Finding Freedom Through Forgiveness

Oh, crossing family. I am so glad that you are here.

I want to begin with a little story.

Some of you already know it. In the late 1800s, there were

two families occupying the border towns of Kentucky and

West Virginia, and one family was accused of stealing the

other family's pig. You can imagine how big of a

deal this was. In fact, it went to trial and

the family that was accused of stealing the pig, they were

actually acquitted and they were able to go free.

This angered the family who lost their pig and so they took

revenge by killing a trial witness for the accused people

who they accused of stealing the pig.

So this led to a fight between the two families where the

accused family actually lost another family member.

So they went out and executed three of the people that accused

them for stealing the pigs. In response, the accused family

surrounded the cabin of the accusers, set fire to it, and

killed two more of the family members who'd lost the pig.

Eventually, state militias had to be intervened and put an end

to the 11 year squabble between the two families.

The name of the families? The Hatfields and the Mccoys.

When the dust settled, the two family members had lost 12, or

the two families had lost 12 family members over a pig.

Today we are going to talk about forgiveness and I want to

welcome all of you joining from all of our different locations.

Those of you who are watching online and inside, we are so

glad that we get to partner with you.

We had such a powerful weekend as we celebrated Easter as a

church and I want to encourage you not to give up the ground

you've taken if you came for the first time.

Keep it up. God's up to something.

If you served for the first time, keep it up.

God wants to do a work through you.

If you prayed at the steps for the first time, keep praying.

If you invited somebody, keep inviting.

Satan wants to knock us off our path and to get us to stop

moving in the direction of Jesus.

However, in his desire to rob you of your purpose, to blind

you from God's plan, He only has power to do that if you allow

it. And there is an incredible team

of staff and difference makers at all of our different campuses

who would love an opportunity to join you, to encourage you to

cheer you on as you move forward.

Last week we started a brand new series entitled Jesus Is Better

Than You Thought with the tagline God's Way is the best

Way and there might be some of you who are going.

I don't want to give up the life that I'm living and you're

going. It's not that.

I think that the life I'm living is all that fantastic and all

that fulfilling. I just don't know if there's any

better options than to live life on my own terms.

Some of you, you're think you're looking at following Jesus and

you're going, that's kind of a downgrade and my life's already

kind of bad. So I don't really want to take,

you know, another step back. Some of you, when you look at a

life of following Jesus, you see it as limiting.

You see it as restrictive. Some of you might be thinking

about Jesus and you're going, yeah, I'd live for that, but I

think that's completely archaic and out of touch.

How can something that was founded, you know, thousands of

years ago be relevant to what I'm doing today?

But what if following Jesus is actually way better than you've

ever thought? What if God's way really is the

best way? Not just in like 1 area of your

life or two areas of your life, but absolutely every area of

your life. I'm convinced of it.

In fact, next week I'm going to be talking about what do you do

when you've messed up? What do you do when you've

failed? How many of us at our different

locations, you know, somebody who's messed up?

Yeah, you drove them here, right?

We get it. And some of you right now you're

in the middle of a mess up. You're right in the thick of it.

You're navigating stuff at home. You're navigating a failure

maybe in your marriage or your parenting or at work.

Some of you, if you were to be honest, you've had some pretty

substantial failures when it comes to relationships or faith.

Some of you are actually in a battle in your faith right now.

What do you do when you find yourself at the bottom of a hole

you never intended to dig? Well, I'm going to answer all of

those questions next week, and if you're the kind of person who

goes that would register with me, you'd be a perfect candidate

show for church next weekend. Because I am thoroughly

convinced that when you failed, God's way is the best way.

But today I want to talk to you about what do you do when you've

been hurt? Is God's way really the best

way? When someone has harmed you,

Hurt you? You guys know this.

The longer you live, the more pain you'll experience, the more

hurtful and harmful situations you will have to navigate.

And when these things happen, you have two choices.

You can either withhold forgiveness or you can give

forgiveness. And to not make a choice is to

make a choice. And it should come as no

surprise to many of you that when you have been hurt, when

you have gone through a harmful situation, God's way, God's

path, God's best for you is for us to be in the forgiveness

business. Now, I already know what some of

you are getting ready to e-mail me, Clayton.

You don't know what I have been through.

And I want you to know you're right.

I don't know what you're what you've been through.

I don't even know what you're going through.

But I'm going to circle back to that pain in just a little bit.

So if you would just let me talk to you for like 15 minutes, then

we'll circle back to the exact thing that you're navigating.

What I want to do is I just want to spend a little bit of time

exploring what forgiveness is, not what forgiveness is.

And the reason I want to do that is I want us to establish some

boundaries because every person needs boundaries.

Unhealthy people have either no boundaries what so whatsoever or

they are completely walled off from everybody.

They either let people walk all over them and everybody has

access to every part of them, or they have walled themselves off

so that nobody can get in. Both of those are unhealthy

people. Healthy people have very clear

boundaries. Imagine your social life.

Your emotional life should look a lot like your house.

You probably have a fence. You probably have a gate.

Hopefully your house has doors and windows.

And there are clear ways for people to enter into your home.

And when someone tries to come in through the window or by

beating down the door, that is not a friend, that is an enemy.

And you should be able to distinguish that.

A wise person has the ability for people to come in, but they

have to come in the right way. You can give unconditional love

without giving unrestricted access.

Some people, when we're following Jesus, we're trying to

be everything we can be for God and everything we can be for the

people around us. And we somehow think that I can.

If I really love people, I can let them into every area of my

life as often as they want to come in.

That is not healthy. Those are not good boundaries.

The wisest man born outside of Jesus writes these words in

Proverbs Chapter 4. Above all else, guard your

Proverbs 4 · chapter mention

Everybody say that word heart, for it is the wellspring of

life. He's saying put some boundaries

around it, station some people to guard it, to protect it.

And one of the ways that we guard our heart is by

establishing really clear boundaries.

In fact, Psalm, one verse one says blessed is the man who

doesn't walk in the counsel of the wicked, stand in the way of

sinners or sit in the seat of mockers.

What he's saying is as you walk, as you stand, as you sit, you

should pay attention to those people.

And if they're not the right people, you should have the

wisdom to step aside. Proverbs 1320 says He who walks

with the wise grows wise, but a companion of fools suffers harm.

So you should have some boundaries about who you let

into your heart. There can be boundaries about

who you allow into your life. And when it comes to

forgiveness, there are clear boundaries.

So let's talk about what forgiveness is not.

Let's get rid of all the bad teaching that's out there.

So the first one is forgiveness is not denying or diminishing

the sin. The last thing that forgiveness

is, is acting like the thing didn't happen in the 1st place.

That is one of the dumbest things that you could ever ask

someone to do, Man, I I it's not that big of a deal.

No, no, no, no, no, no. It's a really big deal to me.

It really, really hurt. And when someone comes along and

goes Oh well, it's just not that big of a deal.

What you want to do is figure out if you can get forgiveness

from God for punching that person in the face, right?

Oh, it's not that big of a deal. Well, it didn't happen to you,

did it? I'm sorry.

Jesus, heal their bloody nose, OK?

Forgiveness is not covering up a sin.

You can still call the cops. You can still press charges.

You can still tell somebody that it happened and forgive an

abuser. A person who intentionally harms

would get you to think that if you've really forgiven them,

which is your obligation, that there are no more earthly

consequences. Those are two completely

separate issues. Forgiveness and justice are

different. God tells us to walk in the

light because he is in the light, and God is not honored

when we push things into the corner, sweep them under the

rug, or keep them in the shadows.

You can forgive somebody and still tell on somebody.

Forgiveness. This one's going to frustrate

him is not a response to an apology.

Parents, this is what we do a lot of times.

Your two kids punching each other, or one punches the other

one and then we say say you're sorry and then we turn to the

other kid and go, what do you say?

I forgive you. We have literally just taught

our kids an unbiblical principle when it comes to forgiveness.

Forgiveness does not require them to be sorry.

It doesn't even require a conversation.

If you are waiting for someone to say that they are sorry

before you grant forgiveness, some of you will be waiting

forever. A Harvard study shows that 52%

of people reported receiving an apology from the person who had

wronged them. What that would mean is that if

God tells us that we are supposed to be in the

forgiveness business, and if we are supposed to wait until they

actually say they're sorry before we can obey God, that

means that our ability to obey God is limited by the sinful

behavior and the pride of the person who abused you or

offended you. What that means is you can

forgive somebody regardless of whether or not they ever say

that they're sorry. So think about this parenting.

One kid hits the other kid and you look at the little kid.

You're going to have to forgive him.

He hasn't said he's sorry yet. I know life sucks you.

You better get right with God before your mom gets home.

That's the second coming of Christ.

Mom coming home. Forgiveness is not forgetting.

One of the dumbest lines you will ever hear somebody say is

forgive and forget. When you hear that from

somebody, that is a foolish person and you should not give

them authority in your life because what they are doing is

they are speaking horrible things into you.

How could you possibly forget? Some of the things that have

been done to you have been unbelievably painful.

And so somehow my ability to forgive somebody is now tied to

whether or not I can forget the traumatic experience.

That's foolish. Forgiveness is not trusting.

You can forgive somebody and never trust them again.

Sometimes we think, well, if I really forgive them, then we can

have our life completely back to the way it used to be.

No, you can forgive someone and never put yourself in an unsafe

position again. You may never trust them again.

However, even though you don't trust them, you can still

forgive them. I'm going to unpack this a

little bit more in this next one because forgiveness is not

reconciliation. Those are two different things.

You can forgive someone and never be friends again.

Reconciliation requires 2 people and everybody has to do their

part. It is very possible, and maybe

highly probable for many of you that some of the people who have

hurt you, some of the people that have harmed you, your

future with them will never look like your past.

You might be going. If I really, really forgive

them, then we'll be the same friends we used to be.

That might not be the case. Our relationship will get

restored to what it once was. That might be the case.

But forgiveness and reconciliation are different

things. Because in order for there to be

reconciliation, there has to be an apology.

And that apology has to come with repentance.

And you might be going, well, how do I know if they truly

repented? Here's what I'll tell you.

This is what I've learned even inside of our our church as

we're leading staff and stuff, genuine repentance is impossible

to hide. It's when a person is imposing

things on themselves instead of pushing back on everything that

you impose on them, they are truly and meaningfully sorrowful

over their behavior. They're not trying to get out of

consequences. They're not trying to stop

people from punishing them or bringing stuff to the light.

They are overwhelmed by the weight of what they have done

and they are going, I want to do everything that I need to do to

make things right. That's genuine repentance.

You can spot a person who is going in One Direction.

Repentance is turning. You can see a person who is

genuinely turning. So if that is what forgiveness

is not, then what is forgiveness?

Well, one of the things about forgiveness is forgiveness is

removing their control. When you forgive somebody, you

are releasing them from having control over your life.

You are no longer allowing their words or their actions to

control your identity, your thoughts, your emotions, your

activities. You are, and I'm using this

word, intentionally divorcing yourself from their power over

you. Somebody said a incredibly

hurtful thing over your life at some point in time, and that

thing that they said has defined you and it is still defining you

today. Which means you have not truly

forgiven them. Because when you truly forgive

them, you are releasing their identity, or the identity that

they spoke over you. You are releasing yourself from

it. You are divorcing yourself from

it. Forgiveness is forsaking

revenge. It is a way for you and I to

leave room for God to issue justice.

You are saying I am not going to get even.

You are looking at the person who offended you and hurt you

and you are saying you do not need to fear me.

We are no longer at war. You may still experience the

justice of God, but I am not going to get revenge.

You may still get justice in the courts, but you are not trying

to get even or pay them back. Romans chapter 12 says.

Romans 12 · chapter mention

Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath,

for it is written, it is mine to avenge.

I will repay, says the Lord. Forgiveness is a gift.

It is a gift that benefits boast both the Harmer and the harmed.

It benefits the abuser and the abused.

It releases them from your wrath, and it releases you from

bitterness. When something bad happens to

you and you begin to feel the weight of this, we will desire

to punish them. When we give them a gift, we are

no longer seeking their punishment.

But you know what else we're doing?

We're releasing ourselves from the bondage of bitterness.

We all know somebody who never fully forgave, and they became

bitter over time and they punished all people for one

person's behavior and bitterness took over.

I wonder how many of us would be way quicker to forgive people if

we saw it as a gift that we were giving ourselves and our future

forgiveness is canceling a debt. In fact, the Bible uses the word

forgiveness in a variety of different ways.

It uses words like leaving behind, letting go, abandoning,

pardoning, divorcing, and cancelling.

It carries with it some financial overtones.

In other words, you are looking at the person who hurt you, and

you are saying you owe me and it cost me dearly and I am

canceling. I am forgiving the debt

emotionally, spiritually, physically.

You are abandoning the event, you are letting go of it, and

you are moving past it now. I'm not an idiot.

Neither are you. The smaller the pain, the easier

it is to do this. But the deeper the pain, the

larger the offense, the harder this is to do.

Forgiveness is both a decision and a process.

You are making up your mind to let go and then over time you

are moving away. Now, time has no magical

properties. It just takes some time to move

on. You are distancing yourself,

distancing your identity, distancing your emotions from

the event. And when you're here and you're

beginning the process of forgiving, here is what you're

typing into your GPS now this is going to mess with you, but just

bear with me. What you're typing in your GPS

as a future destination for you is I want to get to a place

where I genuinely want good things for them.

That takes time to let go of what happened and move to a

place where one day you are wanting good things for the

people that did bad things to you, and your ability to want

good things for them is an indicator of how well you have

forgiven them. So why should you do this?

Why is forgiveness so important? Why is God's way actually the

best way for us? Because forgiveness is the

pathway for a better quality of life and a longer life.

How many of you at all of our different locations raise your

hand if you'd like to have a better quality of life.

If you didn't, raise your hand, It's a little concerning how

many of you would like to live a longer life if you didn't raise

your hand. Glad you're here.

Make sure you get right with God before you leave.

John Hopkins medicine states that chronic anger resulting

from unforgiveness puts you into fight or flight mode.

This results in changes in your heart rate, blood pressure, and

immune response. It increases the risk of

depression, heart disease and diabetes.

You might be going Clayton, how did you become such a forgiving

person? It's because I like Donuts, and

that's going to be my risk for diabetes.

It's not going to be unforgiveness.

I had to pick one. Mayo Clinic states that when you

bring anger and bitterness into new relationships as a result of

being unforgiving, you will lose valuable enriching and enriching

connections with others. However, when you choose to

forgive, it creates healthier relationships.

Improved mental health lowers blood pressure, provides a

stronger immune system. You get less sick, and you get

sick less often. Better heart health lowers the

risk of heart attack, improves cholesterol, creates less

stress, and gives you better sleep.

In fact, the research points to an increase in the forgiveness

health connection as you age. Remember what I said earlier,

that the longer you live the more pain and hurt you will

experience? And their research indicates

that as you age, if you would put yourself in the I've aged

category, you self identify no emails.

That the longer you live the more there is a correlation

between your health and your ability and capacity to forgive.

In short, when you and I choose to withhold forgiveness, we are

making the quality of our life worse, the length of our life

shorter. What that means is, is that we

are taking an event from our past and we are allowing it to

dilute the quality of our life in the present and reduce the

length of our future as Christians.

This is an exchange we cannot possibly make.

Like I said, God's way is the best way, but it doesn't just

impact your relationship with the people around you, and it

doesn't just impact the quality of your life and the length of

your life. Forgiveness impacts our

relationship with God. In fact, Jesus tells an

incredibly scary story in Matthew chapter 18 says

Matthew 18 · chapter mention

Therefore, the Kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to

settle accounts with his servants.

As he began the settlement, a man who owed him 10,000 bags of

gold was brought to him. Since he was not able to pay,

the master offered or ordered that he and his wife and his

children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.

At this the servant fell on his knees before him.

Be patient with me, he begged. I will pay back everything.

The servants master took pity on him, cancelled the debt and let

him go. But when that servant went out,

he found one of his fellow servants who owed him 100 silver

coins. He grabbed him 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 back the debt. When the other servants saw what

had happened, they were outraged, and they went and told

the master, the king, everything that had happened.

When the master called the servant in You.

Wicked servant, he said. I canceled all of that debt of

yours because you begged me to. Shouldn't you have 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.

Here's the warning. This is how my Heavenly Father

will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or

sister from your heart. Let's unpack the story.

In this story, God is the king. He's the master.

And you and I are the ones who owe the king 10,000 bags of gold

or 1000 bags of gold, which in today's currency.

I did the math this week because I was born is $11 billion.

Raise your hand if you have $11 billion.

If you raise your hand, call me. I have some projects I'd like to

talk to you about. OK, now question.

If none of you raised your hands, how would you pay back

that debt? Do you have any chance of being

able to pay that back? You begged, You got on your

knees, you looked at the king, and you said, hey, please,

please just give me some time. You don't have $11 billion worth

of time. You have a 0% chance of paying

you back, and so God Forgives your $11 billion debt.

How would you feel? How fired up and excited would

you be? And then you walk outside and

you see somebody who owes you. Get this 11 grand.

Pause. 11 grand is not an insignificant amount.

There's real hurt there. It was costly. 11 grand is not

easy to come by and you see somebody who's hurt you to the

tune of $11,000. And what do we do?

We withhold forgiveness and we say you are not getting out from

underneath my thumb until you pay me back all $11,000.

And then the world notices that you were forgiven 11 billion and

you were squabbling with a guy who owed you a million times

less. Sometimes I think it's

Christians. I just want to talk to the

Christians for a second. This is where we struggle

because we have a very limited view of the cross.

And when you have a limited view of the cross, you have a limited

view of God. And when you have a limited view

of God, you have a limited view of his love for you and you have

a limited view of the sin that you have committed against him.

We see the difference between US and God as 18 inches.

And so when we talk about the glory of the cross, we're like,

well, the cross was only 18 inches.

It wasn't that far of a chasm between where we are and where

God is. But if you don't see God in all

of His Holiness, in all of his perfection and all of his

righteousness, and you see yourself as a pretty good

person, you don't see the chasm as being that far.

So you don't realize how much Jesus did on your behalf, how

much God actually forgave in you.

You don't glory in the cross because you don't actually think

you need it. And so the cross becomes smaller

and smaller as we have a smaller and smaller view of our sin and

a smaller and smaller view of God's holiness.

But the chasm between who we have been and who God is is $11

billion wide. The debt that we owe is

unpayable and when you see what you have been truly forgiven of,

it will change how you forgive. What's the goal?

The goal is for you and I to become more and more like Jesus.

There's this interesting side note that takes place during the

crucifixion of Jesus on the cross.

This what it says in Luke chapter 23.

Luke 23 · chapter mention

Two other men, both criminals, were also LED out with him to be

executed. When they came to the place

called the skull. They crucified him there along

with the criminals 1 to his right and the other on his left.

Jesus said father forgive them for they do not know what they

are doing. He's looking at the Roman

soldiers who've been hitting him, beating him, making fun of

him. He's looking at those who've

been nailing his hands and his feet to the cross.

He's been looking at the people who have wrapped the crown of

thorns and placed it on his head.

He's looking at the crowds of people who shouted crucify him,

crucify him. He's looking at the religious

leaders of the day who are mocking him and saying if you

really are the son of God, come off the cross and Jesus is

going, father, forgive them for they don't know what they're

doing. That's the target on the wall

for us, that when somebody hurts us, when somebody harms us, we

are going, God forgive them, they don't know what they're

doing and you might be going, this is impossible.

It's not Six months later, in the very same town in Jerusalem,

a Jesus follower by the name of Stephen who had been selected as

a leader in the church, was captured and falsely accused.

Stephen took the opportunity to preach to them the good news

about Jesus, and while he was preaching, the people around him

became angered and incensed. Acts Chapter 7 records it

Acts 7 · chapter mention

starting in verse 57. At this they covered their ears

and they started yelling at the top of their voices.

They all rushed at him, dragged him out of the city, and began

to stone him. That's where you throw rocks at

somebody until they die. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid

their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul.

While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed.

Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And then he fell on his knees

and he cried out. Check this.

Lord, do not hold this sin against them.

And when he had said this, he fell asleep.

You might ask how did Stephen do this?

It was because of who was in Stephen.

Hear me, the forgiveness that we are talking about today is not

possible on your own power. It is not possible on your own

strength. But when you come into an

intimate personal relationship with Jesus Christ, the Word of

God promises that we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

That the power of the Holy Spirit takes up residence in us.

That the very same power that raised Jesus from the dead

becomes available to you and I, which means you have the power

to forgive people like never before.

Let me explain. This is a juicer.

I've only heard stories about these because Mountain Dew, it

comes pre juiced. That's how I get my citrus

flavors. And as you go through life, you

are going to be pressed and you are going to be crushed.

And the longer you live, the more experiences like this

you'll have. Some of you, you are doing

pretty good right now, but your crushing's coming.

Some of you, you're in the middle of it right now and

you're going, it is unbearable. Some of you, you just came out

of it. And that cycle is going to

repeat itself over and over and over again.

Anybody know what this is? We got a good zoom lime.

I didn't know I was asking. Thank you.

What's this Lemon. OK, we just have the bottles.

So I've never seen these in real form.

Who has a lime tree, you know what I mean?

And. And what is this?

OK, So what happens when you squeeze an orange?

What kind of juice comes out? OK, we got the best and the

brightest Juice comes out, man. We're tracking what comes out

when you squeeze an orange. What comes out when you scream?

Squeeze the lime good. You guys are getting super good.

And So what comes out when you get squeezed?

Some of you fear. To be honest, what's been coming

out of you is not of God. But when you get squeezed, what

should come out is Christ, because Christ is in you.

And when you get crushed, when you get pressed, when you get

hurt, when you get harmed. And what comes out of you is

bitterness and rage and revenge. Alarm bells should start going

off inside, because we serve one who died, and in the midst of

his death ask for the forgiveness of those who were

killing him. You and I are going to get

crushed and pressed, but you know what happens if we are in a

right relationship with Jesus Christ.

It isn't easy, but it is possible.

The love of Christ, the fruit of the Spirit, come out and the

rest of the world takes notice. I'm not just asking you to do it

for the sake of the gospel. I'm not just asking you to do it

for the cause of Christ. I'm asking us to be in the

forgiveness business because it's also good for you.

It is God's best way. We're moving to a time of

decision to those of you who are here or watching online who

haven't started an intimate personal relationship with Jesus

Christ. Perhaps that reason might be

because you don't think you need forgiveness.

Or maybe you can't forgive yourself.

But Acts Chapter 3 says this Repent then and turn to God so

Acts 3 · chapter mention

that your sins may be wiped out and that times of refreshing may

come from the Lord. And if you're here today and

you've never started that intimate personal relationship

with Jesus Christ, your sins have not been wiped out and you

are not going to experience a refreshing that comes from the

Lord. And so I would encourage you to

not just do your family a favor, but to do yourself a favor and

get right with God. You might be gone, but, Clayton,

you don't know what I've done. You're right.

I don't. I don't have to know what you've

done because I know what Christ did.

And the Bible teaches that God is all knowing that nothing is

hidden from him. You're not going to surprise him

when you go, hey, God, these are some of the sins I need to be

forgiven for. He's not going to go.

What? I did not see that coming.

He's like, yeah, I was. I saw that.

And when you were doing it, I was like, you know what?

Jesus cover it. And he didn't.

And I'm like, yeah, but there's stuff from my, like, way past.

Yeah. Just like, well, I'm an eternal

God. So I was on it before you ever

committed it. Something wrong with Clayton.

I'm in the middle of it right now.

I just want you to know God wasn't going, Oh my goodness,

you still sin. He's like, I know my grace is

sufficient for you. Some of you might be going, but

I'm pretty sure I'm a screw up tomorrow because I'm right on

the edge of winning my bracket and if I lose I'm probably going

to anger cuss. I want you to know God already

knows the score. He already knows your bracket is

going to get further busted. He already knows that the person

knows nothing about sports is going to taunt you to on Tuesday

because they won, which is how you win the bracket the The most

uneducated people win March Madness.

So if you're at the top of your bracket, we just know you don't

like sports. I bet you play a killer trumpet.

Like I bet you are one of the best clarinet players ever.

And God already knows the score. God already knows you're going

to cuss and God's already going. I'm still rooting for you.

Is he OK with the cussing? Of course not.

But if God was wanting perfect people, he wouldn't find any.

God's after saved people, people who've turned their life over to

his Son Jesus and allowed the Holy Spirit to take up residence

in their life. That's what he's after, and that

could be you today. And if you're in that spot, I'm

going to encourage you to take one of the most important walks

you'll ever take. When everybody else around you

stands and sings and some of them come to the steps and pray,

I'm going to encourage you to take a walk from whatever seat

you're in and walk right over there, underneath that screen,

right next to the baptistery. And there will be people there

who would love a chance to talk with you and to start answering

some of the questions that you have to those of you in the room

who are Christians, We must be in the forgiveness business.

We should be known for it. And I know that right now there

are situations that are running through your mind from the past

and the ones that you're going through right now, it's going to

be hard to forgive. So what I'm going to ask you to

do if today you're carrying an offence, would you spend some

time on your knees praying that God would give you the strength

to forgive it? Would you spend some time

praying for the good of those who harmed you?

Pray that when pressed, the forgiveness of Christ flows out.

I can't think of a better way to respond.

So would you join me? Would you stand?

Please, Heavenly Father, burdens could be lifted right now in

ways that have never been lifted before God.

People could get a fresh start on life.

They could go home being the husband and father and wife and

mother that their family has desperately needed them to be,

and they couldn't become it because they were just covered

and trapped in bitterness. But God, I'm asking that today,

by the power of your spirit, you would release its hold on their

life. God, that we would become a

community of believers who are known for our capacity to

forgive. That you would give us the

testimony of Stephen, that we would become like you when we

face hardship and adversity. And your name I pray.

Amen.