Because of Jesus, the victory that we have, because of the name of Jesus, the name to which every knee will bow, every tongue shall confess.
In Jesus, we declare in Jesus' name we walk into freedom because Jesus said that whom the Son sets free is free indeed.
And so, Father, all around this sanctuary this morning, every home that is tuned in and their house has become a sanctuary, we declare it. There is one name.
So no matter what you're facing right now, put it to the side and use your voice to declare that which God has said—the name of Jesus. We speak life over the circumstances that we're facing. Because of Jesus.
Because you are our defender, because you are our vindicator, you are our healer, because you're our provider. Because what comes our way, you are with us.
Lord, even as Jesus said when he was being ascended, he said, "Lo, I will be with you to the end of the age." And God, we thank you for no matter what we face, you are with us.
Father, even as the children of Israel, you went before them in that wilderness with a pillar of fire by night and a cloud by day. God, no matter where we're at right now, you lead us and guide us in Jesus' name.
And so, Lord, we thank you this morning. We thank you for your faithfulness. We thank you for your mercy.
Every head bowed, every eye closed. Just you and God. Just tell him, "God, I surrender to you. Lord, I surrender these weights and these burdens. God, I surrender them to you in Jesus' name."
I surrender. If you believe it, church, can you give him a hand? Praise this morning.
Come on, turn to someone this morning. Tell them it's all done through Jesus. Look at somebody this morning and tell them it's through Jesus. It's through Jesus. Amen? It's through Jesus.
He is the King of kings. He is the Lord of lords. He is the one that is able.
And sometimes we try to do things on our own strength. Sometimes we try to do things on our own ability. I don't know about you, but I've been there where I've tried to figure it out on my own, where I've tried to do it out of my own strength, where I've tried to be the one that's in control.
But we've got to get to that place where we just surrender it fully to him, trusting that he will make the way, that he will be in control.
And perhaps you're at a place right now where you say, "But I don't feel like it. I don't feel like opening my mouth and worshiping him. I don't feel like doing this."
It's not about a feeling. It's an active choice to worship him. Sometimes there are things in our life that we don't feel like doing.
Maybe we wake up in the morning and you may not feel like going to class that day. You may not feel like going to work that day. You may not feel like doing X, Y, or Z, but you get up and do it.
And sometimes because of what we're facing, because of what's going on, we don't feel. But we don't go based on feeling. We act in faith.
And we do what we're called by God to do. And he shows up. And we acknowledge him.
It's our vision. We say this here at 3W, we exist to get people to a place where they will acknowledge, trust, and lean on God daily. Daily. We need to do this every day.
Encounter him. Surrender to him. Give him our first. Give him our best. Waking up and saying, "God, this day is yours and I will honor you with it."
And so I encourage you, even for tomorrow, acknowledge him, trust him, lean on him. Things are going on around you. Just say, "God, I put this before your feet. God, I surrender it to you."
And you look and you say, "But I don't get it. Why is it taking so long?" You've been there before, like, "God, why is this taking so long?"
And we don't know what it is that God has spared us from. I was in my Bible reading this morning in that passage in Exodus when God takes the children of Israel out.
And then God, the scripture clearly says it, that there was an easier way in a sense of a shorter route. But it was going through the land of the Philistines.
And God said, "If they face war, they're going to turn around and quit." So he led them through the longer route so that they would make it through.
And sometimes we're like, "God, I just want the quick and easy, quick and easy." But sometimes that quick ain't easy. And we're not ready to war.
And at the first sign of war, we quit. We surrender. But we declare, "No, God leads me. And I will get to the place he has for me. And he will be with me no matter what."
God is with us. And it's imperative, church, when God does something in your life, testify. Tell someone. Share his goodness and his faithfulness.
And you see that he will continue to lead and direct. Amen? Come on. Can you give God one more hand of praise this morning?
I want to jump into the word this morning. We've been in a series for the last several weeks. This is part four of this series that's titled "Links."
And today's sermon has been heavy on my heart. It is a difficult thing that we all must do and face and go through.
And we've been talking about being tied to God, who is our anchor. 2025, the prophetic word that God gave us for 3W Church is "anchored." We must be tied to the anchor, which is God.
He is our anchor. He is who we must be tied to. An anchor, what does it do? It holds securely in place. You drop anchor and the vessel stays there secure.
If it's windy, if it's calm, no matter what, the anchor is holding you there. And the purpose in your life, the call in your life, the only one that's going to hold us securely there is God.
And through this series, we've been talking about different links in this chain. Things that are tied to it to keep us tied to God.
And I've said it week after week. This is not an exhaustive list. We're not talking about every single link on the chain. We're just talking about some different ones.
And so far, we've talked about three very important links. We talked about Sabbath. We talked about fasting. And we talked about obedience.
What is the Sabbath? It is intentionally setting aside one day a week where we cease to do what is our work. And we give time to God. Spend time with God. Connected to God. Refilling.
It is imperative. It is actually even a commandment. One that we forget, don't we? It's why he says, "Remember the Sabbath. Keep it holy."
Keep it holy. A day where we cease to work and spend extra time with God. Refilling. Do things that fill you. Rest in him.
We talked about fasting. Fasting is not easy. We just finished a corporate fast as a church. Seven days, we did a corporate fast. And it wasn't necessarily easy. It was sacrificial.
We had to intentionally sacrifice. It's funny. Somebody told me right before service started, they were eating a pastry. And as they were chewing, they said, "The fast ended, right?"
Yes, it ended last week. Unless God told you to go longer. We sacrificed. We said intentionally, "I am going to go without this in order to get closer to God."
We talked about obedience. And how many of you know it's obedience because we may not like what we're having to do?
It is obedience because we're having to do something that we don't feel like doing. And those three things are links.
And today, we're going to talk about one that we all encounter and it's tough and it's hard. It's for every single one of us.
But I firmly believe it and we'll back it with scripture. Forgiveness is a link on the chain that keeps us tied to God. Forgiveness.
See, we all need to forgive. We've all been wronged by people. As a matter of fact, if you've never been wronged by someone, raise your hand.
Come on. Jesus himself was wronged by one of his closest people, one of his 12. You know, Jesus had hundreds of disciples. Multitudes followed him.
There were 120 of them in the upper room, but his inner circle was made up of 12, and one of those 12 betrayed him, wronged him. Jesus died for him anyway.
We've all experienced it, and it's hard. Hard. It's not an easy thing, but it's something we must do.
I looked up the definition, and the definition I'm going to read to you here of what forgiveness is, it's from the American Psychological Association, the APA, okay?
And it says it like this: "Forgiveness is willfully putting aside feelings of resentment towards someone who has committed a wrong, been unfair or hurtful, or otherwise hurt you in some way."
Again, this is the definition, not just that we came up with or that I found in the Bible. This is the definition from the American Psychological Association.
Forgiveness is willfully putting aside. Now, there's a lot of lies that we have heard and perhaps even internalized about what it means to forgive, right?
Maybe you've been there where you believe this lie that says, "Well, until they say, 'I'm sorry,' I'm not going to forgive. I'm not going to forgive them. They're not repentant. They haven't apologized."
Nowhere in scripture does it say to forgive when they repent. Nowhere in scripture does it say to forgive when they apologize.
Here's another one. We've believed the lie that forgiving the person means that what they did was okay.
We start to think this lie that if I forgive this person that did this to me, I'm giving them a pass. I'm giving them a pass for what they did.
And everybody's going to think they can just be stepped on. You can't just forgive them that way. You got to give yourself your worth. They can't just walk all over you.
No, no, no, no. Forgiveness is not saying that what they did was okay. As a matter of fact, what they did was wrong. It was hurtful. It was painful.
It was done to you or to me. And it doesn't mean that that hurt didn't happen because I forgave. That's a lie.
We believe these lies of what forgiveness is. We believe that a person must say, "I'm sorry." Sometimes we believe this lie that we've got to be mad for a certain amount of time so that the person knows.
They did this to me. I'm not talking to them for X amount of time. And depending on the offense is how long.
They talked bad about me. That's a three-week punishment. Whatever the case is. That's not what forgiveness is.
God calls us to forgive, to release. Forgiveness is holding no record of wrong. It's letting go.
It is actually giving up the opportunity to then be the one that casts the judgment or it's actually, when you look at it scripturally, it's a word that is a legal term describing that you are giving up the right to bring them to court.
You know what unforgiveness is? Unforgiveness is a state of emotional and mental distress that results from a delayed response in forgiving an offender.
It's characterized by indignation, bitterness, and demand for punishment or restitution. And many times we're stuck in this place where what someone did to us is the greatest thing that we hold on to and we don't walk into the freedom of forgiveness.
Unforgiveness is something that will create a break in that chain. When we're walking in unforgiveness, we have a hard time worshiping.
When we're walking in unforgiveness, we have a hard time connecting to God. When we're walking in unforgiveness, we have a hard time having relationship and communion with him.
Think about a personal relationship for a second. Come on, relationship with your kids or with your spouse. You get into an argument about something and the person may say, "I'm sorry" and even mean it.
But if you're holding onto it, you're holding onto it. You're holding onto it. You're holding onto it. You can't eat. You can't sleep right.
Sleepless nights thinking about what they did and what they said. It fractures the relationship.
And sometimes we're believers. We've come to Jesus, but we're living a life where like, "I don't understand. I was there. I saw people in worship. There were some people that just like in the presence of God, there were some people weeping. There were some people this, and we walked out. It was like, I didn't feel anything."
Many times, it's because there's been a break in the relationship because of unforgiveness. We're holding onto something.
And some of us are in that prison of unforgiveness. I want to read this quote to you. I don't know who wrote it, but I want to read it. It was so powerful.
It said this: "The prison of unforgiveness is the only prison that the inmate holds the key but refuses to leave."
I'm going to say that one more time. "The prison of unforgiveness is the only prison that the inmate holds the key but refuses to leave."
What happens when we're dealing with unforgiveness, when we don't let go, when we don't release it, when we don't forgive? Man, we're irritable. We're angry.
You know, like when anybody ever got a splinter? You ever get a splinter on your finger and it even looks insignificant? It's like a small little itty bitty little piece of wood.
But bro, if it just touches a little section of fabric, you're like, "Oh!" Another lie. We say things like, "Well, time will heal. I'll forgive when I'm ready."
That's not the way forgiveness works. Go to Matthew chapter 18. Go to Matthew chapter 18. That's what I want us to start this morning.
Matthew chapter 18. Matthew chapter 18, Jesus talks about forgiveness. I'm going to start in verse 21.
Before that is where Jesus gives us the outline of how to deal with a sinning brother, a very inappropriately used passage of scripture sometimes, because Jesus says that if you have a brother that did something to you, you're supposed to go talk to them to try to make it right.
We're living in a time where people quote Matthew 18, but they don't actually go talk to somebody. They'll tell somebody else about it.
And then they'll go and say, "Hey, look, you know somebody's got something you got to go fix it." Well, who do I got to fix it with? I don't know. They don't want to say.
But don't quote Matthew 18 if you're not having a conversation about it. I remember it happened to me one time. I was a youth pastor and somebody came up to me and they were getting ready to go on a retreat or something.
It's like, "Hey, I heard that there's somebody that's got some drugs in the youth group and they're doing X, Y, or Z." And I said, "Okay, who? What's going on so I can address it, so I can figure this out and deal with it?"
It's like, "No, no, you're a pastor. You're from God. Pray and let the Lord show you." And I said, "That's like you calling the fire department and saying there's a fire. Where's the fire? Go look outside for smoke and find it."
That's how we deal with things sometimes. We don't confront and have conversation and say, "Hey, this took place. Let's deal with it."
But after Jesus talks about that, this is where we are in the passage now. Verse 21, Peter, who thinks he's being really righteous and really good, looks at Jesus and says, "How often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?"
Like Peter thinks he's doing something for Jesus by asking or saying, "If somebody does to me seven times and I forgive them, is that okay? On the eighth one, is that where you're out?"
And Jesus, he looks at him and says, "Verse 22, I do not say to you up to seven times, but 70 times seven."
Listen, Jesus wasn't saying go buy composition notebooks and write each person's name in your life on one.
Like I got a composition notebook that's called Patty and a composition notebook called Abigail and another composition notebook called Alexandra, another one called Samantha, another one called my dad or another one called my mom or whatever.
He's not saying keep a composition notebook, write number one through 490, and if they wrong me, okay, I forgive this. And I forget, I went at 491, you're like, "Bro, that's it, we're done."
No, Jesus was expressing and saying, "You're not supposed to keep record."
Matter of fact, in the book of Luke, when it talks about this passage, it describes it slightly different. It says that the way he asked him is like, "So how many times a day, if my brother sins against me, do I need to forgive him? Seven times?"
And no, you're not supposed to keep a record. You're just supposed to forgive.
"Oh, but they didn't say, 'I'm sorry.'" That's not a caveat there.
Then Jesus begins to describe it a little deeper. This is what he says there. Again, we're in Matthew chapter 18. I'm in verse number 23.
Now Jesus then says, "Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. And when he had begun to settle accounts, one was brought to him that owed him 10,000 talents."
That was like an outrageous number. It's like 10,000 talents. It's like 10,000 talents. It's like 10,000 talents.
That's telling me that you owe me a million dollars. Okay. And he looks at him and he says to him, "Verse 25, that he was not able to pay. His master commanded that he be sold with his wife and children and that all that he had and that payment be made."
"Verse 26, the servant therefore fell down before him saying, 'Master, have patience with me. I will pay you all.'"
Then the master of that servant was moved with compassion, released him, and forgave him the debt.
But that servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. A denarius was like a day's wage.
So he owed what was 10,000 talents, right? This huge insurmountable number, this other guy owed him a hundred days' work wages.
And he laid hands on him, took him by the throat saying, "Pay me what you owe."
His fellow servant fell down at his feet and begged him saying, "Have patience with me and I will pay you all."
And he would not, but he went and threw him into prison so he should pay the debt.
So when his fellow servants saw what had been done, they were very grieved and came and told their master all that had been done.
Then his master, after he had called him, said to him, "You wicked servant, I forgave you all the debt because you begged me. Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?"
His master was angry. Delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him.
So my heavenly Father also will do to each of you that from his heart does not forgive his brother's trespass.
Church, if you're taking notes, write this down. We have been forgiven much. We've been forgiven much.
I've been forgiven much. I don't deserve to go to heaven. I can't earn it, and I'll never be good enough.
But God chose to forgive me and pay the price for my sin through Jesus. We've all been forgiven much, and we freely receive this forgiveness.
So here it is. We can't deny giving to someone else what we freely have been given.
We can't deny giving forgiveness that we have freely. We can't withhold forgiveness when we freely have been given forgiveness.
Every single one of us, when we come to God, forgiveness is not optional. It's not optional.
It's not something that we're like, "Okay, maybe I'll forgive." No, no, it's not an optional thing. It's a thing we must do.
In Matthew chapter 6, when the disciples look at Jesus and they say, "Teach us to pray."
Jesus looks at them and says, "Okay, this is the way you're going to pray." We all have heard this. We all know it. Come on, help me, right?
"Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors."
Sometimes they say trespasses as we forgive those who have trespassed against us. Forgive us as we forgive.
Forgiveness is not optional. It's not optional. I can say it this way. Forgiveness is a mandate. We are mandated to forgive people.
We look and say things like, "Well, I don't feel like forgiving." I was remembering as I was preparing for this, I remembered this scene from my favorite movie.
My favorite movie is Top Gun. Some of y'all know that. I still believe that's one of the greatest scores to test your surround system on.
Like when you got your surround system, if you crank that up and the walls are moving and your surround system works good, right?
If you've never watched it, listen, the movie's old. I'm sorry for spoiling it. But anyways, Maverick, he's got his Rio. His name's Goose, right? That's their call sign.
And they make it to Top Gun. This is the school for the best fighter pilots. And they're training and they're doing all these things.
And all of a sudden, in one of the training exercises, Maverick's plane flies through the jet wash, the exhaust of the other plane.
And that messes up the engines and it shuts his engines off. And he goes into this flat spin, right? And the Tomcat is just spinning.
And it's going its way down. And he can't get to the lever to eject, to get out, right? He can't get there.
And all of a sudden, he's saying, "Goose, eject, eject." And Goose pulls the handle. And they both eject. But Goose hits his head. Goose dies.
The next scene is Maverick holding his friend and crying. He's weeping, he's thinking, right?
And then they exonerate. They look and it's like, "This was a mechanical thing. This was not an intentional thing."
He's cleared to fly. And they look at Maverick. The commanders are like, "Get him up in the air as soon as possible. Get him back up."
They assign another Rio to him. And they get back up there. They're up there for the exercises.
And they're up there. And they're trying to get him to engage again. They're trying to get him to start flying right again.
And to lock on another aircraft. And he won't fire. And he won't fire. And they come back down.
And Israel's chasing him down. "Maverick, Maverick, you got it, whatever." And all of a sudden, Maverick turns around.
And he grabs him and says, "I'll fire when I'm good and ready." And that's how many of us are living our lives.
"I'll forgive when I'm ready. I'll forgive when I feel like it." See, he hadn't forgiven himself yet. He killed his friend.
So when he saw it, and many of us are dealing with unforgiveness of self. And we're looking at all, "I can't forgive yet. I'm not ready to forgive."
But it's not an option. We got to re-engage in living the life that God has called us to. Walking and forgiving the person that hurt us.
Listen to me. What they did was wrong. What they did was hurtful. What they did was painful.
Forgiving them doesn't release them or set them off the hook. Releasing them releases you.
What they did, I've been forgiven so much, I have to obey God and forgive them. And be set free of the prison we're in.
How do I know that I've forgiven? Like the verse said, "From the heart." Right? Because Jesus says there, "You got to forgive from the heart."
Like, have you ever thought you've forgiven somebody only to realize you haven't? Like why? You're like, "Oh yeah, yeah, I forgave them already."
Then you're at the grocery store, you're about to pay, and the clerk has the same name as the person that did that to you 22 years ago and you forgave them.
And all of a sudden you're like, "I need to go right now," because that memory came by seeing the name.
There's probably some unforgiveness still there, right? Can you throw the unforgiveness definition up again?
Look what it says when there's bitterness. But God tells us vengeance is mine. I will deal with them.
Here's the reality: they will have an account. They will have to give God an account the same way that I gotta give God an account for when I've wronged people.
I'm not perfect. I've hurt people. I may have even inadvertently hurt some of you in here or somebody that's watching online.
And sometimes we don't even realize that we hurt somebody. Sometimes we hurt people and we know it, but sometimes we hurt people and we didn't even realize it.
And the person is in this cage, this jail cell of unforgiveness, and they can't worship and they can't connect with God.
And they can't pray and everything is being hindered and everything is being done because I don't feel like it, because it's not time, because that person hasn't apologized to me.
Jesus says you got to forgive from your heart. We got to release it and let it go. Is it easy? No.
But forgiveness is a choice. I read you the definition from the American Psychological Association: willfully letting go.
It's a choice that Jesus not only talked about dozens of times. I mean dozens and dozens of times when you read the gospels, it talks about Jesus talking about forgiveness, reminding us that if we don't forgive, we can't be forgiven.
And that's how we live our life sometimes. Like we mess up, I was like, "Come on, please, you know, forgive me."
Then somebody doesn't tell us, I was like, "I forgive, but I don't forget." Nah, that's not forgiveness.
Forgiveness is letting go of it. In Indonesia and in the Philippines, they have an interesting way in certain parts of those countries of catching monkeys.
You can search this online. They'll get a coconut and they'll drill a hole in the coconut that's just big enough for you to squeeze your hand in or the monkey.
And they'll put a piece of bait, like a piece of fruit or, you know, like a piece of a banana, an orange, something that is going to be smelling and enticing to the monkey.
And they'll get this coconut and they'll hang it from a tree. And then the monkeys, they like smell it, they start investigating and they find it.
And they go and they'll squeeze their hand just squeeze it in there and grab it. And what happens when you grab something?
Like if you make a fist right now, it's bigger. So they grab it and they start trying to get it out to get their reward, to get their thing, and they can't.
And all they got to do is let go of it to be able to squeeze their hand back out, but they're stuck on it.
"No, no, no, I want this. I got it." And as they're there holding onto it, comes the person, hits it over the top of the head or catches it or whatever the case might be.
And all they had to do was let go to get their hand back out. Jesus paid for our salvation and our freedom.
Some of those people aren't even alive anymore, but they still have power over us because I haven't forgiven.
Some of those people we haven't seen in a decade or whatever amount of time, but they still have dominion because I'm holding onto this from the past and I'm a slave to it.
And I'm holding onto it and the enemy captures us. And then we can't worship. We can't pray. We can't pursue God.
We're always irritable. We're always cranky. There's always an issue. There's always fighting. There's always bickering.
And today God wants to remind us, let it go. Take your hand out. Walk in the freedom that's promised.
Gotta choose to forgive. I remember when I was a youth pastor, I've said this story before, but my wife and I, she was reminded of this and she forgave us.
We had no clue. But she writes in this letter, "For the last few years, I've always had such a hard time worshiping. I'd go to service. I'd do these things.
And I couldn't connect with God, and I realized it's because I had this against you. And so I finally forgave you, and now I can worship."
And I'll sit at my desk sometimes, and I'll pull out a sheet of paper as I'm praying, and I'll write it, "Lord, I've been wronged. And I forgive so-and-so daily until I don't."
I hear that person's name, it doesn't affect me anymore. As a matter of fact, if that person calls me, I will answer the phone.
And if they need something, I'll go do it. Because I just let go. And is it easy? No.
Some of you are like, "Oh, but that's probably easier for you because you're a pastor." I'm not talking about...
But if you do studies, they say that on average, a person loses seven meaningful relationships in their lifetime.
But on average, pastors lose seven to ten meaningful relationships a year. You think it doesn't hurt when God calls you to pour into people, and they walk away and never speak to you again?
You think it doesn't hurt when God calls you to pour into people? You got to learn to forgive and forgive quick.
And that's how we're living our lives sometimes. We hold on to these things. Something that a teacher said to us, that was wrong!
Or a coach, or a parent, or a sibling, or a spiritual leader! Listen, church hurt is real.
There's people sitting here right now that you've been hurt by a pastor or a leader when they spoke something and they said something.
I tell you today, I'm sorry. If it was me, I'm sorry. And if it was another pastor on their behalf, I tell you, I'm sorry.
But you got to forgive to connect to God. Because Jesus died for you, not David Perez, and not that pastor or leader.
Breaks open. And we've been forgiven so much. Look at Ephesians chapter 4. It's going to come up on the screen. Just write down the reference.
Ephesians 4, 32. Look what Paul writes. Ephesians 4, 32. "Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you."
Paul's writing to the church at Ephesus. Forgive people. As Jesus forgave you.
Then in Colossians chapter 3. Now he's writing to another one of the churches. Colossians chapter 3, verses 12 and 13.
"As the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, long-suffering, bearing with one another, and forgiving one another.
If anyone has a complaint against another, even as Christ forgave you, so you also must forgive." You must do. Forgive.
"Pastor, I don't feel like it." Do you remember that Jesus didn't feel like dying on the cross?
"Pastor, sacrilege. How do you say that?" Hold on. Jesus, three times in the Garden of Gethsemane, prays what?
"Father, if there's any other way, pass this cup from me." That sounds to me like a prayer that his human side—he's 100% man, 100% God—and the human flesh side, which had told his disciples numerous occasions, "Hey, I'm going the way of death. I got to go to Jerusalem. They're going to arrest me. They're going to beat me. They're going to kill me. And three days later, I'm going to raise from the grave."
He knew it. Yet his prayer was, "If there's any other way, pass this cup from me. But not my will be done, but your will be done."
When they look at him and say, "Why are you quiet? Don't you know I have the authority to give you life or take your life?"
That's when he speaks up. And what does he say? "Whoa, you're not taking my life. I am giving my life."
I'm not forgiving you because you apologized. I'm not forgiving you because you're repentant.
I'm forgiving you because God told me to forgive. Whether you're repentant or not.
Whether you're sorry or not. And understand this: Mark chapter 11. Look at Mark chapter 11, verse 25 and 26.
Mark 11, 25 and 26. Thank you for staying with me. I am totally out of order in my points and my verses, but that's okay.
Mark 11, 25. "Whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses.
And if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive you your trespasses."
"Lord, I choose to forgive." But you don't know what they did. I know what they did to Jesus.
And I know what people have done to me. I choose to forgive. And let me, sometimes I'm at a place where you do something to me, I forgive very easily right now.
Do something to my wife or kids, it's a different story. I got to fight. I got to fight to forgive sometimes.
No, I'm being honest. I'm being authentic. Look at my kid cross-eyed. We're going to go, right?
It's different. You do it to me. I'm a big boy. I'm a grown man. I'm going to forgive. I'm going to keep going.
It's harder when they do it to someone that you love. Some of us, we're in places of unforgiveness for things that they did to a loved one of ours.
And Jesus is reminding you today through this message, you got to forgive. You got to let go.
You all that are here know me, know that my dad is here and so is my mom and so is my second mom, my stepmom.
People all the time are like, "I don't understand how your mom and your stepmom are friends with each other."
And they're there and they don't understand them. I guess it's Jesus and it's a whole other thing.
But parents got divorced when I was little. I was two years old. I came to Christ when I was eight.
And I was at an encounter retreat when I was in my 20s. I'm already a pastor. And I'm in this encounter retreat and they're talking about forgiveness.
And all of a sudden, I feel the Holy Spirit tell me, "You got to forgive your dad."
Listen, I have an amazing dad. Amazing dad. Would pick me up every single morning from mom's house, take me to school, pick me up in the afternoon.
My dad would pack me. My dad would pack me. My dad would pack me. My dad would pack me.
In my little green, blue, and yellow little igloo cooler. All of elementary school, dad would pick me up.
We'd go to his mom, my grandma's house, and have breakfast with her. So he was intentional that I had a relationship with grandma.
Like they, my mom and my dad, even though they had their issue that caused divorce, whatever the case was, they were phenomenal.
And I'm reminded in that moment how I had something against him. And I wept and I cried and I forgave him and I released.
And I remember leaving that retreat and I drove straight to his house and I said, "Dad, I got to talk to you."
He's like, "What's going on?" I was like, "I need you to forgive me." He's like, "Forgive you for what?"
He says, "Dad, I have had something in my heart against you for decades." And I said, "Dad, I need you to forgive me."
And I said, "Dad, I have had something in my heart against you for decades." And I didn't even realize it.
He's like, "What do you mean?" I was like, "I was in this retreat. I was sitting here and God put, it was like, you've always been, you've been an amazing dad.
But you know what was there? That when I was eight and nine and ten, if I had a nightmare, you weren't there because of divorce.
And I've had this bitterness that I didn't even realize because I was pastoring and I didn't know that an unforgiveness thing that I'm sorry for just sharing, but I've shared the story before.
The devil had a grip on me in certain areas of my life. I had to let go. And then I went at that.
I need you to forgive me. And we hugged and we cried. And again, I'm telling you, I've always had a phenomenal relationship with him till this day.
I was out of town this week and somebody called me that they could do a repair and eat it in my house.
And I immediately, "Hey dad, can you go open the door?" He went, he took care of it. Like he's always been there, but there was this lie that I let the enemy just grab a hold of.
And then when I released it, our relationship got so much better. And some of us, there's some things in our hearts.
Yeah. Start playing something there. There's things in our hearts right now that we haven't realized was still there.
We ask ourselves questions like, "Why can't I have intimacy with my spouse?" And it's because of something that we have in forgiveness.
"Why is the relationship with my child broken?" And it's because of something that we haven't forgiven.
"Why is this happening? Why is that?" And the Lord is reminding us today, you've got to let go of all bitterness.
You've got to let go of all bitterness. You've got to choose to forgive.
A counseling session, the root of the issue is not what's happening right now.
For his closing, he only spoke seven phrases while on the cross, and one of them was, "Father, forgive them."
Don't leave this sanctuary today a prisoner to self. Some of us here are dealing with unforgiveness to a person because they wronged us.
Some of us are dealing with unforgiveness towards self. We haven't forgiven ourselves for doing X, Y, or Z.
We haven't forgiven ourselves for the place that we're at. Some of us are dealing with unforgiveness towards God.
We blame God for what happened. "God, why did you let this happen? God, why did you..." It's your fault.
And that's where we are. We're prisoners right now because we're blaming God and we haven't forgiven him.
Choose today, "God, I forgive." It's not something that someone can make you do.
I can't hold your hand and say, "Here, forgive this person." I can't make you do it. This is a decision that we all make.
So all across this sanctuary, every home that's streaming right now, if you're listening to this on a podcast, whatever it is, you and you alone with God.
Like let go of the hand that you're next to, whatever it is, just you and God. And there's people that right now have been bubbling to the surface of your heart.
Some of you, the Lord, as I've been preaching, the Lord has been prompting you the name of the person that what they did.
And today, as an act of your own free will, we're going to choose to forgive.
And so as the worship is going...
on Feb 02, 2025
