Cornerstone Christian Center
Cornerstone Christian Center
Forgiveness for Your Soul
Discover the profound impact of faith and forgiveness in these challenging times, as we explore the incredible work of Cornerstone Christian Center and their global outreach. Pastor Bridget Metcalf and her husband Dana are making waves in Bangkok, Thailand, reaching out to a nation where believers are scarce. Through heartwarming initiatives like the Sealed Kids Club and efforts to combat human trafficking, they shine a beacon of hope in spiritually dark places. We'll also celebrate the establishment of new church campuses in Thailand and Nepal and share their inspiring vision for providing educational opportunities for refugee children.
Forgiveness is more than a feeling; it's a liberating path to aligning closer with God's heart. Through engaging stories, biblical parables, and transformative personal experiences, we tackle the burdens of grudges and anger. Learn from a creative classroom activity about the weight of unforgiveness and explore the parable of the unforgiving servant, illustrating how grudges can burden our spiritual journey. This thought-provoking discussion invites you to embrace limitless forgiveness as a testament to your faith, freeing yourself from the bonds of bitterness.
As we gear up for an exciting year ahead, join us in a transformative 21-day journey of prayer and fasting. It's an opportunity to renew your life through faith, forgiveness, and community, and to experience the empowering love of the Lord. Whether you're seeking a new relationship with Jesus or looking to deepen your spiritual journey, we extend a heartfelt blessing and remind you that you are deeply loved here at Cornerstone Christian Center. Embrace this chance for spiritual growth, and let it guide you toward a year of freedom, deliverance, and fulfilled dreams.
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We're so excited that we get to be a chance of those who go and take the message of God's good news to every person around us. It's an exciting day, we're starting a new year for us and we are blessed because we are people who know a creator who loves us, and we've been forgiven by him and we are living in that relationship, amen. We know this about ourselves here at Cornerstone. We know that we are people who are not perfect, but we are people who are following after Jesus and it's our ambition to be more like Jesus, and so we do that by following after him where he's leading us to go. We use this imagery of Jesus walking with his disciples because that's how we see ourselves, is that we're going where he's asking us to go and following him.
Speaker 1:It's our ambition to love God and make disciples and reach the world. Part of that is that we wanna be those who are giving in generosity, and we do that monthly in our support of missionaries across the world. We wanna be those who are kingdom builders amen and in doing so we get to participate with some of our heroes that serve the Lord across the world in being the light of Christ in spiritually dark places. One of those people is Pastor Bridget Metcalf. She and her husband Dana are amazing friends of ours. They pastor an amazing international church in Bangkok, thailand, where they're doing much more than that. She's going to explain some of that today, but please welcome Pastor Bridget Metcalf as she comes today to share with us.
Speaker 2:Well, what an honor and a privilege it is to be with you, cornerstone Christian Center, today, and I want to say thank you from the bottom of our hearts. We could not do what we do on the field in Bangkok, thailand, if it wasn't for your love, your prayers, your support and your faithful giving. It really is an extension of everything that you're going to witness today, is an extension of you, and maybe sometimes you can think, oh, I'm here, I'm in this area, but you are making an impact around the world, as you are kingdom builders In a country that has less than 1% believers. We are seeing a shift in that area and I want to show you a collage of pictures to just kind of give you a little bit of what God has done. This last year we have been going on the streets every Thursday. We feed 300 homeless and we have such a fantastic time. We go out into the red light area, which is a trafficking area. There's a lot of prostitution, but there's human and sex trafficking happening, and we're out there every week on Saturdays. We pray in the morning, we go back and do ministry in the evening. Matter of fact, our newest ministry is down here in this corner.
Speaker 2:We have our Sealed Kids Club, which we just launched this last year, just a few months ago, and we have, if you've ever seen, the movie Aladdin. It's kind of like those little kids like Aladdin is that little street rat out in the marketplace stealing things and doing that. Those are these kids right here. Many of their guardians or their parents are working in the marketplace stealing things and doing that. Those are these kids right here. Many of their guardians or their parents are working in the trafficking area and those kids are there from about three in the afternoon until about two in the morning and they're exposed to ungodly things, just corrupt and dark things. And we had had this dream and this vision to say God, can you give us the children of the streets? And he's starting to give us these children and we are so excited. They got introduced to what Christmas was really all about and they were so excited. There's a little kid there he's actually the second one to the right, on your right. He's the second one that's going like this His name is A and he is literally like little Aladdin. When we go to grab him for kids club, he comes out of this little. It's like a little hole that he comes out of and he does a little jig and a little dance and then he goes and gets all the other kids and brings them in to our ministry. So we're very excited about that.
Speaker 2:God has also blessed us with a language center that allows us to go into the prisons, onto the streets, and we go into the Thai government schools, that we introduce English to them, but through the gospel of Jesus Christ, and there's an open door there. We actually have planted five churches in Nepal, but also, just this last year, we've planted two churches in Thailand itself. So now we have three campuses one in the southern tip of Thailand, which borders Malaysia. It's a very high Muslim area, but there was literally only out of I think there was 1 million people in that province and only 4,000 believers. Can you imagine that? That's not even a percentage. And God is moving. And we just celebrated two years in that area with our church plant and there's 80 believers gathering together every Sunday morning. Can you believe that God is so good? Yes, and then we, just before we came home for Christmas, we launched our third campus in Karat, which is in the northern part of Thailand, and God is moving the churches right across from the university, we have 40 people that are gathering together. God is moving in great and mighty ways.
Speaker 2:There is a desire that I have in my heart that I'd like to see in 2025. And I just want to launch this to you. But we are praying and hoping. We have a lot of refugees in Thailand and they are scattered. They have ran for refuge in that area because of their Christian background, mostly in Pakistan. We have 30 kids. We try to give scholarships to them and we can only afford about 10 scholarships, but we have 30 kids. We try to give scholarships to them and we can only afford about 10 scholarships, but we have 30 kids, and so we have these families that have to choose which child gets a scholarship for their education and which two have to stay behind, and it's literally just broken my heart. So God gave me a vision that how about we host an online school at our church campus and we take that money that we could do for scholarships and actually be able to educate all of those kids at one time? And so that is our prayer is that in the fall of 2025, that we get to launch that.
Speaker 2:But also, when we were here last, you got to hear a little bit about our lasso truck. This is our first ever BAM project, which is a business as missions, and we've launched that in the streets, in the red light. God is moving powerfully. It's opened up so many doors. Matter of fact, this Christmas we gave 500 lemonades out to the streets and they were just so excited and it's a way for us to be able to take territory and share the gospel of Jesus Christ. So, thank you for your faithful giving, thank you for your love, and I have to say that your pastors are very, very special to us. They're dear to our hearts. They were here this last summer and got to spend a little time with us with their family, and I tell you they made such a big impact that our youth are saying can we have Javen and Shiloh and Amelia come back? We want them to come back. I was just telling Shiloh why don't you spend a summer with me and intern with me after school? And we're so excited. They've made such an incredible impact on our church and in our land.
Speaker 2:Well, today I want to share a word with you, and it's something for 2025. It's a way that you might look at the picture behind me and say how do you guys do what you do? This is the key element of how we walk in the vision of Christ, with freedom, and be able to live out the goals and the dreams that God has given us, and so I want to give this to you today. I want to talk about forgiveness for your soul. It's a soul care item. I used to be kind of against soul care, like, oh you know, like maybe not, but God has shown me this is something so important for all of us Forgiveness for your soul. Forgiveness is not for me. If you forgive, it doesn't affect me, it affects you. You can walk into 2025 totally free, totally liberated, and maybe those little dreams and those goals, or maybe the very destiny of why you were born is just burning inside of you, but you haven't seen the full fruition of it, and I'm going to tell you that that is due to that investigation of your soul, of is there anything that I need to release and forgive? I want to share a little story with you.
Speaker 2:There was a teacher Her name was Teacher Sally. She had a second grade class 18 students and these kids started off the year very good, but after time these kids were starting to get a little rough. They came in angry, they were mad. They were mad at their sisters and their brothers and each other. They're starting to bully each other, they're talking mean to each other, and she, as a teacher, thought this is really disrupting my class. What can I do to teach a lesson to these kids so that we can go on and we can grow as a classroom? So she got this brilliant idea to create an assignment.
Speaker 2:That next Monday the kids came in and all of their desks were against the wall, all their seats, and just in the middle of the room was a pile of potatoes. There was little bags for each student, and she had the kids come in and she said we're going to sit in a circle around this pile of potatoes. Kids are confused, they don't know what's going on, and so she had explained this assignment. It's going to be a week-long assignment and I want you to each grab a bag and for every person that you feel hurt by or angry at or frustrated with, I want you to put a potato in the bag. That potato represents that person and put it in your bag. Well, some kids put all these potatoes in their bag. I don't like my mother, I don't like my brother, I don't like anybody, I don't like you, you, you. And they just filled their bags with potatoes. Some kids felt guilty and thought well, I need to at least put one potato in my bag. I don't have that hurt or that pain, but I'll just put one potato in the bag.
Speaker 2:The teacher explained to them you're going to take the sack of potatoes with you everywhere you go the bathroom, your sports, your home, your church, to the grocery store, everywhere you go. For one week you have to bring that bag of potato or you lose a point. Some of the kids were like what? Well, not big deal, I can do that. Well, as the week progressed and they had to bring these potatoes with them, they started to kind of rot and smell. The potatoes got heavier and heavier and the kids were complaining. The teacher, with her brilliant idea that next Monday, came in and she said I want to hear how you felt about this assignment. The kids complained. They said everywhere we went with these potatoes, people could smell the smell and it stunk and it was heavy and it weighed us down. And so she explained to the kids as they dumped their bags of potatoes in the middle of the floor again, she said and that is what it's like when you walk in unforgiveness towards others it's stinky, it's smelly and it holds you back, it's a weight upon you.
Speaker 2:I heard this story and I thought this is not just a story for little kids. This is something that we could all learn and grow from. I want you to turn to Matthew 18, 21 through 35. And I want to unpack a story that Jesus shared with Peter and his disciples. It started off with Peter, it says. Then Peter came to Jesus and 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 seven times, but 70 times seven. What does that mean? Times, but 70 times seven. What does that mean? That means infinite amount of time. He wasn't just talking about numbers, but he was basically saying Peter, this isn't enough. I want you to forgive so much that you literally start to forget what the problem was. But he went further. Start to forget what the problem was, but he went further. He used this as an opportunity, just like teacher Sally did with her students, and began to share a parable.
Speaker 2:Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wants to settle his accounts with his servants and he began the settlement. A man who owed him 10,000 bags of gold was brought to him. Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and everything he owned be sold to repay his debt. At this, 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, canceled the debt and let him go.
Speaker 2:But when the servant went out now we don't know the time frame, but it sounds like almost as soon as he was free from his debt he went out right after that and he found one of his fellow servants who owed him 100 silver coins. I want to just unpack this for just a second. He owed 10,000 talents. One talent at that time was like a bag of gold that weighed 135 pounds. Can you imagine the debt of his weight was? I calculated it, I was doing some research on it cost close to 3.5 billion dollars. Him and his children and his children's children would be paying this debt forever. Him and his children and his children's children would be paying this debt forever. But he was forgiven this debt. But as soon as he went out he went and found the other servant. He found this servant and he said you owe me 100 silver coins. You know how much 100 silver coins or denarii amounted to at that time was really 5,800. I think it was like $5,800. Can you imagine the difference? On that Very little. He was just freed from this amazing debt, but yet he is not showing mercy forward.
Speaker 2:But when the servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins. He grabbed him and began to choke him. Pay back what you owe me, he demanded. His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him Same words Be patient with me, I will pay you back. But he refused. Instead he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay his debt. When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went out and told their master everything that had happened. Then the master called the servant in you, wicked servant. He said I canceled all your debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you? In anger, his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured until he could pay back.
Speaker 2:This is a powerful message. It's a powerful message to walk into 2025 with, and I want to really just highlight three aspects to this of how important it is to walk in forgiveness. One is unforgiveness is a weight that you must shake off. Two, I want to expose some of the myths and the lies of forgiveness that keeps us from forgiving. And three, in order to imitate Jesus, you must forgive. You cannot be imitators of Jesus Christ. Unless you forgive, we can't reflect him. So let's start with unforgiveness as a weight. It's a weight that affects our health, our wealth, our emotions and our spirit. John Hopkins Medical Research Center and Harvard University did a study on forgiveness. The studies found that the act of forgiveness can reap huge rewards for your health Lowering the risk of heart attack, improving cholesterol levels and sleep, reducing pain, blood pressure and levels of anxiety, depression and stress, and build your immune system. Well, just that alone says, if I walked in forgiveness, that actually helps me in these areas? Yes, because unforgiveness is a weight on your body. It's a weight on your physical being. It says in Ephesians 4.32, be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other just as Christ forgave you, giving each other just as Christ forgave you. It's a weight on our bodies physically, literally. It can keep you physically from moving forward, but it also is a weight on our wealth.
Speaker 2:Look at the wicked servant. How deep he went into debt with that 10,000 talents. He really needed a financial peace class or something like that. I'm thinking how did he go that far down into this debt? But his generations was impacted. This is not even. The debt was such a magnitude that even in his lifetime he could not pay back that debt. His family and his family's family and his family's family family was going to have to pay this debt back. But yet, because of forgiveness, he was released. But because he didn't pay that forgiveness forward, he was back in debt. Paying forgiveness forward, he was back in debt. Paying forgiveness forward releases our wealth. Can you imagine? I can't even imagine owing $3.5 billion. I just can't even imagine that.
Speaker 2:And then the moment that master had mercy on him and said it's free, I'm going to give it to you. Man, I'd be leaping and excited and joyful and walk out that door. But not him. He forwarded revenge. He was just freed from this, yet goes after his fellow servant for just a few pennies. Hmm, just freed from this, yet goes after his fellow servant for just a few pennies. But imagine the emotional weight. It says that he was turned over to the torturers and I don't believe that that torturing was just a physical torture, but I think it was a mental torture. Can you imagine that thought of how stupid I was. I was free. Why did I do that? Why did I just get free? And then I'm back in bondage and torture again just because I went after my fellow servant. It emotionally grieved him, not only physically and with his wealth, but it also affects our spiritual well-being.
Speaker 2:When we walk in unforgiveness, you know that there's a call in each one of your lives, each one of you you're not done. You might be retired and think I'm done. No, you're not done. You might be retired and think I'm done. No, you're not done. Not in the kingdom of God. We're never done in the kingdom of God. We need you. God needs you. He needs your hands, he needs your feet, he needs your encouragement with others. There's so much that's out there that you can do. Maybe you have sinned and you've done things and you've just fallen short. God is just waiting to release you into the things that he has for you, but we hold ourselves back. It's not God holding us back, but we have to investigate.
Speaker 2:Is there any unforgiveness, is there anything holding me back from the things of God that he has for me? I can tell you right now is it as easy as just shaking it off? It is. It's a daily practice. Now I was talking to somebody in between the services. She says it comes off in layers, doesn't it? I said absolutely, forgiveness is not always one and done. There's times I wake up in the morning I have a forgive list because something happens every day, right, and I actually go to bed also saying God, I just forgive, I just let that. I don't want to defile my bed, I don't wanna bring this into my sleep. So, god, I just forgive and I release, and sometimes I have to do this on a constant basis.
Speaker 2:I used to live in Cottonwood and all we had was a Walmart and we were pastoring in Cottonwood and I would go down the aisles and I'm telling you, you know, people were rough at times and people would say things and do things and I would call it my Walmart test. I'd go down, I could see the entire church at Walmart, and so I'd be walking down the aisle and if somebody had said something and it hurt my feelings or something like that, I'd be going down the aisle and then I'd see them ahead and I'd be, like you know, turn the other direction and try to avoid them and I use that as my Walmart test. Can I face that person? Have I forgiven that person? Can I look at them? Can I look at them? Can I do? And you know what, even to the next level, can I bless them? You know that's the next level. You really know you're free with forgiveness when you can bless somebody.
Speaker 2:Yes, it's a daily routine, it's a daily thing. Routine, it's a daily thing. And as you daily shake it off, god just starts to peel the hurt and the layers and, you know, god starts to heal you from the hurt, even from the most unspeakable things. Is it a sin to be unforgiving? Yes, it is a sin. Some people hold it in and they think, oh, you know I'm not sinning, I'm not hurting anybody. Yes, you are. You're hurting yourself and you're hurting the generations after you.
Speaker 2:Just like in this story, you can put a spirit or a curse on your family by walking in unforgiveness and God wants to go to the root. You might be struggling with bitterness, anger, wrath, all kinds of things. It literally says that bitterness is something that makes you undefiled. It defiles your soul, it makes you dirty. Have you ever been around somebody that's really bitter and you just kind of want to walk away? You want to be away from them. They're not easy to be around. That is a spirit of unforgiveness that's been rooted in them and you know very well, when you see weeds coming up, you can't just clip the weed off. You have to go to the root and pull it out to really deal with it. And the root is forgiveness.
Speaker 2:Hebrews 12, 15, looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God, lest any root of bitterness springing up causes trouble and by this many become defiled. It creates slander, it creates gossip, hatred, rage, jealousy, wrath. There's so much that gets birthed from unforgiveness and it stinks just like those stinky potatoes. But we got to uproot it and shake it off. I love Hebrews 12.1. It says therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off, shake it off everything that hinders us and the sin that so easily entangles us, and let us run with perseverance the race that marked out for us. This is so important for our lives as a believer. You don't want to run a race weighted down. You're not going to go very far, you're not going to win that race, but literally shaking off and throwing off those things. We have to investigate those areas of unforgiveness in our lives.
Speaker 2:So I want to expose the myth of forgiveness, and the reason why I say the myth of forgiveness is because there's certain things that we adopt saying that I can't forgive because of these reasons. So let's blow the top off on that. If you forgive, you must forget. That is not a requirement. It doesn't mean that it just erases out of your mind. You can forgive and not forget. But I will tell you, when you go through the process of forgiveness and you go 70 times 7 on forgiveness, eventually you forget. Eventually you can go to Walmart and see that person and walk right up to them and it's okay, it works out.
Speaker 2:I've heard this many times and I've actually said this myself. I can't forgive. And let me tell you something the truth of that is that it's not that you can't, it's that you won't. When you say I can't forgive, you're saying I won't forgive. But God is a forgiving God and forgiveness is not a request, it's a command. He says I cannot forgive you if you don't forgive others. We must forgive. We allow God to be God when we forgive and we take ourselves out of that judgment place.
Speaker 2:Forgiveness means I must trust in the person. Nowhere show me in the Bible where it says trust in man. Nowhere in the Bible does it say to trust in man. It doesn't also say to trust in yourself. It doesn't also say to trust in yourself. It says who do we trust in? The Lord, the Lord, our Savior, our God. We must trust in God. So oftentimes I hear people say I can't forgive because then I have to trust that person again. That's not what forgiveness is all about. Proverbs 3, 5, and 6,. I know you know this verse well. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not in your own understanding. In all your ways, submit to him and he will make your paths. What Straight. He'll make it easy. He'll make a way for you. We also can say I forgave so many times before. Well, jesus addresses this with Peter 70 times, 7. So many times that you can't remember anymore.
Speaker 2:Forgiveness is only a feeling. I can't forgive because I don't feel like forgiving, then I'm not being real and I'm not being authentic and I'm not really doing it from my heart. Can I tell you that almost every act of obedience in the kingdom of God is not based on a feeling. If you're gonna base it all on a feeling, you're never gonna go anywhere. Even our salvation is not based on a feeling. It's based on obedience. God isn't wanting you to be a people that just dictates all by your feeling. He wants you to do it out of obedience. It is authentic, it is real because it's a commandment from God. So here's what I have found when I forgive out of an act of obedience, my heart follows, my heart follows. Do you know? Worship is like that. If we base worship on our feelings, we'll never worship God.
Speaker 2:I don't like this song. I don't. It's too loud, it's too soft. It's this when is it about us? When is it about our feelings? It is nothing about our feelings, it is about God, and God is pleased whenever we worship him. So take out that out of the equation and just give God the praise and the thanks and the glory for what he has done. That is true worship. And then guess what happens? Your heart follows. Your heart follows.
Speaker 2:Forgiveness approves their actions. It does not approve their actions. None of us are deserving of forgiveness, but yet Jesus gave us forgiveness, us forgiveness. And let me tell you something You're not getting revenge by holding unforgiveness towards somebody. I've heard people say this. Matter of fact, I think I've even had these thoughts in my own mind. Well, if I hold on to unforgiveness, it's the only thing I have. I can't say anything, I can't do anything, I can't get them back. Revenge is the Lord's, not ours. So you're not hurting them, you're hurting you and your generations. Let it go, shake it off. Forgiveness is unnecessary, out of sight, out of mind. Some of us think, just because we don't think about it anymore or we ignore it, that we have forgiven. But it's just like our Walmart test, right, all it takes is that name or that word or a memory of it, and then, all of a sudden, it rises back up. It is necessary for our lives.
Speaker 2:What is forgiveness versus unforgiveness? Forgiveness is trusting God to be God. Unforgiveness is you are God, you are the judge. Forgiveness is freedom, free from its grip. Unforgiveness is bondage. You are literally tethered to it forever until you let it go. The very thing that you hate, the very thing that you're angry about, you're tethered to until you forgive. Forgiveness gives you perspective. Unforgiveness is blinding. You've lost the ability to see and have perspective. Matter of fact, it's almost impossible to have vision when you can't see, when the obstacle of unforgiveness is in your way. Forgiveness allows you to be close to God's heart, because God is close to the humble and the contrite heart. Unforgiveness creates separation. It's pride, it's control. You are the judge. God opposes the proud. He separates from you.
Speaker 2:Forgiveness is Christ's life example in ministry. It is what Jesus did on the cross, as he hanged there, with two criminals on either side. There, with two criminals on either side, bleeding, this spotless lamb, this undefiled son of God, being crucified for our sins, taking on your sins, forgiving you for your sins. He was on that cross. He's the perfect example of forgiveness, and Satan is the perfect example of unforgiveness. He was cast out of heaven. He's eternally separated from God, and guess what? His goal is? To keep you separated from God too. Matter of fact, some of you have maybe given your life to the Lord and you're fully committed, and Satan knows I cannot pluck them out of their commitment they're not going to turn their back on God. But guess what he does? If he can keep you unforgiving, he's keeping you separate, because God needs you to walk in forgiveness and the body of Christ needs you to walk in forgiveness, and your family and your co-workers, they, need to see the example of forgiveness in your life. I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no division among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought.
Speaker 2:Ephesians 5.1. It says follow God's example, therefore, as dearly loved children, and walk in the way of the love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and a sacrifice of God. In order to walk in forgiveness, we must imitate Jesus. In order to imitate Jesus, we must forgive. You see that perfect example in Luke 23, 34, where it says Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. He hung on that cross, this gruesome death, and yet he's still springing up those words of forgiveness as he's being mocked and spit on. In the midst of the pain, he's releasing forgiveness. What a great example, if Jesus can lay that example for us.
Speaker 2:Can we pay it forward for others? Ephesians 4, 31 through 32, it says get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ, god forgave you. And I want to end with this. One of the last myths that I've heard so many times is that person is dead or never asked for forgiveness. How can I forgive them? Or never asked for forgiveness. How can I forgive them? I want to say that forgiveness is not based on somebody asking for forgiveness. If somebody's asking you forgiveness, you've gone too long you should be able to freely give it forward without even the ask. It's never too late to forgive, and I want to share a story with you.
Speaker 2:One of the greatest examples of an imitator of Jesus Christ that walked and forgave us was actually my father. When I was a seven-year-old little girl, my grandfather, my dad's dad, was missing. My father and him both had construction businesses in Yuma, arizona, in the hot sun. I was born in Yuma, native Arizonan, and you can imagine how hot and sweaty it is during the summer, especially in construction, but my dad's business and my grandfather's business were literally down the street from each other and they would exchange, you know, favors and words and equipment and things like that, but my grandfather was missing. Nobody could find him.
Speaker 2:A couple days went by, a couple weeks went by. Eventually it was a couple months, and this was during the summertime and my dad literally there was an investigation, the police were out trying to look for what was happening and my dad felt like the Lord told him go walk grandpa's construction yard, Just walk and pray. So my dad started walking around this big yard and he saw one of the semi trucks and he noticed that it was locked. But there was a smell coming from it and he it was. It was just kind of a putrid smell. So as he got closer the smell got more strong and he noticed it was locked. But he thought, wow, you know, I've got to do something about this. So he broke the lock, opened up this semi-truck and there was my grandfather. He'd been shot in the back of the head, his wallet was stolen and he had just been decaying in this semi-truck for a few months in the hot Yuma sun.
Speaker 2:My dad. I remember being this seven-year-old child and every night I could hear my dad screaming and crying. I asked my mom what's wrong with dad and she tried to explain it, but I think just the thought and what he saw and the smells it just broke his heart that his father died such a gruesome death. He was hurt, he was mad and then one day it was just a few months later he wanted to have a family meeting with us. He gathered us all to the dinner table and he said I'm going to go on a quest to forgive whoever killed my father. I remember as a little girl still seven years old at this time and I remember thinking how can you forgive that? That person doesn't deserve forgiveness. How could they do that? And even inside of me, something lodged inside of me the hatred and the anger. But yet my dad said I'm going to go on a quest to forgive. And I saw that the dreams and the nightmares all stopped. My dad had life again. But let's advance.
Speaker 2:When I was 30 years old, 23 years later, my dad received a call from a judge in Washington state and he said I want to let you know and invite you to the court that the man that killed your father has turned himself in. He said he couldn't live with himself anymore and he'd been running from the law. And I want you to come and be a witness. My dad asked me if I would go with him and I went with him to the courts and it was at that time that I saw that imitation of Jesus and forgiveness in real life. I watched my dad as the man confessed to the murder of my grandfather and he cried and he wept and he begged for forgiveness. He asked, he looked in my dad's eyes and said would you give me mercy? My dad asked the judge can I approach the witness or can I approach the criminal? And he went to him and the judge allowed it and he said I forgave you 23 years ago. And he hugged him and he loved him and those two men just embraced each other. That example marked my life forever. It wasn't just Jesus on the cross, but I saw this beautiful example of true forgiveness and I thought, god, let me be like that, help me to walk in that kind of love and that kind of freedom. My dad was authentic, it was real. It was authentic, it was real, it was beautiful.
Speaker 2:Some people ask me Bridget, how do you guys do what you do on the mission field. Are there obstacles, are there divisions? Is there things that happen, corruption, things like that? Yes, there's all kinds of wickedness that happens. But you know what I do? I follow the example of Jesus Christ and I follow the example that my father imitated. I say if my dad can do it, if Jesus can do it, then I'm going to live it. If you want to see freedom, if you want to see deliverance, if you want to see breakthrough, if you want to see goals reached, things that maybe have been dormant in your life, and it's like man, I love God, but maybe I don't love people. I love God, but maybe I don't love the church because I've been hurt. People, I love God, but maybe I don't love the church because I've been hurt, I've had my wounds, but it's like, why am I not living out my call? Maybe it's for this.
Speaker 2:Forgive, forgive, Simply forgive. Shake off the weight, break off the myths and just imitate Jesus Christ. Let me pray for you as Pastor Jay comes and closes the service. Lord, I thank you that you gave us the incredible example of forgiveness. You gave us the freedom. You've paid our debt. We owed so much. God and Lord. I pray that we can advance and pay forgiveness forward. It's not based on if people deserve it, but, lord, we didn't deserve it, but we still give it freely, just like you did on the cross. But we still give it freely, just like you did on the cross. And God, we praise you and we honor you and we commit 2025 to be a year of freedom, a year of deliverance and a year of dreams come true. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen, god bless you, church.
Speaker 1:We have a hand of appreciation for Pastor Bridget. Friends, that's a challenge for us is that we would be those who forgive. God has forgiven us from so much. He's forgiven us for so much that we too would be those that forgive. We don't keep ourselves back from what he wants to do in our lives going forward in this year, what he wants to do in your life going forward, so he can use you for the plans and the purposes he has for your life. Maybe you're here and you've never made a commitment to follow after Jesus. You're hearing all this story and this amazing story from her own life of forgiveness and how she forgave and how her father forgave, and you yourself have never received a forgiveness from God because you've never been one to say Lord, forgive me. I want to draw near to you, I want to have a new relationship with you. Today is your opportunity to embrace Jesus. It's your opportunity to say yes to him.
Speaker 1:You know, bridget talked about Jesus going and taking all of our sin and all of our mistakes upon himself, and he did so, taking it to his death on the cross. And that's why the symbol of the cross is so powerful for us, because it's a symbol of freedom. It's a symbol of forgiveness. It's where he loved us first. See, we could never go or do enough to go towards a holy God. We can't buy our way in or do enough good works, it's not possible. But God, while we were still sinners, he came all the way to us and he gave his life for us so that we could be reconnected back to him. The apostle Paul. He writes to the church at Rome and he says this because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified. With the mouth, one confesses and is saved. Friends, today is your day. It's your day to make a decision to follow Jesus.
Speaker 1:I'm going to ask, if you're here in the room, if you would just stand to your feet and bow your head. If you're online, prepare your heart, wherever you are, for what God wants to do in this moment. His heads are bowed here in the room. If that's you and you'd say, pastor, that's me. I wanna make a commitment to follow Jesus. I wanna invite him into my heart and life. Maybe you've even made that decision in the past, but you haven't been living it. You need to recommit your life back to Christ. His head's about here in the room. If you just make that decision, you just raise your hand right where you're at, say pastor, that's me, I wanna make the decision to follow Jesus today. Thank you Lord. Thank you Lord. It's hands. I see that hand. I see that hand.
Speaker 1:People making decisions, friends online, wherever you are in the world, making decision to follow after Jesus today. I'm gonna ask if everyone would just pray this prayer aloud after me Lord, thank you for loving me. Thank you for sending Jesus. I believe Jesus died on the cross for my sins. I believe he rose again. Forgive me of my sins. I surrender my life to you in Christ's name. I pray amen, amen. Friends, we rejoice in you making a decision to follow Jesus today.
Speaker 1:Several people raising their hand in this service. We encourage you in this, if you're online or here in person, that you would connect with us. We want to put some materials into your hand so that you could be successful in living this life for Jesus. Friends, the word that was brought to us today was so powerful, so timely, that we would not be held back by these things, this unforgiveness in our life, that we wouldn't try to make excuses, like the myths that Pastor Bridget debunked, but instead we would be those that give these things over to Jesus. Let him be the just judge for all of these things. That we would forgive and walk in freedom. That only comes from Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1:Today, as we come into worship, we do so as a response, saying Lord, I want to be empowered to live for you.
Speaker 1:As I come to this altar, I do so asking for you to help me walk this thing out every day so that I can be empowered to do the next thing you. So asking for you to help me walk this thing out every day so that I can be empowered to do the next thing you'd have for me in this 2025. Lord, we thank you so much. Lord, as we come to this altar, we do so with intentionality, lord, and we forgive any Lord that we've held a grudge against or we've held unforgiveness against Lord. And instead of making excuses, lord, we give those things over to you, lord. We say I forgive them for this, lord, even ourselves, lord, that we would ask Lord, forgive us, lord, of where we've fallen short. Lord, that we would draw near to you, lord, in this time. As we open this altar, we do so with intentionality to go after you, asking for your empowerment and your blessing as we walk in obedience. We pray this in the powerful name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Speaker 3:How many of you were blessed today by that word Amazing, amazing. Thank you, bridget. Thank you very much, and I want to let you know that Bridget will be back there. There's a table and there are some goodies back there if any of you are interested. It helps their ministry in Thailand and they're headed back this week to go out there. So if you want to just stop by and say hi, she'll be available. But isn't it going to be an incredible year? Are you ready for 2025?
Speaker 1:It's going to be amazing. Part of that is we're going to be doing 21 days of prayer and fasting, starting next Sunday. So we have some more messaging about that coming to you next Sunday. So we have some more messaging about that coming to you. But go ahead and pre-decide that you're going to participate with us, that you would draw near to the Lord in that season, in this time ahead, we'd be intentional to quiet our hearts and to seek him and what he's saying to us Amen. Before we go, pray this blessing over us today. The Lord bless you and keep you. Lord, make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. Lord, lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Lord, I pray a blessing upon your church, your people, lord, that you would empower us by your spirit to live your love out to those around us. We pray this in the powerful name that is Jesus Christ. Amen, amen. Know this. We love you very much here at Cornerstone. God bless you and have a great week.