Bringing Down The Stronghold of Unforgiveness

Come on, lift up your worship.

Come on church, lift up your worship.

God is so good and if you don't believe that he's good, then you haven't handed it all over to Him.

If you haven't seen God move, you've been in the way.

If God can't be trusted, then you haven't been faithful, because he always is.

Thank you, worship team.

Give him another hand clap.

That was awesome, man.

It's good to be in the house of God today.

The church house is better than any jail house in any county you can find, and if you don't know, you hadn't been there.

So this week we're going to be continuing our series on Thought Wars, because it is a fight.

It is not something to take lightly, not something to take lightly.

It is not something to sit on the sidelines and watch someone else do, because you have to be actively engaging in the war or you will lose.

Last week we talked about recognizing the war.

If you don't understand that the war is in your mind, you don't know how to properly fight the battle or how to properly equip yourself to do so.

So today, man, what a great worship Y'all.

It is so like I get like talk to Pastor Aaron.

He was talking about youth camp.

If y'all missed it, last week he talked a little bit about you know the numbers and what God was doing, and God is rising, a new generation of worshipers that we should not, as older people, allow to put us to shame.

Let that sink in a little bit.

If the younger people are worshiping harder than us, then maybe God needs to put us back out in the valley.

We've become too accustomed to the mountaintop and we forget how to cry out and praise him, so he has to help remind us.

Learning is fun.

Special thanks to Dre and his wife Allie.

We are so glad they came over and helped us out today.

It's so amazing.

When you sit back, you take your hands off of what you're trying to control and let God just be God.

It amazes me every time, but every time I still try to grab the wheel.

Every time I try to make God submit to my authority.

Like I can do it better, like I know what's best, like I have greater wisdom than God.

It has never, ever, in the 36 years I've been alive, turned out better in my hands than it would be in his ever.

Sometimes we got to let God be God and give him back complete control.

Did you know mathematically you cannot have him back complete control.

Did you know mathematically you cannot have 90% control and give the 10% to God and you give him all?

That's not 100%.

So we're going to talk a little bit today.

So last week was the thought war beginning today and we built the foundation.

We must recognize that we are on a battleground.

There's no question about it.

This isn't up for debate.

This is a true, solid issue that we have that every day.

We have to understand that we are in a battle, and so we read last week that it's not flesh and blood that we fight against.

This is something beyond that.

It's in our minds, it's in our thoughts.

So in this week's main verse and I read some of it last week, I took a little chunk of it last week, but I want to really dive into it today and I hope I know today, in today's word from the Lord to you, it will challenge you and it will change you, but it will keep you from rebuilding what God is trying to tear down in your mind.

So how do I know this?

Because y'all, he tears me up before I get here to preach it to you.

So he has been changing me.

He has been challenging me and y'all are just getting the overflow.

Every message I preach is somewhere that I have a struggle with that.

I'm fighting an issue and God says, okay, well, I'm going to help you go through it and you're going to preach it.

And I believe this is how.

I believe that no one sitting in this pew, no one watching online right now is here by accident.

That's just how I believe.

I'm foolish enough to believe that God loves you that much to bring you to this divine appointment here today so that he can radically change and transform the way that you think.

I believe the path that led you here is the path that will lead you to there.

I'm ready to go there.

I'm tired of the devil fighting me, satan fighting me, and I feel like I'm getting whipped up on what God has given us.

More than that, who's ready to go there today?

Y'all ready to go there?

I'm going to go there.

I am ready for God to radically transform some lives here today.

Are you ready?

If you have your Bibles, turn with me and I know we've been standing and sitting and all that stuff, but if you'll just do one more exercise and stand up real quick, I promise it's easier when you sit back down.

You just pretty much fall.

Please hit your chair.

We're going to go to 2 Corinthians, 10, 3 through 6.

Here's some pages shuffling.

If you didn't bring your Bible, you're fighting naked.

Some of that just stamped your brain for the rest of your life.

Chapter 10, verse 3 says this For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy the strongholds.

We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience when your obedience is complete.

Let's pray, father.

We thank you for your word.

I ask God, I declare it right now, in the name of Jesus, that no one leave here the way that they walked in this house.

I pray, god, that you radically transform our minds, change the way that we think and lead us to a path of true peace and forgiveness.

In your name we pray Amen.

You may be seated.

We are in week two of our thought wars.

We shone a light last week that we are in a war.

You are either actively fighting it or you are passively watching it happen.

I believe, through the word, god is going to mess your life up in this series.

He is going to radically change things in your life and you are going to become a different person, born new in Christ Jesus.

And is that not the point?

If so, we all should have left stay in the world.

Living that way.

We are not meant to just survive.

God has ordained us to thrive, not just to get to it, but to be led through it.

A literal transformation of your mind, your body and your soul and your spirit.

I think God is going to give you a new divine revelation in this series and open your eyes to something today.

But to do this, we must be willing to receive and willing to obey the change God is trying to lead us to.

We have to.

Y'all ain't saying amen because it's happening right now.

I don't like this word.

I hate change.

I've told y'all several times about things that my wife hides from me and she just moved it an inch to the left and I didn't even realize where it was at anymore.

It's like I go stupid when she just moves the remotes to it and I'm like, where's the remote?

It was just on the other table, but I got so upset with blind rage because it wasn't the last place I put it.

Anybody else like that, or am I the only person?

No one's supposed to touch the stuff where I put it, where I know where it is.

My wife has a spiritual gift to pick up things and leave them in random spots.

They don't make any sense to me, so my brain starts frying.

It's marriage, right?

Yeah, some of y'all get that, but I don't like this word.

That means I have to change, that means I have to do something, I have to follow through, and that means I have to stay stayed up and prayed up.

And it's not just true because it rhymes, it's something that we actively need to be doing in our spirits and it starts in our minds.

That means we have to be vigilant in our prayer life.

Y'all things won't happen in our cities, states, country and the world if we don't actively pray privately so God can do publicly what he's been doing in private with you.

I'm guilty.

I told you I would never preach on anything that I've never messed up on.

I'm guilty.

I told you I would never preach on anything that I've never messed up on.

I am actively guilty in saying I'll pray for you and I forget.

It's not on purpose.

What was it?

Last night I grabbed your hand, or was it this morning?

I don't remember.

So I'm trying to change, I'm trying to be a different person.

So what I've done now is that when someone messages us and says will you pray?

Or they text and say will you pray, I go and grab that lady's hand and I say we are about to touch heaven now, because if I don't, I know me, I will forget.

Not on purpose.

Our thought processes are the way that we end up, and how we act and respond is not always something we're doing on purpose.

We don't wake up always and say, man, I'm going to kick somebody today.

But once you interact with your spouse, you leave the house and you're like I'm going to kick somebody today.

It's the way life is, and if the enemy can get you so distracted and dismantle your spiritual walk, that's all it takes.

That's all it takes.

We must be active in our faith and sometimes, you know, sometimes God gives us a word and we hear something good at church and we clap and we say amen and we watch it on the live stream again, or we watch the Wednesday night.

We get home and we say amen and we watch it on the live stream again.

Or we watch the Wednesday night, we get home and we're like that's nice, that was real nice.

The Lord was there.

And we never put into action what God is trying to push in our face.

We never take it and let it take root in our hearts and our spirits and in our minds.

We never step up to the plate and live out what God has been trying to set you up to do A lot of times.

If you step back and you actually pay attention to what God is doing instead of worried about your own because sometimes I am this way If something's not right in my face, sometimes I will forget about everything else that's going on.

So if I'm in the middle of something or I'm frustrated about something, I had a conversation I think it was with Pastor D and I was frustrated about something, and she asked me later.

She said did you remember me saying this?

And I said I had no clue what you said.

I was so fixated on what I was frustrated about and I got distracted and missed the important parts of the conversation.

What is God trying to tell you what is God trying to tell you?

What is God trying to speak to you?

And you take it home with you and set it on the shelf and never pick it up again.

Some of us, that is quite literally the word of God.

That stung a little bit.

I feel it too, because we want God to move mountains, but we will not have the faith to pray for it.

We want God to speak to us, but we will not have the faith to pray for it.

We want God to speak to us, but we will not open up his word.

But it's through this change that God can really start to cultivate the soil in our hearts and prepare it for new things.

God wants to plant and grow you, but we have to be willing to let go of what was to make room for what God is trying to do today.

We have to let the old die and the new be born To make room for the new.

What is God trying to grow in you?

What is God trying to say to you?

No matter what your plants are in your garden right now, of your mind, to God, what he is trying to do, they are just simply weeds, no matter how good it looks to you, no matter how great of an idea you have, compared to what God is trying to pour into you is simply weeds.

John 10.10 says this the thief comes only to steal, to kill and to destroy.

I came that they may have life and have it more abundantly.

You see, the enemy's sole purpose and his one true desire desires are mapped out right here in these three things.

He wants to steal, he wants to kill and he wants to destroy.

He wants to steal your peace in your mind.

He wants to kill the hopes and dreams that you have inside of you and destroy any relationships you have or hopes of even having anymore.

I told you this last week.

I said that if the devil can get you and trick you to make you think like you're by yourself and make you feel like you've been picked off from the herd, he can destroy you, because we are not meant to be by ourselves, we are not meant to be alone, we are meant to gather together in his name and things happen and things change.

If he can convince you that he has got you by yourself and that no one will understand what you did last night and that no one will listen to you.

They will judge you, they will shun you.

You'll not be accepted here anymore.

Let me say, as one of the pastors of this church this church is not that way.

If you don't know me very well, that's okay.

I'm about to tell you a little bit of my story.

I used to be a meth head and living on the streets seven years ago.

And living on the streets seven years ago, I am one of the pastors of this church.

I believe I'm just foolish enough and I believe that God can radically change and transform to where you don't want to go back to what you were yesterday, because God is still the deliverer, he is still the peacemaker, he is still the water walker and I believe in my heart and in my mind that if God loves me that much to raise me up, then there is no one.

His arm is not too short for anyone in the depths of their sin.

It has to be true, because if only little parts of his word are true and only apply to today, then none of it's true.

If he can get us in one of these three things, if he can steal our peace of mind, if he can kill our hopes and dreams and if he can destroy any relationships, specifically between family, church, family and then God.

If he can disrupt and dismantle any of these three things, just one of them, he's got you.

If he can get you on one of these things, if he can destroy your peace of mind, he's got you.

You'll be bitter.

You'll never be content.

You'll always have something to complain about.

Nothing's ever good enough.

If he can kill your hopes and dreams, you'll never think you can be more.

You'll never believe what the Bible says about him wanting to use you.

You'll think you're too used to be used.

You never want to understand that God actually knows who I am and even through that, christ still died on the cross.

He couldn't do that for me.

Let me tell you from someone who was so low in the depths of sin God snatched me up and transformed my mind.

I was thinking the other day.

I was like man.

I can't even remember what meth tastes like.

God literally re-wrinkled my brain so that I can't remember.

I tried to think.

I can see people's faces in my mind, people I hung out with all the time and I could not remember their names Because God wanted to take that away from me, and it is a daily plead of the blood over my mind that I pour out on myself, sometimes, david, in the Bible, sometimes you've got to encourage yourself.

Sometimes you've got to encourage yourself.

Sometimes you got to lift yourself up because maybe you're alone in this moment in time and you feel like you're walking through the valley by yourself.

But the Spirit of God can move in and radically transform you.

You are not alone and God cares for you that much that he brought you here today to hear this word that you still matter, you still have a purpose, that you are not dead, so you are not done.

If he can get you in one of these things, if he can destroy your relationships, you'll never trust anybody again and you'll eventually go to where you don't trust God.

If you remember I think it was at Father's Day I had the trust box and I told you to write your prayer down, put it on the shelf, put it in the box, Walk away and forget about it as soon as you start doubting when you're praying for it, as soon as you start doubting and saying I God, go back to the box, get out what you wrote down and say God, I'm not trusting you.

Today it's different.

It gives you a mind shift when you think about literally doing that.

But that's spiritually what we do when we pray and we don't trust him.

If he can get you in one of these three things, he can destroy you Eventually.

He will get you in all of them.

I'll say it again If he can get you in one of these three things, if you allow him to build this stronghold in your mind, eventually he will get you in all of them.

Now just remember we talked about change.

Okay, I'm bringing it back around.

It's an ugly word but it's necessary.

It's so hard for our minds to realize that we it's hard for me to realize that I need to change.

Am I the only person in the house?

It is hard for me to see me.

It's very easy for me to see you.

It's hard for me to see me.

It's very easy for me to see you.

We are so, so good at pointing out what others need to change.

Am I the only one?

I know you don't want to amen too loud because that may expose who you are.

Then you might see yourself better.

But we are so, so bad at examining ourselves.

Can I confess something to you?

This morning I told my wife I was going to talk about her again.

I prepared her on the way here, but I said it wasn't nothing about her, it was about me.

I prepared her on the way here, but I said it wasn't nothing about her, it was about me.

So my wife, I love her.

She knows I love her.

I know when somebody starts off like that you think it's bad.

It's not going to be bad.

I love her with all my heart and she knows that I love her.

I tell her daily, multiple times a day, that I love her.

I care for her, I appreciate her.

I'm not praying to her, but when she makes me food I say thank you, baby, for this food.

I do every time because I appreciate what she goes through just to feed me and our child.

It's important to me I like food, so for her to provide good food and then, when she steps up, even more.

If you've ever tried to make a healthy meal, it's taxing.

Why can't it just be as easy as the other stuff?

Then I would eat it more and why can't it taste as good?

All right, I'm going to try to let you all out by noon.

I know, man, I am a chips and salsa guy If I have salsa chips, I will make anything into a dip.

If you make enchiladas for me and I have chips available, I will cut it up and dip it.

I'm serious, I love to dip.

But I also found out through the struggle of my wife knocking me on the head that I actually have this other gift.

We'll call it a spiritual gift.

So when my wife's doing a project at the house, my spiritual gift is I will walk up and tell her how she could do it better.

Am I wrong?

I had no clue that I did this.

I had absolutely no idea that my spiritual gift was showing someone else how they could do it better.

Oh, excuse me, I didn't show her.

I would tell her how to do it better and then walk on my way where I was going.

I didn't even stop and say oh baby, let me help you.

You know, hey, what about this?

I didn't try to do it as a group activity, I did it as subordinate manager.

I had no clue that.

That was my mindset until she took the mirror and showed me and she handed it to me kind of rough, just if anybody's wondering, if anybody feels sorry for me.

But she let me have it and it opened my eyes to something I never knew, that I got so relaxed with my wife that I started talking to her like she was underneath me.

That's easy to do when you get used to somebody, you talk at them instead of to them.

Instead of having a conversation, you're telling your staff where to go and what to do.

And I said, oh my gosh, I've not.

How have I been doing?

Have I been doing this?

She's like I don't know.

I don't know how long you've been doing it.

I didn't.

I was surprised you didn't have a calendar with the days.

I did it, but, but I had no clue that I was treating the woman that I love with all of my heart like she was not beside me, she was behind me.

We're really good at pointing out other people's faults.

I needed that abrupt kick to the south end to tell me and show me that I needed to change the way I was thinking about things.

I had no clue.

I had an involuntary moment and a way of thinking that had overtaken the way that I spoke to my wife and I also call it.

I encouraged her how to do it better.

But that still doesn't land either.

But she was right.

And guess what?

I was wrong.

I was wrong, baby.

I was wrong.

I was wrong.

Yeah, that's recorded.

I was wrong Y'all.

Also I got a room full of witnesses, but I was wrong.

You know, that is so hard for me to say.

Sometimes I think we get in this mode, in this way of thinking, that we don't really understand that we actually are controlling everything and we have taken God out of the picture and then ask him to bless it after we already do it.

That's common Christian practice.

I never knew I was doing it, but I never would have on purpose talked that way to my wife or had that attitude towards her.

In my mind I wasn't.

I was contributing to the activity.

That's really in my head what I thought I was doing.

I thought she needed my help.

When she let me know real quick, after all the anger built up, that she didn't need my help anymore, or why don't you do it?

It hurt me to hear that honesty from her, but I needed to make a change to my way of thinking because it was affecting the ones I love the most in a negative way.

You see, we have these involuntary thought processes that end up making camp in our mind.

We have these involuntary thought processes that end up making camp in our mind and we allow them to become our normal way of thinking.

I told you this it may have been last week.

If anyone ever tells me so, I'm going to be a little more honest with you.

If anyone ever tells me well, that's just the way I am.

That angers me Because that's the problem.

When we come to Christ, we're supposed to be born a new creation.

Now, not to say we don't handle each other with mercy and grace, because we are all in training, from the top to the bottom new person, old person, young person, little bit All of us are in training.

We are in a constant state of learning and training.

So we have to handle each other with mercy and grace and forgiveness.

But if we really want to get better instead of bitter, we have to call this what it is in our minds it is a stronghold.

Our way of thinking has become nothing but a stronghold.

If you know back in the Bible days and you know when there was kings and queens and all this thing, the stronghold was in the innermost part of the city and it was where the refuge was.

When there would be an enemy attack the kingdom, it would be the most unimpenetrable place in the kingdom they could hide.

They had all their food stashed in there just in case their kingdom was attacked.

And this, right here, is what we have made in our minds a stronghold that we have allowed the enemy to build in our minds, and then we try to come at it with fleshly and earthly warfare and it doesn't work.

That was just my intro, so let me get to the actual message.

I got 32 minutes, so this is this week's message to this title Bringing Down the Strongholds and the specific stronghold I want to address.

Title Bringing Down the Strongholds and the specific stronghold I want to address today.

And I believe that it plagues Christianity and churches.

And if you go anywhere and you've met anybody, you have come in contact with somebody who has unforgiveness in their hearts.

And we're going to talk about today in a real way, and what Jesus says about it.

And we're going to talk about today in a real way and what Jesus says about it Unforgiveness.

So what is unforgiveness?

Let's see, let's for a minute, let's actually take out a true mirror that you can look at yourself in.

So we have to be able to defeat something.

You have to be able to defy it.

If you don't give it a name, you can't take it down.

So let's see it for what it is.

Unforgiveness is when you are unwilling or unable to forgive someone for hurting, betraying, breaking your trust or causing you intense emotional pain.

I want you to look at this photo behind me of the trashy car.

I think I put it in there.

Look at that.

You see that Anybody want to go take a nap in there.

That's a backseat.

If you didn't know, you can't really see it.

See the backseat that has got so much trash in that car.

Unforgiveness is trash and, like the back of this car, it will collect and you'll never even know it's there.

You know, I've never met someone who is.

Have you ever gotten a ride before by someone that you love and trusted and you thought they loved God?

And then you get in their car and it looks like this If you have a car like this, jesus still loves you.

I just said we're all still in training, don't worry about it.

Jesus loves you.

I just said we're all still in training, don't worry about it.

Jesus loves you too.

But you get inside of the like.

You open up the passenger seat and like stuff is falling out and you're like what are they doing?

What is this?

You know you have to then pick it up and get your hand sticky because it was an old cup and it's just like.

And it sticks to your hand and they're scooping things out so you can just have a spot on the seat.

And then you look in the back and it's piled just like that.

Has anyone ever had a car like that or know someone who has?

No one has ever purchased a car and said man, I can't wait to put that Solo Cup in there.

No one has ever purchased a car and said, woo, I can't wait to throw my Hardee's bag back in there.

Man, I can't wait.

This is going to be the day when that fills up with trash.

Little cars growing up.

No one's ever said that.

Because let me tell you a story about me personally.

I used to be that person when I was in Orlando the first time I was arrested.

I actually rear-ended someone.

I barely tapped her, but she said her neck was hurt.

So I am the guy who is drunk.

I call the ambulance for her and tell her to go park in a parking lot so that we can get off the road and I was thinking trade insurance.

Not once did I think hey, moron, you just called the cops on yourself.

Never crossed my mind, because you know, drunk people are really smart.

The cops come, the ambulance takes her away and I remember, standing off to the side, they made me do the whole yellow line thing and then I was like I can't even do this sober.

And then that told them right there the story and they opened up my back doors and beer cans and trash.

It wasn't as bad as that, people could actually sit in it, but the floor was filled, just fell out onto the floor and the cops started laughing and I was so ashamed that I had allowed trash to build up in my back seat that I didn't even know about.

Right, when you start down the road of unforgiveness, you are putting pieces of trash in your back seat and they will be with you everywhere you ride and you will never even know it's there.

And when you try to bring somebody into your car to ride with you, it is going to be trashy, it is going to be embarrassing, it is going to be piled up to where you eventually will not have room for anybody else but you.

Trash attracts trash.

Until you let the Spirit of God flow through your mind and transform you in a way that you have never known, and fully give him what you are and who you are and say God, I cannot carry this anymore.

I need you to get out the trash.

He loves you that much.

He will do that for you, but you have to be willing to open the door.

He's not going to break into your car.

Y'all.

Hit the little button, unlock it for him.

All right, lord.

And then you and God and you and the Spirit will come together with trash bags and start taking out the trash.

Do you know, after I got out of jail and I actually went and cleaned up the car, that when I cleaned up the car, there was something about it that made me feel better about myself?

It was like a piece of me had been really cleaned out and I started over new Burger King bags, cups, napkins, cans, old, stinky, sticky trash.

You know, I never, I, never, I, never, I never thought that my car was trashy until I saw through the perspective of somebody else.

Never crossed my mind.

I mean, I gave rides to people, y'all.

They got in the back and they just you know the cans are pretty well smashed.

Probably could have got a lot of money out of the recycle thing, but people never said a word.

No one spoke into my life and said hey, man, you need to clean your stuff up.

Allow me to speak into yours today.

If you are harboring unforgiveness, let me speak into you.

You've got to clean your junk up.

You've got to allow the spirit of God to clean your heart out, your mind out, because if you don't, it will not be room for other people to ride with you.

And this is exactly how unforgiveness builds up anger, bitterness, resentment, depression, anxiety.

You won't be able to function properly and still use until you start to clean out the trash.

You see, I've forgotten.

I had gotten so comfortable with the trash riding around with me that I never gave it another thought and I didn't even notice it anymore.

People around me noticed it, but no one said anything.

I had mountains of trash right behind me the whole time and I never took the time to examine my surroundings.

You see, cleaning out your mind, getting rid of the unforgiveness, is an active lifestyle, because if you get complacent on this, you will end up harboring things and they will be living in your rooms in your house and you'll never even realize they're there.

You may even make them a bed, because unforgiveness feels good.

You can feel justified in unforgiveness.

All you have to do to make yourself feel better is start labeling and start naming all the things that they've done to you.

That is so easy to do, to point out what somebody else has done instead of what we're doing.

You got to clean out the trash.

Stop letting trash dwell in your vehicle, and the Bible says it very plainly In Matthew 7, 3 through 5,.

It says why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?

How can you say to your brother, let me get the speck out of your eye, when all the time there is a plank in your own eye?

And Jesus says you hypocrite.

First take the plank out of your own eye and then you will see clearly.

To remove the speck in your brother's eye, you have to get your trash out first before you try to help others with theirs.

On the airplanes they say to secure your mask first and then someone else's, because if you don't do it in that order, you will end up trying to help other people and you will forget about yourself and you won't have the oxygen you need to breathe.

Chances are, when you try to help other people clear out theirs before you clear out yours, you'll end up taking some of theirs and putting it in your car.

You will carry the weight of not only yours but of someone else along with you for the ride, and then you just keep piling not only your trash but someone else's.

That is not the freedom that God has laid out for us in the word of God.

That is not the freedom that the Lord has for you today to be released of this.

Let me speak it more plainly to you Stop telling other people how to take out their trash.

When you won't, the trash will keep collecting and you will be miserable the rest of your life.

I'm not saying this to you to hurt you.

I'm trying to help you that God has not given us a spirit of fear, but he has something better, bigger and stronger for you to become.

If you are not dead, you are not done, and I believe that God works in this way to where, when we feel like we have no other option we have no other thing speaking into our life.

God will send a message like this for you, so that you'll stand up and do what you need to do.

It is painful, it can become miserable.

You have to forgive someone who has done you wrong.

You're justified in feeling this way, but that's the problem.

Once you feel justified, you keep camping there.

If you don't be vigilant in this, the trash will keep collecting and you'll be miserable.

You don't be vigilant in this, the trash will keep collecting and you'll be miserable.

You would have allowed the thief to come and steal your joy and peace.

Those are your God-given rights, through the sacrifice and the blood of Jesus Christ, empowered by the Holy Spirit.

When you make Jesus Christ the Lord of your life, you now are moving past the flesh and on to living in the spirit.

These growing past the old you, and then you start to begin to grow the new you.

Seeds of righteousness begin to be planted and then grow, and that then can take root in the soul of your spirit and you start actively producing the fruits of the spirit, which is what the Christians are supposed to be doing.

We are not here to judge.

We're not.

God is the judge.

That should scare the crap out of you.

I can't stand when people say well, the Lord's my judge.

You, sir, don't understand who God is, because he is righteous and holy, not tainted by the onlook of man, of what we think he's going to be.

Y'all going to be scared when you see him face to face.

The Bible says we will tremble at his majesty.

Moses even hid his face of the glory, just a coat of it.

Oh, god is bigger than we think he is.

He is mightier than we're giving him credit for.

You know that we.

Most of the time it seems that in the church house and in the Christian faith, we end up giving the devil more credit than we give to God.

We have in this house, since I have been here, seen miracles In the middle of worship.

A few weeks ago her psoriasis disappeared.

We're seeing a live working miracle right now.

That was on deathbed and now she is here in church worshiping with us today.

God is alive, he is healing and he is still moving through his people.

But we have got to be willing vessels to take out the trash.

We cannot clean the trash of the church by cleaning others' trash.

You can't.

You have to clean your own.

And when everybody cleans their own, it all comes 100% pure Through the blood of Jesus Christ.

Seeds of righteousness, actively living in the fruits of the Spirit, not talking about them and putting them on a T-shirt.

This is not something that is a game.

The mind is a battlefield and we will lose if we do not live in the fruits of the Spirit, because if these are seeds of righteousness in our hearts and in our minds, these will be what the world sees.

That will then plant more seeds where people come to know Christ.

Nobody's going to come to God with your bitter attitude.

Four C's where people come to know Christ.

Nobody's going to come to God with your bitter attitude.

Your unforgiveness will make you such a bitter person.

You will whine about everything.

You will complain about everything.

We are supposed to be living in grace and mercy towards each other.

That is what the Word of God says Joy, love, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control.

But when I feel justified, I think and I feel with no spirit attached to it and it's just nothing but flesh.

And the more I do this I've told you this before there are two monsters the flesh and the more I do this I told you this before there are two monsters the flesh and the spirit which everyone you feed is the one that's going to grow the most and eventually your flesh will devour your spirit, man, because you are not feeding it properly.

How we view things and other people through the lens of what has happened to us.

Y'all listen, if we only see other people through what has happened to us, we will allow the devil to make camp in our hearts and our minds, because misery loves company.

You ever been in a bad attitude?

I have, and guess what?

We always, always.

There's no exception here.

We always take it out on the people we love the most.

If my wife has had a bad day at work, guess who gets the blunt end of it.

If I've had a bad day, guess who gets the blunt end of it?

My wonderful wife.

She doesn't even know what's happening and all of a sudden I'm spewing out poison, and guess what?

Then she starts spewing it back, because that's the way that type of spirit manifests itself.

If we view people through the lens of what has happened to us, we will never see things clearly.

If we view people through the lens of what has happened to us, we will never see things clearly.

But that same fire that we allow to burn and to keep us warm of unforgiveness will burn down your house.

So here's what the enemy is trying to do.

John 17, 11.

Jesus is praying for his disciples.

This is such a sweet prayer to me.

He says I pray that they are one as we are one.

Jesus is praying of protection and unity for his disciples.

He understands how discord can disrupt the destiny God has paved out for us.

The enemy wants to divide up the camp, to separate believers from each other.

Get this and keep it for later.

Seclusion is the soil where seduction can take root.

If you allow yourself to be secluded by the devil, you can succumb to anything.

If you're not guarding your heart and your mind, your mind will wander.

So if the enemy can divide at the church, he can cause confusion and division.

Unforgiveness is 100% poison.

There's no give room on this.

Unforgiveness in your heart, in your mind, is poison.

I want you to grasp how serious Jesus takes this, this disease called unforgiveness.

In the book of Matthew Jesus says this chapter 6, 14 through 15.

Listen, this is not me saying this.

This is not my opinion.

This is the word of God and what Jesus said.

It's in letters.

Y'all, if you forgive those who sin against you.

Your heavenly Father will forgive you.

Man, that's great, right, it's awesome.

Look at the next verse.

But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins.

This is how serious the poison of unforgiveness is.

It is not a joke.

If you have been hurt y'all.

We live in a real world where children get molested all the time.

Cess trafficking, divorce I mean there are a multitude.

Your parents beat you, your dad was a drunk, there's all kinds of things that people have hidden down in their heart and it plants seed of unforgiveness.

Kinds of things that people have hidden down in their heart and it plants seed of unforgiveness.

We are justified to feel like we have been done wrong, because it is morally and spiritually wrong the things that happen in this fallen world.

But the word of God gives us a revelation to where we can step above that, rise above that and be free of that bondage.

Because you know what, when you're living in unforgiveness, it will never affect the person that you're holding it against, but it will infect your entire mind and your heart and your life and then, like I said a minute ago, it'll pour out on everybody else and you will infect the other people around you.

Misery loves company Y'all.

That's serious.

Jesus don't play.

I don't know if you ever noticed.

I mean you ain't acting right up in the church house.

He'll get you with the cat and nine tails.

He don't play.

I'm telling you now we need some Jesuses up in here.

You know what I'm saying.

To get us back on track, if you skip ahead to Matthew 18, there's a story of the unforgiving servant, and we're going to start in verse 21.

Then Peter came to him and asked Lord, it's so funny.

Okay, we all got church people like this.

You may be one, you probably don't even know it, but listen like when you're asked a question, oh, yes, bless God, I'm highly favored.

You always got like the perfect church answer.

Listen to what Peter says.

Listen, this is good.

Always got like the perfect church answer.

Listen to what Peter says Listen, this is good.

So, lord, how often should I forgive someone who sins against me?

Seven times?

He's all waiting for like a pat on the back and he's like oh, seven times, that's more than one.

Well, in verse 22, he said no, not seven times.

Jesus replied, but 70 times seven.

Therefore, the kingdom of heaven can be compared to a king who decided to bring his accounts up to date with servants who had borrowed money from him Verse 24,.

In the process, one of his debtors was brought in who owed him millions of dollars he couldn't pay.

So his master ordered that he be sold, along with his wife, his children and everything that he owned, to pay the debt.

That's some serious debt.

But the man fell down before his master and begged him.

Please be patient with me, I will pay it all.

Then his master was filled with pity on him and released him and forgave his debt.

That's awesome.

He was about to lose everything, and everything that he was about to lose and everything that he owed completely switched.

His house was restored and the debt was gone.

Jesus did that for us.

Let's go on to 28.

But when the man left the king, he went to a fellow servant who owed him a few thousand dollars.

A few thousand dollars, okay.

You see the big difference.

He was forgiven something like that, and down here he wouldn't forgive somebody else.

He grabbed him by the throat and demanded instant repayment.

Verse 29 says his fellow servant fell down before him and begged for a little more time.

Does that sound familiar?

He literally just did that to someone else to forgive his debt.

But his creditor wouldn't wait.

He had the man arrested and put in a prison until the debt could be paid in full.

When some of the other servants saw this, they were very upset.

They went to the king and told him everything that had happened.

The king called in the man he had forgiven and said you, evil servant, I forgave you that tremendous debt because you pleaded with me.

Shouldn't you have mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had mercy on you?

Then the angry king sent the man to prison to be tortured until he paid every debt.

If we have accepted the gift of Jesus Christ and forgiveness, then we have to stop putting a price tag on the forgiveness to extend to somebody else.

That's tough.

We have to let go of the wrongs we have been done the debt that by all rights should be owed to us.

By all rights.

We deserve an apology and it better be heartfelt and filled with Andy's ice cream.

Filled and filled with Andy's ice cream.

I'm telling you we deserve to be pampered and our feet kissed because of what they did to us.

But that's how we feel.

And Jesus said I knew you and I still forgave you.

I knew you and I still paid what you owed and could not pay.

We have to stop adding up the debt.

Someone owes us that we feel that we are owed and forgive them as God forgave us.

This is how serious forgiveness is to Jesus, the one who gave his life to forgive us.

Thanks, forgiveness.

Is this serious?

But he's.

You know, the enemy is not worried about us gathering, he's not, doesn't scare him one bit.

He is worried about us uniting.

It's a big difference when we get in one mind and one accord.

The enemy knows that we, as children of God, when we start to forgive each other or forgive people outside of the church or whatever like that, sets a freedom atmosphere in the church that cannot be given any other way.

The enemy knows that that is an unstoppable force and he shakes in his boots.

If he can get you in the valley of forgiveness, he can get you so bitter to distract you.

You'll miss your purpose and you will miss God's promise that he's trying to lead you to.

What have you allowed to poison your heart and your mind and your spirit?

Allowed to poison your heart and your mind and your spirit?

Sometimes it's forgiving someone who's hurt you, but sometimes it's forgiving yourself.

I have struggled with this so hard because I know what I have done.

I know better than my wife and I've told her almost everything, better than my wife and I've told her almost everything.

I know the secret, dark parts of my heart and Jesus still forgives me.

The biggest part of unforgiveness is sometimes turning around and saying I forgive you, bow your heads and if you were under the sound of my voice and you have been letting unforgiveness make camp in your house, I want you to think right now about that person or that situation.

Don't shout it out, but I want you in your mind.

I want it today to set you free.

I want you to, in your mind, say their name and after you speak their name in your mind, I want you to speak I forgive you.

This will probably change nothing on their end they're still going to be the same jerk they were but it will set you free in a way that you have never experienced before.

I forgive you, I forgive before.

I forgive you, I forgive you, I forgive you.

It may be hard to do it the first time around.

You may have to make this your mantra every day and repeat it, and repeat it, and repeat it until you believe in your heart and your mind that you do forget them and the bondage will be gone.

Today's message is not about someone else.

It's about you, not about someone else.

It's about you Setting you free.

It will not change them, but it will change everything about you.

You will be free from the bondage of unforgiveness.

Be free, be free.

Be free right now, in the name of Jesus.

Be free.

Start to live in the freedom God has for you.

He did not bring you here to stay here.

He brought you here so he can bring you through.

Allow the spirit to lead you through.

Be free in the name of Jesus.

Don't let yesterday's hurt keep you from today's victory, and it will.

You will be in a constant state of bondage.

Yesterday's hurt keep you from today's victory, and it will.

You will be in a constant state of bondage and always be in your mind surrounded by this unforgiveness.

It will be the trash in the backseat of your mind for the rest of your life.

Be free.

I forgive you While your heads are bowed and your eyes are closed.

I don't want to leave a service without offering up.

If you do not know the personal salvation of Jesus Christ, just slip your hand up and say I need prayer.

If you're online, type it in the chat.

That's me.

I need Jesus, I need a savior, I need to understand what that forgiveness means.

Just slip your hand up and write back down.

I just want to give the opportunity before we leave.

Just up and down.

Jesus, I need you, I need that forgiveness, I need to understand your forgiveness.

Just slip it up and right back down.

Father Lord, thank you for your spirit here today.

I ask, lord, right now, that you bring a freedom to the bondage of unforgiveness.

That, lord, those who have not accepted you that they accept you.

Those who have not received your freedom and your forgiveness, god, that they receive it today, that they understand truly who you are and what forgiveness looks like and what it is to free themselves from that bondage of unforgiveness.

In the name of Jesus, we lift up those who do not know you, lord, god, bring their hearts to a place of repentance and turn from who they were and be reborn in who you are.

That they are no longer themselves but God.

Those seeds of righteousness be planted in our hearts and in our minds so that we can live out the glory of God through us, that we can be people that forgive, full and overflowing with forgiveness and fruit to the spirit, towards each other and towards the sinner God, that they may be drawn unto you by us being free.

That they experience the freedom through what we have experienced here today.

In your precious name we pray amen.