Forgive One Another

Pastor Aaron is back and teaches on the Parable of the unforgiving servant.  In this message we learn the cost of not forgiving others. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:12

You know, we're in the third week of our our one another series. I want to thank Pastor Kelly for preaching last week. My family and I, we didn't have vacation on our calendar this year. And we actually, so every year since 2012, we have intentionally gotten out of the state as a family, gone somewhere, but we had so much on the calendar this summer that we're like, we're not we're not going anywhere. And then my oldest Josiah wrote on his calendar the last week of July, vacation. And he started telling everyone we were going on vacation in July. I'm like, no, we're not. And so at the last minute, we planned a family trip and we went to a place that we love, Gatlinburg, Tennessee. And here's the thing: my family hates nature. I love nature. I've always been infatuated with wildlife. One of my favorite animals to see in wildlife are bears. I love seeing bears. Within two minutes of arriving at the cabin, we start taking our stuff in, the back hatch of the van's open, and I took this video. If you'd show it, Jamie. I think it's there. There we go. He he surprised us all. Okay. But so you can go to the the next picture. He he was he was there regularly, and I said, I bet you 10 to 1 he makes his rounds. And so there was a day we went to Dollywood, we came back home, we're like, we're gonna have dinner, and there was somewhere else we're gonna go right after. And so we just came home real quick to have dinner, and then Wendy and I go out to the car, getting ready to leave, and walk to our van door open. And if you could go to the next picture, Jamie, the bear got inside our van. I went from being infatuated with bears and so excited to have a bear around to absolutely hating. We were only there an hour and a half, and yes, we had left the van unlocked because we thought, you know, hey, we're just gonna be here for a short time. And apparently he he hears the vehicle and he's like, okay, it's my turn to go check it out. And so I went from being infatuated with bears because I want to see him to infatuated because I want to kill him. And so then I convinced my kids that we were gonna have war on the bears. And so, Jamie, if you could go to the next slide, we determined that Eva, Eva was the one to fight the bear, and then she subdued him. And you can go to the last photo there, Jamie. She subdued him, and we had a great vacation, but uh thank you for allowing us to be away. I appreciate y'all. When we come to church, I know many come to church searching for the truth and so desperately wanting to find out what it is that is true. You know, so many of us we go through life wanting to understand purpose, where we came from, where we're going, how life ends. And, you know, I as a minister that tries to be so faithful to the gospel of Jesus Christ, and our the sound from our video keeps playing. Interesting. Oh well, we'll figure it out. They'll figure it out on their end. That's not my job, that's theirs. Trying to be faithful and preach the truth that people might find it. That they might discover it on their own. And all I can tell you is I can try and explain as clearly as I can that I believe that the Bible is the authoritative word of God. Can you say amen to that? And it it amazes me, and there's beginning to be so much revealed about the depth of God's word and how it all connects. And one of the biggest arguments I've ever heard was, well, Pastor, you know, we you say it's the word of God, but yet there were 40 people that came together to write the Bible. And I agree, God used 40 different authors to pen his words to us. And I want to hit you with a fact. There, there's a cool chart, you may have seen it before, and I want to show it to you today. Do you know there are over 63,779 cross-references in scripture? 63,779 cross-references in scripture. So imagine this that God is using 40 different people, and that it can make it so clear that this is actually the voice of God when he puts that many people on the same page that they're cross-referencing everything that was ever spoken in scripture. Simply amazing. You know, the most skilled authors in the world couldn't achieve this, and and God using 40 different men. You know, in this series, over a hundred times in the New Testament, we are taught how we ought to treat one another. And that's that's the purpose of the series. And so within those hundred times, there are 60 different clear commands. Some of the commands are being repeated, obviously, and that's where we get the number 100, because it shows up a hundred times. And here's what I want to drive home to you. When God speaks, it's with intent, and we need to listen. And when God commands it, it needs to be followed. As a parent, if you are parents in the room, you understand this more than anybody that when you give a command to your kids, you expect it to be followed. And if they don't follow it, there's there's repercussions for not following, aren't there? In fact, I would argue that the scripture that we're talking about today, if it's not followed, it's the greatest barrier between you and eternity. It's that important. And so before I even read today, I want to pray. I think that's important. Let's pray. Father God, we just thank you so much for your word and your truth. God, I I thank you for truth. And Lord, it's sometimes when it's delivered, it's not easy to hear. But God, I pray that today our our hearts just be open to what you want to speak and how you want to minister today. In Jesus' name, and everyone said. Amen, amen. In the Lord's Prayer, Matthew chapter six. Does anyone here have the Lord's Prayer memorized by chance? Okay, there might be a few of you. And so the Lord's Prayer is there in Matthew chapter six, and something cool about the Lord's Prayer. Jesus gives us a pattern for how we ought to pray to God. And it's not that we are to recite it word for word. It's Jesus is teaching us a way that we ought to pray. And the focus of the prayer, it starts on God's glory, his holiness, and his kingdom, and then it shifts. It takes this dramatic shift towards our spiritual and physical needs. And within that section that focuses on us, it says something very important in verse 12. In verse 12 of the Lord's Prayer, it says, And forgive us our sins. Who says amen to that? As we have forgiven those who sin against us. Now, the first half that prayer, I bet you I prayed every night as a child when I went to bed because I wanted that comfort of knowing that whatever I've ever done, I'm forgiven. As much as it was hard or easy to pray the prayer, Lord, forgive me, there might have been a few times I skipped the second half of that verse. And so Jesus, he teaches us the way to pray, and then right after, right after he's done, right after the amen, he gives a warning. And I want you to listen to this. It's in Matthew chapter 6, verses 14 through 15. It says, if you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly father will forgive you. But, everyone in the room say, but. But if you refuse to forgive others, your father will not forgive your sins. You know, I know hearing this, it's it's hard to understand. And there are so many, there are so many rebuttals we might be ready to give right as soon as we hear that. And we're gonna get to those rebuttals. But I I want you to listen to best illustrate this through a story. Jesus tells us parable when when Peter asks this question about forgiveness and its limits. How often should we forgive somebody? And then Jesus shares this story that exposes the human heart. So I want everyone in here to turn to Matthew chapter 18. Matthew chapter 18, if you would, verses 21 through 35. And for those who didn't bring a Bible, we have them in the seats in front of you. I encourage you to read it. I think it is so valuable to actually open up the word of God. Matthew 18, 21 through 35. Who's ready for the word of God? Okay, here's the thing. Guys, you're normally more hyped up than this. And you hear me this morning, you're like, clearly, he is sick. I need you to bring me up. Can you do that?

unknown 10:13

Amen.

SPEAKER_00 10:14

There we go. That's better. Let's read the word of God. Matthew chapter 18, starting at verse 21. 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 seventy times seven. Therefore, the kingdom of heaven can be compared to a king who decided to bring his accounts up to date with servants who had borrowed money from him. In the process, one of his debtors was brought in who owed him 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. I will pay it all. Then the master was filled with pity for him, and he released him and forgave his debt. But when the man left the king, he went to a fellow servant who owed him a few thousand 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 in prison until the debt could be paid in full. When some of the other servants saw this, they were very upset. They went to the king and 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 king, 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. You know, there are some egregious things. There are some egregious debts that people have. Maybe against us, maybe against God. Who knows? And I think if we start thinking about other people, we're we're missing. And we need to understand the lesson that is in this scripture is that we are the one that is in grave debt. We're the one. In fact, if you wanted to compare it to the sum of money, let's just say someone rich, Bill Gates, Elon Musk, like that kind of debt. It's it's significant, their value. And as Jesus tells this story, I'm examining this and what it exactly means to us. And the first thing that's pointed out, and that I have to point out, is we have to examine the condition of our heart because naturally, when we hear this and we try and apply it to ourselves, we're resistant. We're like, you know, our default mechanism is that I maximize the offenses against me and minimize the offenses I've done. Because when an offense takes place against us, what we naturally want to do, we want to keep score, we want to nurse wounds, and we want to demand repayment. And in this parable, the servant in question, he's been forgiven this insurmountable debt. Like that there's no possible way he could ever pay it back. Something no human could ever possibly repay. And all of a sudden it's forgiven. And then after receiving this extraordinary opportunity, this amazing moment to be forgiven, he finds his servant who owns, by comparison, who owes him very little. Let's say five dollars. By comparison, it's not much. And it says he chokes him out. And as cruel as it sounds, that that is us. Those are our natural defenses. Those are those are things that we naturally do because again, we minimize our debt and we maximize the debt of others. And for us, when we're seeking repayment, when we're seeking any kind of vengeance or whatever it is, we confuse justice with personal vengeance. We hang on, we hang on to things that we read in the Old Testament, like an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. And I want to tell you guys, forgiveness and justice, I I do want to emphasize this, they aren't conflicting, and we're gonna talk about that later. But for us, unforgiveness, it feels safer, and it almost feels more righteous in the moment. Like we're justified in our feelings. And so we we as a church, we say these things all the time. Like we need to pray that that regularly to forgive them, uh, those who have sinned against us, and and it's easy for us to say, it's harder to do. But Jesus' words in this passage, he almost says it in a way, if you go back to the Lord's prayer in Matthew chapter 6, he almost says it in a way that forgiving others precedes our own forgiveness. Because if you read this, he says, and forgive us our sins as we have forgiven others who sin against us. And so what we are is faced with a decision. We're left with these two choices. I can forgive so that I can be forgiven. Or I want to choose the path of praying for my own forgiveness, but I want to hold on to this offense. I want to hold on to it because I feel so justified in it. And I can say, I can reason why you would get there because some of the offenses are so great. But I also want you to know that that's going to turn you into a bitter person. And here's the thing: people never start out bitter, they never do, but it begins somewhere, and it begins with a wound, and it's usually something that you hold on to because someone sins against us, and then all of a sudden the sense of injustice rises within. Something that I would never recommend is that when Wendy and I were in Bible college, after we got married, we had two different roommates. Don't recommend that. Especially for a newly married couple, just don't recommend it. And there was there was a guy, he had nowhere to live, I had compassion on him, and so we allowed him to move into this second bedroom in the walk-in closet. I'm like, I need, I, I need my office still, but you can have the walk-in closet. And he borrowed my car so he could get to work. He did all these things, and we had an agreement that he would pay us so much for using all these things a month, but we would get him back on his feet. And I remember I treated him very harshly in repaying because he went a long time without repaying. And so I got on him and I said, No, I'm not gonna let this go. And I'm gonna tell you, I learned a very valuable lesson from that because anytime I ever loan out money now, if someone asks for money, when I give it, I have no intention in my mind of ever receiving that. Either I'm willing to completely give it away, if they repay it, great. But when I give it away, as far as I'm concerned, that's no longer mine. And that's the attitude that I had to use because I realized that I was holding it over him every time I saw him. That's all I could think about. And there are times we refuse to release the offense because the cost was so great, and it's it's not immediate, but slowly what happens is unforgiveness takes root in us and it becomes this bitterness. And once we allow that to take root, it slowly starts changing the way we think. We also become an unpleasant person. People don't want to be around us. Your behavior, your actions change. Hebrews 12:15. Listen to this. Look after each other so that none of you fails to receive the grace of God. Watch out that no poisonous root of bitterness grows up to trouble you, corrupting many. Check that out. The that poisonous root of bitterness, it j doesn't just corrupt you. It says it corrupts many. And so back to our parable, we read, we see it clearly, that he was so blinded by his unforgiveness. See, that's the thing. He was no longer, he was no longer weighing what he was just forgiven. He was so blinded by his unforgiveness that he quickly overlooked that when he saw his servant. That he never considered that unpayable debt that was just forgiven to him. And guys, that's not symptoms of just an angry person. That's a hardened heart. Where the original offense has taken ownership over him. It's natural. Here's the thing. As humans, it's so natural that we do, we minimize our massive debt that we have before God, and we magnify the debts of others. And I want you to know if that remains unchecked in your life, it grows into this settled resentment and it changes how you see people. It does. We develop these self-protections and we just hold on to this refusal to cancel it until it's paid back to us. Here's the problem we we got to examine this scripture again, and we see this command by God where it says, because we have been forgiven, we must forgive. And so if we want to really examine this parable again, we look to the king because the king forgives this unsurmountable debt. He wipes the record completely clean. I'm no longer holding this against you. The servant goes, refuses to forgive his servant, has him thrown in jail, and the other servants are seeing all this, knowing what just took place. Listen to the king's response. 32 through 34. It says, 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. The phrase that just stands out to me, and I read it over and over again is the cry out, shouldn't you have mercy on your fellow servant just as I had mercy on you? And what I see in this scripture is that this is not optional. This is not just good advice. It's a command that is rooted in the gospel message itself. Listen to Ephesians 4, 31 through 32. It says, get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior. Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you. But here's the positive side of the command. Listen to this in Colossians 3:13. It says, make allowance for each other's faults and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you. You must forgive others. And so we have to look at this gospel truth because within this parable it contains the truth that our sin, this is it's an unsurmountable debt. What we have done against God, it's this unsurmountable debt. And without Jesus Christ taking our place on the cross to pay for it, we remain indebted. There's a popular story that's it's used in a lot of sermons. And it's it's just a story. It's it's nothing. You can say, well, where's that in scripture? It's it's not there. But it it delivers a great message. And I heard it again this week. I was listening to the Sean Ryan podcast. One of my favorite pastors, Josh Howerton, was on there. And he told the story of a king who discovered that money was being stolen from his treasury. I mean, you can't have that. And so he's like, you know what? We we we gotta stop this right now. So there's gonna be a punishment for taking from my treasury. So anyone who's caught taking from my treasury is gonna receive 20 lashes. And next thing you know, he finds out as time goes on, money is still being stolen from his treasury. And so he raises it. He's like, 30 lashes. As time goes on, money is still being taken from his treasury, and he's like, This cannot stand 40 lashes. Now, here's the thing about 40 lashes. If you study in the New Testament, you know that Jesus got how many lashes? He got 39, right? Because Jesus got just one shy of what would kill a man. And so immediately when they heard this, that 40 lashes was the punishment, it's like 40 lashes that they'll die. He's like, Yes, this this is a this is punishable by death if this keeps happening. Well, it turns out the person who was stealing from the treasury was caught, and it was no one other but the king's daughter. And so all of a sudden, when it gets out there that that's exactly who was stealing from the treasury, they're standing back, they're waiting to see what it is the king is gonna do because now he's put in a difficult position. Do I uphold my word and the punishment? Or will I overlook it for my own child? In meeting with his advisors, he said, the punishment must stand. It came time for her day of execution, and she's been taken by guards to the executioner. And they tear the back of her shirt open to expose her flesh. The executioner raises his whip to get ready to start striking. Immediately the king screams out, Stop! The king runs up, lays on top of her, covering her, and he says, Go ahead, hit her. The executioner said, but wait. If I hit you, or if I go to hit her, you're going to die. And he said, the punishment must stand. The king died, and the daughter got to walk away in freedom. You see, here's the thing I know about the Lord. Our God is a just God. He's a just God. And so when the punishment is made clear, it has to stand. But he has also provided for each and every one of us mercy through Jesus Christ. And so I find it so important for you guys, never lose sight of the forgiveness that has been afforded to you. Don't lose sight of it. Listen to Romans 5:8. It says, But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. Now, here's the thing when we're talking about all this, and when it comes time where we actually need to forgive someone else or we're told to, this is where the pushback comes in. And this is a litmus test that you can use in your life to determine whether or not bitterness is ruling you. Upon hearing God's command, we weigh our sins against others who have sinned against us. And one of the first things that's typically out of our mouth is, but you don't understand what they did to me. And if you say that, my response to you is, then you don't understand what he did for you. And that's really where it begins is understanding that if we truly desire to walk in forgiveness, then there is too great of a risk of not following his command. It's going to cost us eternity. And the only way that you and I are ever going to gain compassion for other people and give mercy out to those who need forgiveness is not by examining what they did. I want you to hear me out. It's not by examining what they did, it's by reminding yourself daily what you have been forgiven of. I said it earlier. They're not the same thing. Personal forgiveness, it's a heart issue between you and God. Because I've heard so many say, okay, Pastor, I'm hearing you out. What if I go and say, I forgive you, and that person doesn't receive what I'm saying, and they're still the same old jerk, they're still the same old person, and I'm not getting what I need from them. I want you to know that when you decide to choose to forgive someone else, it is between you and the Lord, and it becomes this complete release of this personal debt and offense that someone you feel owes you. It's you choosing to release that in your heart. So you're choosing to cancel the debt in the presence of God because he has canceled yours. But something that I want to really drive home to you, and this is so important, forgiving them does not mean the offense never happened. That's not what that means. It doesn't mean the person was right in doing it. Trust is not just automatically restored, we're good to go. Or it's not like the consequences disappear. But hang on to this. Justice belongs to God, not to you. Justice belongs to God. Romans 12, 19, it says, dear friends, never take revenge. Leave that to the righteous anger of God. For the scriptures say, I will take revenge, I will pay them back, says the Lord. And so when you are choosing not to forgive, you're clearly declaring them guilty. But when you choose to forgive, you're not declaring them innocent either. That's not what you're doing. It's you handing the case over to God, saying it belongs to you now. It's you choosing to be fully forgiving and fully trusting that it's God's responsibility to deal with the person. Thirdly, and I think this is important, God ordained civil justice. I know if we were sitting there and we just examine the room, I'd say, how many here are thankful for our government? There probably wouldn't be many hands that shoot up, right? Because overall, we all have opinions on how government runs and how it should run. But Romans chapter 13, verses 1 through 4, it makes it clear that governing authorities, check this out, they're God's servant as an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. So this means calling the police. I want you to hear me out. Calling the police is not a failure to forgive. Also, seeking legal protection for yourself and others is not bitterness. Are you guys hearing me? I think these are so important. Allowing legal consequences to stand is not unforgiveness. You and I, we can forgive and we can still enforce consequences. We do it with our children all the time. And so many of us are left with this ponder. How do I hold both together? How do these work together? And I want to tell you, forgiveness answers the question will I let the offense in my own heart poison my relationship with God and others? Justice answers the question: what does righteousness require in this situation before God and before the authorities he has established? I have a friend that I've come to know through Move Ministries. And in 2013, he was he was here on a rural road in Iowa, and every day he would ride his bicycle. He was getting ready for ragbri. And so he'd ride more and more miles the closer it got to ragbri. And he's out on this highway road. And he'd already done, like he said, like 14 miles that day, and he's just plugging away. And next thing he knows, he wakes up in a ditch, not knowing how he got there. And a a young person who wasn't paying attention while they were driving just swerved and hit him doing 55 miles an hour. And Scott, unable to move, lay there in the ditch, no phone, nothing, wasn't discovered for two hours. Finally, a friend who knew him, because he's from a very small town here in Iowa. A friend who knew him saw the bicycle and stopped to check because they saw Scott riding all the time. There they called the ambulance and he had he had numerous broken bones and a lot of things going on. And eventually what happened is the police figured out who did it. And they brought her in. And it's a small town. Everyone knows everyone. And so you can imagine how the rumor started going around of this girl hit Scott, and what is that gonna look like going forward? After Scott's surgeries and his recovery, and he's got a pretty amazing story while they're doing surgery on his insides to get some things fixed. They discovered cancer, and that became one of the biggest blessings in Scott's life because they were able to take care of that right then. But the most amazing thing happened once he recovered. It was around Christmas time. And Scott and his wife went to the store and they said, We're going to buy her a gift for Christmas. And they went to this young girl's house who was still under her parents' care. They knocked on the door and they said, We bought you something. And right there, they let forgiveness reign, and I can tell you that they exchanged gifts for quite a few years after that. And Scott says, you know, as time passed, we kind of just grew distant. He's like, but we displayed as well as we could that we did not hold this against her anymore. Because Scott knew there's a consequence for refusal to forgive. A consequence that's too great. Because, church, unforgiveness blocks what you and I need most, to be forgiven. We want to be forgiven. And the servant's refusal to forgive. We read in the story it cost him everything. And Jesus applies it directly. Listen to verse 35. He says, That's what my heavenly Father will do to you if you refuse to forgive your brothers and sisters from your heart. And so there's an effect that happens because of our refusal. And the first effect is relationally, you know, this bitterness, it isolates and it poisons the community. And it's not just you. It'll affect your family, it affects ones around you. And they it just it just poisons the well spiritually. It hardens our heart and obstructs this free flow of the forgiveness that we continually need. And we don't even see it. But if you ever sat there and wondered, why am I not connecting with the Lord like I used to? I'm telling you, unforgiveness, it affects us spiritually. Then ultimately, and this is the most critical part, Jesus treats this as a barrier that reveals we haven't received the full mercy of God. If you can't understand the cost of what Jesus Christ did on the cross for you, and understanding that the full weight of your debt was paid the moment he said it's finished. If you can't embrace that, then you're not deserving of it. If you can't embrace that others deserve it as much as you, you're not deserving of it. Here's the thing, church. I know some of the things that people have done against you are so egregious. But here's the thing. I've said that a lot today. It's because I don't feel great. Here's the thing. Yeah, I'm saying that right now. What's going on in your heart is only affecting you and your relationship with the Lord in that moment. And you might feel justified in it, but the reality is that is what is taking control. It's not opening up the door for the Lord. And it is critical. You we come to this critical point where we have to say, I've got to let it go, I've got to forgive. And some of you might be wrestling with how many times do I need to forgive? And I tell you, you know, Jesus said 70 times seven. Here's what Jesus is really saying. As often as it's on your mind, as often as you wake, whenever you feel a reminder of this, cry out to forgive them. And the last thing that I really want to deal with, and is Jared, if you could come forward. For many believers, is the the further you walk with God, it can become easy. Once you've forgiven some egregious things, it's it's easy to forgive. It is. It becomes easy. But I know many believers that they struggle to forgive others. But then they come to a point, they're like, I can forgive others, but I can't forgive me. I can't forgive myself. And I do, I do want you to think about your sin and your past life differently because I do believe that the closer we get to the Lord, we realize how much we need his forgiveness. We do. We see this illustrated in the apostle Paul's writings. Early in his walk with the Lord, he referred to himself as the least of the apostles. He said that earlier in his walk. And then later in his walk, Paul's in his first imprisonment in Rome. And in Ephesians 3:8, he refers to himself as the least of all the saints. So he he he originally, earlier in his walk, he's like, I'm the least of all the apostles. Now he's looking at, he's looking at the people of the church. He's looking at everyone he comes in contact with, and he's like, I'm the least of all the saints. Later after this imprisonment, he wrote Timothy in 1 Timothy chapter 1, verse 15. He says, This is a trustworthy saying, and everyone should accept it. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, and I'm the worst of them all. The further Paul went with the Lord, it started. Well, I'm comparing myself to all the apostles. I'm the worst of them, at least. Then the further he walked with the Lord, he's like, you know what? God's God's so good. All these people around me, they're they're great. I'm the least of all them. Then Paul started looking at the world, viewing his sin, thinking of what he's done, and the heart of God, how it had impacted him for people. And he said, I'm the chief of all sinners. I can't compare. Paul was continually on this path of accepting how great of a salvation he had found. It wasn't the sins or the offensives of others, but the further he walked with the Lord, he embraced, God has had mercy on me. And that I'm thankful for. And that's not Paul holding every offense against himself. It's him appreciating this freedom that he has in Christ. I want to tell you, this isn't something that just changes like that. You know. Bitterness doesn't just happen overnight. We talked about that unforgiveness that takes, it's the seed planted and then it takes root and then it develops over time. I want to apply a little Romans chapter 12, verse 2 theology to this. That's what we have to do is we have to allow this to transform the way we think. Sometimes the Holy Spirit can just naturally do this, but here's what here's what needs to take place. We need to identify the unforgiveness. We have to choose to release it. And then we have to choose to release it again. And again, and again, as long as it takes. And here's the thing: it's not gonna change you overnight. But if you do this regularly, it's going to begin to transform the way you think. And the way that you look at people, it's gonna be different. Because every time you think about debt and sin, you're not thinking about others, and you're like, Do you know what that person did? No. You're thinking about yourself and who you are in Christ. And my prayer for each and every person is that we come to this point where we are just we're just so enamored with the grace of God and his mercy on our lives. That we're just grateful. And we have this attitude that if God can forgive me, He can forgive anybody. But to get to that point again, you have to let go. You have to let it go. You have to release it. Vengeance is mine. I will repay, says the Lord. You have to let it go because God wants to do a work on your heart, and He can't begin to work on your heart if you're holding on to all this resentment. Can't do it. So what I want you to do right now is I want you to bow your heads and close your eyes. If you would say today, Pastor, I've got some great offenses in my life. And you might feel completely justified in your feelings. But you recognize that it's a barrier between you and the Lord. You recognize that God can't allow you to walk in peace and freedom as long as you're holding on to this. And you just want to make a declaration today. I choose to let it go. And if that's you, what I'd ask you to do, I'd ask you just to look at me. If that's you, praise God. We don't like thinking about it. We don't like talking about it. Typically, what we do is we cover dirt up on it. But what we have to do is we have to choose to come head-to-head with it and just say, I am going to give this over to the Lord. And I'm going to give it over to the Lord the next time I think about it too. I'm going to give it over to the Lord again and again and again. Because here's the thing: how many times have we need to ask the Lord for forgiveness for what we've done? A lot. And so, how much more might we need to return to that same old well again and again to say, Lord, I forgive him. I release it. I don't want it to capture my heart. I don't want it to capture who I am. I want that peace and the freedom that only you can offer. And so we declare that over our lives every day. Don't allow ourselves to walk in this bitterness and this resentment, but to just say, God, it's yours. It's yours. And so what I want you to do, just where you're at, because I know this is this is this is real sensitive. And I want you to know that if you ever come up and you say, Pastor, I really need some strong prayer over this. Come up and see one of the pastors after church. We'd love to pray with you over this because it's important. But I also know how personal it can be, deeply personal. And it can be a deep wound. But I really do think you do need to talk about it. You need to get to a point where you're comfortable talking about it. But right now I want to make this a personal time between you and God because that's where it starts. That's where it starts. And then forgiveness has to be walked out beyond that. And so wherever you're at right now, I just ask that you just kind of lift both hands to the Lord with where you're sitting. And by your hands being open and spread out to God, it's a it's a release. It's saying, God, I choose to let go and I choose to be open to what you have for me. And Lord, I know that some of the offenses here are great. And God, so often we do weigh the debt. And we think about what it would cost to repay it. And Lord, what our flesh often demands is the same fleshly demands when your son went to the cross. And God, I want us to grasp more than anything that Lord, we are not deserving of such a freedom that we can find in your son Jesus. But God, you you give it to us anyways. We're afforded this opportunity, anyways. And so, Lord, I pray that what you will transform in the lives of those here is that God, we focus on how you have forgiven us. And God, the grace that's been afforded to us that we might be able to walk in complete freedom. And Lord, we're just focused on that freedom that you have provided us. That God, we are so blessed to be called sons and daughters of you. And so, God, I just I just ask that uh, Lord, the weight that has been on the lives of those who have looked at me today and who have lifted their hands to you, God, I pray that there be a feeling of release right now by the mighty name of Jesus Christ. And that, Lord, the the next time, whether it's our flesh or whether it's the enemy that wants to remind us of this past thing, Lord, we're quick to go right to you and say, God, I've forgiven that and I forgive it again. Let us keep seeing the path to walk in freedom, God, and not lose sight of it. I thank you and I praise you, Lord. Declare that you are good, that your ways are good, that your commands are good, and Lord, they bring everlasting life. I thank you and I praise you in Jesus' name, and everyone said, Amen, amen.