What Faith Looks Like | Selvin Cortez |

Faith is revealed by trust, and one of its greatest expressions is forgiveness. When we forgive, we release the debt someone owes us into God's hands, trusting Him to bring justice, healing, and restoration. 

True faith uproots bitterness and resentment, makes room for God to grow His work in our hearts, and obeys Him even before circumstances change. Jesus ultimately demonstrated this at the cross, entrusting every wrong to the Father and showing us what faith truly looks like. 

Reference: Luke 17:5

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:24

Uh what a great day. What a great day. I am really excited uh about today. I'm I'm really I I say that every single week, but the reality is I am excited. This is a very special day. We are finishing the series on family. And and in the series on family, uh oftentimes we we forget what um what we should be doing in a family and and how how we should relate to each other in the family. And in this last segment, this last episode of our series, um, there's something that I have. I've got uh I've got this book with me. And um this book is uh it's been with me for a while. It was actually a gift that I received uh a while ago. Um and uh and I've been using it uh and sometimes I use it for all the wrong stuff. And so I want to share this book with you, and let me tell you um, or let me ask you if if you identify. Uh I've got um in this book, I've got a list. I've got a list. Uh and look, if you identify with this list, then that's great. You're that just means you're human like me. Um so so I've got on on my list here guy who cut me off in traffic. I remember his face. I remember him as he as he drove past me. He gave me the international salute. Um and uh and and he's on here. He's on. Um how about this one? Um all the bike lanes in Montreal. All the bike lanes in Montreal, that's on my list. Uh, I got another one here, the lady at the Costco. Yeah, the lady at the Costco. I remember her, man. It was uh something else. Um I I got another one. My mother, no, my mother-in-law. Why is my mother-in-law no, no, no, no, not my mother-in-law, no, no, she's not on here. Um, but but it's interesting. Do you do you see what kind of list I have? I have a list of people and faces and names uh that I remember. And um and uh what's funny is that as I as I move through my list, uh it feels like the feels like the book gets heavier. Now it doesn't physically get heavier, but emotionally it starts getting heavier, and and this list starts to go kind of dark pretty quickly. And so there's a teacher on the list that um that may have said to you that you wouldn't amount to much. Or maybe science isn't your thing, or maybe you should stay away from gym class. Um, there could be a mom on this list, a dad on this list, an uncle on this list, or or how about this? How about how about an ex-husband or an ex-wife? You see, this book has one purpose and one purpose alone. This book helps me remind me of who owes me. The sole purpose of this book is to help remind me of who owes me, who's done me wrong, who who needs payback, who I can't stand. This book reminds me of the people in my past that have that have really sowed a seed in my life, but it wasn't a good one. And I think we all keep some sort of a list. I think you you might not, it might not be on paper, you might not have it in a book, but we all keep some sort of a list in our hearts. And the Bible is really specific, and it has a name for that list, and it gives that list a name, a very specific name, and that name is called debt. And so we keep this debt in our hearts, and and one of the biggest debts that we have in our hearts is the pain and the and the hurt that is caused in the family. And not just in the family, but but secondary family and outside of the family and friends, and that there is there's things that happen in our lives where where we hold on to this list. And that list starts to get heavy as we move forward, and as we move forward, and I think that's where Jesus starts in Luke chapter 17. That's where Jesus begins. And that's where Jesus wants to speak to us today. We're talking about holding on to these lists, these these hurts, these pains that are happening in our hearts. And and in this in this hurt and in this pain, and and this list that I'm carrying, that list could be that could be five pages long, it could be 500 pages long. And in that list, and in Luke 17, Jesus gives us an impossible command. And it's almost like, well, well, hold on a second. Uh uh, I I see every face in that list. I know, I know what's going on in that list, and yet Jesus gives us this impossible command in Luke chapter 17, uh, verse 1, 3, and 4. Now, church, I've I've been sitting on this message for over a year and a half. We did uh we did a uh a series called Heroes of Faith. Um, were you there when we did Heroes of Faith a while ago? Yeah, great. Yeah, heroes of faith. We talked about Hebrews chapter 11, the Hall of Fame of Faith. And in the the Hebrews chapter 11, we were sort of we were sort of limited to the heroes that were listed in Hebrews chapter 11, but there is a great hero of faith that we're gonna find in Luke chapter 17 that's not mentioned in Hebrews chapter 11. And throughout that whole series, almost two years ago, I was like, I want I want to talk about this guy. I want to talk about this guy, I want to talk about this guy. And and there was just so many things that happened, and I was just like, no, this is the message, this is the message, and and we ended up going in a different direction. But I've been sitting on this message because I believe that now is the moment. Now is the time for God to increase our faith. Now is the moment where where we can go to God and say, God, increase my faith. And what does that look like? What does faith look like? What does faith look like? And that's what chapter 17 is all about. Chapter 17 is a whirlwind of message, and and at face value, it may seem like like there's so many messages and so many stories, and it's like jumping left and right, but in reality, it's one single thread. It's one single message that Jesus is is provoking in his disciples. And it starts off like this. It starts off in chapter one. Then he said to the disciples, watch this. We serve a God that is unlimited. We serve a God of the impossibles. And yet, chapter 17, verse 1 starts like this. It is impossible. Say with me, impossible. I know that's a word that in Christian terms we don't like to use as much because we're always saying that God is a God of the impossible. And yet, right here, Jesus says, it is impossible that no offenses should come. That's heartwarming. What Jesus is saying is that in your lifetime, ready for this, you will be offended. And somebody said, Amen. I was just offended in the parking lot. Um, in your lifetime, you will be offended. Jesus says, It is impossible, but that no offense, that no offense should come, but woe to him through whom they do come. So, in other words, don't be the agent of the offense. Okay? Woe to him who through whom they do come. Take heed to yourself. Watch this. If your brother sins against you, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him. Pretty simple. Somebody, somebody does something wrong to you, and they repent, forgive them, right? Uh it's not that easy because then it says, and if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times in a day returns to you saying, I repent, please forgive him. It says, You shall forgive him. Now that is craziness. Because if somebody, like, like if you think about it, you're not offending somebody, the same person, seven times in one day. Like that's really tough to do. Unless um you're married. Um, no, no, no, I'm I'm sorry, I'm sorry. No, that was that that was a that was a pastor joke. That was a pastor joke. Um, you're not you're not offending somebody seven times a day. And and that somebody that that that offended you or you are offending, uh, you're not going to them seven times a day and saying, I'm sorry. I'm sorry seven times a day. And if you were, the person that received the offense has to has to forgive. Now that requires a lot of energy. In fact, uh the word for offense, the word for offense is is really interesting because it's the word scandalon. Scandalon. And and if I if I show you this image, scandalon is is the Greek word for stumbling block or trap. Now watch this. Um in the old days, how how you would how you would uh trap an animal is you would you would dig a hole in the ground, and then you would cover that hole with either leaves or dirt, or you would cover that hole as as much as you could out of sight. And so when the animal comes in and takes a step into that hole, it gets paralyzed. There are stakes in the ground that are that are ready and willing to paralyze the animal. And oftentimes the animal, the deer, the the hunted animal would not die. It would just stay paralyzed. Another way of seeing the word scandalon is is is a stone or a rock that is placed there. And and and and you might not see it, but you can trip over it and fall. Another way of seeing scandalon is is quite literally if somebody sticks their foot out and you fall over. That's another way of seeing scandalon. You see, scandalon is the Greek word for offense, and all the scandal is trying to do is hold you back from your future, hold you back from taking that next step. Scandalon is designed to hold you and paralyze you and keep you down until the hunters come and finish off the job. That is what Jesus is saying. It is impossible that offenses will come. In other words, our path in life is mined by these scandalons. And there are there are traps and and booby traps all over the place, and you have to watch out where you're walking. But if you should fall into one, and you've got a choice to make, do you stay in it? Or do you ask for help out of it? And that's what Scandalon is all about right here. The trap doesn't have to kill you, it only has to stop you because every offense, every offense creates a debt. And ultimately, if every offense creates a debt, in business terms, this becomes a ledger. This becomes an account of everyone who owes me. And depending on how much they owe me, is their position on the list. And this is the this is the ledger that I keep. This is the ledger that we keep because of the scandalons, because of the debt that we are holding on to. This is the debt record. And that debt record has has something that follows it. It could be that somebody owes you an apology, um, that you're looking for justice, or or you're looking for an explanation, or you're looking for restoration, or you're looking for uh you're you're looking for your reputation to be restored. Because somebody spoke evil of you, because somebody spoke uh a lie about you. And and the Bible says that Paul, Paul had had this thorn in his flesh, and he prayed three times, and he said, God, remove from me this thorn in my flesh, and God would say to him, My grace is sufficient for you. And he would pray again, God remove this from me, my grace is sufficient for you, would be the answer. God, I can't take this anymore, remove it from me. And God would say, Paul, that's enough. My strength is made great in your weakness. And that thorn in the flesh, many theologians believe it was actually a person or a group of people that would follow Paul around, and they would they would say all kinds of nasty things about him and his past, and they would remind him of who he was. Why do you call yourself Paul? You are Saul. You don't remember everything you did, all the murders that you that you uh uh uh um uh approved of this group of people or this person would follow him around. And Paul has a choice to make, and Jesus is telling us the same thing here. If he sins against you seven times in one day, forgive him. And at that command, that impossible command, the disciples they reply with the greatest reply I think the disciples ever mentioned or uttered to Jesus. And they said to Jesus, Lord, increase our faith. Why wouldn't they say, Lord, help me forgive? Why didn't they ask, Lord, give me more patience? Lord, help us with more love, help us with more understanding. No, it's like it's almost like a divine inspiration is happening at this moment. Lord, increase our faith. Because they understood that forgiveness has a price. Forgiveness actually costs something. The moment you forgive, the moment you forgive, you are giving up your right to collect. The moment you forgive, you are giving up your right to collect. That requires a whole load of faith. Because that means if I'm going to forgive, I have to give. Increase our faith. And so what I find in this chapter right here is this beautiful connection between my level of forgiveness and my level of faith. How willing am I able to forgive? Could be my level of faith. Could be a mirror, could be, could be a barometer, could be a measure into how much actual faith that I have. Because oftentimes what we when we talk about faith, we think of miracles right away. When I talk about faith, when I think about faith, I think about praying to God and seeing miracles come down. And that is part of faith. That is what faith is all about, praying and believing God. Therefore, that faith is is the the the the conviction of things to come, the the knowledge of of what I can't see. That's faith, yes. But faith also is what can I give up. It requires faith to give up. It requires faith to to let go and let God. See, everybody in this room knows somebody that owes you something. Maybe they owe you an apology or years that you can never get back. Maybe they owe you a childhood you should have had, or a marriage that you wanted. Maybe it's your reputation that was tarnished. Can you trust God with it? Your ability to forgive is related to the level of faith we have. And so can we trust God? And the disciples asked, Lord, increase our faith. And that's my personal prayer to God. When I think of you, when I think of New Life Church, I'm thinking, God, increase our faith. God, let us move in the realm of miracles. God, let us move to see lives transformed, families restored, lives renewed, new lives coming to you. That's my prayer for New Life Church. God, Increase my faith. And at the same time, Jesus comes back and he answers the disciples and he tells them what faith looks like. And so we hear about faith. Faith comes through hearing and hearing the word of God. That's what the Bible says. Faith enters your life through hearing and hearing the word of God. But in this specific story, Jesus is about to show them what faith looks like. And the Lord said, verse 6 of chapter 17, we're in Luke 17 this whole time. And I would invite you this week to really take the time to read through chapter 17 because it is awesome. And you're going to see how it just comes alive in a moment. The Lord said to them, If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to the mulberry tree, be uprooted and planted in the seed, and it would obey you. What a crazy statement. Like, can we be real? We're just going to leave that on there for a minute. Can we be real? Does that make any sense? The Lord said, if you had faith like a grain of mustard seed. Notice how he's not saying the size of a grain of mustard seed. He's saying like a grain of mustard seed. You could say to the mulberry tree, be uprooted and planted into the sea. What does that mean? That means that that we've got we've got a seed and we've got a tree. The mulberry tree is a tree that has incredibly deep roots. Super, super deep roots. And and it is very, very difficult to uproot a mulberry tree. And yet Jesus is saying, if you had faith like a mustard seed, you could tell the mulberry tree to get up, uproot itself from the ground, and plant itself into the sea. What? All the while there is this undercurrent of forgiveness that's happening. Jesus is describing not the seed or the mulberry tree, he's describing the nature of faith, not its quantity of faith. And oftentimes we look at great miracles. Oh, that person must have great faith. And we start to quantify faith. But but Jesus here is showing us that it's not the quantity of faith that is important for forgiveness, it's the nature of faith. So let me show you this first image right here. Jesus shows them and talks about a seed. And a seed, this is the purpose of a seed. The purpose of a seed is to hold it in your hand, but in your hand it can do nothing. In your hand it can do absolutely nothing. The seed must be released into the ground. The seed must be let go. And as you let it go, it disappears into the ground. It disappears out of your sight. The seed then has to trust the process of the rain and the sun given by God. It relies on what it can't see because the seed is buried. And then the seed must die to itself. It's the old life ends for the seed. It must germinate and then it produces something greater. Give it enough time, enough water, enough sunlight, and it starts to break through the ground. Are you getting this? That's forgiveness. And that is what forgiveness is all about. You see, forgiveness releases the debt. I have to, I can't hold on to the debt, I can't hold on to my ledger, I can't hold on to this book, I have to give up the debt. And when I give it up, I let go of what was owed to me. I was owed an apology, I give that up. Nobody owes me anything. And then from that moment it disappears out of my control. I am no longer in control of this debt, it's not in my hands anymore. That person is not in my life anymore. I have no more control over this situation. You no longer carry it with you. Third step, trust God's justice. Third step, trust the process, the process of the rain and the sun given by God. Trust God's justice. Trust God to make it right. That means release. And then and then dies to itself. Your right to revenge ends. Your right to justice ends. Your right to claim ends. Your right to call on to the person and say, You owe me, that ends. Your right to hold on to it ends because once you let go, once you let go and you start to forgive, and you go through this process of releasing, letting go of the control, allowing God's justice to work, you're going to start to see a miracle happen in your life. The seed is going to give birth to something new. And that's what scandalon does. It holds you back from growing. It holds you back from moving in the purpose that God has for your life. Forgiveness does the opposite of scandalon. Forgiveness allows the purpose and the power of God to reign in your life and to make you take that next step into freedom. The seed is now free to grow. That's the imagery. That's what Jesus is showing us right here. And in that same verse, if we can go back to that verse, uh, Luke 17, 6, be uprooted. That's the mustard seed, that's forgiveness. The mulberry tree has deep roots. And yet Jesus says, be uprooted. Notice how he doesn't say be chopped down. He doesn't say, he doesn't see, say, be burnt down. He says, be uprooted, because bitterness grows roots, resentment grows roots, offense grows roots, unforgiveness grows roots, and those roots can be incredibly deep. Incredibly deep. Almost impossible to uproot. What uproots it? Faith. Faith uproots it. And the tree comes out of the ground. And Jesus said, You could say to it, be uprooted and planted in the sea, and it would obey you. How many people do you know have the faith to speak to a tree, it rise up out of the ground, hover over land, and drop in the middle of the St. Lawrence River? I don't know anybody. In fact, I don't know anybody in history that's ever done that. And yet Jesus says it would obey you. Now don't go speak into trees as we leave here, okay? Instead of going to the welcome center, you're gonna go speak into the trees. Um no, that's not what this is about. What this is about is is the deep-rooted pains to get up and go plant in the tree. Have uh plant in the sea. Have you planted anything in the sea? Um, can you plant anything in the sea? Isn't the sea a place of drowning? Isn't the sea an image of of where my pain, my hurt is now being planted? In other words, it's being thrown into the sea. Watch this. Malachi, um, I'm sorry, Micah 7.19, it's speaking of God. He says, He will again have compassion on us. Watch this. Who is like our God? Who is like you? Who, ready? God, who forgives sin and forgives the transgressions of the remnant of his inheritance, us. You do not stay angry forever, but delight to show mercy. You will again, you will again have compassion on us. You will tread our sins underfoot and hurl, hurl, throw, launch our iniquities into the depths of the sea. You see, Jesus is telling the disciples to do exactly what he does for us. He's telling them, take the offenses, take the sin, take the pain, and launch it into the sea so that it drowns there. Now you've got a big hole in the ground that you can either fill with a mustard seed or with a scandal on. Because the seed, this is a picture, this is this is a picture of what God wants for us. You see, most of us spend years asking God to grow mustard seeds while we're still protecting the mulberry tree. And the mulberry tree is is not allowing the mustard seed to grow because it's taking up space. That person is living rent-free in your mind and and in your heart, and God is calling you for great purpose, for mustard seed faith, but the mulberry tree is in the way. You gotta let go of it. You gotta let go of it. Faith has two jobs. Faith has these two jobs. Faith is is the act of releasing what God wants removed and to receive what God wants planted. Faith is about releasing what God wants to remove in your life. That's step one. Let's release from my life what God does not want there. And we can all agree resentment, pain, unforgiveness. God doesn't want that in your heart. Because then He wants to move to phase two. He wants you to receive what God wants to plant in your life. You some of you have a seed for a business in your life. Some of you have a seed to create a family in your life. Some of you have a seed, a vision, a purpose to find the person that God has for you. Some of you have a seed for a job or a career. But the mulberry tree is in the way. And God is saying, release what I want to remove from your life to receive what I want to plant in your life. It's not about repaying, it's about uprooting. That's what God wants for us. And so check this out. As they're walking, this is how awesome Jesus is. You see, if Jesus were in our times today, I I tell you, he would be a movie producer. Not because we love movies at my house, but but we do. But I believe Jesus would be a movie producer. Because as they're walking, they're talking about forgiveness, they're talking about faith, they're talking about a seed, they're talking about a mulberry tree. And then Jesus says, Here, let me show you something. Let me show you something. Watch what's gonna happen right now. And these ten guys show up. And and and Jesus is full on display. Faith is on display right now. And in Luke 17, 11 to 14, it says, On the way to Jerusalem, he was passing along between Samaria and Galilee. This is about two weeks before crucifixion. This is this this right now that's about to happen is about to it's it's happening two weeks before crucifixion. It's one of his last miracles. And he enters the village and he was met by ten lepers who stood at a distance and lifted up their voices, saying, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. When he saw them, he said to them, Go and show yourself to the priests. And as they went, they were being cleansed. Ten lepers, ten dudes, show up and and they see Jesus and they've heard of Jesus and they know that he can heal them, and they go up to him and they say, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. In other words, heal us. We are lepers. Now I wanna I wanna take you into this moment real quick. I want to take you into this moment to to see what's going on. If you were in a praise and worship session like like like today, okay? And and the musicians are leaving, that's great. Um, if you were in, can, can, can you, uh you're gonna you're just gonna stand up, you're gonna stand up, okay? Um, and and we're praising and worshiping, and and you know me, I I go crazy with praise and worship. I'm jumping, I'm on my knees, I'm I'm laughing, I'm doing everything. It's only because I have a little bit of decorum that I don't start running around the room, all right? Um, but I would run around the room. And so I'm praising, I'm praising, I'm praising, and and and and you start to notice something in me as I'm as I'm lifting up my hands, as I'm lifting up my hands, she sees, she sees a little uh a little like like mark on on my skin. And and it's not a tattoo. It's not a tattoo, but there's there's something on my skin. And you notice it. As I'm lifting up my hands, there's something, there's something on my skin. And and your immediate instinct is what's what is it? Yeah, and and she's she's all fine and dandy. She's she's praising, but she sees a little mark on my skin, and and what she does, she says, I know what that is. And so she starts to move away from me. She starts to move away, and I'm worshiping, and I'm worshiping, and I'm jumping, and I'm dancing, and as I'm moving, she's moving, and she's moving away from me because she knows exactly what it is. Thank you. And and and and being the responsible person that she is, she'll go up to the priest, and she'll go up to the priest or the priest today. She'll go up to the priest and she'll say, Hey, priest, uh, I want to tell you something. I know I shouldn't say this, and it's none of my business. Somebody told me. Uh Salvin has a mark on his arm. I think you should look into it. And at that moment, you call me into the office. And you say, Selvin, I want to talk to you. Um, how are you doing? I'm great. The family's doing good. Kids are in the swimming pool. There was no swimming pools back then. Um, kids are in the river, they're they're swimming, they're still swimming. Uh they're in the river, they're swimming, they're having a great time. He says, Uh, Selvin, I need to see you right away. Um, can you do me a favor, Selvin? Can you do me a favor? Take off your shirt. Now that's not HR language, okay, uh, for today's times, okay? Uh, but he would say, Selvin, do me a favor, I need you to take off your shirt. And because he is, he is the the the judge, jury, and executioner, I have to take off my shirt. I take off my shirt, and he sees a mark. And then he sees another mark on my back. And and I'm I'm just saying, hey, listen, listen, hold on a second, hold on a second. I know what you're thinking, but but it I'm I'm very early. I I heard of this treatment, um, I'm very early in the stage. Um, it's not what you think it is. They're birthmarks, they're birthmarks. And and he starts saying, no, no, no, no, those are not birthmarks, that's leprosy. And so, but wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, hold on a second, I know what that means, but but but wait, wait, wait. He said, No, you've got to take off all your clothes, you've got to now wear this, and everywhere you go, you've got to, you are now sentenced to the valley of the lepers. You are now sentenced to the valley of the lepers. What does that mean? That means that as I'm walking to the valley of the lepers, I've got to tell everybody, hey, I'm a leper, I'm a leper, I'm unclean, stay away from me. Even though with a shirt on, nobody would know. And so now I am ripped out of my family, my job, my income, my society, my church, my community, everybody. I am ripped out, yanked out. And now I've got to go to a valley of lepers. And leprosy is not only a skin disease, but it also eats away at your skin so much so that eventually your limbs start to fall off, your ears start to fall off, your nose starts to fall off. And it is disgusting. The smell, the stench of the valley of the lepers. That is my new home, and I didn't get a chance to say goodbye. My wife is still wondering where I am. What happened? Did they find out? And now I am sentenced to life in a prison of lepers. Of where I am, I stop seeing the valley. And I start seeing the person. Because human nature will find somebody to blame. And the other lepers, they start becoming my friends. Because the enemy of my enemy is my friend. So they become my friends because we have a common enemy. The priest isn't their enemy, but they see him as an enemy. And all of a sudden there are whispers of this guy that can heal lepers, and he has healed lepers before. And I gather my nine buddies and I say, Guys, I heard about this dude, and he can heal us, and he's on his way. I heard him talking. And so we present ourselves and we're like, Jesus, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. And in that moment, Jesus says, Go and see the priests, and they go. And they see the priest, and the Bible says that as they're walking, they start being cleansed. I want you to track with me. There are three things that happen. They start being cleansed. And and and and they start walking and walking, and they start being cleansed. They have to go back to the guy that sent them there. You want to talk about resentment? Pain? Being ripped out of your family? Now you gotta go back and see the guy. He's older now. But he looks at me and he says, Selvin, is that is that you weren't Didn't I Are you not a leopard? No, I've been I've been cleansed. You see this guy, his name is Jesus, he he healed me. And one of them runs back to Jesus. And as he's running back to Jesus, track with me. He's already cleaned. He's already clean. But the Bible says, the Bible says that as he's walking back, that that he is now he is now being healed. So he's being restored. So his arms are growing back. His earlobes are growing back. His nose is growing back. He's being restored. And from that moment, Jesus says to him, Rise and go your way. Your faith has made you well. Your faith has made you well. That word has made you well. Your faith has made you well, means salvation. Salvation has come into your life. See the other nine, they received the miracle. What they didn't receive was salvation. You see, there are many, many steps. Get well books. How to be a better person books. There are self-help books on Amazon, 400 million of them. But there's one that's not there. See, you can be cleansed, you can even be healed. But the most important is to be saved. And so he comes back running to Jesus and he starts to worship him. You see, we all have a priest in our lives. And when I mention somebody that has hurt you, you see them. This guy did too. And he had to go back and present himself. And he did. At the obedience of the command of God, of Jesus, he went back. And he started to see the miracle even before arriving. And then when he came back, he started to see physical miracles happening in his life. Forgiveness produces that. And then salvation enters his heart. And all the while, Jesus is showing his disciples this is what faith looks like. Because two weeks later, Jesus is on the cross. And of the statements of the cross, he says, Father, forgive them. For they know not what they do. Father, forgive them. The greatest act of forgiveness in history required the greatest level of faith. The next phrase, into your hands. I deliver my spirit. Father, forgive. Father, into your hands. And that's what this is all about. The greatest act of faith happened at the greatest moment of forgiveness. Lord, increase my faith. Lord, help me have faith for miracles. Help me have faith for great for great things, to see amazing things. God is saying, Yes, I'm all in. That's my prayer for you. The prayer of the Spirit and the prayer of the Son for your life. It's increased faith. Amen. To see miracles, to pray over the sick and see them healed, to cast out demons, to restore and lift up and love and support. That is the prayer of the Spirit of God and the Son of God for your life. God is asking of you today, would you forgive and release into my hands? And when you do, I promise you, faith and salvation enters into your life. And you may think, I'm already saved, I believe in Jesus. Yes, we are saved, and you may be saved, and you've already believed in Jesus and you've given your life to Jesus. Now it's time to let the seed grow. It's time to start to live in the purpose that God has for you. It's time to start to live in the plans that God has ordained from the beginning of time for your life. Let the seed, the mustard seed, grow as you release the mulberry tree. Watch how God starts to move in your life. Jesus, release the greatest debt that was ever owed. And so now it's my turn. To release the people that have hurt me. It's not about whether they're right or wrong or they deserve it or not. That's not what this is about. This is about trusting God. This is about saying to God, I'm not carrying this anymore. This is about saying to God, you are more powerful than I am. I'm not dealing with that anymore. I'm dealing with you. Church, would you stand to your feet with me? Into your hands. Peter tells us this in 1 Peter chapter 2, verse 23. It says this. When they hurled insults at him, he did not retaliate. He's speaking of Jesus on the cross. When he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. When you give up your debts, you are entrusting yourself to the judge that judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness. By his wounds, we have been made healed. By his wounds, we have been made healed. Can I say it this way? By his wounds, we are now healed. By his wounds, you are healed. You see, he took on your sin, he took on your spiritual leprosy, he took it on to himself, and by his wounds we are now healed. You are free. You are free and forgiven. Free and forgiven to do what? Free and forgiven to forgive others, free and forgiven to live a life of purpose, free and forgiven to live a life according to the plans that God has for your life. And I'm not saying it's easy. You may not want to do it. And let me tell you, you may not even feel like doing it. But when you do it, something changes. Something is going to transform in your lives. Listen to me, church. A couple of weeks ago, we talked about a woman by the name of Corey Tenboom. Do you remember the flies story? She was in the concentration camp and she hated the fleas. Not the flies, the fleas. She hated the fleas, but she started to thank God for the fleas. And after the concentration camp was over, after the war had been declared uh over, the guards, she saw the guards, and and the guards would say, We never dared to go to block 38. We didn't dare go to block 38 because of the fleas, and because they were afraid of the fleas, she was able to preach the word of God to all the women and all the people in that cell. Well, it turns out that she is now face to face with one of the Nazi commanders. And in that moment, the Nazi commander speaks to her and says, I saw everything you did, and I can't believe everything that I did. I want you to forgive me. And she looked up to heaven and she said, I can't. I can't do it. I can't, and and God, I don't even want to. But I will. And in that moment, she said, I forgive you. And she writes later on in her memoirs that she didn't want to do it, but she said, I forgive you. And the moment she said, I forgive you, she felt a great peace and a great joy come over her life like she had never experienced before. And she had no idea what was going on, and she just said, Forgiveness in the name of Jesus led me to freedom. Not from a concentration camp, but from myself. That's the power of faith. That's the power of forgiveness. And today I just want you to raise your hands up in the air. And in this solemn moment, we're going to release. We're going to release. You don't have to name them, you don't have to say it out loud. For that person that you have pictured throughout this entire message. Release them. Release them and allow God's joy and his freedom and his peace to circulate in your heart in the mighty name of Jesus. Allow faith to arise. Allow faith to arise. Be free, church. Be free, church. Increase faith. Increase our faith, Lord. Increase our faith even here, even now, right now. Increase our faith. Increase our faith. Increase our faith. Church, can you imagine what the Lord can do when we bring our faith together as He is increasing it in our lives right now, in this moment?