REWIND
The podcast "REWIND" features a collection of past sermons from Organic Church. Each episode takes listeners on a journey through the teachings and messages delivered during previous worship services. The content is a retrospective look at the spiritual guidance and insights shared by Pastor Michael and visiting guests!
Listeners can expect to revisit powerful sermons, meaningful scriptures, and impactful messages that have been shared in the past. The podcast aims to provide a convenient and accessible way for the church community and new audiences to engage with the timeless wisdom and spiritual teachings presented during earlier sermons.
Whether it's a reflection on a particular theme, a series of teachings, or a selection of sermons covering various topics, "REWIND" offers an opportunity for individuals to deepen their understanding of the faith and find inspiration in the timeless messages.
The podcast may also include commentary or reflections on the historical context of each sermon and how it continues to resonate with the present-day congregation.
REWIND
Forgiving for Freedom, Not for Them (May 18, 2025)
Breaking free from unforgiveness may be one of the most challenging yet transformative journeys in our spiritual lives. This powerful message delves into why Jesus commands us to forgive "seventy times seven" and how this limitless forgiveness creates freedom—not for those who wrong us, but for ourselves.
Through heartfelt personal stories and biblical insights, we explore the parable of the unforgiving servant from Matthew 18, discovering how our refusal to forgive others creates an emotional prison where we become chained to past offenses. Most surprisingly, the people we're upset with often have no idea we're harboring these feelings, while we continue drinking the poison of bitterness, expecting them to suffer the consequences.
Forgiveness doesn't mean excusing hurtful behavior or pretending pain didn't happen. It's about releasing the debt—declaring "you don't owe me anymore"—so that we can experience spiritual and emotional freedom. This choice rarely happens once; it requires daily discipline as we continuously surrender our hurt at the foot of the cross.
When we consider Jesus's sacrifice—the ultimate act of forgiveness—we're reminded of the immeasurable grace we've received. Our question becomes not "Do they deserve forgiveness?" but rather "Am I willing to release this burden for my own freedom?"
Take a moment today to ask: Who have I been holding in the prison of my bitterness? What emotional debt am I trying to collect? Remember, Jesus forgave us not because we earned it, but because He wanted us to be free. Will you extend that same liberating grace to others?
While we're on the Holy smokes, this thing is on a roll this morning. Does anybody else have a praise report while we're going? Once, yes, jenny and Marcus moved in like under 24 hours. I don't know how they did it, but they did it. Any others no? Alright, well then, let's get started. I'm going to ask you guys to stand with me again one more time as we read this opening scripture. We're going to be in Matthew 18, 21 and 22. It says Then Peter came to him and asked Lord, how often should I forgive someone who sins against me? Seven times, no, not seven times. Jesus replied, but 70 times. Seven. Amen, amen you may be seated. No, not seven times, jesus replied, but 70 times. Seven. Amen, amen you may be seated.
Speaker 1:How many of us have ever carried around bitterness towards somebody else? Like, just sits there, you can't even look at them, right. Sometimes you see their face and you want to hug them real tight around the neck with two hands Right. And a lot of times we feel that bitterness and we don't even realize the struggle that we're having internally. We blame them for our unforgiveness, right. We blame them because of what they have done. We blame them because they didn't say sorry, right? My question to you is how often do they actually know that you're upset with them? Now, I'm not saying like, read between the lines know that you're upset with them. Have you ever given somebody the cold shoulder? When you're upset with them, like I'm just not going to take your phone calls or I'm going to ignore you, or I'm going to pretend like we're not friends right now, why are you pointing at your husband, jenny? Oh, she does it to him. Okay, well, at least she admitted it. A lot of times we do that. The other person doesn't even know why we're upset, right? I have a joke that you know. The number one way to know whether or not you're mad at your spouse is whether or not they're speaking to you, right? So my wife and I don't really do the silent game, but occasionally it happens, and the only way to break that is with something incredibly obvious, right? So if you and your spouse are at a different space, for whatever reason, you know, a lot of times I'll text my wife and be like hey, is the stove still working? There's no reason for the stove not to be working, but I just need to see if she's going to talk to me, right? Ever been there. Sometimes you have to go with the obvious and ease your way into the conversation. Amen, Listen, that's how I live my life. You got to dip a toe. I don't want to get beat up when I get home. I got to ask the question.
Speaker 1:Every hurtful word, every betrayal, every disappointment weighs us down just a little bit more. Amen, man, disappointment's a big word and I don't think. A lot of times we think about what disappointment actually means, right? So I get disappointed by a lot of things, but more often than not I'm disappointed when somebody doesn't show up the way that I feel like they should show up. Now, I don't mean physically, but sometimes I'm having a bad day and somebody knows I'm having a bad day and they're not. Hey, man, I'm praying for you. They're just like. They pretend like it doesn't exist, because sometimes that's easier to do than to pray. And I realize that a lot of times that disappointment is because I don't always vocalize what it is that I need in my flesh or in my spirit in order to move on right. That's hard to think about, it's hard to comprehend, but it's true.
Speaker 1:Jesus has invited us to lay that burden down. Amen. When did he invite us to lay that burden down. When he died on the cross, he carried that to the cross for you and I. Now, today, I need to tell you something I don't forgive you so that you will be forgiven. I forgive you so that I don't hold on to unforgiveness. I am releasing you from the debt so that I'm not carrying a hard heart. I am releasing you of the debt, not so that you will be free, but so that I will be free. Amen, because when I go to the Lord and I say explore my heart, look for the things that I'm holding on to, he finds a lot of unforgiveness. He finds a lot of unjust disappointment. Right, the thing is, jesus tells us that we have to forgive that, not seven times, but 70 times seven.
Speaker 1:Now, this isn't about exact mouth math. What he's saying is keep forgiving. There isn't a number. This isn't attainable, right, we just have to continue to say I am blessed and highly favored. I don't need to hold on to this, because I want the blessings of God to be poured out upon me. If my heart is hard and if I'm ignoring the things that God has told me, then I cannot receive the blessings openly.
Speaker 1:Amen, all right, I've got another passage of scripture for you. We're going to go to Matthew, chapter 18 again, but we're actually going to go to 23 this time. We're going to read 23 through 35. It says therefore, the kingdom of heaven can be compared to a king who has decided to bring his accounts up to date with the servants who have borrowed money from him. Sounds like the IRS. Right, you get that tax bill. They're like all right, pay up In the process. Right, you get that tax bill. They're like all right, pay up In the process.
Speaker 1:One of his debtors was brought in who owed him millions of dollars. Say millions? Anybody here owe millions of dollars? I didn't think so. That's a lot of money to owe, right? Millions of dollars he couldn't pay. So his master ordered that he be sold, along with his wife, his children and everything he owned, to pay the debt. But the man fell down before his master and begged him. Please be patient with me and I will pay it all. The master was filled with pity for him and he released him and forgave all of his debt. Praise Jesus, praise Jesus. But there's always a but.
Speaker 1:When the man left the king, he went to a fellow servant who owed him a few thousand dollars, say thousand dollars. Thousands is a lot less than a million, right, I won't ask how many of us owe thousands of dollars, because if you own a house, chances are you owe thousands of dollars. He grabbed him by the throat and demanded instant payment. His fellow servant fell down before him and begged for a little more time. Be patient with me and I will pay it, he pleaded. But his creditor wouldn't wait. He had the man arrested and put into prison until the debt could be paid in full. When some of the other servants saw this, they were very upset and they went to the king and they told him everything that had happened. Then the king called in the man he had forgiven and said you, evil servant, I forgave you that tremendous debt because you pleaded with me. Shouldn't you have mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had mercy on you? Then the angry king sent the man to prison to be tortured until he paid his entire debt. That's what my heavenly father will do to you if you refuse to forgive your brothers and sisters from your heart. Amen, that's a big statement. Heart, amen, that's a big statement.
Speaker 1:Forgiveness is probably one of the easiest things for us to hold on to, and most of the time we don't even realize we're doing it because it's subconscious Right Now. So there was a prophecy a while back that the men of this church would be woken in the night with visions, right, and I have been, I'll say, blessed to receive that. And the statement I was woken the other night I actually woke my wife up to tell her was this I am not forgiving the debt for your sake, I am forgiving the debt for my sake. It was the exact line that God had given me. I'm talking like three in the morning woke me up with that line.
Speaker 1:Now, here's the thing. I usually go oh, I'll remember that. And I roll over and go back to sleep, right, and I rolled over and tried to go back to sleep and he's like you're going to get up, you're going to write it down, you're going to get up, you're going to write it down, you're going to get up, you're going to. And so, finally, I got up and I wrote it down, my phone's, right beside the bed. All I had to do was type it in my note, right? But I kept fighting it, I kept fighting it and I kept fighting it because I don't want to let it go right.
Speaker 1:I want to hold on to that unforgiveness because it is easier to look at somebody and say I don't trust that person because I can't forgive them for the thing that they did. That's happening in my life right now, right now. Listen, every time I would tell my wife about it she laughs at me. I'm like I can't help it. She's like you're ridiculous. She's like I knew, you, knew you still did it and now you're mad about it. I'm like, yeah, I am a little bit. And she said get over it. And I said, but I can't. And she said then shut up about it because I don't want to hear about it anymore. And I said that's fair. And I shut up about it and then I wrote a message about it. She can't tell me to shut up now.
Speaker 1:But here's what I learned, that up now. But here's what I learned that forgiveness is causing chaos in my life. That person doesn't even know I'm upset with them. They're walking through la-la land just happy as a lark, because they have no idea that I'm upset and I'm upset because of a decision that I made right. Listen, I believe that I can trust everybody in this room at all times, right Now. Sometimes people prove otherwise, but I have to learn to forgive that. I don't always have to forget it, I have to. Okay, that happened and I'm going to remember that and I'm going to trust you with a little less, that's fair, but I'm still going to love you just the same. That's the hard part, right? Because, see, my struggle right now is that when I think about the situation, I realize I don't love that person the way that I should. When I see them and I think about them, I'm like I could really probably go the rest of my life with never seeing them again and I would be completely okay with that. You guys are all sitting in a room going.
Speaker 1:I wonder who he's talking about. I ain't gonna tell you, but I know this Roger raises his hand, probably me. I know that I cannot walk in the will of God, I cannot walk in the blessings and in the favor of God if I continue to hold on to this unforgiveness. So, as I've thought about it and as I've reflected about it, I have to remember how much grace God has given me. Why is Jesus so serious about forgiveness? Right, he's serious because he literally went to the cross so that we would be forgiven, that our sins would be forgiven. There was. It's his love language. That's weird to think about right death as a love language. He was willing to die so that you and I might have everlasting life in the kingdom of God. We would have forgiveness from all of the sin through his death on the cross, and yet we walk around not forgiving other people. Heck, sometimes we can't even forgive ourselves, right?
Speaker 1:Listen, last Sunday's message. I preached that message. I stepped out of the pulpit. I was so upset with myself. I said I didn't do that word justice. I had a message. I stepped out of the pulpit. I was so upset with myself. I said I didn't do that word justice. I had a message, I had a plan and it didn't come out the way that I wanted it to. And the following day I'd gotten a text from somebody that said that they really liked the message and they'd been around for a while. So they had experienced lots of Mother's Day messages and it's somebody that I respect greatly and I was like man alive.
Speaker 1:You realize something sometimes God's not using me, so I'll feel good. He's using me so you'll get the word Right, so that you'll learn. It's hard for me standing up here. I've got notes. For a reason I put this together, for a reason. I couldn't let it go, but God knew that. So he knew he was going to have to intervene if he wanted me to be able to keep moving right. I'm thankful that he is graceful, that he gives me lots of grace, lots of mercy, because I'll tell you what you guys, this would be hard for me every week if he didn't, because I would be trying to figure out what is it that he's trying to say. I would always be questioning what it is that God is doing. We didn't earn God's grace, we don't deserve God's grace, but he gave it to us freely Amen, freely, he gave it to us.
Speaker 1:Ephesians 4.32 says instead be kind to each other tenderhearted. Be kind to each other tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God, through Christ, has forgiven you, just as Christ has forgiven you. Think about that. God has forgiven us through the death of our Savior. And here we are, a big old sack of flesh thinking we have a right to hold on to unforgiveness towards other people, thinking that somehow we have a right to hold on to unforgiveness.
Speaker 1:Now here's the thing I want to describe what unforgiveness is. This doesn't mean that somebody has done wrong to you and that you're upset with them and that you're holding on to that type of unforgiveness. Sometimes unforgiveness is just simply not being able to trust somebody, or simply looking at somebody and saying I don't like their vibe. Right, I'll tell you right now, god doesn't like my vibe some days, but I am covered in grace and sometimes when I screw up, I count on him to come back and say hey, listen, I need you to straighten up a little bit. Do you know how hard it is to walk up to somebody? I did this to somebody. I sent him a text message and I said hey, I just want to apologize to you for something that happened three years ago. I'm being serious, I did it and I was like I don't feel like I gave you the respect that you deserved in this moment. And they responded with it takes a big man to forgive somebody for something after three years that I didn't even know had happened. Right, but I wasn't doing it for them, I was doing it for me, because I was sitting on it, I was holding on to it and I knew that what I was doing was wrong, but I didn't want to admit it because my pride had gotten in the way.
Speaker 1:Pride will be our fall. Pride will be because we always think we have to have the next best thing. And the next best thing sometimes is shiny, right, and it's pretty and it looks good. And then all of a sudden you have it and it's not good, it's rotten in the middle and you take that first bite and you realize just how rotten it really is. Amen, all right. Unforgiveness isn't just spiritual disobedience, it's emotional and mental imprisonment. We imprison ourselves to the emotional side of unforgiveness. How many of us are living in prison today? Those chains are thick. I can rattle the bars right.
Speaker 1:I went to an escape room a couple of months ago with my team from work and I'll tell you I'm not built for that stuff. I'm just not Because you have to learn to trust people and I wanted to second check everything that everybody else did right. Because, like, if you have to know a combination and I know that you don't know how to work a combination lock, like my wife cannot work a combination lock to save her life, I'm not going to let her do the combination lock right. I want to double check it. So, but listen, we get in there. It's a pirate themed escape room and it's a tiny room. I mean, it's probably as big as half of this stage. That's it.
Speaker 1:There are 10 of us in this room and we're just bumping into each other and there's a key hanging on the back wall through these prison bars. I'm like we need to get that key. That key has to mean something right and I'm fixated on that key. I'm yanking on these bars. There's this little thing on the front that looks like it should open up. It's on hinges and I just couldn't get it to do anything. And one of the other guys came over and he grabs a hold of the bars and he lifts up on them and wouldn't you know, as soon as he lifts up up on him, that block on the front slides out. Now, we were stuck in that, not stuck. They don't actually lock the door because you know fire code. But we were in that room and I had to depend on other people to help me see what I needed to see, right, I was looking at those bars like they're stopping me from what I need to get to. I've got to figure this out in order to have what it is that I need.
Speaker 1:I am stuck in prison every day, that I'm willing to hold on to unforgiveness. I can see the light through the bars. I can see that there is something on the other side that I desperately want, but I don't know how to get to it, because my heart is prideful, right. My flesh wants to hold on to the things of the world. It wants to hold on to the unforgiveness, because as long as I hold on to that, I can have a reason to not talk to you. Am I the only one that's ever not talked to somebody because they're upset with them? Listen, every time I find myself in that situation and listen, there are awkward silences still right, because your mind doesn't want to let go of it. But I know my spirit doesn't want to hold on to it anymore. I know that my spirit doesn't want to hold on to it anymore. I've told you guys, this bitterness is like drinking poison but waiting for the other person to die. Right, that's that unforgiveness that we're holding on to. I'm upset with you because of. I don't trust you because of, and every time my mind thinks it, I take a shot of poison and I'm just waiting for you to die. But slowly on the inside, my spirit is dying right. Listen, spiritual growth can't happen if my heart is hard, because that's where the spirit starts to grow. Now we think of the heart as this little beautiful organ that represents love. Let me tell you something when that organ gets hard and it can't receive the tenderness of God anymore, you're in trouble. You're in trouble.
Speaker 1:I was listening to a pastor preach the other day and when he was talking he was talking about men in general and he said men too often feel like they either have to be firm or hard or mean, or they have to be gentle. It's one or the other. You can't be both. And he said when you have children, you learn something I need to be tough for them and tender to them. I need to be tough for them and tender to them. We have to look at our heart the same way, tender to them. We have to look at our heart the same way to the word of God I have.
Speaker 1:My heart has to be tough for the word but tender to the word, so that when the word is being spoken to my heart, it can absorb it, it can hear it, it can feel it, but then when that word is attacked, it has to be tough and ready to fight back with scripture right Now. I used to say this you guys can yell at me, you can throw sticks or rocks or whatever you want. Nobody's carrying anything sharp, are they? You got your loud cup. I used to think memorizing scripture, what does it matter? How does it really change your life? Right, let me tell you, when scripture's etched in your heart and when you can fight the enemy every day with that scripture, it makes a difference. It does, and I'm not saying that you have to be able to get it exact word for word, but I'm telling you, when you have scripture etched on your heart, your life is different, because now you live for it, because now my heart is tender and it can receive it. But it is tough to defend it. Right, I defend the word at every turn. It is my desire to have the word etched upon my heart.
Speaker 1:When we refuse to release debt, when we refuse to release debt, when we refuse to release debt, we remain chained to the offense. Now I tried to get Tina I was trying to get her son to bring me a pair of handcuffs. He's a cop and he said I'm not letting you have those handcuffs after they've been on dirty people. I'm not lying, that's what he said. Because I wanted to handcuff myself to one of you. Right, I wasn't going to take Tina because if those handcuffs didn't come off and I had to take her home, we were going to have trouble. We'd be cutting the arm off at the elbow. So when we are not willing to forgive the debt, we hold on to the offense. We are chained to the offense. And what does that mean? That we can't let it go, we can't get away from it.
Speaker 1:Right, and I'm walking around and I'm dragging this offense behind me and I'm offended by something that doesn't even change my life. Right, how many of you are offended by things that don't even affect your life? Every day, people will say and act a certain way and I'm like that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. Right, that is, that's stupid. Why would you say that? And then I realize that I'm being offended. There are people who get offended for other people, right, it's true, it's true. There are people, if I said something like, I can promise you this Vicky Hickey's not here. I'm sure she's wearing a beautiful sweater at home right now. I'm sure of it. I'm sure she's wearing a beautiful sweater. But the people who hear me pick on her about her sweater are offended for her, right? They're like well, how could he talk about such a sweet? I'm kidding, she knows I'm kidding. That's why she goes out and shops for sweaters for me, right? Like she knows I love her. She does it on purpose now, like I'm waiting for her to come in with a big old floral print or big old flowers sticking off of it.
Speaker 1:My point is that we become offended for other people for no reason. So we have the Amish country theater at work, right? People who have never seen a show at our theater will comment on our Facebook posts or will leave us reviews that say this is offensive to the Amish. But we have Amish that come and see the show and love it. It's not offensive. But you become offended for somebody else. And for what reason? Simply to be offended Because you got nothing better to do with your time than to be offended, right? That's crazy. It's crazy. It is not what our hearts are meant to do.
Speaker 1:Hebrews 12, 15. Is that where we're at? Am I still on track? Yes, look at each other so that none of you fails to receive the grace of God. Watch out that no one poisons the root of bitterness. Wait that. No poisonous root of bitterness grows up to trouble you corrupting. Many Look after each other. It is our responsibility to look after one another. Now let me ask you a question how many of you today don't have to raise your hand if you don't want to are offended with somebody in the church? Right, it happens. It happens.
Speaker 1:But here's the thing. The scripture tells me that I should be looking after that person, not being offended by that person. Now here's the trouble. It's hard to go to that person and say I've been hurt because of this, because I expect them to be able to say something to me. Right, to be able to apologize. Here's the thing I learned. This is a new leadership skill. By the way, for those of you who need this, put this one in your arsenal.
Speaker 1:When you have a hard conversation with somebody, it's okay to say I'm sure you're going to be offended, and that's okay, because a lot of times, we start the conversation with no offense. Or I'm not trying to hurt your feelings or I'm not trying. Sometimes I am being offensive. I don't mean to be and I'm not trying to be hurtful, but what I need you to know is. It's okay to be upset with me. I give you permission to be upset with me, but if I don't say this, I'm going to hold on to it, amen.
Speaker 1:How many of us are holding on to stuff? We're holding on to it. We don't know how to forgive it. We don't know how to let it go. I won't hold on to it anymore. Know that if you feel like I'm talking about you right now, I forgive you and, lord, I hope, I hope that if you know it's about you, that you know that I have forgiven you. I'm not carrying it anymore. It's too heavy. That burden is too heavy to carry. If God wakes me up one more time and says get over it, I like my sleep, right, and I need it, and I don't need God waking me up to remind me about you, right? Listen, it's not your fault that he's waking me up. It's my fault. But I'm saying I forgive you and I truly, from the depths of my heart, I forgive you. I don't want to carry this any longer. I don't want to carry it any longer. I want to be free. Amen, I want to be free.
Speaker 1:To forgive is not to excuse. It's not pretending that the pain didn't happen. It's choosing to say you don't owe me anymore, I release you from the dead. And why? Because I want freedom. Amen. That's such a weird statement to make, isn't it? Because they don't know that they owe us anything. We're offended with them. They don't really feel like they owe us anything, but our heart does. I'm letting that go today. I love you. You don't owe me anything. You don't owe me an apology. You don't owe me any type of forgiveness. You don't owe me anything as of this moment, because I want to be free Every time I give forgiveness. I want to be free every time I give forgiveness and I hold on to that string with. If they would just say I'm sorry, right, if they would just try, if they would just say if they would just do. That is not forgiveness. That's strings attached. That's holding on to unforgiveness in the most shrouded way possible.
Speaker 1:Colossians 3.13,. Make allowances for each other's faults and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember the Lord forgave you and you must forgive others. If the word is that simple, why can't we do it? Why can't we do it Now? Here's the hard part, and this is the truth, though. Forgiveness takes daily discipline Right Now.
Speaker 1:Listen, you guys know I like to be honest. The reason our tagline is fresh. Real Jesus is really the middle word. Real, right, I don't have a problem from the pulpit telling you that I'm struggling with unforgiveness. Okay, I don't have a problem with that, because I think too many pastors put themselves on pedestals and pretend like they don't have life problems. Right, listen, I got them too.
Speaker 1:I work in the world. I spend more time in the world than I do in the church. Right, like I'm rubbing shoulders with people. I'm fortunate I work in a company that's majority faith-based. Most of us are Christians, most of us believe in God and have spent time even serving in churches. I think there's four pastors on staff at my work. It's crazy. Some of them are retired, but there are four pastors on staff at my work and some of them my owners. All helped to open the New Point Dover campus. Like they all served in that ministry in one way or another.
Speaker 1:That's a big deal, right, because we're grounded in a certain way, but because it's a daily decision, I don't just wake up tomorrow and go, yep, we're all good. I wake up tomorrow and I say, lord, keep working on my heart. Keep working on my heart, because if you don't. I am going to hold on to that unforgiveness again. I'm going to lay it at the foot of the cross and I'm going to pick it back up Right, and I'm going to keep getting dragged back to it Day in and day out I'm dragging myself back. So before my feet hit the floor, I say, lord, you didn't just say once, you said seven times 70. And Lord, I want to keep forgiving. Lord, I want to be able to walk away without strings attached. I want to be able to walk away and not feel burdened.
Speaker 1:Forgiveness is not an event. You don't put a check in the box once you've said the words. It's a process. It truly takes time, right? Christ endured all of that pain and suffering all the way to the cross. It was a process to fulfill prophecy. It was a process for him to get to the cross. Forgiveness is going to be a process and not a fun one. It's going to hurt a little bit Sometimes. You're going to wake up and you're going to have a better day than other days. Some days you're going to wake up and you're going to be like I'm holding on to that one today and I'm going to start fresh tomorrow. Lord, help me not hold on to this unforgiveness. Amen.
Speaker 1:Sometimes we forgive the same person for the same thing a million times. Until our heart has caught up right, my mind can give it up, I can say I've forgiven that. And then my heart's like but have you really? Because, like there's still this little patch of like black ice is what I imagine it to be. And when I hit it I just slide right. No, okay, it's just how my brain sees it. And then I slide and the next thing I know, I'm on my butt and I'm like I can't give this up. I'm back and I can't give it up. I'm mad again. I'm upset again, I'm frustrated again. Don't that person? Again? They don't even know. Okay, but when they call me, I'm gonna take the call. I'm going to take the call. I'm going to be nice. Lord, help me be nice. If I don't take your call, no, it's you. No, I'm kidding Everybody. Be like well, it's definitely me, because I don't take anybody's calls. Send you the voicemail.
Speaker 1:I know that I have to retrain my heart every day, every time I walk into those situations. So here are the questions that I have designated for my heart who have I been holding in prison, in the prison of my bitterness. What debt have I been trying to collect emotionally, right? I'm not talking about like you owe me money debt. I'm talking about emotional debt. Am I willing to let it go, if not for them? For me?
Speaker 1:Jesus forgave our debts, not because we earned it. It's because he wanted us to be free. It's because he wanted us to be free. I am not forgiving the debt for your sake. I'm forgiving the debt for my sake. Amen.
Speaker 1:Let's pray together. As we do this, I would like to invite you up for prayer. If anybody is in need of prayer specifically for forgiveness today, come forward, pastor Holly, and I will be up here. I know that we're all walking through seasons in our life where we're struggling with being upset or frustrated with people. I just want you to know it's not what God has called us to be. Amen, let's just bow our heads and pray.
Speaker 1:Father, in the mighty name of Jesus, I thank you for allowing our hearts to be pliable this day, lord, that we may be able to look into the heavens and see just how tender our hearts need to be because, father, we will be able to see your heart, the heart that has been full of forgiveness, the heart that has been full of grace, the heart that has been full of grace. Father, I know that you spoke to me today. Maybe this message was only for me, but I'll tell you, lord, I'll take it Because I know that with each passing day, we get closer and closer to entering into glory. And, lord, I don't want to have a hard heart. You didn't go to the cross so that we might have everlasting life and death, father. You went to the cross so that we could have heaven here, and being able to be free from the stress of the flesh is exactly what you've called us to have. And, lord, I thank you for that freedom today.
Speaker 1:Father, I pray that you lead us this day, that you guide us, you direct us, lift us up, give us strength and encouragement, allow us to understand how to forgive and truly let it go. Father, I give you praise, I give you honor and glory for all that you're doing in our lives. Lord, I pray that you just continue to bless us as we move from this place. We pray all of this in your precious son Jesus's name, and the church says amen. We're going to open the altar and we're going to have.