City Life Launch Service Takeover

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They've been so amazing.

We've had them here.

They're a discipleship from a discipleship program from Chilliwac.

They're called the Launch Team.

They used to be called Masters Commission.

That's where I disappeared for two years.

So I came back, and that's where Logan and Joel are right now.

So we're so excited to have them back.

They're going to be sharing a little bit of their testimony this morning.

So we've had the privilege of hosting the launch team here for this weekend.

They've been working their tail off.

They they painted that entire uh room upstairs.

Logan calls it the fishbowl.

I think it's called the hospitality room, but they they got up on ladders and they were like dangling off the roof and painting, and there's paint everywhere.

And then I got in there and I was like, we need to get a second coat on the wall.

So I got kind of worked them a little harder the next day.

But then we went out to Sean's and we did some yard work and uh before they got home from Disneyland.

So they're gonna be getting home today, actually.

So keep them in your prayers.

Um, but we're so excited to have this team here.

Um, we have uh Joelle and Logan, they're gonna share a testimony, and then we have uh one of the directors of of uh launch.

I don't know where she just disappeared to.

She just went out.

Uh, this is Pastor Sean.

If you could stand.

Uh Pastor Sean, this is the the other half.

He's one of the directors, and so uh Pastor Carrie's gonna come and share a word, but first let's just introduce uh and give a warm hand to uh Joelle, one of our own.

She's gonna share a testimony.

Thank you.

Hello, it's so good to be home.

Well, as you heard, my name is Joelle.

I'm just gonna share a bit about um my life for the past 20 odd years.

So when I was six years old, my favorite thing in the world was Disney movies, specifically two.

The first one was Peter Pan, and the second one was Robin Hood.

And when I was little, my oldest brother and I we used to play um Robin Hood and Little John.

And I, being the second child, was always Little John, just like I was always Luigi in Super Mario.

And so we would play this game, and it was my favorite game in the whole world because I was playing with one of my favorite people.

And I remember very clearly one day I got up and I was so ready that morning.

I was like, I am going to embody little John.

I will be little John.

And I got up and I had, it was the 90s, so keep that in mind.

It was the 90s, and I got up and I pulled out of my drawer this pair of green, forest green corduroy pants that were a hand-me-down from my oldest brother, and I hated these pants, and I put them on, and then I also pulled out this forest green turtleneck shirt, which I also hated, and I put it on because I was going to look the part of my character.

As much as I hated the outfit, I wanted to look more like I was the part than anything.

And so I went out into the living room and he's sitting on the floor in front of the TV with my other two brothers.

I tap him on the shoulder and I was like, I'm ready.

And he turned and he looked at me, and he turned and looked back at the TV and he goes, I don't want to play anymore.

And my little heart died a tiny bit, and I didn't want him to know that I was that upset, and so I just sat down, I was like, Okay, and sat down and watched TV with them and mourned the entire I don't even know what we're watching, I was just so sad.

I just sat down and mourned my favorite game that we would never play again whilst wearing the worst outfit in the whole world all day.

And but I made it through being six, and I turned seven, and so and now we're here, and it's great.

So I went to a Christian school growing up and came from a really great Christian family, and was brought up reading the Bible and going to church Sunday and eventually going to youth group on Tuesdays, and I lived in this bubble first of my environment's own making and then of my own.

And my life was set up for success.

And that being said, my life was also set up for me to coast my way through it, and I did.

When I graduated from high school, I felt this sense of loss because I didn't have anyone telling me what to do anymore.

I didn't have anyone telling me when to get up, when to read my Bible, when to go to church.

And everything that I kind of knew around me was suddenly what felt like suddenly all of my stability was gone.

And I soon realized that I'd been living in the shadows of the faith of the leaders around me and riding on their coattails of faith.

And this um this went on for years.

Um and sorry, I slowly began to realize I didn't really have a faith, and that was a truth that nobody else could ever find out.

I was terrified, I was 18, I had just become a youth leader, I was a TA in a grade seven class at my old high school, and inside my entire world was starting to fall apart bit by bit, but I never told anyone.

I was afraid of anyone finding out because I decided somewhere in my formative years that I was not gonna be a letdown to anyone.

And I wasn't driven to succeed, I was driven to not fail and to look the part at all costs.

Just like when I was six and I wanted to look like little John and I wore green corduroy pants.

And this went on for years.

I was leading groups, I was a youth leader, and I was showing up and trying to hide that inside.

I felt like every step I took was onto a disappearing staircase.

And when I looked behind, the ones behind me were disappearing, and then when I looked forward, the steps in front of me were starting to crumble and fall away, and I knew that soon everything that I was standing on was gonna be gone.

And when everything was at its most fragile, I came to this crossroads, which I would later find out would be the first of many, and I was at a conference in town, and I remember standing alone in worship, and I just stood there, and inside of myself I'd come to the end of everything that I knew that I was, and I threw in the towel, and I just looked up and I said to God, I was like, I'm I'm done.

I've got nothing left, I'm done.

And I surrendered my life over to Him and was embraced by His love and His grace and forgiveness for trying to be God in my own life.

And I'd finally had had enough of the pretending and the hiding and the lying to myself and of the giving up on myself.

This would start a journey of learning to let go and to forgive myself for being less than what I thought I should be, and find true repentance and let God and his truth speak into my life and my heart.

And that moment for me would mark my life as one of learning to say yes to him.

And it opened me up to really let God come in and move in ways that I hadn't experienced before, because it didn't matter that I came from a good family, it didn't matter that I went to church, it didn't matter that I went to youth group every Tuesday religiously.

What mattered was that I hadn't let God be in control of my life.

I didn't let him take the reins and lead me.

And my next big yes was when I was 19, and I asked God to speak to me, and he gave me a picture of a yellow flower, and I painted it on my bedroom door, much to my parents' dislike.

But I painted it solely in faith that it was from him, which he would later confirm for me the next day that it was.

And my next yes was when I was 20, and I was stepping down from youth ministry to let God move in my heart and entering into a season of trusting him.

And then again, when I was 21, and I went back to youth and was asked to be uh the cook for the youth camp that we do, and then again when I was 23, and I donated financially to a program that um Malachi had gone in, the program Malachi had gone into.

And then again, when he and the team came down for youth camp and to help with the program or to help with the youth camp that we were doing, and I had plans to go to school that next year, and God spoke to me during that time, and he's like, You're not going to school, you're gonna go to this Bible program, and I said yes to him to going.

And then once again, when I was 24 and I packed up my life and moved three and a half hours away to a town I didn't like, uh to a church where I knew one person and was mentored by pastors I had never met before, to be a student in what was formerly known as the Master's Commission and into a season of more yeses to God.

And when I looked back to my yellow flower moment before, had I not said yes to him, had I not thrown in my towel and surrendered my plans to him, there's no way I would be standing where I am today.

There's no way I would be where I am today.

And where I was trying to go before all those yeses was to the other side of the world as a means to run away from the bubble that I was sick of living in.

So all that to say, I have a question.

I want to leave you with a question.

In James 4, in the message, it says, So let God work his will in you.

Yell a loud no to the devil and watch him scamper.

Say a quiet yes to God, and he'll be there in no time.

Quit dabbling in sin, purify your inner life, and quit playing the field.

Hit bottom, cry your eyes out, the fun and games are over.

Get serious, really serious.

Get down on your knees before the master.

It's the only way he'll get on your feet.

So my question is, what is your quiet yes to God?

Big or small, where do you feel him calling you into a into a yes?

Sometimes the journey and the process can take years, like it did for me.

And standing here now, I can look back over my yeses and see where his hand was.

But there was definitely times in those moments where before I said yes, when I said yes, after I said yes.

And then in between all the moments of yeses where I wondered, like, what is the point?

Why am I doing this?

And am I saying yes to the right things?

But I can tell you that it's worth it every single time.

It's worth it to say a quiet yes to him because he will always come through.

Thank you.

Thank you.

What a servant, this guy.

Come on.

All right.

Good morning.

My name is Logan.

Uh, for those of you who don't know me, I've been attending this church for about seven years-ish.

Kind of not because I've been gone for two years, but you know, like in spirit, I've been here for like seven years.

So uh yeah, I've been doing I'm in my second year right now uh with the launch program.

Uh, and I just recently got accepted to do a third year, so I'm super pumped.

Uh so today I want to talk a little bit about my journey through launch.

Uh, and I'm sitting here and I'm thinking, I was like, what are what are some of the biggest things uh that I've learned in my journey through launch?

And I'd say one of the prominent lessons would be forgiveness.

Uh, and I'm just gonna read a bit of scripture here real quick from Matthew chapter 18.

Matthew 18 · chapter mention

It's a well-known story, so you guys probably know it, so I'm gonna paraphrase it a bit.

Uh starting in twenty three, it says, 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 ten thousand bags of gold was brought to him.

Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to pay the debt.

At this the servant fell before him, and he said, Be patient with me, and I will pay back everything.

And the servant's master took pity on him and cancelled the debt and let him go.

But when that servant went out, he found out he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins, and he grabbed him by the throat and he began to choke him, and he said, Pay back what you owe me.

And his fellow servant fell to his knees and said, Uh, be patient with me, and I will pay it back.

But he refused.

Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt.

The master then later learned this and he called in the servant and said, You wicked servant, I cancelled the debt that you owed because you begged me to.

Shouldn't you have done the same and had mercy on your fellow servant?

So I'm the youngest in a family of six.

Um, and I'm just gonna brag on my family a bit, they're pretty great.

Um I think in the last two years, especially, I've really grown to realize and know the importance of family, uh, especially in like the little moments that I've had, like coming home for Christmas and uh the odd times my mom would come up to Chilliwack.

Um and so yeah, I've really grown to appreciate that and love that a whole lot more.

But uh I didn't always feel the same.

Uh when I was growing up, uh we were a lot more distant, partially because we lived out in Winfield, uh, and so we'd have to like commute to Kelowna every day.

Uh, and work and school schedules were in there too.

So it was just kind of a mess.

And then on top of that, um our we had a lack of communication.

Uh like our family speaks a lot in sarcasm, which like inherently isn't a bad thing, but like if you're focused more on the sarcasm, uh one of the side effects can be that you're not actually saying what's on your heart and what you feel, uh, and so you're not actually like engaging with people on issues that you have, and so it becomes a lot of passive-aggressive pent-up anger, and then it ends up in yelling matches.

And so I had a lot of frustration with my parents and siblings for quite a bit of time.

Uh, and uh I was also like a teenager, so my parents just didn't understand me.

Uh high school was a bit of a hard time for me, I remember.

In my grade tenure, I didn't have the best of friends, like a lot of them, or my the friends that I was with just wanted to party a lot of the time and smoke weed, but like I was a Christian, so I didn't believe any of that was right, so I didn't really partake in a lot of that.

So often I was left out.

Uh I remember the first dating relationship I was in was kind of a mess too.

Uh neither of us really knew what we were wanted because again, I was a teenager and nobody understood me.

Um and so the vast majority of our relationship was arguments and just kind of running in circles.

And so by the time I got out of high school, I was kind of a mess because I had no idea where I wanted to go, uh, what I wanted to do, who I wanted to be.

Um, and I had all these hurts and pains that were in me at the same time, and they had just been sitting in me and I hadn't been dealing with them and they were growing.

And I eventually came to the end of myself and I said, God, I I I can't do this anymore.

I I need you.

And he said, Okay, come follow me.

And just like every time I said yes to him, that one little decision changed my life.

As I began my journey in the launch program, I began to see that a lot of the problems I had with people weren't actually their fault.

No, that's actually not true.

A lot of it was their fault, but but the reason why I was angry and I was frustrated all the time was actually my fault because I wasn't actually willing to let go and I wasn't actually willing to forgive, and my hard heart is what actually kept me back from finding peace.

Because I thought that I would find peace when they admitted they were wrong.

I thought forgiveness was dependent on a plea for mercy.

I thought I would find peace when I got what I wanted.

And so my relationships with these people came to a standstill because I wasn't actually able to let go.

In this story Jesus tells, um God is obviously the master and and we're the servants with the choice uh whether or not to forgive.

And Jesus is basically saying here that our ability to forgive, our choice to forgive, should be pretty easy and it should be endless because of the forgiveness that God extended towards us.

Because the forgiveness He gave us is vastly bigger than any possible thing that we would ever have to forgive somebody else for.

This command to forgive, though, isn't isn't just because God says and it's for his sake, but it's actually for ours.

Because if we don't, we will never find peace.

As one man put it, if we don't forgive, we don't actually know what it means to be forgiven.

And that's actually like a bigger deal than we tend to make it out to be.

Because if we don't actually know what it means to be forgiven, that means we don't understand the extent of our brokenness.

And if we don't understand the extent of our brokenness, we're not able to properly repent for the things that we are broken by.

And if we aren't able to repent, then we find ourselves in some trouble.

As I progressed in my first year in lunch, God started bringing these hurts and these angers and all this thing to the forefront of my mind, and he started asking me to let them go, and he started asking me to forgive, which I mean seems kind of simple uh in theory, but in actual application, forgiveness is hard and it hurts.

And but I did it, and as I did, my head got a little clearer, and breathing became a bit easier, and life got a little brighter.

And so I continue to forgive, and I want to extend that towards you guys today too, because I mean we all face things, we are we all have relationships, we all get hurt.

But forgiveness is always a choice.

Uh and we are called to forgive, but not because like God just said we have to, and that's what Christians do, but that's who God made us to be.

I want to thank you.

Uh and I'd like to invite Pastor Kerry up.

That was really good.

I feel like we could go home.

That was excellent.

So thank you for having us.

We'll see you later.

We're gonna stay a couple more minutes.

I'm just gonna introduce you a little bit.

I know you've you've heard a little bit about our team, but I thought it might be kind of nice if you actually saw who they were.

They're kind of tucked in all over.

So if you're with our team, maybe you could just stand really quick so everybody can see where you are, who you are, who they are.

Yeah.

So, and as they're standing, we just want to say thank you to all of you for having us this weekend.

You guys can sit down.

Um, my husband, Sean, I was in the back for a moment, but you met him in a few minutes ago.

And we have four kids, they're in your kids' ministry.

Thank you for hosting them.

I hope they don't ruin anything.

We're sorry, we'll leave a little bit of money just in case.

So there um I this is a long story that I won't go into, but we had four kids in two and a half years.

And eight, so we have an eight-year-old, a seven-year-old, and twin boys that are six.

So thank you.

Thank you.

I have just recently emerged from sleep deprivation hysteria, and I feel a little bit more clear-headed, but if I go off topic, it's because years of my life were swallowed by sleep deprivation.

And so you might forgive me if I uh have to stick to my notes a little bit because there's part of my brain that never fully returned.

So I'm super grateful for my children.

They're all miracles.

I'm really grateful, but you know, when you've had when you've had them all and they're all so close together, you just realize you're just never gonna be the same in so many ways.

So um super grateful for them.

Also, I just want to uh say you probably don't know this, but we've been doing life together separately in Chilliwack for a few years.

Your youth have come down to our conference down in Chilliwack many times.

I think you brought probably some of the first teams, Pastor Brody and and then Sean and Val, who we are standing with you in prayer for healing and and victory in their situation, and we love them.

And we've we've kind of like teamed up at different events, like he would speak at one thing and I would speak at another thing.

And so we don't really know each other, but we kind of like walk together.

And so I just really want to thank you guys for having us.

And and then obviously, you sent us some of your best the last few years, and I just want to say that it's really fun to watch Malachi and Rebecca uh and their relationship.

And you know, he was with us for two years, and it was I don't know if yeah, you can clap.

Do you want to clap?

You yeah.

I always want to clap for that.

Yay! So I just want to say that on behalf of our church, you're very welcome for the gift that you were getting back in Rebecca.

You gave us her uh Malachi for two years, and we're giving you one of our best for longer than two years.

So, right now, I just say we love you from City Life Church.

She is amazing, and you won't even believe what a gift she's gonna be to your body.

So um, last thing I want to say, introduction-wise, is I just really felt during worship.

I hope it's okay if I say this, but I just really wanted to say to you and your whole leadership team, I feel like these are great days for your church, and even greater days are coming.

I just sense such a momentum coming to you, and so I just really wanted to encourage you as a church.

This is a great place.

These are great days for your church, and greater days are coming for you as a body.

So, okay, I have a question.

How many of you, I know you live a little farther away, but how many of you have ever crossed the border into the United States?

Most of you, yes.

How many of you have a border story?

Me too.

I won't tell you, our our best one involved uh armed guard, armed officers running out to our vehicle because there was a guy in the car whose name matched a really bad guy.

And I only say really bad guy because those are the actual terms that the border guard used as they ushered him in handcuffs into the building, and all of us sat there paralyzed, like we don't know how to handle police situations because we don't ever do this.

So we're sitting with our hands up in the air where they could see them, as our friend gets yanked out of the car, put in handcuffs, and taken in.

And then the nice lady in the booth, she says, It's probably nothing.

Just pull over there and he'll be out in a minute.

And we're like, Well, uh, meanwhile, we have all completely lost our lunch and we don't know how to handle what just happened.

And then he came out and it was fine, and they all shook hands, and it's terrifying.

So we have uh other stories that don't involve drawn guns and lighting up booths and things like that.

But uh, how many of you have ever been to the Sumass border in particular?

I think there might be other border situations that are like this, but I find this the most at the Sumass border.

There's this duty free store on the right hand side, and if you're in a long lineup, does everybody know kind of what can happen here?

You you are at the line, you've maybe been waiting in the line for an hour, and then all of a sudden, somebody, without even doing the courtesy of pulling in to the duty free store, they just jump the line and they just drive right through the parking lot and jump in front of all of us that have been waiting for an hour.

Has this happened to anybody?

How many of you would say that even if that hasn't happened to you, you would be upset about that?

Me too.

Like we're rule keepers in our family, so we're like, uh-uh, you're not gonna do that.

So then this is always the interesting part to me, because I love people in social dynamics.

There's always kind of these different people that emerge in situations like this.

There's the people who are in a hurry, which is often all of us.

Uh, there are the people who are calm, just stay calm.

It's gonna be fine.

People just do that, but that's their problem, not ours.

These are, I would say, the minority.

And then There are the people who I honestly I'm sorry if you're one of these people, but I cannot imagine doing this.

I just can't imagine unless like somebody is in labor and you need to get to a hospital down there.

I can't imagine doing that.

I just you you just stay in line like everybody else.

So then what happens is that the people who are in not in any of those categories, there's the people who get mad when other because it's injustice.

It's wrong, right?

It's they shouldn't do that.

I've been waiting for an hour and a half and they just got through and 15 minutes.

You think you're getting in front of me?

Guess what?

No, I will risk my vehicle to make sure that I am like this close to the car in front of me because you are not getting in.

And then that person, because they're already so bold, is gonna just keep pushing to the point where you feel like everybody's we're gonna have a car accident if somebody doesn't just yield and finally let the person in.

Anyway, so this this is kind of the scene.

This one day we're driving down to the border.

This is when our kids are a little bit younger, and so if you've had ever had small children, included with small children, are small bladders.

We live about 40 minutes away from the border, and I think we had stopped three times on our way to the border, ended up in a long line.

So this whole scenario is kind of playing out that people are antsy and trying to get through.

And then so I'm kind of preoccupied because there was a duty-free line situation happening on the right-hand side of the vehicle.

And then all of a sudden, I hear the window roll down on my husband's side of the vehicle, and I'm like, uh oh.

Because it wasn't a date, it rolled her window down.

And all of a sudden, my husband, who I have to tell you, I have permission to say this story, he is normally a very peaceful person.

He leans out the window and his red face veins bulging on his neck, and he's yelling at the person in the car next to us, there's a line there.

And I'm like, that's not like you at all.

He's like, they're trying to, so we were being pushed on both sides, and it was stressful to him.

And he's like, we're all just trying to follow the rules, and there was this mishmash of instructions on the ground, and nobody quite knew which line to get in.

So one guy was trying to come in on us on this side, and one guy was trying to come in on that side, and it just it just kind of exploded.

And I thought, well, this is kind of tense.

So I tried to be one of the calm people, and and then I just thought, Lord Jesus, if we could just get through the border, that would be great.

And thankfully we did, and all was well, and took the children to the bathroom yet one more time as soon as we crossed and got to our destination.

So this whole thing, that one phrase that Sean um yelled out the window uh reminds me a little bit of situations that we run into in our life.

I think sometimes life is kind of like that situation where you're you're driving and you have a code of conduct and you have the way to interact with the world.

We call this like manners, our customs, the way that we deal with life.

And there's kind of a roadmap on the ground, and yet sometimes people cross into our lane and they do things that we don't appreciate, and people play by different rules than we do, and it bothers us.

And I think it kind of makes sense that it bothers us.

And I think that we um we all as humans are so overlapped.

You know, I know that sometimes it might even seem a little bit easier to just be by ourselves, but we're so relational and so interconnected.

There's just really no way we're gonna get out of this without offending each other.

And I think it's probably good that we have a little bit of an understanding that your lines are gonna be different than my lines.

You might be thinking though, well, we're Christians.

The Bible is the great equalizer, the ultimate rule book, and I would agree with you, but maybe we could just take a minute and talk about things like giving or uh gluttony or um, let's see, submitting to authority, things like that.

We're all gonna have different ways, and we can have a lively discussion about all of those things, which we're not going to right now, but all of us have a different approach to the way that each of us feels that it's best to express love, to express kindness, to express patience.

So the reality of it is no matter how we do life, we're gonna cross into each other's lines and we're gonna need some help to figure out how we can all get along, right?

So last year I was in a situation where I made a mistake, no question.

I made a mistake, I mishandled something, I took something lightly that somebody else had told me, and I knew it.

As soon as I made my mistake, I knew, I thought, oh, nuts.

I know this person, I know this is gonna hurt and offend them.

And so I went immediately and apologized.

And have you ever had this happen where you say sorry and they say, I forgive you, but you know you've just dug a hole for yourself that you're never gonna climb out of.

Has anybody ever had that experience?

There's an invisible wall that pops up, and now it's like it's really probably never gonna be the same between us.

There was a trust that was lost.

I crossed into that line.

So, because of this situation, I was thinking about this for the last year or so, and I was thinking, you know, you guys know this verse, but I'm gonna read it in Luke 11, 1 through 4.

If you have your Bibles, you want to turn there.

Luke 11, 1 through 4.

It says, Once Jesus was praying in a certain place praying, as he finished, one of his disciples came to him and said, Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.

Jesus said, This is how you should pray.

Father, may your name be kept holy, may your kingdom come soon.

Give us each day the food we need, and forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us, and don't let us yield to temptation.

I don't know how you learned the Lord's Prayer, but I learned it like this.

Our Father, if you know it, you can say it with me.

Our Father, who's in heaven, hallowed be your name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

Go ahead.

As we forgive those who trespass against us.

But deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.

Amen.

We don't use that word trespass very often anymore.

But you know, when I was in this situation, that phrase came into my mind.

I thought, I trespassed against her, and I don't know what to do now.

I made a mistake that I don't think I can make up for.

I love this prayer because inside this prayer, not just in the forgiveness department, but Jesus lays out a perfect roadmap for how we reconcile to God, how we live peaceably with others, how we avoid regret by not giving in to temptation, and how to be content with whatever he gives us.

And in the middle of that beautiful prayer, he gives us the exact answer for messy relationships.

He never once says it's not gonna be messy.

He just gives us the perfect antidote for the mess.

We will trespass.

To trespass is simply to violate someone else's space or to enter without permission.

In reality, you know, the law, there are serious consequences for trespassing.

People can get fined at least, they can be injured, or they can actually be punished for trespassing into other people's property.

The way that I picture this is it's kind of like Jesus is saying, inside that space that's all around you is there's a sacredness to who you are.

In Genesis 127, it says, So God created human beings in his own image.

In the image of God, he created them, male and female, he created them.

So sacred to me means I made in the image of God, and sacred means worthy of spiritual respect or devotion.

So your space is sacred, my space is sacred.

So what happens when I bump into your sacred space and I trespass against you?

In our hearts, we all know there's a certain way that other people should be treated with value, with respect.

We know this because when we're not treated like that, we feel betrayed, rejected, abandoned, tossed aside, disregarded, and it feels like a violation because it is.

You, made in the image of God, deserve to be treated with dignity and respect.

And sometimes I don't do that.

I've crossed into your sacred space and I have trespassed against you.

That's one area.

Or what about the things that those are maybe the things that have happened to us?

What about the things that we do?

Maybe we're careless with another person's private information, maybe we tease someone in a way that they don't appreciate.

We handle a situation when we're angry.

When we're angry, we say things that we wish.

Maybe even years later, we just wish that we could take those words back.

Uh maybe you have regrets, or I have regrets from when I was young.

I was immature, I handled things improperly.

I I hurt people, or I I misused who they are as people.

This we all have in common.

We will trespass and we will be trespassed against often.

So this is the common experience.

And there's two parts of this that I think we all know.

But if you've ever gotten good at anything, I don't know if that's great grammar, but can you go with me?

If we've ever gotten good at anything, we need to know, like if you're a musician, you never outgrow fundamentals.

If you're an athlete, you never outgrow certain pieces of that skill.

Forgiveness is a fundamental of the Christian faith, and we need to revisit it so often because it's so messy.

So the first thing that can happen is that we need to be forgiven.

Of course, we need to be forgiven from God.

I I know that that is probably a common denominator that most of us have an understanding with, but I want to focus more on I need to be forgiven, you need to be forgiven for what we have done.

We need to seek forgiveness from God, but then the trickier part is to seek forgiveness from others.

Why is it tricky?

It's tricky because I have no idea how you're gonna handle it.

It can go either way.

I can come up to you and say, I'm sorry for what I did, I know that it was wrong, and I hurt you.

And you may be hurt, but embarrassed.

So you may say, No big deal, it's fine, and you can brush it off.

Or you can say, I forgive you.

But there's no genuine forgiveness, and I think we all know that feeling.

It's like a hole.

We can no sorry could ever fix it.

Maybe you were hurt and went to try to make it right, but they brush it off.

It's challenging, isn't it?

Because you are genuinely sorry and we rely on each other to release it.

We just do, or else it just stays sticky forever.

The second category is that we need to forgive.

This is where it gets hard, isn't it?

Because now we're the one.

Somebody has hurt us, and then this can fall into two categories.

The people who acknowledge that hurt, they know that they've done wrong, and sometimes that's easier because they might come and say, I really made a mistake.

I'm sorry that I treated you that way.

It could be years later, I was wrong.

The way that I handled that, wrong.

Will you forgive me?

And there could be a genuine exchange between you and that other person, and maybe you have already forgiven until you're able to release that.

What happens when you haven't and when you're not ready?

That's where it gets hard, isn't it?

Somebody comes and approaches and you say it, but you know there's just okay, I forgive you, but man, I don't know.

I don't know if I can trust you.

If you treated me like that once, you may treat me like that again.

What do we do?

This is where we as Christians have an advantage.

Jesus told us exactly what to do.

I don't forgive you because I'm releasing you from what you've done.

I forgive you because Jesus forgave me.

I don't need to hold you in prison.

Sometimes it's easier to hold a grudge than it is to keep an open heart.

Isn't it?

There's uh this is so ugly, isn't it?

Do you mind?

I'm a visiting person and I'm saying like really hard things, but um, sometimes it's easier, isn't it?

And there's a certain power that comes from holding something against someone.

But I believe that those of us that are walking out our Christian faith need to release this supernatural gift of forgiveness.

It's not my job to put you in a prison of unforgiveness.

That's not my job.

That's between you and God.

But as for me, I am I am determined to have no static between me and another human.

Determined as much as it's up to me.

C.S.

Lewis sums this up perfectly.

He said, to be a Christian is to forgive the inexcusable because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you.

I was studying for this and I found this really interesting study, so I'm gonna read it because I want it to come out just right.

From Erasmus University, I'm actually not sure where it is, but it says university, so they must be smart.

So they published a study to illustrate this point.

Okay, listen to this.

I found this really interesting.

The study consisted of 46 students that were split into two groups.

One was asked to write about a time when they were seriously offended by another person and ultimately forgave them.

The other was asked to write about a similar incident, but one where they still had negative feelings toward that person.

After writing, the students were asked to stand near the base of a hill at a predetermined point and estimate how steep the hill was.

Those who had written about forgiveness perceived the hill to be less steeper than those who wrote the negative feelings.

Isn't that interesting?

That with forgiveness, life actually gets easier.

Without forgiveness, life actually becomes steeper.

And that's really why forgiveness matters.

Forgiveness takes us out of the judgment seat.

There's no question in this room, no question, all of us have been through really sticky, hard situations that may never be fully repaired, but we can fully forgive.

Fully.

It doesn't mean that what you did was right.

It just means I'm not the judge.

I remove myself from that place of judgment.

I think the the realization that I've had more and more this last year is that especially in a church community, but really the whole fabric of society, of us learning to get along, is this principle that I will forgive you because I know you're human, and you will forgive me because you know that I'm human.

And I'll never put perfect standards on you because I don't want you to put perfect standards on me because I will never succeed at that.

Forgiveness means that we fully admit the hurt and do the hard work of forgiving anyway.

I'm gonna read you this beautiful story in light of this in Luke 7, 37 through 48.

It's a little bit long.

Can you stay with me?

It's interesting though, so if you can just stick with me.

When a certain immoral woman from that city heard he was eating there, she brought him a beautiful alabaster jar filled with expensive perfume.

Then she knelt behind him at his feet, weeping.

Her tears fell on his feet and she wiped them off with her hair.

Then she kept kissing his feet and putting perfume on them.

When the Pharisee who had invited him saw hit, saw this, he said to himself, If this man were a prophet, he would know the kind of woman who is touching him.

She is a sinner.

Then Jesus answered his thoughts.

Don't you love that?

Jesus answers his thoughts.

Mm-mm-mm.

I love that.

Come on, Jesus.

Answer those thoughts.

Mine and everybody.

Okay, Simon, he said to the Pharisee, I have something to say to you.

That's the other part I love about Jesus is you know, anybody who thinks Jesus is just kind of like floating through and not like dealing with stuff, is not reading this part.

Simon, I have something to say to you.

Wouldn't you have loved to have seen that?

I'm gonna stop you right there, Simon.

I got a thought.

All right.

Then Jesus told him this story.

A man loaned money to two people, 500 pieces of silver to one and 50 pieces of s to the other, but neither of them could repay him.

Can everybody say neither of them?

So he kindly forgave them both.

Can you all say forgave him both?

Them both, canceling their debts.

Who do you suppose loved him more after that?

Simon answered, How do you think he answered?

I suppose.

Like my six-year-olds when they're trying to say sorry and they don't mean it.

I suppose the one for whom he canceled the larger debt.

That's right, Jesus said, Good job, Simon.

Then he turned to the woman and said to Simon, look at this woman kneeling here.

When I entered your home, you didn't offer me water to wash the dust from my feet, but she has washed them with her tears and wiped them with her hair.

You didn't greet me with a kiss, but from the time I came in, she has not stopped kissing my feet.

You neglected the courtesy of olive oil to anoint my head, but she has anointed my feet with rare perfume.

This is the most important part.

I tell you, her sins, which are many, have been forgiven.

So she has shown me much love.

But a person who has forgiven little only shows a little love.

Then Jesus said to the woman, Your sins are forgiven.

Couldn't you just weep at how gracious he is?

You know, we've all been, maybe you've been a Christian for a long time, maybe you haven't, but we've all been saved from so much.

And the idea that we would ever forget how much we've been forgiven.

When we read this, it feels like it brings it right back home, doesn't it?

If we have been forgiven much, we will naturally forgive much.

But you know, I think sometimes it's easy to forget how much we've been forgiven, and it's easy to relapse into showing little love because we've forgotten how much we have been loved.

All of us will be lavish in our forgiveness and our kindness to each other as long as we keep that one thing central to who we are.

We must never get over being saved.

We must never get over remembering what Jesus did for us.

That of all the people, like Paul said, there are many sinners.

I'm the chief.

When the Spirit of God is working inside of me to say, Do you remember how much I forgave you?

I can't.

It's an impossible thing to hold on to when he's at work in our hearts.

Please understand all of the compassion that I mean to say this with.

It does not mean that there's not very serious and difficult situations that you may actually need an outside person to jump in and intervene and help you walk through.

And you may never have a full reconciliation with that other person.

Sometimes things just don't get resolved, but I'll tell you what you can do.

You can be resolved in your heart and in your mind, and you have no stone to throw at another soul ever.

Doesn't that sound like a recipe for freedom?

Don't you feel so grateful that in this one little line, forgive us our trespasses.

Forgive me because I'm human.

And I'm gonna forgive you your trespasses because you're human too.

It's how we're gonna make it.

It's how we're gonna cross the line, not alone but together.

It's the unity that we all share and the understanding that none of us have an advantage in the sin department.

We've been all forgiven.

We were all the ones who nailed him there.

Amen.

So our only real appropriate response is gratitude and a release.

So there's two categories that I feel like I want to just ask about today.

First question: how much have you been forgiven?

How much?

And the second question I want to ask you is is there anyone that you need to forgive?

Is there anyone that you just know I'm holding the keys and I want them to feel my pain?

It's complicated, isn't it?

We're so tricky as humans.

I sometimes it's like I don't want, I don't want to hold on to this.

But they violated me.

They hurt me.

And this is the serious business that we get into when we walk into forgiveness and we just say, Jesus, it's it's really it's yours.

So help me.

And I'm gonna keep doing this until that grudge is gone.

And I can see that person, and I can be clear.

No matter what they do, I can be clear.

Doesn't that sound like the best way to live?

Yeah.

Can you all just close your eyes for a minute?

I'm gonna pray.

I know this is a little bit sensitive, but I hope that it that it lands on all of us, humans, with common, a common denominator of the need for forgiveness and the need to release forgiveness.

And I'm just gonna ask you, everybody's eyes are closed, if you could just maybe just raise your hand to acknowledge to me that this is maybe something that you're gonna work on today or in the next couple days, that maybe there are some areas that you just feel like I need to revisit that, I need to release someone, or I need to figure out how to be forgiven.

Can you just raise your hand really quick?

Nobody's looking around, just us.

Okay, Lord, I'm just gonna pray.

Father, you told us exactly how to pray that we would forgive others the same way that you have forgiven us, and we just release that to you right now.

We acknowledge the hurt, we say that it's complicated, we admit, Lord, that it's hard.

But we ask you by your supernatural power to forgive those who have hurt us.

And would you release every single person who feels that they can never be forgiven for things that they have done into the freedom of knowing that there is nothing that can move us outside of your love and your kindness, there is nothing that you, nothing that we can do that will separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.

And I just pray for a grace over this congregation, a joy to come over this congregation as they do the work of getting along and loving each other.

I just pray a release of blessing and grace, and that there would be great fruit from this congregation and for the years to come.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.