Save Them A Seat

- Good morning church, we're happy to see you. I hope you're excited to be here. I hope you've come expected. Why don't you join in to worship with us. ♪ I pray into the atmosphere ♪ ♪ Spirit of God you're here ♪ ♪ You have all authority ♪ ♪ I pray over my heart and mind ♪ ♪ I am healed by your stripes ♪ ♪ Your blood declares that I am free ♪ ♪ In the mighty name of Jesus ♪ ♪ I pray, call me from the power of heaven ♪ ♪ I proclaim everywhere formed against me ♪ ♪ I pray in the mighty name of Jesus ♪ ♪ I draw upon the boundary line ♪ ♪ The enemy has no right to call ♪ ♪ Near my family ♪ ♪ No sleep could ever run to God's best ♪ ♪ No matter the circumstance ♪ ♪ The cross has sealed my destiny ♪ ♪ In the mighty name of Jesus ♪ ♪ I pray, call me from the power of heaven ♪ ♪ I proclaim everywhere formed against me ♪ ♪ My strength in the mighty name of Jesus ♪ ♪ Come on sing and church in the mighty name of Jesus ♪ ♪ I know of the power of fear and darkness ♪ ♪ In my soul every key to every victory ♪ ♪ My soul in the mighty name of Jesus ♪ ♪ I will not fear, I will not fear ♪ ♪ When the enemy comes near ♪

♪ On the door frame of my life ♪ ♪ He's the blood of Jesus, come on ♪ ♪ And I will not fear, I will not fear ♪ ♪ There's an army of angels here ♪ ♪ I'm protected on all sides by His blood ♪ ♪ I will not fear ♪ ♪ I will not fear, I will not fear ♪ ♪ When the enemy comes near ♪ ♪ No, on the door frame of my whole life ♪ ♪ He's been the blood of Jesus Christ ♪ ♪ I will not fear, I will not fear ♪ ♪ There's an army of angels here ♪ ♪ I'm protected on all sides by the blood of Jesus Christ ♪ ♪ In the mighty name of Jesus ♪ ♪ I pray, holy normal power of heaven ♪ ♪ I proclaim every weapon formed against me ♪ ♪ He must pray in the mighty name of Jesus ♪ ♪ In the mighty name of Jesus ♪ ♪ Oh, I know, while the power of fear and darkness ♪ ♪ It's gotta go, it's gotta go ♪ ♪ I came to every victory ♪ ♪ My hope is in the mighty name of Jesus ♪ ♪ In the mighty name of Jesus ♪ ♪ In the mighty name of Jesus ♪ ♪ In the mighty name of Jesus ♪ ♪ Your beautiful name, oh Jesus ♪ ♪ The powerful name of Jesus ♪ ♪ With all the glory ♪ ♪ The powerful name of Jesus ♪ It's in your one perfect name

Thank you Lord, this morning we can sing I will not fear, I will not fear When the enemy comes near On the door frame of my life It's the blood of Jesus Christ I will not fear, I will not fear There's an army of angels here I'm protected on all sides But the blood of Jesus Christ I will not fear, I will not fear When the enemy comes near On the door frame of my life It's the blood of Jesus Christ So I will not fear, I will not fear There's an army of angels here I'm protected on all sides But the blood of Jesus Christ I will not fear, I will not fear This world wants you to fear about everything Worry about everything Have anxiety about everything But his blood was shed But you don't have to Don't stop living in it Stop worrying that being on you This morning you're here So let it go in the name of Jesus The blood of Jesus Christ In the mighty name Oh Jesus

On the walls of power I proclaim I proclaim God Everywhere picked from the gospel You must pray in the mighty name of Jesus It's your name, your name alone of God The mighty name of Jesus I know all the power of fear and darkness In my school It's every key to everything to heal I know in the mighty name of Jesus In the mighty name of Jesus In the mighty name of Jesus Thank you Lord, thank you Lord (Applause) (Music) I remember How you provided How you held me Through the night And I remember How you sustained me When you stepped in Saved my life If I knew this What I know now I would be still In letting you work it out Jesus I was just in the water But I never went under

You were always under Jesus When I went through the fire You were on them inside me You were always on time You were always on the way Always on time You were always on the way Always on time And I remember How you carried When I couldn't Take a step And I remember How you loved me When I couldn't Take a step You were always on time, Jesus When I went through the fire, you were up beside me You were always on time, you were all the way Always, always on time, you were all the way Always on time, you were always, always on time You were always, always, always on time Yes, every miracle I never break through is in your time There's never been a day, never been a minute, never been a moment And you weren't in it, there's never been a time that you didn't see me through God So, I was shimmy up, there's never been a day, never been a minute, never been a moment And you weren't in it, there's never been a time that you didn't see me through God So, I was shimmy up, never been a day, never been a minute, there's never been a moment And you weren't in it, there's never been a time that you didn't see me through God

So, I was shimmy up, there's never been a day, never been a minute, never been a moment And you weren't in it, there's never been a time that you didn't see me through God So, I was shimmy up, Jesus, I was trust in the water, but I'm never without a day You were always, always, always, Jesus Oh, when I went through the fire, you were always never sighted me You were always, always, always, always, always on time You were always, always, always on time You were always, always, always, always on time Never been a day, never been a minute, never been a moment And you weren't in it, there's never been a time that you didn't see me through God So, I was shimmy up, never been a day, never been a minute, never been a moment And you weren't in it, there's never been a time that you didn't see me through God So, I was, I was, I was, I was trust in the water, but I'm never without a day You were always, always, always on time, Jesus When I went through the fire, you were always, always, always on time Come on, let's give the Lord a hand clap of praise this morning Thank you, Lord, always on time Thank you, Lord, that you're always on time Thank you, Jesus, thank you, Lord You know, I have so many memories with the Lord Jesus so many things that I've done. I just want to tell you guys today that the Lord knows the plans he has for you. They are to prosper you and give you a hope and a future. Come on, somebody. Let's give the Lord some praise this morning. I just want to say thank you so much for coming to Revolution Church this morning. If you were a first time visitor with us, you found the best church in the world. So slightly biased, but I believe it. So leave me alone, okay? Hey, I just want to thank you guys so much for just surrendering to the Lord and worship, man. Y'all feel the presence of the Lord in here and thank you Lord for being here. And so I got a couple of things I want to share with you guys. The first thing is today is connect one. Everybody

say connect one. If you did not sign up, I got really good news for you. Number one, you're getting crack or barrel for lunch if you come. Number two, it doesn't matter if you didn't sign up. You can just show up. Amen. So if you guys, if you don't know what connect one is, that is our time where you get to know our church better. You get to know our pastor and his wife Connie better. You get to know our staff better. And there's just a lot of things to find out there. So make sure that if you haven't been to connect one, if you didn't sign up, come get some crack or barrel hallelujah. Maybe they got some biscuits and gravy down there. I don't know, you know, the good stuff. But I think it'll be a great time and you will not regret it. So you will not regret it. It's so good. And then real quick, I want to invite our groups coordinator up. Amanda, come on. Amanda's got some stuff to share with us. Everybody say campaign groups. Good job. Okay, these groups are different. They are specific to the sermon series, seven week sermon series. Pastor Pacer is leading us through with the book You Are Called by John Bevere. These groups, we, I'm sorry, we will have a launch with the campaign groups where you can actually have a table if you choose to lead these groups and have people sign up for your groups. If you've been feeling a call to lead and you've been hesitant for any reason, whether you're new or whether you had a hard time committing to six months or a year long time, that timeframe, this is your chance if you meet the leadership criteria. So I will be in the foyer today. Also at the launch, there will be a table for books. So everybody needs to come get their book next week. Again, I'll be in the foyer at the current events table. Come and find me. Thank you, Amanda. Y'all skip her hand. So I'm going to translate what she just said for all you all non-committal people. Am I right or am I right? You get a chance to start a group for seven, seven weeks and see if you like it. And all you people that say, I can't do a group. Guess what? You get to try it and actually see that you can do it. So I'm excited for that. Lastly, I just want to tell you guys that if you're a first time, guess what this today, there's a connect card in the back of your seats. Make sure you fill that out. We really, really, really want to connect with you. We want to know where you're at and your walk with Jesus, where your giftings are. We also want to know if you make the best decision of your life and you accept Jesus Christ as your Savior today, make sure you tell us that. We also have a free gift for you. Come on, somebody, a free Bible. Let's go. So out here in the foyer, we got some tables. There's a connect table. There's a new in Christ table. Make sure you stop by, get you a new Bible so you can go home and like spread

the pages and smell that new book smell. You know what I'm saying? I don't know about y'all, but I love that smell. So as you open those pages and read God's word, you also get to smell the new book smell. So amen. So I get a little crazy up here. Honestly, I need to tone it down. Tone it down, Chris. So real quick, we're about to enter into a time of giving and offering back to the Lord. I really believe that this is a time of worship. Everybody say worship. This is a time of worship to the Lord. You know, God doesn't need our that. And so I want to share with you guys what the Lord spoke to me this morning. And he said, ask the congregation. Do you trust me? Do you trust me? I know that there's some people in here. You've you saw me get up here and you're like, Oh, great. Here comes this guy talking about money again. But here's the deal. I'll keep doing it to the end of time. If it means that your heart will be unified with his. So, so the Lord said, do you trust me? And I want to just task you with something right now, even as I'm speaking, it ain't gonna be rude. Bow your head. Ask the Lord what he wants you to give today, whether that's tithing for the first time, or if that's an offering. What we know is once we release our finances to God, God can do way more with it than we can, not just for the house of God, but for your house at home. And I believe that somebody's here today, you're in financial ruin. Hey, would you trust God with your last penny? Listen, that's a biblical story. And honestly, what's behind that? It's saying, you know what, God, I don't have enough, but you do. So I give you what I have so that you can send an increase into my life. And so I believe with all of my heart that if you are are looking for direction this morning, that direction is going to come through your obedience. Your obedience is every part of your life, not just sitting in a seat on Sunday, which that's super comfortable and stuff, you know, but God calls us out into the deep waters. He calls us to step outside of the boat to do things that are scary, okay? Not scary to him, scary to you, right? God knows the end result. And so if you're here this morning and you've never tithed, you've never give offering to the Lord, you've never trusted God with your money. Let me tell you something, you're missing out on something. You're missing out on

a lot. And I want to ask you, do like Peter, Peter with Jesus, Jesus said, Peter, do you love me? Peter said, Of course, Lord, of course I do. So Peter, do you love me? Lord, you know, like almost Peter's like, are you kidding me? Like, you know, I love you. And then Jesus asked him a third time, Peter, do you love me? Do you trust him? Do you trust him? Do you trust him? I really believe the presence of God is right here in this moment. It's not always where we get to feel goods. It's where we have to trust him for the future. All right, so let's pray. Let's all stand to our feet. We're going to honor God with the worship of our giving. And there are multiple ways to give. We got buckets in the back. We got online. There's tap tags on the back of your seat. Make sure that whatever way you want to give, you do that for the Lord Jesus today. So let's pray over these offerings. Heavenly Father God, we give you our offering. We sacrifice to you our livelihood. God, because without you, we don't have a livelihood. Without you, we don't have a home. Without you, we don't have a job. Without you, we don't have any money. Without you, we don't live in this nation. God, I just pray right now, Lord Jesus, that we give back to you what is already yours. And Lord, there's people in here that would trust you for the first time with their gifts and their offerings. Lord, we put them on your altar today. And we've laid on our crowns. We lay down our gifts. And we say, God, do what only you can do. In Jesus name I pray. And everybody said, Amen. Good morning, Revolution Church. Welcome. I'm Amanda. This is Whitney and we're so excited you're here today. If you are a first-time visitor, welcome again. And there is a connect card in the back of the seat. You can fill that out or fill it out on the app. And in the foyer to the right, there's a connect table. We've love to meet you, talk to you, and give you a gift. If anyone makes the best decision of their life today, we would also love to meet you. And there is a table out there for new believers. And we can give you a Bible. If you miss anything because we are going over a lot and there's so much wonderful things going on, you can go to the Church Center app or our website and find out all the information on QR code. Yes. Also, we are having our men's ministry nature hike in

Townsend. If you will meet at the church this Saturday at 8, you will not want to miss it. It's going to be a great time. Go to the Church Center app for more info It's October 29th. If you will go to the church center at for more information and to register, registration does close September 30th, so make sure you go to do that now. Last but not least, we have Connect 2. That is also next Sunday. So Connect 2 is where you not only learn about who we are as a church and get to hear about our beliefs, but this is really cool. You get to hear about your gifts and you see where you can connect with the body of Christ. It's really beautiful. So, and also, at the end of the service today, if you need prayer, there will be a prayer team available for you. Yes, awesome. And that's all we have for you guys. If you need any more information, head to the church center at. Have a great service. Good morning. Good morning. Pastor David, you don't have to wear Georgia stuff here. I'm sorry. I'm so excited to be here today, Pastor Chris, make sure to hide you to save me some Cracker Barrel. I'm going to be hungry after the third service. So make sure, like you said, if you have never connected with us before, be there next service. You don't even have to register. Just show up because we want to get you connected. We want you to know what we are about a church and you get to beat Pastor Pacer and his lovely wife, Sister Connie. I would just go see Sister Connie. But, yeah. So, y'all been enjoying this series of No Empty Seats. It's been an amazing series. Every message has spoken something to me. Even the one I wasn't here, like we were on a staycation on the first message of the series. Y'all know what staycations are. You just work around the house. That's what a staycation is. So, but we were on a staycation that Sunday. And Pastor Chris spoke on the unintentional or the unexpected invitation, right? And we were like planning to clean out our garage and stuff and all that. And my wife had gotten an invitation to go with some ladies from the church to dinner on Sunday. And she's like, hey, you know, should I go? I was like, well, we got this garage to clean out and blah, blah, blah. And so tell them no, because we got all these plans, right? And then Pastor Chris hit. Well, you might have legitimate plans, but you need to cancel those for that unexpected invitation. So, so my wife was in the bathroom getting ready. And I was like, Rachel, don't listen to this message because God's already corrected me. So, but anyways, but then also last week, Pastor Pacer did an amazing job on being in his presence and how pleasurable it is being in God's presence, not Pastor Pacer's presence, but in God's presence. Yeah, yes, it is a pleasure to be in your presence, but not as pleasurable to be in God's presence. I can tell you, like you get in his presence, you will feel nothing better than that. Amen. It is amazing to be in his presence and to be in his will. Today, I get to finish up this series of no empty seats. And throughout this series, I kept getting this question that just kept coming to my mind, like over and over and over and like just kept pounding me. And that question was, is there anyone I have decided who doesn't deserve a seat? But that's it. Because I think there's sometimes we as people decide who I want sitting next to me and who I don't want sitting next to me. And we unintentionally don't realize that sometimes. I've been a part of church for a long time. I was adopted by a pastor and so grew up in church since I was 12 years old. He's an associate pastor, so I'm become a head pastor. I saw him work, a foster care department at Smoke and Mountain Children's Home through the church of God. And so I've seen and also what's crazy to think about this last July was my 13th year on staff here. So, so I've been a part of ministry for a long time. And I've seen many reasons why churches have decided not to invite certain people. Some of them good, some of them bad. I've seen many reasons. I've seen reasons for as simple as, well, the clothes that they wear. they have, or because they were out drinking the night before, how dare they show up, hung over into church, well, that's probably where they need to be the best most. I've seen so many reasons why people have said no, they don't belong here, they don't belong in this empty seat that's next to me. Now, yes, we're talking about empty seats in here, but the ultimate empty seat we're talking about is at the Table of God, sitting there with us at the Table of God, in communion with God.

But the one thing I really wanted to focus in on today is this, the empty seat may belong to the person you haven't forgiven. Maybe it's somebody that you have held a grudge against, and you don't want to go invite them, because I don't want to give them the same mercy that was given to me. How dare they hurt me, how dare they say that thing to me, how dare they do this to me, right? Well, how dare we do the things we do against God. Hey man, now, so I want to make this clear, like this question isn't just for me, because yes, I believe the question is for me to search my heart, God, who have I not forgiven in my life, or maybe God, what haven't I forgiven you for, right? Like we're all having to look at that question, but I believe there's somebody in this room watching online, whether you're at home or in jail right now, somebody is struggling with this issue of forgiving somebody for wrong that they did against them. And you're having a hard time to go and invite them to the same mercy that God gave you. I believe somebody is struggling with that. What's crazy is we cannot ask God, like, out loud to fill every seat while secretly hoping that that one person doesn't show up, because there will always be an empty seat if that one person doesn't show up. And who knows, maybe the mercy that you're showing somebody else is what they need to see Jesus through your life, amen? So there's this principle that I had to learn a long time ago in my journey walking with God. And I learned this principle through a group, a Maximize Manhood group, way long ago when we were still at the high school down the road at Heritage High School, and I joined this church and I started this group. And if you know this, you may have heard this, if you've been through the Maximize Man group with me, it is what you don't release, which is my first point, what you don't release, you carry. You may know that from Ed Cole saying what you don't release, you retain, but I like the illustration of what you don't release, you carry because it gives that physical imagery

of you actually having to carry this thing, this burden that you don't release. And you're carrying it everywhere you go. When I have unforgiveness in my heart, when I have not been able to forgive somebody, that thing that they did against me is going everywhere I go. In fact, it might actually stagnate you in your walk with Christ and you're stuck in certain places or certain parts of your walk with Christ because you haven't been able to release forgiveness for somebody. And so what you refuse to release, you carry and it ultimately begins to drag you down. In fact, you become a prisoner of the same prison that you just escaped when you choose not to release something. And so forgiveness is important. It is huge. It is something that all of us need to understand and come to a grits with is us forgiving those who have sinned against us, those who have hurt us and inviting them to sit next to us in that NDC. so many times in our thinking we think that well if I don't forgive You think you're, oh, oh, yeah. I like, or I'm making them pay, I'm giving them visions by not forgiving them. I'm, I'm throwing coals on their head because I haven't forgiven them, right? That's, that's, that's in our thinking so many times, right? But here's, here's the crazy thing guys is many times that person that you haven't forgiven isn't even thinking about it. There's sometimes they don't even know they did anything against you because maybe it's something they said or did that related to you but they didn't realize it was related to you and you're holding on to something that they're not even losing sleep over and you're carrying it. I've heard people carry stuff for years because of something that was said or done and it wasn't even meant to hurt them. There's so many things that we have to understand about forgiveness. Matthew 18 is a great, great chapter in the, in the Bible. Jesus gives a bunch of parables in Matthew 18 and we're going to look at a parable that he gives in Matthew 18 of an unforgiving servant. Some of you may have heard this parable before and, and so it starts in Matthew 18 and Jesus starts with a powerful sentence in this parable. Matthew 18, 23, it says this, therefore the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants.

Now when he says, when Jesus says, this is red letter, guys, when Jesus says, therefore the kingdom of heaven is like this, you better pay attention because this is what the kingdom of heaven is like. Like isn't that our prayer? Like kingdom come that will be done on earth as it is in heaven? Like we want to understand what the kingdom of heaven is, right? And so Jesus is like this is what the kingdom of heaven is. It's like a king who is a certain king who wanted to settle his accounts, sell his debts with his servants. And so it goes on and, and I'm going to jump in and out of this parable. I'm not going to read it all the way through, straight from the Bible. So I'm going to jump in and out. So we'll jump back and forth to the scripture. But you see this king in this parable that the story that Jesus has given. And it says that he comes to a certain servant who owes him 10,000 talents. And he gets his servant. And this is what happens in Matthew 18, picked back up in 24. It says, and when he began to settle accounts, one was brought to him who owed him 10,000 talents. Now here's the thing about 10,000 talents. Why Jesus used that particular amount? 10,000 in the Greek is the highest numerical unit you could ever see. I mentioned in first service, the highest number I ever learned was at Googleplex, which is like a one followed by a hundred and something zeros. Don't ask me how I remember that from seventh grade. I do. Don't ask me how I remember it was in seventh grade, but I do. I don't know the things that stay in my brain. I have no idea. And I can't even remember my own name sometimes. But 10,000 was the highest Greek number that you could ever mention in that time. And then the talent, he puts it with a talent, which is the highest monetary unit at that time. So he's saying something that is unattainable. 10,000, which you will never be able to reach talents, which is this highest monetary unit. So it's almost like looking at Elon Musk and saying, hey, you owe something that you could ever pay. The trillionate, right? And so it goes on and says, but as he was not able to pay, his master commanded that he be sold with his wife and children and all that he had and the payment be made. Does that sound like a certain king we know? There is a debt that we were unable to pay. Because of the sin in our lives. The only way that we could pay that debt was with our life, was through death. There was something that was so unattainable that we could not reach it. And here's this king coming back to us and asking for payment. with me and I will pay you all. Then the master of that servant was moved with compassion released him and forgave him the debt. This servant knew that he owed a debt that he could never repay

in his life. Like it wasn't just like a ten year payment it wasn't just like a hundred years it was something that you would never be able to obtain or pay and it says that he fell to his knees asking for mercy, begging for mercy and then the master giving him mercy. Does that sound like us? When we fall to our knees and say God please forgive me of my sins. Please forgive me of the pain in the hurt that I caused you. Please forgive me of the things that have done against you. Guess what God says? You are forgiven. You have mercy. I'm here to tell you right now if you are in this room and you think you have committed a sin that you cannot pay for and there's no way God's going to forgive you you are wrong. Those sitting in jail right now maybe you're in that cell and you're like there's no way that he's going to be able to forgive me. There's no way he loves me that much. I'm here to tell you he loves you that much. He has forgiven you of that debt. He has forgiven you of the sins and the atrocities that you have committed against him. Well some of you are probably like well what does that have to do with me? Well the parable doesn't end there because Jesus continues with the parable and he says it says this about there this in the parable that the servant after he's forgiven of this debt he goes out and he's walking down the street and he sees another servant that owes him money. Now the servant that owes him money only owes him 100 denaria which is in that day just one day's wage which could have been easily payable. The servant that was just shown mercy runs up to this servant grabs him and says pay me what you owe me. It says that that fellow servant falls his knees and begs for mercy and asks for forgiveness but the one that was just given mercy doesn't show it and has them thrown in prison until the debt is paid. Well little does the servant who was just shown mercy no but there's somebody there that was spying or saw all that and he goes back to the king and he's like hey this is what just happened the king is furious and it says this this is what happens jump back in Matthew 18 verse 32 then his master after he had called him said to him you wicked servant I forgave you all the debt because you beg me. Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant? I like that how it says fellow servant that means somebody on the same level as you somebody that's in the same predicament as you should you have not had compassion on your fellow brother had should you not have had compassion on your fellow sister should you not shown the same compassion just as I had pity on you verse 34 and his master was angry and delivered him to the tortures until he should pay all that was due to him. This parable is to show us that if I cannot learn how to forgive as God has forgiven me I will be stuck in the same prison I

just escaped from. If I can't learn to forgive as God forgave me then I cannot receive the forgiveness that God gave me. "Bearing with one another and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another, even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do." It's such a simple command but so hard for us to do, to forgive, to offer the empty seat to the one that has hurt us the most. It is so hard to do sometimes. To finish up the parable, Matthew 18, 35, Jesus says this, "So my Heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart does not forgive his brother, his trespasses. He will hand us over to the torturers, to the prison that we were meant to escape through his mercy. He will do the same to us if we can't forgive those that hurt us. I mentioned at the beginning of this, this is something I had to learn personally myself. When I was a young father and I just had the two, my two kids, I had Caden and Carly, Carly I don't even think was a year old at the time. I found myself not liking myself, who I was as a father, who I was as a man. I found myself like angry with everything around me and just not happy with my marriage, not happy with me, my fatherhood, just not happy. I got to this point where I was like, "I'm just going to skip out. I'm just going to leave. I'm going to get a divorce and I'm just going to leave." And here's the thing is, here I'm saying this to myself and battling this within myself and I had always promised I would never be an absent father. I would always be there for my kids and I would always be there for my wife. Why? Because I knew what an absent father was like and living a life with as an, having an absent father. And I did not want my kids to go through that and have to go through that. But here I am saying I'm going to become that absent father and I despised my absent father and I didn't realize this until I got to this point. I started this Maximize Man group when we just started first going to the church and I was battling this within myself. I remember us covering this through the book of what you can't release. You retain what you can't release. You slowly become that thing that you can't release. And I remember telling Rachel and I'm so thankful for my wife. As I was going through this, like we were on the verge of divorce and I was not a good husband and I was not a good father, she told me after all this that there was many nights and majority of the nights

that when I would fall asleep, she would lay her hands on me to pray over me. And she would pray, "God, please bring back the man that you had me marry." Many nights through a marriage, I'm sure she wanted to put her hands on me in different ways. (Laughter) But she prayed over me and I'm so thankful for you Rachel for doing that. For praying over me and that allowed God to work through this men's group and I remember talking to her and saying, "I believe I have this unforgiveness against my biological father for not being there." Now, my father left before I was even born and so I knew nothing about him, except for the one time I met him when I was 18, so I knew hardly anything about him, but I remember I did not want to be him and it was something I despised and hated. But I was slowly becoming what I despised and hated because I was unable to release that forgiveness. And so we made up in our minds, "Yes, we're going to do this. We're going to go and my father lives in Memphis." And we were like, "We're going to go to Memphis." And I remember after we made that commitment, even remember mentioning this in our men's group or to Jeff. He comes up to me and he hands me money and he says, "This is for you to take that trip to see your father." The confirmation. So we load up the car with our two kids and we go to Memphis and I remember getting to his house and we had an amazing potluck, his fried chicken and spaghetti. Yes, that's my potluck, that's my type of not potato salad guys, no, or mac and cheese, whatever salad. But anyways, it's like fried chicken and spaghetti, I remember it and I sat down with my dad and I looked across from him and I said, "Please forgive me for not being able to forgive you." And the release I felt at that moment. Now I fast forward almost 16 years later and my marriage has never been better. Amen. Here's the thing, is the burden of unforgiveness will reshape you into the very prisoner you are hoping to escape.

But why do we have to understand forgiveness? And this is why I believe we have to understand forgiveness. If I continually refuse to forgive guys or if you continually refuse to forgive, do you truly understand what forgiveness is? Because for me to forgive that means I must put my pain aside and my hurt aside. Think about this, think about this on the day that God showed his greatest love for us. On the day that God showed his greatest love for you was also the day that he hurt the most. For God so loved the world he gave his what? Only son. How much pain he had to feel to give up his son. But how much love did he have for you to give up his son? I have to understand that hurt. I have to understand that pain which leads me to my second and last point. No one can love like God loves because no one can hurt like God hurts. No one can love like him because you can't understand the pain that we have put him through. The little forgiveness that we give to other people is tiny compared to what he's forgiven us of. Remember the fellow servant only on old 100th scenario. This other servant was old 10,000 talents, the greatest amount you could ever imagine. But God yet loved you that much that he forgave you of a debt that you could not pay. How much more should we forgive others of the hurt they put on us? You see this principle in the story of Hosea. In the Old Testament you find a prophet, his name is Hosea, and God challenges Hosea as a prophet. He tells Hosea he goes, "I want you to go marry a harlot and have children with that harlot." Hosea being obedient does exactly that. He goes and marries his harlot. Some of you might be thinking, "Why would God tell him to go marry a harlot?" If you don't know what a harlot is it's a prostitute, go marry a prostitute.

Well guess what, a harlot is going to do what harlots do. The wife was named Gomer, and so Gomer begins to prostitute herself out. Then later on in Hosea you see where God also tells Hosea, "Now go buy back Gomer because she goes and she gets herself in a predicament where she is enslaved, and God said, "I want you to go and buy your wife back." The whole purpose of that was for Hosea to have a glimpse of what God did. Israel continue to harden it themselves out to other gods, continue to follow after other things, and continue to go after other desires beside God, and God will continue to buy them back. And Hosea had to understand that as a prophet, and we also had to understand the forgiveness that he gave us by being able to forgive others, being able to release others from the wrongs that they did against us. For us to understand how forgiving God is, we must become forgiving ourselves. And here's the other thing, guys. His mercy is meant for everyone. It's meant you think of the most egregious thing that somebody can do. The death of Jesus was meant to cover that. Was meant for everyone, not just you, not just me. His mercy was meant for everyone. His death, his blood was meant for everyone. Jesus died for even the person that hurt you the most. So I want you to think about that. Who is the one that I have not been able to forgive in my life? Who's the one that I'm still holding a grudge on?

Maybe I'm stuck in this walk with Christ because I've just not been able to forgive somebody that I need to forgive. And God will reveal that person to you, or reveal that thing to you. And vengeance isn't ours, guys. Vengeance is not meant for us. Romans 12, 19. Vengeance is mine. I will repay, says the Lord. When I forgive, and when you forgive, you are surrendering the right to vengeance and you're giving it to God. You're saying God, you have your will in this situation. As I close today, I want you to think about that. Pertain, you can come up. As I close today, I want you to think about the person that you've been unable to forgive in your life. Maybe it's a spouse. You may be at home and you have something against your husband, or you have something against your wife, and you've been holding that against them for a long time, and that is put you stagnant in your marriage. Maybe it's a long-time friend that hurts you. Maybe it's an ex that hurts you. By you forgiving them, maybe the mercy that they need to see in order to see his mercy for their life. I don't know who it is.

It's somebody different in each and every one of us. Like I mentioned in the beginning, it might even be God that you've got to forgive, because he's not moving fast enough for you in this area, or he didn't do it the way that you wanted him to do it. I don't know what it is. (gentle music) But we need to show the same mercy that he showed us. For the person that hurt us the most. Save that seat for them, and bring them to communion with God. (gentle music) If you're here today, and you have never experienced the mercy that God, been able to forgive yourself because of the things that you've done. If you're here today and you want to experience that forgiveness, this is the day. Do not leave this room without coming to the feet of the king and begging him for mercy because that is all he requires. Is to repent. Is asked for forgiveness and your debt will be paid. If you're watching online, reach out, put a comment and we will be praying with you. Your debt is forgiven. Don't carry a burden that you're not meant to carry. Give it to Christ. Put it at the feet of the cross. And maybe you're here today and you have somebody that you're thinking of right now that you need to forgive. Now, I'm going to tell you just because you forgive them doesn't mean that you give them space to hurt you again. But you still need to forgive them. If that's you today and you're thinking of that person that you need to forgive, come to these altars and lean on the spirit of God to walk through that with you because he will give you the strength to do so. I've got to pray right now. Let's pray, Church. Move on the hearts of your people, God. If there's any in this room that are lost and they've never experienced your mercy, they've never experienced your forgiveness. I pray that you show it to them today. Let them come running to your feet asking for forgiveness, knowing that their debt is paid. That they don't have to worry about that burden anymore because

you paid it in full. And also pray for those that are walking with you, but they're stuck and they're stagnant because they've been unable to forgive somebody. I pray that you help them to forgive that person. So when that person shows up in the NTC next to them, they can rejoice knowing that they have experienced your mercy, God. I thank you for your mercy. I thank you for your grace. I thank you for your forgiveness. The church says, "Let's all stand. Let's finish this out with this last song. These altars are open. Do not leave if you need to come to the feet of our King." Well, my words fall short. I've got nothing to do with you. I've got nothing to do. How could I express all my gratitude? I could sing these songs as I often do, but every song I sing and you'll never do. So I throw up my hands and praise you again and again. So that I have is a hallelujah, hallelujah. I know it's not much, but I've got nothing else before King, except for hearts in hallelujah. I've got just one with my ♪ I will worship you ♪ ♪ So I'll throw up my heads ♪ ♪ Crazy again and again ♪ ♪ So all that I have is a heartache ♪ ♪ New year ♪ ♪ Heartache ♪ ♪ And I know it's not much ♪ ♪ But I'm nothing else before King ♪ ♪ Except for heart, sing it highly ♪ ♪ New year ♪ ♪ Hallelujah ♪ ♪ ♪ Let's sing this out. ♪ Come on my song ♪ ♪ Don't you get shy of me ♪ ♪ Lift up your song ♪ ♪ 'Cause you've got a line inside of those lungs ♪ ♪ Get up and praise the Lord ♪

♪ Come on my song ♪ ♪ Oh don't you get shy of me ♪ ♪ Lift up your song ♪ ♪ 'Cause you've got a line inside of those lungs ♪ ♪ Get up and praise the Lord ♪ ♪ Come on my song, oh don't you get shy of me ♪ ♪ Lift up your song ♪ ♪ 'Cause you've got a line inside of those lungs ♪ ♪ Get up and praise the Lord ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord ♪ ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ So I'll throw up my head ♪ ♪ And praise you again and again ♪ ♪ 'Cause all that I have is a hallelujah ♪ ♪ Hallelujah ♪ ♪ And I know it's not much, but I've nothing else before key ♪ ♪ Except for heart-singing hallelujah ♪ ♪ Hallelujah ♪ ♪ ♪ Thank you, Jesus. Thank you for everything you've done for us. Lord, we thank you for the things that you've done that we don't even know about yet. Lord, we thank you for just allowing us to come and seek forgiveness to give forgiveness to others, Lord.

Lord, I just pray as we go that we are all able to go without a burden on our heart, without any problems with other people, Lord, that you would just bless us in our weeks, bring peace to our minds, and allow this place to be a place of peace. Lord, we just thank you for being here. We thank you for bringing in the broken Lord. I just pray that you would heal them and send us out. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. ♪ ♪