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Well hey guys, this is Michael Zwick. The question that I've got for you right now: is it easier or is it harder to forgive someone, or is it harder to have to go to somebody and ask them for forgiveness? This was actually the question that Stu Epperson had given me earlier today. And he said, Mike, this is a question because it's really, really tough. And I've got my own opinions.
I've got my friend Jeff Hoover here. But as we know, it says in the Word of God, it says, if you forgive other people when they sin against you, It says that your heavenly father will also forgive you. But it says if you do not forgive, Other people when they sin against you. Your heavenly Father will not forgive you when you sin.
So, to me, that's a pretty serious subject. 866-34TRUTH-866-348-7884. I've got a John out of somewhere. Is it Mercer? It says something, North Carolina.
Is it Murphy, North Carolina, John? North Carolina? Yeah. Is it Murphy?
Okay. And so, John, let me ask you. This is John, not Jeff, by the way. Go, Jeff is in the studio with me, and that's why I was asking. Yeah, Jeff is in the studio with me.
But I was asking you, John.
So let me ask you the question: Is it harder to forgive somebody yourself, or is it harder for you to go up to somebody? and ask them to forgive you.
Well, it's obviously hard to do it either way. I mean, to go somebody. and say, hey, will you forgive me? Takes extreme humility. And what if you're the one who was actually the one on the receiving end of someone attacking you And then, for this to be made right, you need to go to them and say, I'm sorry.
for whatever I did. that caused you to feel this way or to take that action. and then never expect an apology back because I've done that many times and I think maybe one person said, Oh, yeah, yeah, I forgive you and I'm sorry too. Most people just say, Yeah, man, you're forgiven. But I believe that the hardest thing to do is to forgive yourself.
Um I know that I know that growing up, Uh, my dad was old school. you know, come out of the the war. And so discipline was very physical. And a lot of times it was aimed at me and not my little brothers. I seemed to take the brunt of it.
And so I struggled Yeah. decades With that, and I'd say, God, I forgive my dad, I'd forgive my dad, and then I'd say, Ah, but he did this or that, and I'd be all mad again.
So. actually come to that place Where I was able to forgive him. Turk. decades. I mean, it took a long time.
And it actually turned out in this situation where we were up there visiting his house and he had spoken to my mother. And when I came into the room, he had tears in his eyes, and he sincerely repented to me. For all the things that he had done to me growing up, and at that point, I was able to forgive him and release him Of everything. And from that day forward, once I actually forgave him. Then I never I never had those those bad feelings toward my dad again because He was completely forgiven.
And when you forgive someone Um then it should be like what God does for us. Like when we ask Him to forgive us, then our sins are as far as the East is from the West. And so when we forgive someone, If we still bring it up in a fight. years later or months later or whatever, oh, you did this or that, then have we really forgiven the person? No.
No. So true forgiveness is Total release. Just like it never happened. And then all that comes out of you toward that person after that is love.
Well, yeah, in in the Old Testament it says that uh if if We ask the Lord to forgive us and we truly repent of our sins. He says, as far as the east is from the west, he said, Well, I will remember your sins no more.
So we look at it and we say, Hey, I'm going to forgive somebody for what they've done and they did this and they did that and they did that. The other part of forgiving somebody, John, I believe, is not bringing it up anymore, not talking about it anymore. Because Jesus, and I'll give you an example. Let's say somebody's listening right now, and let's say it's a woman who had an abortion, or let's say it's a man who encouraged his girlfriend or wife to get an abortion. And the Lord says: if this man or if this woman truly repents from their sin, not only will he forgive them.
Of their sin, but he said he will not even remember that they did it anymore. In other words, they get to heaven someday, they've truly repented, and they said, Lord, I feel bad about this abortion that I had. And he says, Well, I've got a kid up here who's got your name on it. He says, But I don't remember you having an abortion. I mean, that is absolutely incredible.
And Jesus tells us in Matthew chapter 5, it says, Be ye perfect. He says, Be ye perfect, even as your father in heaven is perfect. And so he also tells us, He says, If you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly father will forgive you when you sin again, who will forgive you of your sins. If you do not forgive men or women when they sin against you, your heavenly father will not forgive you of your sins. But one of the things that makes it a little bit easier for me, John, actually makes it a lot easier for me to forgive other people.
Is when I realize my own brokenness, when I realize my own depravity, when I realize how many times I've dropped the ball. You know, I'm almost reminded, and Jeff probably knows about this. It's would it remember the person who owes somebody this great amount of money? And the master says, you are completely forgiven of everything that you have because you've humbled yourself and you've begged me for mercy.
Well, that same servant goes out and finds somebody who owes him, let's say, five bucks. And he says, I'm going to throw you into the jail. I'm going to throw you to the jailers until you've paid back every penny.
Well, Jesus says that that man who would not forgive a little bit when he had been forgiven so much, he says he's going to throw him into outer darkness where there will be weeping and there will be gnashing of teeth. Gnashing of teeth. Gnashing of teeth. I see Jeff over here nodding his head. Oh yeah, well you just spoke truth.
Yeah, I I just think. Yeah, I was just saying that the thing is that, you know, it's sometimes easy to. forgive people Cool. With the word. You know, because the word says For us to forgive, you know?
So sometimes, you know, but forgiveness, like you were saying, is a process. We have to forgive. Because many times God said to forgive and all, but then. You know, the devil is going to keep bringing that person up or that thing up in our minds. And every time We're going to have To let that go, we're going to have to, so it's a process that we will have to go through and probably feel the hurt.
Over and over and over until we get to the point. Where it doesn't. Hurt us anymore. You know, it's a process that we walk through, but we have to start that process. you know, and then and God will help us.
We're not perfect. We don't uh we can't just do as God and forgive and forget a many times very easily.
Well, a lot of times it's easier to forgive somebody than to forget. And it's almost like if somebody says, okay, think about a pink elephant. Think about a pink elephant. Think about it.
Okay. And then close your eyes, okay, and stop. Don't think of that pink elephant. What is the first thing that you're going to think of? It's that pink elephant, right?
I mean, so, so it, it, it sometimes is a process. And I would even say the example of Erica Kirk, where she publicly, in front of everybody, literally, forgave the man who assassinated her husband and made her a widow and made her children have to grow up without a father. She said, I publicly forgive you, but she had tears in her eyes. And that tells me it was not easy. And sometimes it doesn't always happen overnight.
And we're going to be right back. John, I want to thank you for the call. We've got a Sherry out of North Carolina, and we will be right back. We want your calls: 866-34TRUTH-866. Is it easier to forgive someone or to have to ask for forgiveness?
Truth Talk Live You're listening to the Truth Network and truthnetwork.com. All right, this is Michael Zwick. We are back from the break. Uh we've got a Sherry who's called in it says North Carolina Are you there, Sherry? Are you there, Sherry?
Yes, I'm here. Hey, it says North Carolina. Are you North Carolina or South Carolina? It says.
South Carolina. Oh, okay. What part of South Carolina? You heard me wrong. That's okay.
What part of South Carolina are you calling in from? We're calling in from Charleston.
Okay, let me ask let me ask you this. Do you Sherry do you have a personal testimony that you could share of where you've either had to forgive somebody yourself or where you've had to humble yourself and to come to somebody and ask for forgiveness? I have testimony of where I had to forgive someone. I was a teenager and ended up losing my virginity due to a date rape. And The young man that had raped me.
I had such anger in my heart against him. and such bitterness Yeah. I got to a place where I wanted to kill him. And, um I knew that that was not of the Lord. And the Lord led me to a place where I knew I had to forgive him.
Okay. And When I was able to forgive him. The Lord tested me at it.
So how did he test you? Yeah. Well, um, so the Lord for the Lord forgave me. Or I forgave him. And when I forgave him, all of the anger and hatred that I had towards him left me.
And, um Within a couple of weeks. I find myself in a kitchen at a party. And the man, the young man, walked in, and everybody scatters. And it's just him and me in that kitchen. And I'm like, Lord, really?
So I I said, I forgive you for what you have done. You took my virginity away from me. You forcefully forced yourself on me. And of course, in his. arrogant way said, Oh no, you wanted it.
No bit yes. And I looked at it and I said I hear your words, but I forgive you. whatever you've used to justify your actions. I forgive you. And The Lord forgives you too.
And I I remember I remember well. I I was in awe that I was able to look him in the face and tell him that Years went by. And I remember um we were in church. We had we'd both gone to a funeral. And he He showed up and he walked up to me.
I said, So, how are you doing? How are things going? And I it was easiest. It had never happened. because I had completely forgiven him.
And he admitted that he had um gotten married And Yeah, I think it's a very good idea. And Realized his own actions now. He was worried that. A young man would come and take advantage of his daughters the way he had taken advantage of other. women.
And um I've Yeah. Did he apologize to you or? Not So many words. But I think he was try he was trying. And the word was trying his best to he gave them the opportunity.
Um But no, he didn't actually come out and I'm sorry.
So it's okay.
So because I know the Lord the Lord washed it all away. I actually was going to mention that when we come to ask for forgiveness, From the Lord. The Lord Uh Isaiah 1.18 says Come now and let us reason together. Saith the LORD Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
That the Lord washes away our sins to the point where we are pure and white as snow. He does not remember them. There is nothing left. And that's what he wants us to do. when we forgive.
That is an incredible story, and it's very bold of you to be able to share that. Let me ask you on the other side of the question. Has there been a time where it has maybe been embarrassing for you or difficult for you to have to go and ask somebody for forgiveness, Sherry? Right now I'm not thinking of a specific Time or place But yes, um Asking for forgiveness can be Shameful. We have to eat some crow from time to time.
I I know that there have There have been times that I've said things that I didn't mean to say and I did have to go apologize. Um And it is embarrassing. Because as the expression says, we have to eat some crow to do it. we have to humble ourselves and and come before the other person and say, I was wrong. And it's hard to do that our pride normally does not want us to do that.
It doesn't. I'm looking at Ephesians 4:32. It says, Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another as God in Christ forgave you. Mark 11:25, and whenever you stand praying, forgive if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. Implication: if you don't forgive others, you're not going to be forgiven.
1 John 1:9, if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from how much unrighteousness? All unrighteousness. Matthew 18, 21 through 22. Then Peter came up and said to him, Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?
Jesus said to him, I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven, In Matthew 6, 14 through 15, which I shared at the beginning. For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. And I can tell you in my own life, It's kind of easier for me to forgive people who have done me wrong. And it's not always easy, but it's a little bit easier for me because I realize how much I've done that's wrong.
It's really difficult for me to have to go up to somebody and say, I'm sorry. As a matter of fact, earlier in the day when Stu was talking to me, I said, Lord, is there somebody that I need to go say something to? Because he gave me an example of somebody who had done something wrong to him. They had basically looked at him and they had really just done him wrong. And he eventually had, he came around and he felt the Lord wanted to share with this person.
He said, I'm sorry for what I've done, whatever I've done to hurt your feelings. And so maybe that's what I need to do today, Sherry. Because it's not easy. I mean, you look at some examples of people who have absolutely gone through hell on earth. And Jeff and I, a little bit earlier, were talking about a lady named Corey Tenboom.
Have you heard of Corey Tenboom? Oh, yeah, I know. And Corey, she was in the her father was a watchmaker in, I want to say the Netherlands. And the Nazis came in, but they felt like it was their duty that they needed to help hide the Jewish people because they knew that it wasn't right that that. These Jews were being sent to concentration camps.
They were being gassed. All these different things were happening to them. And so they literally hid them in the corners of their walls and in these secret places underneath their tables and everything else. And one day, somebody caught wind of what they were doing. And so they came in and they gathered all of them up and Corey Timboom and her sister were taken to this concentration camp, and they were treated absolutely horribly.
I mean, everything that could have gone wrong literally went wrong with these people. And Sherry, if you hold the line, when we come back, I'm going to tell you the rest of that story. But before we do come back, we want your calls: 866-34TRUTH, 866-348-7884. Forgiveness. Have you had to forgive?
Tell me your stories. We want to hear your stories. We'll be right back after the break. Truth talks. You're listening to the Truth Network and truthnetwork.com.
All right, 86634 Truth 866. 348-7884. We want your call. Um, so I was gonna ask you this. Sherry, you were on hold and you said that you actually had to forgive somebody who had raped you.
How long did that take before you could actually forgive them? Yeah. I don't know. It was a dark period of my life and um So I Time How old were you when this happened? Um, I was thirteen.
Did you did you ever consider calling the police or? Um no.
Well, unfortunately, I my mother had raised me that I was to be a virgin when I got married. And so I had the feeling that my if I told my mother She no longer would love me because I was imperfect. How old was this man? Um, he was sixteen.
So he was three years older than me and um We I did tell my mom. I finally got the courage up months later to tell my mother. And um She wept and wept and wept when I told her. And then the next morning I woke up and I regretted telling her.
So I went in and told her that I had lied. And the funny part was my my my mom said Oh good. I thought you did that for attention. What? Which did not help.
Yeah, which did not help.
Now, I I forgive my mother because in her in her um Woundedness. And in her own shortcomings, she was not able to Hear me and understand the bigger picture. And um I I know that Yeah, but I I I had to struggle through that for a while. because I really did feel like my mother That I was spoiled good, that that the that I was no longer perfect, and that um The enemy used it to put me down for quite some time. Yeah.
Yeah. That um yeah, and so it was one of those wounds that came early in life and um thank you Jesus that he worked it all out. Yeah. Yeah. So, well, I want to thank you for the call, Sherry.
Thank you for sharing that very personal story. And we'll talk to you soon. I've got a Duncan out of Suwannee, Georgia. Hello? Hey, did I did it is it Duncan out of Suwannee, Georgia?
Did I get that right? Yeah. Yeah, so do you have a personal testimony of when you've had to forgive someone or? Um. kind of hard to spit it out, but when I was uh I'm sixty three, when I was thirteen, um I had uh detention after school and so I I I wasn't able to catch the bus on.
So You know, I grew up in the seventies And so back then, you know, people hitchhiked.
So I hit Shaitome. And uh this This man picked me up. And then And he let me drive his. Yeah. We went out drinking on these back roads And He dropped me off, so everything seemed okay.
So he kept coming back. around my neighborhood trying to find me. Mm-hmm. And so Uh I would end up uh Every now and then I'd go off, we'd drink beer, I'd ride with him.
So he ended up We went into we we stopped at this old house And then he Uh He put his hand on my crotch. And you know, I I thought he was going to kill me. And so He basically, you know, he he raped me. And then um As I got older. He kept coming around the neighborhood trying to find me, and I told my friends and you know, they you know, it kind of you know, serious enough it They felt sorry for me, but You know, people talk, it became a joke.
And you know, I was accused of being gay. and everything else.
So as I became older, You know Like 18, I look back on it and I think. If I caught up with him today. And as I became a man, you know, what what I would do to him. Mm-hmm. So I became a committed Christian Or started really finding out a lot about being a Christian when I was 21.
And So I understood about forgiving me. the forgiveness part.
So you know he was at the top of the list I'd come up with a new list I forgive those people, work on forgiving those people, then there'd be a new, new list. And I have to forgive those people. And It it took time to work through all this list of people.
So I was still Living on the wrong side of the Lord, even though I was learning what it was to be a Christian. And so, one of the things that happened when he came around looking for me. He pulled down the street from my house and I was like thirteen or fourteen and my dad had a rifle. And I aimed it through the window, and I was going to shoot him in the back of his head in his car. But I couldn't Do it.
But even then I knew it was wrong.
So when I got about twenty nine or thirty, I started dating this girl. And I wasn't living right. And Her she had this like love-hate relationship with her stepfather. And because he molested her when she was a little girl.
So After a couple of months I realized it was the same man. Oh, no. And for about two weeks, even though I've forgiven him, for about two weeks, I contemplated killing him. Because by then I was I was about thirty But I ended up I ended up being able to share my faith with him. I never.
I never let him know. That I knew who he was, or never discussed it with him, but I was able to share my faith with him. And Hosea will Walk away, let it go. And uh that helped me to understand that he was that guy. He worked at a company where he worked on.
And he always works. Second shift.
So that would. That was a particular path he would have taken. And there's some other things. But It probably wasn't It was probably a couple of years after that that I've went through all that. I got me and the girl broke up And uh Now, did you did you tell her that you did you knew that this man did this to you?
Yes, I did. But she kinda like blew it off like. You know I guess she really wasn't surprised. I mean, she was pretty dysfunctional. The fact that she lived there with him And I I tried to uh You know, that was part of the reason why I broke up with her.
She was just. She was two walls.
So I ended up It was about two years later I became fully committed To Christ. And so that's been Thirty two years, October seventh. Coming up, it'll be thirty two years.
So, when you shared your faith with this man, how did he respond? I'm just curious.
Well, see, you know, just He's not. he was his basically his guts were rotted out from liquor. And he was he was basically d dying.
Okay. And And even though you know, I used to have all these like, you know, revenge fantasies where you know, I'd be thinking about, well, man, if this ha if if I caught up with him today, this is what I would do to him. And uh Basically you know Satan's like in my head saying, Okay, here he is. Here he is. And um But you know, it was tough when I was a teenager because I got picked on about it.
And I I never told my dad Because I I didn't want to hurt him. And then my dad, and he brought if If there was any way to find him, my dad, you know, would definitely have called the police or something.
So it's I've share, you know, I don't have any problems sharing it. Because I did have to forgive him. It's just something real that happened to me.
Now, when you did forgive this man and when you actually saw him face to face and you shared the gospel with him and you forgave him, how did you feel after that? I was completely Released. It was over. And I went on my way. I had a clear conscience.
You know that There was no point in going to prison over it. But you know, I still, you know, I'm very sensitive. I mean, if I if I walked up on somebody doing something to some child out in the woods or something. I don't know if I can keep them Hurtman. Yeah, yeah.
Um there Go ahead. Yeah. How is I've always tried on the lookout for the underdog. And so So I try to keep everybody, you know, in check. when they're you know being abusive to somebody.
And uh you know, but I I'm I'm real quick to quote scripture. and try to do it the right way. I don't want to be judgmental or come across hypocritically Or But you know as far as especially in the culture today, it's just crazy how people think. Men can be women and You know, I try to I just try to Share the gospel as best I can. I'm not Billy Graham, but I can be Billy Graham to the handful of people that I'm able to get the gospel to.
How many other people, you know, I know it's been a while since you've. Uh this has happened to you, but how many have you told many people about this recently, or have you ever gone to counseling or?
Well, I've I've shared with people I've been in small groups and stuff and I've shared and it's almost like, you know, I'm some you know, I I get the feeling, it's like, oh, yeah, oh, uh. And that like, you know, that's just weird. And uh I have shared with people, and I don't have any I don't care if people think I'm weird or not. I don't have any problem sharing it. It's just something that happened to me, but Yeah.
It's like PTSD, it's like That day I didn't know if I was going to die or not. I was scared. And so Mm. My joke is as I tell I tell women I know what it's like to have a man put him push himself on it. Yeah.
Well, I'm sorry that happened to you, but I'm grateful that you were able to share that story because I believe there's somebody who's listening who may be able to relate to you. I want to thank you for the call, Duncan. We'll be right back: 866-34 TRUTH, 866-348-7884, Forgiveness. You're listening to the Truth Network and TruthNetwork.com.
Alright, we are back for the last segment. Forgiveness. Oh my gosh, Jeff. We have had some. Whew, we've had some people who've really had to forgive some people on this show, and it's been for some pretty from some pretty big stuff.
It says in Matthew 7, 13 through 14, it says, Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few. find it. And Jeff, you were saying before there was a story about Elliott.
Well, uh Jim Elliott, was uh uh missionary and uh down in South America, I think, is Ecuador, but I might be wrong on that, but I think it's Ecuador where he was flying and there was a tribe that had never heard the gospel. That he was working with an uh He was trying to uh to get close to them and to be able to bring the gospel to them, And to make a long story short, things uh when he thought he was getting a breakthrough. Then uh it ended up that that tribe attacked him And uh another man in in uh And his airplane And uh They killed them. And so uh Jim Elliott's wife is the one who ended up having to forgive that tribe. And she ended up going back To the Uh to the tribe And to Finishing that work and uh you know so that they would um you know, where she could communicate with them.
and bring the gospel to them and uh And so uh so she continued the work of her husband With the people that had killed him. And it really started with forgiveness because if she wasn't able to forgive them, she never would have gone back to them before and have done that. I was telling you before about Corey Tenboom, but Corey Tenboom was actually in this concentration camp and they threw her in a room full of lice. And what she ended up doing is she ended up thanking God that they were in the room of lice because they were able to share the gospel in that room to the other women who were there because the guards were afraid to come in there. They didn't want to get the lice.
So she saw.
Something that was really bad is something that ended up blessing her. Corey Temboom, while she was in the concentration camp as well, her sister actually died in that concentration camp and she had to forgive. But many years later, she was actually out there and she was in a church and she was speaking about forgiveness. And all of a sudden, she recognized a guard who was in that camp and who was especially brutal and mean to her. And the guard said, He said, I saw that you Talked about forgiveness.
He said, I don't know if you remember me or not. He said, But I was in that camp and I treated you horribly. And he sh put out his hand and he said, Will you forgive me? And she said she couldn't lift her hand. And so he just kind of left his hand there.
And he asked her again, Will you forgive me? And she said she didn't feel it. She said, but she realized that when she took the action and she lifted her hand and forgave him, she took that first step that the Lord took care of the rest. And she said, I forgive you. I forgive you.
I forgive you. And the man said, later on, I have become a Christian myself. And so it was a beautiful thing. And so, not only does forgiveness help us, I believe I've heard many times, Jeff, where people have actually come to Christ because somebody has forgiven them. Louis Zamparini, who was actually an Olympian.
And he was he was he was a runner in the Olympics. And Adolf Hitler actually came up to him after he ran. And Adolf Hitler told Louis, he said, You had a great kick at the end. Good job. But later on, Louis Zampurini was actually caught.
um in the Second World War and he was taken in by the Japanese. And there was one man who was especially mean to him, but he ended up, it took him years, Louis Zamparini, to forgive all these people, but he ended up forgiving them. And he had made a promise to the Lord while he was on a raft. He was in the middle of the ocean and he was about to die. But he said, Lord, he said, if you save me from this place that I'm in.
He said, I will end up following you all the days of my life. And he ended up forgetting about that until later on. But when he went into this concentration camp, it was especially brutal. And there was this one man who was especially mean to him. And he said that it was absolutely awful.
And he said eventually, what he had to do was he had to forgive this man. It was hard. He had PTSD. It took him years to do it, but he ended up getting saved. He ended up becoming a part of the, I believe it was the Billy Graham Association.
And so he literally had to go back to all of these people who had treated him so horribly in World War II and other people who were guards and other people who treated Christians and people from America especially harsh. And he went back and he forgave these people. And many times when he forgave these people, immediately they gave their lives to Christ. And I tell you what, Jeff, there's some stories about that. But see, one of the things about that story with Jim Elliott is what a lot of people don't know is Jim Elliott and his crew that day, they had guns.
They had pistols where they could, because these people speared them to death. They could have shot them, but they made a deal before. They said, we are not going to kill anybody who does not know Jesus Christ. And if he had killed these people, that whole tribe never would have come. Come to Christ.
I was telling a story the other day. There was a A guy from Africa who was a Christian, and he said that there were other people who were actually Muslims, but there was one Muslim guy who almost beat him to death. And he said he barely lived, but he lived. And the authorities told him, They said, We found the guy. Here he is.
What do you want to do? We can throw him in prison. We can do whatever you want to do. And he said, I want to forgive the man. And he said, Because he forgave that man, that man ended up getting on fire for Christ and ended up doing the work of the Lord.
So not only does it help us, Jeff, when we forgive people, but when we offer forgiveness to other people, many times those people can come to Christ. Yeah, I like the the John chapter twenty, where it says in verse twenty three, it says, Whosoever sins you remit, or you fr uh they are remitten unto them, and whosoever sins you retain. or you hold on to, they are retained. And here it basically means that they are retained. They're s this is a sticky term.
It means they stick to you and they stick to that person.
So that But The thing is, I like the story of Stephen when he was stoned that Um Saul at that time was holding the coats of the people who were stoning. Stephen. But Stephen said, Lay this not Forget, Father, forgive them, and lay this not to their charge. In other words, Stephen. Did this And the sin of that stoning did not stick to Saul.
So now God came later on, even after Saul had uh Had committed a lot of other sins, killed a lot of Christians because he thought he was serving God that way and all. But Now God moved in Saul's life, and eventually we had we have Paul, who wrote most of the New Testament. The thing is that That might not have happened if Stephen had not forgave. the people who were stoning him. We don't know When we release ourselves, we forgive in order to release ourselves, but it also releases them.
to be touched by God, and it may like these tribes like others you know, they may come to know the Lord. And that is Yeah, that is such a great ending if that happens. Yeah, and so I can tell you too, many of us, I've been married before, you know, and I'm on the radio, but I've been married before, I've been married twice. And in both of those marriages, I was not the one who chose to leave. And they ended up choosing to leave a lot of times, and I had to forgive them.
And it forgot. For me, it was kind of easy. I just moved on or whatever. And I think sometimes you kind of stuff stuff. And sometimes later on, when you realize that you've stuffed, you have to kind of deal with a lot of that stuff.
But for me, what happened was that I, when I was able to forgive them and move on, it released them. And I think sometimes people want you to be stuck on them. I think sometimes people want, they almost get pleasure out of you. Staying angry with them because they know that you've still got, I guess, feelings for them in a way. I heard J.D.
Greer recently on a show where he said, on a sermon, where he said that. Hate is not the opposite of love. He said the opposite of love is indifference.
So, that when you hate somebody or you're really angry with somebody, really, what you're doing, you're not, it's not that you just completely hate them. There was a guy earlier who said, remember that guy raped him, and he said this guy ended up molesting this same girl that he was dating, and he said she had a love-hate relationship with this man. And so, if we hate somebody, There's a thin line between love and hate. But if we get to the point where you say, I forgive them, and we let it go. It's almost like, hey, it doesn't bother me anymore.
And I've been married a couple of times before, it doesn't bother me anymore. I've forgiven them. I've moved on. And, you know, I hope they moved on. I wish them the best.
See, there comes a point to where you not only say, Jeff, do I forgive them? But then you also pray for them. Because Jesus said, when you pray for your enemies, when you pray for those who have done you wrong, then you have become a child of God. And then you're living the righteous life. You're living the Christian life.
Not easy, doesn't always happen overnight. But I tell you what, once you get to that point, the Lord can really elevate you and take you to new places. And that's what the that's what I do. When the devil tries to remind me of something that I've forgiven in any person, I just pray for them, and that's what you're saying. I just pray for them, and then the devil doesn't want to remind me of them anymore because he knows that they're going to get buried.
That's the exact opposite of what the devil wants. What does it say? Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
Well, guys, I'll be on. Thank you guys for listening. I'll be on tomorrow. If not for God with Mike Zwick, you can follow me on Facebook, Michael's Wick, TikTok, Michaels Wick 4007. But yeah, If Not for God with Mike Zwick will be on tomorrow at noon.
Guys, if you haven't forgiven somebody, do it now. If you need to go to somebody and ask them for forgiveness, go ahead and ask them for forgiveness. God bless you.
