He's trying to make good afternoon everybody and welcome to steadfast baptist church everybody here if we could find our seats
We will be started once we found a seat. Let's grab a hymnal. I'll go together song number
397
197 song number nine seven as much
song number
397
Let's open up the service. We love you so much
We just thank you once again for this great church for the great opportunity this evening to go so wanting for you Lord
And thank you souls that were one unto you bless them bless this church bless the singing and it's in Jesus name that we ask
It our next song. Let's go to song number
122 tension this morning. We sung it sounded like a lot of people picked up on it song
122 Oh God our help the newer song to most of us
But if you know it's singing out real well
Steadfast Baptist Church if you didn't get a bulletin already and you'd like one just let your hand nice and high we have our
Bible memory passage Romans chapter 10 insides our service and soul winning times church stats
Please make sure to send in that information if you can collect emails out soul winning. That's a great opportunity
Just indicate if it is a Spanish only in the chat
That's a Spanish only email on the right is the list of expecting ladies
Please be in prayer for them upcoming events, Texas A&M College soul winning marathon February 27th brother Diego's helping lead this
What time are you gonna do the Friday? I'm just kind of curious 4 p.m. On Friday
So if you want to do the late afternoon Friday, and then it's gonna be like a full-day Saturday
So that's gonna be the 28th even if you can't make the Friday
Of course, you're still welcome to do either or both or whatever you can make A&M is actually a pretty receptive area
I've been there a few times soul winning and it's a pretty good opportunity
Kids choir practice is gonna begin March 1st
So if you have some kiddos that would like to participate in our Easter choirs ages 4 to 17
And that's gonna begin practice after the evening services on March 1st
Do you have the baby shower for the Foley's on the 7th Carthage, Texas?
So any marathon meet March 21st, but the same if you have any questions
You can ask him about that
So any mega marathon April 4th each or Sunday April 5th and then the kids choirs are gonna perform for us on that Easter morning
One event that's not in the bulletin that we just kind of decided last minute
totally optional but
Not this Friday, but the next Friday. We're just gonna have like an in-house
Movie night, so I kind of was working on a mini
movie project called man of God and
It's just kind of like an interesting fun little project if you want to watch it in-house
We're just gonna have it at the church 8 p.m.
So we might have some candy or something like that to throw at the kids
No, I'm just kidding. But if you want to watch it, it's basically the film is just um, it's just kind of like a storyline
My friend pastor Anderson and just a lot of his preaching that he's done over the years some of the big topics that he's covered
And and just testimonials about you know him and his ministry and things like that
But honestly, it's a pretty cool little story line
Just kind of like following, you know a lot of the things that he's gone through
He's just preaching and just the importance of soul winning and stuff like that
So if you'd like to participate all you have to do show up
Who's interested in even coming and doing something like that? Just kind of get an idea. Okay, and of course
You're welcome to come. I'll probably try to do like a Baptist bias episode here at the church just right before but
We should have our projector up. We did one for our sodomite deception movie in Hearst like four years
What is that six years ago? Sorry, it's been a while time flies
So we'll just we'll end up doing that and so if you'd like to participate you can we'll try to create a guest Wi-Fi
So you can still follow the chat if you want to follow it on your phone
So it'll be a live interactive experience. All right
And if there's anything you don't like about the film just blame brother ben. So that's that's uh, that's basically who you can blame
Um anything that was good, you know, that was no i'm just kidding
Baby shower details are on the back and then uh prayer list
Please keep our church in your prayers. We have the insert here for the congratulations to the canaries and the birth of their son
alexander castilian
He was born on the 12th 8 30 a.m
8.9 pounds 20 and a half inches long. So congratulations to them. That's really all I got for announcements
We'll go ahead and sing our psalm of the week psalm 117 if you got your psalm binder psalm 117
Oh, the only other thing I was going to say is we had some leftover marriage booklets
Um, it's it's pretty self-guided
So if you didn't participate and you just want one just please grab them take them
Um, if we run out just let me know I think we still have some more even in our storage
But they're just there for the taking if you'd like one all right that was psalm 117
psalm 117 and we'll sing it
As the offering plates are being passed around go and open your bibles to the book of matthew chapter 18. That's matthew
Chapter number 18 if you chapter teen follow along as we read the chapter
The bible says at the same time came the disciples unto jesus saying who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?
And jesus called a little child unto him and set him in the midst of them and said verily I say unto you
Except ye be converted and become as little children ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven
Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child the same as greatest in the kingdom of heaven
And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me
But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me it were better for him that a millstone were
Hanged about his neck and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea
Woe unto the world because of offenses for it must needs be that offenses come
But woe to that man by whom the offense cometh wherefore if thy hand or thy foot offend thee
Cut them off and cast them from thee. It is better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed
Rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire
And if thine eye offend thee pluck it out and cast it from thee
It is better for thee to enter into life with one eye rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire
Take heed that you despise not one of these little ones for I say unto you that in heaven their angels
Do always behold the face of my father which is in heaven for the son of man has come to save that which was lost
How think ye if a man have an hundred sheep and one of them be gone astray
Does he not leave the ninety and nine and goeth into the mountains and seeketh that which is gone astray
And if so be that he find it verily I say unto you
He rejoiceth more of that sheep than of the ninety and nine which went not astray
Even so it is not the will of your father which is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish
Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee
Go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone if he shall hear thee thou has gained thy brother
But if he will not hear thee then take with thee one or two more that in the mouth of two or three witnesses
Every word may be established and if he neglect to hear them tell it under the church
But if you neglect to hear the church let him be under the as an heathen man and a publican
Verily I say unto you whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven
And whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven again
I say unto you that if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask
It shall be done for them of my father
Which is in heaven for where two or three are gathered together in my name
There am I in the midst of them then came peter to him and said lord
How oft shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him till seven times
Jesus sayeth unto him. I say not unto thee until seven times
But until seventy times seven therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king
Which would take account of his servants and when he had begun to reckon one was brought unto him
Which owed him ten thousand talents but for as much as he had not to pay
His lord commanded him to be sold and his wife and children and all that he had
And payment to be made the servant therefore fell down and worshiped him saying lord
Have patience with me and I will pay thee all then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion and loosed him
And forgave him the debt but the same servant went out and found one of his fellow servants
Which owed him a hundred pence and he laid hands on him and took him by the throat
Saying pay me that thou owest and his fellow servant fell down at his feet and besought him saying have patience with me
And I will pay thee all and he would not but went and cast him into prison till he should pay the debt
So when his fellow servant saw what was done
They were very sorry and came and told their lord all that was done
Then his lord after that he had called him said unto him. Oh thou wicked servant
I forgave thee all that debt because thou desirest me shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellow servant
Even as I had pity on thee and his lord was wroth
And delivered him to the tormentors till he should pay all that was due unto him
So likewise shall my heavenly father do also unto you if ye from your hearts forgive not everyone his brother their trespasses
Let us pray. Do heavenly father. Thank you for steadfast baptist church. Thank you for the word of god
I pray that you would please bless pastor shelly as he preaches your word to us
We love you. Please help us to be better christians for you in jesus name. Amen. Amen
I want to preach a sermon this evening on the concept of forgiveness and it's mentioned really heavily
At the latter portion of this particular chapter and it may not be the most exciting
Subject ever but at the end of the day
This is an important subject that we as christians have to really think about and be reminded about the importance of forgiving
Now here in verse 21 it says then came peter to him and said lord how oft
Shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him till seven times
So, you know even peter has an attitude of being forgiving. He's like, hey, i'll forgive him seven times
Is that enough but then jesus saith unto him I say not unto thee until seven times but until seventy times seven
Of course from a legalistic perspective. We're not saying that it's actually 490 and that at the 490 first
You're good to go
Obviously jesus christ is just kind of using this hyperbole of 490 to basically say
Hey as often as someone is asking for forgiveness and seeking true forgiveness. We should just let it go
We're not keeping score is basically the essence of what jesus is really trying to say here
By this implication and he gives a parable. He gives a story kind of interesting
A lot of studies have been done that people pay better attention to learning information through stories
Than just lecture just information. Of course jesus uses a lot of parables uses a lot of stories to communicate
Spiritual truths now here in this chapter. He kind of finishes with this story says in verse number 23
Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened to a certain king which would take account of his servants now
The kingdom of heaven in the bible is just if you really think about it
It's just talking about this christianity
It's just those who are saved and the work of the lord. This is kind of the concept of the kingdom of heaven
Okay
Now he says here in verse 24 and when he had begun to reckon one was brought unto him which owed him
10,000 talents
But for as much as he had not to pay his lord commanded him to be sold and his wife and his children and all that
He had and payment to be made the servant therefore fell down and worshiped him saying lord have patience with me
And I'll pay thee all then the lord of that servant was moved to the compassion and loosed him and forgave him the debt
But the same servant went out and found one of his fellow
Servants which owed him a hundred pence and he laid hands on him and took him by the throat saying pay me the fellowist
And his fellow servant fell down at his feet and beside him saying have patience with me
And I'll pay thee all and he would not but went and cast him into prison till he should pay the debt
So when his fellow servant saw what was done, they were very sorry and came and told unto their Lord all that was done
Then his Lord after he had called him said on him. Oh thou wicked servant
I forgave thee all that debt because thou desiredest me shouldest not thou also have had
compassion on my fellow servant even as I had pity on thee and his Lord has wrought and delivered him to the tormentors
Till he should pay all that was due unto him
So likewise shall my heavenly father do also unto you if you from your hearts forgive not
Everyone his brother their trespasses now in a parable we have to understand that not everything's always gonna
directly relate to the
Application or the principles that Jesus is illustrating
But we have to take the big picture from a big picture perspective
We can kind of look at the story is God communicating a spiritual truth
Kingdom of heaven being the saved talking about the kingdom of God who is the King? It's God God would be illustrated in this story or this
Parable as the King then we have someone who owes God a great debt that could picture anybody that saved
Because at the end of the day from our transgression perspective from our sin debt perspective
We all owe God a great debt and when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ
We got saved and he forgave us of all of our debt and since God has forgiven us so much more debt
Than any single person could ever have trespassed against you
then we should have a similar attitude of being willing to forgive debts of
People that owe us in the sense that no one has transgressed against you as much as you
Transgressed against God and in the story this particular servant owes the king a ton of money
I mean he owes him so much more than quote his fellow servant owed and in verse 24 notice this which owed him
10,000 talents. So the amount that this guy owed to the king is 10,000 talents, right?
Then later it says in verse 28 the fellow servant owed him a hundred pence
so just from an order of magnitude the debt owed is just
insignificant in comparison to what he owed the king and the king forgave him this great debt
Just to illustrate again our debt that we owed to God from a sin debt perspective
just as an order of magnitude way bigger than anybody could potentially be towards us or any
Transgressions or anything they've done unto us. So what is the illustration if we simply go to God and say God
Please forgive me of my sins and give me salvation and he does that to anybody who believes in him
Then if someone were to trespass against us and say hey, I'm sorry. Will you please forgive me?
We should for sure give them that forgiveness because it's way less of a trespass
It's way less of a transgression than simply what we've done unto God. This is the parable that's being illustrated
This this is kind of the concept that's being
Articulated notice again that in the particular story both kind of do the same thing don't they they fall down in verse 26
He fell down and said have patience with me and I will pay the all as we see in verse 29
Have patience with me and I will pay the all so it's like the exact same response the exact same
Attitude and yet he doesn't have the same level of forgiveness as the king did he's not
Modeling the king's level of forgiveness
So, you know we have to understand is that God will often treat us as we treat other people
The way that we interact with one another is often how God will interact with us and while he did forgive him this debt
You know again, we have to understand that God can still cloud up and rain on you in your individual life
You know we sometimes don't get punished as we deserved in this life. We sin against God. We make mistakes
We do things that are bad and sometimes you kind of don't get a punishment apart from just feeling bad
Recognizing you sin and God dealing with your heart and you feeling chastised in your heart
Sometimes we don't receive the physical consequences for all of our trespasses
You know, this is why I typically don't have a negative attitude
I try not to when I get a ticket because if I know how many times I actually
Deserved a ticket so that if I actually ever even got one
I realize I'm not even being punished as I deserve if I was punished as I deserved I would have no money
I would be in huge debt for amount of tickets that I probably deserve as many times as I've you know
Rolled through a stop sign as many times as I was speeding as many times as I was, you know
Didn't signal as I switched lanes
I mean if you actually understood driving laws at a technical level
It's pretty similar to how we is how we are as Christians in our sin life that we sin way more than we realize
Like if a cop really wants to give you a ticket
He could probably find a reason that you didn't you know follow every single driving statute perfectly
You know cops in a lot of ways are pretty gracious. You're going a few miles over the speed limit
They typically won't pull you over you even roll through a stop. Sometimes. They won't pull you over
I mean I've seen a guy pull right in front of a cop slam on his brakes on the middle of the highway and the cop didn't pull him over and I was just thinking like wow I remember looking at my brother and I was like what do you have to do to get pulled over in this this area and he's like they're looking for the people that are high while driving there's a guy with like a pipe over on the side I was like okay well that's the guy but you know obviously when you live in a high crime area typically the cops aren't pulling you over for little stuff you live in a small town boy you better not be going two miles over the speed limit that's why you have to be careful
when you're driving through the small towns in Texas they will set up speed traps and
they will give you a ticket okay that's what they live by that's your holier than
thou's all right you want to stay away from it's the small churches in the small towns
all right you know it's paid him as the same group you know you go to the big church and
they're a little bit more gracious for some reason all right but at the end of the day
you know if someone asks for forgiveness if someone's seeking for forgiveness as a Christian
principle we are obligated to forgive them that is what the Bible teaches and if we don't
God will sometimes hold us accountable and will punish us as we do deserve I don't want
God to punish me as I deserve for my sins I want grace I want long-suffering I want
mercy I want charity from God so therefore I ought to extend the same grace mercy and
charity towards my brethren if I want God to show that towards me now go if you would
do Matthew chapter 6 Psalm 25 says this look upon mine affliction and my pain and forgive
all my sins you know praise God that we can ask God to forgive us of all our sins and
he does not even just our current past sins our future sins as well when we believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ all of our sins have been forgiven us now in the Lord's prayer
think about what this says Matthew 6 step 12 and forgive us our debts as we forgive
our debtors we have to understand that when we talk about forgiveness there's kind of
two angles that are important to differentiate from when you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
you're saved you cannot go to hell you can never lose your salvation and from a sense
a timeless sense when you stand before God your sins are not going to be brought up they've
been forgiven but since we still live in the flesh we're still on this earth God may still
give us consequences for our sins while on earth in this body and so we may not necessarily
receive you know a forgiveness from the consequences of our actions while on earth and so there's
still a daily need for asking for forgiveness right I still if I trespass against God I'm
still going to get on my knees in the morning and say hey God will you please forgive me
for doing this and please don't punish me as I deserve please give me grace please help
me to get over this please not let me suffer you know any consequences for this I'm still
gonna I'm gonna still ask for that I'm not asking to go to heaven I'm asking to be relieved
of consequences punishments and whatever on this earth in this life for my transgressions
but notice that this daily prayer notice that this example prayer is hey forgive me as I'm
forgiving other people so if you're not forgiving other people if you're not treating them the
right way boy it's gonna be a lot harder to ask God to treat you this way and you don't
want to be the guy that's grabbing his neighbor by the throat and saying pay me that thou
owe us when you know that's how God's gonna be treating you in this life I don't want
that I want God to be very merciful very kind to me and very gracious and very long suffering
and so therefore I can say you know if I'm forgiving my my brethren I can say to God
hey forgive me like I'm forgiving my brethren look at verse 15 but if you forgive not men
their trespasses neither will your father forgive your trespasses now that's kind of
a scary verse if you think about it God is saying if you do not give forgiveness to people
if you do not let things go with people God will will for sure not let it go with you
you're basically just saying hey God please punish me exactly as I deserve God I only
want justice every sin that I commit tomorrow I want to be punished exactly as I deserve
it tomorrow that's what you're begging God to do when you won't forgive your brother
or your sister in Christ on this earth because did you see what the did you read it let's
read it again all right but if you forgive not men their trespasses neither will your
father forgive your trespasses that's a promise just like John 3 16 is a promise he's saying
hey you don't want to forgive people fine that's how I'll treat you that is not what
I want God to treat me like I want God to be very merciful very kind to me and very
patient with me going to mark chapter number 11 go to mark chapter number 11 let's read
some more of this but this is a this is a big deal the major theme in the Bible forgiveness
is a big concept and the Bible again emphasizes that if someone asks for forgiveness if someone
has genuine repentance we are obligated we are commanded to forgive them now I'm not
saying that we just forgive people no matter what that doesn't really make sense plus
there would be no caveats in the Bible obviously the Bible doesn't escape from carnal consequences
to certain things you know if someone commits murder and they say sorry you still execute
them as a society there's not like oh we're gonna let this go okay so we want to get the
proper context you know the Bible talks about in first John chapter number five there is
a sin which is unto death I do not say he shall pray for it and the Bible says that
hey you should pray to give life unto your brethren you should pray for good for your
brethren you should ask for grace for your brethren but the Bible says thine eye shall
not pity in a capital punishment scenario so we have to get everything in context we're
not saying let's forgive rapists and murderers and pedophiles and just not execute them according
to the law of course those people should be executed we're talking about your daily interactions
with your brothers and sisters in Christ where they trespass against you they do things
that you don't like they may even harm you they may even defraud you if they come to
you in genuine repentance and ask and seek for forgiveness how often do you forgive them
every time just every single time you are to forgive them mark chapter 11 verse 25 and
when you stand praying forgive if you have ought against any that your father also which
is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses verse 26 but if you do not forgive neither
will your father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses notice again the ironclad
guarantee from God that if you don't forgive he won't forgive go to Luke chapter six go
to Luke chapter number six there's a there's a lot of New Testament and a lot of Jesus
you know read letters on this particular subject but again it's the whole Bible we need to
make sure that we are letting things go that we're forgiving people you can see why it's
it's really upsetting to God like this is a doctrine that makes God upset because think
about how he says like I forgave you so much how can you not then have forgiveness towards
other people when it's it's a hundred pence you owed me ten thousand talents again and
these numbers are kind of like obscure to us because we don't really use these type
of measurements but it's like someone forgave you ten million dollars and you're holding
someone you know some something over someone's head for a hundred bucks it's like wow can't
you just let it go or be kind or be patient with someone they owe you a hundred bucks
you just got forgiven ten million dollars I mean it just it just it makes that guy mad
when he sees someone not having an attitude of grace look chapter six verse thirty seven
judge not and you should not be judged condemn not and you should not be condemned forgive
and ye shall be forgiven notice our forgiveness is often in response to our forgiveness verse
chapter seven look at verse forty seven chapter seven verse forty seven the bible says wherefore
I say unto thee her sins which are many are forgiven for she loved much but to whom little
is forgiven the same loveth little another aspect of forgiveness which is interesting
is the person that has been forgiven a lot should naturally speaking actually have more
appreciation and more love not being more upset with those that are you know trespassing
against them you know and again this this is kind of an interesting principle go to
Luke 17 we'll go there in a minute Luke chapter number 17 but obviously I don't think you
have to be a wicked person to love God a lot and I don't I think that's kind of sometimes
twisted in this passage I think honestly it's more about like recognizing in the Bible how
sinful we really are will sometimes give you a greater appreciation of of how much God's
actually done for you and and unfortunately a lot of people just don't think that God
you know needs to save them because they feel like they're so holy and so righteous but
when you read the Bible you start to recognize wow I really have a lot of issues but just
generally speaking someone that has had a rough life someone that has gone down a bad
path and God delivers them from that and changes their life many times you'll see those people
being very zealous for the things of God you can see a lot of people having rough pasts
in the Bible being used greatly by God and so you know it's not like there's a problem
with having a great testimony you have people in the Bible have great testimonies and they
serve God great and then you have people with bad lives and then radical transformations
God uses them God can use anybody but it's just crazy that if someone has a bunch of
sins forgiven someone has a rough past is going to go around and be the most judgmental
the most condemning and the least forgiving it just really rubs God the wrong way you
know if God's forgiven you a lot then you better forgive other people you know the Lord's
prayers repeated in Luke chapter 11 I'll just say this and forgive us our sins as we forgive
or before we also forgive everyone that is indebted to us so again we forgive people
like God's forgiven us Luke 17 verse 3 take heed to yourselves if thy brother trespass
against thee notice this rebuke him what is the first response the first response is to
rebuke him but what does it say and if you repent forgive him there's nothing wrong with
being upset with someone when they upset you when they trespass against you calling them
out saying this is wrong you shouldn't say this you shouldn't lie about me you shouldn't
rail on me you shouldn't stab my tires right you shouldn't rip me off you shouldn't steal
from me you shouldn't stab me in the back you shouldn't gossip about me you shouldn't
tell bear about me right there's nothing wrong hey you shouldn't say that about me right
there's nothing wrong with addressing sin there's nothing wrong with rebuking someone
there's nothing wrong with saying this is wrong you did this wrong you're you're wrong
you know there's nothing wrong with calling them out but if they say hey I'm sorry hey
you're right please forgive me what does the Bible then command you must repent you must
forgive them sorry you must forgive if they repent if he repents forgive him verse four
and if he trespass against these seven times in a day and seven times in a day turn again
to thee saying I repent thou shalt forgive him that's crazy you know now again you could
get a little suspicious he punches you and then he's like I'm sorry like all right it's
okay bam you know just like eventually you might be like I don't know how sincere this
is right so I do think that we have to be honest with the text that this is talking
about a genuine repentance but if he genuinely repents you are obligated to forgive them
and to not allow bitterness to consume you not taught this is not about the sermon I've
taught in times past if someone trespasses against you you rebuke them and they don't
seek they don't say sorry they don't get it right okay it's still genuinely good to try
and let those things go and not just harbor them and just like dwell upon them and think
about them because this is going to cause you problems it's sometimes best to just kind
of try and get over it yourself but you're not going to restore fellowship you're not
going to restore the relationship it's not going to be the same unless they repent the
repentance is necessary and even if you know they repent if it's a big enough transgression
it might have always permanently severed your relationship with that individual there might
always be a scar there there might always be a new boundary there there might always be
some kind of an issue but you'd still have to forgive them we'll talk about what that
looks like number go to Ephesians 4 go to Ephesians chapter 4 I'll just read for you
Colossians 3 says this for bearing one another and forgiving one another if any man have
a quarrel against any even as Christ forgave you so also do ye so according to the Bible
as Christ forgave you you forgive people it doesn't matter what it is it doesn't matter
how petty it doesn't matter how little it doesn't matter what we should not allow ourselves
to harbor ill will towards each other and this is all relationships we could look at
any relationship you know marriage being the most intimate relationship that you could
possibly have the closest bond you're ever going to have you don't want to allow unforgiveness
to be in your relationship all issues should be resolved all issues should be let go of
all issues should be taken care of you know we had a marriage workshop that we did you
could even use our books it's like the first step I even have it's like you got to address
any problems you have you got to seek forgiveness and you got to get rid of that stuff bitterness
will destroy every relationship and of course the most important relationship being your
marriage you cannot allow unforgiveness to go on you know just happen in that relationship
you know unforgiveness in a family whether it be a son a father a mother an uncle whoever
you got to let that stuff go you got to resolve that issues you got to fix these things you
cannot allow that stuff to just go on without dealing with them and of course the longer
you just go without resolving issues the bigger that bitterness snowball gets and it can just
really crush things and really cause a lot of problems at work with your boss at church
with brothers and sisters in Christ you don't want to go around and having unforgiveness
unresolved issues you want to get them resolved and while it might be uncomfortable to have
conflict resolution it might be uncomfortable to talk about issues it's so much better than
just ignoring them it's so much better than just allowing them to fester you know and
of course a lot of people don't want to do that they just want to talk about you behind
your back they want to just fill you know negative feelings towards you and just kind
of like have this bitterness towards you but it's a dangerous road we don't want that
what does it say in Ephesians 4 verse 32 and be kind one to another tender hearted forgiving
one another even as God for Christ's sake has forgiven you notice that anytime the forgiveness
is really brought up it's always just reminding us remember how God forgave you remember how
Christ forgave you let us forgive you know one another as Christ forgave us hey God forgive
me as I'm forgiving other people it's like this direct tie in the Bible constantly that
we should be reminding ourselves hey God forgave me why in the world would I not forgive
this person you know it's crazy you're like in a marriage think about this you made a
vow to God that you're gonna love this person until they die this person made the same vow
to you and you can't let things go you can't fix things you can't just forgive things I
mean what could this person have possibly done to you that's a comparison what you did
to God and God forgave you everything and you even made a vow to love that person you
know you ought to let go of every issue and fix every issue and resolve every issue and
hey if it hasn't been addressed address it but hey just say I'm sorry and work on it
and forgive it and let it go you got to resolve these things and we got to be kind to one
to another we got to be tender-hearted I mean you actually love the person you actually
care about the person says even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you go to the
first John chapter 1 and I'm going to finish my my first point this evening but the first
point again is when they repent you have to forgive if someone repents you have to forgive
that is a commandment of God and frankly speaking you're just a fool to not do so because you
do not want God to judge you mercilessly you do not want God to condemn you mercilessly
you don't want God to refuse to forgive you for anything of course if you're saved you
can't go to hell but God can make your life on earth hell if you just want to just dig
in and not let things go and this is on a personal level this is how you respond to
other people this is how God is going to treat you and so it's kind of that golden rule
treat others as you would like to be treated it's a principle in the Bible that hey I should
forgive others as I want God to forgive me and my life is going to be an often cases
you know response to how I respond to other people it's very important look at 1st John
1 if we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse
us from all unrighteousness you know on a regular basis we should be going to God and
saying God I did this I'm sorry please forgive me and if we trespass against our
brother we should be going to our brother and say I I'm sorry I said this I'm
sorry I did this I'm sorry this happened please forgive me and you know
some people just need to learn how to apologize let me explain to you how you
apologize you take ownership you say I sinned I did wrong I said this it was
bad it's not that hard you prideful jerk just say I'm sorry I did this I did this
I'm wrong please forgive me it's not like you know you kind of got offended
because you're really sensitive that I did this I'm sorry that you're so
sensitive you know I'm sorry that you didn't give me very good instructions
and that I did this wrong it's kind of your fault are you apologizing or like
many people don't know how to apologize at all it's like if you don't take
ownership there's no apology whatsoever if you're not saying sorry there's no
apology you know I'm sorry that you know I'm sorry that you're just too stupid to
understand why I did this you know it's like some people like will insult you in
an apology and you're just like I don't accept this apology right and obviously
someone gives you a garbage apology you should just say look that's not a real
apology this isn't sincere you're not addressing the issue you're not taking
ownership you need to take ownership for this so this is wrong okay but if they
take ownership for it they apologize for it what are we supposed to do we're
supposed to forgive them we're supposed to let it go we're supposed to you know
allow them to live it down now I want you to have you go to Psalm 103 go to
Psalm 103 when we talk about forgiveness what does this actually mean
though because you can sit here and say like I forgive you but just saying the
words doesn't really mean anything what actual forgiveness means is that you
don't bring up the past that you don't bring up the past that is what
forgiveness actually looks like now Psalm 103 look at verse number 12 as far
as the east is from the west so far hath he removed our transgressions from us
you know what it means to be forgiven it means that when we stand before God on
Judgment Day he won't bring up all the times you lied he won't bring up all the
times you stole he won't bring up all the times you rolled your eyes at your
parents he won't bring up all the things that you did wrong he won't bring up all
the fornication and the adultery and the drunkenness and the foolish things
that you said and all the times you are lazy and selfish think about this he's
not gonna bring up every bad thought you've ever had that would be
embarrassing wouldn't it? You know praise God that he doesn't gonna sit there and
just do this laundry list of every transgression and every issue every
problem every bad thing that you've ever done every bad thought you've ever had
praise God our sins are separated from us as far as the East is from the West
and you say when do they intersect? Never. So this is your attitude is how
God has for us is that when should I bring up a sin that someone's forgiven?
Never. If it's been forgiven it's never. Again I want to make sure that we're
clear sometimes there could be a quote boundary that has to be set because of
a particular issue and we get that but you're not bringing up the past and
you're not rubbing people's nose in it and there's a huge difference in these
particular areas right? If someone you know stabs you in the back and there's a
Judas or does something betraying and you're just like hey our relationship is
gonna be different from now you know and they want to question you about that in
the future like hey why aren't we like best friends again it's like well this
boundary has been set but you're not just gonna constantly bring things up
and rub their nose in it if you've actually forgiven them you know we have
to actually forgive people and live that let them live it down you know Peter
betrayed Christ I mean Peter said that he denied he denied Christ but you know
what I it's not like it's just constantly brought up it's not like God
just like constantly trying to remind us and hammering this point it's not like
in first Peter and second Peter it's not like Paul's going around to every church
and being like hey remember when Peter denied Christ yeah that was a bad time
wasn't it in fact I don't even remember Paul bringing it up show me the Bible
where Paul brought up and one of his epistles or whatever that Peter denied
Christ now John brought it up in the gospel okay we get it but it was under
the inspiration of the Holy Ghost right and John also said he outran him to the
sepulcher we get it okay but but when is Paul bringing this up so he's the thing
if someone had a transgression in the past they got it right they've been
forgiven of God they've been forgiven of the people they trespassed against why
in the world are you bringing it up because you're a tail-bearer because
you're gossip and it's because you're not right with God if someone has done
something in the past that was wrong but they've forgiven you know they've gotten
the forgiveness they repented they're not doing it anymore you bringing it up
makes you wicked not them and look I'll tell you people will do this to you and
it's gross it's disgusting I wanted to go to Proverbs 16 I want to look at a
verse here Proverbs chapter number 16 we need to look at this particular passage
but if someone has repented of their wickedness in the past you need to
never bring that up look at Proverbs chapter 16 look at verse 27 an ungodly
man diggeth up evil and in his lips there is as a burning fire a foward man
soweth strife and a whisperer separated chief friends and look this happens
this happens in a church this happens amongst brothers and sisters in Christ
where someone will come around and they will say hey did you know so-and-so did
this five years ago but did you know this person actually did this hey did
you know this about this person like no I didn't know that and the only goal is
just to make your mind evil-affected towards that person just to give you a
negative opinion about that person look if we just said if I just had a list of
like every bad thing you've ever done in your life and I just went around and
told anybody about it they'd probably feel a little bit worse about you who in
here wants to feel comfortable like I I want every single bad thing I've ever
done to be told to my friends at church it's like we would just lose respect for
every one of us you know no one would be like oh that's cool we all have issues
we all have sin but things that have been forgiven and repented of things
that are in our past should stay in our past there's no point in bringing it up
and you know what the person bringing it up is wicked is ungodly is not right
with God and boy if you treat people like this God will treat you like this
if you want to sit here and bring up people's past that's been forgiven or
repented just wait for God to bring something up about your past and rub
your nose in it in front of everyone if someone starts bringing up someone's
past that's been forgiven or repented to you you better just shut it down say
like is this an active issue I don't want to hear about it or you shouldn't
even bring this up or you know what that's not right to talk about this or I
don't need to know about this even if and then of course this is where it
typically happens it's someone you don't like shut down the conversation even as
someone you don't like we don't need to know about everybody's dirty laundry we
don't need to know about everybody's past we don't need to know about issues
that have been resolved you know it's just it's just a bad way to live life
you know it honestly is kind of a shame our judicial system works where people
have a criminal record that they can't live down sometimes you know and of
course the people be like what about pedophiles well they shouldn't have a
criminal record because they should be dead okay we don't need it it's like how
do you stop pedophiles from repeating fending not the criminal record you put
them in the ground or you tie a millstone you put them in the sea okay
put a millstone around their neck and throw them in the sea okay ship them in
the space I don't give a crap okay but the criminal record is not a biblical
concept but people and churches love the rap sheet people in Baptist churches the
gossip circle they love to go around and tell everybody's little rap sheet look
it's either they're marked off the list they're blotted out or it's forgiven
but people shouldn't be carrying around these rap sheets you shouldn't be going
around just bringing up everybody's past everybody's issues and every look if
people have repented of issues they fix issues we should let it go not bring it
up that's what real forgiveness looks like you constantly bring it up means
you're not having a forgiveness attitude look at Proverbs 11 Proverbs
chapter 11 and like I'm not saying that this is a gender specific issue but
women struggle with this more than men for whatever reason women can just be
really mean and they just want to attack other women and they will bring up
gnarly nasty things about their past and as being a tale-bearer and what does the
Bible say in Proverbs 11 verse 13 a tale-bearer revealeth secrets someone
knows something about someone and they want to reveal it but he that is of a
faithful spirit can seal the matter hey someone had some gnarly thing in their
past but they've forgiven they've repented don't bring that up how dare
you how wicked are you and you know of course this is what a lot of people will
do and I hate this it's like boy if you knew what I knew about this person you
know what they're doing their bet they're just they're just testing you
they're just trying to see are you gonna are you gonna be the person that's safe
to tale bear to are you the person that's into gossip or not and it's just
kind of their little way of being like boy if you kind of knew what I knew
about her mm-hmm it's like what do you know about her well I don't know if I
can tell you you know and they're just kind of playing this little cat-mouse
game look just don't play those games if someone does that be like well I'm glad
I don't know then you know I'm sure if people knew everything about me they
wouldn't like me as much either right I mean it's just a it's just a wicked
thing to do to bring up this stuff reveal secrets if you're a faithful
spirit you'll conceal the matter you're not gonna bring up everybody's past
everybody's issues and everybody's problems so we can just rub everybody's
nose and everything Proverbs 18 go to Proverbs 18 this is good why your King
James only because of the verse that we're gonna read because the modern
versions say that tail bearing or being a tail bearer is like a dainty morsel
or a tasty trifle depending on what version you have but what does the King
James say it says the words of a tail bear bearer are as wounds so the Bible
says that tail bearing is gonna hurt you that's it's gonna be if you did
something bad in the past and someone just tells somebody hey remember this
person being a scummy person a terrible person in the past you hear about that
it's gonna make you feel bad it's gonna feel like a wound it's gonna be like oh
man now I'm embarrassed now I'm kind of ashamed you know yeah I did that it's
I'm sorry it's a bad I wish I hadn't done that it says they go down in the
innermost parts of the belly it's that when someone's making fun of you or
making you feel embarrassed you get that feeling in your gut and it's not fun
that's not what a good Christian does a good Christian conceals the matter
doesn't reveal secrets isn't going around and of course you know most of the
time when people are tail-bearing there's a lot of extra details that
aren't even real that aren't even legit that aren't even true there's
exaggerated without context probably some extra juicy stuff in there that
didn't really happen it's it's you know it's emphasized in a certain way that
it wasn't emphasized it's like in the story they were just talking but then
someone retells it and now they're yelling you know it's just like it's
just they're just exaggerating everything because they just have to make it even
worse than it really was this is this will destroy a church it'll destroy
friendships it'll destroy people look at chapter 20 verse 19 he that goeth
about as a tale bearer revealeth secrets therefore metal not with him that
flattereth with his lips of course anybody going around tail bearing is
not a genuine person there's something off about them hey I really like you
because you're not like so-and-so I've also seen a lot of people do this on on
Facebook and other social media apps and just in communications it'll be like oh
man I just found out about this one person that just did this horrible
awful thing and those bring up all the details without naming the name just
kind of hoping they'd be like who was it it's like just what why are you even
doing that it's just weird it's wrong we shouldn't be going around and just just
sharing all this information and just trying to beg people to get tail bearing
out of us you know a person that actually forgives an issue doesn't bring it up
if someone bring it up they're the problem not the person that actually did
the trespass Proverbs 26 Proverbs 26 the Proverbs is hammering this point do not
bring up people's past if they've repented forgive them let it go don't
bring it up Proverbs 26 look at verse 20 where no wood is there the fire go
without so where there is no tail bearer the strife cease it hey if in our church
no one is going around tail bearing and revealing secrets because you know we
won't have any problems you know why a church will have problems because you
everybody going around trying to shame everybody and cause problems and
whispering about so-and-so and whispering about this person let me tell
you about their dirty laundry and their secrets and whatever it's just an
endless cycle and of course like fire it spreads and then more fire and then all
of a sudden everything's on fire it's like hey when there is no kindling hey
the fire is gonna cease says where no wood is the wood is the tail bearers
meaning if there's no stories to be shared well then there's no fire but
there's gonna be fire contention there's me issues when people are
constantly sharing all this information says as coals are to burning coals and
wood to fire so is a contentious man to Kendall strife the words of a tail
bearer as wounds and they go down and then most parts of the belly this is a
repeated verse we already read it in another chapter it's repeated again that
means it's important God cares about this he doesn't want us to be going
around causing problems there are some people that their only goal is to just
cause problems like the only reason they want to talk to you is to try and get
you to be upset about someone or to not like someone or to be upset about
someone there are some people that their entire life consists of just hating
people I'm just being negative towards people I'm just can you believe what
they said can you believe what they did can you believe what they wore it's
like the tabloid magazines right just constantly following celebrities around
and just boy there's a lot to tell bare about those people all of their
relationships you know let me let me say one thing that I just get really pissed
about all the tail bearing is out everyone wants to criticize people's
dating ages or something it's just like the dumbest thing I've ever seen they're
always just like do you see this 40 year old guy going on a date with a 22 year
old girl and I'm like dude the celebrities are worshiping Satan like
are we really gonna get mad at this guy who's 40 dating a 22 year old girl I'm
like that's not their problem their problem is not dating a younger girl
their problem is being a faggot worshiping Satan and going to Epstein
Island okay that's the problem it's like why in the world do I have to care about
this guy going on a date it's like King David who's on his last breath he's
like 80 or something gets married to Abishag who's probably like 18 19 20 so
if you want to get mad at dating ages get mad at David okay sorry you don't
like that but it's like why is this tabloid news why does this even matter
it's like Bill Belichick's dating some young girl it's like I wonder why we
know okay I get it all right but at the end of the day is that really these
people's worst problem do I really need to see a magazine telling me about every
Every day these people go on and so and so got more cellulite on their thighs.
This person was seen outside, you know, wearing pajamas.
This celebrity was out without makeup on.
I mean this is just a tabloid magazine, just every little detail, every little imperfection.
You know there's people like that even in a church.
People like this online.
Do you see what they say?
Do you see what they wore?
Do you see what they did now?
Can you believe it?
It's just constantly tail bearing, tail bearing.
It's annoying.
God's not pleased with that.
God doesn't want those people around.
You should just let people live their lives.
Why don't you just live your life?
Go view into 1 Peter chapter 4.
And look, if people have sought forgiveness, if people got things right, don't bring up
the past.
Let it go.
So number one, if they repent, you have to forgive.
Number two, what does forgiveness actually look like?
You really let it go.
Here's the third point, and this is important when it comes to forgiveness, is that, okay,
you said I forgive you.
Number two, you're not going to bring up the past.
But true, genuine forgiveness goes another step and another layer.
You confirm your love to the person afterwards.
You're going to actually treat them well, because think about it.
Not only did God get me saved, not only did he not bring up my past, he also tells me
that he loves me and he actively loves me every single day.
And so true, genuine repentance will not only forgive you, it will not only not bring up
the past, it will also even love you and it will restore the relationship.
This is important.
Look at it, it says in 1 Peter chapter 4 verse 8, "And above all things have fervent charity
among yourselves for charity shall cover the multitude of sins."
Now again, charity is true, genuine love.
Notice charity is going to cover the multitude of sins.
We should have an attitude to want to cover and to love people and to do good unto them.
If we look at 2 Corinthians chapter 2, 2 Corinthians chapter number 2, I want to look at another
verse here that's pretty important on this particular point.
But people are going to screw up.
People are going to make mistakes.
People are going to do things that are wrong.
We have to rebuke them.
We have to correct them.
But when they repent, when they say, "I'm sorry," what do we do?
We forgive them.
We don't bring it up.
And then we confirm our love towards this individual.
What does it say in 2 Corinthians chapter 2 verse 6, "Sufficient to such a man is this
punishment which was inflicted of many, so that contrary wise he ought rather to forgive
him and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow,
wherefore I beseech you that you would confirm your love toward him."
Now, in the context of 2 Corinthians, the apostle Paul is addressing someone that had
been publicly shamed, publicly had an issue that kind of the whole church was aware of,
and it's saying, "Look, that was a sufficient enough of a punishment."
In verse number 6, he's saying, "The sufficient enough punishment which is afflicted of many
is that they've been embarrassed, it's been a public shame, and obviously, contextually,
we can kind of get the idea that this person repented.
Otherwise, he wouldn't be telling them, "Hey, let's let it go now."
But notice, he's not only saying, "Don't let it go," he's saying you've got to forgive
him, but notice this, and comfort him.
It's one thing to not bring it up, but it's another thing to go out of your way to then
make them feel welcomed again and comfort them.
And as the text says, confirm your love toward him, saying, "Hey, not only do I forgive this,
I love you.
You know, hey, we're buddies, hey, let's go get lunch, hey, let's go hang out, let's
go soul winning.
Don't worry about it, hey, you're showing love towards them.
That will help them realize, oh, he has forgiven, oh, he has let this go, oh, he is not treating
me differently."
Look, there's been people that have trespassed against me, that have made mistakes, done
things, I've had to address that with them.
And if they repent and they got it right, there's been plenty of times where then I'd
go and make sure to treat them well and do good under them and not hold it over their
head, still promote them, give them opportunities to do good.
We shouldn't necessarily hold people back because they make mistakes.
We want to confirm our love toward them and try to do good under them.
Otherwise, this person noticed it could be less perhaps such a one should be swallowed
up with over much sorrow, meaning, yeah, everyone said they forgave them, but they all kind
of withdraw from them.
They feel like they're publicly marked.
They feel like they're publicly shamed.
They feel like they're not welcome.
And as a result, they just, they just feel so discouraged by this trespass they had,
they withdraw.
And look, someone that is sought forgiveness and it's been received, we want to welcome
them back and make it clear, hey, we're glad you're here.
We're glad that you're around.
We want you to be here.
We love you.
We're, we're, we're glad that you've got it right.
We want to confirm our love towards people.
You know, someone, let's say someone got out of church and got backslidden, but then they
show up.
It's like, what do we want to do that person?
We want to be, I'm so glad you're back.
I'm so glad.
What about the, the prodigal son?
The prodigal son goes off, spends all the father's living on riotous, on, on, on riotous
living in harlots, as the Bible describes.
But then as soon as he comes back, the father confirms his love towards him by having a
feast for him and making him feel welcome.
He was coming back to just be a servant.
He was saying, you know, just even my father's hired servants are having better meals than
I'm having.
And so he was just hoping to go back and just literally be a servant.
And the father's like, you're not a servant, you're a son, let's have a feast.
And they slaughter the fatted calf and they have beef, of course, you know, if you want
to help someone recognize, hey, I've forgiven you, it's beef, right?
Beef, it's what's for dinner.
He didn't have chicken, he didn't have calf, he didn't have beef, he had the fatted calf.
You know, the tender, the juicy, you know, it was good.
And of course, the other brother is just like, you never throw me any parties, okay?
But you know, sometimes when someone is weaker, sometimes when someone's been on the wrong
path and they get on the right path, you want to celebrate that, you want to make that person
feel welcome, you want to go out of your way to confirm your love for them, because hey,
they are a little more sensitive, they are a little bit weaker.
You want to condescend the men of low estate, you want to build them up, you want to edify
them, you want to give attention, you want to help restore them.
This is the attitude of true forgiveness.
True forgiveness goes beyond just like, "Alright, I forgive you."
Say, "Hey, I got a feast for you."
Right imagine, you trespass against your dad and you came home if you just said, "Alright,
forgive you," and then that's it.
As opposed to saying, "I'm so glad you're here, let's have a party.
Let's rejoice, let's celebrate, let's get everybody in here and let them know."
Not only that we know that we're good, I want everyone to know that we're good.
I want everybody to know that we're still buddies.
I want everybody to know that I let this go.
I want everybody to know that we're on the same page.
I want to confirm my love towards you.
I want you to know that you're welcome here.
This is the kind of attitude that we want to have when someone has done wrong.
What would be the opposite?
Can you believe what he did?
I mean, what if the dad says, "I forgive you," and then he brings up, "Hey everybody, my
son's back that's just a total scumbag and loser and slept with a bunch of harlots and
wasted all of his money, he's back."
That's not forgiveness, is it?
Or what if he brought him back and he's just like, "Do you know what he did?
He's had lots of harlots.
I mean, man."
I mean, is that...that's not...that's not cool.
You know what?
People are like that.
People are like that where they go around and they're whispering about people and they're
trying to make them evil effects.
And look, against good people, there are people trying to serve God, love the Lord, serve
the Lord, love their husband, love their wife, love their kids, get out of, you know, the
sin that they're in.
And then people are going around, "Oh, but you know that one day they did something bad.
One day they did this evil."
Look, we've all screwed up.
We've all made mistakes.
We've all had problems.
If we told all of each other our worst days, it would be embarrassing.
Live it down.
Let it go.
Forgive.
The ungodly man diggeth up evil.
Says in verse 9, "For to this end also did I write that I might know the proof of you,
whether ye be obedient in all things.
To whom ye forgive anything, I forgive also.
For if I forgive anything, to whom I forgive it, for your sakes forgive I it, and the person
of Christ, lest Satan should get an advantage of us if we are not ignorant of his devices."
So of course we understand that Christ is a person and we talk about the three persons
of the Trinity.
The Bible tells us that Jesus Christ is the express image of His person, so the Father
is a person.
The Bible tells us that Jesus Christ is a person.
That would be two persons.
And of course we have personal pronouns for the Holy Ghost because He's a person.
He's not a force, He's not an idea, He's a person.
He doesn't speak of Himself, but He brings into our remembrance all things Christ commanded.
He guides us into all truth.
He is the Comforter.
So we understand we have the three persons and the Godhead.
If someone is forgiven though, what is the Apostle Paul's attitude?
He says, "Hey, if Sam forgives Brother Ben, I forgive Brother Ben.
If Brother Ben forgives Brother Sam, I forgive Brother Sam."
Because you know what?
Just as like Christ forgave me, and we're supposed to just forgive that person with
Christ, in the same vein, when a brother forgives another person, we forgive them.
We shouldn't be sitting here holding grudges against people that have been forgiven against
the actual victim, against the actual trespasser.
Hey, look, if it's been forgiven, I forgive it too.
Hey, you guys forgive them, I forgive them.
Just like Christ would be towards us.
What's the problem though?
If we don't, Satan could get an advantage of us.
And we're not ignorant of his devices.
What is the devil's devices?
The devil wants to create tale bearers in our church.
The devil wants us to not have forgiveness towards, the devil wants unforgiveness.
The devil wants to use, the devil uses bitterness.
The devil uses unforgiveness.
The devil uses tale bearers.
The devil uses ungodly men to dig up evil to try and destroy our church.
Why?
Because it's there.
We all have things that could be dug up.
We all have issues.
We all have problems.
But praise be to God that tells us, hey, we're forgetting those things which are behind and
we're reaching forth those things which are before.
We're not focused on the past.
We're focused on the future.
Whereas the devil wants us to live in our past.
The devil wants us to not get past things and he wants to bring them up.
And if he can get bitterness, he can start eroding relationships.
He can erode marriages.
He can erode friendships.
He can erode trust between pastors and members.
He can just cause all kinds of issues and problems and just fester.
And that's how the devil can destroy it from within.
If the devil can't destroy a church from without, he'll try to destroy a church from within.
If the devil can't destroy a marriage from without, he'll try to destroy it from within.
If he can't destroy a friendship from without, he'll try to destroy it from within.
And look, the devil is the same playbook every single time.
We already know his playbook.
That's what the Bible is saying.
We're not ignorant of his devices.
If we don't bring up things in the past, if we actually forgive things though, then the
devil is powerless.
He has no ability to harm us.
He has no ability to cause our church to have issues.
We can be strong and unified.
You look at battle formations of the past, Romans and, you know, watch different movies
where they're all in lockstep and they have the shields and they're all kind of putting
them together because if they're all together in unison, it doesn't matter how many arrows
and spears are thrown, they're going to all bounce off.
But one guy doesn't put his shield up and he just has a hole, well now it just creates
more holes and it just starts to spread and it can destroy everything.
Everybody's got to put their shield up.
And look, if everybody has their shield up, every little tail bearer, every little gossip,
every little digging up evil just bounce off and no one will be affected.
But it's that one person that just lets their shield down to just bring in the Trojan horse
of all kinds of bitterness and all kinds of tail bearing and all kinds of evil.
You know what, it's going to cause problems and issues and I don't want to deal with issues.
You know, I like preaching sermons like this where we don't have issues.
I don't like dealing with issues.
I don't like dealing with tail bearing.
I don't like dealing with gossip.
I don't like dealing with railing.
I don't like dealing with slander.
I don't like thinking, man, this person is just causing so many problems.
And you know, praise God, you know, when we have dramas every once in a while, because
sometimes we'll have people that are like this and you can't quite nail them and then
they just pass themselves out and you're just thinking like, great.
And I'll tell you, there's a lot of troublemakers that lead through the dramas through the
years and it's just like good riddance.
They were just sitting there being wood, just trying to catch anything on fire and you know,
we don't want that.
We don't want that.
You don't be like that.
Don't give light to anybody's wood.
You just shut it down and you know what?
You need to make sure that you forgive people.
If you're sitting here and you say, I kind of feel upset about this person or this thing
or I have this unresolved issue, you need to fix it right away.
If you can just let it go, let it go.
If it needs to be addressed, address it, but we cannot allow unresolved issues and unresolved
problems.
If someone has done something bad to you, but they said they were sorry and you told
them I forgive you, don't bring it up again.
Don't rub their nose in it.
Don't allow people to bring up their past to you.
Oh, I don't know.
Have you heard what this person did?
No, I don't want to know.
No, I don't.
Does it affect me?
No.
I don't want to know about it.
It's not evolving me.
Shut it down.
Don't listen to it.
Don't bring it up.
And you know what?
That's a dangerous person who's wanting to bring this stuff up.
Don't fall for the bait.
Oh, I know this person, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
Like I don't want to hear about it.
Don't tell me about it.
Don't bring it up to me.
Not interested.
Just like when I go to the store and they have all the tabloid magazines, I'm like not
going to buy it.
Not interested.
No.
I don't want it.
I'm not going to sit here and thumb through it and be like, oh, what date did they go
on?
You know?
Who are they dating now?
Oh, really?
They went to that restaurant?
You know, it's like who cares?
They have that many cellulite lines?
I don't care.
You know, just let it go.
Don't bring it up.
Don't bring the tabloids.
Don't get the tabloids in here.
The devil will have no power over us, just like the Jews won't have power over you.
All right?
Let's close in prayer.
Thank you, Heavenly Father, so much for our church.
Thank you so much for giving us forgiveness.
I pray that we would not harbor unforgiveness towards our brothers and sisters in Christ.
I pray that we would let go when they ask for forgiveness.
I pray that, hey, we would deal with issues, that we would rebuke our brethren when necessary,
but if they repent, we would let it go, that we would forgive them.
I pray that you would forgive us as we forgive our debtors.
I pray that you'd help us to not bring it up, not think about it.
I pray that you'd help us to shut it down as someone's trying to bring up tail-bearing
or gossip or slander to us.
And I pray that we would not only forgive people with our mouths, but we'd forgive them
with our love and our actions, and we would confirm our love towards people, we would
restore them, we'd treat them well.
And I pray that you would help us to not give the devil a stronghold or a foothold in our
church.
In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
For our last song this evening, let's go to song number 205.
Song number 205, he keeps me singing.
Song number 205.
Let's all sing that out together.
Song number 205.
Everybody you were all dismissed.