WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.100 Christ has forgiven you of every sin in your life. 2 00:00:04.100 --> 00:00:08.140 And so someone has said something or done something, maybe one thing, 3 00:00:08.900 --> 00:00:11.020 maybe a series of things in your life. 4 00:00:11.020 --> 00:00:15.680 Is that even comparable to how much Christ loves you? 5 00:00:16.059 --> 00:00:18.020 Did he forgave you of all your sins? 6 00:00:24.320 --> 00:00:27.660 If you watched episode one and gave your heart to Christ 7 00:00:28.200 --> 00:00:33.560 for the first time, or maybe you are giving your heart to Christ again 8 00:00:34.060 --> 00:00:37.100 because you haven't been walking close with Christ 9 00:00:37.100 --> 00:00:39.940 and you're beginning to really experience his forgiveness 10 00:00:40.200 --> 00:00:45.240 at a deep level for the first time, go to the Foundations series. 11 00:00:46.080 --> 00:00:48.840 That's here on Empower You. 12 00:00:49.280 --> 00:00:51.940 You can go to the descriptions, you can see the titles, 13 00:00:51.940 --> 00:00:56.180 but it's the Foundation series, and that will walk you through how to grow, 14 00:00:56.540 --> 00:01:00.240 how to grow as a believer in your newfound faith. 15 00:01:00.240 --> 00:01:04.080 And I know for a lot of people, they would say things like, 16 00:01:04.080 --> 00:01:07.860 Oh, I received Christ when I was 12 years old, 17 00:01:07.980 --> 00:01:10.220 or I was baptized when I was 14 years old. 18 00:01:10.760 --> 00:01:12.820 But your life hasn't been changed. 19 00:01:12.820 --> 00:01:14.460 You haven't been transformed. 20 00:01:14.460 --> 00:01:17.660 Probably I'm not going to be the judge and jury here, 21 00:01:17.900 --> 00:01:19.840 but probably you were not born again. 22 00:01:19.840 --> 00:01:24.400 You probably haven't fully grasped how to be a disciple of Christ. 23 00:01:24.420 --> 00:01:27.560 You're not experiencing God's power, 24 00:01:28.220 --> 00:01:31.500 his healing, forgiving love 25 00:01:32.000 --> 00:01:36.200 and your belovedness through having a new identity in Christ. 26 00:01:36.400 --> 00:01:39.540 Well, go to that Foundation series and it's going to help you grow in that. 27 00:01:40.280 --> 00:01:43.480 Well, today I want to talk about the great healer of relationships. 28 00:01:43.480 --> 00:01:44.720 That's forgiveness. 29 00:01:44.720 --> 00:01:49.120 Forgiveness is the great healer of our relationships. 30 00:01:49.280 --> 00:01:53.780 Unforgiveness is the great sickness of most relationships. 31 00:01:54.860 --> 00:01:57.960 I think we could argue that the biggest problem 32 00:01:57.960 --> 00:02:01.860 in most relationships between sons and daughters, 33 00:02:01.860 --> 00:02:05.100 student and teacher, athlete and coach, 34 00:02:06.140 --> 00:02:08.940 husband and wife is unforgiveness 35 00:02:09.500 --> 00:02:11.640 because everybody gets hurt. 36 00:02:11.640 --> 00:02:15.140 And we have times where we feel ripped off 37 00:02:16.040 --> 00:02:16.980 like it wasn't fair. 38 00:02:16.980 --> 00:02:18.220 And guess what? 39 00:02:18.220 --> 00:02:20.340 Everybody look at me right now. 40 00:02:20.620 --> 00:02:23.360 Life's not fair. 41 00:02:23.380 --> 00:02:24.780 And life is hard. 42 00:02:24.780 --> 00:02:25.580 It really is. 43 00:02:25.580 --> 00:02:28.720 And it's because demonic powers control. 44 00:02:28.720 --> 00:02:31.320 The God of this age controls this world. 45 00:02:31.620 --> 00:02:35.820 And so we're kind of we're kind of like in quicksand in this world 46 00:02:35.820 --> 00:02:39.460 where we're grasping for what will keep us from sinking down. 47 00:02:39.760 --> 00:02:43.200 And I'm telling you, the only thing that will keep us afloat 48 00:02:43.940 --> 00:02:47.640 in this world that can keep us moving forward in this world 49 00:02:48.080 --> 00:02:52.300 is Jesus Christ flowing through our spiritual bloodstream. 50 00:02:52.820 --> 00:02:55.720 So I want to talk today about how important it is 51 00:02:56.360 --> 00:03:00.520 that we not just get forgiven ourselves, 52 00:03:00.920 --> 00:03:02.860 but that we learn to forgive others. 53 00:03:02.860 --> 00:03:06.140 And Jesus makes one of the most radical statements 54 00:03:06.440 --> 00:03:08.900 of the New Testament. 55 00:03:08.900 --> 00:03:11.400 This is right after he gave us 56 00:03:12.240 --> 00:03:14.940 what we call classically the Lord's Prayer. 57 00:03:15.640 --> 00:03:17.580 So here's the Lord's Prayer. 58 00:03:17.580 --> 00:03:20.140 If you don't know, our father, who art in heaven, 59 00:03:20.760 --> 00:03:22.760 hallowed be thy name. 60 00:03:22.760 --> 00:03:26.360 Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. 61 00:03:26.660 --> 00:03:32.000 Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses 62 00:03:32.300 --> 00:03:36.000 as we forgive those who trespass against us. 63 00:03:36.040 --> 00:03:37.180 Let me say that again. 64 00:03:37.180 --> 00:03:42.780 Forgive us our sins as we forgive those 65 00:03:42.780 --> 00:03:44.880 who have sinned against us. 66 00:03:45.480 --> 00:03:48.480 Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil one. 67 00:03:48.900 --> 00:03:52.160 For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen. 68 00:03:52.160 --> 00:03:58.000 Then Jesus says this in verses 14 and 15 of Matthew six. 69 00:03:58.300 --> 00:04:01.880 For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, 70 00:04:02.740 --> 00:04:04.980 your heavenly father will forgive you. 71 00:04:05.920 --> 00:04:09.680 But if you do not forgive others their sins, 72 00:04:09.940 --> 00:04:13.660 your father will not forgive your sins. 73 00:04:14.360 --> 00:04:16.760 So this is really serious stuff to God 74 00:04:17.339 --> 00:04:20.079 that if you're not going to forgive others 75 00:04:20.079 --> 00:04:22.680 with the same kind of forgiveness that God gave to you, 76 00:04:23.040 --> 00:04:25.980 then God's not God's going to withhold his forgiveness to you. 77 00:04:26.640 --> 00:04:29.120 You say, well, Steve, that doesn't sound very fair. 78 00:04:29.440 --> 00:04:31.080 That doesn't sound like grace to me. 79 00:04:31.080 --> 00:04:33.520 I can't comment on that. 80 00:04:33.520 --> 00:04:35.820 I'm just telling you what Jesus said. 81 00:04:35.820 --> 00:04:37.900 Jesus said in the Lord's Prayer 82 00:04:38.700 --> 00:04:41.420 to forgive those who trespass against us. 83 00:04:42.320 --> 00:04:44.800 And we've all been trespassed against. 84 00:04:45.140 --> 00:04:47.040 Jesus is making a statement. 85 00:04:48.080 --> 00:04:51.440 He's actually I'm not sure he's making as much of a theological statement 86 00:04:51.440 --> 00:04:56.220 as an experiential statement that if you don't have the capacity 87 00:04:57.340 --> 00:04:58.520 to forgive others. 88 00:05:00.000 --> 00:05:06.400 Christ has forgiven you of every sin in your life and so someone is has said 89 00:05:06.400 --> 00:05:11.400 something or done something maybe one thing maybe a series of things in your 90 00:05:11.400 --> 00:05:17.760 life is that even comparable to how much Christ loves you that he forgave you of 91 00:05:17.760 --> 00:05:24.200 all your sins what that says to me and this is true of me too is that when I've 92 00:05:24.200 --> 00:05:29.920 withheld forgiveness to others it's because of an erroneous understanding of 93 00:05:29.920 --> 00:05:36.840 Christ's forgiveness of me so I've had to go back and get in touch with what 94 00:05:36.840 --> 00:05:44.880 Christ did on the cross what Christ did by resurrection from the dead in my life 95 00:05:44.880 --> 00:05:48.640 for me to be able to extend forgiveness to someone over here who's only done a 96 00:05:48.640 --> 00:05:53.160 couple things maybe even a series of things that are bad but nothing compared 97 00:05:53.160 --> 00:06:00.000 to the affront of my life to God and yet God forgives me so I want to tell you a 98 00:06:00.000 --> 00:06:05.680 story of how I worked through a really big issue of relational unforgiveness in 99 00:06:05.680 --> 00:06:13.720 my life I had planted a church and this church had grown into the thousands and 100 00:06:13.720 --> 00:06:18.840 one day one of the elders came to me after I had spoken at a meeting called 101 00:06:18.840 --> 00:06:24.720 me into my office and basically told me I was going to be on a six-month forced 102 00:06:24.720 --> 00:06:32.920 sabbatical because of basically my leadership style and I couldn't believe 103 00:06:32.920 --> 00:06:38.240 it and then as the the weeks and months went by I began to realize more and more 104 00:06:38.240 --> 00:06:43.120 that they had someone else in mind to take over and there was probably a 105 00:06:43.120 --> 00:06:47.440 pretty good chance I wasn't going to come back as the pastor and I felt so 106 00:06:47.440 --> 00:06:55.120 angry and hurt and beaten down by these circumstances and if you saw the movie 107 00:06:55.120 --> 00:07:02.440 Forrest Gump you may remember the scene where his girlfriend Jenny had come back 108 00:07:02.440 --> 00:07:08.040 to him and they had this period of a few weeks it seemed like weeks or months of 109 00:07:08.040 --> 00:07:15.840 an idyllic relationship and their love was rekindled and then one night Jenny 110 00:07:15.920 --> 00:07:23.400 leaves and the next morning Forrest wakes up and he's pretty depressed and 111 00:07:23.400 --> 00:07:28.160 down and the scene begins with him sitting on the porch kind of like I'm 112 00:07:28.160 --> 00:07:35.400 sitting here and he's got his his shrimp hat on and he's got his Nike shoes on 113 00:07:35.400 --> 00:07:42.280 and he's just sitting there and the way the the movie depicts it is he just gets 114 00:07:42.280 --> 00:07:50.360 up and he says for no particular reason I just began to run and it shows him 115 00:07:50.360 --> 00:07:54.640 running down that long driveway at his house and then turning left and running 116 00:07:54.640 --> 00:07:58.000 into his town and then running across the county and then running across the 117 00:07:58.000 --> 00:08:04.520 state if you recall that part of the movie he he runs across the United 118 00:08:04.520 --> 00:08:11.400 States five times one day I got out during this time of this for sabbatical 119 00:08:11.400 --> 00:08:17.920 and really for no particular reason I put on some some boots and began to walk 120 00:08:17.920 --> 00:08:25.560 and walk and walk and for the next five years I walked every day and every day 121 00:08:25.560 --> 00:08:32.799 that I walked I pronounced forgiveness over the men who had hurt me and who had 122 00:08:32.799 --> 00:08:35.840 betrayed me or at least I felt they betrayed they probably have a different 123 00:08:35.840 --> 00:08:41.039 version of that but I'm telling you from my vantage point what I felt and yet I 124 00:08:41.200 --> 00:08:48.640 didn't feel that forgiveness all I can tell you is that intellectually I was 125 00:08:48.640 --> 00:08:55.440 forgiving but I didn't feel forgiveness in my heart and I just assumed that I 126 00:08:55.440 --> 00:08:59.040 didn't need to feel it and I would probably say that in some cases that's 127 00:08:59.040 --> 00:09:05.640 absolutely true but I was on a bear hunt up in Uray Colorado and I got up like 128 00:09:05.640 --> 00:09:10.160 430 in the morning to go on this hunt I was in this room I was staying in a guy 129 00:09:10.160 --> 00:09:15.680 on a guy's ranch and the Holy Spirit all I can say is that the Holy Spirit 130 00:09:15.680 --> 00:09:20.520 came into the room and knocked me to the floor I felt his presence just fill the 131 00:09:20.520 --> 00:09:26.520 room and for the next 90 minutes I just lay on this hardwood floor and just 132 00:09:26.520 --> 00:09:33.920 cried out to God and wept and and all I can say is that I began to experience 133 00:09:33.960 --> 00:09:44.880 new freedom that I began to to really be able to forgive from my heart those 134 00:09:44.880 --> 00:09:50.920 men who had hurt me and I began to forgive myself too at the same time for 135 00:09:50.920 --> 00:09:56.080 harboring unforgiveness toward those because I had the guilt of that also and 136 00:09:56.080 --> 00:10:01.960 I was healed that day I was healed 137 00:10:00.000 --> 00:10:08.360 And it was like a tipping point of God's grace in my life that all those days, all those 138 00:10:08.360 --> 00:10:16.440 months and years of seeking forgiveness had finally tipped over with, I think, the tears 139 00:10:16.440 --> 00:10:20.560 of my heart released back into my heart. 140 00:10:20.560 --> 00:10:23.420 And I was released completely. 141 00:10:23.420 --> 00:10:24.420 And it's never returned. 142 00:10:24.420 --> 00:10:29.640 And that was like five years ago, just completely released of unforgiveness. 143 00:10:29.640 --> 00:10:36.020 And so when I came back to my city from the hunt, I went to each one of those people and 144 00:10:36.020 --> 00:10:43.300 I sat down and I asked them for forgiveness for me having unforgiveness toward them. 145 00:10:43.300 --> 00:10:45.580 And I've been set free ever since. 146 00:10:45.580 --> 00:10:50.140 And so, men and women, it's possible, it really is possible, no matter what someone's done 147 00:10:50.140 --> 00:10:57.540 to you, however you've been treated, to be released from the power of unforgiveness. 148 00:10:57.540 --> 00:11:04.060 James 5.16, we read, therefore, confess your sins to each other and pray for each other 149 00:11:04.060 --> 00:11:06.620 so that you may be healed. 150 00:11:06.620 --> 00:11:09.380 That's the key. 151 00:11:09.380 --> 00:11:13.300 Sometimes we need to confess our sins to people to be healed. 152 00:11:13.300 --> 00:11:21.660 We have to verbalize that we're forgiving someone, that we verbalize that we don't want 153 00:11:21.660 --> 00:11:26.340 to be under the yoke of unforgiveness anymore. 154 00:11:26.340 --> 00:11:29.300 And then it says, we'll be healed. 155 00:11:29.300 --> 00:11:37.140 And I think some of us, you know, we think that by harboring unforgiveness towards someone, 156 00:11:37.140 --> 00:11:38.500 somehow that's hurting them. 157 00:11:38.500 --> 00:11:41.900 I'm not going to forgive them for what they've done. 158 00:11:41.900 --> 00:11:43.240 Well, who's that hurting? 159 00:11:43.240 --> 00:11:45.780 They don't care about you anyway, most of the time. 160 00:11:45.780 --> 00:11:47.100 They've moved on with their life. 161 00:11:47.100 --> 00:11:50.540 And if you're worried about what people think about you, quit worrying about it, because 162 00:11:50.540 --> 00:11:54.020 most people aren't thinking about you at all. 163 00:11:54.020 --> 00:12:02.380 And so, to release forgiveness to someone is to take it out of your heart. 164 00:12:02.380 --> 00:12:05.580 You're the one who's got the burden of unforgiveness. 165 00:12:05.580 --> 00:12:06.580 They don't. 166 00:12:06.580 --> 00:12:09.460 They don't, in most cases, even care about you. 167 00:12:09.460 --> 00:12:10.540 But that's not the issue. 168 00:12:10.540 --> 00:12:17.140 The issue is, are you going to let that person and their actions have power over you by you 169 00:12:17.140 --> 00:12:21.580 harboring unforgiveness toward them, or are you going to say, you know, I'm not going 170 00:12:21.580 --> 00:12:29.620 to let their power rule over my heart anymore, I'm releasing them, I'm being released, I 171 00:12:29.620 --> 00:12:30.620 forgive them in the name of Jesus. 172 00:12:30.620 --> 00:12:35.820 Now, let me just say this, just because you forgive someone doesn't mean you trust someone. 173 00:12:35.820 --> 00:12:41.660 So you may, there's people in my life I do not trust, but I have forgiven them. 174 00:12:41.660 --> 00:12:45.300 They have no power over me. 175 00:12:45.300 --> 00:12:48.300 Ephesians 4, 31 and 32, we read, 176 00:12:48.300 --> 00:12:55.980 Get rid of all bitterness, rage, and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form 177 00:12:55.980 --> 00:12:57.460 of malice. 178 00:12:57.460 --> 00:13:05.420 Rather, be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other just as Christ forgave 179 00:13:05.420 --> 00:13:06.420 you. 180 00:13:06.420 --> 00:13:14.980 Men and women, the only way to walk in forgiveness is to replace those things that hinder your 181 00:13:14.980 --> 00:13:18.900 forgiveness with the fruit of the Spirit. 182 00:13:18.900 --> 00:13:29.100 So replace bitterness with kindness, replace rage with compassion, replace anger with forgiveness. 183 00:13:29.100 --> 00:13:34.060 That's the only way to walk in this kind of freedom, but you'll start getting healed. 184 00:13:34.060 --> 00:13:38.420 You will really start getting healed, and that's what my next message is about, is that 185 00:13:38.420 --> 00:13:44.180 there's power in forgiveness for even healing your body. 186 00:13:44.180 --> 00:13:50.700 Even healing you mentally, emotionally, and physically, because you've been spiritually 187 00:13:50.700 --> 00:13:51.700 healed. 188 00:13:51.700 --> 00:13:52.700 So that's my next episode. 189 00:13:52.700 --> 00:13:54.300 That's the next thing I'm going to share. 190 00:13:54.300 --> 00:13:57.820 But the reality is your soul gets healed. 191 00:13:57.820 --> 00:13:59.580 Your heart gets healed. 192 00:13:59.580 --> 00:14:07.500 Your future gets healed by making things right with people where you can, but releasing forgiveness 193 00:14:07.500 --> 00:14:12.500 to those people that have hurt you, and not letting unforgiveness hinder you from the 194 00:14:12.500 --> 00:14:14.220 great destiny that God has for you.