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Sam. All right, who's glad to be in church today? Anybody? How about we give Jesus some praise? Just start right off the bat and give him some praise today. Amen. Good to see you guys. Give me a moment just to look straight in the camera and say hello to all of our campuses, our locations across Alabama and Georgia, of course, to the men and women in the Alabama Department of Corrections, what an honor it is to be in your life, yours in our life. And so we don't consider you a project. You are our church family. God bless you guys today. And of course, we know that we have people that are watching online or later on demand. We're glad you're along for the ride, but I want to give a very special welcome to everybody who's here for the very first time. Maybe even the events of this week have just drawn you to the church. You came to the right place today. How about we put our hands together, everybody, and say a big hello? God bless you guys today. And for those of you guys who watch On Demand, I would encourage you guys to watch the whole service, not just the message. You get that option whenever you watch our services, to watch just the message. But if you just watch the message, you'll miss this beautiful moment where we reflected and we prayed that Pastor Mark led us through in the wake of the murder of Charlie Kirk and all the events that have taken place in our culture. And I want to go on record that my heart and prayers are with Erica and the family and really all that have been affected by the tragedies this week. Can we put our hands together? Amen, everybody. And I also want to say how much I honor and love Pastor Mark. He wasn't even supposed to be here today. This was a week that we had scheduled months ago for me to speak. But when all the things happened, he called, says, I'm coming home. I said, I got it, my brother. He says, no, I'm coming home. I want to be with the people of Church of the Highlands. Let's show some love to Pastor Mark and Jill, everybody. God bless you, sir. I love you. And of course, we're in this series called the Goodness of God. Man, what a great. What a great thing to be thinking about and focusing on in the middle of all the evil and all the tragedy that has been around us this week, and honestly, way before that as well. And throughout this series, we're just getting our minds and our hearts set on the fact that our God is good. And we're in week number two of that series, and it is my honor to bring you God's Word today. Our theme verse for this series is found in Psalm 34, verse 8. And it's an invitation. It says, if you haven't tasted it yet, if you've not experienced it yet, that's what we're inviting you to. To taste and see that the Lord is. Say it out loud. The Lord is. He is good. He's very, very good and blessed. And actually this is the same word in the Bible for internal happiness. Blessed is the one who takes refuge, which means there are times whenever life gets very, very hard and heavy. And there is a safe place under the shelter of the Almighty, under the wings of our God, to be able to be kept safe from the storms. And so we're thinking about the goodness of God. And there's actually a couple things I'd like for all of us to be reminded of, especially as it relates just to the theology of the goodness of God. And that one of them is that God is actually just incapable of being bad. The Bible says in James, chapter one, whatever is good and perfect comes from God. So God is completely incapable of anything bad. He created all the lights in the heavens. He never changes. And I love this phrase. And he doesn't cast the shadow. God's not the author of anything bad. Our God is a good God. The devil's a bad devil. There's no goodness in the devil, and there's no badness in God because God is totally good and the devil is totally bad. Therefore, I will serve God. Can I hear a good amen, everybody? All right, so that is a truth. But then you have. Life comes along and it gives you all these things and makes us wonder. It's okay to think this. Then why then why does God allow so much bad? Why is this going on? And here's the thought that you have to keep in your heart. It was actually my very first thought. Not only with the tragedies that took place this week, but every time it takes place. I always think this verse, Romans 8:28, that we know that in all things that means the bad things, the unexpected, the things that you wish would gone another way, that God will actually work it for the good of those who love him and have been called according to his purpose. And so we remind ourselves of those truths as we think about the goodness of God. Now, one of the things that we're doing in this series is that we're not only just talking about the verses and the theology of the goodness of God, but we actually had this Thought, what would it look like if we actually show how Jesus embodied it? Because if God is good, the Bible says that Christ is the visible, the earthly. He came to earth. He's the visible image of our invisible God. So if you want to know how good God is, all you have to do is look to Jesus. And so each week we're not only giving you a topic of the goodness of God, but we're gonna show you how Jesus was the perfect embodiment of it. And what that does, it gives us an earthly example so that we can go live it out and experience it for ourselves. And last week, Pastor Mark kicked it off with Jesus Reigns. And today he gave me the topic of. And boy, talk about a great week for this when only the Holy Spirit would know this. And that is we're talking today about how Jesus forgives, forgives. And it's particularly difficult to think about forgiveness when you want to be mad and you want to be angry and you want somebody to pay for what's happened. Right? It's hard to do that. And I think it's a beautiful thought that I'm asking you to lean into for a few minutes as we study God's word. Here's what I know, and that is you can not only learn it, but you can experience it today, what you need to know. There's a quality of our God that makes him good, where he forgives us. Forgiveness is the act God lets go of the resentment and the demand for recompense of hurt or offense. And in the Bible, it's even described as canceling debt. Like he'll take something that you actually owed and he'll just forgive the debt. That's a beautiful thing to think about. And before we even get into this topic, I want you to think about just how God's canceled our debt. I think sometimes we can receive God's forgiveness and salvation. Well, Jesus has saved me, but the truth is we, we were supposed to pay for all of that. Jesus stepped in and did something for us that actually we do not deserve. Say a good amen right there, Church. And it's very healthy for us to remind ourselves of that, that we were dead. Like I had a death sentence. I'd already been convicted because of my crimes. I was already headed to a Christless hell. I was dead in my transgressions and my sins. So were you, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom, the air, who is the spirit that is still at work and We've seen that the prince of the power of the air, the little Jeek, the God of this age, the devil who's been cast to earth is now at work in those who are disobedient. And all of us, everybody say, all of us, that's every single one of us. There's none righteous. No, not one. Romans says all of us lived among them and at one time were gratifying our flesh, following its desires and thoughts. And like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. I want you just to make sure that you remind yourself of that from time to time, that actually I've been given a beautiful, wonderful, undeserved gift called forgiveness. I was deserving of wrath, but because of his great love for us, God. And I love this phrase, who is rich in mercy. One place in the Old Testament, it says that God delights to show mercy, which means it's the best part of his day when he can let you off the hook. Everybody, he enjoys doing it. God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ, even when we were supposed to receive a different penalty or a destination when we were dead in our transgressions. It is by grace. Grace means getting something you did not deserve. That's the definition of grace. For it is by grace that we have been saved. Isn't that a beautiful verse? And I remind us of that. I'll remind us. I know we need to walk in our righteousness and our forgiveness and we need to have confidence. And if Jesus has forgotten our sins, we don't need to bring it up either. But it doesn't hurt every once in a while just to say, you know what? I was headed to a different destination. And God, you complete these things and you changed my life. Come on, give him praise. If you believe that everybody, right, you do. But I also wanna give you another part of the theology of forgiveness that it's very important to understand. And that is he didn't just forgive us of our sin, but he's continuing to do it like it's ongoing. Which means that our sins are paid for by Jesus, past, present and future. One John, chapter one, says it this way. And the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies. Not purified, past tense, but purifies, ongoing. He's still doing it. Every thought, every action, everything that in our heart that is wrong or every action we take. He's continuing to purify us from all sin. We call that the finished work of the cross. So he's doing it constantly. And I say that Cause I don't want you to ever step into a place of guilt or shame. If you walked into the door today and you just feel like, man, I'm not deserving of clapping, I shouldn't even try. Oh, and you know what? You did? Listen to me. He's continuing. If you've made him the Lord of your life, he's continuing to purify us from all sin in Jesus name. Now, all throughout the Gospels, Jesus again, who embodies forgiveness, gave us examples of it. And one of the challenges that Pastor Mark at the creative team said, hey, let's tell a Jesus story of the topic of the day. Which made me have to choose from so many that are in there. My mind first went to the restoration of the Apostle Peter. So I don't know if you know the story or not, but Peter was actually one of the closest disciples to Jesus. And on the night before, Jesus would go to the cross, had a very embarrassing moment. He had a moment where he abandoned his friend Jesus. I mean, during Jesus trial, he just. He ran away. Wouldn't you like to think that if you go through your toughest day, your closest friends will be there? And Peter wasn't. In fact, even when he was asked, do you know who that guy is? He said no. And he didn't just say no once. He said it three times. And I'm not talking about people who would have locked him up or beaten him. He couldn't even tell a little girl. The Bible says that he knew Jesus. He denied Jesus three times. And he knew he'd let his friend Jesus down. He knew he did that. And so after the cross of Jesus, I don't know if you know this story or not, but before Jesus was ascended into heaven for 40 days after the resurrection, he just kind of shows up in his glorified body, popping in and out and showing up at places. And even Jesus once said at his resurrection, says, hey, go tell the disciples. And Peter that he wanted to make sure that the person who felt bad about what he did knew he was still included in the relationship. Jesus knew what he did and still forgave him. But the Bible says that Peter's decided, I'm out of ministry now. I messed up. I'm broken goods. I can't do this. And so he leaves the ministry. And of course, Jesus goes and finds him. And he calls him back into, says, I want you to feed my sheep. I want you to feed my people. I want you to get back into this place with me. And then when Jesus and the Holy Spirit was selecting the very first person to preach the very first sermon of the very first early church. Guess who he picks? Peter. And that just shows the heart of our God. Look at me, everybody. That he'll give you a second chance. He'll give you a third chance. He'll give you a fourth chance. You need to receive the forgiveness of God. Amen. But I didn't pick that one. I actually thought about this one, too. I thought about the prodigal son. I'm getting to it. I'm going to tell you all the ones I didn't choose to teach you today. And I'm still gonna teach to them. All right, so. Cause I thought about the prodigal son, too. You would think, man, that's probably one of the most beautiful stories of forgiveness. The parable that Jesus told in Luke, chapter 15. You know the story where basically this son said to his dad, I wish you were dead. Cause if you were dead, I could get my inheritance now. And I kind of want the money now. And the dad says, well, I'm not dead, but I'll go ahead and give it to you now if that's what you want. And he broke tradition and gave the son his inheritance. Only for that son to go spend it on prostitution and partying and basically gambling and drinking. And he messed up his whole life and squandered, the Bible says, all of the hard work of the dad. Everything he had laid up for that son's good. This prodigal just blew it all away. And he ends up in this pig pen. And in the pig pen, the Bible says he came to his senses. And he just said, I'm gonna go back home to the father. I'm gonna. At least maybe he'll hire me as a hired hand. I know he probably won't receive me back as a son, but I bet he'd hire me. Cause I know he needs the employees there. And so he goes back and the Bible says, and I have this one on the screen for you, that while the prodigal who blew all the money was still a long way away, who, by the way, didn't even have the chance to say I'm sorry yet. The father would not have even known, particularly if the son was ready to repent. But when the father saw him, he was filled with compassion for him. He ran to him, threw his arms around him and kissed him. And I say that to somebody here who feels like you've really let God down, that God's posture already for you before you even say the first word is, he sees you. He has compassion on you. He'll run to you, throw his arms around you and kiss you. Cause God loves you. Come on, somebody say amen right there. You have to know the heart of the Father. That is how God. That is the goodness of God embodied in the Son, Jesus. And then you would think, probably the greatest moment of forgiveness is neither one of those. It would be the moment, as Pastor Mark so vividly described last week, where Jesus hung on that cross and nails were going into his hands and at his feet, and thorns in his head and stripes on his back and spear in his side. And not only that, but the mocking and the spit, just spit hanging off his face. From how they would mistreat Jesus. We don't talk about it, but he was hanging there naked. They would have shamed him. Just all the horrors of the cross. And you think, man, if there's ever a moment where we can maybe break the rule of forgiving, he demonstrates it when he looks down all these people and makes an appeal to God the Father, basically saying, daddy, don't be mad at him. I know they mistreated your son. Don't be mad at them. Forgive them. They don't even really know what they're doing. How do you say that? What a God we serve. What a God we serve. But I settled on one for a particular reason for you guys today. Aren't you glad I finally got there, everybody? Right? And that is, I went straight to the. I thought about the woman caught in the act of adultery. And it's in John, chapter eight. And here's how the story goes. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in the act of adultery. And I don't know why the man wasn't brought. But that's just a side note. Last time I checked, it takes two to tango. Right there. Everybody but they made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. And in the law of Moses, it's commanded that we are supposed to stone such women. And they said, now, what do you say about this? And they were saying this to trap him. It was a question to trap Jesus in order to have a basis of accusing him. Cause basically that would have been a lose, lose situation. If they say, well, then, yeah, follow the law and stone her, well, then Jesus is complicit in the stoning of a woman. And then if he says, no, don't stone her, well, now he's complicit in breaking the law. I'm not following the law. But the Bible says that Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his fingers. Notice he did not answer, by the way. Can I just make a statement? You don't always have to answer the questions of the world the moment that they asked it. And we. Yeah, I'm just. So Jesus didn't answer. He doodled in the dirt. Some of y' all do. You. Your life would be a whole lot better if you just slow down a little bit before you respond, Selah. Okay, so if you're new to the Bible, that means think on this for a little while. That's what that Hebrew word means. He doodles in the dirt. And when they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them this fellow famous line that even people who aren't followers of Christ, you know this phrase, let any one of you who is without sin be the first to cast the stone. And then he stooped down in the dirt again, started doodling again. And then the next line is pretty interesting to me. And y' all know me, I can see humor. I see humor in Scripture. Cause it says, he doodles the second time in the dirt. And at this, those who heard or saw this began to go away one at a time, starting with the oldest to the youngest. And so we don't know. Scholars have debated for years, what was he doodling that made them go away one at a time? I have a theory. And that is that he was writing the names of their mistresses. Cindy, Sally. You know, I don't know. It's a good theory, though, isn't it? Right? Until only Jesus was left. With the woman still standing there now, notice she still hadn't said, I'm sorry. Oh, I'm so embarrassed. Nothing. She hadn't said anything. And Jesus straightened up and asked her, woman, where are your accusers? Has no one condemned you? And she goes, no, because you ran them all off. No one. And then you've got to know this line, because this shows the immense forgiveness and love for God. And I think somebody in one of our rooms today might need to hear this. That neither do I condemn you. In other words, I'm not gonna let this be the most condemning thing that ever happened to you. This is not the end of your life. He gave her grace. He didn't leave her there. By the way, some people read that and says, oh, God will just let you off the hook. No, no, no. He gave her grace, and then he gives her truth. Now go leave your life of Sin. He led her into both, because God has a wonderful destiny and restoration for our lives. And I just thought about all the lessons that we could learn from this story. There's three I want to focus on as it relates to the forgiveness of God. And the first one is that the forgiveness of Jesus comes at our worst moments. So let me say it this way. He was offering it before she even asked for it. He was already in the middle of her worst day, giving her something she hadn't even asked for yet. Are y' all seeing that, everybody? And I say that to you, that God's not over in a corner in some Holy Spirit space waiting for you to crawl hands and feet back to him, begging for his forgiveness? No, he's looking for you in the middle of your worst moments and is ready to step in and saying, if you'll step toward me, I do not condemn you. You can leave your life of sin. He's already there. That's what I want you to see, though. Second thing I'd love for you to see in this story is that the forgiveness of Jesus doesn't ignore justice. It shifts it. So he actually did follow the law because he knew the stones that they were getting ready to throw would be the stones that would actually end up on Jesus body while he hung on the cross. He was going to take the penalty for what she did. So he doesn't actually ignore truth. He actually shifts the justice to himself. He's ready. Let me say it this way. He's ready to take the blame for everything you did. He's ready to. He shifts it to himself. And by the way, it was paid for. Somebody got stoned on it. Was actually Jesus on that cross. Are you following me, everybody? And then the last thing I just thought in this story is that the forgiveness of Jesus not only removes the past, but it restores the future. He wasn't just focused on what she did. He was focused on who she could become. Still. Let me say it this way. You can't go too far to not only receive the forgiveness of God, but also have your life completely turned around where God uses you again. Come on, give him praise together, everybody. It's just a beautiful thing. And I think somebody needs to hear all of this. In fact, let me say it to you on behalf of the One who loves you deeply. Look in my eyes. He doesn't condemn you. You can go. Leave your life of sin. And I truly believe somebody needs to hear that. So what do we do with this? What do we do with the goodness of God expressed to us through Jesus in that kind of way. What should be our response? Let me offer three for you today. Number one, receive it. And I say this for every person who has a hard time receiving it. Like some of you have so self condemned yourself, you think about your mistakes over and over and over and over again. You're not in conviction. That's what the Holy Spirit does. You're in condemnation. And by the way, modern psychology has already affirmed what scripture teaches about this. And that is that guilt and shame will produce something. It produces you withdrawing from family, friends, God. It produces self punishment. You live a life of shame, you don't like yourself. On the other hand, when you receive the grace of God, and again, psychology's proved this, when you receive the grace and the love and the forgiveness of God, it produces gratitude, intimacy, generosity. You're a brand new person when you can receive this. And so then I thought about, well then God, if I was to lead our church into something that'll help them receive it, what would that be? I'm gonna offer something that almost sounds counterintuitive or it's actually the opposite of what you should do. Because I was thinking about the Lord's Prayer. I love prayer models. You guys know that I've written prayer books and I love prayer plans and prayer models. And one of my favorite prayers to pray is not the prayer itself, but the phrases of the Lord's Prayer. And one of the phrases of the Lord's Prayer is forgive us. To which you gotta think about, if he's already forgiven you of all your sins, why do we need to say that? Like, why would we ask God to forgive us if he already has? And I was thinking, Lord, why do you want us to daily say forgive us, forgive us for something again that he's already done? And I feel like I have an answer for you that's gonna help some of you walk in this and receive the forgiveness of God. And that is we ask God to forgive us. Not because he hasn't, but so we can remember that he actually has. What if every day you have a time with God and when you get to this part, forgive us our trespasses. And I want to thank you that all my sin, past, present and future, has been paid for by the precious blood of Jesus. I think it actually would draw you so close to him and allow you to be able to receive his love and his forgiveness in your life. Amen. Everybody, are you understanding that? And I want you to try that. I want you to, when you pray when you spend time with God, not only ask him to do it, but thank him that he already has. Cause here's what I know. This is that the more you can receive this, the more you'll fall in love with him. And the more you fall in love with him, the easier and the better he is to follow. Like, it's so important that you have the right view of God. Your view of God determines your relationship with God. And I want you to see him as a loving father. I'll tell you this quick little story. Years ago, when Tammy and I, our kids were very, very little, we had just had our fifth. And it felt like a lot. Like five kids is a lot, you know? And when they're in that. Come on, parents in that 7, 8, 9, 10 year, it's just a lot. And there's always something, right? And I'm kind of conditioned to that. Tammy's way more gracious than I am. I'm a little bit more. Okay, what do they do today? You know, that kind of a thing. And I came home, and we had a beautiful bed that had a tall headboard, wooden headboard, and a smaller, lower wooden footboard. And when I came in and I took my sport coat off and I threw it across the footboard, I was undressing from work, I noticed that one of the knobs of the footboard was now smaller than the other knob. And there was wood shavings at the bottom on the floor that one of the kids had gotten a knife and decided to go carving on the knob. I mean, it was, like, significantly smaller than the other one. Blood's boiling in my head, just like, oh, my goodness. And I know who it is. Parents, come on. Where y' all at? I won't tell you which one, so he can protect his anonymity. But it's David. Okay? It's David. I know it's David. So I had a. I had a. Like, the kids knew if I whistled, like, Wheel real loud. They're like the von Trapp family. They all came in, they line it up. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. And they're. Yes, sir. And they're all. And I'm like, I'm talking to all five, but I'm really only talking to one who's been whittling on the bed. I said to David, and the sweetest one in our family, the most gentle, the kindest, the funniest, the nicest, never did anything wrong. Jonathan goes, and he immediately confesses to doing this. And he did it with this Little sheepish smile on his face. Daddy, I did it. And the way he did that, y', all, I was now biting my cheeks, trying not to laugh, you know, because of the way he came to me about. And the question is, why did he have the confidence not only to do it immediately, but also so honestly and transparently? You know why? Because he knew he had a confidence in his father. And I went, well, bro, why did you do that? And now I'm smiling. I'm not mad anymore. Why did you do that to my bed? And of course, parents, y' all know exactly what he said. I don't know. I said, well, don't do that again. Yes, ma'. Am. And he went off and played. And it taught me something that day, that I always wanted to have a relationship with my kids, who had the ability to immediately say, daddy, I did this. I know it was wrong, but I also know you. And I know you're still gonna love me. I'm not gonna get kicked out of the family. Come on, somebody needs to hear this. Today you need to receive the forgiveness of our God, everybody. You need to receive it. That's the way he loves the second. We've taught you a ton. I won't spend a lot of time on it, but we need to also release this forgiveness to others. And I always say that you actually cannot do it until you've received it yourself. But once you've received it yourself, it is important for you to be a forgiver. I say this in the middle of a culture that has about lost its mind, okay? That we gotta get the anger out of our hearts and we gotta get the hatred out of our hearts. And if you have it in your heart, if you're mad and angry about somebody, even if they deserve it, it's gonna kill you long before it kills them. That's just a fact. Unforgiveness is a stopper of everything beautiful. Everything, everything, everything. And we think we're punishing them. You're not punishing them. You're punishing yourself. If you're carrying something around about a family member or somebody in culture, the opposing party of whatever your party is, we're so picking sides these days, and we build all this stuff in our heart. And you think you're punishing them by holding that against them. I heard someone say unforgiveness is like setting yourself on fire and hoping your enemy dies from smoke inhalation. You ain't hurting them. You hurting you. And when we forgive, it does more for us than it does for them. So what do we do? Here's the thought. Follow the Bible that says, I don't know when we're gonna learn and live like this and just treat people like this that we need to get rid of bitterness, rage. What an appropriate verse for this week. Anger, brawling, slander with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other. How? Because he did it for you. In fact, let me go so far to say it this way. You'll never have to forgive somebody more than what Jesus forgave you. What about that thought? And here I am holding and hating it just can't be therefore, as. Here's another one. As God's chosen people, that's who you are. Highlands, I'm giving you your marching orders for this coming week. And really for the rest of your life. You're holy and dearly loved by God. Hey, Clothe. You know what clothe yourself means? Put it on. It ain't on you right now. You get a choice. This is not a feeling. This is a choice. Clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience. Bear with each other. I don't want to. Too bad. Put it on. Clothe yourself with it. I've just decided. I'm not gonna get mad. That's what I've decided. Bear with each other and forgive one another of any grievance that you have against someone. Chris, you're asking too much. No, I'm not. Because it's already happened to you. Jesus already did this for you. CS Lewis said it beautifully. To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable, because God has forgiven the inexcusable in me. This is what we do. This is so good. And by the way, I don't have time to tell the whole story, but I thought about another forgiveness story. And this one's the woman, the prostitute who had the alabaster jar of perfume pouring over Jesus feet. And the Pharisees are mocking this whole situation, like, does he even know? Does he even know who's doing that to him right now? He was the judgmental Pharisee. And Jesus said this. He goes, think about this. Two debts. One was just a few dollars, one was billions of dollars. Both are canceled. Which one of those two do you think is the most grateful? And the answer, of course, was the one who owed the most. And Jesus said, that's all of us. And then he goes on to say this. He who has been forgiven little loves little. So if you find yourself loving little, it's because you have Forgotten. You think you've only been forgiven little, but he who has been forgiven much loves much. And I'm calling on all of us to embody that, to release that to the world around us. I wrote a book this summer that's gonna come out in April, and it's my old age book. I'm not old, but I'm 62. And I said, I'm gonna write my life principles book. The ones that I've learned where every chapter is. You could read it just. You can pick any chapter. You don't have to read it through. Just. It's 30. 30 principles. They're my life principles. And on a whim, as I was writing these, I. I summarized one of the chapters. I was like, in chapter 20 something. And I had a hunch, like, to write. Write the principle all over again at the end of the chapter in letter form to my grandkids. So I wrote the principle, and then I just said, dear grandkids. And then I. I said it in an endearing way, almost like a deathbed way, But I'm not dying, okay? You know, but it just. I was in that frame of mind. Like, I want. Like, when I'm gone, I want you to remember this. And so I ran down and I said, tim, Tam Tam, read this. What do you think about this? And so I came back, three minutes later, she's sobbing on the couch, went, yes. Like, it worked. And so I went back and I summarized every chapter in letter form. And I'm calling the book Legacy Letters, Timeless Principles I've learned, lived, and leave behind. And chapter 20 something is the second chance principle, I call it. And here's how it goes. Give people a second chance. You never know when you're going to need one, too. And I'm just. I'm just asking the world, can we just be a bit more gracious? Can we just be a bit more loving? Can we just imagine treating people the way Jesus treats us? I got to close. Here's the last one. Y' all getting anything out of this today? Okay, Number three. And that is once you receive it and then release it, then go represent it to this. To the world publicly. Let me say it this way. The hope of this series is for not you to go home and go, ooh, isn't God good? The hope of this series is for you to experience the goodness of God so you can show that goodness to the world around us. And I close with a heartbreaking story because it's where my mind went this week. I was reminded on June 17, 2015, when a 21 year old gunman went into Emmanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, murdered nine people in the middle of a Wednesday night Bible study. I remember it vividly. And they caught him the next day. And then two days later, within 48 hours, there was a, there was a hearing, there was a, like a, like a bond hearing where he was on video. And the people who died, their families were there to confront this killer. And then they shocked the world because the daughter of victim Ethel Lance looked directly into the camera and said, I forgive you. Two days later, not a year later, two days later, the mother of Taiwan's A. Sanders said, every fiber in my body hurts and I'll never be the same. But may God grant you mercy. Reverend Anthony Thompson, the husband of Myra Thompson, told the gunman, I forgive you. Give your life to Jesus Christ. That's what really matters. Can you imagine? One pastor later reflected, their forgiveness was an extension of who they already are. It was like it was just part of them. And I thought, that's my hope. My hope is that we don't just believe this, learn this, know this, but we become this and that when tragedy happens, we represent this to the world around us. President Barack Obama, the president at that time, said their forgiveness is an expression of faith that he said was unimaginable. He couldn't believe it. May this be our lives as well. In fact, let me close by saying this. We're not just supposed to experience the goodness of God. God's forgiveness was never meant to stop with us. It was always meant to flow through us. So church, go show people the goodness of Almighty God. Come on, Give God praise together, everybody. So, Father, let us not just learn this in our heads, but let us believe this in our hearts. You already shown it to us and we have multiples of stories of how you embodied it all throughout the Gospels. Change us, I pray God. We want to look like you, we want to act like you, we want to treat people like you. Would God, maybe even the courage of those people of the story I just told you happen in the hearts of the people of Church of the Highlands with your heads bowed and your eyes closed. If you're here today and you feel far from God, but you now feel drawn to God, maybe you're a Christian, maybe you're not, but you're ready to be forgiven. Some of you in this room, you need to be forgiven. You need to walk out of here free, clean, pure, because you've received the forgiveness of Almighty God and you're ready to make him the Lord of your life. I'm not gonna call you to the front or make you stand up, but at all of our locations. If you're ready to receive the forgiveness of God today, without hesitation, would you put your hand in the air as high as you can say, count me in on this prayer. Lift it high. Good, good, good, good. All over this room. Yes, yes. Just lift it high. Just lift it high. Just. I'm ready, I'm ready, I'm ready. Thank you, thank you. Just literally all over the room. God bless you today. Way at the top. God bless you today. Thank you. Slip those hands down. Just whisper this prayer right now where you are. Say, Jesus, thank you for taking my penalty and I receive the canceling of the debts I incurred. Would you be the Lord of my life? I surrender my life completely to you because you are the Son of God. You rose from the dead and I pray put my faith in you. Thank you for loving me and thank you for saving me. In your name I pray. Amen. God bless you, church.