Why is FORGIVENESS such a BIG DEAL to God? // Summer Lean In series (part 5) // Laura M

Good morning, Collective Church.

>> It's so good to see you guys. I am

truly, truly honored to be here today. I

do not take this lightly that I get to

be here with you speaking on forgiveness

today. I want you to know I've been

seeking the Lord for this exact topic,

for the exact people that are going to

be sitting in the audience here. And my

only ask of you is that more than just

attending church and going through the

motions, would you position your heart

to hear from the Lord? Like the words

between my words, would you kind of

position your heart in that way? Uh as I

open up in prayer here, heavenly father,

thank you for this chance to be together

this morning. God, I pray that today

would be a day of breakthrough and

freedom for everyone in this room. Would

you allow our hearts to be ready to let

go, to surrender, to become less, to

obey, and to experience a level of

freedom that maybe we have not seen yet

in our lifetime?

God, I pray that you would uh speak

through me, move past me, let words come

out of my mouth that are straight from

your heart and would you interpret those

words, filter them as they reach the

hearts of the people listening today in

Jesus name. Amen.

Uh so as Pastor Drew said, I am his

sister-in-law. I knew him back in high

school. Um, I come from a a bit of an

experience of sitting with people. What

I realized as I kind of looked back on

this is for the past 20 years, I've been

sitting with people in sometimes really

dire circumstances.

I didn't do this on purpose, but I have

found that every job that I have found

myself in is a job where I'm sitting

with hurting people. And it started out

when I was a nurse. I was in nursing

school working as a nurse in uh a psych

hospital here in Omaha. And I loved that

job. That job grew me and stretched me.

I was there for a few years while I was

going through school. And I can tell you

the exact moment I knew that that job

was over. I needed to move on. And I got

to tell you this story real quick. And

part of this is I just want you to know

my background where I'm coming from

because that is definitely going to

paint the lens in which I speak to you

today.

But I'm sitting with these people and in

this job I learned how to sit with

people who were drowning in mental

struggles. Some of them depress

depressive anxious some of them

experiencing realities that I could not

see or hear but it was very very real

for them. And I would sit with these

people,

talk with these people for hours. And

one of these times, you know, remember,

I'm in nursing school. I'm studying for

finals. I'm planning a wedding. I'm

getting ready to move to Denver. And I'm

working the night shift at a psych

hospital. I was exhausted.

Every candle was burnt on both ends. It

was maybe two in the morning. My job was

to sit in the living room, the day room,

and every 15 minutes log what everybody

was doing and just keep an eye out for

all the things that we couldn't see on

the cameras in the nurses station. So, I

got this guy next to me. He's a new

admit. He's sitting at a table, hasn't

spoken a word, hasn't looked at anybody,

staring straight ahead at a wall since

he got there. I'm just sitting next to

him. There's another guy walking up and

down the hallways, green blanket, always

a green blanket around his head. And he

just walked up and down, paced for hours

talking. I don't know what he was

saying, but he had a lot to say. And he

had a lot of steps to get in. And then

we had another lady who would come in

and out of her room at the most. You

never knew when she was coming, but we

were all terrified because she'd start

yelling at all the nurses because, of

course, you did this and you turned her

against me and all the things. and we'd

calm her down, encourage her to go get

some sleep, send her back to her room,

only for her to reemerge again 10

minutes later.

In that moment, and remember, I am

exhausted. This song came on the radio.

I don't know, tell me if raise your hand

if you remember this song, but it

sounded like this. Maybe I'm crazy,

right?

I don't know what it was about that

song, but all of a sudden my stomach

dropped and I had this panic moment of

what if I'm one of the patients here

and I think I'm a nurse and that's my

delusion is like I take notes and they

just give me paper to keep me busy. I

literally had to like check my scrubs

like okay I'm in different scrubs than

everybody else. I I was like it's time

it's time for a new job. I've been here

too long. Uh but after that we moved to

Denver. I got to work for a couple years

with some kids that were chronically

ill. They weren't going to get better.

They weren't going to heal. What they

had was permanent. And I spent time with

their families getting to sit with

people who had lost hope chronically and

had to rebuild a new life with new

normals.

Then we moved back here to Omaha and I

worked for 10 years at a sure women

center. I got to sit with women whose

crisis was happening in real time. These

women had unexpected, unplanned,

absolutely lifealtering, terrifying

pregnancies that they were facing. And I

was the one delivering the news to them

that the test was positive.

For the past four years though, I've

been doing something completely

different. Um, I'm a Splunkna

practitioner, which means I sit with

people and we ask God to do miracles in

their life, and he does. And I get to

literally watch people get set free in

the presence of Jesus. because of stuff

from their childhood, negative mindsets

that they've developed. Um, sometimes

they're anxious, sometimes they're

depressed, sometimes they're just stuck

in low self-esteem or hatred or

bitterness. But if I could summarize

anything of what I do, it would be I sit

in front of Jesus and we ask God, "What

is the lie this person is believing?"

And we unbelieve the lie. If I can put

that as simply as possible. And that

sounds simple, but I tell you, it is

absolutely life-changing.

And in this job, I knew that I was going

to be sitting with people telling me

their trauma stories, telling me the

hardships of what they've walked

through, what they had to

experience as a teenager, as a child.

What I didn't expect is that such a big

part of this job was going to be walking

people through forgiveness.

I would watch process after process and

momentum and healing and breakthrough

and then all of a sudden we would hit a

wall and it would stop. And it was

because there was someone that this

person needed to forgive. And man, is it

hard sometimes to forgive, especially

when you've been through such hard pain

or such repetitive pain.

So that's what I want to talk to you

about today is forgiveness. And if you

are already checking out because you've

been in church your whole life and

you've heard forgiveness a thousand

times, I want you to en encourage you to

stay tuned in because my hope is I can

present it in a way you haven't heard it

before.

Okay? But before we can talk about what

forgiveness is, I want to really quick

clear up what it isn't because I have

found there are some big misconceptions

when I say forgiveness. Listen, for the

next 30 minutes that I'm up here, I am

not talking about reconciliation

necessarily,

I am not necessarily talking about re

rebuilding trust with that person that

hurt you.

Okay? I'm also not saying that what they

did was okay and you should get over it.

Because if you told me your story,

chances are it would break my heart and

I would say that was absolutely not okay

what happened to you.

Forgiveness has nothing to do with

forgetting

what happened to you. And it has nothing

to do with allowing that person to

continually abuse you, hurt you, step on

you.

I think God is a massive supporter of

boundaries and keeping yourself safe.

Learning how to put boundaries down is a

skill and you can learn it. You can

learn it in counseling. Counseling is

great for that. It is a very powerful

skill to have and I encourage you that

if you don't have that skill, go read

the book boundaries by Henry Cloud.

I also want to encourage you to think of

it this way. Let's say that every week I

come to you and I say, "Hey,

I need to borrow 500 bucks. I promise

I'll pay you back."

And then I forgot. Then I don't have the

money. Then I this, then I that. And

then the next week, hey, no big deal,

but like, could I borrow 500 bucks

again? You're probably going to get

agitated with me, hurt, angry, upset.

You can choose in that moment to forgive

me for lying to you and not paying you

back. And you can also choose to stop

giving me $500 every week. That's your

boundary, right? You can do both. You

can forgive and live free from what I

have now done to your bank account. And

you can stop repeating that pattern,

giving me access to your money.

As I've been sitting with people, I have

found like these themes of like why is

it so hard to forgive? What are the

roadblocks that we come up against?

Because if we know those, we can see

them coming. One of them is this hyper

grace thing. And I wouldn't say this is

even the most common one, but sometimes

it's like, okay, I know God says

forgive, but he doesn't like really mean

everybody. I forgave all these people.

I'm pretty chill about all of that. It's

just this person. It's just these people

that I'm not going to forgive. It's not

that big of a deal. And I would tell you

from what I can tell,

unforgiveness

is the most severely disciplined sin in

the word. God takes it incredibly

seriously. And so part of what we're

talking about today is why in the world

is forgiveness such a big deal to God?

Why is it I mean, we know it's a big

deal, but why is it such a big deal to

him?

Sometimes people don't want to forgive

because they're confusing forgiveness

with, like we talked about earlier,

reconciliation. I'm terrified that if I

forgive them, they're going to think

it's okay. They're going to come back in

my life. I'm going to be a doormat.

They're going to hurt me all over again.

I can't do that.

And that's where it's important to know

those two things are very different.

A big one is because sometimes our

emotions don't match what the Lord's

calling us to do. The Lord says forgive,

but I'm still hurt. I'm still so mad. I

can't believe somebody would treat

somebody like that. I can't forgive

because I feel so twisted up still. Your

emotions are real. They're important,

but they don't get to decide if you obey

Jesus or not.

They don't get to call the shots. You

can feel all the things. Forgiveness is

a choice. It's not an emotion.

You have emotions and you also have

something else. It's your chooser. It's

like your will, your choice. With that

part of you, you can choose to obey

Jesus, to let go, and to forgive no

matter what you feel like.

Unforgiveness

often feels like protection. So, we hold

on to it. It feels very scary to let it

go.

We feel stronger when we hold on to it.

And for someone like your Splunka

practitioner or someone like Jesus to

say, "Hey, just forgive and let go. Move

on." That feels terrifying sometimes.

And then lastly,

and I know none of you guys would say

this out loud. This is like

deep subconscious stuff, but sometimes

it's a little bit of pride.

It's like

you don't know what you're asking me to

do. You don't know what's been done to

me before. And Jesus's death on the

cross isn't big enough to cover what

I've been through.

Right? It just doesn't feel big enough

to take care of what I need taken care

of. I want you to know all of those that

I just listed are tricks. They're all

lies from the enemy, which if I could

boil down every session that I do with

every person that ever comes into my

office,

we all get tricked some way or another.

If the enemy can just convince us that

we are safer with this unforgiveness, if

he can convince us that actually Jesus

doesn't have what it takes to cover the

kind of pain you went through, he can

cover everything else, but not not your

situation. You guys, you're getting

tricked. None of that is true or

biblical. And when you get tricked, you

live in prison.

Everything that the enemy lies to us

about is to get us stuck in prison.

Emotional prison.

So I feel very passionate and I know the

Lord feels very passionate about looking

over his kids and seeing people who know

the truth about who he is and the

freedom that forgiveness offers

because

my heartaches I know his heartaches

watching his kids walk around this world

for decades with chains around their

ankles.

Okay,

I want to read to you some scripture

verses. There are so many. It was hard

to choose which ones to highlight. So,

I'm going to read these two and I'm

going to tell you why I picked these

ones. In Matthew 6:14, it says, "If you

Matthew 6:14

forgive other people when they sin

against you, your heavenly father will

also forgive you. But if you do not

forgive others,

your father will not forgive you."

If that feels like a shocking verse to

you,

same.

I read that and I'm like, what does that

mean? And I'll tell you, the jury is

still out. The Bible doesn't clarify

exactly what that means. Are we talking

like access to heaven type forgiveness?

Are we talking like blessings on earth

type of forgiveness? What do you mean

you're not going to forgive me if I

don't forgive? I don't know the answer

to that. All I know is it's a

non-negotiable to Jesus.

It is Christianity. Following Jesus,

laying your life down and following him

101.

2 Corinthians 2:10 says, and this is

2 Corinthians 2:10

Paul talking to the church, "Anyone you

forgive, I will also forgive. And what I

have forgiven,

I have forgiven in the sight of Christ

for your sake." And this is the part I

want you to pay attention to.

in order that Satan might not outwit us

because we are not unaware of his

schemes. So here is your proof that

everything I just said about Satan

tricking you. This is what Satan has

been doing to humans since the beginning

of time. He sees you struggling. He sees

you hurt, scared, offended, and he just

slides this little thing across the

table. And if you take the bait, and

maybe the bait is you didn't deserve

that, you better harden your heart

towards that person. Um, you better make

them hurt like they hurt you. You better

lock everything inside so nobody has

access to you ever again. If you take

the bait, that's your agreement with

Satan. That's your agreement with a lie.

And honestly, that thing is going to

keep you safe a lot of times in the

moment. Especially if a lot of what you

need to forgive is from your childhood

and you were this big and you had no

coping skills and nobody helping you

process life.

You take that lie because it feels so

true. And then you lock yourself up. You

hold on to these grudges and you feel

empowered

and in the moment it keeps you safe. But

what happens over time is that what kept

you safe as a child turns into your

prison as an adult because now 20 years

later, you're married and you can't let

anybody access your heart. Nobody knows

who you really are because you're all

locked up inside. And maybe it was

voluntary as a kid. You could kind of

lay it down and pick it up, but it

becomes so imshed in who you are as an

adult. And now you're lonely. You're

isolated. You feel abandoned by God. You

see all these Christians that are free

and worshiping Jesus and you're like,

"How do I get any of that? I don't have

access to any of that." It's because

you're in prison. You got tricked.

But I have good news for you today is

you don't have to stay there. That's the

entire point of this message today. If

you feel broken or numb or isolated or

disconnected from yourself or Jesus or

other people, you don't have to stay

there.

Some of you, I I just want you to notice

if your heart is stirring in this

message,

be listening to what the Lord has to say

to you today.

1 Peter 2:24 says, "He himself," talking

1 Peter 2:24

about Jesus, "He bore our sins in his

body on the cross so that we might die

to sins and live for righteousness.

By his wounds, you have been healed.

Have been. You currently, if you've

given your life to Jesus, are healed and

set free.

And you're given a choice to live like

that's true or to continue to live in

bondage because the Lord isn't going to

force you to walk in freedom.

When Jesus said that he died for our

sins so that we could be, what does it

say? We might die to sins, I believe

that that doesn't just mean we're dead

to our own sins, which we are.

Hallelujah. He sets us free. He sees us

as blameless in his sight. Everything

we've ever done, will do,

he's forgiven. But I also believe this

means that we're dead to other people's

sins.

Yes, other people's sins are going to

still hurt us, affect us. We're going to

have to grieve through them. We're going

to have to grow through them. We're

going to have to surrender those hurts

and pains to Jesus. But we don't that

sin of other people doesn't have power

over us anymore either. We get to live

free.

Every command that God gives in his

word, he's not giving you a command

because he wants you to have more rules

to follow or because he's trying to make

you miserable or downplay what you've

been through. He's giving you the

commands because he is trying to invite

you into freedom.

He desperately wants his kids to walk

around this planet free because he has

love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,

goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and

self-control that he wants to baptize

you with for it to fill your entire

being because those are the things that

show up when the Holy Spirit takes over.

But we have to walk in agreement with

his way of doing things

to make room for that.

because he'll let you. He'll let you

keep carrying all those things if you

want to. And I'm here to tell you today,

you don't have to. You can come out of

agreement with everything you've used

over the past years and decades to try

to keep yourself safe

because the truth is he never really

asked us to keep ourselves safe, right?

He asks us to hide in the shadow of his

wing where he is the one who keeps us

safe.

I want you to imagine somebody right in

the parking lot. You go to church,

somebody smashes into the back of your

car and it's it's a bad one. $10,000

worth of damage you got to do. You must

have a really nice car.

Somebody's got to pay. There's now a

debt created, right? That car's got to

get fixed. Either you're going to pay

for it or the person who backed up into

it is going to pay for it.

When somebody wounds our heart, it's the

same thing. There's a debt that's

created.

It's like somebody owes us something and

somebody has to pay.

Definitely in that moment that wound

makes us feel like they owe us an

apology at the very least, right? Like

that would be nice.

Sometimes we feel like they owe us an

understanding of how much they hurt us.

Wouldn't it be so nice if the person who

grieved you came to you and said, "I

cannot believe I did that to you." What

kind of a person, what kind of a parent,

what kind of a friend would do that or

say that? I'm so sorry. Please forgive

me. I ruined your life. I rocked your

world. I'm just how what could I ever

do? And then if they give us that, it

feels like, okay, well, now I'll forgive

you because you earned it. Yeah. All

right. I'll accept that payment. You're

off the hook.

But that is not forgiveness, is it?

Because it it was transactional. It was

earned. Jesus, I think, is calling us to

something way different, way higher than

that.

Sometimes we feel like I will be able to

heal.

I'll be able to be okay

once the relationship is restored. Once

they give me what I need,

then I'll be fine.

But there's a big problem with that.

Because if I'm dependent on you

to keep me safe, to keep me happy, to

keep me whole, and to give me permission

to heal, I'm in a bad spot

because I'm now giving all of my

freedom, joy, potential to other broken

humans who also have pain and traumas of

their own and lies that they've believed

from the enemy.

And now I can't heal until this broken

human does something that gives me

permission to heal. I have an

attachment. This is like a weird

analogy, but I always picture it like an

umbilical cord attaching me to that

person.

And until they apologize, until I get

restoration, I can't heal.

That's putting way too much power in

someone else's hands.

So rather

than that, forgiveness I would say is

standing at the foot of the cross or

standing in the presence of Jesus and

saying, "Jesus, the debt that that

person owes me, I transfer it to you.

I'm going to take you up on your offer

to carry it for me from now on." Because

what does the Bible say? His burden is

easy. His yoke is light. If we yoke up

with him, he carries all the heavy

weight and all we have to do is walk

next to him.

Everything heavy, everything traumatic,

everything scary, everything

overwhelming. You don't have to carry

it. The Bible is very clear about that.

At any point, you can choose to

surrender it to Jesus and ask him to

carry it for you, including

any unforgiveness you might still be

holding.

And then all of a sudden, the debt's

been paid. This offender doesn't owe you

anything anymore. They don't owe you an

apology.

They don't owe you restoration.

They don't owe you understanding of your

pain

and you find yourself free. You have no

more attachments. You have no more cords

attaching you to all these people that

you are dependent on. You are standing

on Jesus and Jesus alone. And you're

completely free. And the enemy can't

touch you here because people can treat

me as what however they want to treat

me. They can say whatever they want to

say and I can feel the feelings and then

I can cast it on Jesus and I can move on

with my life. I am free and untouchable

in this place and you are too.

It makes sense in the world to

live with this. I'll give this to you

once you earn it. Once you apologize.

But you guys, we were invited to live

somewhere different. Not in the world.

Once you gave your life to Christ, you

committed to live in a kingdom that is

upside down. It doesn't make sense in

this kingdom anymore. The world ways

don't make sense in the upside down

kingdom. Jesus says, "Let go. Let it go.

Surrender it to me." That's where your

safety is.

I know that there are uh people in this

audience that might be resonating with

this message for two different reasons.

Some people in this audience

are listening to this and over the years

you've been the type of person who has

collected offenses.

Someone says something to you completely

disrespectful that you didn't deserve

and you collect that. You put it right

here. And then somebody betrays you. You

thought they were your friend. They left

you high and dry. Mm-m. I'm collecting

that one right here.

Someone embarrasses you in public,

throws you under the bus at work, says

something untrue about you, and you grab

these things, and along the way, you

just keep collecting and you put them in

here. You are offended

easily. And every time somebody offends

you, you say, "See, good thing I'm

keeping track right here. I got every

bit of these, and I will never forget. I

won't forget what you said. I won't

forget what you did. And honestly, like

look how strong I am to carry this

around. You think you can hurt me?

Uh-uh. I've been carrying this my whole

life. Nobody can touch me.

And to you, I would say it's time to

obey Jesus. It's time to let go. It's

time to cast off the old way of living,

the flesh way of living, where honestly

offenses make sense. They actually do

feel protective.

There's a reason you're doing this is

because it does kind of make sense from

a fleshly perspective.

But the Lord's asking you to lay it down

and to be a person who is like water off

of a duck's back. You let it roll off

and you say, "Jesus, it only matters

what you say about me. If people want to

talk bad about me, let them. They can.

I'm not going to be in control of all

the people's opinions of me anymore. I'm

done doing all of that. I have an

audience of one. Lord, as long as you

are proud of me, that's all I need to

know.

>> There's another set of people in this

room

that haven't been necessarily collecting

offenses, but you

have been through pain unimaginable.

You've had things done to you that would

break my heart if you told me. And I

would say to you, I am so sorry that you

walked through that. What happened to

you was wrong and evil. And I don't

believe that was God's plan for your

life.

This is like lifealtering type of pain.

Some of you in this room know that you

can feel emotional pain so deeply that

it hurts your bones.

And to you, I would say it's time to

obey Jesus.

It's time to let go of this thing that

you've been carrying that has made you

feel strong,

that has made you feel

safe because it's a barrier between you

and the rest of the world.

Because what's happening is over time

your shoulder is going to start to ache.

Your neck is going to get a crank in it.

Your hips are going to get out of

alignment. You're going to start

hobbling around. And you guys, you won't

even know it because that kind of this

kind of pain happens so gradually over

time. Some of you in this room think

this is just your personality. You're

just not a friendly person. You just

don't like people very much. You just

aren't very happy. That's just who you

are. Some people are happy, some aren't.

You don't even know this thing is on

your shoulder because it's been there

since you were two or it's been there

since

the first time you ever stepped out and

trusted a person.

Jesus is inviting you to freedom today.

There are um very practical things that

I want to walk through very quickly with

you because I don't want to just say

spiritual things and then leave you

leave you hanging

because some of you also are in this

room saying okay I want to forgive

but I don't know how.

All I can say and all I have time for

this morning is you have to process the

pain you've been through. You have to

name it, feel it, talk about it, write

it down, tell Jesus about it, go see a

therapist. I wish there was a way around

that, but there isn't.

If that pain, if that story is a thing

living in your body, it has to get out.

Time does not heal all wounds.

That story is still inside of you. And I

promise you that God is desperate to

rewrite that story in your life. And I

think it will set you free. I think it

will bring physical healing into your

life. I've seen people's physical bodies

heal when they have chosen to forgive

people.

This stuff is so real, you guys.

I'm going to just for sake of time kind

of skip more of the practical things. If

you have any questions, please come find

me. This is my favorite topic to talk

about. I would be happy to point you in

the right direction if you are wanting

to forgive but don't know how.

But I will remind you, you can forgive

without your emotions lining up. Okay,

I'm going to bring you through a micro

version of what I do with people just

here in this moment. If you're

comfortable with it, I want you to go

ahead and close your eyes.

I want you to just notice and plant both

feet firmly on the floor as you sit. I

want you to notice how the chair you're

sitting in is supporting you and holding

you up. And imagine that for the next 60

seconds, you're just sitting at a table

with Jesus. Or maybe you're sitting by a

lake with him.

I want you to ask him in your heart,

God, who is it that I still need to

forgive?

It might be a face that pops up into

your imagination.

It might be a name that flashes across

your mind. It might be a memory of

something that happened a long time ago.

Ask him if there's anyone else.

I believe that the Lord is ready to

disconnect that attachment you have to

that person and he's ready for you to

walk forward in freedom today.

I'm going to give you a second here. Go

ahead and open your eyes. I'm going to

give you a second to um in a minute to

come up to the front and I'm going to

pray over anyone who is ready to let go

because the truth of the matter is some

of you have been carrying this thing for

years and years.

You got tricked into thinking that this

thing was actually to your benefit.

So, who are you caring today? Is it an

ex?

Is it a parent?

Maybe an old pastor you had or a

business friend. You guys, maybe it's

yourself. I mean, I can almost guarantee

you,

it's yourself.

We have things that we need to forgive

ourselves for. And when Jesus said

forgive, we are we are people, too. When

he says you need to forgive people, we

are people.

Some of you will never experience your

full potential as a person or walk in

your true authority in Christ until you

walk in freedom from this event.

So if that's you, you're ready to lay

this thing down finally give it to

Jesus. Transfer all the pain, all the

debt to him. Let him take care of the

justice. Let him take care of the memory

and the effects on your body. and you

get to go walk free. I want to invite

you now to come up to the front. I'm

going to pray over you and um I want you

to see that you're not alone in this.

You're not the only one. This is a

beautiful thing to do in community. So,

if everybody could just go ahead and

stand,

check in with the picture, the name, the

memory, something that feels like a

weight, feels like you're ready to let

it go, and you're ready to be done

getting defined by this thing. This

person who hurt you, who's probably

moved on with their life,

is free. It's time for you to be free

now, too.

And if you don't want to come to the

front, you want to stay in your seat, I

get it. It's intimidating to come up in

front of a church. I'm going to pray for

you guys anyway. And the Lord can hear

your heart and your prayer. And he can

see exactly who it is you're deciding to

set free and forgive today as well.

Before I pray, prayer team, if you want

to come up to the front as well, just to

be available for people after the

service.

As I pray, feel free to come on up

as a declaration that today is the day

that you're ready to walk free. The ways

of this world, the things of your past

no longer are your story because Jesus

rewrote your story the moment that you

gave your life to him and became a new

creation.

Jesus, I thank you for this time today.

And I just declare over these people,

God, over myself, that we believe you

when you say that you want to heal us

and set us free. God, you are so kind.

You are so good. And when you show up,

Holy Spirit, you can't help but

resurrect things from the dead.

So I speak to every heart here in this

room that has felt dead, that has felt

stuck, that got tricked into believing

lies from the enemy. That we were meant

to stay small and hidden and bitter and

angry and depressed and anxious. And

today we come out of agreement with all

of those things. We repent of partnering

with them in every way possible. The way

we've used these things as ways to keep

ourselves safe, God, we repent of that.

And we ask you to keep us safe. We ask

you to carry the weight,

to help us, teach us, empower us to let

go of these things so that it's no

longer our story. God, thank you that

you made us a new creation. God, we

praise you. We thank you. And together

as a community, as a church, we decide

to live as a free people.

Free to love. Free to let people in,

free to actually live life,

free to explore who we are without all

of this weight and damage on us. God, we

give it to you.

We surrender it at your feet, Jesus.

We give you every bit of emotion that

comes with it.

We choose to trust you with how scary it

feels to let go

in Jesus name. Amen.

Hey, thanks so much for watching today's

message. Our prayer is more than the

words that were spoken in the message

that you would remember the things that

God spoke to your heart.

>> Yeah. And no matter what it was that God

spoke to you, I know that part of your

journey is other people being in a

community because we are better

together. So if you made a decision to

follow Jesus today, would you click the

link below and fill out the form? This

is going to help us so that we can

celebrate with you and equip you with

some tools so that your next steps are

great steps.

>> Yeah. Thanks so much for watching. We're

praying for you. We're cheering you on.

We believe that the best days are ahead

of you.