.

In Ephesians four, verse 31 through 32, it says, get rid of all bitterness,

rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.

Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiven each other

just as Christ God forgave you.

Church forgiven people, forgive people.

So let's really walk in.

Walk in next week with open hearts, ready to release, ready to forgive.

Ready to live in the freedom of the seasons of the Lord's favor.

Amen.

Amen.

Church.

Here I'll say a quick prayer.

And then we'll continue on with our worship service.

Uh, heavenly Father, God, just thank you so much for your grace.

Thank you for the forgiveness you've extended to each of us, a debt

that we could never, ever repay.

Lord, we recognize the grudges that we may hold in our hearts, the bitterness,

the pride, instead of walking freedom.

Lord, I pray that this week you can just chip away at our

heart slowly as a family God.

Soften our hearts today and each and every day, help us

forgive those who have hurt us.

God, to give grace who may not even deserve it, and to walk humbly before

you guide us as we take our steps.

God, next week as a family, just releasing things.

God, I pray we can start now.

God, just identifying some of the things we need to release.

Will we pray powerfully for you to move?

We love you so much.

It's your son's name we pray.

Amen.