Rock Life! Forgiveness Part 2 - Pastor Kipp Penrod

Thank you for listening to this message from

Lifehouse Church. Come on, let's give Jesus a

hand. Can we do that? Nothing better than Baptism

Sunday. Just celebrating. People who have gone

from death to life, and that's what Jesus does.

Everything that he touches, everything he speaks

a word over, everything that's in his word moves

us towards life. And everything, do you know

that everything else in your life is moving from

life to death? Except anything that God's in

the middle of, right? He's going to death to

life. So it's awesome stuff. I love Baptism Sunday.

We rejoice every time it happens. We kind of

love Sundays in general, though, so we say that

about every Sunday. But it's good to have you

here this morning. I want to start off just really

kind of praying over our ears and our hearts

as we get ready to dive into God's Word. If you

would, just bow your heads and your hearts. Father,

thank you for this day. God, we thank you for

life. We thank you, God, for the love that you

give us. We thank you for those who have publicly

declared today that they are rock life people.

They are people who follow Jesus on the rock.

And we just give you praise. We give you glory

and honor in Jesus' name. And everybody say it

together. Amen, amen. Well, I want to continue

on. Last week, I preached the message on forgiveness,

and I didn't get to finish everything I wanted

to talk about, so I really kind of want to bounce

off of last week and dive right into something

that I believe is incredibly important about

life on the rock, Jesus Christ, and that is forgiveness.

Say forgiveness. Forgiveness. Turn to somebody

right now. Pinch them on the arm. Only do this

if you know them, though. Pinch them on the arm

and say, we're going to talk forgiveness now.

It's been awesome so far, but we're going to

talk forgiveness, all right? It's been awesome.

Come on, some of you jumped right out of your

seats when you did that. Forgiveness can be one

of the most challenging mandates. that Jesus

has taught his followers. It really can be. And

forgiveness is one of those things that can be

hard. It's beautiful, but it's difficult. And

as I want to, I want to set the stage from last

week to this week by repeating a verse of scripture

that I read last week so that we start to understand

and we continue to understand what forgiveness

is all about. Matthew 6, 7 says this. And when

you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the

Gentiles do, for they think that they will be

heard for their many words. Do not be like them,

for your Father knows what you have need of before

you ask him. Pray then like this, our Father

in heaven. Hallowed be your name, your kingdom

come, your will be done on earth as it is in

heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and

forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven

our debtors. And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from the evil. For if you forgive

others their trespasses, your heavenly Father

will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive

others of their trespasses, neither will your

Father forgive your trespasses. Forgiveness is

not optional for a follower of Jesus Christ.

Forgiveness is not optional if you live on the

rock, Jesus Christ. Matthew, it's recorded right

here in Matthew. It's Jesus' words. And in Mark

and Luke, I'm going to read them as well. Jesus

says something similar on different occasions.

In Mark 11, 25, it says, Whenever you stand praying,

forgive. For if you have anything against anyone,

say anyone. How many know that's everybody, right?

Anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven

may forgive your trespasses. Luke 6, 37, Jesus

was speaking again. It says, judge not, and you

will not be judged. Condemn not, and you will

not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.

And if that's not enough, I could run you back

over to Matthew chapter 18, where Jesus begins

Matthew 18 · chapter mention

to tell a story. about a master who forgives

one of his servants of an enormous debt. As a

matter of fact, if you would translate the amount

of money, it would be about $18 billion, with

a B, right? There's this master who forgives

his servant of this enormous debt. And in turn,

this servant who's been forgiven of so much will

not forgive somebody that only owes him about

$12 ,000. And the master finds this guy who was

forgiven of so much, this servant, and listen

to what he says in Matthew 18, 32. And this,

his master summoned him and he said to him, you

wicked servant, I forgave you all that debt because

you pleaded with me. And should not you? You've

got to forgive. Forgiveness is not optional.

We must forgive. We've got to forgive when I

really don't want to, right, or when I do want

to. I've got to forgive when it feels good. And

when it doesn't feel good, I got to forgive.

When I can engage in the process of forgiving,

what I talk about in Scripture and Jesus talked

about in Matthew 18, when I can create an environment

where there's exposure or accountability or confrontation,

I forgive when that happens. And I'm supposed

to forgive even if I'm not able to confront,

if I'm not able to hold somebody accountable,

if I don't have the opportunity to seek justice

or expose. I forgive in the good, the bad, and

the ugly. Rock Life people, we forgive. And maybe

for you, somewhere along the way, there's a person

that has sinned against you. There's a person

that violated you in some way. There's somebody

that did you wrong, and you can't confront them.

You can't go to them. Maybe they passed away.

Maybe they have died and you've never had the

chance to go confront or try to reconcile with

them or try to work it out or tell them their

sin or whatever violation happened to you from

them. You have no way to go and take a path of

forgiveness, right? You can't get there. There's

no path to closure in the relationship, no path

to justice. It just feels kind of, Ugly, right?

But you got to forgive. And I believe that God's

word gives us some deep lessons from a person

who went through this very same thing. A young

man named Joseph went through this very thing

where he didn't have the opportunity. So if you

got your Bibles this morning, I want you just

to flip backwards. You might've jumped in the

New Testament. We're going back to Genesis, the

first book in the Bible. Genesis 37, two. And

I want everyone to say Joseph. Yeah, Joseph.

Joseph is who we're going to talk about as some

of you are turning, and it'll come up on the

screens as well. Joseph, just to give you a little

background, is the 11th son of a man named Jacob,

and he is the first son of one of Jacob's wives

named Rachel. Now, Jacob has two wives, Rachel

and Leah, and he also has two concubines, Billa

and Zilpah. And to these four women, now back

in the day, you could marry four women. Amen.

Thank God we can't do that now, right? That all

changed in the New Testament. But back then they

could. And Jacob had two wives. He had two concubines.

And they had 12 sons between these four women.

And Joseph's dad, Jacob, right? Joseph is the

11th son of these women. And if I can give you,

just take you back just a little bit further.

Joseph's dad, Jacob, is the son of Isaac. Isaac

is the son of Abraham. And Abraham is significant.

scripture because it is Abraham that God promises.

He comes to Abraham, makes a promise that he's

going to make a mighty nation out of him. That

from his seed, the nations of the earth are going

to be blessed. And God follows through with this.

And it's actually Jacob that God changes his

name to Israel. And the nation of Israel is birthed.

And these 12 sons to Jacob are the 12 tribes,

the original tribes of Israel. And Joseph is

the 11th. of the 12. Genesis 37 .2 says this,

these are the generations of Jacob. Joseph, being

17 years old, was pastoring the flock with his

brothers. He was a boy with the sons of Billa

and Zilpah, his father's wives, and Joseph brought

a bad report of them to their father. Now, Israel,

which is another name for Jacob, loved Joseph

more than any of his sons because he was the

son of his old age. And he made him a robe of

many colors. But when his brothers saw that their

father loved him more than all the other his

brothers, they hated him and could not speak

peaceably to him. Now, a couple problems with

this family right off the bat, right? Dad has

12 sons and his next youngest son, Joseph, first

of all, is a tattletale. All right, that's what

it says at the beginning of Scripture. He goes

and tells on his way. He's 17 years old, and

he runs to his dad, and he gives a bad report

about his brothers. sons to the concubines and

starts to stir up trouble. And it becomes very

obvious, very quick to all these boys that Joseph

is actually the favorite son. He's the golden

child. Any golden child in the house? Come on,

raise your hand. Be proud. All right. Any babies

in the family? Come on. There we go. All right.

You know, you're the golden child of the family.

In Jacob's old age, he made it obvious. And Jacob

kind of confirms this in the family because he

makes Joseph, a special gift. He makes him a

coat of many colors just so Joseph can wear it

and rub it in his brother's faces, right? This

is not a great family dynamic here. There's jealousy,

there's favoritism, there's division, there's

strife all threaded through this family. And

Joseph's brothers hate him for the favoritism.

They hate him. And it gets worse. Verse 5 says

this, now Joseph had a dream. And when he told

his brothers, they hated him even more. He said

to him, hear this dream that I have dreamed.

Behold, we were binding sheaves in the field.

And behold, my sheaves arose and stood upright.

And behold, your sheaves gathered around it and

bowed down to my sheaves. His brothers said to

him, are you indeed to reign over us? So they

hated him. even more, for this dreams and for

his words. Then he dreamed another dream. This

is Joseph dreaming again. And he told it to his

brothers and said, behold, I've dreamed another

dream. Behold, the sun and the moon and even

stars, 11 stars were bowing down to me. But when

he told it to his father and his brothers, his

father rebuked. Even his father's upset with

him now. Rebuked him and said to him, what is

this dream that you've dreamed? Shall I and your

mother and your brothers indeed come to bow ourselves

to the ground before you? And his brothers were

jealous of him. But his father kept the saying

in mind. The hatred birthed in the hearts of

these brothers begins to set a perfect storm

of betrayal and harm to Joseph. In his youthful

lack of wisdom, in sharing his prophetic dreams

with his brothers, they begin to hate him more

and deeper all along the way. And the circumstances

that I'm about to read to you set up this scene

for the brothers to plan and plot his murder.

Now, they don't get to the murder, but they plot

it. 37 .12 says this. Now, his brothers went

to pastor their father's flock near Shechem.

Say Shechem. Shechem. I was just making sure

one of you were with me. Say Shechem. Shechem.

Got to know where they're going, all right? Their

brothers are pastoring the flock, and they head

to Shechem. And Israel said to Joseph, are not

your brothers pastoring the flock at Shechem?

Come, I will send you to them. And he said to

him, here am I. So he said to him, go now, see

if it is well with your brothers, with the flock,

and bring me word. So he sent him from the valley

of Hebron, this is Jacob sent, and his son Joseph.

And he came to Shechem, and a man found him wandering

in the fields, and the man asked him, what are

you seeking? And he says, I'm seeking my brothers.

He said, tell me, please, where they're pastoring

the flock. And the man said, they've gone away,

for I heard them say, let's go to Dothan. So

Joseph went after his brothers and found them

at Dotham. Dad sends Joseph from the Valley of

Hebron to Shechem, which is about 50 -ish miles

away, to check on his brothers, to check on the

flock, to bring word back. And Joe doesn't find

him there. Can I use Joe for short this morning,

all right? Joe doesn't find him there. He goes

and finds a gentleman in a field. He says, oh,

no, no, no. They moved on. They went on to Dotham,

which was about another 15 miles journey. So

now they're about 50, right? They're somewhere

around 65 to 75 miles away from home. And Joseph

is heading towards these brothers who hate him.

They're in a land where nobody recognizes. They're

kind of in a remote place where nobody knows

where they are. And this is where it gets ugly

with this family, really ugly. 18 says this,

and they saw him from afar. And before he came

near to them, they conspired against him to kill

him. They said to one another, here comes this

dreamer. Come on now, let us kill him and throw

him into one of the empty pits. In the area that

they were, there were empty cisterns of water.

I don't know if you know what a cistern is, but

it's kind of like a well and there were empty

wells around where they were at with these flocks.

Then we will say that a fierce animal has devoured

him and we will see what will become of his dreams.

But when Reuben, Reuben's the oldest brother,

heard it, he rescued him out of their hand saying,

let's not take his life. And Reuben said to them,

shed no blood, throw him into this pit here in

the wilderness, but do not lay a hand on him

that he might rescue him out of their hand to

restore him to his father. So when Joseph came

to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe

and of the robe of many colors that he wore,

and they took him and they threw him into a pit.

And the pit was empty. There was no water in

it. I'm not sure if Joseph knew what was going

down at this point in time. As he approached

his brothers, and they strip him of this coat

of many colors, and they throw him into an empty

pit. I don't know if Joseph realized that his

whole life was about to change. In an instant,

in a moment, betrayal, murder plots taking place

behind the scenes, lies and covers -ups being

plotted about what happened to him. And in a

moment, he goes from free, he goes from a place

of familiarity, he goes from being part of a

family. Soon, he's going to be alone. going to

be lost, and he's going to be enslaved. Enslaved.

35, 25 says this, and they sat down to eat, and

looking up, they saw a certain caravan of Ishmaelites

coming from Gilead. With their camels bearing

gum, balm, and myrrh, and on their way, they

carry it down to Egypt. Then Judah said to his

brothers, what profit is it if we kill our brother

and conceal his blood? Come, let us sell him

to the Ishmaelites. And let not our hand be upon

him, for he is our brother, our own flesh. Isn't

it so nice of him just to sell him instead of

killing him? Come on, right? And his brother

listened to him. And the Midianite traders passed

by, and they drew Joseph up and lifted him out

of the pit and sold him to the Ishmaelites for

20 shekels of silver, and they took Joseph to

Egypt. Instead of killing their brother, and

putting together a lot of covered up, they pull

them out of the pit and they slave trade them.

They sell them into slavery and then come up

with a lot of covered up. Their own brother.

Joseph is carried away from his family, his life,

his home, and he's taken to the land of Egypt

to be sold to a man named Potiphar as a slave.

Now, I got to ask you, if there's any reason

maybe not to forgive somebody, wouldn't you say

he might have a reason? I had to read you this

story. If we're going to kind of excuse somebody

from not forgiving somebody, I'd be like looking

at him and thinking, you know, I kind of get

it, right? I kind of see it. I kind of understand,

like, why Joseph wouldn't want to forgive his

brothers. Why would he? You know, why would he?

We kind of get it. We understand it makes sense.

You know, I can see him just like maybe his new

life mission would be, you know what, I'm going

to go ahead and put me in slavery, but I'm going

to get out of here. One of these days I'm going

to escape and I'm going to go back, right? And

I'm going to get justice. I'm going to make it

happen. I'm going to make sure my brothers are

exposed. I'm going to make them pay, right? And

some of us would be like, we'd be cheering them

on. Yeah, go get out, right? Take them down.

Make him pay. I get where he's at. Because I'm

thinking, what? What was going through these

brothers' heads with this much hate? I mean,

if you don't like your brother, right, and you're

in a family, what do you do? You give him a pink

belly. How many know what a pink belly is? Anybody?

Raise your hand if you know what a pink belly

is. I'm all alone in this, all right? Let me

tell you, let me explain the pink belly, all

right? If you got a brother, you can do this.

That's the only place you can do it. But you

tackle them, you get them down on the ground,

you pull up their shirt, and you smack their

belly till it turns pink, okay? That's a pink

belly. That's acceptable to do to your brother,

right? You can walk by and flick him in the forehead

every time you go by, right? If it's that bad,

just flick him in the forehead. It's going to

start a war, but go ahead and do it, right? But

throw him in a pit and sell him into slavery?

Come on. We almost understand why Joseph could

become bitter, angry, revengeful, right? Want

to confront, man, his life mission to go back

and take him out. But here's the thing. Joseph

couldn't get free. He couldn't confront. He couldn't

go hold his brothers responsible. He was enslaved.

He could not expose the abuse. He couldn't tell

mom or dad, right? As a matter of fact, they

were going to go back and tell his mom and dad

that he was killed by a beast. They wouldn't

even come looking for him. They wouldn't even

know he's, there would be no reason to even come

search for him. He's just gone, thrust into slavery

in an Egyptian home. 39 once says this. Now Joseph

had been brought down to Egypt and Potiphar.

An officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the guard,

an Egyptian had bought him from the Ishmaelites

who had brought him down there. Now look at this

next verse. The Lord was with Joseph and he became

a successful man. And he was in the house of

the Egyptian master, which was Potiphar. Verse

39 tells me something about Joseph. Tells me

a little bit who Joseph is anchored upon. It

says the Lord was with Joseph and he became a

successful man and was in the house of the Egyptian

slave. The Lord was with Joseph. The Lord was

with him. The Lord was giving Joseph favor and

making him successful while he's enslaved. The

Lord... put this slave inside the house and is

beginning to give him favor. Can I remind you

of a scripture that I read earlier? For if you

forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly

father will also forgive you. But if you do not

forgive others trespasses, neither will your

heavenly father forgive your trespasses. And

Mark has said, whenever you stand praying, forgive,

for if you have anything against anyone, so that

your Father also who's in heaven will forgive

your trespasses. And let me give you one more

verse, Psalm 66, 18, a new one. If I had cherished

iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have

listened. Your prayers are blocked when you got

iniquity in your heart. Your prayers are blocked

when you don't have forgiveness in your heart.

Joseph's life is not revolving around retaliation,

bitterness, anger, frustration, revenge. His

prayers are not blocked because of unforgiveness

in his heart. He has forgiven, and he is walking

in God's favor in the middle of the mess that

his brothers created. The Lord was with Joseph

in the middle of his slavery. He becomes a successful

man in the middle of being physically enslaved.

God's hand is all over his life, and everybody

around him sees it. And you might land somewhere

where you don't want to. You might be in some

spot in your life because of somebody else's

mess, because of somebody else's sin. But I'm

here to tell you that it's important that you

forgive. I'm here to tell you just keep your

eyes fixed on the Lord. And it may not be your

fault what took place. not deserve what happened,

but I'm here to let you know that Jesus can make

you successful, man or woman, right? No matter

the mess that you were placed in the middle of

by someone else. If we want God's favor and his

hand on us, just keep forgiving. Say forgiving.

Forgiving. 39 .3 says this, his master saw that

the Lord was with him. This is Potiphar watching

Joseph who's enslaved. And his master saw that

the Lord was with him and the Lord caused all

that he did to succeed in his hands. So Joseph

found favor in his sight and attended him. And

he made him overseer of his house and put him

in charge over all that he had for the time that

he had made him overseer in his house and over

all that he had, the Lord blessed the Egyptian's

house for Joseph's sake. The blessing of the

Lord was on all that he had in the house and

in the field. So he left all that he had in Joseph's

charge. Because of him, he had no concern about

anything but the food that he ate. God's favor

so rested on Joseph so strongly that Potiphar,

a heathen, saw it. And Potiphar ends up becoming

the recipient of God's blessing because of Joseph.

And the slave becomes second in command. in this

household. Potiphar didn't worry about a thing.

He placed everything into Joseph's hand. And

here's the choice, right? Here's the choice.

When you've been wronged, when you've been sinned,

when you've been violated, we can't confront,

and we should if we can. But if you can't confront,

we can... forgive and we can begin to walk in

God's favor, or we can park ourselves in the

middle of unforgiveness. We can lock ourselves

up in rage and anger and frustration and stay

enslaved where we're at. Joe is a slave living

like a free man, or you can be a free man living

like a slave in unforgiveness. It's true. Forgiveness

is the key. It's key. It's one of the keys to

God's favor. Somewhere, somewhere between the

pit and Potiphar's house, Joe figured out it

was far better to have the favor of the Father,

the Heavenly Father upon him. than to hang out

in the parking lot of revenge. Somewhere between

the pit and Potiphar's house, Joseph realized

that it's God that's for him. So if it's God's

for him, who can be against him? Somewhere between

the pit and Potiphar's house, right? He began

to forgive his brothers of the abuse. Somewhere

along the way, he began to let it go. And he

began to walk in God's destiny. When I prefer

the favor of the Lord over all else, I will forgive

even when I cannot confront. Amen? It's true.

When I prefer the favor of the Lord over all

else, I will forgive even when I cannot confront.

I'll forgive if I believe that the favor of the

Lord is far more satisfying and gratifying than

revenge. I'll forgive if I believe that the favor

of the Lord will bring far more increase to my

life then maybe even justice will. I forgive

when I realize that I'm living for an audience

of one and not all the other eyes that are on

me. How many times have we watched something

on TV, and it may be even a true story, where

you see a family who was horribly wronged in

some way by somebody, and you see the courtroom

scene, and the judge pronounces the person who

did the horrible crime guilty, and the person

is put away for 20, 30, 40 years, maybe consecutive

life sentences, and the family's interviewed

afterwards, and all of them kind of say the same

thing a lot of times. A lot of them say, man,

man, I thought there'd be more peace with this,

right, when I get justice. I thought somehow

this would make me feel a whole lot better, or

somehow this would take away the sting of the

loss and the abuse in our lives. Somehow I thought

this would do more. Am I saying not hold people

accountable? Absolutely not. If you have the

opportunity, you hold somebody accountable for

what they've done. You call them out. You seek

justice. But when you can't, right, justice will

bring about truth in a matter, but it won't necessarily

heal your heart. in a matter. Confronting might

not satisfy your soul as much as you think it's

going to be. Accountability will not necessarily

help you sleep at night. It really won't. And

sometimes it's impossible to confront, but it

is forgiveness that sets me free when you cannot

seek justice, when you can't get there. Do I

want, do I desire God's favor? even more than

I desire justice, accountability, retaliation,

retribution. If I do, I forgive. I forgive. Well,

the story doesn't end there. Even though Joseph

is under God's favor, it does not mean that he

is on easy street. It doesn't mean... that he's

got more trouble along the way. As a matter of

fact, it's all good at Potiphar's house, and

he's in second in command until it isn't. How

many know sometimes we go through seasons in

life? He has a season of favor, and Joseph ends

up in the middle of a mess again, and a mess

not of his making. Apparently, Joseph was a really

good -looking guy, all right? He was kind of

a GQ, kind of a man of his day, a stud, so to

speak, right? At least Potiphar's wife thinks

so, because she thinks he's hot stuff. And she

wants the stuff is what happens, all right? She

tries to seduce Joseph repeatedly. And when he

refuses her advancements, she accuses Joseph

of molesting her, coming after her. And Joe finds

himself falsely accused and sitting in an Egyptian

prison. Now, I had to be thinking, if I was Joseph,

I got to imagine he's sitting in his cell thinking,

how in the world did I get here again? I was

in a pit, now I'm in a prison. And I didn't do

any of it. What in the world's going on, God?

But again, he doesn't get bitter. It's not unforgiving

because even in the prison, God's with him. Genesis

39, 23, it says, the keeper of the prison paid

no attention to anything that was in Joseph's

charge because the Lord was with him. And whatever

he did, the Lord made it succeed. Favor of God.

on his life. Favor of God on your life. If God's

favor is on your life, there's not a box that

they can shove you in that will hold you. There

is not a shackle strong enough to keep you bound

up and fast. There's not an environment that

can withstand the power of God working in your

life. There really isn't. Jesus' words hanging

on a cross stretched between heaven and earth.

Father, forgive them, for they know not what

they do. And death, hell, and the grave could

not hold them. Amen? We got to forgive, church.

We got to forgive. Prefer the favor of the Lord

and forgive. Forgive. When you can, confront.

But when you can't, forgive anyway. And watch

how forgiveness carries Joseph even to greater

heights. If the worship team would come, I'm

going to finish this story out as much as I can.

It's a long story. I'm giving you the super short

version of it. But Joe is in a physical prison.

but not in a prison of unforgiveness. And while

Joe is doing time, God brings something back

from his former days, something from his youth,

something from his teens, and it's dreams. Say

dreams. And for lack of more time, in an incredible

twist of circumstances, the Lord moves Joseph

from the prison to second in command of all of

Egypt. And how he does this is through dreams.

Pharaoh's baker and his cupbearer end up in the

same cell block as Joseph. And while they're

there, Joseph interprets dreams that they both

have. They both come to him and say, hey, Joseph,

we had these dreams. They're talking with him

in a cell block, right? And we had these dreams.

Pharaoh's butler and baker, his cupbearer and

baker come along, and we had these dreams. And

they're prophetic dreams that Joseph realizes.

And God gives Joseph the interpretation of those

dreams. And what he speaks comes to pass. And

one of those servants gets out of jail and ends

up back in Pharaoh's palace before Pharaoh, and

God gives Pharaoh a dream. The king of Egypt

gives him a dream that nobody can seem to interpret.

And the servant says, you know, I knew this guy

back in prison. We had these dreams, and he interpreted

both of them, and both of them came to pass.

And Pharaoh's like, go get him. Go get him now.

And they bring Joseph before Pharaoh. And Pharaoh

is so impressed because Joseph comes and not

only interprets the dream, but tells him what

his dream was. He tells the king what his dream

was, and he tells him the interpretation. And

the king is so impressed with Joseph that he

says, is there anyone else that has God's hand

and God's favor and God's ear on his life like

Joseph? He puts him second in command in Egypt.

He goes from the pit to Potiphar's house to the

prison to the palace because he wasn't stuck

in unforgiveness. Forgiveness positions you to

move forward in God. It really does. Forgiveness

opens the door for me to go forward. Sometimes

God will leapfrog you just like he did. With

Joseph, sometimes he'll move you in baby steps,

and other times he'll leap you in front, and

he'll move you forward. But you cannot stay locked

up in unforgiveness. I believe if Joseph would

have stayed in unforgiveness in his heart, if

he would have done that in the prison, think

about this for one minute. Say he got to that

prison. He's like, I don't even believe this.

This is the second time around. I've been falsely

accused. I'm in this jail. I'm sitting here.

I've had it. I'm done. And he locked up in revenge,

right, and hate and frustration. He would have

never heard God's voice. He would have never

been able to interpret the dreams. He'd have

never made it to the palace because he would

have never started interpreting dreams there.

He would have just been locked up forever. Unforgiveness

will lock you down. It'll lock you down. I'm

going to ask you to stand. Let me give you a

health plan on the rock. Forgive. Because Jesus

forgave first. Forgive because he does not want

you to be shackled. Forgive because he sets me

free because he forgave me. Forgive so his favor

will rest upon your life. Forgive if justice

can be served and if it cannot be served. Forgive

daily. I'd love to tell you forgiveness is a

one -shot deal. You're going to have that person

defending you, and you're just going to let it

go. That's not how it works. You might get back

up tomorrow, and the same feelings of anger and

frustration and hatred and revenge will pop back

into your heart, and you're going to have to

go all over again and say, Lord, help me to forgive.

Help me to let this go. Help me to get unshackled

from this thing. Help me to get your favor on

my life. And it might be the next day you get

up again, but you know what? The day after that,

it might skip a day. And then all of a sudden,

it's a week goes by, and you're walking in forgiveness.

You're giving forgiveness. And all of a sudden,

you begin to walk in this freedom. rock life,

people. This is what Jesus said to do. We forgive.

He forgave us. Jesus does not have us forgive

others so they can avoid carrying the weight

of their sin. Jesus has us forgive others so

we don't carry the weight of their sin. Did you

hear that? Amen? It's true. Jesus does not have

us forgive others so they can avoid carrying

the weight of their sin. Jesus has us forgive

others so we don't carry the weight of their

sin. He's the judge. If they don't serve justice

in this, I guarantee you, God will get them in

the next life. Just hand it over to Him. Give

it over to Him. Forgive when you can confront.

Forgive when you can't. Let God's favor flow

in your life. And I know these two messages were

kind of heavy messages, because forgiveness is

a hard thing. But I want to see you free. He

who the Son sets free is free indeed. We forgive

because He has forgiven. I'm the one in that

story that Jesus told. I'm the servant that owed

$18 billion for my sin. I have no right not to

forgive somebody that owes me $12 ,000. I have

no right. He forgave me of all of it. I want

you to bow your heads. Maybe you're thinking

back. You've got somebody in your life that you

can't do the confrontation process. You can't

do the forgiveness of process where you go and

meet with them alone and then you take somebody

with you. And if you need to, you bring it before

the church. You can't do that process because

they're gone. They're not here. And maybe...

They may be such a long distance, or maybe they

died, and you can't do it. You need to walk to

a place of forgiveness. God does not want you

shackled. So here's what I'm going to ask you.

Every head bowed, every eye closed. And I'm not

going to ask you to step out. I'm not going to

ask you to do anything. But sometimes it's good

to raise your hand and recognize if you got out

of forgiveness in your life, just so God sees

it. I'm the only one looking that I can tell.

It would just be me and you. Me and Jesus. And

you can put your hand up and put it right back

down. Sometimes we need to acknowledge. If you're

hanging on to unforgiveness about something,

just raise your hand up, put it up, put it right

back down. Put it up and right back. Thank you.

Thank you for the honesty. Thank you for the

honesty. Seek God's favor more than the revenge.

Seek God's favor more than the frustration and

release it to him. Give it over to him. You might

not be able to do anything about the justice,

but he can. Lay it in his hands. Father, I just

come before you. God, you saw all the hands in

the house. Lord, you know the ones, Lord, they're

in need to forgive. And Lord, I just pray right

now. God, in this moment, this becomes the time

where they begin to release. This becomes the

time when they begin to step forward and say,

I want God's favor in my life. I want God's hand

in my life. I want God's protection in my life.

I want God to do for me like he did for Joseph,

just to keep moving me forward. in anger and

frustration and locked up within myself. Lord,

I want your favor in my life. God, I give it

over to you right now. I confess it. I confess

I have not forgiven. And Lord, I ask you right

now to forgive me as I forgive somebody else.

Lord, I put them in your hands. If I can, I'll

hold them accountable. But if not, I lay them

into your hands. I give it over to you in Jesus'

name. In Jesus' name. And amen. Freedom. Freedom.

Jesus died on a cross so you could be free. Free.

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