Inked Part 4 | How Can I Forgive? with Chris Schlotterbeck

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and enjoy the message. Hey, good morning everyone.

So good to hear you laughing at Frank and all

of our announcements. I just want to encourage

you. We do do announcements to inform you of

everything that is happening in our community

of faith. So be sure to check them out and read

all the things that are happening. So before

we get started, May happens to be National Teachers

and Nurses Month in the United States. And we

want to honor you and recognize you. If you are

a teacher or a nurse or have something to do

in the medical profession, would you please stand?

Please. And guess what? We have a gift for you.

Please stay standing. We honor you. Thank you

for serving. Thank you for serving our local

community. Thank you for serving our children.

Thank you for all that you do in terms of making

this world a better place. Also, an additional

announcement that wasn't in on our tie -dye news

network. Bob and Dodie feel called to launch

a singles group. So if you happen to be single,

unmarried, you can visit the Welcome Hub. And

please notice what I said, a singles group. Everyone

say singles. That has nothing to do with dating.

All right. So just to get that out there on the

forefront. Not that they don't ever want to be

in a relationship and be married, but this group

is strictly for singles that are looking to further

a relationship with Jesus and to talk about God

and all that he's doing in their life. So if

you're interested in that group, they'll be launching

it soon. Stop by the Welcome Hub, get your name

down, and they will be sure to reach out. So

before we jump into our final talk of our series

called Inked and be discussing different tattoos

from our partners, I just felt inclined that

we open in prayer and ask God to come. Come and

search our hearts. So Holy Spirit, come. God,

we're just thankful for this day. We're thankful

for Memorial Day weekend to kick off the summer,

God. We just ask that your hand would be upon

every word that I speak, God. May they be your

words, not mine. And more importantly, open our

hearts and our minds to receive all that you

have for us, God. May we leave this place changed.

May we leave this place better than when we came

in. In Jesus' name, amen. All right, so about

a year and a half ago, while doing laundry, that's

right, laundry, like a normal Monday morning,

I was switching the wet clothes from the washer

to the dryer so that they could dry. And suddenly,

in doing so, my back locked up, and I found myself

on my hands and knees for about 10 minutes in

excruciating pain. As I slowly began to sit up,

trying to figure out what I did that would have

caused so much pain and discomfort, I never figured

it out. But just like Chris, I went on about

my day and just pushed through. I approached

this back injury like I do most everything in

my life. I can handle the pain, and eventually,

you know something? It's just going to get better.

The problem is, it never got better. The discomfort

moved from my back, down my leg, into my foot,

and to this day still affects my everyday life.

Eight months after the injury, yes, I'm hard

-headed, I finally went to the doctor because

I tried physical therapy, a chiropractor, and

stretch after stretch after stretch. An MRI soon

revealed that I had a disc bulge that hit up

against nerves down in the lower part of my back.

I'm happy to report that the disc seems to have

returned to normal and my back is strong, but

nerves can take up to two years to fully heal

if they ever heal at all. Now, I find myself

struggling with a past hurt that still hurts.

I find myself struggling with a past hurt that

still hurts. And I can't walk in the freedom

to do everything that I want to do every single

day. Before the injury, I ran my first half marathon.

Since the injury, I've only been able to walk

because jogging or running is very difficult

when your right foot is partially numb. You don't

know exactly where it's going to hit or where

it's going to land. I don't have the freedom

to do everything that I want to do because I

am struggling with a past hurt that still hurts.

Well, here's the reality, HTV. Our minds and

our souls are very similar to this injury. See,

we can experience all of this while having one

of the best days of our life. Picture it. Everything's

going right. We're smiling. We're happy. We're

full of energy. And then suddenly, out of nowhere,

we hear something. And we go from being real

happy to real sad in the split second. We can

hear someone's name mentioned and our day is

ruined. We can see a post on social media or

read a comment and our memory is triggered. We

hear about an event, we drive by a place, we

listen to a song, and all of a sudden we go from

real happy to real sad. And we're left wondering,

what just happened? Well, those instances are

called triggers. And those triggers remind us

that we have a past hurt, That still hurts. And

that pain hasn't been dealt with correctly because

it still hurts. The song we listened to, it wasn't

that big of a deal. What that person said to

us was not worth ruining in our day or our week.

See, these instances were not where the injury

happened. They just triggered the emotion that

reminded us that a past hurt that is still hurting

today. And if that past hurt is hurting, we can't

walk in the freedom that God wants us to walk

in. And this is where we find ourselves as I

share our first tattoo. Let's take a look. Amber

writes, I got this tattoo to cover up the one

I originally got for my oldest daughter who was

adopted. It was done by a street artist and I

chose to cover it with flowers that represent

multiple loved ones. The forget -me -nots are

for my daughter but also my foster mother who

never forgot me even when I made it very hard

to love me. The roses are for my grandmother

that I never got to see after I went into the

system. See, she called CPS on my mother. Her

actions both saved me and caused me terrible

heartache. Her favorite song was The Rose. The

roses are also for my mom whose favorite color

is purple. I loved her and forgave her a long

time ago. She did the best she could and has

overcome many hardships. The sunflowers are for

my great -grandmother. I miss her dearly. She

and my grandmother created the best memories

I have before going into the system. This tattoo

is a reminder of people I not only love, but

whose stories are important. Those stories are

a part of where I've been and what God's brought

me through. So as I was reading that testimony

from Amber, I began to reflect on the pain and

the experiences that all of us have as we walk

through this journey called life. We are a broken

people living in a broken world. And as we interact

with one another, chances are hurts and pains

are going to result. But quite often what happens

is we get hurt and we don't deal with it. Because

it's too painful or we don't know what to do.

Then that hurt, unfortunately, turns to anger.

Then that anger over time turns to bitterness.

And then bitterness turns into what the Bible

refers to as a hardened heart. And this hardened

heart changes the way we live. It changes our

insecurities, how we interact with people. It

changes who we let into our life. And it changes

who we trust and how we treat others. Have you

ever lost it and snapped on someone and then

24 hours later you're like, that was completely

an overreaction. Then as we reflect, we realize,

well, they didn't show us the respect that we

deserved or we didn't feel valued. And they touched

on something or triggered something from our

past causing this sharp response over a hurt

that we experienced years ago. It's that hurt.

that still hurts, and it changes who we are as

people. And God says, I don't want you to live

that way anymore. I don't want you to explode

on people. See, those past hurts keep us from

responding to the call that God has on our lives.

He keeps us from walking in the peace, the love,

the joy, and the confidence that God wants us

to walk in. See, God has a prescription for our

past hurts, which leads us to our first thought.

See, forgiveness is... freedom. Forgiveness equals

freedom. Let's read Ephesians 4, 31 to 32. Get

rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words,

and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior.

Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted,

and here it is, forgiving one another, just as

God through Christ has forgiven you. See, the

great physician says, if you want To go through

the process of healing wounds, I have the answer

for you. It's called forgiveness. See, we know

that just trying to walk out forgiveness, it's

a painful process. But I believe it's a process

that is worth it. And not only that, it's one

that's commanded. Look at Colossians 3, 12 to

13. Since God chose you to be the holy people

he loves, you must close yourselves with a tenderhearted

mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.

Make allowance for each other's faults and forgive

anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave

you, so you must forgive others. And I get it.

This is a difficult subject. Some of you are

thinking, Chris, it's the kickoff of summer.

Forgiveness? Really? Because I know as soon as

I mention that whole word, some of us get defensive.

Emotions can even... In fact, some of you are

so wounded, you know, so hurt that when someone

even mentions the word forgiveness, you want

to throw it out and fight. You're like, I'm not

going there. I've tried. It's too hard. It's

too painful. You don't know what I've been through.

And I don't. I don't know all the pain you've

experienced in this life. I understand that you've

been through painful and traumatic circumstances.

And I want to acknowledge that. In fact, just

this week. I was accused in an email to Little

League International that I don't care about

children. I only care about winning. And this

is a direct quote from that email that was sent

to Little League International. He should be

in jail with how he runs that Little League.

It's disgusting, despicable behavior. So when

receiving that email from Little League International,

I understand that situations happen to everyone.

In fact, I was attacked for simply serving our

community and making it a better place. And you

know what happened in my heart? I became angry.

I became upset because all those claims are unjustified

because little Johnny wasn't batting second and

playing every inning. And because little Johnny

wasn't batting second or playing every inning,

mom got upset. I get it, but I'm human. I became

angry. By Wednesday morning, my workout routine

was not normal. It was actually full of rage.

Probably one of the best workouts I've had all

year. Because my character had been attacked

for no good reason. But I am coming out the other

end realizing that this was a simple lesson that

God was trying to teach me about forgiveness.

And he wanted me to walk right through it. And

I believe that God wants all of us to do the

same this morning. I believe that's not an accident

that you're here. I believe that God wants to

highlight different areas of your life where

unforgiveness reigns so that you can walk out

of this place free and whole. Why? Because God

has a better life for us. He wants for us to

walk in freedom and forgiveness. And that only

happens when we deal with the bitterness, rage,

anger, harsh words. And slander. Which leads

us to our action steps. The forgiveness process.

And notice I said it's a process. Because there

are times. When things happen to us. When situations

happen to us. And we respond. And it's not a

big deal. We forgive. It was an event. It happened.

We move on. But for those deep wounds. Like when

someone leaves and we're abandoned. or someone

abuses or neglects or hurts us to the point where

there's trauma, forgiving those wounds is not

an event, it's a process. A process of working

through the pain, and we have to allow God in

to do the work which leads to freedom. We have

our first step, and that's we have to acknowledge

the pain. See, acknowledging the pain is essential

to the healing process. Because when we hold

on to unforgiveness, you know what's produced?

Anxiety. Upon anxiety, upon anxiety. See, the

pain from those experiences fester and they begin

to come out from the inside out. Meaning the

pain of the unforgiveness that we feel on the

inside works its way into our everyday lives.

In other words, stress. Worry. Anxiety. And that's

why it's so important to list the different pain

and grievances that we've experienced when God

brings them to light. We have to acknowledge

the different people that have hurt us over the

years. And I want to encourage you, this is a

process. And it happens as God highlights the

different aspects of pain that we struggle with

through the years. Until we acknowledge and face

the pain in our life, listen, you're not going

to be able to forgive it. We can't pretend there

isn't pain there. For some of us, we just put

our head down, we move on. And I get it. That's

quite often what I do. I deal with the pain,

it will go away. But to experience freedom, we

have to acknowledge the pain, face it, feel it,

and then forgive it. And the best example that

I've found in the Bible of acknowledging pain

in our life is the story of Joseph. Joseph is

a story where we could find a person that would

struggle with this forgiveness process. The people

who were supposed to protect Joseph, his older

brothers, they abused him. They were jealous

because they thought he was dad's favorite. So

one day they just sold him into slavery. They

were going to kill him, but they thought, no,

that's too much. We'll just sell him and allow

him to be a slave. He was taken as a slave to

a foreign country as a kid and would spend year

after year after year of his life in slavery

or in prison. While the brothers went home and

told dad, oh, he died. An animal killed him.

So this would be a person that has every reason

to hold on to bitterness and unforgiveness. Now,

I can't get into the whole story. I'm going to

encourage you to read it this week in the book

of Genesis. But God does this miraculous work

in Joseph's life. And while he was a slave, while

he was in prison, he suddenly became the second

most powerful man in all of Egypt. And then many

years later, there's a famine everywhere. So

the people have to go to Egypt to get food to

stay alive. And Pharaoh puts Joseph in charge

of all that food. So Joseph's brothers, the very

ones who sold him into slavery, now have to come

and beg for food for their families to remain

alive. With this background, we're about to watch

Joseph enter into the forgiveness process. Now

remember, Joseph, he's been holding it all together.

He's now a powerful individual. He's running

the entire country of Egypt. He's got a large

staff. He can't be weak. He can't allow the past

to haunt him, to take him down. Thinking he's

past that pain, we read this in Genesis 45, 1

through 2 and 4. Joseph could stand it no longer.

There were many people in the room, and he said

to his attendants, out, all of you. So he was

alone with his brothers when he told them who

he was. Then he broke down and wept. He wept

so loudly the Egyptians could hear him, and word

of it quickly carried to Pharaoh's palace. Please,

come closer, he said to them. So they came closer,

and he said again, I am Joseph, your brother,

whom you sold into slavery in Egypt. Now, quite

often, those verses are quickly moved past to

one of the more famous verses in the Bible, Genesis

50, 20, that reads, you intended to harm me,

but God intended it all for good. He brought

me to this position so I could save the lives

of many people. Hopeful, meaningful. And as people,

we want to gravitate to that verse. But just

five chapters before, this is the first time

we find Joseph acknowledging the pain in his

life. Joseph was weeping and wailing so loud

as he enters this first step of the forgiveness

process that it was heard houses away. The word

traveled all the way to Pharaoh that his second

in charge was in pain. And see, Joseph began

to face it. He began to feel it. Why? So he could

forgive it. We can't forgive what we don't acknowledge,

which leads us to our next tattoo. Let's take

a look. Tina writes, In the quiet moments of

reflection, I often find myself drawn to the

tattoo that adorns my arm, a vivid emblem of

my journey through darkness, pain and ultimately

profound healing. This tattoo is more than just

ink on skin. It is a powerful symbol of survival,

love and the enduring light that has guided me

through the shadows of my past. Twenty years

ago, I made the courageous decision to uproot

my life and my children from a world filled with

fear and violence. On February 14, 2005, armed

with nothing but hefty trash bags and a small

U -Haul truck, I embarked on a journey from Albuquerque

to Hagerstown, seeking refuge from the trauma

that had consumed us for nearly a decade. Each

mile we traveled was an act of defiance against

the darkness that had once defined our lives.

My tattoo serves as a constant reminder of that

journey. It features a heart beautifully drawn

and anchored by intricate Celtic knots, signifying

the unconditional love that surrounds us. At

its center lies an infinite knot representing

the boundless love that we all deserve, yet often

forget to extend to ourselves. Underneath it,

three simple words resonate with my spirit, I

am here. This phrase holds deep significance,

echoing my journey from a place of despair to

one of gratitude and purpose. After leaving this

abusive relationship, I find myself in a dark

pit of sorrow. Just six months after I escaped,

overwhelmed with pain and despair, I sought not

death, but a way to feel something other than

the anguish that echoed in my heart. In that

moment of desperation, I slashed my wrist, not

to end my life. but to cry out for repentance,

forgiveness, and the ability to reconnect with

my own humanity. Through the pain, I was met

with a revelation. I was still here, alive and

deserving of love. The act of tattooing over

those scars not only transformed my narrative,

but also marked the beginning of a new chapter.

The heart and knots symbolize the love I have

cultivated for myself, my children, and my husband,

who has stood by me as an angel through the journey.

This tattoo is a celebration of survival, a testament

to the angels who have walked alongside me, and

a reminder that healing is a journey, one that

continues to unfold. In embracing this light,

I have learned to see myself through a lens of

love and acceptance. The scars of my past no

longer haunt me. Instead, they serve as markers

of resilience, strength, and beauty that can

emerge from the darkness. Friends, we have to

acknowledge Our pain. Which leads us to our next

step. We have to surrender our right to punish.

And I get it. This is a difficult step. This

is a painful step. In fact, after receiving that

email this week, my first response, of course,

was anger. Then rage. Then I chose to forgive.

But then the very next day, which would have

been Thursday, I began to think, how do I make

them pay for those lies? And I believe that's

just how the human heart works. We want to get

made up for, but then God leads me to Romans

Romans 12:17–20

chapter 12, verses 17 through 20. Never pay back

evil with more evil. Do things in such a way

that everyone can see you are honorable. Do all

that you can to live in peace with everyone.

Dear friends, never take revenge. Leave that

to the righteous anger of God. For the scriptures

say, I will take revenge. I will pay them back,

says the Lord. Instead, if your enemies are hungry,

feed them. If they are thirsty, give them something

to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning

coals of shame on their heads. See, in real life,

the forgiveness process... is a process because

true forgiveness means we forgive, we release

the offender or the person that hurt us from

that situation. And that means we can't continue

to bring it up over and over and over again,

those of you that are married. We can't use it

as a crutch to punish the offender or others

that hurt us. We must remember that forgiveness

is about freedom for us first and then for others.

Now please understand, forgiveness is not justifying

their actions. Forgiveness is not saying what

a person did to us is okay. It's not okay that

you abandoned us. It's not okay that you hurt

me. It's not okay that you lied. It's not okay

that you abused. My forgiving you doesn't justify

those actions. Forgiveness is not letting someone

off the hook. In fact, forgiveness is not a guarantee

for reconciliation. Forgiveness... It's for us.

It's about us. It's God working in us to release

us, free us from the pain of the past, which

leads us to our next step, our third step. Then

we begin to pray for the offender. And we all

can laugh because this is probably the hardest

step along the process. And please understand,

it's a process. We pray for them. We pray for

the person that hurt us. And now some of you

are thinking, well, where is that in the Bible,

Chris? It's from Jesus, Matthew 5. You have heard

the law that says, love your neighbor and hate

your enemy. But I say, love your enemies. Pray

for those who persecute you. It's a process.

And it starts with God. God, would you bless?

You may not even be able to say their name. It

may take weeks before you can even say their

name. And then when you can say their name, you

may say, God bless John. You know what he needs.

And that's it. But then you may say, God, you

know what he did. And of course, remember, it's

a process. Right? It's a process. Forgiveness

is for me. Right? Because why? What happens in

our hearts when we hold on to unforgiveness,

hurt turns to anger, anger turns to bitterness,

bitterness turns to a hardened heart. And that

changes the way we live, changes who we are as

a person, how we feel about others. Every time

we can humble our hearts and pray that God would

bless those that have hurt us and extend grace

to them, you know what happens to our hearts?

They soften. They allow love to come in. We allow

God to break into our hearts every time we pray

for that person that hurt us one layer at a time.

Romans 12, 14. Bless those who persecute you.

Don't curse them. Pray that God will bless them.

And see, when our heart is free from unforgiveness,

then we can experience the peace and the joy

that God promises. It's painful. I get it. But

it produces freedom, which moves us to our fourth

step. Be open to reconciliation. Again, back

to Romans 12, 17 through 19. Never pay back evil

with more evil. Do things in such a way that

everyone can see you're honorable. Do all that

you can to live at peace with everyone. Dear

friends, never take revenge. And this is a challenging

step. Because, again, of the pain we experienced

in the past. So let me say, there's a big difference

between forgiveness and fellowship. They're not

the same thing. Forgiveness, it's something that

I do. It's something that we do. I decide to

acknowledge what happened. I decide to go to

God and to ask that God would allow me to forgive

them and not punish them. I decide to pray for

the people that have hurt me. I decide, choose

to forgive. Fellowship, on the other hand, takes

two people. Fellowship happens if and only if

true repentance comes from the offender, not

fake repentance. And some of you are like, well,

Chris, what's fake repentance? Fake repentance

is, well, I am sorry if that hurt you. Fake repentance

is, I am sorry if my words were misunderstood.

Fake repentance is, I am sorry if my actions

happened because of a substance. They're excuses.

That's not repentance. True repentance looks

like this. Genesis chapter 50 back to Joseph's

Genesis 50 · chapter mention

story, verses 16 and 19. So they sent this message

to Joseph. Before your father died, he instructed

us to say to you, please forgive your brothers

for the great wrong they did to you, for their

sin in treating you so cruelly. So we, the servants

of the God of your father, beg you to forgive

our sin. When Joseph received the message, he

broke down and wept. Then his brothers came and

threw themselves down before Joseph. Look, we

are your slaves, they said. But as Joseph replied,

don't be afraid of me. Am I God that I can punish

you? Notice the brothers' response. They said

they were wrong. They asked for forgiveness,

said they were sorry, and then threw themselves

at his feet. That is true repentance. But even

if there's true repentance, hear me out, it does

not mean there will ever be fellowship because

sometimes it's just not possible. Fellowship

can't happen because of the past hurts that have

been done to us. Paul tells Timothy in 2 Timothy

2, 23 to 25, again, I say to you, don't get involved

in foolish, ignorant arguments that only start

fights. A servant of the Lord must not quarrel,

but must be kind to everyone, be able to teach,

and be patient with difficult people. Gently

instruct those who oppose the truth. Perhaps

God will change those whose people's hearts they

will learn from the truth. So we gently, Paul

tells us, tell others that they hurt us and allow

the truth to win out. And if God changes their

heart, maybe fellowship can happen. But then

Paul also uses a baseball analogy with Titus,

the three strike rule in Titus 3, 9 through 11.

Do not get involved in foolish discussions about

spiritual pedigrees or in quarrels and fights

about obedience to Jewish laws. These things

are useless and a waste of time. If people are

causing divisions among you, give a first and

second warning. After that, have nothing more

to do with them, for people like that have turned

away from the truth and their own sins condemn

them. See, God wants us to work toward reconciliation.

But there's cases when this is difficult. Like

when addiction is involved or abuse is involved

or mental health is involved. Not all situations

are going to end in fellowship. We forgive, yes,

but that does not mean that fellowship is always

going to happen, which leads us to our final

step. We pray for divine strength, healing, and

freedom. We have to get involved in the process

of inviting God into this forgiveness. We need

the Holy Spirit's power to empower us to walk

through these steps. Because quite often we want

freedom. We don't want the pain in our hearts

anymore, but we just simply don't have the power

to walk it out in our own strength. It hurts

too bad. I mean, there's a reason that Jesus

added these words to an everyday prayer that

he was teaching his disciples, Matthew 6, 11

through 12. Give us today the food we need and

forgive us our sins as we have forgiven those

who sinned against us. It's an everyday prayer.

Jesus understands the pain, the suffering that

we walk through because he walked through it

himself. And he desires that we forgive, what?

Every single day. 2 Corinthians 13, 11. Dear

brothers and sisters, I close my letter with

these last words. Be joyful. Grow to maturity.

Encourage each other. Live in harmony and peace.

Then the God of love and peace will be with you.

See, when we walk through this forgiveness process,

he promises there's freedom on the other side.

It's painful, yes, but there's freedom on the

other side. And that freedom comes when we read

2 Corinthians 12, 9. Each time he said, my grace

is all you need. My power works best in weakness.

So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses.

Why? So that the power of Christ can work through

me. God works through our weakness, works through

our pain, works through our suffering, works

through our hurts so that we don't have to do

it on our own. If you feel like you don't have

the power to forgive, that's when you pray and

you invite the Holy Spirit. God, I need to forgive.

I want my heart free from the pain. Fill my heart

with your love and your grace so that I choose

to forgive the person that hurt me, Matthew 19,

26. Jesus looked at them intently and said, humanly

speaking, it's impossible. But with God, everything

is possible. See, God can walk us through the

pain that we feel that we may be experiencing

right now because there's power. In the name

of Jesus. As we walk through that pain, as we

extend that forgiveness to others, and we declare

the power of Jesus' name, there is freedom. And

we must remind ourselves that forgiveness is

a process, much like the pain and numbness that

I've been experiencing for the last year and

a half from an injury that I thought was pointless.

I was doing laundry, God! When in reality, God

wanted to teach me, about the power of forgiveness.

God wants us to leave the pain of the past in

the past and to walk in the freedom and the power

of forgiveness. Will you stand with me? So as

I was praying about how to close this talk, this

series, I felt like God highlighted to me that

all of us, if we're honest, have past hurts and

pains. And for many of us, we've buried them,

we've moved on, we've kept working, we work hard,

we go back to school, we study, we read the Bible,

but every time there's a trigger, that pain comes

back. And I want to encourage you, as I was sharing

this morning, maybe God highlighted different

areas of your heart where that pain and that

emptiness comes. Well, I looked up and jotted

down a forgiveness prayer that I'm going to invite

all of us to pray together. as we lay down this

unforgiveness, as we lay down this hurt, and

we move on free, redeemed people of God. Amen?

So if you'll turn your attention to our screen,

I've put it on the screen for you. On the next

page, there's blanks for the person that's hurt

you and what has taken place. And I want to invite

you to pray this with me as we move towards freedom.

God, I am ready. To stop pretending the pain

in my past is not affecting my present. Today,

I declare I am getting rid of this hurt, anger,

and unforgiveness. I choose as an act of my will

to forgive for In Jesus' name. God, I thank you

for making me whole and setting me free. God,

I completely forgive and place it in your hands.

In Jesus' name. Amen. Now, I believe that that's

a prayer we should pray every time God highlights

an area of your heart that's hurting. That we

release those people, we release that pain, and

we give them back to God, and we allow that freedom

to reign in our life so that we can truly be

an example of Jesus to this world. It's a process,

but it's a process that's worth it because Paul

challenges us to end the race, to win and to

cross that line whole, healed, and delivered.

Now, for some of you, you're in this place and

you can extend forgiveness because you're not

in a relationship with Jesus. We believe there's

individuals that come into our midst each and

every one of our gatherings where they're distant,

far from God, or have never started that journey.

And we pray this prayer every Sunday at each

of our gatherings because we believe God wants

people to come home. So as we pray it together,

search your heart. If you're running from God,

mad at God, distant from God, or never began

that relationship, Today's your day to pray it

with us. Let's pray. Jesus, I'm broken. I'm full

of doubt, shame, regret, sin. Change me. I believe

you're God's son. I believe you died for me.

Make me new. Set me free. Fill me with your spirit.

Help me, God, to serve others and further your

kingdom. In Jesus' name, amen. So if you prayed

that prayer, let me know so I can give you some

next steps. We have a baptism coming up this

summer. There are several words of knowledge

I need to share with you. Our prayer team is

here on the right and would meet you and pray

with you because we believe God wants to heal

you. You have left ear pain or pressure in the

ear. Your left ankle on the inside is causing

you discomfort. In your left arm, you have muscle

or nerve pain from your shoulder to your elbow.

You have pain in the outside part of your right

foot near the sole. You have left shoulder pain

on the outside, pain in the inner thigh of your

left leg. Your big right toe is pounding. That's

pretty self -explanatory. There's a person here

who has back and hip pain and you had an operation

that wasn't successful. So if any of those are

you, our prayer team would be here on the right

to pray for those needs or any other need that

you have. Doesn't just have to be those because

we believe God wants to meet you, heal you and

set you free. Amen. Next week, we kick off our

new series in June called Come Holy Spirit. We're

going to be discussing the Holy Spirit for five

weeks in June, who he is, what he does, how he

empowers us, and how he radically changes lives.

It's going to be a great series of learning about

the power of walking in the miraculous. Thank

you for joining us online. I am going to my left.

So that door will remain closed. Just relax.

If you need to run out, go to my right and give

my wife a hug. It'll probably actually be longer

than mine because she's going to hug everybody

who goes out that door. So, you know, it's probably

better to go left. Love you guys.