SPEAKER_00: You're listening to the VFC Scrimin Podcast.
SPEAKER_00: At the end of this episode, please take a moment to download our free VFC Company Collab, where you can access all of our messages, screen notes, announcements, and smaller plays.
SPEAKER_00: We hope that this message helps you in your walk with Jesus and encourages you to belong, believe, and good morning.
SPEAKER_01: We got a little sermon illustration going on, so y'all it's all good.
SPEAKER_01: I'll explain it a little bit.
SPEAKER_01: Happy Father's Day to uh all the dads out there.
SPEAKER_01: Hey, what you do cannot be replaced.
SPEAKER_01: It's super important.
SPEAKER_01: It's really important.
SPEAKER_01: And thank you for doing the hard job of being a father.
SPEAKER_01: Uh we are continuing our series called This Is My Story.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, where about half the time you hear the testimonies and stories of people in our church family, and the other half, uh I or someone on our staff uh preaches a message about someone in Scripture.
SPEAKER_01: And today you're gonna hear about the story of Joseph.
SPEAKER_01: Why do we do this?
SPEAKER_01: Because your story is so important.
SPEAKER_01: Scripture says that we overcome the enemy by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony, and by not loving our lives unto death.
SPEAKER_01: When your story is history, you leave it in the past, it's no longer harming you.
SPEAKER_01: It can become his story, and he turns it into ministry.
SPEAKER_01: Your past can help someone else's future.
SPEAKER_01: And that's incredible.
SPEAKER_01: And that's why we do this each year.
SPEAKER_01: So, as I said, today I'm gonna tell the story of Joseph, but I'm gonna be honest with you from the from the very start.
SPEAKER_01: Today I have an agenda.
SPEAKER_01: I have an agenda.
SPEAKER_01: I made a promise to the Lord many years ago that at least once a year I would preach on forgiveness.
SPEAKER_01: Welcome to the forgiveness sermon for 2026.
SPEAKER_01: I tricked you into telling you this was about Joseph so you'd show up.
SPEAKER_01: If there was anyone who had the right to not forgive others, it was Joseph.
SPEAKER_01: And today, while I tell his story, I'm gonna build something with these little Minecraft-looking uh brick boxes behind me.
SPEAKER_01: Because here's the point.
SPEAKER_01: Every hurt that we refuse to forgive becomes another brick that builds a wall around our hearts.
SPEAKER_01: Eventually, the thing that we built to protect ourselves becomes the very thing that imprisons us.
SPEAKER_01: So, before we get to Joseph's story, let me remind you what I mean by the word forgiveness.
SPEAKER_01: What it is, what it isn't, because I found that people who refuse to forgive do so because they don't understand what forgiveness is.
SPEAKER_01: So, what is forgiveness?
SPEAKER_01: The word forgive literally means to release, to send away, or to let go.
SPEAKER_01: It's the intentional choice that when someone disappoints you, mistreats you, or hurts you, you give it to God to deal with so it can no longer harm you.
SPEAKER_01: Imagine something that's poisonous, that's harmful, that's hurtful, and you're holding it close.
SPEAKER_01: That's a bad idea.
SPEAKER_01: But when you give it to the Lord, he is strong enough to handle that thing.
SPEAKER_01: Forgiveness is giving your pain to God because you trust that he is a better judge.
SPEAKER_01: And we make the promise that once we give it to him, once we put it down, we won't pick it back up.
SPEAKER_01: Many of us struggle with forgiveness because we think not forgiving that person is protecting ourselves.
SPEAKER_01: But guys, I need you to hear this.
SPEAKER_01: Forgiveness, unforgiveness, isn't protecting you, it's imprisoning you.
SPEAKER_01: You're literally building walls around your heart.
SPEAKER_01: Now, with that said, let me balance this out.
SPEAKER_01: Forgiveness doesn't condone sin.
SPEAKER_01: Forgiveness doesn't allow sin to continue.
SPEAKER_01: You can forgive someone and call the cops.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: There's gonna be problems that you need to solve.
SPEAKER_01: You you may uh need to uh put up some boundaries with someone or a situation moving forward, but we still forgive.
SPEAKER_01: Forgiveness is an invitation to reconcile with another person, but it's not a guarantee that it'll happen.
SPEAKER_01: Um, as the great theologian and 80s rapper Rob Bass said, it takes two to make a thing go right.
SPEAKER_01: Oh my Gen Xer's got that one.
SPEAKER_01: It takes two.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, no.
SPEAKER_01: So just because you forgive someone doesn't mean it's all gonna work out.
SPEAKER_01: Sorry, I just need to tell you the truth.
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes you're willing to be reconciled and they're not.
SPEAKER_01: And that's just part of it.
SPEAKER_01: Forgiveness doesn't force the other person to do what's right, it simply ensures your freedom.
SPEAKER_01: And that's why we're talking about this today.
SPEAKER_01: So I'm gonna tell you the story of Joseph, and I'm gonna summarize this.
SPEAKER_01: You can find it in Genesis chapters 37 through 50.
SPEAKER_01: Um, it's 13 chapters long.
SPEAKER_01: As I tell this story, we're gonna look at the different things that Joseph had to forgive, and then we're going to apply them to our lives.
SPEAKER_01: Joseph's father, Jacob, had two wives.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, one was the one he was tricked into marrying.
SPEAKER_01: Her name was Leah.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, it's a crazy story.
SPEAKER_01: You can go back and read that.
SPEAKER_01: And then finally, he was able to marry the woman that he loved, whose name was Rachel.
SPEAKER_01: Joseph was the son of Rachel.
SPEAKER_01: All the other boys in the family uh were the sons of Leah.
SPEAKER_01: And because of that, Jacob loved Joseph the most.
SPEAKER_01: But this caused problems because he openly showed his favoritism towards Joseph, and he gave Joseph a coat of many colors.
SPEAKER_01: I've checked the Hebrew, I think it means plaid, but I'm not totally sure.
SPEAKER_01: I'll let y'all do the research on your own.
SPEAKER_01: This caused problems, you guys.
SPEAKER_01: Joseph didn't create the problems.
SPEAKER_01: Joseph didn't choose which mother he would be born to, he didn't choose how his brothers would react to this, but he lived with the consequences of it.
SPEAKER_01: And what happened in Joseph's life is often what happens in our lives.
SPEAKER_01: We begin to build a wall.
SPEAKER_01: Family wounds is the first thing that Joseph had to forgive.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe you too.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe husband, wife, father, mother, sibling, extended family, words that were said to you, things that were done to you.
SPEAKER_01: And so we have to learn to forgive these family wounds.
SPEAKER_01: Here's what's so tough about family is the people closest to your heart have the easiest access to cut it.
SPEAKER_01: And so this is a big one.
SPEAKER_01: The people that we trust that we didn't even choose.
SPEAKER_01: They're our family.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, wouldn't it have been awesome if you could get with God before you were born and like choose who you were born to?
SPEAKER_01: Oh, they look great.
SPEAKER_01: That's not how it works.
SPEAKER_01: So we have to learn to forgive family wounds.
SPEAKER_01: Joseph has some dreams.
SPEAKER_01: He's a young man at this age.
SPEAKER_01: He begins to have some dreams, and they're odd dreams, and you can read about them in the text yourself.
SPEAKER_01: But in the dream, the interpretation that's obvious to everyone is that Joseph's brothers are bowing down to him.
SPEAKER_01: In a moment of absolute brilliance, Joseph decides to tell his brothers that.
SPEAKER_01: Don't tell it, okay?
SPEAKER_01: That's something you need to keep to yourself.
SPEAKER_01: As a matter of fact, can I just say, not everything that God shows you is for public consumption.
SPEAKER_01: Like we're all learning to hear from the Lord, and that's an important part of our spiritual growth.
SPEAKER_01: But your default when you hear something, even if it's about someone else, is to pray.
SPEAKER_01: Pray.
SPEAKER_01: And maybe if you've prayed enough, God will grant you the grace to actually say something or share something.
SPEAKER_01: But we need to make sure that we steward what God gives us well.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: So because of this, Joseph's brothers hated him.
SPEAKER_01: They thought he was arrogant, and maybe he was.
SPEAKER_01: They couldn't even speak peaceably to him.
SPEAKER_01: Every conversation was tension, every interaction was conflict.
SPEAKER_01: And he, Joseph, was rejected by the very people who should have loved him.
SPEAKER_01: And it caused another wall.
SPEAKER_01: And this unforgiveness causes us to build walls around our hearts.
SPEAKER_01: I have.
SPEAKER_01: I know you have.
SPEAKER_01: It stinks.
SPEAKER_01: It hurts.
SPEAKER_01: It always leaves a mark.
SPEAKER_01: But if you don't learn to release it, that mark will become a brick that builds a wall around your heart.
SPEAKER_01: One day, Joseph goes to check on his brothers who are shepherds.
SPEAKER_01: And they see him walking.
SPEAKER_01: And they start planning how to kill him.
SPEAKER_01: That's pretty wild.
SPEAKER_01: These are the fathers of the 12 tribes of Israel.
SPEAKER_01: And they're trying to figure out how to kill their brother.
SPEAKER_01: And so they end up putting him in a pit, and they're still deliberating.
SPEAKER_01: How are we going to do this?
SPEAKER_01: And then some slave traders show up and they sell their brother to these slave traders.
SPEAKER_01: Imagine hearing your own family negotiate the price for your enslavement and selling you like property.
SPEAKER_01: Around 17 years old is when this happened.
SPEAKER_01: And so yet again, we've got something that Joseph has to forgive.
SPEAKER_01: This time, it's betrayal.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe you've been betrayed.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe you were supposed to, someone was supposed to keep something private or personal.
SPEAKER_01: Or maybe they promised one thing and they turned their back on you, or they told a lie about you, or and that's betrayal.
SPEAKER_01: And this is what Joseph went through as well.
SPEAKER_01: Here's the problem that betrayal, it's gonna hurt.
SPEAKER_01: There's no way for it not to hurt.
SPEAKER_01: But if you continue to carry it, it won't just hurt once, it'll hurt you for the rest of your life.
SPEAKER_01: So we've got to learn to release it.
SPEAKER_01: We've got to learn to let it go.
SPEAKER_01: So Joseph is sold into slavery.
SPEAKER_01: He ends up in Egypt, and he is working for a man named Potiphar, the captain of the guard for the king of Egypt.
SPEAKER_01: Or think of that like he's the head of Secret Service.
SPEAKER_01: And so Joseph is a really good worker, and so eventually he becomes the person put in charge over all of Potiphar's house.
SPEAKER_01: Things are looking up, man.
SPEAKER_01: Things are working well.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, even though he's still a slave, he's in a nice house.
SPEAKER_01: He's in charge, he's got some autonomy.
SPEAKER_01: Things are great.
SPEAKER_01: Except for Potiphar's wife.
SPEAKER_01: Evidently, Joseph was a pretty good-looking guy.
SPEAKER_01: And Potiphar's wife noticed.
SPEAKER_01: And so she keeps asking him over and over, hey, come sleep with me.
SPEAKER_01: And he's like, No, I'm not going to do that.
SPEAKER_01: And she keeps bothering him over and hey, come look, no one's going to find out, come sleep with me.
SPEAKER_01: Finally, one day, she corners him.
SPEAKER_01: She goes, Come sleep with me.
SPEAKER_01: And he goes, No.
SPEAKER_01: And he literally runs out of the room and she grabs his cloak and he runs out, and she's got her cloak, and she's mad.
SPEAKER_01: So she decides that she's going to lie.
SPEAKER_01: You know what?
SPEAKER_01: I'm going to get rid of him.
SPEAKER_01: So she lies to her husband and says that Joseph was the one hitting on her, not the other way around.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe you two have been the victim of false accusations.
SPEAKER_01: Someone said something that wasn't true.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe partially true, but and because of that, your name was ruined.
SPEAKER_01: People believed the wrong thing.
SPEAKER_01: Gossip was spread about you.
SPEAKER_01: Someone questioned your motives.
SPEAKER_01: Man, this one gets me, y'all.
SPEAKER_01: False accusations, they really get me.
SPEAKER_01: I will own up to the dumb things I do.
SPEAKER_01: But don't make me pay for what I didn't buy.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: But it's still something we have to learn to forgive.
SPEAKER_01: We've got to release it, or it will become another brick in the wall.
SPEAKER_01: Potiphar didn't investigate.
SPEAKER_01: He didn't say, well, let's let's get some testimony from some of the other servants.
SPEAKER_01: Let's let's hear from Joseph.
SPEAKER_01: Let's let's figure out what really happened.
SPEAKER_01: You know, I know my wife can be a little crazy sometimes, so let's just get the other side of this.
SPEAKER_01: He didn't do that.
SPEAKER_01: He immediately just throws Joseph in prison.
SPEAKER_01: A person with authority uses that authority incorrectly.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe you've had someone in authority use that against you as well.
SPEAKER_01: We've got another addition to the wall here.
SPEAKER_01: Abuse of authority.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe someone in charge, maybe a government official, a police officer, a boss, a parent, a pastor used their position of authority against you instead of for you.
SPEAKER_01: This is what Joseph had to deal with.
SPEAKER_01: And I know many of us have to deal with that as well.
SPEAKER_01: So now Joseph's in prison.
SPEAKER_01: Things had worked out even though it wasn't great with his brothers, he was sold into slavery.
SPEAKER_01: Now he's in prison.
SPEAKER_01: And eventually, just because he was a hard worker and he had great favor with people, he's put in charge of the other prisoners.
SPEAKER_01: Everywhere this guy goes, he keeps getting put in charge.
SPEAKER_01: One day, Pharaoh sends two people to the jail as well.
SPEAKER_01: The chief cupbearer, which the cupbearer was the person that would taste the king's wine to make sure it was poison.
SPEAKER_01: So great job.
SPEAKER_01: Until it's not.
SPEAKER_01: If no one tries to poison the Pharaoh, cushy job.
SPEAKER_01: And then the other person is the chief baker.
SPEAKER_01: He's put in prison as well.
SPEAKER_01: And we don't know why.
SPEAKER_01: We're not told why Pharaoh is mad at them, but we are told that they both have dreams.
SPEAKER_01: And they're really disturbed by the dream.
SPEAKER_01: And so Joseph noticed, he's like, What's wrong?
SPEAKER_01: Well, we had these dreams, we don't know what they mean.
SPEAKER_01: And Joseph says, Hey, I can't interpret dreams, but I know who can.
SPEAKER_01: God can, let me ask him.
SPEAKER_01: God gives Joseph the interpretation of these dreams.
SPEAKER_01: And he tells the cupbearer, hey, in three days, you're going to be restored to your position.
SPEAKER_01: And he goes, And when you do, please remember me down here.
SPEAKER_01: I shouldn't be down here.
SPEAKER_01: And then he tells the baker, in three days, you're going to be killed.
SPEAKER_01: And so just a little bit later, Pharaoh summons these two guys, and it happens just as Joseph said.
SPEAKER_01: The cupbearer is restored to his job, but the baker is actually impaled on a stake.
SPEAKER_01: Like he must have really burnt that bread.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know what a baker can do to get that sort of issue, but I don't know.
SPEAKER_01: That's it seems like an intense punishment for a baker.
SPEAKER_01: But the cupbearer, even though he says, Yeah, I'll remember you, he doesn't.
SPEAKER_01: Don't you know every day Joseph is like, dude, I told you what was going to happen and it happened.
SPEAKER_01: Every day he's waiting, waiting for the guard to show up to release him from prison.
SPEAKER_01: As a matter of fact, we know from scripture that for two years, for two whole years, Joseph is left down in prison after the guy says that he'll remember him.
SPEAKER_01: And in the same way, we also deal with neglect and abandonment, don't we?
SPEAKER_01: Someone who didn't show up when they said that they would.
SPEAKER_01: Someone who ignored us, someone who broke their promise to protect us, take care of us.
SPEAKER_01: Man, it hurts.
SPEAKER_01: We've all been through this.
SPEAKER_01: But again, if you continue to carry it, you're just adding bricks to the wall.
SPEAKER_01: So Pharaoh has a dream.
SPEAKER_01: It's about two years later.
SPEAKER_01: Pharaoh has a dream, no one can figure out what it means, and the cupbearer all of a sudden remembers there was this Hebrew slave that was in jail with me, and he can interpret dreams.
SPEAKER_01: And Pharaoh's like, send them up.
SPEAKER_01: So Joseph stands before Pharaoh, he interprets his dream.
SPEAKER_01: He says, The dream means that in the next seven years you're going to have an awesome harvest.
SPEAKER_01: But in the following seven years after that, you're going to have a terrible famine.
SPEAKER_01: So you need to find someone who's intelligent and wise.
SPEAKER_01: And that person needs to figure out how to save the grain that's extra these next seven years, store the grain, and then the seven years during the famine be able to sell the grain back to the people so the people won't starve to death, and that so you will still continue to make money.
SPEAKER_01: And so Pharaoh's like, Tag, you're it.
SPEAKER_01: You seem wise.
SPEAKER_01: You're the only one that could interpret this dream.
SPEAKER_01: You're the one who knows what it means.
SPEAKER_01: So all of a sudden, Joseph is, it's good again.
SPEAKER_01: He's put, he's second in command in Egypt.
SPEAKER_01: The only person in charge more than he is is Pharaoh.
SPEAKER_01: So now he's even over Potiphar.
SPEAKER_01: He's second command in all of Egypt.
SPEAKER_01: But I don't know about you.
SPEAKER_01: Even when good things happen, sometimes I get a little frustrated with the Lord about how it went down.
SPEAKER_01: Think about it.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, Lord, thank you for making me second command of Egypt.
SPEAKER_01: But did I have to be sold into slavery, rejected by my family?
SPEAKER_01: Like, did I have to sit in prison for two to three years?
SPEAKER_01: Did I have to do it?
SPEAKER_01: Did it have to work out that way?
SPEAKER_01: And so one of the things that we deal with that we have to forgive is disappointment with God.
SPEAKER_01: Not that we we know that God didn't do it, but why did he let it happen?
SPEAKER_01: We know that God didn't take our loved one, but he let it happen.
SPEAKER_01: We know that God didn't orchestrate being fired from that job or that spouse doing that dumb thing, but he let it happen.
SPEAKER_01: And and not because God did something wrong, but because we get disappointed.
SPEAKER_01: You say you love me, but what why is it going down like this?
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes the hardest person to forgive isn't the one that caused you pain, it's the one who allowed it.
SPEAKER_01: We have to reconcile with the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: So the dream comes true again.
SPEAKER_01: Famine hits the land.
SPEAKER_01: After seven years of a great crop, there's seven years of famine.
SPEAKER_01: Jacob tells his sons, Joseph's brothers that sold him into slavery, go to Egypt and buy grain.
SPEAKER_01: And who do they end up standing in front of, except for the brother that they sold and left for dead, Joseph.
SPEAKER_01: But they don't know it's Joseph.
SPEAKER_01: They have no idea.
SPEAKER_01: He recognizes them, but they don't recognize him.
SPEAKER_01: And so Joseph doesn't handle this very well to begin with.
SPEAKER_01: Like this is the moment where the big forgiveness moment happens, except that's not what happens.
SPEAKER_01: Joseph actually starts kind of messing with them.
SPEAKER_01: He's yelling at them.
SPEAKER_01: He's like, y'all are here, y'all are spies.
SPEAKER_01: You can read it.
SPEAKER_01: That's what he says, y'all are spies.
SPEAKER_01: You're here because you're spies.
SPEAKER_01: They're like, no, no, no, no, no.
SPEAKER_01: No, please don't kill us.
SPEAKER_01: He puts one of his brothers in jail while he sends the rest of them to go get the younger brother, Benjamin, that was the only other full brother whose mom was Rachel.
SPEAKER_01: Go get him.
SPEAKER_01: You can't come back until you bring him with you, and I'm going to keep this one in jail.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, that's not Christ-like behavior.
SPEAKER_01: And don't you know, I'm sure he realized I am not doing this the right way.
SPEAKER_01: There were actually a couple times where it says Joseph had to leave and he would go weep by himself.
SPEAKER_01: Because he was processing all of the pain he was going through.
SPEAKER_01: And it's for us, one of the things we have to deal with, one of the things we have to learn to forgive is our own mistakes.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes it's easier to forgive someone for what they did to you than it is to forgive yourself for what you did.
SPEAKER_01: And we carry shame.
SPEAKER_01: And we have to learn to forgive ourselves.
SPEAKER_01: We have to learn to move past our own mistakes.
SPEAKER_01: Joseph's brothers run out of food.
SPEAKER_01: So they're like, we got to go back to Egypt.
SPEAKER_01: This time they take Benjamin with them.
SPEAKER_01: Jacob's upset about it, but he allows it because they're going to starve if they don't.
SPEAKER_01: So they show back up with Benjamin this time.
SPEAKER_01: Joseph invites them to a dinner.
SPEAKER_01: He finally reveals to them who he is.
SPEAKER_01: It's a tearful reunion.
SPEAKER_01: It's not picture-perfect Hollywood movie moment, but it works.
SPEAKER_01: They're reconciled.
SPEAKER_01: The process of forgiveness was started.
SPEAKER_01: Jacob's entire family, his father, all of his brothers, their wives, their children, they all moved to Egypt to live under Joseph's protection and provision.
SPEAKER_01: And that's the story of Joseph.
SPEAKER_01: But here's the thing.
SPEAKER_01: We're left with a wall.
SPEAKER_01: We're left with all these things that happened.
SPEAKER_01: And we see in the end it worked out.
SPEAKER_01: But we're looking at this wall.
SPEAKER_01: And the wall, by the way, wasn't built in a day.
SPEAKER_01: It was built wound by wound.
SPEAKER_01: And maybe your wall doesn't have the exact same labels as Joseph's would.
SPEAKER_01: I imagine it's pretty close.
SPEAKER_01: And so just like Joseph, we have to learn how to disassemble the wall of offense in our lives.
SPEAKER_01: Unforgiveness leaves behind a wall, and our heart becomes walled off.
SPEAKER_01: Our relationships become shaded by the wounds that haven't healed yet.
SPEAKER_01: How do we tear down this wall?
SPEAKER_01: We do it through forgiveness.
SPEAKER_01: There's three things I want to share with you about forgiveness this morning.
SPEAKER_01: First one, forgiveness brings freedom.
SPEAKER_01: Forgiveness is the solution you want.
SPEAKER_01: We don't forgive people for their benefit.
SPEAKER_01: We forgive people for our benefit.
SPEAKER_01: There have been seasons in my life where I can't feel the presence of God like I'm used to, where I struggle to know what's next for me.
SPEAKER_01: And you know what I've learned?
SPEAKER_01: Time after time after time, the solution's forgiveness.
SPEAKER_01: I either need to receive forgiveness or I need to release forgiveness.
SPEAKER_01: I remember praying with a lady one time.
SPEAKER_01: She was like, I just can't feel God anymore.
SPEAKER_01: And so I was about to pray for her, and the Lord said, Stop.
SPEAKER_01: Ask her who she needs to forgive.
SPEAKER_01: And she was like, A lot of people.
SPEAKER_01: So we we walked through it.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, Do you need to receive forgiveness yourself?
SPEAKER_01: And she goes, I do.
SPEAKER_01: So we walked, I walked her through it.
SPEAKER_01: And then I laid hands on her.
SPEAKER_01: And it was like I could, I mean, she felt it.
SPEAKER_01: I could feel it too.
SPEAKER_01: It was like someone took a cup of warm oil and just poured it over her head.
SPEAKER_01: And she was like, Whoa.
SPEAKER_01: She could feel the presence of the Lord because the wall that was meant to protect her was actually hurting her.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus talks about someone who was forgiven in scripture but refused to forgive.
SPEAKER_01: It's a parable.
SPEAKER_01: There's a servant that had racked up an amazing amount of debt, like literally like millions of dollars.
SPEAKER_01: And he begs the master and goes, please forgive this amount.
SPEAKER_01: It was an insane amount to forgive, millions of dollars.
SPEAKER_01: And the master's like, you know what?
SPEAKER_01: Why not?
SPEAKER_01: I'll forgive you.
SPEAKER_01: But then another servant sees that servant who was just forgiven, and he's like giving someone a hard time for like just a couple hundred bucks.
SPEAKER_01: He tells the king about it.
SPEAKER_01: Matthew 18, 32 through 34, it says this.
SPEAKER_01: Then the king called in the man who he had forgiven and said, You evil servant, I forgave you that tremendous debt because you pleaded with me.
SPEAKER_01: Shouldn't you have mercy on your fellow servant just as I have mercy on you?
SPEAKER_01: Then, this is terrifying.
SPEAKER_01: Then the angry king sent the man to prison to be tortured until he had paid his entire debt.
SPEAKER_01: The end result of walking in unforgiveness is emotional and spiritual torture.
SPEAKER_01: I have seen with my own eyes, over and over and over, Christians, spirit-filled, on fire, amazing Christians.
SPEAKER_01: These are the people you would want to preach a message.
SPEAKER_01: These are the people you would want to pray with you if you're sick.
SPEAKER_01: And something happens, and they can't find the ability to forgive.
SPEAKER_01: And in just a short time, they are a shell of who they once were.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe you've seen this too.
SPEAKER_01: Guys, you and I will not survive unforgiveness.
SPEAKER_01: If you don't remember anything else from this morning, I hope you remember this.
SPEAKER_01: It is that poisonous, it is that harmful, we won't survive unforgiveness.
SPEAKER_01: Now, here's the problem.
SPEAKER_01: Forgiveness, letting it go, releasing it, giving it to the Lord is so hard.
SPEAKER_01: It's so hard.
SPEAKER_01: But the pain you feel during the process of forgiving is nowhere near the pain you'll feel if you hold on to the unforgiveness.
SPEAKER_01: Look, life is pain sometimes.
SPEAKER_01: Which pain do you want?
SPEAKER_01: You want the pain of learning how to forgive all the hurts, or do you want the pain of being turned over to spiritual and mental torture?
SPEAKER_01: Because that's what happens.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, if I'm going to have pain, I'd rather it be helpful, right?
SPEAKER_01: And this is this is crazy.
SPEAKER_01: Pay attention to this point.
SPEAKER_01: The prison of unforgiveness is unique because the prisoner carries the key.
SPEAKER_01: It's the prisoner that can unlock themselves from being in prison.
SPEAKER_01: You don't have to wait on someone else.
SPEAKER_01: You don't have to wait on someone to say you're sorry.
SPEAKER_01: Some of the people in your life, they're never going to say they're sorry.
SPEAKER_01: You know why?
SPEAKER_01: Because they're not sorry.
SPEAKER_01: They're not.
SPEAKER_01: And if you're hanging around waiting on them to say they're sorry, you're going to be waiting a long time, and you're their prisoner because they're in charge of you.
SPEAKER_01: You won't do what God's called you to do until they do something.
SPEAKER_01: And so it's important to understand that you hold the key to unlock the doors to the prison of unforgiveness.
SPEAKER_01: No one else does.
SPEAKER_01: It's in your hand.
SPEAKER_01: Here's the second thing I want you to know about forgiveness.
SPEAKER_01: Forgiveness is a two-sided coin.
SPEAKER_01: Heads I'm forgiven, tails I forgive.
SPEAKER_01: If y'all will put that up when you get a moment.
SPEAKER_01: Two-sided coin.
SPEAKER_01: Y'all have seen a quarter, right?
SPEAKER_01: One side has, isn't it, George Washington on the quarter?
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
SPEAKER_01: So you got old Georgie Porgi on the front.
SPEAKER_01: Flip it over.
SPEAKER_01: What do you have on the other side?
SPEAKER_01: It depends.
SPEAKER_01: We call the sidewood George Washington.
SPEAKER_01: We call that what?
SPEAKER_01: Heads.
SPEAKER_01: Someone said tails.
SPEAKER_01: Was it you, Eric?
SPEAKER_01: Sarah, would you just do that for me?
SPEAKER_01: Just hit him?
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
SPEAKER_01: It's called heads.
SPEAKER_01: And the other side is called tails.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, let me ask you a question.
SPEAKER_01: When it's time to spend a quarter, which I don't know what a quarter buys these days at all.
SPEAKER_01: A buggy in a Maldy.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
SPEAKER_01: Which, by the way, you know you're in the deep south when you call a shopping cart a buggy.
SPEAKER_01: That's awesome.
SPEAKER_01: A buggy for master.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
SPEAKER_01: So a shopping cart in a maldi um for a quarter.
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
SPEAKER_01: Now let me ask you a question.
SPEAKER_01: Alright, you're in a Maldi and they're too cheap to give you a shopping cart, okay?
SPEAKER_01: You got a quarter.
SPEAKER_01: Can you spend heads only?
SPEAKER_01: No.
SPEAKER_01: Can you spend tails only?
SPEAKER_01: No, no, no, no.
SPEAKER_01: The two-sided coin has to be spent at the same time.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: Now, look at what Jesus says.
SPEAKER_01: Are we, yes.
SPEAKER_01: Are we good?
SPEAKER_01: Yes, he says in Matthew chapter 6, 14 and 15, if you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you.
SPEAKER_01: But if you refuse to forgive others, your father will not forgive your sins.
SPEAKER_01: Now I remember reading this and being like, that sounds like a threat.
SPEAKER_01: Doesn't it?
SPEAKER_01: Jesus is like, hey, you better forgive, man.
SPEAKER_01: Or God's not going to forgive you.
SPEAKER_01: Do it now.
SPEAKER_01: Bow your head.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: That's not what this is.
SPEAKER_01: It's not a threat, it's an explanation.
SPEAKER_01: He's simply describing how forgiveness works because it's a two-sided coin.
SPEAKER_01: Heads, I forgive.
SPEAKER_01: Tails, I'm forgiven.
SPEAKER_01: And you can't spin one side of a coin.
SPEAKER_01: Being forgiven and forgiving others is part of the same thing.
SPEAKER_01: They're different sides of the same thing.
SPEAKER_01: Forgiven people, forgive people.
SPEAKER_01: And if we've been forgiven by the Lord, the other side of that is just to release forgiveness towards others.
SPEAKER_01: God has empowered you, even though it's your decision, God has empowered you to forgive those who have hurt you.
SPEAKER_01: You don't have to live your life with a wall, keeping everyone out.
SPEAKER_01: You can forgive and you can be free.
SPEAKER_01: Third thing I want you to know is that forgiveness is a process.
SPEAKER_01: Forgiveness is a process.
SPEAKER_01: Matthew 18, 21 through 22, Peter came to him and said, Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him?
SPEAKER_01: Up to seven times?
SPEAKER_01: Now, first of all, I'm sure he chose seven because that was like a holy number, right?
SPEAKER_01: God's number seven times.
SPEAKER_01: And also, we know from history that many uh scribes and teachers and rabbis would say, talk about forgiving people seven times.
SPEAKER_01: So this was, he wasn't making this up.
SPEAKER_01: This was kind of a known thing.
SPEAKER_01: And let's be honest, seven is a lot.
SPEAKER_01: Someone does the same thing to you over and over and over and over, seven times, one time, two times, three times, four times, five, six, seven.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know about you, I'm like, I'm done.
SPEAKER_01: Like, that's plenty.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you for trying.
SPEAKER_01: See you in the next life.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: What does Jesus say?
SPEAKER_01: I don't say to you up to seven times, but to 70 times seven.
SPEAKER_01: No, God's not doing math.
SPEAKER_01: It's not 490.
SPEAKER_01: He's not trying to get you to keep count of how many times someone offends you.
SPEAKER_01: It's like you get to 481, you're like, look.
SPEAKER_01: We're about done now.
SPEAKER_01: No, he's saying, how often do I forgive?
SPEAKER_01: As many times as it takes.
SPEAKER_01: And again, putting up boundaries around relationships will make it to where you don't have to keep forgiving them.
SPEAKER_01: Forgiveness is not getting run over.
SPEAKER_01: But it is releasing the pain to the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Forgiveness is not a point-in-time action, it's a lifelong decision.
SPEAKER_01: It's a way you are choosing to live.
SPEAKER_01: It's okay to not be completely out of the woods.
SPEAKER_01: Look, the emotional pain we feel because of what other people do, it's real.
SPEAKER_01: And it's okay to feel those feelings.
SPEAKER_01: But make sure you're on the path that's leading you out of it.
SPEAKER_01: Make sure you're heading in the right direction.
SPEAKER_01: Deal with the mental traffic, deal with the mind conversations.
SPEAKER_01: You know, someone hurts you and you're going over it and over it in your mind.
SPEAKER_01: It's funny, there's two types of people.
SPEAKER_01: After an argument, first type is I shouldn't have said that.
SPEAKER_01: And the second type is, I should have said that.
SPEAKER_01: I'm the I shouldn't have said that.
SPEAKER_01: Tiff is the I should have said that.
SPEAKER_01: But we need to recognize that forgiveness is a process.
SPEAKER_01: But here's God's promise during that process.
SPEAKER_01: If you'll forgive the people who hurt you, God will remove the pain they caused you.
SPEAKER_01: He'll set you free.
SPEAKER_01: Joseph could forgive because he trusted God.
SPEAKER_01: That's the key.
SPEAKER_01: He trusted God.
SPEAKER_01: Jacob, Joseph's father, eventually dies while they're all living in Egypt.
SPEAKER_01: And his brothers get scared.
SPEAKER_01: It's this funny moment where they come to him and they're like, um, hey, so dad's gone.
SPEAKER_01: So you didn't hear this, but right before he died, uh, he said, Hey, make sure Joseph forgives you.
SPEAKER_01: This really happens.
SPEAKER_01: And they're just making sure, hey, now that dad's gone, you're not gonna give it to us now, right?
SPEAKER_01: And look what Joseph says, Genesis 50, 19 through 20.
SPEAKER_01: But Joseph said to them, his brothers, do not fear for am I in the place of God?
SPEAKER_01: As for you, you meant evil against me.
SPEAKER_01: But God meant it for good.
SPEAKER_01: God meant it for good.
SPEAKER_01: This is the mentality that Joseph adopted.
SPEAKER_01: This is what allowed him to take down the wall of offense, of unforgiveness in his life.
SPEAKER_01: To say, well, I know a better judge.
SPEAKER_01: If Joseph would have kept focusing on what they did, he would have stayed stuck in the pit they threw him in.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: But if he focused on what God has done, he could be free.
SPEAKER_01: They were responsible, the brothers and the people in your life were responsible for the evil that's happened to you.
SPEAKER_01: But God is responsible for the redemption.
SPEAKER_01: Look at what Romans 8.28 says.
SPEAKER_01: It says, We know that God creates everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.
SPEAKER_01: It doesn't say God causes everything, it says God causes everything to work together.
SPEAKER_01: Greek and here, it's a Greek word symphoneo.
SPEAKER_01: It's where we get our word symphony.
SPEAKER_01: He makes it all work together.
SPEAKER_01: Hey, the pain that happened in your life, I need you to hear this.
SPEAKER_01: God didn't want it, and God didn't cause it, but God will use it.
SPEAKER_01: He will.
SPEAKER_01: But he wants to set you free first.
SPEAKER_01: Joseph stopped viewing his future through the lens of his past.
SPEAKER_01: You guys know this.
SPEAKER_01: You can't move forward.
SPEAKER_01: If I were to try to walk around the stage by looking backwards, I can't do it.
SPEAKER_01: I'll fall.
SPEAKER_01: If you were to try to go home and drive home by looking only in the rearview mirror, you're not gonna make it home.
SPEAKER_01: You gotta look forward.
SPEAKER_01: You gotta move past your past.
SPEAKER_01: Because God wants to redeem it, but here's the deal: God can't redeem it until you release it.
SPEAKER_01: So it's time to forgive.
SPEAKER_01: I know I'm poking at wounds this morning.
SPEAKER_01: I know I'm bringing up the past.
SPEAKER_01: I know it's I hope you hear my heart.
SPEAKER_01: It's for your own good.
SPEAKER_01: It's for my good.
SPEAKER_01: I'm looking, I have to do this too.
SPEAKER_01: Forgiveness isn't saying it didn't hurt, it didn't matter, and it wasn't wrong.
SPEAKER_01: It's saying it did hurt.
SPEAKER_01: It did matter, it was wrong, but I trust God more than I trust my own anger, than I trust my own solutions.
SPEAKER_01: Forgiveness is releasing the debt, it's surrendering your right to collect payment on what they did.
SPEAKER_01: It's saying, God, they owe me.
SPEAKER_01: But they're your problem now.
SPEAKER_01: You get to deal with this.
SPEAKER_01: Guys, the walls in our life, here's the problem.
SPEAKER_01: We put these up to keep the pain away, but they actually keep people away.
SPEAKER_01: You put up a wall, and your spouse can't get to you.
SPEAKER_01: Your kids can't get to you.
SPEAKER_01: Your church family runs right into it.
SPEAKER_01: You gotta pull down the wall.
SPEAKER_01: You gotta allow the Lord to work with you and dismantle thing by thing, forgiveness by forgiveness, and undo what the devil's done in your life.
SPEAKER_01: And then you'll be free.
SPEAKER_01: Then you can be who God created you to be.
SPEAKER_01: But nobody can tear down the wall around your heart except for you.
SPEAKER_01: Guys, is forgiveness or unforgiveness writing your story?
SPEAKER_01: Let's stand for prayer.
SPEAKER_01: This is not a time to check out.
SPEAKER_01: This is not a time.
SPEAKER_01: This is this is everything this morning's been leading up to this moment.
SPEAKER_01: This is it.
SPEAKER_01: So I want you to focus on the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Pay attention to his spirit.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to ask the Holy Spirit a question.
SPEAKER_01: How do I do that?
SPEAKER_01: You think the thought in God's direction.
SPEAKER_01: Ask him this question: Lord, who do I need to forgive?
SPEAKER_01: Just think that thought towards him.
SPEAKER_01: And you might see someone's face in your mind.
SPEAKER_01: You might just think of an instance that happened.
SPEAKER_01: Again, it's not this forgiveness, it's not saying it was okay.
SPEAKER_01: It's the opposite.
SPEAKER_01: It wasn't okay.
SPEAKER_01: But this is getting you free from it.
SPEAKER_01: For some of you, it's it's not just one person, it's multiple people.
SPEAKER_01: Multiple things that happened.
SPEAKER_01: I want to lead us in a prayer.
SPEAKER_01: Come on, make this your prayer.
SPEAKER_01: I'm giving you the words.
SPEAKER_01: Pray this from your heart.
SPEAKER_01: You may say, I am not there yet, Jamie.
SPEAKER_01: Hey, would you start the process?
SPEAKER_01: Just start the process.
SPEAKER_01: And the Lord's gonna help you through it.
SPEAKER_01: But if you will, I'd love for every single voice, I'd love for you to pray this prayer.
SPEAKER_01: Say, Father, you've forgiven me so I can forgive others.
SPEAKER_01: I choose to forgive.
SPEAKER_01: I choose to begin the process of forgiving everyone that ever hurt me for any reason.
SPEAKER_01: I release them to you.
SPEAKER_01: And Lord, specifically, I forgive.
SPEAKER_01: Now, under your breath, just tell the Lord, tell it who it is, tell him who it is.
SPEAKER_01: Release it to him.
SPEAKER_01: Use specific names with God.
SPEAKER_01: Specific instances.
SPEAKER_01: Tell him what you're choosing to forgive right now.
SPEAKER_01: One by one.
SPEAKER_01: Name by name, face by face.
SPEAKER_01: Alright, let's resume the prayer.
SPEAKER_01: Say this after me, Lord.
SPEAKER_01: I'm trusting you to help me with this.
SPEAKER_01: I can't do it on my own.
SPEAKER_01: I need you.
SPEAKER_01: In Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Did y'all get free?
SPEAKER_01: Yeah?
SPEAKER_01: Good.
SPEAKER_00: Thanks for listening to the VFC Podcast.
SPEAKER_00: If you live in the Thomasville area, we would love for you to connect with us in person.
SPEAKER_00: For more information about our weekly gatherings, including service times and directions, you can visit us at VFC Thomasville.org.