Forgiveness

It would be Easy for me to look at this Sunday, it's kind of a Like a placeholder Sunday. You know what I mean? We had four bake services this past week with thousands. How many of y'all came to our Christmas Eve service? Wasn't that amazing?

This team did an amazing job.

So we already have big services. We're tired, worn out, adrenaline crash. Last Sunday of the year, usually that's one of the lowest Sundays. It would be easy for me to say, let me just get through this this Sunday. But I can't shake the feeling.

God wants to do something in somebody's life today. I I really sense This may be a pivotal moment. I've not been able to shake this all week. That God is wanting some of you to leave some mess behind in 2025. And don't look back and move forward in a new beginning in Jesus in 2026.

Some of y'all have got to deal with something today that you've been hanging on to for a long, long time.

So I'm not trying to play this thing up. I just can't escape the fact that God's going to do something in this service. You know, I was watching a pastor that I actually like. Y'all know who Joseph Prance is? Asian pastor.

Pretty here. A little weird. I like them.

Okay. Joseph Prince was talking about a season in his life where he wasn't seeing answers to prayer, wasn't seeing the anointing. There was something missing. And he said He said he prayed to God and said, God explained that to me. And I can't remember if it was a dream or a vision or what, but he saw the throne of God in heaven.

And he said, emanating from the throne of God were these beautiful golden pipes. And flowing through these pipes was just this beautiful oil of anointing, oil of healing, oil of deliverance. And the Spirit of God said: look, when you pray, I do that. I send my answers. It's almost like, almost like pipes coming from heaven.

But then he said, I saw things clogging up those pipes. The problem wasn't God. God was sending the resources. But there were things preventing that oil from flowing to us. One of those things would be doubt.

Did you know the Bible says that doubt can hinder an answer to prayer? One of those things would be Open sin. Did you know that Peter says in 1 Peter, husbands, if you don't treat your wives right, It will obstruct your prayer life. God will send the answer, but it obstructs that answer. And this morning I want to tell you about one of the biggest Obstructions that prevent God from moving in your life.

God wants to send divine resources, but this obstruction. It's bitterness. Unforgiveness. And I love you. Keep listening, reminding yourself Chad loves me.

In fact, on the count of three, say Chad loves me. One, two, three. Chad, love. All right.

So I'm not mad at you. But some of y'all are not seeing God move in your life because of bitterness and unforgiveness. In fact, I love Matthew 6. Jesus gives us some great teachings in Matthew 6. And one of the teachings he gives us, he teaches us a prayer to pray that we call the Lord's Prayer.

I want us to pray that together. It's been a long time since we prayed the Lord's Prayer. Matthew chapter 6, Jesus taught us to pray, and here's how He taught us to pray. You ready? Our father.

which art in heaven. Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done. in earth as it is in heaven.

And give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts. as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom.

and power and the glory forever. Amen.

Now here's what amazes me. Jesus in Matthew 6 teaches us how to pray. He gives us this thing called the Lord's Prayer. And then he goes back and talked about the very prayer he's just given us.

Now, when Jesus goes back to talk a little bit more about the Lord's Prayer, there are several things he could have talked about. He said, Go back now. When I say our Father, let me teach you about the Fatherhood of God. He doesn't do that. He could say, now, I've just given the Lord's Prayer.

Let's go back and let me emphasize something. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done. Let me tell you what I mean by that. He doesn't do that. There's only one point he revisits.

After he gives us the Lord's Prayer, Jesus says, I wanted to go back and emphasize just one point. What is that one point? Matthew 6:12, and forgive us our debts as we have also forgiven our debtors. Verse 14. For if you forgive others for their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.

But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions. You see what he just did? He said, I just gave him the Lord's Prayer. And I could have gone back and talked about anything about the Lord's Prayer. I just want to re-emphasize one thing.

Forgiveness. That tells me. This is huge in the mind of Jesus Christ.

Some of you are holding on to some hurts. And I'm not minimizing.

Some of y'all have been really hurt, really bad. Don't hear me say what happened to you was was just minimal.

Some of y'all are dealing with some significant hurts. But here's my point. You can keep hanging on to that and revisit that and go back over that over and over and over again, or you can let it go. But I'm telling you, if you hold on to that, you're going to hinder it. It's going to be a clog clogging up those divine resources from coming to you.

Are you with me on that? Let me tell you what unforgiveness clogs up. What it prevents flowing. First of all, Bitterness and unforgiveness will block your fellowship with God. All right, now verse 12.

When you pray this thing, you don't even know what you're praying. When you say, Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors, you pray that, you have no idea what you're saying. Do you know what literally that means? What you're praying when you say, forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors, here's what you're saying. Father, I want you to forgive me.

The same way I forgive other people. And the father's like, you sure about that? Because you're a bitter person. You're like an elephant. You never forget a hurt.

You never let it go. God is like, Do you really want me to forgive you the way you forgive other people? And one of the reasons why some of y'all just walk with Jesus, you're born again, you're saved, you're going to heaven. But one of the reasons your walk with God is not close and tight is because you're bitter towards somebody else. And Jesus says in verses 14 and 15: if you don't let it go with other people, God ain't going to let it go with you.

And I just wonder if some of y'all are blaming your genes, maybe the Bible translation you're using, maybe Pastor Chad's anointing is not here. Oh, maybe the fault is you. Maybe you can't let things go, and because you can't let things go, your walk with Jesus isn't what it's supposed to be.

So, unforgiveness blocks that intimacy with God. Number two, unforgiveness will block the anointing of the Holy Spirit. And we want We're Pentecostals, I assume we want God to use us to raise the dead, heal the sick, cast out demons, signs, wonders, miracles. We want all that, don't we? But if you're bitter And you got unforgiveness.

It prevents the anointing of the Holy Spirit from flowing in your life. Here's what Paul says in Ephesians 4:30. He said, Look. Don't grieve the Holy Spirit of God. Don't quench the Holy Spirit's fire.

Now, that's what he says in Ephesians 4, verse 30. Don't hinder the work of the Holy Spirit.

Okay, Paul? How do I not hinder the work of the Holy Spirit? Verse 32. Be kind to one another and Forgive each other. Implication.

You don't forgive? You're hindering the Holy Spirit from using you and moving in your life. Number three. Unforgiveness. Bitterness will block answered prayer.

Jesus says something interesting. I love this. Matthew 11:24, Jesus says, This is Jesus. This is the man. All right, here says this.

Therefore I say to you All things, how many things? All things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted you.

Okay, we like that. That's verse 24. Do you know what comes after verse 24? Verse 25. And here's what Jesus says in verse 25.

And whenever you stand praying. Forgive. Wait, why did he change the subject? Verse 24, he just talked about answered prayer. Verse 25, he says, forgive.

Why did he change the subject? He didn't change the subject. What he's saying is, if you don't forgive, don't expect to see answered prayer. But if you forgive, watch as God's Spirit begins to flow and move in your prayer life and you see answered prayer. Unforgiveness will block answered prayer.

Number four. Unforgiveness will block victory over Satan.

Now, I know Christians. I know them personally. Don't I were just talking about one coming over. Born again, saved. Going to heaven, child of God, but they are miserable, and Satan is moving in their life, in their family, in their relationships.

They are giving demonic. They are giving permission for the demonic to move in their life. How are they giving demonic permission to move in their life? Because they are holding on to offenses and bitterness. And when you do that, Satan has room to move.

In fact, here's what Paul says.

Now, I'm not going to look this up later on. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 2, 10 through 11, Talk about a man that came to the church at Corinth and he split that church. God's a wicked man, pervert, wicked man. And Paul says, kick him out of your church.

So they kick him out of the church. He comes to his senses and says, Man, I was wrong. I shouldn't have done this. He comes back and he repents. And they don't want to let them back in the church.

They don't want to forgive him. And so the Apostle Paul says, No, you need to forgive him. I have forgiven him. You forgive them. And then in 2 Corinthians 2:10 to 11, he says this: You forgive them because we are not unaware of the devices of Satan.

In other words, church, if you don't forgive this guy, if you hold on to bitterness, Satan now has room to operate in your church. And I can give you passage after passage after passage. Jot this down and look it up later on. In Matthew 18, Jesus tells a story. About a man who has forgiven billions of dollars.

Billions of dollars. He finds somebody else who owes him $1,000. And the man that was forgiven billions of dollars won't forgive that man that owes him $1,000. And Jesus says, that man was sent to prison, and it says this, and the torturers will torture him. And throughout church history, you have seen expositors of scripture say that these torturers.

Demons. Do you know who Derrick Prince is? He has a great story or a great study on how the torturers in Matthew 18 are actually demonic forces. Here's what Jesus is saying: You are that man that was forgiven billions of dollars. Ma'am, you are forgiven billions of dollars.

Sir, you've been forgiven for putting the Son of God on the cross. God has forgiven you, and you can't forgive somebody else that has hurt you. The demons will come and torture you. Again, I love you. We've just established that.

But I got to talk stern to you and slap you around in love and say some of y'all are dealing with demonic oppression in your life that you can trace all the way back to an unforgiving, bitter spirit. Here's another one. And um 1 Samuel 18. Verse 9. 1 Samuel 18:9, Saul, first king of Israel, becomes bitter at a young man that he thinks is trying to steal his throne.

Anyone know who that young man is? David. Saul, verse 9, is bitter at David. And verse 10 says this, and an evil spirit came upon Saul. I believe there's some cause and effect here.

Saul is bitter toward David, and as a result, he is harassed by a demon to the point where you know how Saul ended his life? He ended his life by committing suicide. I was up. I was listening to a pastor again that I really like, local pastor. He said he was talking to a lady that was dealing with horrendous, just.

Anxiety and depression.

Now, you know, not all anxiety and depression is satanic. You do understand this, right? But this lady is just talking about all these. She do anxiety. Depression All this stuff.

And she's sharing this with the pastor. Holy Ghost spoke to him. And said, her problem is bitterness. And she's just talking about how I'm dealing with this, I'm struggling with that. And the Spirit of God prompted this pastor when she got through to ask this question.

Ask her about her family.

So, when this lady who's dealing with all kinds of psychological problems gets through talking, the pastor said, Ma'am, it's gonna sound strange. Holy Spirit told me to ask you about your family. She said, oh, don't ask me about my family. She said, my brother can't stand it. I hate my brother.

My father was in the hospital dying of dementia. My brother worms his way into that hospital and gets my father. to sign over everything to him. I got nothing. Siblings got nothing.

I hate my brother. I can't stand him. I've written him letters. I've told everybody what a scoundrel he is. I can't stand my brother.

And then she said, but now back to me. What do I do to overcome all this stuff? Pastor said, you're not going to like what I'm about to tell you. You want to overcome your depression and anxiety? You call your brother up and you apologize for your bitterness toward him.

And you invite him over to your house after church on Sunday, and y'all have a big dinner together, and you tell him that you forgive him, and y'all are going to bury the hatchet, and you're going to move on. She said, I'm not. Did you hear what I just said? My brother stole everything, and now you want me? To apologize to him for my attitude?

He said yes. She said, I'm not going to do it. He said, within six months, that lady was dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Now that's extreme, I know. But it proves my point. When you're dealing with bitterness and unforgiveness, Satan wreaks havoc in your life. And so just a summary statement. Unforgiveness blocks God's divine destiny for your life.

How many of y'all believe everyone here? Y'all believe God's got a divine destiny for your life. You believe that? Unforgiveness will block that quicker than anything else.

So Jen, well what do I do? All right, you ready? It's gonna be a word you don't like. It's the F word. You forgive.

Now When I say forgive, I'm saying one thing and you're hearing something else, okay?

So we've got to define our terms because sometimes we'll use language in Christianity like washing in the blood of the Lamb or, you know, get right or get left. We use all these little phrases. The world doesn't know what we mean. And so when I say forgiveness, Even the world knows that Christianity is big into forgiveness, but they don't understand what I mean by forgiveness, okay?

So we got to define our terms. Because I say one thing, you hear something else. In fact, I love this. The University of Oregon did a little study a few years ago about marketing disasters. Where companies would say one thing But the culture would hear something else.

And they gave a couple examples. Let me give you one. Clairol. You know the beauty products, Clairol. Clairol tried to introduce its quote, missed.

Stick. Curling iron in Germany, M I S T S T I C K curling iron. Nobody's buying the thing. And somebody pointed out later on that mist in Germany is slang for manure.

So, literally, what they were saying is, curl your hair with this thing of mirror, okay? And that's why nobody's buying it. The classic one is: Chevy tried to introduce the Nova car. In Latin American countries, Nobody's buying the Chevy Nova. They didn't know what's going on.

Till somebody pointed out in Spanish, no va means it doesn't run. It's in the fans buying it. And then Coca-Cola tried to enter the Chinese market. And when they entered the Chinese market, a lot of people heard, instead of Coca-Cola, kekukela, which means chew on wax tadpoles in Chinese, and so nobody was buying stuff.

So when I say forgive, I'm saying one thing and you may be hearing something else.

So Okay, let me tell you what forgiveness is not.

Okay. Forgiveness is not. Forgetting. Because some of y'all are saying. I've tried to forgive.

But I can't forget. Therefore, I must not have forgiven. We say forgive and forget. Do you know sometimes you can forgive? But you still remember?

Because when something traumatic has happened to you, biochemically, something is impressed on your brain. You can forgive somebody. But not forget. I was talking to a guy one time that had uh Cheated on his wife, had an affair. She decided to stay with him, and they'd gone through intense counseling through the years, and she had forgiven this guy.

But he said, Chad, I don't know what the problem is. When I'm late coming home from work She thinks I'm with somebody else. What's the problem? When I'm talking to a lady, she gets jealous and thinks I'm flirting. What's your problem?

And I said, well, Moron. Her problem is... You hurt her deeply years ago. And she has done her best through the power of the Holy Spirit to forgive you, but you can't expect her to forget that, okay?

So forgiveness is not forgetting. Number two, forgiveness is not denial.

Well, you know what? It wasn't that bad, I guess. What they did to me, I guess it wasn't that bad. Oh no. Ma'am, what he did to you was that bad.

Forgiveness doesn't mean you deny. the intensity of that hurt. Number three, forgiveness is not pardoning, as in, you know, justice. Um You can forgive somebody. and still want justice.

R. T. Kendall. great pastor in England wrote a book called Total Forgiveness. And in this book, he said, when I was in England, I had a member of my church that had been raped by a man from the Middle East.

It it traumatized her. She gets saved. And by the power of the Holy Spirit, she forgave the man that raped her. And then one day the authorities called her and said, We have arrested the man who raped you. He did it to somebody else.

He's going to be put on trial. And if he's found guilty, He may be sent back to his country and executed. Will you testify against this man?

So she came to her pastor and she said, Pastor Kendall, what do I do? This man raped me. He's been caught. I've forgiven him. What do I do?

Here's what the pastor said: he said, You go testify against that man. Because you don't want that to happen to somebody else. And that's exactly what she did. She testified against that man, but she did it without bitterness in her heart. She had forgiven him, but justice still needed to be meted out.

And so she testified without bitterness. And the guy was found guilty. Yeah. But was he sent back to his country and executed? I don't know.

Not her problem, not my problem, it's his problem. Listen to me. You can want justice and at the same time forgive somebody, okay? Here's another one. Forgiveness is not Trusting.

See, some of y'all have been hurt by somebody. You feel you've forgiven them, but you can't trust them, and so you tell yourself, I guess I'm not forgiven them. Look, forgiveness doesn't mean trusting. I've been hurt at least twice in ministry by guys who are very close to me. I considered them my armor bearers, my prayer partners.

I shared with them how God was moving in my life, some of my challenges, some of my struggles. I shared with them. And then um They get mad at me about something. They slice, dice, step in the back, and left.

Now it took a little time But I forgive, I honestly I forgive those guys. I love them and I bless them and I forgive them. But if they're to come back to our church and say, hey, I'd like to pick up where we left off, and we'd like to be your prayer partners again. I wouldn't do that. Because I don't trust you.

I've forgiven you. But I don't trust you. And it is possible to forgive somebody and not trust them again.

Okay? And let me give you one more. Forgiveness is not necessarily reconciliation. Paul says this in Romans 12:18. If it is possible, as much as it depends on you, live peaceably.

With everybody. Did you catch that? If it's possible, as much as it depends on you. But it always doesn't depend on you. Yeah.

That you split a relationship with. They hurt you. They cut you. And you forgive them, and you offer them forgiveness and reconciliation, and they're not interested.

Well, you can't force them to be reconciled, can you? And so, forgiveness may mean in that situation, I love you, I bless you, I forgive you, I love reconciliation, you're not interested, and so I just release you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Okay. Um So what is forgiveness? If forgiveness is not Forgetting, denial, pardoning, trusting, reconciliation. What is forgiveness? It helps to go back to the original language.

The Greek word is aphiome. It comes from two words: apo, which means away from. And he ame, which means to send off. You put it together. All right, here is forgiveness biblically.

The best way I can phrase it is this: to forgive is you let it go. I'm not. Here's Chad Harvey's definition. I don't know if we have this up on here. You may want to write this down.

This is my definition. I came out with it. It's mine. If you use it, I'll sue you. No, I'm joking.

All right.

So here's a definition of forgiveness. I let. The offense go. And I refuse to waste any more spiritual, emotional, or physical energy thinking about how somebody has hurt me. I let it go!

I ain't gonna spend any more time, any more energy, any more weight. I'm not gonna do it. I'm just letting it go. I'm gonna go on with my life. You know, I preached this several years ago.

D'Al remember this? And I had a wheelbarrow on this platform. And I said, this wheelbarrow represents your ability to handle offenses. And I had cinder blocks right down in the front here. One center block said mother-in-law, one center block said boss, one center block said Trump, one center block said Pastor Chad, one center block, I had all these cinder blocks.

And I had this wheelbarrow and I said, you know what? I remember that boss. Fired me. He had no right to fire me. I know he fired me to hire his little nephew, and I put that in my wheelbarrow.

And I picked up Pastor Chad's. Pastor Chad, I remember when he preached that sermon. I know he was talking about me, and I've never forgotten it. I put it in my wheelbarrow. Trump, I can't stand that guy.

I can't stand his tweets. I can't stand, and he put that in the wheelbarrow. My mother-in-law, I can't. When we got married, mom-in-law said this about me, I'll never forget it. And you put it in the whooper.

And so, y'all remember this? I had this wheelbarrow loaded down with cinder blocks. And I said, now I've been pushing around this This will bear on the platform. I'm getting tired. My back's hurting.

And I said, y'all want to know what forgiveness is? Do y'all remember this? I said, watch this. This is what forgiveness is right here. And I let the wheelbarrow down.

And I walked away. That's forgiveness right there. You just let it go. You know something It was very ironic. If some of you are mad at somebody for something they did 10 years ago, They have forgotten about it.

They've moved on to their life, and you're still holding on to this thing. You're the only one that's getting torn up by this thing. Forgiveness means you let it go.

Well, how did I do that, Jen? I want to forgive this person. Help me. How do I do it? Let me give you some hints.

That when I've had these seasons in my life where I've had to forgive somebody that's hurt me, some things that have helped me. Number one, how do I forgive? Here's what helps me: remind yourself of your own depravity. When I start looking into myself and realize how messed up I am, My bad attitudes, my bad actions, when I start realizing I'm pretty messed up myself, it helps me to forgive other people of their depravity. Every one of us is messed up.

Y'all do realize that, right? Y'all know who Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was? He wrote Sherlock Holmes. There's an urban legend about him. He loved practical jokes.

There's an urban legend about him. I said that Sir Arthur Conan Dole sent out a telegram. to 12 of his closest friends. And here's all the telegram said. It just sent out a telegram and said this.

They found out what you did. Flee immediately. And all 12 of his friends fled the country. Which tells me we all have something deep down inside that we know if you knew, you would understand, I'm a really messed up person. Remind yourself of your own depravity.

Number two, remind yourself of the cost of your unforgiveness. There are over 60 studies that show a link between unforgiveness. And physical sickness. Charles Kraft of Fuller Theological Seminary said, I have been in numerous deliverance sessions when somebody will come in with back pain. Joint pain, they're in all kinds of pain.

They've had this pain for a long time. And I lead them through a prayer of forgiveness. For somebody that's hurting them. And as soon as they pray that prayer. Immediately, the pain is gone.

Dr. Rita Hancock, who is a medical doctor writing in Christian Woman magazine, said she has seen a link between unforgiveness and some medical conditions like food allergies, fibromyalgia, arthritis, and intestinal disorders. In fact, I actually had a lady between services. I asked her for permission to share this. She said, Yeah, you can do it.

She says, yeah, you preached on unforgiveness a few years ago. She said, I had Crohn's disease, all kinds of intestinal stuff. I'd been in and out of doctors for years. And she said, I heard that sermon. And I forgave somebody that had hurt me.

And she said, when I prayed that prayer of forgiveness. The Crohn's disease and intestinal stuff went away and it's never come back. Yeah. Now look. You're not hurting anybody else but yourself through your bitterness.

Somebody told me this: unforgiveness is like you drinking poison. Looking at the other person, expecting them to drop dead. It ain't hurting them, it's hurting you. Um here's another thing that helps me with Forgiveness. Pray for the person.

You know, Jesus told us to do that. Bless those who hurt you.

Well, I don't feel like that. I don't feel like praying for them. Look, actions don't follow feelings, feelings follow action. You pray for that person, it's hard to stay bitter at somebody that you're praying for in Jesus' name. Here's another one.

Um stop Oh here uh three, I'm remind yourself. Of Christ's death on the cross. When I look at that man Beaten to within an inch of his life, his skin shredded off his body, hanging there naked for the whole world to see, in front of the whole world and his mama. When I see him suffering and gasping for his next breath, knowing my sin put him on the cross, and I can't forgive you for something you've done to me. There's something wrong.

Let me give you one more. Stop talking about the offense. If you want to forgive somebody, you got to stop telling everybody about it. In every church, in every small group, there'll be a man or a woman in every small group that sucks all the oxygen out of the room because every small group they remind everybody of how they've been done wrong and how somebody hurt them. We got it.

You told us. You've told us a hundred times. Maybe it's time to stop talking about the offense. In fact, in Genesis 45, There's a man named Joseph. who 22 years before he was beaten by his brothers.

Sold into slavery, made his life a living hell.

Now, 22 years later, He is the number two man in all of Egypt. and his brothers come in to visit him. And he recognizes the brothers. Brothers don't recognize him. And the first thing he did before he confronted the brothers, it says in Genesis 45, he tells everybody else.

Everybody else? out of the room. and shut the door behind you. I gotta talk to these guys one-on-one. At some point, you're going to have to deal with the person that hurts you.

They may accept your You're challenged, they may not. They may forgive you, they may not. You have to confront the person and forgive the person and then stop telling everybody about it. You're constantly talking about how this person hurts you, it keeps the offense alive. Y'all with me on that?

Okay. So I uh I don't know. I got to speak prophetically to somebody today.

Now, you don't believe I'm speaking prophetically unless I say, thus saith the Lord the God of hosts.

So, you ready? All right, thus saith the Lord the God of hosts. Let it go. It's just time to let it go. You've carried this offense around long enough.

It's 2025. Let it go. Move into 2026 with a fresh start, a new beginning. It's time to let it go.

Well, Chad, you say, let it go. Mama said I could have that dresser. And when she died, my cousin came in and she got the dresser that mama said I could have. And I've been going back and forth.

Okay, you can keep having this hillbilly white trash redneck argument going on and on and on. Or you can let the cousin have the drawer and it's hers and let it go. Isn't it worth your soul to let that dresser go and leave it behind? I got to say one more thing. I didn't manage my time well today, but I gotta say this.

Some of you Have forgiven that mama that has hurt you? Daddy, it's hurt you. Spouse that's hurt you, you've forgiven a lot of people for some wrongs done. But there's one person left That you can't seem to forgive. And that's you.

You did something really bad a long time ago. And you've asked the Lord's forgiveness, you've pled the blood of Jesus over it, you've repented of that sin, Jesus has forgiven you. But you can't forgive yourself. I was talking to a guy one time that he was just racked with guilt.

So what do you feel so guilty about? He said, my kids, adult kids are all messed up. And I think it's because I was such a bad parent. I said, no, you know, we as parents, we always blame ourselves. And he kind of told me his story and what kind of parent he was.

I was like, we.

Okay, actually, you're probably right. You probably did mess these kids up. But what do you do now? You've asked Jesus to forgive you. You've asked these kids to forgive you.

What else you gonna do? You gotta forgive yourself and just move on. Chad, I think. Our divorce. Mess these adult kids up.

These adult kids are dealing with all kinds of stuff, and you can trace it back to our divorce.

Well, what do you want to do? Stand here and tell you, oh no, it didn't impact the kids. It probably did impact the kids.

Now what are you going to do? You can buy you a DeLorean, make you a time machine, go back in time and try to fix everything. Or are you going to say, I can't unscramble that egg and I've asked for forgiveness and I'm so sorry, but I got to just move on with my life now. It's time to forgive yourself and just let it go. What else she gonna do?

What? Um The team always makes fun of me. I didn't realize this. I said, do you realize you close out 90% of your sermons with a morbid story? I didn't realize I did that.

So I'm going to do another one right now. You ready? In his book, The Enod, the ancient writer Virgil talks about an Etruscan king named Mezentius. He said, King Mazentius was a psychopath. And here's how sometimes he would.

Punish murderers. He would take the corpse of the person that was murdered. and chain it to the murderer. And at first, there was just a stench that kept everybody away. But then, as that body began to decompose, that decomposition began to infect.

the living host that it was Chain two. And as that body began to fall apart, that filth would start to infect the man that was chained to the corpse and it would eventually kill him.

Now, I'm being very descriptive because I want that image to be burned into your brain because some of y'all are chained to an offense that was done to you, a hurt that was done to you. You've been chained to that offense for five years, and it's starting to smell and it's starting to make you sick. It's time to let it go.

I want you to stand with me right now. If you've been hurt, If there's Damage done to you. Because of somebody else. You got two choices. You can carry that into 2026 and keep playing this game, or you can let it go today.

Um You know, sometimes we lift our hands in worship.

Sometimes we lift it and surrender. And so if you're tired of carrying that offense around, I want you right now to bow with me and take that. And just Cast that offense onto the Lord. Surrender it to Jesus. Um I want you to say something like this.

Other two services, I've said, you can just say it inside. I don't know, there's power in the spoken word. You don't have to shout this out, you can kind of say it under your breath. But I want you to do this now. As you hand that person over to the Lord, hand that offense over to the Lord, I want you to say something like this: I forgive.

and name that person. Father, I forgive my mama. Uh I forgive Dad for what he did to me. Doesn't excuse it, doesn't explain it, but I can't keep carrying this around, Father. I forgive him.

God, what happened to me at that workplace? That was horrible. I should not have been fired. That wasn't my fault. And I've been carrying that around for the last five years, God, but I can't keep carrying this around anymore.

God, I forgive that boss right now. Would you just right now give it over to the Lord? I. Forgive. That person.

Look at me right now. What you did was wrong. You have forgiven everybody else for what they've done. But you can't forgive yourself. I'll just I'll call it like it is.

What you did was wrong. But you've asked the Lord's forgiveness, you've repented, you've tried to make things right, you've done your best.

Now this book right there says, and the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us of how much unrighteousness? All unrighteousness.

So it's time to forgive yourself. Uh Chad, how can I forgive myself? Because God forgave you. Are you better than God? Your standards higher than God's standards?

When you tell me That sin I did cannot be forgiven. Can I just tell you what you've just told me? You've just said, my sin is more powerful than God. And, buddy, there ain't no sin out there that's more powerful than God.

So accept his forgiveness. Receive your forgiveness. You're probably going to live with a little bit of guilt for the rest of your life, and that's intentional. God wants this to hurt you just enough so you won't keep doing the same stupid stuff again and again. Mm.

But it's time to receive his forgiveness. Why? Why can he forgive you? Because two thousand years ago He took out his anger for you on his very son, Jesus Christ, at the cross. He treated Jesus as if Jesus committed that sin that has kept you up at night.

He treated Jesus as if he was guilty. Even though he knew no sin. We don't believe in double jeopardy in America. You can't be tried for the same crime twice. Jesus was tried for your crime, found guilty, sent to the cross, died in your place.

There is no more condemnation for you. Receive God's forgiveness and just go on with it, church. All because of the cross of Jesus Christ. Raise your hands and raise your voice and thank the Father now for the precious cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you for the cross.

And thank you for the prize. You came and bearing all my sin and shame and love, you came and came amazing birds. Thank you for this love and thank you for the deceased wash me in your cleansing love.

Now I know your forgiveness and worthy is the name seated on your throne crown you now with mercy. You reign victory on high end of Jesus, Son of God, the darling of heaven who sat by worthy is the message. Will God ask you to do something He's not willing to do it? Use that cube? I've committed the same thing over and over and over again.

I keep messing up. He's gonna stop forgiving me. Did you know Jesus taught this? Forgiveness is to be unlimited. I don't care how many times somebody hurts you, you forgive them if they ask for forgiveness.

Jesus is not going to hold you to a standard he's not willing to live up to.

So I want you to understand, when God looks at you, He doesn't see the sin. He doesn't see the mess up. He doesn't see the mistake. He doesn't see that. He sees the righteousness of Jesus Christ.

You are covered in the blood of Jesus if you're a born-again believer. And that's why. God said periodically my people need to be reminded of how I see them And that's why God said. Every now and then, I want the priest. to speak this over to the people.

The the Lord. Bless you, Vinny. God wants to bless you. He doesn't want to hurt you. He wants to bless you.

Lord wants to keep you. You know what that means? That means going to heaven is not your responsibility, it's your response to His ability. The Lord's one that's going to keep you. Lord's going to make his face to shine upon you, which means when God thinks about you, he does not scowl, he smiles.

God has not turned his back. against you, away from you. God wants to give you shalom. Peace, wholeness. God loves you more than you could ever imagine.

That's how God sees you because you've been forgiven, you've been washed, you're a new creation.

Now live like a new creation.

So raise your hands. And let me speed this over you once again. You ready? Bishmareka. I don't know.

Is saw adonai penabel. By a sim lecha shalom, which means cross assembly. The Lord bless you. The Lord keep you. Hi.

The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. And the Lord turn his countenance to you and give you a shalom, peace, wholeness, mind, body, soul, spirit. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, we pray. Amen and amen. God bless you, beloved.

Go change your world for Jesus Christ. God bless you. Yeah.