[00:00:00] Speaker A: You're listening to the Message podcast of High Ridge Church, Longview, where our vision is to help you know God, find freedom, discover purpose, and ultimately make a difference. We are so glad that you're here, and we pray that this message impacts your life as you apply the spiritual truths from God's word in practical ways.
[00:00:18] Speaker B: Let's listen in. Oh, it's good to be in the house of the Lord. Let me just say, Let me look right at that camera. No matter where you're watching from, if you're right here, Happy Father's Day to all of you amazing dads. We want to say happy Father's Day to you. Happy Father's Day to my dad that's watching. And you guys show a little bit of love to my dad.
He's the one responsible.
No. I'm so glad that you're here. Welcome to church. Everybody grab your bibles. Matthew, chapter 18 is where we're going to go. Matthew, chapter 18. And as you're turning there, I want to say thank you for your generosity. Many of you stand behind us every single week, faithfully with your finances. You grab one of those envelopes and you. You've noticed here, we don't pass buckets. We don't take up offerings. We just depend upon your generosity to function. And because you guys are such an amazing and giving church, we're able to do incredible things all around the planet and incredible things right here in Longview, Texas. And so what I'd like to do is show you some way that we can. We can show you where your money goes every single week. And so this week, I want to focus in on what we're able to do at the FCA All Star Weekend. We. When we had a bunch of teenagers ask for Bibles. You heard me right, A bunch of teenagers asking for Bibles. And because of your generosity, we were able to give these guys Bibles. And here's the. Here's the greatest part. We had 17 people accept Christ at the FCA All Star Weekend. Come on, somebody. That's awesome.
I love that, man. When teenagers ask for Bibles, when people are getting saved, I am all.
And I'm so grateful that when they call, asking for help, when people do that, that we don't have to say, I'm sorry, we're barely able to keep the lights on around here. I'm grateful that you stand behind us. It's making a massive difference. Thank you so much for that. And then also, another way that we're going to honor our fathers today is on Your way out. We have a very special gift for you, dad. So we've got some beef jerky. And if you're watching online and you wanted some beef jerky, I'm sorry, you should have been here while supplies last. And then also if, when I said the word happy Father's Day, ladies, if that came as a shock to you, I want you to know that at some point during this message, you can get up and quietly make your way to the restroom. And in your restroom, we have Father's Day cards just for you. That's our gift to you to make your home a very special place. Because you're generous, we're able to provide cards because we want to make sure that you never have to be embarrassed. And so if you need a gift, we've got beef jerky. And if you need a card, we've got those located in the bathroom for you because we love you. And this is an amazing, giving and generous church that's able to make that possible for you. So enjoy that. So Matthew chapter 18. We're going to continue on with our series called Jesus the Storyteller. Jesus the Storyteller. I've been getting so much out of these parables. I've. I've preached on these in many different contexts. But in this particular context, we're looking at not just Jesus the Savior, Jesus the King, but Jesus the Storyteller. He is brilliant. And the way that he tells stories that are, that are not just metaphors, they're mirrors. And, and they show us the human condition. They show us parts of ourselves that we don't talk about at parties. They talk. They show us parts of ourselves that we think should be hidden. But he exposes those things and says, let's deal with this right here. He's an amazing storyteller. And so in this story, we're about to read the parable of the Unmerciful Servant. And so it's important that you don't just read this story and say, well, that's not me. I show mercy. No, no, no. Let's look at it in context of who Jesus is talking to and, and what this story is really about.
So we know this, that Jesus is speaking to Peter. Now, if you've, if you've been around church circles for very long, you know that Peter is Peter's special and he gives all of us hope when we see the story of Peter. Peter has, has wild ups and downs. He's an emotional guy. But Peter is trying to have a theological conversation with Jesus. And basically he asked Jesus, what's the limits on forgiveness?
Tell me, how many times do I have to forgive somebody when they've intentionally made me angry, when they stepped on the very end of my last nerve? And this person keeps doing it, and they keep doing it. And so Peter, in his understanding, knows that he spent a lot of time with Jesus. And every time Jesus talks about a sin, the response that Jesus gives is always more than what they've ever been taught.
So Jesus would preach stuff like this. He'd say, you've heard it said, don't murder, but I say, don't even have hate in your heart, right? And then he would say, you've heard it said you shouldn't commit adultery. But I say, don't even have lust in your heart.
So when Jesus talks about a sin issue, he goes against everything that they've been taught. Just don't, don't, don't. And he said, no, no, it's a heart issue. It's way bigger than what you think.
And so when Peter is having this conversation with Jesus, he's like, you know, how many times do I have to forgive? Because he would have been taught that the number is three.
And that's according to Amos chapter one. If you've ever read the Book of Amos, it's an Old Testament, very small book, but in Amos chapter one, they would base a lot of their understanding on forgiveness upon Amos chapter one, where God would say, you have to forgive a person three times. And then maybe, maybe if you're feeling really, really holy, a fourth time.
And so Peter's like, okay, so I've been taught that the number is three to four. I'm going to choose three and a half.
But he said, every time that I hear Jesus answer a theological question, he always goes way more than what I was thinking. So is the number seven Jesus, what's the limits on forgiveness? Is that number seven? Seven would be the Jewish number of completion. Peter's thinking, he's smart. I've got this down. My theology has told me that it's going to be more than what I think.
So the number must be seven. That's the number of completion. Somebody's messed me around, somebody's made me angry. I have to forgive them seven times, and then I can punish them.
Then I get to give them a piece of my mind. I've been very forgiving. Now you've brought me to the end of my grace.
Now I can punish.
But then Jesus tells an incredible story where he doesn't just answer Peter's question, he dismantles his theology.
He says, no, no, no. By even asking that question, you're showing me that you're only thinking in limited terms of the law.
But I'm going to show you the unlimited terms of grace.
So he takes this incredible argument and shows Peter something that we still need very much to see today, and that's that Jesus stories push us beyond what we think we're capable of.
Jesus stories push us beyond what we think we can actually do.
Why does it do that? Because Jesus is saying, you're going to need me to help you do that.
You're going to need me to show you how. It's more than just you making a choice.
It's going to take supernatural empowerment to be able to do what I'm commanding you to do. And so he does this by giving this a brilliant story. It has such strong characters. It has very clear right, very clear wrong. It has an audience. Jesus paints this picture in Matthew, chapter 18. We're going to pick it up in verse 23.
So Jesus says this. The kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. This is very common, by the way, for Jesus to talk about. The kingdom of heaven comes with a day of settling accounts.
That's important for you to know. Just because you've been covered with grace, just because you're saved, does not mean that you're not going to stand before the Father at the Great White Throne judgment. He's going to settle some accounts. Let's talk about what you did with what I gave you.
You've got to know that.
So it says, the king comes to settle accounts with his servants, right?
So as he began the settlement, a man who owed him 10,000 bags of gold was brought to him.
Since he was not able to pay, the Master ordered that he, his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.
And at this, that servant fell on his knees before him. What does he say? Be patient with me, he begs.
Notice the language. Please be patient with me. He's begging here. I will pay back everything.
And the king took pity on him. He canceled his debt and he let him go. But when the servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him 100 silver coins. And he grabs him and begins to choke him.
Now, at this point in that. In that story, Peter would have been like, wait, what wait? He's just been forgiven of 10,000 bags of gold that he owes. And he leaves and he finds somebody that owes him something, and he grabs him and begins to choke him.
Like, that's not right. You can't do that. That's illegal.
He went from an accounting issue to an attack.
He grabs him, began to choke him. Look what he says, pay back what you owe me. He demanded his fellow servant fell to his knees. Notice the exact same, exact same response. He begs him, be patient with me and I will pay it back.
But he, look at this, refused.
Instead, he went off and had that man thrown into prison until he could pay back the debt.
And when the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and they went and they told that master everything that had happened.
The master called that servant back in. Look at this response. You wicked servant. He said, I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to.
Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you? He doesn't even give him a chance to respond. He's like, you should have done this.
It's very clear. It's very obvious. There's right and there's wrong.
There's no margin for error here. Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant as I had on you? And in anger, his master handed him over to the jailers. Look at this. Not to just prison. He said to be tortured until he should pay back all that he owed.
And this is very important. Notice this. Jesus says this.
This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother and sister. Look at this from your heart.
Now, when we look at this picture, it's very difficult for us to wrap our mind around several things because this is not the God of grace that we're normally taught on a Sunday morning. This is not the God that just cancels our sin and you never have to worry about anything else again. No, no, no, no. Jesus is very clear. He's speaking to Peter, not some lost person. And he's saying, this is how my heavenly Father will do to each of you.
He doesn't say to each of them.
He says, you.
That's hardcore language.
Jesus is being very clear about a couple of things.
The Amazing grace that the Father has the consequences of unforgiveness.
Please hear me. There are consequences. There's a price to pay for unforgiveness. And Jesus is very clear that he expects his servants to extend grace to those who have harmed or offended them. Why? Because God has been gracious to them.
So Jesus is pushing the limits of what Peter even thinks he's capable of. And Jesus begins to show him what forgiveness Is. And this is really important, by the way, because in our own minds, I think we have a really twisted view of what we call forgiveness.
And so it's important that we separate what forgiveness is and what forgiveness is not. And I'm so thankful that Jesus kind of defines us by. By what he doesn't say. Jesus does not say that forgiveness is trust. Forgiveness isn't trust.
I can forgive someone, but Jesus never says I have to automatically trust them again. He doesn't say that. That's extremely important. Forgiveness isn't trust. Here's another thing. Forgiveness is not. It's not saying you were right.
Forgiveness is not saying, I approve.
Forgiveness is not saying, let's pretend it didn't even happen. That's not what that is. But we get this in our mind that if I forgive somebody, that means I approve of what they did. I'm just going to pretend like it never happened. I'm have to trust them again. No, no, no. That's not what Jesus says.
He said, forgiveness is a heart issue.
And I'm so thankful, by the way. Jesus doesn't say forgiveness is reconciliation. Forgiveness is not reconciliation.
How do we know that? Because forgiveness, please hear me, takes one person. Reconciliation takes two.
Jesus says, forgive and do it from your heart. I'm not telling you you have to trust them. I'm not telling you that what they did was right. I'm not telling you, just ignore it.
I'm not telling you you have to be reconciled.
I'm simply saying that forgiveness is not optional for servants of the King. It's a command.
And that number of how many times you have to do it is so astronomical that you're going to need my help to be able to do what I'm commanding you to do.
So Jesus tells this incredible story that really brings us into the character. He gives very, very clearly a sign of what a good guy is and what a bad guy is. Don't you love those stories where you're like, okay, I clearly know who the bad guy is. We're all rooting against this one.
And Jesus does that. He defines what's right and what's wrong with an incredible story. And so let's get into the characters really quickly. We're going to start with the King. And the character of the King shows us very clearly the extravagance of grace.
The extravagance of grace. And so I want to take you just deep into the numbers for just one. Just. Just one moment. Because this is what Jesus makes a point of. He uses the number 10,000.
And by the way, when you're reading the New Testament, the New Testament is translated to us from Greek and in the Greek language, in Greek mathematics, in Greek accounting, the number 10,000 is the highest number that they would use to count.
It's like the highest. So when Jesus uses that number, it's a big deal. And he says, the guy owes the king 10,000 bags of gold.
Each bag of gold. Remember, there's 10,000 of them. Each bag of gold is one talent. Your Bible may say, if you're a King James person may say, talents, 10,000 talents. So one talent, one bag of gold is equal to 20 years worth of labor. So think about how much you make in a year, multiply that times 20, that's one bag. And he says, this guy owes him 10,000 bags. So this is very, very clearly. Jesus is saying that number is absurdly astronomical. And this is like national debt level.
So think about the US national debt as of today is at like what, $36 trillion. That's just massive. And think about all that being put onto one person and that person owing that back to you.
And here's the great news. Jesus is using those massive numbers to say, I'm willing to pay that debt.
I'll take that on myself for every person, not just one, but all of them.
So Jesus gives incredible, absurd, astronomical numbers. So he makes the point to Peter about the weight of our sin.
He's saying, that's what we owe the Father.
What does that tell me today?
It tells me some incredible things. And first of all, it destroys that mindset that many of us have of, I'm not that bad.
And this is where we, we have to come to a reality check.
We live in the, in the buckle of the Bible belt. This is East Texas. And for those of you watching online, no matter where you live, let me just tell you, in East Texas, ain't none of us that bad.
We're pretty good.
And that's the problem.
We have a tendency to look at our issues, our sin, and say, yeah, but I'm not as bad as fill in the blank. Not as bad as her. Not as bad as my ex husband, not as bad as my ex girlfriend, not as bad as that old boss. I'm not as bad as that uncle.
I'm not like them.
And Jesus destroys that mindset.
What's Jesus's point here? His point is you can never repay what you owe. Not in 20,000 lifetimes working every day to do the best you can to never ever single have a single sin. Ever again in all your lifetimes times 20 million. You could never repay what you owe your father. What does that tell people like us? It tells us very simply that sin is bigger than what we think, and grace is more amazing than what we can imagine.
He's saying, it's bigger than what you think.
But grace, oh, grace, it's better than what you imagine. The king is extravagantly, abundantly applying grace and mercy and forgiveness to a servant that could never pay back what he owed. And notice, this doesn't just fall upon this man that owes. It falls upon his marriage.
It falls upon his children and all his possessions.
That's what sin, Jesus is saying, does to you.
It's not just about you. But sin affects your marriage.
Sin affects the relationship that you have with your children. It affects your home. Sin affects everything you put your hand to.
And the price to be paid for sin is bigger than what you think. And it goes farther than just, oh, I made a little mistake.
It's not going to affect anybody around me. That's foolish to think that way. It's a big deal.
But grace.
So the first character is obviously the king and the extravagance of grace. Let's get into the second character where this becomes the unmerciful servant. And what we see here is just the failure to see the point.
This doesn't get the point. You just don't get it, do you? You were shown incredible grace, astronomical grace. The limits of what was given to you is off the charts. And you just don't get it.
Why? Because somebody owes you something.
And this is the point Jesus is making as he's telling this incredible story. He's like, there's a king that's a good king that does something that is incredible for one servant.
And that servant just doesn't get it. Can you imagine at this point being Peter? Like, oh, he's talking about.
He's talking about me.
He's talking about the forgiveness that I've experienced, how God's changed my life.
And I'm asking him, how many times do I have to forgive him? Is it 3? Maybe 4? Is it 7? And then I'm done.
Then I can get my revenge. Then I can hold a grudge.
Jesus says, no, no, no, no. Let's talk real numbers. If you want to talk numbers, let's talk absurd numbers.
So then we come to the unmerciful servant and his failure to see the point.
Now, I don't want to. I don't want to let this be lost on us because it says the the other servant owes the unmerciful servant an amount of money.
We were having a conversation, my daughter and I, earlier. We're like, you know what? How, how could somebody owe him money he needs to repay him? How that means that he's loaning out money he doesn't even have.
He's having some little funny business with the King's money.
Now, you owe this to me, but you've been forgiven of something. And you're paying back something that you couldn't even pay back the king when it belonged to him. And you've made these side bets, these side deals. How does that even work?
But it says he owes him. The original language says 100 denarii worth of silver.
Now, what Jesus does not say is that other servant owed him two copper coins. Jesus knows money. He understands denominations. He does not say he owes him some small, insignificant amount. So when Jesus says he owes him 100 silver coins, this is equivalent to you owing someone else three months of your salary.
Now remember, he's been forgiven of 10,000 bags of gold each of those representing 20 years worth of labor.
But someone else owes him three months worth of labor.
Here's the takeaway. That's not nothing.
Now, could it have been paid back? Yes, it is possible, but it's not nothing.
So Jesus is not minimizing human hurt. He's not saying what they did didn't hurt. He's not saying that it didn't cost something. He's not saying that it's something that's easy for us to do. That's not what Jesus says. He understands pain. He understands offense. He understands what it means to be hurt.
Want to put something on the screen that will help you kind of bring this into perspective? Jesus doesn't minimize our pain. What he does, he. He asks us to weigh it in light of the grace that we've received.
I'm not saying it's nothing.
I'm just asking you to weigh it.
And when Jesus gets to this part of the story, Peter would have had a revelation.
Ah, saying it doesn't add up.
Those things don't compute.
And that servant, when he's approached with this three month debt that he owes, he uses the exact same language, the same posture, he falls to his knees, he begins to beg, and he gives him, by the way, the standard Roman legal response. So when you're having an accounting dispute, when you have someone that owes you something, just like the king made this request of the first servant, the. The servant makes it of the second one, and there's A legal response that begins to happen. So legally you're supposed to be surrounded by witnesses, you have a disagreement, this person owes me, and now I'm going to give him the legal response to hopefully settle this debt.
In a very similar way, if any of you were ever accused of a crime, you would at some point probably stand before a judge and the judge would say, how do you plead? Now in that moment, you, you don't give an explanation. You have two choices, right? Guilty or not guilty. By the way, that's not a time to crack a joke.
Is that not what I really meant? You know, that's not the time. You have a legal response. And so the legal response that this person gives when he's accused of owing something is the legal binding response. He says, I'm asking for one thing, I'm asking for time. Give me time and I can pay it back. And here's the difference between the three month salary and the massive astronomical number this time that he's asking for, he could actually do, would be hard, but he could do it.
Now, the responses that a person could give someone that owed them money was either I'll give you that time and that's me showing you mercy, or he could say, I'm having you thrown in prison because you've reached the end of my mercy. I not giving you mercy anymore, you're going to prison.
But this person even goes beyond that, begins to choke him, right?
He takes a dispute, makes it even worse by his demanding argument and by his violence.
He's showing us in this story that the servant heard mercy but wouldn't extend mercy. The servant experienced grace but wouldn't extend grace.
Jesus is making a point here that, that grace that doesn't change the heart is incomplete.
It hadn't finished.
Because the story doesn't end with God giving us grace, it completes the circle by us extending it to someone else.
And the only interruption between God's amazing grace and someone else receiving it is us.
It's incomplete. And so instead of seeing his own story reflected, he chooses violence. He chooses to be demanding. He chooses as a, you're going to pay me back what you. Oh. And this is where forgiveness or unforgiveness becomes more than a choice and it becomes an identity.
I am offended.
I am owed.
You owe me something.
You wronged me. It becomes more than a legal dispute, more than a financial matter. This becomes an identity.
I want to make sure that you see this. If I forget how much I've been forgiven of, I'll start believing that I'm owed something.
You owe me.
And now let's move to the third characters in the story. This is going to be from the perspective of the fellow servants.
And they get to witness real grace and real offense.
Extravagant grace and foolish offenses.
It says the fellow servants were. The original language says they were greatly distressed. They become the moral conscience of the story. They become the people that, like, whoa, we were witnesses of what was happening. And this does not add up. It helps me in my mind to understand it this way. For those of you that ever had to stay home sick from school and maybe you stayed with grandma or something, you understand that at some point back in the days when I grew up in the 70s, 80s and 90s, that you're going to be watching TV and you're going to have to watch the morning news.
Then you get to watch Bob Barker on the Price is Right.
Then you're gonna, you're gonna have to start watching her stories, Grandma's stories. You're gonna have to start watching like A Young and the Restless or General Hospital or something. You're like, this is. God, this is bad. I would rather be sick at school, right?
And then she'd make you lunch.
And then you'd have to start watching stuff like the talk shows, the trash tv.
And they would always do something that would stir up the audience. Cause the, the hope was that the audience would be just like, oh, you know, this is God awful. And so like, okay, here comes a lady that had plastic surgery to look like a horse. Like, whoa, you know, crazy person. Like, there's the weirdo that happened, by the way. You ever watch Montel Williams? That happened one time. I remember that.
Now the next episode they'd have like, here's, you know, four grand wizards from the kkk. And on this side is the Black Panther Party. Let's see what happens.
And here is Jesus painting a very, very vivid picture. And he's saying, all right, let's take the audience. And at this moment, the audience would have been like, ooh, bad guy.
Why? Because we saw him beg for mercy and receive it. That was a feel good story. And now we see him demanding payment for something that's much smaller than what he has been forgiven of. That is a double standard. That is hypocrisy. That is absolutely wrong. And they become the moral conscience of the story by saying, ooh, that's a problem.
And it says they go to the king and they tell the king all that happened. Like this guy that you forgave all that stuff for. He Went off and demanded this. And then he had that guy thrown in prison after you released him of all that national debt. Kind of level like, this is a horrible person.
And what does it say the king does in this moment? The king gets angry, by the way. This is Jesus speaking of his father. He defines it. It's not a joke. He said, this is how my father's going to treat you.
When you take grace and you don't extend, becomes something really unholy.
As a matter of fact, let me say it this way. Grace that is received but never extended. Look at me. Becomes toxic.
And this is where we find believers living today.
I receive it, I love it, but I'm not giving it.
And that becomes a toxic part of our soul. This is where Jesus holds up the mirror in the story.
So this is not a metaphor, it's a mirror.
And I'm going to push you beyond the limits of what you think you're capable of by saying, let's talk about that offense. Let's weigh that in the light of what you've been given.
So these fellow servants see the good, the bad. They report it to the king. And the king says, look, all that debt that you owed, now I'm putting that back on you.
Ooh, that messes with my theology just a little bit.
He says, now it's not just on you, but your family, everything that you touch. And he says, not just prison. Look at this. I'm turning you over. Jesus says, it's not me. To torturers, the Greek word here, bassinestis. These are people that worked in the jail that their job was to torture a person until they gave up where the money was or until they confessed what they had done, until they made it right.
This would be the equivalent of you being on the terror watch list and the US Government tracking you down and saying, we're taking you to Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. You, you're not good.
Why? Because there, you have no rights.
You have no legal authority.
Their only job is to hold you at a CIA black site and torture you until you give up your conspirators, until you give up the money trail, until you talk about what you've done.
And Jesus very clearly, Jesus, not in the Old Testament. This is not some prophet Elijah.
This is Jesus saying, my Father does this to my servants when they choose to not extend the grace that God has given them, becomes toxic. He said, I'm going to turn you over to the torturers.
That word literally means to put pressure on with pain and testing until you confess, until you confess was wrong.
I wonder if it's possible that Jesus meant that. I wonder if it's possible that this is more than just Jesus not using very good language. I wonder if it's possible that many of us experience today pressure and pain and sickness and disease and anxiety and broken homes and broken marriages, broken relationships with children. Not because you had a bad diet, not because you just had some bad things happen to you, not because you just made some bad choices, but because of unforgiveness.
Jesus is very clear about the extravagance of grace and the consequences of forgiveness, the toxicity of grace that's not extended to those that have done us wrong. Once again, he's not saying, I approve of it. He's not sitting here saying, it didn't happen. He's not saying, it's reconciliation time. No, no. He's saying, it's a choice that my servants have to make.
Peter would have said, I don't know if I can do that. He would say, you can't. You're going to need me to help you.
You need a relationship with Jesus to help you understand grace and to give it to those that don't deserve it any more than you did.
He says, I'm turning them over to the torturers until they pay back everything that they owed, until they confess.
Showing us very clearly that unforgiveness doesn't protect us from the pain. It becomes the pain.
I wonder how many of us are walking in psychological or even physical pain. I don't have to, but we choose to.
And Jesus is saying, there's some consequences for that. That's not on me. He's saying, that's on you.
And it shows us the very, very real human condition that every single person on the face of the earth that has ever called themselves a child of God, we all struggle with the same thing. We love receiving grace, but we have a hard time extending it.
It's hard.
It's difficult.
But once again, let me remind you that God's never going to command us to do something that he won't empower us to do. That's the good news. The Lord has sent the power of the Holy Spirit that. To help us do what we could not do on our own. He sent a relationship through us, through. Through the. Through the Son, so that we could understand the heart of the Father, we could understand His Word and see that it causes us to. To recognize, I can't do this. That's hard.
Lord, I'm going to need your help.
You see this story is not just about being forgiving. It's not just about forgiving a lot.
This is a story about walking in freedom.
This is a story about living unoffended.
And living unoffended is how the forgiven walk in freedom.
Jesus is an incredible storyteller, and he brings us into the story. He holds up a mirror to our hearts, and he's saying, it's not just about forgiving three times.
It's more than that.
And here's the incredible thing. He invites Peter to write a better ending.
He said, I'm going to show you what happens if you go down this road.
I don't know about you, but I grew up on some books that were called choose youe Own Adventure. Remember those?
He would come to a place where you'd make a decision.
That decision would take you to the end of your character, to something that was a nightmare. And you're like, no, no, I have to go back and make a better decision. Jesus is saying, go back. Let's make a better decision.
There's a better way. What's that way? Forgive him.
Let me help you.
But this is the third time. But this is the fourth time. He said, yeah, how about 70 times 7 in a day? Just today? 490 times today.
Let's use astronomical numbers. It doesn't matter. I'm going to help you.
Every time you have a thought about how much they hurt you, he's saying, talk to me.
I say, lord, thank you for forgiving me of all that I've been forgiven.
I choose to forgive.
He gives us a very clear outline of how do we forgive. He says, you don't do that with lip service. You do that from your heart.
It's a heart issue.
What a beautiful story.
I think Jesus is inviting all of us into TO today.
He's inviting us to choose a better ending than perhaps what we've chosen. And I want to give you the same opportunity that Jesus gave Peter, the same opportunity that Jesus has given me, the same opportunities available for you today to choose.
Let me ask you, as we were talking today about unforgiveness, is is there a situation or a person that popped up in your mind?
There probably is.
Is there a situation or person that was trying to pop up in your mind? Be like, I'm not thinking about that right now. I'm in church. Not going to do it. Not ruining my day. Not today. Devil. I'm sitting right next to him.
Please hear me.
God's a good father.
He has extravagant grace for you.
And he's asking us Today, to make a choice, to choose a better ending, to choose a new day. So would you bow your head and close your eyes with me?
If there's a situation that's come up in your heart, if there's a person, if there's an issue where unforgiveness has been the story, I want to just invite you in this moment to weigh that in light of the grace that God has given you.
Perhaps when you're looking back at a person or situation, you realize that the person is you.
You've had a hard time forgiving yourself for what you did, for what you looked at, for what you thought about.
You've had a hard time forgiving yourself, maybe for others. In this place. You have a hard time forgiving God when God didn't do what you think he was supposed to do.
Is that you?
This story reminds us that grace is powerful, and it has the ability to break strongholds in our lives.
It has the ability to rewrite the ending of the story.
And the Lord invites us to step into that grace today.
He invites us to step out of that pain and pressure, the prison of unforgiveness, and into a better ending. So with heads bowed and eyes closed, I wonder by the simple lifting of our hands, how many of us can just be honest today and say, pastor, as we're talking today, there's a person, there's a situation, there's something that's popping into my mind I. That the Holy Spirit is dealing with me. Can I just see your hands all across this place right now? If you're in the chat, wouldn't. We would love to hear from you as well. Say, that was me. You're talking to me. You can put your hands down.
Over the next few moments, I want to invite you to do exactly what Jesus tells us to do, to forgive from our hearts.
Lord Jesus, I choose today not to just say the words, but, Lord, to mean it.
I recognize how much I've been forgiven of.
I recognize the pit that you pulled me out of.
I recognized, Lord, that I could not save myself no matter how much time I couldn't make it right.
But you forgave me. You've given me great grace.
And so, Lord, even though it's painful, even though it's hard, I choose today to let it go.
I choose today to extend grace, believing that what you have for me is better than what I'm hanging on to.
Lord Jesus, would you come help me do what I cannot do on my own?
I choose grace now, with heads bowed and eyes Closed. Perhaps you're here today or perhaps you're even watching online and you would say, pastor Aya, I don't have a relationship with Jesus.
I need to be forgiven of my sin. Or maybe you're like me, I was raised in church. But you've gotten away from God and you need to come home.
If that's you, I want to invite you over the next few moments to take advantage of this opportunity.
The way that you start a relationship with Jesus, the way that you come back home to him is with a prayer. It's with a conversation.
And right where we are, right where you are today. I want to invite you to pray that prayer with me. I'll tell you what to say, and we're all actually going to say it together so you don't feel singled out, you don't feel embarrassed in any way. But you know as well as I do, you need to come home to Jesus. You need to make it right. And this is how we do that.
So, my friends all across this place, let's say this together. Let's pray this prayer. Just say Jesus. Come on, let's say it like we mean it. Jesus, I believe you're the son of God.
I believe that you came and died.
And I believe that you rose from the grave so that I could have life, so that I could have grace, so that I could have forgiveness.
I ask you to forgive me, take over my life.
I give it to you in Jesus name. I pray with heads bowed and eyes closed. If that was you and you prayed that prayer, if you say, pastor, I meant it. I'm coming home to Jesus. I want a relationship with the Lord. I prayed that prayer. Can I just see your hands all across this place? Would you lift them up nice and high and proud. Good, good, good, good. There's a whole family responding. I love that. Good for you. I'm proud of you. Yes, sir. I see you up there in the top. Good for you. Yes, ma' am. In the balcony. Good for you. Good for you. You can put your hands down. I want you to know if that was you and you pray that prayer, what's going to happen is whether you're watching online or whether you're here with us live in person. There's a phone number appearing on the screen. I want to invite you to text me, text the words I prayed to that number. I'm going to send you back the link to some things that will help you understand what just happened in your heart and what to do next. It's the greatest honor of my life helping people to know God better.
I'm grateful for those of you that are willing to take that next step. Good for you. Well, how rich family, Go ahead and look up at me if you would. Then let's stand to our feet. I want to thank all of you that were watching online. Would you guys give them one more big round of applause for all of our friends watching from all around the world. Happy Father's Day. To those of you that are fathers, I also want to say, if you enjoyed what you heard, if you feel like this is a timely word for our world, and it is, would you do us a huge favor if you have social media, would you click the share button on this message when you do that? There are people all over the world that get a chance to experience church right here in East Texas, from wherever they're watching from, people get a chance to respond to Jesus. And here's the great news they do. One of the greatest ways that you can make a difference right here today is by using the power of social media to spread the love of Jesus to people that may not have what you have here today. It's a beautiful thing. Let me invite our elders and their wives forward. They're going to be available to pray for you about anything that you might be walking through. And then for everybody else, especially dads, I want to remind you, we've got some beef jerky out there for you. We have some Father's Day cards. If you didn't get a Father's day card, take one of those, write it to yourself, seal it, give it to yourself. Oh, look at that.
Somebody loves me.
It's our free gift to you. We want to bless you and hope that you have an amazing day. And then for everybody else, let me pray for you. Let me bless you as we go. Father, would you bless my friends with an incredible week? Walking in grace, walking in forgiveness, being your hands and feet extended to a world that so desperately needs it. Would you watch over them? Would you bless their families? Would you bless their finances? Would you bless them with all the good things that come from your presence in Jesus mighty name and all of us said together? Amen. God bless you as you go. Have an awesome week.
[00:43:22] Speaker A: Thank you so much for listening in today. Our prayer is that you are encouraged and strengthened by the message. If you haven't done so yet, be sure to subscribe to this podcast and leave us a review wherever you're listening. If you want to be a part of our online community, connect with us through Facebook or Instagram with the handle hyridgelv or you can check out our
[email protected] lastly, if this ministry has impacted your life and you'd like to support its work, visit highridgelv.com give we appreciate your support and we're believing with you today for God's best in your life. Have an incredible week and we will see you next time.
