Uprooting Unforgiveness and Bitterness - Jared Baker

So glad you're joining us today, I'm Pastor Jared Baker of Pastor Glad Tidings Church in Lubbock, Texas. And I'm glad that you're listening and we want to get into the Word of God, so let's pray together. Father, in the name of Jesus, I thank you for this opportunity today to bring your Word. I pray that wisdom, revelation, knowledge, and understanding, according to Ephesians chapter 1, would flow in the name of Jesus. Not just information, but revelation, that the eyes of our inner man would truly be opened up and flooded with light, that we would have your light, the light of the Gospel, the light of your Word, the light of your love, the light of your life, that understanding would come in the name of Jesus, because truth comes from your Word, and it is your truth that truly sets us free from any and every bondage that the enemy would try to bring against us. In the name of Jesus, Amen. Amen. Amen. Well, if you've got your Bible, why don't you look at Luke chapter 17. Luke chapter 17, I want to read the first six verses. I'm going to read out of the King James Version. You might have an NIV or an NLT or a different version. Might read a little bit differently, but you can follow along. Luke chapter 17, verses 1 through 6, and we want to talk about uprooting unforgiveness and bitterness. All of us have to deal with this, every single one of us. It doesn't matter who we are or what our age is. We have to deal with this, because Jesus said it's going to come. Luke chapter 17, verses 1 through 6, then said he, this is Jesus speaking, unto the disciples, it is impossible, but that offenses will come. But woe unto him through whom they come. So basically, Jesus says, there's going to be a chance to get offended.

People are going to hurt you. People are going to sin against you. And guess what? You are going to hurt others, and you're going to sin against others. It's going to happen, he said. Verse 2, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones. So in other words, Jesus is saying, the Lord, he said, I take this really seriously. I don't want you to hurt other people. But aren't you glad that if we do, the grace of God is greater? Aren't you glad that if we do, there is forgiveness? Amen? Aren't you glad that we have, through the blood of Jesus Christ, the power to forgive others? I've heard it said, hurt people, hurt people. And I believe it's very true. As a pastor, I see it over and over. And in my own life, I've noticed it. Whenever I feel hurt, when I feel offended, whenever I have harbored bitterness at times in my life, boy, my attitude stinks sometimes, doesn't it? And it's so easy when you feel hurt to lash out at others and hurt others. Verse three says, take heed to yourselves if your brother trespassed against you, rebuke him. And if he repent, forgive him. And so in other words, verse three, Jesus clearly says that if somebody has hurt you, it's the right thing to do to literally go to them. Now that doesn't mean that it's up to you to set them straight and make them repent or make them ask for forgiveness because you can't make anybody do anything. But Jesus does say you can go to them and in an attitude of love to let them know, hey, you hurt me.

Okay. Verse four. And if he trespass against you seven times in one day, wow. And then seven times in a day, turn again to you and say, I repent. He said, you got to forgive them. Well, the disciples, they didn't know what to think about this. Look at verse five. And the apostles said unto the Lord, increase our faith. Now think about this. This is on the subject of forgiveness and releasing bitterness and walking in love toward others. And there's so many things that the disciples could have said, hey, increase our faith. We want to have more faith that we can be giants of faith and that we can move mountains and that we can be the greatest preachers the world has ever seen. But no, notice what they said this about. They said this about the subject of forgiveness. The disciples immediately recognize this is not easy to do, especially when Jesus says if this happens seven times in one day, and in fact, another gospel says, what does Jesus say? Seven times, 70, 490 times in a day, perhaps, oh my goodness. Absolutely impossible in the flesh. So you and I, in and of ourselves, we can't do this. You can't do this. In and of yourself, in your own flesh, in your own strength, in your own will. wisdom, you can't possibly walk in this kind of forgiveness. But Jesus said, in me you can. And notice what he says in verse six. This is what we want to focus on here for the next few minutes. Look at verse six.

The Lord said, if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you might say unto this sycamine tree. So he's being very specific here. Faith has to have a target. Faith does not deal in generalities. And here Jesus said, there's a specific thing I want to talk to you about, and that's forgiveness. He compares forgiveness and bitterness with that of a sycamine tree. Now he didn't just pick that tree randomly. There's a couple of reasons why I believe Jesus used the illustration of the sycamine tree. He said, if you say to a sycamine tree, not just a sycamine tree, not just any sycamine tree, but this sycamine tree very specifically, be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea, it will, or should, King James Version, your version might say will, or it shall obey you. In other words, he said, it's gonna obey you. Wow. So if you have faith in your heart and speak out of your mouth to the very root system of bitterness and unforgiveness, Jesus said, it's gonna move. It's gonna move. Now I'm a pastor, and my wife and I, we counsel people all the time. Not against Christian counseling. Not at all, obviously.

Do it all the time. Not against, quote, Christian psychology. I believe that the word of God is the primary place that we need to look for any form of counseling, right? Amen. And so when I say this, I do not mean this in any form to be degrading to anybody. But notice what Jesus says. He does not say you need 10 years of counseling. He does not say that you gotta take 35 classes and that you gotta go here and you gotta go there and it's gonna take 20 years to be able to forgive. He doesn't say that, does he? In fact, the disciples noticed. They said, Lord, increase our faith. How can we do this? And Jesus simply speaks to them about being specific with their faith and then speaking to, what did he say? The root system. The root system. Now that's not by accident. Let me speak a couple things about the sycamine tree that I've always found very interesting. Because bitterness and unforgiveness, boy, it's an important subject. An important subject. You can't treat bitterness and unforgiveness like your friend. And it's so easy to do.

I know, I've been there before. There's been some things in my life, they hurt. You know, and even years down the road, what do I find myself doing? I find myself in my heart holding on to them. They almost become your friend when they should be your enemy. People sometimes, it's human nature to almost pet those things and to take care of them. And you retreat to those areas in your heart, in your life, in your mind sometimes, don't you? Yeah. It's real easy to do. But we can't do that. We can't do that. We don't need to treat bitterness, resentment, and unforgiveness like a friend. No, we need to treat them like the enemies they are. Treat them like the enemies they are. Now my wife and I, we have five children. And one of them's still at home. The other four, they're starting to grow up and off in college. One of them is married already. And whenever they were little, you know, I made sure I tuck them in bed, make sure everything's safe, checked all the doors on the house. I'd even walk outside sometimes to make sure everything looks right.

Come on, because I'm going to be a good father. Take care of them, make sure that they're safe. If a robber came and knocked on my door at two o'clock in the morning, you would say, that's ridiculous. If Pastor Jerry had said, well, I'm just going to let them on in. Hey, go ahead and come on in. Do whatever you want to. There's a brand new television over in that closet. Make sure you don't miss that. Take all that you want. No, of course not. First thing I'm going to do, I'm not going to let them in, that's for sure. And if they're trying to break in, well, I'm going to call 911. I'm going to get my gun. I'm going to take care of my family, right? Amen. Well, it's funny how sometimes even as Christians, we do the exact same thing with bitterness and unforgiveness in the works of the enemy. We just let them on in. We meditate on those things. We think on those things. The things that should be our enemies, the things that we should shut out, the things that we should rebuke, the things that we should be speaking to

and telling them to get out of our hearts and out of our lives. Sometimes, unfortunately, even as Christians, they become our friends. We pet them. We take care of them. We allow them to grow. It's like worry. If you let worry grow, it'll grow. Come on. Unforgiveness and bitterness, it's the same way. If you meditate on it, if you think about it, it'll grow, and it'll get bigger, and it will put down a very deep root system in your heart. So one of the biggest things about the sycamine tree. understand and the very I believe one of the reasons why Jesus used the sycamine tree as an Illustration of bitterness and unforgiveness is because a sycamine tree has a very deep root system The sycamine tree that grew in the Middle East and still grows there today I've read some different commentaries on it and and like if you have an NIV or an NLT modern version of the Bible You'll notice right there in verse 6 that it uses the word mulberry tree and sometimes people say well, it's the same thing I've done a little research on that and it seems that there's two different trees happening here They're very closely related and the sycamine tree still grows in the Middle East and in the areas of Israel But they're not as common as perhaps they were 2,000 years ago The mulberry tree has a very a nice tasting fruit or fig the sycamine tree grows a very bitter tasting fruit or fig the sycamine tree Would grow in very very dry and arid regions and Because of this it would put down a root system that many times would grow as deep as the tree was tall So in other words if this sycamine tree was say 25 or 30 feet tall say it's a pretty decently tall tree That root system would literally be 25 to 30 feet into the ground

Wow, so notice when Jesus said you've got to speak to the sycamine tree and you've got to command it to be uprooted The root system to literally come up out of the ground and to be planted in the sea He didn't tell us just to cut it off I've noticed in my life. A lot of times there's things I just kind of cut off I just kind of take care of it on the surface you ever done that in your life I know you have because I know I have you just kind of take care of things on the surface You just kind of cut it down. Oh, it looks good It feels good and then all of a sudden six weeks later two months later Three months later the right person writes you a letter or calls your talks to you The thought comes up again. And before you know it that bitterness is starting to grow up again, isn't it at my house? Years ago when we moved into the the house that we live in now, I guess it's been about ten years ago now There is a tree in our front yard now we are in West Texas in the Lubbock area and Trees here don't get quite as tall as they as they do or did in, Louisiana where we're from it's a lot drier here and This tree in our front yard. It was probably maybe ten feet tall and the whole top of it. I noticed was dead Well, I took somebody's advice and I got up there and I cut the top off Somebody else told me I shouldn't have done that because now it won't grow ever again And I thought you don't know what you're talking about That tree is gonna grow and I would water it and I'd get out there and boy I'd stick the water holes out there and let it go for a couple hours. I thought this trees gonna grow Well, I started calling it my Charlie Brown tree probably the wrong thing to say because that's exactly what it did it never grew again and One day I decided I'm just gonna cut this thing down and I did it wasn't very big didn't take too much work I just cut it down chopped it up got rid of it, but I didn't dig the roots out I didn't do that. No, I didn't dig the roots out all those years I was trying to get it to grow trying to get it to get some new leaves on it Finally, I just cut it down and it amazed me about two weeks later I walked out there and all of a sudden out of the very out of the out of the ground basically It was trying to grow again leaves were coming up

I thought I couldn't get this thing to grow leaves when it was standing up. I cut it down and now here come the leaves It was still alive, oh my goodness, I don't know what kind of tree it was but Maybe it was a sycamore tree. No, it wasn't It's funny Hmm the things that we think we took care of we think well we cut that down. Everything's good. I'm feeling good Before you know it Starting to grow back up again. That's why Jesus said you've got to take care of the the root system The very root right and notice here he is so simple about it in verse 6 He said here's how you have to do this Jesus said if you would say to this sycamore tree be plucked up by the roots and Be planted in the sea. It will obey you There's power in your words Can you say that with me there's power in my words there is Proverbs says life and death itself are in the power of the tongue James says your tongue. It's a flame of fire He said it can bless God and it can curse others at the same time. Oh my goodness The power of your words, I think really in many ways is incomprehensible Jesus said out of the abundance of your heart your mouth speaks I Look at it this way when I don't like what's coming out of my mouth. I know there's something wrong in my heart, amen. But at the same time, the words of my mouth, amen, can school my heart. I can school myself and talk myself into faith in the same way I can talk myself right out of faith without discouragement and worry. That's what got the children of Israel in so much trouble, right? When you read your Old Testament, remember that?

Boy, they were doing good. God brought them up out of Egypt, miracle after miracle, bringing them to the promised land. And then, what happens? They let worry and doubt and unforgiveness and bitterness, all these things, take root, all these things that had root in their heart, and they just let it start flying. The people started complaining. God said, I'm not putting up with that. You're not going into the promised land. I'm gonna bring up a new generation, he said, amen. So everybody say, say this with me, say, I say to the root system of bitterness and unforgiveness, you've gotta get up out of my heart. You've gotta leave my life. I command you to be uprooted and to be planted where? In the sea. Now, notice Jesus says in the sea, the sea of forgetfulness, right? Not in your neighbor's yard, right? Not in somebody else's heart. It's so easy for us to think in terms of, well, I don't wanna walk in this unforgiveness. I don't wanna be weighed down by this, but I want them to. I want the one who hurt me to suffer. No, Jesus said to be planted in the sea, to be planted. Now, what happens when you plant something? When you plant something, it stays. When you plant something, it stays.

So what once was staying and growing and thriving in your heart, Jesus said you need to speak to it to be uprooted, completely moved out of your heart, completely moved out of your life. Not even another thought and to be planted in the sea. Again, when something's planted, it's not to move, amen? Another thing about the sycamine tree that was very interesting. Number one, it had a very deep root system. Another thing to think about is that the tree's wood was preferred for the building of caskets there in the Middle East and in the times of Christ. The sycamine tree, it was so strong and brittle and dry, it really could not be used for much of anything else other than the building of caskets. Now, we know what you put in caskets. You put dead people in caskets. You don't put live people in caskets, amen? Very interesting. The sycamine tree grew best where little rain fell, water was sparse. This is just like the bitterness and unforgiveness that sometimes we harbor in our hearts, isn't it? Negative attitudes flourish where spiritually dry conditions exist. You can almost count on finding bitterness and unforgiveness growing and blossoming where there's no repentance, no joy, no fresh rain of the Spirit.

If you permit bitterness and unforgiveness to grow in your life, it won't be long until these attitudes have killed your joy, stolen your peace, and canceled out your spiritual life. Now, you might be saying, oh, well, Pastor Jared, I'm sitting here in a cell. I'm just watching you on a tablet. I'm in the TDCJ system, you know? Some of you, you may have a few months still, or many of you are facing many years. I don't know your circumstance. I do know the one who does, though, and I do know the one who is for you, not against you. His name is Jesus, amen? And while you're serving this time, listen, take the time to build yourself up spiritually. Take the time to get to know the Lord, and one of the greatest things you can do, I would say even perhaps the most important thing you need to do, obviously, other than receiving Jesus Christ and being born again, is to make sure that in your heart of hearts that you're walking in forgiveness, that you have forgiven those who have hurt you, that you have forgiven the people, maybe the system, maybe the court system, maybe relatives, maybe a mother, maybe a child, maybe a spouse. All of us have dealt with this in different areas and different people in our lives.

Listen, it's time to deal with it. Can you say that with me? Just say that while you're watching this. Just say, hey, it's time to deal with it. And don't put it off any longer. Many of you watching, I believe perhaps there's been things that you have harbored unforgiveness for for 20 and 30 years even. It's time to deal with it. It's time to release it. It's time to walk in the freedom that Jesus has for you, and as you walk in that freedom, you will find that revelation will flow. You will find that your faith will grow, amen? You will find that you'll be able to do like Jesus said and speak to mountains and see them move. That place is in the place of freedom and liberty in Christ Jesus. My grandfather, who I love very much, he was my hero. I loved him so much. In fact, I lived with him. for a short time when I was a little younger. And then toward the end of his life, we, my wife and I, my family, we actually moved my grandparents in with us to take care of them. They were dealing with Alzheimer's. He was 96 years old when he passed away for the last year and a half of his life, and they passed away actually at our house.

And my grandfather, though, there was a time in his life that he had a great deal of unforgiveness toward his brother. Now, my grandpa, he was of that greatest generation. He went off to World War II, fought in Europe, and he grew up in Oklahoma, went through the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression. They moved to California, just the classic greatest generation story. He had all these different stories of his life. So when he had gone off, he had joined the army in World War II, and he'd gone off to North Africa and then into Europe. It took him four years that he was gone, and he came back home. The war was over. He was so excited. And the car that he had owned, that he had let his little brother take care of and drive, he said, take care of my car. Well, his little brother didn't take very good care of it. In fact, he wrecked it. And my grandfather was so upset with him, and he walked in unforgiveness toward his little brother, as far as I can tell, for another 40 some years of his life. I remember as a kid, we went to a family reunion, and I was so excited to meet all these different relatives. I'd never met them before.

I was like 10 years old. And I said, Grandpa, that's your brother over there? And my grandpa, who was a very, very kind and nice and loving man, I never heard him raise his voice, never heard him say anything negative about anybody except for this time. And that's why it surprised me so much. He actually looked at me and said, yeah, that's what's left of him. I thought, why doesn't he like his brother? I went home and asked my dad a little later, and my dad told me the only thing that he knew is the little bit my grandfather had told him, and it had something to do with his car. Can you imagine that? I know I can. There's people in my life that even when I think about it now, I wonder and I say, maybe I think I still have some unforgiveness toward them. I better be speaking to that root system and make sure that I'm walking in forgiveness. Well, they reconciled later in life, but it took another, you know, it took 40 to 50 years of his life. Again, I said, like I said, he died at 96 years of age. He had a good relationship with his brother toward the end of his life. In fact, they went to a family reunion there in Oklahoma, and they were talking and having a good time together.

I believe he walked in forgiveness. It took a long time. Listen, it doesn't have to take a long time. In everything that God has for you, and I believe the miracles that God has for you, the grace that God has for you, amen, the open doors of opportunity that I believe are set before you, the peace that God has for you, the revelation that I know needs to flow in your life and in your heart as you grow in faith and as you face your future, amen, all of that absolutely is dependent upon making sure your heart is free from bitterness and unforgiveness. Because again, that root system of unforgiveness and bitterness, man, it'll entangle every area of your faith walk. It'll entangle every area of your heart. It does, amen. Remember the sycamine tree, and this is the last thing I was gonna bring up about the sycamine tree. It produced a fig that was very bitter to eat. It was very bitter to eat. The sycamine tree and the mulberry tree, they were very similar in appearance. The two trees even produced a fruit that looked basically identical. However, the fruit of the sycamine tree

was extremely bitter. Its fruit looked just as luscious and delicious as a mulberry fig. It looked good. Sometimes things in life look good. Sometimes unforgiveness and dwelling on these things, it looks good, it feels good, but in fact, it produces bitterness deep in your heart. When a person tasted the sycamine fig, he discovered that it was actually horribly bitter. Jesus lets us know that just like the sycamine fruit, the fruit of bitterness and unforgiveness, it's bitter, it's tart, it's pungent. Like the fig, most people who are bitter and filled with unforgiveness chew on their feelings for a long time. You ever chewed on your feelings? I know I have. And as you chew, come on, it just gets deeper and deeper and deeper. Today's the day to walk in forgiveness. Today's the day to speak to that root system and release it in the mighty name of Jesus, amen? Don't take a little bite. Don't start nibbling on it. No, no, no, don't take any bites. Speak to the root system of that bitterness in your life and that unforgiveness, amen? Amen. In the end, perpetual nibbling

on the poisonous fruit of bitterness makes people sour. We don't need that. We need to speak to that bitterness and speak to that unforgiveness. Tell it, hey, be cast into the sea, be planted in the sea, just like Jesus said, amen, amen. And let me tell you some ways to practically do this, just three simple ways. Because look at what Jesus said. He said, to say, it really begins there. To say, I forgive them. Right there where you're at, even where you're watching, maybe you're sitting on your bunk, I don't know, maybe you're in the commissariat. Just say it, say it out loud, doesn't matter who's listening. Say it out loud, say, I forgive them. It might be that brother, like my grandfather, it might be that brother. You feel like, man, he hurt me, he turned his back on me. Say it, I forgive him. Now, the disciples, they said, I don't think we can do this in the flesh. Jesus increased our faith. And Jesus said, here's how your faith's gonna work. Out of your mouth, you gotta say it. Romans 10, eight, nine, and 10, how are you saved, right? How were you born again, how were you saved? You might be watching this and you might say, I don't know if I am born again, I don't know if I am saved. Well, Romans 10, eight, nine, and 10 simply says this.

You believe in your heart, right? And with your mouth, you confess. With the mouth, confession is made unto salvation. What are you to believe? That Jesus Christ, he is the son of God, he took your place, he died on the cross of Calvary, he died your death, the death that you could not die, the price that you could not pay 2,000 years ago. He is the spotless lamb of God, amen. He said, if you believe in your heart that Jesus died on your behalf, he took your place, you repent in your heart of your sins, you put your faith in Jesus Christ. And then Paul said, if you then speak with your mouth, oh, how important it is to say with your mouth, the same thing occurs with forgiveness, to speak with your mouth, to literally say, I forgive that individual. You might have to say it 100 times, amen. You might have to say it every day, hallelujah, but it will work, it will work. Life and death are in the power of the tongue. So number one, literally say, I forgive them. Number two, pray for them. I have found in my life, it is very difficult to be upset with somebody that I'm truly praying for. If I'm just meditating on everything they did to me and how they hurt me, well, it's just gonna grow, the root system's gonna get deeper, but if instead I am praying for them,

man, that root system, it's loosening up, that tree's beginning to move, right? Now again, what are you doing in prayer? Well, part of prayer is speaking it out of your mouth and being specific. The Bible's real clear. Prayers need to be specific. Pray for that individual. Pray that the Lord would bless them. My pastor, he tells the story of a family that he was pastoring years ago, and they were causing all kinds of trouble in the church. And as a pastor, I can relate. People can be people. Amen, we can cause trouble with each other sometimes, can't we? And this family, they were causing all kinds of trouble, and he said he was praying, and he was going to the Lord, and he was just telling the Lord everything that they were doing wrong. And he said he felt like the Spirit of God rose up on the inside of him, and basically said, yeah, I already know all that. Isn't that amazing? God knows everything. But here's what the Spirit of God told him. Said, Mark, my pastor's name is Mark Hankins, said, Mark, you can't control others, but I would appreciate it if you control yourself. Amen.

He said that switched in his heart. And he said, you're right, Lord, I know your Word. I know what to do. And he said, I begin to pray for that family. I begin to pray over them. I begin to bless them. And he said it was amazing. Within a week, everything turned around. Wow. Now, that may not happen in your case. You know, that person that you need to forgive and that you need to pray for, their heart may not be turned back to you. Reconciliation may not occur. I don't know. That's not what your forgiveness is dependent upon. Really, forgiveness only depends on one person. That's me, right? I can choose to forgive others. Amen. Reconciliation depends on two people. It depends on the person you need to forgive and they need to reconcile themselves unto you. That may not always happen, but you and I can still walk in forgiveness and freedom no matter the choices and the attitudes of other people. Now, sometimes it's very difficult. I understand that. I know. As a pastor, I deal with a lot of people.

They deal with very horrendous situations. Family members that have even been killed, children that have been harmed, all kinds of horrendous. situations, and I know it's very difficult sometimes to walk in forgiveness, but remember Jesus told us we must. Why? Because he first forgave us. And because he forgave us, he empowers us to be able to forgive others. Amen? Now there's many points we could talk about, but let me mention one more, and it is simply this. I believe it's very, very important and powerful to go to them. Now again, you may be serving time, obviously at TDCJ, and you may not be, physically be able to go to somebody, but you might be able to write a letter, right? You might be able to contact them in some other way. And this is so important, Matthew 18, 15 through 17. The New Living Translation, Matthew 18, 15 through 17, says, if another believer sins against you, go privately and point out the offense. If the person, if the other person listens and confesses it, you have won that person back. In other words, there's reconciliation that has occurred. But if you are unsuccessful, he said, take one or two others with you and go back again so that everything you say may be confirmed

by two or three witnesses. He said, don't give up. Don't just quit. It's actually very important to go to the person, right? And to try to make things right, to try to reconcile, absolutely. Verse 17, he says, if the person still refuses to listen, take your case to the church even. And then if he or she won't accept the church's decision, treat that person as a pagan or as a corrupt tax collector. In other words, just there are times when you have to cut off that relationship. Let me end with this. Just because I'm forgiving somebody and I walk in forgiveness and I release that bitterness does not mean that I have to continually allow that relationship in my life that will continually hurt and hurt and hurt. Notice what Jesus said. He said, there are times in relationships, right? Even in friendships and in people that you encounter that you need to make sure that you love them from a distance. That's the way I like to say it. You might want to say that with me. There's somebody, there's somebody I need to love from a distance, amen. That person that continually hurts you, drags you down, brings up the bitterness and now just come on, release them, forgive them,

let them go, love them from a distance, but you've got to forgive them, amen. You've got to release that bitterness. So again, those three simple things and it begins with what you say. I promise you that's the most important one of all. I've seen it in my own life. There's been things that I've held in my heart in my life as a Christian, not just as a pastor, but as a Christian. And I've held it and it's grown and it's grown and it's grown and I've, well, there's been times I wake up in the morning and it's right there. I know what to do. I got to say, I forgive them. As a pastor, oh, I tell you, it's real easy to get offended. Man, people, they can hurt you and be offended. People say, well, a pastor offended and hurt me. Might've been true, yeah. It can happen. Let's walk in forgiveness. Will you pray with me? Father, in the name of Jesus, we thank you for your word. And Lord, we've just skimmed the surface on this subject because this is so important. There is freedom and there is liberty that is found in the place of forgiveness.

Jesus, the only way I can forgive anybody else is because of the revelation that you first forgave me. You took my place. You died on the cross of Calvary. You hung there as a condemned criminal and sinner. You who were perfect in all of your ways. You never sinned, not in any form or fashion. Lord, today, I just release and I forgive those that I need to. You might be watching this and you might say, I just, I don't know if I'm born again, Pastor Jared. Well, let's pray this together right now. Just say, Lord Jesus, come into my heart. I repent of my sin. I release the bitterness and the unforgiveness. I receive you as my Savior. Jesus, be the Lord of my life. Can you say that with me? Jesus, be the Lord of my life. Jesus, not only came to be your Savior, but he so greatly desires to be your Lord. So Jesus, be the Lord of my life. Lead me and guide me. Help me as the disciples prayed, as they prayed, help me with my faith walk. Help me to truly be able to forgive and to see the roots of bitterness and unforgiveness uprooted, that I would walk in all the freedom that you have for me. Jesus, you are wonderful.

Jesus, you are lovely. I thank you for the blood that was shed. Holy Spirit, I thank you for your presence. Now just say this with me, just say, Holy Spirit. Fill me. Holy Spirit, I believe You dwell within me. I believe that You've cleansed me. I've been cleansed by the blood of Jesus. Now, Holy Spirit, fill me. Baptize me with Your presence. Fill me with Your Spirit. Fill me with revelation and understanding. Fill me with Your glorious light. I no longer want to walk in darkness. I no longer want the roots of unforgiveness to bind me and to control my heart and my life and my attitudes. I desire to walk in freedom. And today is the day. Say that with me. Today is the day. This is the moment that freedom has come. In the mighty name of Jesus. In the mighty name of Jesus. Come on, say this with me. In the mighty name of Jesus, I bind and I break all of the power of unforgiveness in my life. And I command it to be plucked up by the roots and cast into the sea and planted in the sea, just like Jesus said. And I believe that I have what I have just said. In Jesus name. Amen. Amen. All right. Well, listen, think about those scriptures. Go over those again. Amen. Stay in the word. Grow in your faith. Love the Lord with all of your heart. I love you. God is so good. Keep on clicking on these sermons on your tablet. Keep growing in your faith. And God has good plans for you. Amen.