Guest Pastor Daniel - Unlimited Forgiveness

How's everybody doing this morning?

Good good. For those of you that do not

know me, I am a decade long friends to the Clarks, love the

Clarks. And so I'm pinch hitting today.

They sent out a message yesterday.

It was like, hey, I was like, sure, I love my Salt church

family. So I'll come in and help you

out, Mr. John Michael. And so I feel like I was already

preparing a word and I had two directions that then I was going

to go in and I picked one this morning.

So hopefully it's the right one. After I've followed the Lord

long enough to know that normally He, I will choose

correctly. Do you know how much He loves

you? And so I've, I've discerned in

ministry a long time ago that He loves you a whole lot, just

loves you so much that he will, he will speak to a hard headed

man like me and be like, this is exactly what they need to hear

today. You ever noticed that in church,

the Holy Spirit will just give you the word that you need in

your season. He's good like that.

And so I want to talk to you this morning about unlimited

forgiveness. There's a there it says limited

forgiveness. I want to talk to you about

unlimited forgiveness. So if you could turn to Matthew

Matthew 18 · chapter mention

chapter 18. Matthew chapter 18.

Matthew 18 · chapter mention

I was putting together some things for some future

teachings, but I was going over the questions that was that were

asked of Jesus or Jesus asked his disciples.

Have you ever located those in the Scriptures?

I think it's mean you can gain some great insight through

questions, right? Here's a leadership tip.

A leader that can't be questioned does questionable

things. And so you, you see these, this

dynamic develop in the life of Jesus as he's on earth, where he

will ask his disciples some questions and the disciples will

ask him some questions and then people will ask him questions.

And those answers are gold. And so questions are the

location are locators. And so we can pause and think

through. Let me let me give you a few

questions Jesus asked his disciples.

Who do people say that the Son of Man is?

Who do you say that I am? Why are you afraid?

Do you still not understand how many say Amen to that?

What were you arguing about on the road?

Do you love me? Do you believe that I can do

this? How about some questions people

ask Jesus? What must I do to inherit

eternal life? Who is my neighbor?

Are you the one who is to come or should we expect someone

else? How can someone be born when

they are old, born again when they are old?

Lord, if you are willing, can you make me clean?

In Matthew chapter 18 we come across a question that Peter

Matthew 18 · chapter mention

asks Jesus. Matthew chapter 18 is is a great

Matthew 18 · chapter mention

chapter if you would read it. He starts off by talking about

having faith as a child in the parable of the wandering sheep

and then how to deal with sin and unforgiveness.

And then at the very towards the very end, Peter comes and asks

Jesus a question and this is where we will find ourselves

today. He says, Lord, how many times

shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me?

Up to seven times. OK, so Peter's been walking with

Jesus for quite some time. He's seen him do amazing things

and he gets to this point where Jesus's teachings are pretty,

they're straightforward, aren't they?

They're, they're, they're hard to understand and on purpose

because the Kingdom operates differently.

If you figure that out, the Kingdom just has different

boundaries and rules and regulations to it.

And so the the disciples are walking with Jesus, They're

trying to figure this out. And Peter has discerned, hey,

look, Jesus probably wants us to forgive people.

I wonder how many times I should forgive somebody.

And so I don't know if Peter was hanging out with his boys and

was like, Hey, what's a good number?

I'm going to ask the Messiah this question.

And so he approaches Jesus and he says, how many times should I

forgive my brother or sister? 7 times.

Now, I don't know if he chose 7 because it's the number of

completion or he chose 7 because he wanted to be the head of the

class. And he's like, hey, 7 times

would be great. You know, like, hey, if if I sin

against Don one time, he's like, OK, I got you PD, I'll let you

go. I forgive you, but seven times,

Don 7 times. Would you forgive me 7 times

Doing the same thing? Seven times?

So Peter's like, shoo, man. If Thomas sins against me, I

should 7 * 7 times. That's good.

OK, Jesus, how many times should I forgive a brother and sister?

7 times. He's waiting for the Lord to be

like Peter. Go to the head of a class.

Peter, you got it right. And here's the first way to

understand how to move in unlimited forgiveness.

The Lord shows us a key right here is cooperation.

I want to talk to you this morning about how to move from

keeping score to losing count. I want to move you from this

understanding of keeping score like Peter was seven times.

That seems like a lot to what if the Lord could move us from

keeping score to losing count? And Jesus answers Peter with the

story. But the first thing Peter does,

and I want to, I want to welcome you into this, to this

understanding here, in order to move from keeping score to

losing count, you have to cooperate with the Lord.

And I believe Peter was doing this.

Peter was cooperating with the Lord.

Why? He was asking a question.

He had discerned something. He had, it opened up his heart,

his understanding. He wanted to grow in this area.

So he asked the Lord a question. He puts a, a, a measurement on

it, which I don't think is bad. He puts a human measurement on

it and he's saying, Lord, what do you think about this?

What am I supposed to do? So the first area and the first

understanding is order to move from one thing to another.

You have to cooperate with the Lord.

It sounds simple, but simple things not done lead to not

growing. It's the simple things that trip

us up. And so cooperating with the

Lord, the Lord is. Have you ever noticed this with

in your life with walk following the Lord?

He's always moving you to something.

He's moving you from faith. What does the scripture say from

faith to faith to glory to glory.

Do you know that the faith you have today is not going to get

you through the season that you're going to face tomorrow?

Why? Because you have faith for

today, Jesus wants to give you faith that you are victorious

for tomorrow. That's why he moves us from

faith to faith, glory to glory. That's why he moves us from

keeping score to losing count. Jesus is relentless on helping

us transform into the image of Christ.

He is pushing us towards this understanding, to this

understanding. So Peter comes in and he

cooperates with the Lord. You can grow so fast in the

Kingdom of God if you will cooperate with the Holy Spirit.

He guides us into all truth. If you will yield your heart not

to your pastor, but to the Holy Spirit, if you will yield your

understanding, if you will yield yield your, your, your hearing

to the Lord, He will grow you. When you start to say, you know

what, don't really know everything.

Have you got to that point? Look, do you know that the sign

of spiritual maturity is not, is not repenting less, but

repenting more. We have this warped sense of

spiritual maturity where we think that when you're mature,

you don't have to confess your sins or you don't realize how,

but you miss Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

Spiritual maturity is realizing that while without the blood of

Jesus I will would be sunk, without the word of Jesus I

would be toast. The sign of spiritual maturity

is understanding how far we are from walking the true way of of

the character of Jesus. That's true spiritual maturity.

You know, what do you call it? It's humility my friends.

God opposes the proud but gives grace to the what to the humble.

Do you know how you get more grace in your life?

Grace comes from cooperating with the Holy Spirit and saying

to the Holy Spirit, I don't understand and that you live in

me and you will guide me into all these truths.

So Peter asked a question. Jesus gives him an answer.

I want to talk to you about the question.

These are on your nose, the question, the answer, the heart,

the consequence, and the point. And so Peter asked the question.

So the first point is that you need to cooperate with the Lord.

And the answer is the parable of the unmerciful servant.

I'll be in verse 22. Let me start.

Jesus asked Lord. Peter asked, Lord, how many

times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me?

Up to seven times. Jesus answered, I tell you not 7

times, but 77 times. What?

That got Peter's attention, didn't That just got your

attention. So not 7 * 7 times what?

And so those of you that are keeping score, you're trying to

how many is that then 400? No, what Jesus was saying is I

want to move you from limited forgiveness to unlimited

forgiveness. That's what He's trying to tell

you. I'm trying to teach you

something that to be honest with you this morning will set you

free. I mean, you want to talk about

walking in the freedom of Christ, live a life of unlimited

forgiveness. Who you talk about walking into

the into the fullness of Jesus. Learn how to operate from

unlimited forgiveness. And he gives us some keys in

this particular parable, he says, he says this.

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

settle accounts with his servants.

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

gold was brought to him. And since he was not able to

pay, the master order that he and his wife and his children

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

So there you got a king. You got it, unsurmountable debt.

And the king wants his. He wants the payment.

And so the master ordered. You go out there, your wife and

children. You have to sell everything to

repay the debt. At this, the servant fell on his

knees before him. Be patient with me, he begged,

and I will pay back everything. I will pay back everything.

The servant's master took pity on him, cancelled the debt, and

let him go #2 Limited, unlimited forgiveness requires our

reflection. It requires a moment of

reflection. Do you remember when you came to

the Lord and you truly understood that you sinned

against God? Do you remember that?

The weight of sin. I remember sitting in my bedroom

listening to a televangelist that I probably wouldn't listen

to today. He shares the gospel.

And all of a sudden my heart, my mind understood the way to sin.

And I was like, wow, I sinned against you.

Insurmountable debt. I can feel it.

Do you feel it? And I also remember the weight

of sin being lifted off of me. In this particular parable Jesus

is sharing, he's saying you have a servant has this debt he can't

pay. He says, look, you got to sell

it all. You owe me this money, son, you

owe me this money. Go get it.

I care what you have to do. Get me this money.

Servant falls on his face and says, oh, just I'm so sorry.

I can't, I can't take this. Then the king is merciful and

lets him go. That's the gospel right there.

Sometimes we can get to the place where we forget that and

we get back into the counting of, of cults to counting, not

taking count and not losing count.

And it comes through this moment of reflection.

I was doing some house blessings for the church I had.

I don't know if you know, but in October my wife had a stroke.

She had a couple of blood vessels deep within her brain.

It's called an ABM and the blood vessels burst and she had a

brain hemorrhage and the brain hemorrhage of the brain bleed

caused a stroke in there. And she's, she's in month 5 of

an epic recovery, learning how to walk and talk.

It was crazy. It flipped my life upside down

and thank the Lord that she's with me.

We thought we lost her for a while.

But anyways, in the midst of the recovery, I was in my living

room and I was reading in James where it says call the elders of

the church to come pray for the sick.

And I sat in my house and I was like, you know what?

I'm going to text elders of Lighthouse and I'm going to have

them come over here and pray for my beautiful wife.

And I sent a couple texts out from before you know it, I got

10 people in my living room praying and contending for

healing for my my bride. And we saw measurable healing in

that moment, in that in, in, in the houses.

We took communion and broke bread.

I say all that because as I sat in there, I had this thought.

Sometimes we don't get the breakthrough because we don't

invite people into our house. And James, it says, ask the

elders to come and pray. So I sat there and I was like,

you know what? I know that there are people in

the body of Christ that all they're looking for is an

invitation. So I put this thing out there.

I was like, hey, I'll come into your house and I'll bless your

house. But I wasn't just going to knock

on people's door. I was going to go in the houses

that that would welcome me. And so I go and take communion

with them. We go over there and anoint the

house with oil and all this kind of stuff.

It's great. Well, anyways, I was visiting a

friend in, where is it Glenn's. Do you know where Glenn's is?

OK, well, I've been in, lived in Gloucester for quite some time,

30 years or so. And I hadn't been there in like

15 years. And it was bad enough.

It could have been 10-15 years, but man, this is back where I

was, my stomping grounds. And you ever go back to a place

where you know, you haven't been in a while and then you're like,

oh, wow, this looks so familiar. Wow, wow.

So I'm going to this house and like, wow, this looks so

familiar. I remember hanging out, man,

whatever happened to that dude? You know what I'm saying?

Like kids in high school or whatever, you're like, man,

whatever. And I drove by this house, it

was a trailer with a garage. And literally I had a moment

with the Lord where I saw myself when I was 17 years old, running

where I wasn't supposed to run, doing things I wasn't supposed

to do. I literally stopped the car.

It's amazing to me how you're going to do something for

someone else and the Lord does something in you.

That's how he who refreshes others will him himself be

refreshed, right? So I literally stopped the car

and it and it's on the back Rd. and looked into the rearview

mirror and nobody was there and I just paused.

And I remembered something Back when I was 16 years old, I ran

with people I shouldn't have run with.

I mean, I was lost. Do you remember being lost?

I was lost. I was lost, lost.

And I had two friends that we were like this brotherhood.

Do you have like solid friends that you would like in this

context? When I was growing up, it was

like we we were going to we were going to ride hard and die hard

kind of friends. But I have those friends now.

But we're we're Kingdom brothers now.

And thank you Jesus for the flip of the script there.

But I had these, these boys, we would do, we would do everything

together. And so one of my friends, he is

like, hey, I know this dude. He's a couple.

He's probably 22 years old. We were 16 or 17.

He's got, you know, he, he, he has got some things that we want

to partake in that we can't partake in at this age.

Come on over. And so this 22 year old, he's

trying to act like he's cool to a bunch of 16 year old.

We're hanging out in his garage doing things we're not supposed

to do, drinking things we're not supposed to drink.

The guy leaves and says, hey, I'll be back.

But before he leaves, he tells us the story of the shot glass

he has. And he says, you see the shot

glass. This shot glass has been passed

down. From generation to generation to

generation. The shot glass is like 100 years

old. It's to my prized possession,

blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. He puts the shot glass gone.

He leaves. I pick up the shot glass and I

start mocking the shot glass because I've had some wrong

spirits. You know what I'm saying?

I was partaking in the wrong spirits.

And so I take that shot glass and I'm just messing around and

I toss it to one of my friends. You ever play toss with somebody

and they're not playing toss back?

That's what I was doing. I toss them that shot glass, it

bounces off them, hits the ground and shatters.

So now 16 years old, lost, we decide won't get out of there,

get out. So I take the shot glass.

We we put it in there and we hide it.

And then we jet. And now we're staying in the

tents outside of my friend's house.

And come three hours later, we hear these gunshots.

Now, that was 30 something years ago.

So to me, it felt like those bullets were just, like, flying

right over my head. You know, I'm not in the

military. I felt like they were coming

right over the tent. You know, we all freak out, get

out of the tents, run into the woods.

And then we devise a plan. The next day, we're going to go

to this man's house, and there's three of us.

One of us is going to go to the trailer and get him to come out

on the porch. One of us is going to be in the

woods with a gun, and one of us is going to tell us when it's

clear. I was the person that was going

to tell them to pull the trigger.

Morning wakes up, wake up, wake up, look at our brothers.

Hey, we're going to do this. It's there.

You ever have a plan that works accordingly?

Most planes don't work out. This one does.

Man comes out, friend is there, my friend has a gun, his hand is

on the trigger and he is waiting for me to say pull the trigger.

16 years old looking at him and something inside me and I will

tell you today it was God. If you tell him to pull the

trigger you will spend the rest of your life in prison clear as

death. I turned to him and I said don't

pull the trigger and it was as if a weight lifted off my

friend. He was like, I was just about to

pull the trigger. I think to myself 30 years

later, that one decision could have wrecked my whole life.

Do you realize what you have been forgiven of?

Do you know that two out of the three?

Me and one of my friends are both pastors of the churches.

I'm driving to go bless this house and I have a flashback of

the goodness of God in my life. I am married, been married for

20 years. I got two kids.

Joy, she's 16D2 he's 9. I am living the dream.

I have more than enough. God has been good to me and he

was good to me back then and I could have made that decision

that would have wrecked my life. Spend some time today, now, now

listen to me. Don't spend the rest of your

life thinking about what he has saved you from.

You know what I'm saying? Like don't, don't make it into

something that it's not. I'm not saying stay there for

the whole day. I'm saying remember what you

have been forgiven of. Remember how his hand has been

upon your life. Remember that you are an

unmerciful servant. Remember that you have a debt

that you cannot pay back. Remember that the blood of Jesus

speaks a better word. Remember that you are brand new

creation in Christ Jesus. Remember that the enemy was

looking to take you out, but God brought you in.

Look. Remember what He has done for

you because it's in the remember and the reflection of Wow I.

I deserve the wrath of God, but Jesus's blood has set me free.

My life could have been total mess.

And now I stand here at Salt Church on a Sunday preaching

about the gospel and the good news of Jesus Christ.

Because the Holy Spirit that that I didn't even recognize

until I was in my 20s, decided that He was going to tell me

when I was 16 years old that if you pull that trigger, your

whole life will be different. I tell this to young people all

the time. You think those decisions you

make right now don't have an impact 10 to 15 years from now?

You better slow down before you speed up.

What happens in this parable is that the merciful, the the

servant. What?

What happens? Let me let me go there.

I almost started preaching there.

Pastor Alex, sense his love. He would be proud of me.

He's like the PD you're preaching.

Verse 16 as the servant fell on his knees before him.

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

The servant's master took pity on him and cancelled the debt

and let him go. Verse 28 The heart of the matter

But when the servant went out, he found one of his fellow

servants who owed him 100 silver coins.

He grabbed him began to choke him.

Pay back what you owe me he demanded his servant.

His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, be patient

with me and I'll pay it back. But he refused.

Instead he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he

could pay back the debts. They would be like me.

I, I was a youth pastor for seven years.

And I'll tell you what, I love the youth.

I mean, I had, I had one youth, his name was Jerry Huffman.

And Jerry Huffman was a mess. He was just a mess.

And I remember just being like, you know what?

Jerry was me. I don't want to take a Jerry to

Pennsylvania, to some camp and the dude talk non-stop for seven

hours. I thought it was impossible,

like, be quiet. I brought him into the camp and

within 30 minutes, he had his first scuffle hit a guy in a

fight. That was on a Sunday.

On Thursday, he was called to be a missionary.

I have been forgiven a lot. So when I looked at Jerry, I was

like, you know, I love you, Jerry, you are a knucklehead,

but I love you. I love you.

Do you know what happened to Jerry?

Jerry's mom got cancer. She beat it the first time.

Then Jerry brings all her all the all the family to church and

they stay a season in the church.

Then Jerry's mom goes to be with the Lord.

She loses her battle with cancer, but she is pain free.

Now in the presence of Jesus, Jerry disappears.

Where's Jerry? Go look for him.

Can't find him. This is back during COVID where

it was everything was weird, right?

Thank the Lord we're past COVID. I'm leading youth and somebody

says, Pastor Daniel, there is some guy out there smoking a

cigarette and wants in the church.

And I was like, well, praise the Lord, they're at church.

All right, let me check this out.

Do you know who it was? It was Jerry.

Jerry had disappeared. Now he's back.

I said Jerry put out the cigarette.

Come on in. Jerry comes on in and I hugged

Jerry and I'm like, how are you doing?

And he's just not doing well. I mean, he's been through a lot

of stuff, doesn't have community, doesn't have a

family. I hugged Jerry.

Where have you been? Oh man, I missed you so much.

Well, everybody around us, Jerry's here, Jerry's here.

We start worship. Jerry's eighteen time at this

time, can't even come into the bird, but I'll let him in

because he's all my dime. I got him.

Yeah. Worship starts.

Jerry goes straight to the to the front and just begins to

worship Jesus. We taught Jerry how to get into

the presence of the Lord. Jerry would come to the church

because the church is the place where he's supposed to be safe

and Jerry just let it all loose on that altar that day and his

hands are raising. I remember being in the front

row singing get him Jesus, get him, not get him in a bad way.

Engulf them and overwhelm them with your love.

It's love that leads you to repentance.

It's understanding how much God loves you that you'll correct

your life if you try to correct your life by yourself.

Good luck with that. I've tried seasons with that.

Correct your own behavior. Uh huh.

Get into the presence and, and understand how to receive the

love of God. Your life will be transformed.

It's so much easier. Jerry understood that.

He understood the presence of God.

He understood it and he was just, he was just worshipping.

After the service, we got to pray for Jerry.

I hug Jerry and I was like, I love you.

You know what I didn't know is that would be the last time I

saw Jerry. I was scrolling through Facebook

and I saw his obituary and I'm man, I broke.

I start weeping. Jennifer is like, what's wrong?

I was like, Jerry's dead. He's gone.

And I go try to look up his stuff.

You ever try to track a family that's fragmented?

It's hard. I mean, I was like a

professional investigators try to figure out what leads did

this and who leads to that end up going to and we didn't even

host, man, we didn't even get to do the funeral.

So landed driving to this place during COVID.

Go to this church, bless their heart.

They're doing the best they can. They probably got it in an

e-mail on Wednesday. They have a pastor there on

Friday. Just trying to support.

Look, I'm not player hating them.

They were trying to do the best they could.

It's during COVID where you had to be like 6 feet apart and then

you had to have masks on and their heat was out.

Do you know how long Jerry's funeral was?

12 minutes. There's pictures up there.

I'm sitting in there. I was so mad to the point where

they were like, does anybody have any, anything to say?

Oh, I had a lot to say, but I don't think Jesus wanted me to

say one bit of it. And I left, got into my car and

just bawled. I bought, I had to pull over

three times. Matter of fact, the third time I

pulled over. This is why a little Lord walks

you through hard stuff, doesn't he?

He's always there. The third time I pull over to

cry and I don't cry. How many men in here like, don't

cry? Like you see me cry, something's

wrong. I don't cry.

I could not stop crying. So I pull over and soon as I

pull over into this parking lot, start crying.

I look to my right and sure enough, it was a lady that goes

to our church. Her son that was that was on

drugs was high as a kite and I had to call the cops so that

they could get to her. And I'm like, wait, this what?

Jesus, what's going on here? Hard, hard.

So I get home and I just reflect on the brokenness of humanity,

the realness of it, and how much got, you know, But you know

where Jerry is. Jerry checked out early, and he

checked out early because he got on some drugs and he Od'd and he

did things he wasn't supposed to do.

But you know where Jerry is. Jerry's in heaven.

Thank you, Lord, that, Jesus, that Jerry was forgiven.

Thank you, Lord, that that the Lord would use my life because I

had done things I wasn't supposed to do, run with people

I wasn't supposed to run with, but had grace for.

You can pick this one had grace for those folks and Jerry Still

I, I mean, I and I'll share this with you this morning.

I do believe that's why I stopped being a youth pastor.

Like if you could trace now we have it.

The verse has awesome. He's Pastor Alex.

You've heard him preach. He's awesome.

But after Jerry, something in me was like, I can't, I can't do

that anymore. But this isn't a counselling

session. You can pray for me there now

verse 29 his fellow so so limited forgiveness requires our

reflection and forgiveness is more about the heart than

grievance. Forgiveness is about the heart.

The deal with the individual that was forgiven is what they

forgot that they were forgiven. They tried to keep score instead

of losing count. It's like you have been forgiven

this huge debt and when you don't have to repay it, you go

look for people that owe you something so that you can get a

return on your investment. That's not how this thing works.

Jesus shares this parable and saying I want to, I want to give

you an understanding on how to live in this place of unlimited

forgiveness. What do you mean 7 times?

No, no, no, no. See, you're asking the wrong

question, Peter. You're asking the wrong

question. Do you know that when you follow

Jesus, if you ask him the wrong question, you might get the

wrong answer? You're asking the wrong

question, Peter. It's not 7 times, it's 7 * 70.

What do you mean though? What if this person has done

something against me that is just wrong and and they should

and it should be justice? No, he's saying choose mercy.

You don't understand, Lord, they did something that was illegal.

He's saying no, no, no, no, no. I don't categorize sin.

Sin is sin. You have been forgiven a debt

that you cannot repay. And what you need to do is you

need to forgive and let everybody else go.

But that doesn't make sense. What can I tell you?

Coming to Jesus doesn't make sense either, does it?

It bypasses the logic and reason that we have in our minds.

But somehow we know. Somehow, somehow we know.

And we have faith that God, that Jesus died and God raised him

from the dead. And that faith inside of us

causes us to come alive. And we're like, yeah, but why do

we leave that? And then when we get to

forgiveness, we're trying to use our logic and reason.

Jesus is saying, I want to show you something different.

I want to say, but Pastor Daniel, you don't know what they

did to me. I'm sure it was terrible, but

God is the one that's in charge of having your vengeance, not

yours. That's not your responsibility.

But how do I do it? How do I do it?

Well, Jesus says he will help you.

That's what he's trying to help Peter with.

He's saying I will help you, but it's a matter of the heart.

Don't don't lose touch with the with your emotional connection

with the heart does. Am I trying?

I'm trying to make sense there like sometimes we can the the

fancy word would be bifurcated. It's like we're separating

ourselves. We're we're running two lanes

here. That's to be separated from

something. No, no, what I want you to do is

come get in touch with God's story in your life.

Pause and reflect what he has set you free from.

Now, you might be going to church and this will be the this

will be the testimony of my kids.

They'll be trying to figure out what they need to be forgiven

from Oh, they stole some Cheerios or something.

You know what I'm saying? Now don't get don't get wrapped

away. Well, I don't.

I didn't try to kill Someone Like You did, PD Don't do that.

That's not. No, no, that's my story.

Your story might be different, but get in touch with God's

story for your life. Realize that you have been set

free and forgiven, and extend that grace to others, and you

will begin to walk in unlimited forgiveness.

Here's the deal. There's a consequence to this.

And this is where I feel the weight of this parable.

Because it takes a turn, doesn't it?

Then the master called. Verse 32.

Then the master called the servant in.

You, wicked servant, he said. I cancelled all the debt of

yours because you begged me to. Shouldn't you have had mercy on

your fellow servant? Just I had, just as I had on

you. In anger, his master handed him

over to the jailers to be tortured until he should repay

back all he owed. There is a consequence for

unforgiveness. I mean, you don't hear that

much. I mean, you might with John

Michael. I don't know.

He's pretty straightforward. I like him.

There is a consequence for unforgiveness in your life, and

it's death. All sin leads to death.

Unforgiveness will limit your ability to walk in God's

promises in your life. It is a barrier, it is a hang

up. It is something that will keep

you from walking in. The fullness that Jesus has for

your life is unforgiveness and what you.

What most believers have is they are trying to use their logic

and reason instead of relying on the faith in the truth that

Jesus has proclaimed. There is a consequence for this.

There is a there is a preferred future that you will not walk in

if you don't forgive people freely.

Now I want to spin it on you to say that there is so much

freedom in walking a life that is full of unlimited

forgiveness. Now listen, I'm going to be

tested on this word, and so I'll be careful when I say this, but

I have been walking in unlimited forgiveness for years, and it is

the truth that has set me free. Now listen, I know that I know

that I know that I know that I am not worthy of what Jesus has

given me, but I know that I know that I know that His blood has

set me free. And the blood of Jesus is on the

doorpost of my heart. And if you sin against me, I

will freely forgive you. And you know what I do?

I'm intentional. And do it before I even leave

the house. Because if you will let people

go before you even step foot out of the out of the doorpost of

your own house, you will be in a much better spot because Jesus

has has set us free. So it has it.

Look, and I'll finish with this in verse 35.

This is how my Heavenly Father will treat each of you unless

you forgive your brother and sister from your heart.

I have a couple of applications there for you.

The first one is evaluate your understanding of God's grace in

your life. Pray and reflect on the debt you

have been forgiven #2 in the context of your heart.

Identify any bitterness or resentment that you may harbor

and contemplate and how it affects your heart relationship.

Identify any bitterness. Do you spend some time saying,

hey, I like this Psalm? I think it's one Psalm 132.

David says search my heart. Oh Lord, reveal to me anything

like it's the Holy Spirit's job to search.

It's your job to confess, right? Holy Spirit, search my heart.

Your response? Confess.

We get that when it comes to giving our heart to the Lord.

Confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord.

Believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead and you

will be saved. Yeah.

What are you doing? Holy Spirit draws you in.

Jesus is the answer. You confess and ratify what he

has revealed in your heart in your walk with Jesus.

It's the same way we live in a fallen world.

The people are going to prod you.

People are going to do things that aren't right on that.

The evil in this world is unprecedent.

It's crazy. It is crazy.

There are people out there that are going to do you wrong.

And I'm telling you, if you wait until the moment to try to

operate in to in limit and unlimited forgiveness, you're

going to lose it every time. But if you will predetermine and

be intentional about your stance, you will not trip up

because you will say, oh, that's a trap from the enemy.

I will not relent to that mess right there.

So if you could, could you stand this morning?

Did you get anything out of that?

OK, good. Worship you Jesus.

I'll finish with one last story. Have you ever witnessed the

power forgiveness in your life? It's amazing.

My dad was in the military and was gone a lot and we didn't

have the best relationship, but we didn't.

It wasn't terrible. He was a great guy.

Now he went to be with the Lord when he was 52 years old, which

is crazy to me because I'm 48. Back when it seemed like he was

old, but now I'm like, whoa, it's just around the corner.

Jennifer and I had just gotten married and when I was like the

first McKee that gave their heart to the Lord, the first

call I got from my parents about coming to the Lord was you

better watch that church. They'll take your money.

That was the first call. I remember hanging up the phone

and be like bag, bag that just got real.

Like I was looking for where to go, boy, I got they're going to

take your money And I remember being I feel like it was a test

of the Lord. Do you follow me or do you

follow them? I said, I choose you, Jesus, I

follow you. They can have all the money.

All my money. Geez, I give it to you all.

I don't know. You saved my soul.

What is that worth? So I kept walking it out.

And then I saw my parents begin to change their perspective

because you know what they saw? They saw fruit.

They were like, Dang, my son might be giving them their

money, but transformation is happening.

When he talks to me, he's kind, he's loving.

They saw it. They saw it from afar, and they

just observed. So then I find my bride, my

treasure, my heavenly treasure, Juniper, and we decide we're

going to get married. And then my parents come up from

Florida and I don't know. I love weddings.

Do you like weddings? I love weddings.

I don't like funerals. I like weddings.

Weddings are nice. And so it gathers all these

people together. My dad, you know, I was going to

hang out with my dad and get married the next day and I was

like, something in me was like, you got to just let him go.

You got to forgive him. He did the best he could.

It was the Holy Spirit you got, you got stuff, right?

You don't have any stuff. You have stuff.

But in relationship, especially in family, there's just stuff.

And the Lord was saying you got to get rid of that stuff.

I was like, I don't really want to do it, dad.

I don't want to. I don't want to do it, Jesus, I

don't want to. You got to do it, Holy Spirit.

You got to do it. So outside of my dad's camper

around a fire, he had a couple beers.

He used to like to drink Milwaukee's Best.

I don't know if you eat it, whatever, terrible beer,

whatever. He had a couple beers.

And at the time I didn't, you know, I don't drink.

I don't drink now, but I was like, you know what?

I have a beer with my dad. I felt like the Holy Ghost was

like, it's OK, you can have a beer.

I was like, OK, this is weird. Sat around the fire.

You ever have this awkward conversation?

Guys have this awkward conversation all the time.

Maybe ladies, they maybe do it a little easier.

Guys were just like Stonefall, Just look at the fire.

Just look at the fire. We got something to talk about,

Don. We're just looking at the fire.

I got that, you know, So I'm just looking at the fire and I'm

sweating and I'm like, is this the beer or is this, I don't

know, maybe I shouldn't have checked it.

And I was everywhere, all one time.

And I remember taking a deep breath and I said this to my

dad. I looked at my dad in the eyes.

He always taught me that. And I looked at him and I said,

dad, I love you and I forgive you.

You did the best you could and I am so thankful that you're my

dad. Threw it out there.

I will never forget my dad's face.

He didn't cry just like I don't cry, but his face was just like

he couldn't. He pauses and he begins to cry

and he looks at me and he says, son, I'm so proud of you.

I'm so thankful for what God is doing in your life and I'm so

thankful that you're about to get married.

What a great we have this moment.

Fast forward six months after my marriage, my dad goes to be with

the Lord. Do you know that I found his

journals that journaled and I flipped to the page where I got

married and he journaled about our experience and our

conversation around that fire. And he said my son is doing so

well. Matter of fact, my son has

reignited my faith in God, the power of forgiveness, the debt

was paid by Jesus and living in the understanding on unlimited

forgiveness. When somebody doesn't deserve

it, it's when you're supposed to do it the most.

Can I tell you it's not going to make sense?

So here's what we're going to do.

Just raise your hands in the air if you're comfortable.

Lift your hands as an act of surrender.

Put your hands out like this. We're just going to get free

this morning because I know that the Holy Spirit is reminding you

of somebody that may have done something to you that He is

encouraging you to let go. And what he's doing is he's

saying, son or daughter, it's time for you to relinquish

control and just let them go. I have forgiven you.

Now it's your time to extend that mercy.

We deserved judgment. He gave us mercy.

The individual that has trans, that is, has done something

against you, deserves judgment. And what you're going to do is

you're going to extend mercy. Now, there might be a time after

this service where you're going to have to maybe have a

conversation with somebody, but right now you can just let them

go. So Holy Spirit, we come to you

this morning. And if search is so, Lord, would

you say that with me? Search my heart, Lord.

There you go. Search my heart, Lord, if

there's anyone that I need to forgive, remind me of who they

are. And then you just pause and you

listen. And if the Holy Spirit says son

and daughter, you're free, you're good, then you say,

praise the Lord, that's what you do.

You thank Him because the unlimited forgiveness you're

walking in is not because you have it all worked out.

It's because He has graced that to you.

So you just thank Him. Lord, I thank you that I don't

have any sin. Again, I don't have any thought

against anybody. Here's the second part.

If you have a name or there's a picture of somebody that has

popped in your mind, then you just quietly say I forgive them.

Say that with me, I forgive them.

Now, if you want to, you can put their name on it and that

personalizes it. I forgive so and so.

This is what I'm confident in. If you mean that and you declare

that and you believe that, then he has forgiven you.

So Lord, I pray today that you would help us move from keeping

score to losing count, that we would stop today, that we would

stop operating in worldly wisdom that says we need to keep score

and we would operate in the Kingdom reality that we are

called to lose count. And that when people would

encounter us, be it family, friends, coworkers, strangers,

that they would encounter the love of God that would then lead

them to repentance. It's the kindness of God that

leads them to repentance. Can I tell you this?

I have led more people to Jesus by being kind than any fancy

sermon I've ever put together. It's the kindness of God that

unlocks His love in their life. The kindness of God leads people

to repentance. Lord, may they look upon us and

see the kindness and goodness of God.

Let me ask this last question. Maybe you're in here today and

you've never asked for forgiveness.

You never taken that step. Can I tell you the Holy Spirit

has used this parable as the from the unmerciful servant to

communicate to you that there's a debt that you could never pay,

never, ever. And that you have a king that

came and paid your debt for you. He stood in the gap for you, and

he didn't just stand there. He willingly sacrificed his his

life so that you could be set free.

The good news is he didn't stay dead.

He conquered death, hell and the grave so that you could have

life in him. And that if you would confess

and trust in that finished work. He says you are a brand new

creation. So maybe you're living your life

counting the cost are taking score.

Jesus is saying come to me son or daughter, and I will show you

the new way, the more excellent way.

And how do you do that? You simply confess and believe

that Jesus is the Lord. So all eyes close, how heads

bowed. Is there anybody in here this

morning that wants to take that step of faith that you would

know beyond a shadow of a doubt if you left this room this

morning that you and you didn't make it through the day that you

would be with King Jesus? So you can settle that account

right now right here. And the word says today is the

day of salvation. So in the count of three and

that's special about the number three, except it's the third day

that Jesus was rose again. One, the Holy Spirit is drawing

you to make that Step 2. He's encouraging you.

It's your time. 3 All across this room, how many?

I see that hand. I see that hand.

Thank you. Thank you.

Let's all repeat this prayer. Lord Jesus, thank you for saving

me. Thank you for doing for me what

I could never do for myself. Thank you for preparing a way

for me to come to you today. I believe in your death, your

burial and your resurrection. I confess my sins and ask for

your forgiveness in Jesus name. Amen.

Amen. Amen.

Amen. All right, Praise the Lord.

Maybe we can get out of here before we get.

Is there anything out there? Donna, you want to close this

up? That's fine.

All right. OK well Lori thank you for

today. We thank you for the weather

that is going to relent so that we can go home and not drowned

in Jesus name, Amen.