Forgiveness in Practice: Moving Beyond Hurt || Pastor Aaron Levy

Heymen, hey man, good evening, Patre How are we feeling tonight?

Oh that feels good.

Who's ready to squeeze these scriptures? If we haven't met yet,

my name is Aaron. I get the opportunity to serve

as one of the pastors here on staff. And before

we talk about the message, can you help me honor

our lead pastors, Pastor Adam and Pastor Ashley, just leading

so beautifully with so much vision. I counted an honor

anytime I get to be entrusted to be a part

of the sermon series.

So here we are.

And also we got Pomona watching us right now. We

got Alameda watching us right now. Come on, let's give

it up for our campuses. We love you, Pastor Steven Delors,

we love you. Fore you go with tiffany Man. Our

campuses are growing and phenomenal and more on the horizon. Hey,

if you're new to Patriot, what we've been doing all month?

We've been in a series called the Red Letter series,

and in your Bibles, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, many

of those translations have what Jesus said in read letters,

hence the series called read Letters.

But we've done something a little different.

We've also coupled that with looking at chosen clips.

Anybody watch Chosen.

Yeah, and what we're talking about tonight is something very important.

It's a tough subject.

Look at your neighbor and say forgiveness. Look at your

other neighbor and say forgiveness online type forgiveness.

Yeah.

It's one of the things that we receive from God,

and then he expects us to steward it by.

Giving it out to others.

So if we stand on our feet, we stand on

our feet to honor God's word. We'll be in Matthew

chapter eighteen versus twenty one through twenty two.

I'll be reading from the ESV.

Or it'll be on the screens Matthew eighteen twenty one

through twenty two. If you have it, say hey many

more times, say.

Hold on, hold up, Okay, we hold up, We hold up.

That's what my dad used to say when I was

a kid. Hold up, preacher, all right, it's time.

Then Peter came and said to him, Lord, how often

will my brother sin against me?

And I forgive him as many as seven times? And

Jesus said to him, I do not say to you

seven times, but seventy seven times.

Let's pray, God, help us to understand what you're requiring

of us. I pray in the name of Jesus that

as we unpack your word, that you get me out

of the way. Holy Spirit, encourage us, challenge us, free us,

and give us the courage to apply this word.

In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.

Amen, you may be seated and pay attention to the

screens as we look at a clip from Chosen.

What do I do when there's someone who has sinned

against me egregiously, repeatedly and without repentance.

I can't imagine who that would be?

The portrayal of our people by working for Rome, that

was one thing that was a sin against all of

us and our heritage. And he showed no mercy when

Andrew begged him for extra time on his tribute that

and even charge an extra sixty percent on what was pasted.

Do Yeah, I was gonna let Rome seize our vot's collateral,

which would have taken our ability to work and landed

us both in jail, meaning Aiden could have starved. He

didn't even hesitate for a moment when quintessessin Despine me,

I'm up to seven, and I haven't even gone to

the fact that he was fully ready to turn me

in the morning.

That the morning that what you know, I do, he

may have been ready to turn to him, but it

didn't come to that. So for the moment, let's keep

it at seven a number of completion. He sends it

against me seven times, and I'm supposed to just.

Forgive that.

No, not seven, but seventy seven times.

I could stuck him up that high if I really

broke down each offense and the consequences.

You know, I don't mean literally seventy seven times, seventy

times seven completion times completion, endless forgiveness, without limits.

Look, a couple of days ago you gave me a

new name and made big proclamations. But whether my name

is Simon or Peter, I'm still the same man I

was the day before that. I'm still human and I

can't do it. I can't and no one would blame me.

You mentioned the consequences of Matthew's actions, Remember the circumstances

that put.

You in Yeah, that's all I can think about. That's

why I'm out here and not asleep next to Eden.

But after that, on the summer Rose, I know it's hard.

Why does everything have to be? Man makes it much

harder when he leans on his own.

Understanding powerful scene. Right, Well, I'm want to check this out.

Forgiveness is hard on its own, but sometimes forgiveness even

because more complex, because we don't really know what forgiveness is.

And if you look at that clip between Jesus and Peter,

that's how forgiveness starts out. Because forgiveness is between you

and Jesus, is not between you Jesus and.

The other person. Forgiveness is not reconciliation.

Reconciliation has to do with you, Jesus and the other person.

So as we go through those stages of forgiveness, we

need to look at restoration.

Through the lens of forgiveness.

So we look at that clip and Peter is remorseful,

and Peter is bitter and he's angry, but Jesus reminds

him of Luke chapter five. And in Luke chapter five,

he's reminding Peter of.

How good he is to him.

And we forgive because we have been forgiven. I want

to share with you the definition of forgiveness.

Let's go ahead and go to the next one.

Forgive in Greek is ah it goes a fi I

may e. Okay, I butcher that. I don't know Greek,

but it's off he may e.

Can you say that with me?

Yeah, it's root word in two words, one being apo

and one being he amy. And the thing about forgiveness,

it means get away from.

Or off and it means release and send away.

And there's times in our life where we do the apo,

we cut people off, but we don't do the hee amy.

Will we release it from our soul. And that's why

Jesus tells us, hey, if we're going to forgive, we

have to not necessarily reconcile with the person, but you

do need to reconcile with me.

That's what Jesus is saying.

And when you reconcile with Jesus, he'll guide us on

how to treat.

People who've offended us.

And that's why our first first point is forgiveness is

not a formula. Forgiveness is faith based. Forgiveness is not

a formula. Forgiveness is faith based. If we go to

Luke chapter seventeen, verse three through six, look what it

says here. It's the same story, but Luke gives us

a little more detail. He says, pay attention to yourselves.

Sometimes we pay more attention to the one that offended

us than to ourselves.

If your brother sins rebualk him, and if he repents,

forgive him.

And if sinds against you seven times in a day

in terms of you seven times saying I repent, you

must forgive him.

The apostle said, Lord, increase our faith.

And the Lord said, if you had faith like the

grain of a mustard seed, you can say to this

mulberry tree, be uprooted and planted in this sea, and

it would obey you.

Forgiveness is faith based.

The disciples saw blind eyes, heel, the disciples saw people raise.

But the only time in scripture where the disciples ask

for more faith is.

When Jesus challenged to forgive.

And Jesus, being the master teacher, what he does is

he uses a mustard seed, and he.

Uses a mulberry tree.

And I got really curious about this mulberry tree.

There should be a picture of it over here. Now

this is a mulberry tree.

What's awesome about mulberry trees that provide great shade? They

have great strong roots that go deep. But if he's

saying is all you need is the faith of a

mustard seed, and you can uproot this mulberry tree. Now,

I want you for a second to picture all your

relationships in your soul.

Your soul is a garden full of mulberry trees.

And this is your husband, This is your wife, This

is your kids, this is your grandkids, this is your grandparents,

your parents, this is your mailman, this is your enemies,

this is your baby daddy.

All the people that are in your soul.

And I want you to picture your soul as a

relational garden or a relational forest.

And what happens in life.

There are people that offend us, that lie to us,

that hurt us, that backstab us.

And we're gonna say, you know what, Remember that word

in Greek it was opo, Right, So I'm gonna cut

you off.

To what we do a lot of times we get

a changsaw. Go to that person that hurt us, and

look at.

This together, the person that hurt me. I'm gonna cut you.

I'm gonna cut you off because you're blocking my view.

I don't want you in my face.

But low key, what ends up happening is I want

you to feel the hurt that I felt. Sometimes I

take pleasure in seeing you fall, and I want to

participate in you falling because.

You're the one that hurt me. So what happens is

sometimes this is what we want forgiveness to look like,

because it's loud, it has a lot of action. I'm

in control, and the way that you made me feel,

I'm gonna make you feel. But that's not forgiveness. That's vengeance.

That's anger. That was okay to be angry, it's not

okay to stay angry.

That's why Jesus is talking to Peter by the fire,

because what ends up happening if you look at your

relational soul, all were left with his stumps, and a

lot of our souls look like this. Well, we cut

off the person, but we haven't uprooted the offense.

So that person's not in your life no more, but

you take you with you. So what happens is we.

Get hurt, we cut the person off, but then we

carry the offense and we go to a new neighborhood

group and I'm just gonna be here and I don't

really trust nobody. I'm just trying to see what the

vibes are and I knew y'allways liked the last church

because we're not rooted in Christ, We're rooted in bitterness.

We take us with us, we take us to our

next marriage, we take us to our next job.

And it's not.

The person that hurts you, it's the stumps. It's the

roots and our souls that we never dealt with. So

from Jesus perspective, I got a picture that shows this.

From Jesus perspective, it just looks like we have.

All this deadness in our souls, all these tombstones, and

this is why we get tripped up and tangled because

we're tripping over past relationships that hurt us.

It's valid that they hurt, but.

Jesus has a power to help you uproot those things. Now,

why would Jesus use a mulberry tree. Mulberry tree roots.

Go all the way si sixty feet down.

I think we got a picture of mulberry trees to

go sixty feet down.

So when Jesus says, if you have faith the size

of a mustard.

Seed, you can speak to a mulberry tree, So I

use my creative imagination to say, you know, with forgiveness,

I've been using the wrong tool.

I've been using the chainsaw. I need to use this pickaxe.

And the word of God is sharp as a two

edged sword. So the person's not in my life no more.

But the offense is. So I use the word of

God in faith to start uprooting the things that hurt me.

I'm honest to God and saying it's taking time God,

it's taking.

The time Lord.

But if I have faith the size of a mustard seed,

I can uproot this.

Out of my life.

We need the word of God to handle the offenses,

not the behavior of people that hurt us. And sometimes

we hold unforgiveness because that person hasn't changed. But maybe

God is allowing the pain so we can change. You know,

you've been forgiven. Once you forgive others, anybody can receive forgiveness. Oh,

it is a challenge to steward that forgiveness. So Peter

has a decision to make because Peter is spending time

with Jesus and he's asking Peter pretty much, what are

you gonna focus on, Peter? What they did to you

or what I did for you. See, Peter tried to

have a formula. Here's what Peter's formula if you cross me,

I'll cut you. I mean, that's proof of that. He

cut malcous here off right. But Jesus has a different

formula rooted in faith.

What Jesus said is when you cross me, I'll carry

your cross. And if we're going to be.

Disciples of Christ, yes people are going to hurt us.

Yes people are gonna let us down.

But it also is the reason why we grow in

our spiritual maturity, being able to uproot the offenses. If

you can change, why can't somebody else change?

Here's the question I want to ask us.

What roots are inside of you that needs to be uprooted. See,

sermons aren't good until you apply them. This is not content,

This is transformation. What needs to be uprooted from your life?

When you're watching the video, when you're seeing the illustration,

there are fouls that are probably popping up in your soul.

What needs to be uprooted from your life now?

Point number one is forgiveness is not a formula, is

faith based. Point number two is forgiveness is not forbearance.

Forgiveness is release. Jesus is talking to Peter. He tells

them to forgive seventy times seven and then he goes

into a story to help teach on forgiveness. We're going

to be in Matthew chapter eighteen, verse twenty three, and

this is Jesus giving Peter a story.

Look what it says here.

Therefore, the kingdom of Heaven may be compared to a

king who wished to settle accounts with the servants. When

he began to settle, one was brought to him who

owed him ten. Everybody say ten, ten thousand talents. Whenever

you see ten in the Bible, that means test ten

commandments ten plagus tive ten percent, So the.

Ten means test as.

Since he could not pay, his master ordered him to

be sold and his wife and children and all that

he had, and payment to be made. So the servant

fell on his knees, imploring him have patience with me,

and I will pay you everything. And out of pity,

pome Ona say pity, alom to say pity.

See Rancho, I didn't ask y all to say pity.

Okay, have just kidd and out of pity for him,

the master that the servant released.

Him and forgave him the debt.

The servant asked for patience, but the king gave him

pity a little more on pity, but firstly, I wanted

to describe what forbearance looks like. Let's talk about what

forbearance looks like. Yes, okay, average home in southern California is.

Why is the keeper ration? There we go? Five hundred

thousand dollars? Okay, yeah, whatever.

Now let's say God gave you favor, but we're doing

this for very simple math. You get a killer interest

rate and your mortgage payment is what.

Two thousand dollars? Okay? That would be a killer interest rate? Right,

thank you, Sean.

Now this person, it's five months past.

Do why is a keeper ration? Okay? I ran out

of Yeah, do best due? Now?

Almeda, how much does he owe in moretge payments?

Come on, you're right next door to a school, rancho.

How much is he? Oh? Okay? Ten thousand?

What?

Okay? All right, I'm gonna need to be discipled on this.

Jesus A. He owe ten thousand dollars? Okay? Yeah, Now

when you owe ten thousand, thank you give a run

of a plus for a hobby? Oh? There we go, okay,

he owe ten thousand dollars.

Now here's what a mortgage company is not going to do, Hey,

we forgive you.

You're now current, you have to move forward.

But they know that it'll be a loss if there's foreclosure,

so they don't want to foreclose. They don't want to forgive,

so they forbear. And what a forbearance is. You have

some that's five months past due and they're gonna say,

you know what, We're gonna act like you're not past due,

but this ten thousand dollars we're gonna put on the

end of your loan. Right, So, now how much do

you owe?

And this is just simple math.

We're not including the interest rate, plus God gave his

favor on the interest rate or whatever. But I'm trying

to explain what forbearance is. It's forbearance forgiveness.

No, I'm acting.

Like you're not past due, but I'm still holding something

over your head in the future. And that's what sometimes

happens in relationships. Something happens and we say I forgive you,

but then five years go by and you get into

an argument.

Do you remember what you did to.

Me back in the day when I need no, no, no,

you need to give you my tenth thousand. That's not forgiveness.

That's forbearance, and when we look at the grace and

mercy of Jesus, I'm so so grateful.

He doesn't count us as pass due.

We don't have nothing to collect on. He treats us

as current. You're my son, you're my daughter.

I love you. You can have your.

Dignity because I won't hold nothing over your head. How

many times have we been in relational situations? Okay, I

forgive you, she said, Listen, we hood too, Rancho Pomona.

When we forgive, we apo, we take it off and

we he aimy, we release the debt and the forbearance. Example,

their payoff was supposed to be in June. Now their

payoff is until December. And sometimes we're saying that we're

forgiving people. But you got a lot of making up

to do. You got make it up to do on restoration,

on reconciliation, but not forgiveness. Is under everybody to understand

what that means. So we talk about.

This word pity, because he said he had pity on

the man.

And when I looked at that word pity, I looked

for a black Theolosian that can help us with the

word pity.

Here he is.

Professor I didn't know team was for the Elosian I

pitied the fool?

Remember that? Or am I just telling my age? But

he shares a video on why he came with I

pitied the fool. Let's check out the video.

You coined one of the most famous catchphrases in history.

I pity the fool.

What's interesting is I read an article with you once

for you said that when you pity the fool, you

consider that an act of kindness to Oh yes, oh yes,

oh yes, I always say it is. I pitied the

fool means I want to kill the guy.

Oh no, no, no, no, when you pity somebody, you're

showing the mercy. Because I didn't start this pity stuff.

It was in the Bible. You know. You found pity

so many times in the Bible, and food so many times.

So I put him together, pity the food because a

lot of a lot of guys in the Bible was

as for pity, yeah, you know, And then a lot

of them was saying I did a foolish eight, right,

So I put it together.

But I didn'tonize you did all this research when you

came up with I pitied a fool.

Oh yeah, oh, yeah, let's give it up. Let's give

it up for the theologian, I pitied a food.

Now, let's look at what pity means.

In the Greek splink knit zomi splink knit zomi splink

means there's a deep gut feeling I have, and I

have a love that meets you where you're at. That's

called compassion. So pity is different than how we say

it today. Pity in the Greek means that God has

moved so deeply when we need his help. He has

a compassion that takes action on our behalf pity, and

through that pity God gave us grace.

I have an example of how that worked out in

my life.

I remember decades ago, I just knew I was going

to be this famous rapper touring all over the world,

and I had this this rap group. And the thing

about it is, I'm I'm I'm really wasn't a thug,

like I was a church kid, but I'm hanging around

rappers that like they actually like did certain things right.

So I thought it was just about bars.

So what would happened was we'll go to the studio,

we go to somebody's house and some of my homies

always had new shoes on, and I'm like, man, how'd

you get those shoes? And they say, hey, we'll put

you up on game. I said, well, how what were

we doing? He said, all you gotta do is go

to the department store, take an old pair of shoes

that you want to get rid of, take those off,

get the new shoes, put the old shoes in the box,

and then you walk out the store. And I said,

but that's stealing now if you don't get caught. So

I would go to the homies house, new shoes. Go

to the homies house, new shoes, and I'm just looking

at I got.

Pro wings on them. Fela's. I'm like, I'm like, man.

I needed, I needed, I need to do something this.

So I go with the guys. We're at the department store.

It's four of us, and I mean, I.

Am not the.

Toughest guy, okay, So I'm walking around and then my

heart is just.

So I go to the shoes, I get the shoes,

put them on my feet, put them on my feet.

Put the old ones back, and then I don't want

to walk out immediately.

So it's like I gotta act like.

I'm like really shopping so like, but now like the

homies are leaving and they're not getting caught one goal, two,

goal three, it's just me. So now I'm I'm like

looking at women's dresses. I'm not I'm not exact. I

remember this like, yeah, so now it's my time to go.

I start walking out and as soon as I went

out of the store.

I get tackled by three people. I get handcuffed. I

can still remember, like yesterday, the pavement.

That was on my cheek and just looking sideways of

all these people staring at me.

The shame, the embarrassment. How I get caught on my

first time. I can laugh at it. Now I'm crying.

I go to the back and I can't see anything

because of the tears that are running so much down

my face. But the lights that were shining in my face,

and the guy said I remember, he looked at me

and he said, first of all, you're going to jail,

and second of all, I need your dad's number.

Oh so I.

Just went back in my chair and I was crying

so much. I remember the tears on my ears. Oh God,

I started crying to it. Now I pray. Now I'm praying, right,

so I started praying to God, and I don't my

eyes were closed. All of a sudden, the guy comes

next to me. He takes off my handcuffs. He gives

me tissue, and he's I knew you weren't a thug. No,

he didn't say that, but he gave me tissue, and

he said, hey.

I don't want to see you in the store again.

I don't want you to steal no more. Are you

going to obey? Yes, sir, yes, sir, yes, sir. He

gets up.

I just want you to walk straight out and don't

look at anyone. And I remember, like yesterday, the freedom

it felt like. I remember the he like that heaveness.

So I'm going to like jail and then to walk

out the doors free. I remember when I walked out

and I sat down in my nineteen eighty eight Ford Escort,

and I'm like, oh my God, See, that's what forgiveness

feels like. That's what freedom feels like. Because I know

I was wrong. I knew I messed up.

I know what I deserve, and that's what the grace

of God is. That's what pity is. God's seen every

single thing that we have done. But yet he chooses mercy.

He chooses to set us free, and we describe that

feeling by having other people enjoy it. So my question

to you is what is your past do amount? See

sometimes we think that since we're current and we forget

where we came from when somebody does us wrong. No,

but what's your past due amount? Because the first question

was what needs to be uprooted? But will give you

motivation to uproot? That is the soberness of your past?

Do amount?

Point number one is Forgiveness is faith space. Point number

two is forgiveness is release. Point number three forgiveness is

not fairness. Forgiveness is freedom. One of the things that

causes us not to be free is because when we forgive,

we feel like it's not fair. And God tells us

to have pity on people.

That hurts us. But many times we ain't trying to

be pity. We being petty.

This is how you know you being petty? What do

your lips do when that person's name come up?

Al Amita?

What happens when you're around somebody that offended you and

it just so happened that person is getting all the compliments. Oh,

they're not all that, They don't they not, because it's

not fair. They must not know what they did.

So if we look at.

Verse twenty eight, we're gonna see how that servant that

was forgiven treated somebody that owed him money verse twenty eight.

But they but when they But when that same servant

went out, he found one of his fellow servants who

had owed him one hundred dinariyat, and seizing him, began

and to choke him, saying pay.

What you owe.

He didn't pity the fool, and so his fellow servant

fell down and pleaded with him, have patience with me,

and I will pay you the same things he said

to the king.

Now was said to him, But he didn't release.

He refused and went and put him in prison until

he should pay the debt. When his fellow servants saw

what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and then

went and reported to their.

Master all that had taken place.

Then his master summoned him and said to him, you,

wicked servant.

I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me.

And should you not have had mercy on your fellow

servant as I had mercy on you?

And in his anger, his master delivered him to the jailers.

Everybody say, jailer's until he should pay all his debt.

So also, my heavenly father will do to every one

of you if you do not forgive your brother from

your heart. Oh my gosh, that's tough. There's a quote

here by Max Lusato.

Forgiveness is unlocking the door to set someone free and

realizing you were the prisoner. How many times in our

life have somebody done us wrong. It's their fault, it's

not your fault. This time they did you wrong. They

didn't repent, they didn't change, and we just pull out

the chainsaw and we want them to feel how they felt. Well,

remember all those roots that we had an opportunity to forgive.

This is what it looks like when we don't. Let's

look at the picture. In Jesus name, there's a picture

that shows what roots.

Look like when they are Okay, I just want you

to picture Pomona.

Trees behind a jail cell.

Because what happens is in relationships, when we're broken, we

don't choose to forgive, and we.

Want somebody to feel what we feel.

We end up sitting right next to them.

And that's how soulmates become cellmates. You hurt me, you

owe me, you hurt me, Jesus heal me. And as

Jesus heals.

Me, He's going to test my faith in my love

to see how I forgive others.

As we conclude, we can clap in church. I mean

is a yeah, we are that type of church. As

we conclude, I just want to ask the question, where

are you stumped? Where are you stumped?

You know, I'd encourage us all to read the Book

of Jonah. The Book of Jonah is about a story

of forgiveness. And in Jonah chapter four, you see Jonah

sitting under a plant getting shade.

The shade gets moved, and for the.

Third time, Jonah is seeking or is having suicidal thoughts.

But the problem with Jonah is he's called by God

to give mercy to people he hasn't forgiven the Ninavites.

God wanted Jonah to be in his calling, but it

just so happened his calling triggered him because he wants Jesus.

Wants him to show kindness to somebody that he hates.

So when Jonah sees the Ninavites enjoying the mercy of God,

instead of Jonah rejoicing. He wants to commit suicide. And

we don't know the end of Jonah's story, just like

we don't know the end of your story. And sometimes

we're seated on things that just continue to trigger us

on the inside.

When those roots get.

Entangled with our bitterness, what our stubbornness, what our childhood trauma.

That's what's strong holds are and what Jesus is inviting

all of us to do is to let it go.

Romans chapter five, verse eight says God demonstrates his love

towards you that while you were a sinner, Christ died

for you.

Jesus didn't wait for any of us to improve.

He did the work on the forefront, and he's just

asking us to surrender.

To What would you do with forgiveness?

Peter had a choice, Jonah had a choice, and now

you have a choice. You can receive his forgiveness and

give it out to others where you can receive his

forgiveness and hoard it yourself. Let's pray, Jesus, we thank

you for what you taught us regarding forgiveness. Thank you

that you are the model of what that looks like.

You took the penalty that we deserve by dying on

the cross. And now you put the ball in our court.

I thank you that you're bringing up fouls right now.

That needs to be uprooted. Give us the courage right

now to release, to release in Jesus. Then we pray Amen.

You know, one of the most sobering things about the

gospel is that the king was treated like a criminal

when he died on the cross.

He was in between two criminals.

And as he's in between two criminals, and he looks

at both of them, and he has pity, and he says, Father,

forgive them, for they know not what they do. He

prayed for both of them, Father, forgive them, for they

know not what they do.

And if you know the story in Luke, one criminal

continue to mock Jesus.

Another criminal declared that Jesus was lord, and Jesus said, today,

you'll be with me in Paradise. Jesus is still asking

that question to you right now.

Do you want to be a part of his kingdom?

He knows everything you've done, yet he still chooses to

love you as is. But his love is so powerful

and influential that you can't just stay the same.

Because when you know that somebody loved you at your worst.

They're worth following. You may know church, but you may

not know Jesus.

I'll tell you that was a professional church goer, but

I knew nothing about Jesus.

I knew nothing about the Bible.

And now that I know how much God loves me,

it's my duty to invite others. The start line of

Christianity is forgiveness. My ask is, have you taken that

first step? That's the first step of the faith journey forgiveness.

Now there's a second group of you. You've been walking

with Jesus for a while, and as you walk with Jesus,

the posture is to stay holding his hand. But there

are sometimes where people have hurt you, and situations have

caused us to let go of Jesus hands and put

the offense in our own hands. When we put that

offense on our own hands, that's when we get off

the chainsaw. That's when we want to hurt other people.

And what Jesus is saying, put your hand back in

my hand.

Let's keep walking forward. I see you're heard, I see

your pain.

But as you keep walking, what you're doing is your

light is shining for a dark world.

To see.

Forgiveness doesn't mean that you trust them. Forgiveness means that

you trust God. So trusting God is holding his hand

while we're hurt. This all close our eyes for a moment,

seal this in prayer. It's an invitation for you to

give your life to Christ for the first time.

I'm not asking you to give your life to this church.

This church can't take you to heaven.

I'm asking you to give your life to Christ, the

one who died for you. In the second group, you're

gonna pray that you're gonna keep walking forward holding Christ's

hand in this faith journey. And I would like everybody

to repeat this prayer after me to encourage those that

are praying this prayer for the first time to give

your life to Jesus or to rededicate your life to Jesus.

Repeat this, please say, Dear Lord Jesus, I believe that

you died.

On the cross for all of my sin.

From this moment forward, you are my savior and my Lord.

Teach me to trust you with my decisions. As I

receive forgiveness, I release forgiveness.

Be with me and give me.

The courage to walk out forgiveness for those that have

hurt me, surround me with people that point me to

you in Jesus.

Then we pray. Let's open our eyes for a moment.

Just want us to celebrate as a community. We've been

praying for this moment, for you to give your life

to Christ or to continue walking in your faith journey

with Christ. If you pray that prayer for the first

time or the last time. On the counter three, I

just want you to shoot your hand bold in the

air as a declaration that was for me.

I'm receiving it forgiven. That's for me. I'm gonna walk

forward in.

Forgiveness for others. One two one two three. Go ahead

and raise your hand high, Raise your hand high. Come on, Church,

Let's celebrate. Come on church, Let's celebrate people giving their

life to Christ.

People are rededicating their life to Christ. This is what

it's about. Church. Hallelujah. Thank you Jesus. Well, we have patriot.

Patriot just means family in Greek.

And we know this Christian journey is not easy and

it's very hard trying to walk by yourself. So Patrio

doesn't want to replace Jesus.

We just want to walk alongside you too, So we have.

Some next steps that are available to help with your

faith journey. So if you pull out your smartphone and

you visit www. Grow dot Faith, we want to put

a book in your hand by our founding pastor. It

just talks about the next steps in your faith journey.

And speaking of faith journey, maybe your next step is

growth Track.

That is the class that people are, the series of classes.

That people take when they want to start being a

part of the family through serving. So it's every Sunday

at nine am. We teach you more about our vision

and values in detail, but most importantly about you how

God is uniquely designs you to make a difference in

your family and your community's lives.

Amen, I ask you to stand on your feet.

Please, Were you, guys blessed by our service today?

God is good, He's faithful. If you need.

Specific prayer, we'll have a prayer team that will pray

for you up at the front. I'll pray generally and

you'll be dismissed. Heavenly Father, thank you for what you've accomplished.

Through your word. Give us the courage to walk this out.

Protect our families, protect our souls. Father God in Jesus name,

we pray hey Man, God bless you, miss thank you

hey Love you HM.