Forgiveness Revival | Landon Schott | Mercy Culture Church

Today is first Sunday. So I want to welcome every single mercy culture campus. It's watching around Texas today, Fort Worth. Would you greet Waco and East and Dallas and Austin, San Antonio community? We love you guys, man. Who was in this room last night? Can I see a hand? Anyone in campuses last night was one of the wildest times in the presence of God. I would say it was one of the most powerful moments in the presence of God. And I want to just encourage you. I don't want anyone to feel bad, but I want to encourage you. You never know what moment he comes. And I know at Mercy Culture, it's like this every week. And so you can get used to it or you can actually fall into that category of being familiar with it. You got to be careful with that. Like, oh, yeah, we encounter God. But what came into the room last night was a tangible power of God that I have never felt ever before in my life to that magnitude. Rabbi Jonathan Cahn was praying a Hebrew blessing over us. And he just started singing over us. And it just waves of the glory. I looked down and Pastor Zane is on his knees with tears scrolling down his face, just beautiful. How many just love Pastor Zane? Come on, every campus. Could you put your hands together and just honor one of our apostolic elders? He serves this house so faithfully, comes and spends conference with us, not even preaching, just encountering God as a sign. Love you, honor you, appreciate you.

I would not be the man I am today without you. How many ready for the word today? If you want my notes, you can text notes to the number that comes on the screen or you can text GROW, and a discipleship guide will be texted to you so you could continue to steward this message past Sunday. How many been to church services before and you're like, how was it? You're like, it was so good. And you're like, what did they preach on? You're like, I'm not sure. Don't be that person. Text GROW. Amen. If you have your Bibles, turn with me to the Gospel of Luke, Luke chapter 11. And it says this, and he said, there was a man who had two sons. The younger one of them said to his father, father, give me my share of my property that is coming to me. And he divided the property between them. Not many days later, the younger men gathered all that he had and took out on a journey into a far country. And there he squandered his property with reckless or wild living. When he had spent everything, a severe famine came to the land and arose in the country and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of the country who sent him in the field to feed pigs. Someone say pigs. And he was longing to be fed with the pods of the pigs he ate and no one gave him anything. But when he came to himself or his senses, he said, many in my father's hired servants have more than enough bread, but I am here perishing with hunger. I will arise and go to my father. I will say to my father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, I'm no longer worthy

to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants. And he arose and came to his father. Look at this. I got goosebumps, but he was a long way off. His father saw him, felt compassion and ran and embraced him and kissed him. And the son said to the father, I have sinned against you. I've sinned against heaven and before you, I am no longer worthy to be called your son. But the father said to his servant, bring quickly the best robe, put it on him, put a ring on his finger and shoes on his feet. Bring the fattened calf to be killed. Let us eat and celebrate verse 24 for this. My son was dead and is alive again. He was lost and now he is found. I came to tell you today that we are in a forgiveness revival. The title of this message is forgiveness revival. Let's pray. So father, I pray right now in Jesus name, I declare your word, let it go forth and accomplish everything that it set out to do. Lord, I declare right now your words. True. Let every man be a liar. I declare your word is a lamp into our feet and a light into our path. Holy spirit. We hide your word in our heart so we won't sin against you. I pray right now. Holy spirit. Would you breathe upon your word? I pray your written word becomes Reema personal revelation to us today. Holy spirit.

We declare, we don't make room for you, but we give you the entire room. So now we pray no spirit, but the holy spirit is welcome in this place. We say you spirit of fear. You must go. I declare spirit of offense. You must go. I declare spirit of shame. You will be broken once in for all. I pray. Holy spirit come rule in rain. Father, I thank you. Nobody came to hear me. We all came to hear you. So together we pray, speak Lord. Your servants are listening and all God's people said, amen. and amen. This morning, I want to give you 10 signs that you have not forgiven. Number one, you don't need a demon to torment you. Just hearing their name torments you. Number two, you start talking and praying like Old Testament prophets all of a sudden. May their cattle and their children die. May their tongues cleave to the roof of their mouths. Number three, you talk more about what they did to you than what Jesus has done for you. Number four, their promotion somehow feels like your demotion. Number five, you think forgiveness is based on whether they deserve it or not. Number six, when forgiveness gets preached, you only think about who hurt you, never the people you hurt. Number seven, some of your closest friendships are just bitterness buddies. Your bond is who you hate. Number eight, you keep retelling the story just to make sure everyone knows how bad they hurt you. Number nine, you talk about hurt more than forgiveness. And number ten, the moment someone mentions forgiveness, instantly you start manifesting demons and you say, I have forgiven them already. Turn to your neighbor and say, is that you? I want to remind you of a prophetic

word released at the beginning of the year that forgiveness would be required this year. God is coming to your life and he is expecting to find fruit. Pastor Heather said it. It's weird saying Pastor Heather. My beautiful, gorgeous wife. I don't get in the flesh, but I like that video of you working out. Say baby. Thank you, Lord. Lord say he would give you a wife for your youth. A good fake. I just had a moment. What was I talking about? Forgiveness. Something I literally feel a little hot and bothered. There you go. Praise the Lord. Anyway, I totally lost track of everything I was saying. I'm no good right now. I really like that woman. Anyway, somewhere in forgiveness. I'm just gonna go back to my notes. That has never happened to me before. Prophetic words. Oh, yeah. Heather, I got you. I came back. Come back. Come back. Come here. Holy Spirit, come. Come. Can't be lost when you're married. Praise the Lord. Anyway, my wife was preaching on Sunday and preach the house down on Friday, and she's talked about how when the Lord comes to inspect fruit, he's not just going to inspect your pastor's fruit. It's your personal fruit. Elbow your neighbor. Say he's talking to you. There is a prophetic warning that you are in a season where more is going to be required of you. Let's begin to define forgiveness together today. Biblical forgiveness means releasing debt, guilt, or offense. It's restoring relationship through mercy. In the etymology of the word, there is three main meanings for forgiveness in the Hebrew. It's restoration, repentance, and mercy. We get the word nesah, which means to lift or carry the guilt away. The root meaning is lifting the heavy burdens or the heavy loads. It means this, that God lifts and carries away every burden of sin and shame, removing its penalty through covenant relationship. We get another Hebrew word, salah, which means to forgive or pardon. It's God's exclusive act of forgiveness or pardoning all of your sin. Then we get another Hebrew word called kafir, which means to cover or atone. It means this, that through God's sacrifice, He ransoms in reconciliation your life, making relationship with Jesus possible. I love this. That word in the Hebrew is the root word of atonement, which means the pitch of a roof, which means this, when Jesus forgives you, He

covers you. Where the things that once had access to you, it no longer has access to you. I believe that we are in a prophetic moment right now. I'm a silly Gentile, even though we had our Jewish friend Rabbi Jonathan Cahn last night, and when we decide what we're gonna do in conference and things like that, we're not looking at the Jewish calendar all the time. But I didn't even realize as I'm preaching about forgiveness this week, that this week is Yom Kippur. This is the holiday where they are celebrating the atonement, where the high priest would go in and he would make sacrifices for the people of God one time a year. But our high priest came and he died on the cross to make the ultimate sacrifice, where not one time a year, but at any time, not the high priest has access, but all of us have access into the presence of God on a daily basis. That's just Hebrew side, guys. The Greek side, the top three words for forgiveness prior to prioritizing the New Testament include divine human reconciliation. This is important. In the Old Testament, it really focuses on the reconciliation of you and God. In the New Testament, it focuses on you and other people. So, in the Greek, the first word is the word atheimi, which means to send away, to release, or to forgive. It's the divine act of being free from the power of sin. I like what Charles Spurgeon says. He says, to forgive is to set a prisoner free, discovering the prisoner was you. The next Hebrew word is the word harizame, which means to show grace or the free gift with no strings attached, just like Jesus forgave us. The third Greek word is the word athesis, which means a total release. R.T. Kendall would say total forgiveness or total freedom. It's a prisoner that's being set free or debt being canceled, breaking every chain of sin. So, let me give you the land and shot simplified definition because I'm a simple guy. Here's what I would describe. Here's how I would define forgiveness from what I've learned from the hundreds of scriptures in the Old Testament and New Testament. Here's what it is. It is spiritually letting go. That's what it is. It is spiritually letting go to the things that you've held on to. Let me give you some biblical examples of forgiveness. Esau had to forgive his brother, Jacob, who stole his birthright, Genesis 33. Joseph had to forgive his brothers that sold him into slavery, Genesis 45 through 50. David forgave Saul in 1 Samuel chapter 24 after he tried to kill him over and over. Jesus forgave his enemies in Luke chapter 23. I love the martyr Stephen is forgiving in Acts chapter 7. As he's being stoned, he's in the process of forgiving.

And Jesus has forgiven all of us in Colossians and Ephesians. We see but Colossians 2 13. It says when you were dead in your trespasses, your uncircumcision, your sinful nature, God made you alive in Christ. He forgave us of all of our trespasses. Can I get an amen? Having canceled the debt ascribed to us and the decrees that stood against us, he took it away, nailing it to the cross. Having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them with the cross. Let me teach you about forgiveness. Over 200 scriptures that directly speak to forgiveness and thousands of root words in Hebrew that link back to forgiveness. So let me teach you a little bit about forgiveness this morning. Forgiveness is foundational to the Christian faith. I would say it like this. It is the essence of the gospel. Ephesians 4 32. Be kind to one another, tended hearted, forgiving one another as God in Christ forgave you. Colossians 3 13. Bearing with one another. If one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other as the Lord has forgiven you. Look at this. So you also must forgive. So Pastor Danny felt from the Lord that a bunch of you are obeying Christians this morning. He said it. He said you love God and you obey God. Here's what it means to obey God. We are people that forgive. We are people that forgive. At Mercy Culture, in our values, we say it like this. It's not optional. If you are a follower of Jesus, it is not optional. Elbow your neighbor and say he's talking to you today. Watch this. It is evidence of your salvation. 1 John 1 9. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Salvation is rooted in receiving God's forgiveness as we extend it to others. Church forgiveness is radical. I'll say it like this. Forgiveness is spiritual and it takes spiritual people to forgive. Matthew chapter 18. Go ahead and put it up on the screen. I'm not going to read it for the sake of time. I'm going to walk you through this. Matthew 18 is a scripture that every single one of you should go read this week. It's one that maybe you should memorize, but more than that, you need to get it in your heart because Matthew 18 will rightly divide who is truly a follower of Jesus, and who isn't? So Matthew 18 talks about two different servants. One servant owed the king, according to Scripture, 10,000 talents. Now, it's a little difficult when you read the Bible and you read numbers like this,

because there's not number translations or values in your Bible. But let me break it to this. 10,000 talents would be equivalent to 60 million days of work. That's the value. Or in today's value, somewhere around $6 billion. So imagine this. You have a debt of $6 billion. Now, it's a Jesus parable, but I don't know how this guy wasn't cut off a little sooner, but somehow it racked up to that. $6 billion, and here's the thing. In ancient Israel, if you could not pay the debt, you would be imprisoned. So how do you pay the debt when you're in prison? You don't. Then the debt goes from your family to your children. Now, your children become slaves because the debt that you couldn't pay. Are you following me? So he goes to the master, watch this. He begs for the master to forgive him and give him time to pay the debt. Not only does the master forgive him, but he releases him of all the debt. So then, according to Scripture, it goes on to say, watch, he leaves the master's presence being forgiven of $6 billion, and he goes to another fellow servant

that goes and owes him money. Now, according to this, this is wild. This is wild. This is wild. This shows such a good reflection of Christians today. But this man owed him 100 denarii. Now, 100 denarii is about 100 days of work or could be between the estimated values of $2,000 to $10,000, approximately. $2,000 to $10,000. He was just released of $6 billion, and then he goes to the man that owes him between $2,000 and $10,000, demands it, he asks for forgiveness the same way he asked for forgiveness, but he decides, no, you're gonna go to jail. Then when everybody sees the injustice of a man thrown in jail of only owing $2,000 to $10,000 compared to a man of $6 billion, when the master found out, watch, the master was furious, and he grabbed him, and he threw him in prison. And Jesus uses this analogy to talk about your relationship with him when he forgives you of the billion-dollar debt of hell, but you are not willing to forgive whatever it is that has sinned against you. Blows my mind. Now, y'all, I'm a pastor. I'm on the other side of this.

I get to see your nastiness. Blows my mind the people judging on social media and then themselves had affairs. Men addicted to pornography, judging other men for their sins. It is amazing how well we think we see with specks in our own eyes. If we do not understand that forgiveness is radical, watch, our forgiveness will not reflect Jesus. And here's what I would tell you is that unforgiveness is demonic because you have to partner with spirits that are not the Holy Spirit in order to remain in your state of unforgiveness. St. John Chrysostom said this, to forgive freely is the highest exercise of charity, and it's to imitate God himself. I say it like this. You are most like Jesus when you're forgiving. I know people like to compare themselves to Jesus when they're drinking. You know when someone's drinking, they're like, hey, should you be drinking that much? They're like, Jesus, drink. You're like, is it the only time you compare yourself to Jesus is when you're drinking? How about you compare yourself to Jesus when you're forgiving? Because there is never a time that you will most reflect your Father

than when you forgive like your Father. I'm gonna caution you because I want you to spiritually grow and I want you to stop saying things that are not biblical, okay? So I wanna warn you that there is no scripture that supports you forgiving yourself. And I hear there's so much in the body of Christ. Pastor, I just, I'm just struggling forgiving myself. I'm like, I'm not. What do you mean you're struggling? Okay, give me your scripture for forgiving yourself. Let me help you. There is not one. There's no scripture. I got an email from one of the members of the church and it had to do with I'm just really struggling with forgiving myself and as soon as I felt it, as soon as I read it, I felt this spiritual agitation. And it wasn't with the person, it was with the spirit that was trying to distract the person. Because here's what I believe that's going on. I believe that there's a strategy of the enemy to get you focused on doing the wrong thing so you don't do the right thing. I don't think you have a forgiving yourself problem. I think you have a shame problem. And when you understand the forgiveness of Jesus and how he's willing to forgive $6 billion of debt, where he's willing to forgive the worst and the most grievous sin, watch any time you say, let me pastor you today, anytime you say, I don't know, I don't know if God can forgive me. What you are saying is the cross isn't good enough for your sin.

What you're saying is my homosexuality, my affair, my drug addiction, my cheating, my lying, my stealing, my pride is greater than the blood of Jesus. And that is the greatest deception that you could ever live in. Because let me tell you, nothing is more powerful than the blood. It destroys every burden, every guilt, it washes away every sin. He was the spotless lamb to wash away the sins of the world. Let me pastor you today. Some of the most spiritually immature people I've ever met are obsessed with forgiving themselves. It's a reason why they haven't spiritually grown. I want you to break free of it today. Today I'm going to give you three reasons why forgiveness is so challenging for a lot of Christians. I have met Christians, now hold on a second, that love Jesus. They love Jesus. And I have heard with my own ears, Bible-believing, faith-filled Christians say to me, I could never forgive that person for that. I have heard with my own ears. Not just one time. So here's what I want you to know. You probably really love God, and you can still struggle with forgiveness. The reason why is it's spiritual. So let me give you three reasons, okay? Number one, they think it's a one-time event. Church forgiveness is a journey. Matthew 18, that same portion of Scripture on forgiveness. Peter came to Jesus and said, Lord, how often do I need to forgive my brother? Up to seven times? Jesus said to him, not seven, but I tell you, 77 times. Another version says 70 times seven.

See, according to rabbinic teaching, you are required to forgive three times according to Amos 1. So I love this. So Peter is strutting, and he comes to Jesus, and he's like, how many times? Double the rabbinic teaching? Can I forgive seven times? He was like the man, like just, everyone's gonna be like, wow, Peter. You're willing to do it seven times? Look at Peter. And Jesus looks him in the face, and he's like, no, not seven times, 77, or another translation, 70 times seven. So the number is 490. 490 times is ridiculous. 490 times is limitless. 490 times, break this down on a practical level. He's talking about a day in this scripture. Someone sins against me 490 times a day, not in a year, not in a lifetime. Every time I offend Heather, I always tell her, like, hey, I might do it again. Just, I know we got over it, but it might happen again. I'll throw in this 70 times 77 scripture right here, okay? Be a woman of the word, be a woman of the word. Watch, and here's what Jesus said to him. He said a degree that doesn't make sense, or watch, that's radical. This is why people struggle with forgiveness, is because there's one moment, your heart is soft, and you release forgiveness, you're at a church service, you're at a small group, you're at an event, you do it, but watch, the enemy comes back in, offense or unforgiveness grips your heart, you begin to steward the hurt again, and then all of a sudden the forgiveness that was applied is not, there's not a grace on it, there's not an oil on it, an anointing on it, and now you're struggling in your heart with that person, and the problem is, you didn't read Matthew 18 when Jesus warned you not seven times, but 490 times.

This is why people struggle, because you did it once, and you think you did it, when forgiveness is a journey that you need to do as many times till you don't feel it anymore. The hardest thing I ever had to forgive in my entire life. Was the rejection and the betrayal of my father It was the deepest wound I've ever felt in my entire life And I had to take that to the Lord every day for about seven years Every day for seven years. I would do my daily encounter when I got in my daily encounter I'd ask the Lord to forgive me then I would search my heart Who do I need to forgive and every day for seven years the first face I saw was my dad's I'd lean into forgiveness One day I'm on the Trinity Trail and I'm running and I'm praying through the Lord's Prayer I'm doing my daily encounter I asked the Lord to forgive me and then I go to the place or who do I need to forgive it? I start leaning in who do I need to forgive and I don't see his face anymore. I Don't know if you've ever had your phone in your pocket and you thought it was there But you go to grab it and you thought it was there, but it wasn't there The thing I needed to forgive wasn't there anymore And I realized it took seven years every day almost every day for seven years, but I saw at seven years later. I really forgave And then a few years later he did something stupid again. I had to forgive again Watch ended the process. Hope it won't take seven years to get no and the process starts over Here's what I'm trying to tell you is you do it as many times as it takes watch till you're free Number two This is one of those things I usually say this about three times in a service if you get anything today get this Okay, the reason why you struggle with forgiving is because you're doing it wrong You're doing it wrong most Christians When they go to forgive the reason why they struggle is because they can't forgive the person's sin and That is not your job Hold on. It's not

Biblical can I pastor you today? There is not one scripture in the Bible That tells you you forgive sin Jesus forgives sin you forgive people Put that graphic up on the screen. So here's the problem with what we do with forgiveness is we say we can't forgive them for The sin and What you're doing is you think I don't know how I'm gonna get over this betrayal I don't believe I don't know how I'm gonna get over this abuse I don't know how I could forgive that rejection that crime that the persecution the thing that happened that was so egregious I can't do it and I want to release you today. You don't have to That is not your job watch Jesus forgives our sin we forgive people I'm gonna show you in scripture. So I'm gonna prove this to you. Watch this. Okay, so Matthew 10 11 it says this every priest stands daily in the service offering repeatedly the same Sacrifices which can never be taken away or the sins can never be taken away verse 12 But when Jesus Christ came he offered for all time a single sacrifice. Look at this for sins all throughout the Bible We see this first John 1 9 he is faithful to forgive us of our sin acts 13 38 through Jesus The forgiveness of sins John 1 29 again behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin. Are you seeing the pattern? I just gave you four scriptures. It is only Jesus job to remove sin and forgive sin. No one else's Then scripture tells us that we are to forgive people Colossians 3 13 make allowances for one another forgive anyone who offends you remember the Lord forgave you so you must Forgive the reason why people struggle with forgiveness is you're doing it wrong Let Jesus handle your sin. You just released the person Are you here today? Number three, the reason why it's challenging is you think forgiveness means relationship? Proverbs 4 23 Proverbs 4 23

I want to pastor you Proverbs 4 23 is a life-changing Soul-keeping Scripture if you steward it, right? I mean I grew up NIV. So in my mind it says above all else guards your heart for it's the wellspring of life Okay, another version says keep it with due diligence Here's what it means the most important thing in your world to steward is not your bank account It's not your children. It's your heart if you can steward this well Everything in your life will produce fruit if you do not steward this thing Well, then everything in your life will be corrupted You will have more money, you know what to do with but you won't have peace that surpasses all understanding Watch you will have more friends and you can spend time with but you don't have peace in your soul and you still feel lonely because you haven't stewarded your soul you haven't stewarded your heart it says above all else guard it so watch this you are responsible to steward and guard your heart while you forgive watch and some people are not trustworthy with your heart how many have had your child break your phone before let me see your hands okay how many and how many when you give them a five hundred or thousand dollar phone whatever costs never give them a phone again and as much as they look at you and your cute little eyes and dad can I have it like new you are untrustworthy I cannot trust putting this in your hand because of where it might end up how much more valuable is your heart in the hands of untrustworthy people watch you are not more godly subjecting yourself to their delusion witchcraft and abuse so boundaries are a good thing in a healthy thing and watch I can forgive you and not do life with you I can release you watch but I'm not intimate with you anymore so a lot of people struggle because they're like ah I can't subject myself to that proximity anymore and I would let you know you don't have to you just have to have your heart and soul pure towards them moving forward because your relationship with God matters more than your relationship with them this is very important forgiveness is not about you in their relationship forgiveness is about you in God's relationship so I

want to caution you forgiveness affects your relationship with God I'm gonna give you three ways forgiveness affects a relationship with God quickly number one it affects your prayer life or your intimacy look at this mark 1125 and whenever you stand in praying forgive if you have anything against anyone your father also who is in heaven may forgive you in their trespasses guys forgiveness is required before prayer time showing intimacy with God it will hinder your relationship with God if you have unforgiveness in your prayer life first John 420 if anyone says I love God but hates his brother he's a liar for he does not love his brother for he has seen and cannot love who God whom he has not seen Matthew 612 this is the Lord's prayer and forgive us of our debts as we forgive our debtors guys you cannot daily encounter and not forgive every day you cannot pray the Lord's prayer and not search your heart if there's anything that needs forgiven from God and release others of what they need to be forgiven from listen a lot of you are struggling in your prayer life and spiritual growth because you have things that you have not forgiven so there's no place to go to anywhere new with God because you haven't obeyed the place you're at now are you here with me today this will hinder your spiritual growth in your relationship and your intimacy with God because watch this God cannot trust you to steward other people's hearts when you can't steward your own how is he gonna use you to do something greater when you can't be obedient in leading yourself it hinders your prayer life it hinders your intimacy with God number two forgiveness affects your healing Psalms 103 bless the Lord oh my soul forget not all his benefits who forgives all your iniquity and heals you of all of your disease I cannot tell you how many times over ten years of traveling the nation in the world being an evangelist I'd get to the altar to pray for someone they were sick they needed prayer I would ask them what do you need prayer for they would tell me something they need healing and instantly the Lord would say ask them who they need to forgive I mean dozens and dozens of times over the years new cities new churches new people same unforgiveness I believe with all of my heart that forgiveness will release

healing in your body and healing in your family we see this in Genesis 45 where healing was released when they forgave number three forgiveness watch this this is heavy affects your salvation Matthew 6 14 I'm just gonna read you scripture you can go argue online about it later for if you forgive others when they sin against you your Heavenly Father will also forgive you verse 15 look into the Word of God but if you do not forgive others of their sin your father will not forgive your sin now remember Matthew 18 I read you about the unforgiving servant then read Matthew chapter 6 so some theologians argue it's a salvation but everyone agrees it's a relationship issue listen do not let unforgiveness hinder your relationship with God. I'm going to say it again because where you stop forgiving church is where you stop spiritually growing. This is why we have infant baby lukewarm spit you out of your mouth milk drinking Christians that have gone to conferences for decades but stop spiritually growing. Why? They're still at the place of unforgiveness. This is why people don't grow. This is why they don't mature. This is why they don't go to the next level because watch they never pass the tests. I'm going to go quickly through this today. I have five forgiveness tests that the Lord is going you will be tested with. Five forgiveness tests that every Christian will face. Number one forgiving your family test. Matthew 13. I got to go fast. This is the story of Jesus going into his own hometown. He's dishonored in his own hometown. Verse 57. They took offense at him and Jesus said a prophet is not without honor in his own hometown in his own household. This is wild. I want you to think about this for a second. Jesus is God. There is no one more anointed than Jesus but in his own hometown he can't do ministry. Why? Because there's family issues. You go on and read later Jesus is like who's my father who's my mother. Those that do the work of the ministry. There's tension in that home. I know the Catholics like to focus on Jesus being a virgin or Mary being a virgin but she went on to have other kids. There was other brothers of Jesus that the Bible talks about. There was a family dynamic that created tension and if you do not learn how to deal with the family dynamics if you do not learn how to forgive within your family and pass those tests God will not trust you with the family of God. I told you before forgiving my dad was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. I do not have time in this sermon to go into the details of it but I'll say it like this.

The strain in the relationship has caused that he's a pastor and I'm a pastor and he hasn't met my children. Let that sink in. Heather and I just did a podcast that airs this Wednesday. It's a two part about four hour podcast where we tell this story in depth and you go watch it here for yourself. When I talk about the the pain that this caused and the rejection that this caused it almost took me out when your dad who is your pastor who's your hero rejects you and disowns you but if you don't pass the forgiveness test in your family God won't trust you in stewarding the family of God. I want you to hear this today. You're being tested in your family. How will you respond when other people respond wrong? Will you do what's right when other people are doing what is wrong? Will you forgive even though it's the people with the closest access to you? It's a test and you must pass it. Number two, forgiving the church test. There's a lot of people that get hurt in church and so they turn their back or turn their heart away from God's house rather than forgiving the bad leaders that hurt them. I want to show you this. Matthew 16. You know the scripture but I want you to look at it with different lens. From this time Jesus began to show his disciples how he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things that the chief priest describes and be killed on the third day. Verse 22. You know the scripture. Peter took him aside begin to rebuke him. Peter's rebuking Jesus saying far be it from me Lord that this should ever happen to you. Verse 23. But Jesus turned and said to Peter, get behind me Satan. You are a hindrance to me. This teaches us a lot because Jesus who's the lamb of God who everybody loves the pictures of him holding the lamb. He leaves the 99 to go after the lost one. This is nice, kind, loving Jesus says to his closest friend in ministry, you're Satan. Now this takes most people out. Could you imagine if God himself says this to you? Did you realize how many people get offended and leave their churches when their pastors say bold, intense, spiritual things that they may not be able to understand or discern? And here's what they say. And here's what they say. Jesus is mean. How could he say that? I'm gonna teach you today. This is important because most people don't understand the difference between church abuse and church hurt. Watch. Abuse is what you withstand when you're submitted to bad leaders.

Church hurt is what unsubmitted people claim to good leaders. Church hurt is what people claim, watch, when they're confronted. And most people don't like to be confronted so they'll claim hurt when they were just discipled. This is why they don't spiritually grow. Watch, they get offended. They turn their heart off to church. They leave church. Watch. Now they're one of the ones on the stray. They're one of the first ones the enemy goes to because you have no shepherd. You have no flock and no safety and you're one of the most vulnerable ones in the body of Christ. You are the rebellious one. I'm going to teach you today. Now anytime you try to use scripture to hurt people, church, that's witchcraft. And I have been in those churches. I have been a part of those ministries where they say if you leave this church, you're cursed. Really? It's kind of weird. It's kind of jezebelic. I don't know if there's a scripture for that. No, no, no. If you leave this covering, you need to make sure that you have a covering. You need to make sure that you forgive your heart's right, but you're not living in a curse. Watch. That is spiritual abuse. That's a bad shepherd. That may be a wolf. Are you hearing this today? But most people don't even get close enough to be submitted because they get offended before they ever even submit. It's quiet in this Spirit-filled church today. You're going to have to pass the church hurt test eventually. Will you forgive? Number three, forgiving the betrayal test. John 13, we see this. This is wild. You know this story. This is Jesus with his disciples. Jesus is washing his disciples' feet. As he's washing his disciples' feet, he is preparing for the betrayal. Watch this. He is forgiving pre-betrayal. No one would do this. You set them in a trap. You caught them. We exposed you. We found you. Look, we know who you are. Jesus is the only one who knows who it is. And he's washing his feet before he even does it. Watch. Because Jesus, I feel the Holy Ghost, Jesus says, I have a test I need to pass. Because of where I'm going. I'm telling you, you're going to have to learn how to pass the betrayal test.

And here's the thing about betrayal. You can't be betrayed unless they're close. So these are some of the hardest ones. But this is one that you're going to have to pass. Watch. If you want the anointing that Jesus walked in, you're going to have to pass those tests that he passed. And even when Jesus is on the cross, he's forgiving his enemies. Leads me to number four. Forgiving your enemy test. Enemies today look like racism and prejudice. It looks like political opposition. Other denominations, maybe churches, persecutors of the faith, workplace rivals, online agitators, cultural activists. You're going to have to learn how to pass this test. Let me ask you this question today. Who is your enemy? And have you forgiven your enemy yet? The Bible shows us many examples. Luke chapter 10. It's the story of the good Samaritan. I want to let you know, Jews and Samaritans were enemies. It would be the exact same thing with Israel and Gaza that you're seeing today. Israel and Palestinians, they were enemies. They were adversaries. And the Bible says that he treated him like a brother. He treated him like a neighbor. He treated him with compassion and love. This is a test that we must pass. So let me ask you today. Can you forgive that racist person? Can you forgive that offensive person? I love what God's doing right now in our community. Pastor Les of Waco gets up, I think on Saturday night and starts praying over the Muslim community and just asking God for revival and ministry. My favorite part of our prayer night that we had, praying for America when Pastor Jasmine gets up and starts praying for the salvation of Charlie Kirk's killer and starts praying that we would have a public release of forgiveness, public displays of forgiveness in America. Watch. Those are the tests that you're going to have to pass in order for God to promote you to the next place of ministry and life. Thank you. Let me give you some practical advice. Learn how to let God deal with your enemies. Number five, the accuser test. Revelations 12 talks about the accuser of the brethren. I love this, accusations end where forgiveness begins. Luke 23, 34, Jesus said, Father, forgive them for they do not know what they do. When he was facing all accusations, he chose to forgive

because forgiveness overcomes the canceled culture of the accuser of the brethren. And here's what I want you to know today. When you pass these tests is when the anointing of God is released in your life. Hear me today. I've said this over and over. I've been telling you this for years. Watch, where you stop forgiving, you stop. Watch, where you forgive is where your spiritual promotion is. Hear this today. I've taught the other side of it for five years. Where you forgive is where you spiritually grow. It is one of the fastest ways for spiritual growth and spiritual promotion. Listen to me today. Where you forgive is where the anointing is released in your life. It's not released in Bible college. It's not released in SLS. That's where we train you. That's where we prepare you. That's where we pour into you. But nobody could go into that prayer closet with you, that daily encounter with you, when you have it in your heart, when no one else knows what's going on. Come on, when he's in the garden of Gethsemane saying, Father, is there any other way?

But not my will, but your will be done. It is in that crushing. Watch, the greatest release of anointing we've ever seen in human history. When Jesus is on the cross, and how was the anointing released? When he was forgiving. It's where the power of God comes from. It's where the power of God comes from. I came to tell you today, we are in a forgiveness revival. Something powerful happened a couple weeks ago. I was at the Charlie Kirk Memorial, honoring a man that preached the gospel around the nation, a martyr for the gospel. And I see his widow get up, and she begins to talk about the man that killed her husband. And she stops talking about the man that killed her husband, and she starts talking about the man that died on the cross for her sins. She starts talking about how he forgave her for her sins. And then here's what she said, amplified around the world, with something like 200 million people watching this moment. Not only was the gospel preached for hours, worship going on for hours, over and over and over, the gospel presentation and the gospel message of repenting of sins preached and proclaimed.

But she gets up in that moment, and what Pastor Jasmine began to pray about a few days prior begin to happen in the natural, where she says, I forgive that man for killing my husband. When she said, I forgive that man, forgiveness was released over America. And I felt in my spirit, we're in the middle of a revival of forgiveness. Watch, I felt it in my spirit, and then all of a sudden I started hearing, I started hearing about these revivals of forgiveness. I had no idea, but I started researching that there's revivals that took place all over the earth. There was the Pyongyang revival in Korea in 1907, where revival broke out when believers started confessing sins and forgiving each other. There was the Wonsan revival in 1903 in Korea, where missionaries admitted pride, asked for forgiveness, and a nation shook repentance. There was a Welsh revival in 1904, where Evan Roberts preached confession of sin, obeying God, making wrong things right, and revival swept the coal mines. There was the Shandong revival in the 1930s in China, where forgiveness wasn't a side note, it was the program, public confession, restitution, and reconciliation. In Africa in 1929, there was the East African revival that swept through Rwanda, Uganda, and Kenya. They called it walking in the light,

forgiving one tribe to another, reconciling tribes and restoring churches. Then we saw the Tumor revival in Indonesia in 1965, where families were reconciled. They began to surrender stolen goods from each other, and revival flooded the island. We saw the Asbury revivals in 1970, and then again in 2023, where students confessed their sins, crossed the aisles, and forgave themselves while the spirit of God dwelled. Dr. Bram told me about the Pensacola revival in 1995 to 2000, where a message of repentance was preached every night, the goal of receiving forgiveness. reconciliation. That's why there was so much joy on the people's faces. They would run and weep to the altar, but they would leave in joy. And after Erica forgave publicly in 2025, I believe that we are now in a forgiveness revival where forgiveness is going to begin to sweep America from coast to coast. I'll be seated. Sunday night, I got a text message. Danny, you can come join me on the keys. Just Danny. I got a text message. It was from one of the Christians I told you that some 15 years ago told me to my face, I could never forgive them for that. And I got a text message that night. The person said, I saw Erica forgive her husband's killer. And I decided I would forgive today. There's a grace. I want you to hear this. There is a grace to forgive even the inner vow that you said, I could never forgive. I feel a Holy ghost because you've never been in a forgiveness revival before. I want to close with the story that we opened up with. It's a story of the prodigal son, but it's not about the son. It's about the forgiving father. And you know, the story you saw the video, according to scripture, he leaves his father demanding an inheritance and he squanders it with wild living, prostitutes, perversions. And he ends up in a pig pen. Do you know, nothing's in the Bible just cuss. You know, the pig pen is the place of the demoniacs. When Jesus cast out the demons, where do they go? The place of the pigs.

All throughout scripture, pigs represents foolishness. Don't throw your pearls before swine. Demonic activity and waste. And in the middle, watch this, of his demonic activity, he remembers his father's house. He says, I wonder if I could just be a servant in my father's house, because there's more joy serving in my father's house than everything I thought I would have with this life of fame and money. And the Bible says that he came to his senses and started heading back to his father's house. And my favorite part of this entire story is when scripture says, why he's a long way off. His father sees him. I usually don't get emotional, but I got emotional watching that video today. And when I saw him a long way off, every day wondering, is it the day my son's going to come home? And a lot of you think that God is rejecting you and you can't come back. And what you don't understand is you've never had a father like him. You don't understand the heart of the father. Forgiveness comes from the heart of the father. And while you're still a long way off, and while you're still a long way off, he's running after you. Watch, you can't get to him fast enough because he will get to you before you could ever get to him. Watching, he's running. And the enemy has lied to many of you and said, because of your sin, these are reasons why God will never use you. But you don't know the ring he already has in his hand. And the cloak that he puts around him. He celebrates with the fattened calf, with the greatest party. Watch this. But then the brother steps in. and says, how can we forgive him for that? Reminds me of a lot of these Christians I've seen on social media this year. You can't forgive. Did they even say they're sorry? Did they even mean it? How do you know? Surely you can't put a ring on him. Surely you can't have confetti. Come on, come on, come on. How do you have confetti with 24 years of ministry?

How do you celebrate someone like that? You can't when you don't have the Father's heart. When you have the religious brother's heart, you just want him to pay. I've been here the whole time while you're celebrating him. I've been here the whole time while you're making a fuss over them. How come you gotta forgive them? What about me? Church, you need to get delivered from your brother's heart and you need to find the heart of the Father because the heart of the Father, hear me today, never doesn't have forgiveness in it. When you say, I can't forgive them for that, he says, I forgave them for that. Watch, the thing you said you can't do is the thing he went to the cross for. Watch, the forgiveness revival is when we're running towards people who, with the heart of the Father. Watch, while they're a long way off. I don't care what you're struggling with today. I don't care who you've been with today. I don't care how you identify today. I don't care the sin that you've had today. I don't care what the pig pen of demons that you've been in today. I don't care how many mistakes you've made. I don't care what you've done. When you say, God can't forgive me,

he can't restore me, he can't love me. I came to tell you the same gospel that is for the prodigal son is for you today, and I want you to know that the Lord was waiting for you on this Yom Kippur week, week of atonement, while you're a long way off. How far off? 2,000 years ago, he was away from you, running towards you for this moment, for this time, for such a time as this. Stand your feet all over this place and close your eyes and lift your hands to heaven. Every campus. All right. Campus pastors, come and take your services right now. Prophesy. With every eye closed, every head bowed, every heart open, I came to ask you today, are you the prodigal? Are you the brother? Are you the heart of the Father? And some of you have been in the pen of demons, and the Father has forgiveness in his heart. I feel like you're supposed to do this today. No one wants to embarrass anybody, but who cares? We just care about God touching you today. But if you feel like you've been a prodigal, but if you feel like you've been a prodigal, running from God, I want you just to grab your ring finger.

Just grab your ring finger. Just put your hand, finger on your ring finger, feel it. I heard the Lord say, I'm putting my ring, my family ring on you. My ring of affection. My ring of love. My ring of affection. My ring of adoption. My radical love ring. If you feel like you've been the prodigal, just lift both your hands right now and let him put his coat on you. If someone around you has their hands up, to just put your hands on their shoulders right now, symbolizing this coat right now. The coat of the father, his best coat. I want you to tell him if you're around someone right now with their hands listed, tell him you're God's best. Tell him you're God's best. If your hands are on someone in this room right now, now just tell him, you're home, you're home, you're home. Tell him right now, come on. prophesy over him, you're home, you're home, you're home, you're home. So if you have been the prodigal today, you're the beloved son. If your hands were lifted that you said, I'm a prodigal right now, just repent of your sin to the father, just like the prodigal did. There's no special way to do it, just say I repent father, I repent of all of my sin, I repent of every partnership, every evil thing that I did, just tell him just with your own words, just say I'm sorry God, I'm sorry God, I turn to you. That's an important part, I turn to you, I turn to you. Now just ask Jesus to forgive you right now. Jesus would you forgive me?

Plead the blood of Jesus right now. Come on, plead the blood of Jesus. Saint says you're praying over him. We plead the blood of Jesus and we declare right now no weapon formed against you shall prosper. I declare right now the enemy's plans were thwarted over your life. I declare right now the sons of God are coming home, the daughters of God are coming home, and the ring and the robe represents the call of God on your life, that you are fearfully and wonderfully made. I heard the Lord say I still have plans for you, I still have an inheritance for you, I still have things in my heart for you. I feel the presence of God, can we just put our hands together and just thank the Lord for his presence in this place. I truly mean this, I don't want to embarrass you. It's never my heart, but I do want you to spiritually grow. So if you would say Landon, I think I've been the brother. I think I've been standing in between the father forgiving and people he wants to forgive. And you need to understand this, the same demons in the pig pen were at work in the brother in just a different strategy. And here's the problem, that brother you might sound more like the accuser than you do the father. And today, God wants to give you the father's heart. I don't want to embarrass you, but I do want you to have breakthrough. If you would say Landon, maybe, maybe I've been like the brother in this story. Would you lift your hand right now, I want to pray for you. Oh man, I just felt the love of God so much. Oh, you don't know how much the Lord loves your honesty, it's beautiful. I heard the Lord say you were delivered the moment your hand lifted. You were delivered the moment your hand lifted. You were delivered the moment your hand lifted. Lift your hands high right now. The Lord told me on the Trinity Trail this morning that there was going to be corporate deliverance. Lift your hand high. I declare right now, this is that moment that the Lord said, I pray right now. The Lord is giving you the heart of the father. I hear this, he's giving you the shoes of the father, where you're gonna be able to run after prodigals. Here's what he's saying today, I'm gonna give you the eyes of the father, that

you're gonna see them from a long way off. I pray this every time I preach, Lord give me ears to hear, eyes to see, hearts to receive. I heard the Lord say, I'm giving you my eyes. I'm not prophesying in tongues, this is my prayer language. If you got a prayer language, just go ahead and use it for a second. Nobody is prophesying, nobody's taking attention to themselves, it's not out of order. We are in the presence of God today. We're in the presence of the Father today. If you don't have a prayer language, these are the moments that God gives you them. These are the moments you say, Lord would you baptize me in the Holy Ghost? Would you give me a prayer language? Is Chris Donald in the room? Is Chris Donald, Pastor Chris Donald in the room? I don't know if he's in the room, he preaches all over the country. He's out, he's, he's. Okay, if you want the heart of the Father, there's a ministry we have called Belong. Can you put the Belong thing on the screen? I think you just text Belong, right? $5.99. Here's my pastoral challenge, just go serve at least one time. Just go serve at least one time. Just go find a prodigal one time. One more time, I'm gonna pray over the brothers. If that was you, lift your hands, I want to pray over you. You're not a brother. You're not a brother. If you're not a brother, you're not a brother. Your hands are lifted, lay hands on your heart and ask right now for the Father's heart. Do it right now. He's giving you his heart, his heart. Father, I pray that they would weep with you. They would weep with you. Their heart would break. Receive it right now. We're closing with this. One more time. We close our eyes so that you concentrate.

So would you just close your eyes one more time? I felt the Lord told me to ask you one more time. I want you to soften your heart, clear your mind. Do not say back to the voice of God, I already did, don't do that. But the question the Lord is asking you today, who do you need to run to with the Father's heart of forgiveness? And I know you may have already done it, but maybe you're on my journey and you're just a few years into the forgiveness process. Today, there is a grace to forgive. So would you lift your hands and worship to the Lord and would you release forgiveness over anyone you need to forgive right now? You could think their name, you could whisper their name, you could say their name, it doesn't matter. What matters is that you have the heart of the Father today. Father, I declare right now, I pray right now that this forgiveness would please you. I pray, let this be an aroma of worship. I pray the Father's heart comes to every campus, every person, every leader. I pray, Father, for the forgiveness revival to begin to spread from campus to campus, from city to city, to family to family. I declare that your people are passing the forgiveness test. I thank you they're passing the family test, the betrayal test, the enemy test, the church head, the accuser test.

I thank you right now. The anointing of God is being released on your people as they forgive, as they reflect you, as they love like you and lead like you and radical in their faith. I pray right now, let your anointing come upon them now. Now, all over this place, breathe in the presence of God. Lord, I pray, let your anointing, let your healing. Here's the last thing I hear in my spirit. You will hear God more clearly than you've ever heard Him in your entire life. I pray this now in Jesus' name. As he was just ministering, I was reminded of the words of Jesus. And Jesus said, as Mary is at His feet, weeping and pouring out oil and perfume on His feet, those that were attacking her and mocking her around her, Jesus says this, those that have been forgiven much, love much. This is the year of radical love. And I heard the Lord say that many of you that have struggled to radically love God and His people, this morning was the key, receiving and giving forgiveness, that now God was going to unlock the Father's heart and radical love on the inside of you. So if that's you that you say, God, I received His forgiveness and I released forgiveness, I believe just before we leave

that God is going to flood your heart with radical love this morning that the way that you haven't been able to love those, the unlovely around you, the hurting, the broken, family members that have agitated you, God is about to fill you with a radical love for the people out there that need the love of Jesus. So just lift your hands right now. Lord, we thank You that Your words over Mary, a sinner, a demoniac that had many demons that You cast out, that Lord, as You released forgiveness over her, as she received forgiveness from You, that You flooded her heart with a radical love. Lord, this morning, we pull on the anointing from heaven. Father, this year, You gave us a word in this house to radically love You, radically love Your house, and radically love God's people. This morning, we ask for the Father's heart to radically love people. Father, I pray right now that You would fill Your people's heart with love, with love, with love, with love. You said that the greatest is love. Oh God, fill your church with love once again. Let us in this hour that our heart would not grow cold. As lawlessness has arisen, your word says, the people's heart will grow cold. Lord, we decree that this will be a house and we will be a people that will not grow cold. But today we open our arms and ask, Abba Father, fill our hearts, fill our hearts. Come on, say fill us up, fill us up, fill us up with your love. Abba, Abba, Abba, give us your love, give us your love.

Come on, cry out, give us your love to love people radically, to love our families radically, to love our children radically, to love our neighbors radically, oh to love the unlovely radically, oh God, to love the loved, the lost radically. Come on, release your love, release it God, release, release love, release it. He's filling us, He's filling us, He's filling us and then filling, come on. Just for a minute longer say fill me up, fill me up. Come on, exchange that bitterness for love, exchange that unforgiveness for love. Come on, this is radical, what I'm about to tell you. But the people you just forgave and that you released, I saw with joy on your faces saying, Lord, I love and you filled in the blank with the person that you have struggled to forgive. So right now before the Lord, would you just whisper to him, I love and say that name. Come on, just tell the Lord with a father's heart, I love and fill in that blank. And then just begin to intercede for them, Lord, get them, Lord, chase them, Lord, reveal yourself to them. Lord, let them encounter your radical love. Father, would you heal them, would you deliver them? Come on, begin to intercede for that person, ask for God's blessing, for his deliverance, for his freedom over that person or over those people. It could be a long list of individuals that you forgave this morning. But come on right now, just begin to intercede for the radical love of God to surround that person or those people. Father, we pray for our enemies right now. Oh God, we pray for our enemies right now. Encounter them with your radical love. Oh God, we pray for Oakhurst neighborhood. Oh God, that you would fill that neighborhood with your radical love, Lord. The witches that are in that neighborhood, the warlocks in that neighborhood. Lord, we decree that today is the day that they surrender. Today is the day that they would lift the name of Yeshua. Yeshua, we decree Jesus, you are the God of that neighborhood. Lord, we decree salvation and deliverance over Oakhurst. Oh God, we decree it in the city of Fort Worth.

Come on, would you lift up the name of Yeshua over that person, over those people. Come on, the name of Yeshua.