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It's gonna be a good day. It's gonna be a good day. Can we celebrate one more time? All the fathers in the house. Come on, y' all soft. I. I said it at our stag men's gathering yesterday and so many times. We live in a culture where men are tolerated and not celebrated. And it's real easy on Mother's Day to go, Moms, y' all are amazing. And sometimes the message on Father's Day is like, dads, what you doing? Get it together. That is not the culture of this house. I want to celebrate every father, every spiritual father, every granddad. Come on. Every man that stepped in the gap and stayed. Thank you, sir. You're needed. You're needed. So we honor you. So amazing to celebrate and share this Father's Day with you. And it's amazing that God has given me another year. I don't take that for granted. Are y' all ready for the word of God today? You look good. You look planted. You look planted. Shout out to everybody in the watch party room. Social Global. If you're new to social, give me a wave. One more time. If you're new to social, first time here. Shout out from California. I love it. I love to see people that have been watching online and they show up in person. It's like they got the energy. I need some of y' all, you know, you get used to it. Y' all, like, for real, just to take all that. But I love our Social global family. When they come in town, our word for this year is planted. We believe that we're gonna flourish because we're planted. And that word comes straight out of Scripture every single Sunday of 2025. We've been declaring Psalms 92, verses 13 through 15. So come on, let's read it one more time with uplifted voices. Y' all ready? Come on. One, two, three. Those who are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall still bear fruit in old age. They shall be fresh and flourishing to declare that the Lord is upright. He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him. It sounds good. Sound real good. And happy Father's Day to my father, Robert Madouke Sr. I honor you. No matter how tall I get, I'm always looking up to that man right there. I thank God for you. I believe that one of my assignments and calls is to not just lead you, but to feed you the word of God. And that's what I labor to do every single Sunday when I feed you. Sometimes it's like a steak dinner. Sometimes it's like tamales. Sometimes it's just vegetables. And today is one of those vegetable type of messages. I know you would prefer crumble cookies over kale, but you need some kale, you need some Brussels sprouts. So I just want to let you know that's what the type of message is today. It's a vegetables message. It might not feel good, but it's needed one verse of scripture, the Gospel according to Luke, chapter 23. And I want to look at verse number 34. If you're ready to read it, say, yeah, you need some time to find Luke. Say, hold up. Really? For Luke, no condemnation. I'll wait for you. Matthew, Mark, then Luke. We're just going to read 1 verse. Verse 34. Jesus said, Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing. They divided up his clothes by casting lots. One verse. May as well read it one more time. Jesus said, father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing. And they divided up his clothes by casting lots. I want to take my title straight from this text today on this Father's Day and preach to you from this thought. Father, forgive them. Father, forgive them. I want to talk to a father and just tell you before I preach, father, forgive them. I don't know who them is, but you need to forgive them. Would you bow your heads with me today? I'm gonna pray. It's gonna be a long prayer, but bear with me. God, speak to us today. Amen. You may be seated in the presence of Father, forgive them. Social fam. I walked in the back this morning and got a beautiful basket with a red velvet cake, an amazing gift from the coffee team. And they gave me a card, y' all. It's a good way to start a Sunday. They gave me a card, and it just got me thinking. Are you a card person? Anybody? How many of you know that person that, like, loves cards? Like, they love cards, they collect cards. They have a whole stash of cards. I mean, they got cards from 1983. They have them categorized, you know, by the occasion. They love cards. They're generally the same person that when you go to the store with them, they will be in the card aisle for hours just reading and smiling, talking about, I'm gonna get that. They got cards for stuff that hadn't even happened yet. I'm not one of those people. I'm not a card person. I'm not one of those people. I'm married to one of those People. But I'm not a card person. You say, then what are you? Pr. Here's what I am. I'm a gift card inside of the card. Now let me keep 100. I'm a cash money inside of the card. Let me just be honest. Keep the card. Just give me a gift, okay? Don't judge me, all right? That's my love language. It's gift giving. It is not words of affirmation. Cards are funny. Matter of fact, I'm 41, so I'm more mature now. Like, you gave me a. A card with, like, a gift card in it. You know, I'm just gonna, you know, maturely move the card to the side, especially if you in front of me, and I'm gonna read it. I'm gonna read every word. I'm like, oh, like it's hitting my soul. I'm just gonna read it all the way through. That's what I do now. Back in the day, y' all, I didn't even read the card, y' all. Graduation, all those cards. Open it up, grab the cash, stash it. Open it up, grab the cash, stash it. That's what I used to do back in the day. Cause I want what's inside the card, by the way. Shout out to the people who just give you a card with nothing in it. You realize that's not a card. That's a flyer. That's a flyer. I'm playing. I'm playing. I love cards. I love cards. They're awesome. But I guess, here's my issue with the cards. Sometimes cards do not have the words that fully express what you have going on on the inside. They don't fully articulate what you're going through. Cards don't always get it right. Shout out Hallmark. They don't always get it right with words because, let's be honest, they don't have enough categories of cards for the complexity of life. They need to broaden those categories. I wish they would broaden the category of cards because not everything in life fits in. Birthday, anniversary, you got a new baby, or sympathy. I wish they would just broaden the category of cards for the complexities that we all face in life. Matter of fact, I have a few categories that I want to suggest to the card makers. They should change it up a little bit. What if there was a card category for. For when you got ghosted too soon? Well, what if there was a car? Like, after you got ghosted? You could just send a card to that person. Now, you would struggle to find the Address. Cause you couldn't get a text back, so you know you ain't gonna get an address. But that would be awesome to have a card that would just speak to them. And it would read something like this. If you just got ghosted, it would say on the front, still waiting for your reply. But inside it would say, but at this point, I'll settle for peace. Call me. What if there was a category of cards for the complicated family member? Come on, don't point at nobody complicated family member. Just a card to send to them. I think the front of the card would say, we're related. Inside, it would say, that's all I got right now. What if there was a category? Oh, this is going to bless somebody. A category of cards for church hurt. Oh, you hear that? For members. If you're a member of a church, a category across the church hurt as a member. It would say something like this on the front to the place that preached grace. Then inside it would say, but didn't have any for me, that bless you. Let's do another one. Church hurt for pastors. We get church hurt, too. Let's just do one for pastors. It says on the front to the one who left without a conversation. On the inside, it would say, I poured into you, prayed for you, and found out through Instagram you left the church. I'm getting that card. That is a good card. I'm going to order, like, five of those. Here's another one. What about this category? The Ex that wrecked? You think the front of the card would read, you didn't just break my heart. And the inside would say, you made me question if I'll ever trust again. You know, today's Father's Day, and I told you we paused to celebrate and salute all the amazing dads. But we cannot deny the reality of how some of you feel today. And you probably wish there was a category for alternative Father's Day. And the card would read on the front, to the man who gave me life. But on the inside, it would say, but never showed me how to live it. I don't hate you. I just learned to do life without you. We may never send cards like that, but the truth is we don't need to because they live in us. Many of you are carrying those cards in your heart everywhere you go, whether you want it to or not. It shows up. It shows up in our tone. It shows up in our text, in our trust issues. It shows up in our guardedness. It shows up in how we love or how we don't. It shows in how we open up or how we completely shut down. And like a bag that's never unpacked, the pain of what they did still goes with you everywhere. What do you do with the pain that other people have caused you? Have you noticed that pain rarely brings out the best in us? Oh, y' all don't want to be real on a Sunday? Pain rarely brings out the best in you. Few are the people that as soon as somebody hurts you, your knee jerk reaction is, oh, hallelujah. Well, bless the Lord, oh, my soul and all that's within me. That is not generally the response that you have whenever somebody hurts you. As a matter of fact, when we experience pain or hurt or betrayal, what usually spills out of us are hurtful words in retaliation, sarcasm, bitterness, rage, or stone cold silence. I've noticed that the default setting of humanity is that when we are at our worst, we are rarely at our best. Human nature doesn't shine well when it goes through pain and suffering. And pain has a way of revealing what's really in us. You don't really know what's in you until you go through something that you never expected. You don't really know what's in you until somebody that you think thought you could trust and somebody that you thought was for you absolutely stabs you in the back and the front. That's why you got to be careful when you turn up your nose in arrogance and pride and say, oh, I would never react like that. Oh, where are their. Their Christian behavior is gone. I would never do. You don't know what you would do if you went through what some people went through. I'm telling you, you gotta be careful because pain has a way of pressing some stuff out of you that you didn't even know was there. Ooh, it's like this couple water right here. Can I take a drink? You see this cup of water right here? That's how you go through life, just holding your water and trying to mind your own business. And can you imagine me just holding this water? And then all of a sudden, without me even expecting it, somebody bumps into me. And whether they did it on purpose or on accident, all of a sudden, I'm left to deal with the mess on the stage because of what you did. And as much as I want to ball up my fists and scrunch up my face and say, how dare you do that to me, this is your fault. The reality is they really didn't cause the water on the floor. The reality is the pushing Me just revealed what was already in the cup. If there was nothing in the cup, there would have been nothing to come out. But it wasn't until they bumped into me. Oh, that was. I didn't know those words were in me until I went through that. I could have that until I went, does anybody know what it's like to have somebody hit you with something so painful that you're trying to figure out, did that come out of me? I didn't know that was in there. Ladies and gentlemen, this is why I love my text for today. This text that we read. I only read one verse where Jesus declares, father, forgive him. The power is not just in the words. The power is where Jesus is saying the words from. Look at this Savior. He is not saying, father, forgive them, as he's chillaxing on a boat. He's not saying it from a couch. It'd be one thing to say, father, forgive them, after you multiplied the fish and the bread and everybody's eating the food, and they doubted the power that was in you because they didn't know that you were the bread of life. It's one thing to say it then, father, forgive them. They didn't know who I was. It's one thing to say it after the winds and the waves are about to take the boat over, and then you step out in your full power and say, peace, be still. And as soon as the winds and the waves are calm, they realize, oh, he's not an ordinary man. He is a God man, that is the Son of God. It's one thing to say then, father, forgive them. They didn't know that I could calm the storm with three words. It's one thing for you to say it then. It's a whole nother thing for you to be on a cross, have your flesh lacerated, have them rip your beard off of your face, have a crown of thorns placed in your head, have your arms stretched out wide and your hands nailed in a cross. So much so that you're struggling just to breathe most of the time. They wouldn't say anything because it hurt just to breathe on the cross. But here is a Savior, just before he suffocates in his own blood, feels the need to lift up his voice on the cross, and the first thing he says is, father, forgive them. They don't know what they're doing. We'll find later on, as he's on this cross, he'll only say seven words, seven statements on that cross. The first one is, father, forgive them. The last one is Father, into your hands I commit my spirit. Oh, I'm trying not to get lost in the details. I love. Father, into your hands I commit my spirit because it lets me know that nobody took his life. He laid it down because he was God. Thought you were hurting me, but I was just using you for an ultimate purpose. You didn't kill me. Don't get it twisted. I am God in the flesh. I gave up my life. He ends his life with, father, into your hands I commit my spirit. And his first word on the cross was, father, forgive them. What is Jesus teaching us? What is he modeling for us on this Father's Day? He's letting us know that no matter what you are going through, don't ever, never stop talking to your heavenly Father. Somebody could walk away with that word right there. Never stop talking to your heavenly Father. I don't care who betrayed you. I don't care who walked away. I don't care if you didn't have an earthly father. Thank God you have a heavenly Father. And never let what you're going through stop you from communicating and talking to your heavenly Father. Jesus was always in communication with his heavenly Father. He never stopped talking to him. And somebody saying, that's easy for you to say. I don't feel. Jesus didn't feel him. He was still talking to him. Remember what he said on the cross? My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? He didn't say, judas, Judas, why have you forsaken me? He didn't say, peter, Peter, why have you forsaken me? He says, no, in the last moments of my life, I refuse to focus on the people that walked away. But I'm going to talk to the God that called me and say, my God, my God. I don't understand it, but I'm not going to stop talking to you. Never allow the pain of what you're going through to stop you from talking to your heavenly Father. Elbow your neighbor and say, keep the conversation going. Keep talking to him, even when it feels like he's distant. First words out of the mouth of our Savior. Aren't words of anger or bitterness a prayer. Father, forgive them. Ooh, couldn't have been me. No, no, no. I would have been Father. Fry them, every last one of them, with extra lightning bolts. But look at our Savior. He's modeling something that is central to Christianity. It is the real F word. Forgiveness. Forgiveness. Forgive. The thing, hear me, that everybody wants to receive, but nobody wants to give. Forgiveness. Forgiveness. How many know if there was one word that we could reduce our faith to. There's so many options we could choose from. We could reduce it to faith. We could reduce it to grace. We could reduce it to love. But I submit to you that if you were to reduce our faith, Faith to one thing, it would be forgiveness. Forgiveness. You cannot be a Jesus follower and not live a life of forgiveness. And it blows my mind that the first thing that Jesus did on the cross is the last thing that the people of the cross want to do, which is to forgive. Come on, can we be honest? Forgiving is hard. Forgiving is hard. It is so hard to forgive people. It is hard. It is easy to keep a grudge. It is easy to have bitterness. It is easy to get revenge. It is easy to pay people back. It is easy to hit, unfollow, or block. It is easy to let them know what you really think about them. It is easy to punch them right back. It is easy to talk about their kids and their mama. It is easy to betray them. It is. It is easy to keep rehearsing it and rehearsing it and rehearsing it and rehearsing it like it's a Netflix movie. And rehearsing it. It is easy to retell it and retell it and let everybody know what they did to you. Oh, come on. Y' all gonna be quiet on Father's Day? You know that's how we do. Don't you hate it when somebody celebrates the person? You can't stand? One honest person. You can't stand Susie. She did you wrong. And here's somebody say, oh, Susie's so wonderful. And you're like, oh, is she? Let me tell you about Susie. It is hard to forgive. It is so hard. Don't miss the message today. I am not postulating that it is easy to forgive. It is hard to forgive. Like, I'm talking about giving birth to a 14 pound baby with no epidural heart, passing a kidney stone hard. That's how hard forgiveness is. I just want to make sure my metaphors hit everybody and that you're clear, because one thing that kidney stones, babies, and forgiveness have in common. It hurts when it has to come through you. Forgiveness is not just hard. It hurts when it has to come through you. Ironically, it's healing when it comes to you. Hmm. Isn't that interesting? That forgiveness hurts to give, but it's healing to receive. And, ladies and gentlemen, the gospel is not just receiving forgiveness. The gospel is also giving forgiveness. I love what Charles Spurgeon says. He says, we come to the cross to be forgiven. But we stay at the cross to be forgiving. What is this great mind spurgeon letting us know? What the scriptures let us know is that forgiveness is not just something that can flow to you. It is something that must flow through you. Freely, I have received freely I must release it. Freely I have been given. Freely I must give it. Forgiveness must flow to you and then through you. To you and through you. So here's my big question on Father's Day. You ready? Drum roll. How's your flow? How's your flow? How is the flow of forgiveness flowing through you? Or have you stopped with just receiving it from Jesus but you refuse to give it? I want to know today how's your flow? How's your flow? Is there a hurt that's blocking your flow? A betrayal? Somebody that lied on you? Somebody that cheated you? Is that hurt blocking your flow of forgiveness? I want to know who are you holding hostage in unforgiveness? Not even realize that you're the one that's behind bars. My prayer for you today is that you would look at the cross and see the words of Jesus. The first word he says is, father, forgive them. I'm praying today that something would shift in you. And maybe, just maybe, you can finally sing that powerful church hymn written by the psalmist Elsa of Arendelle. Let it go. Let it go. We laugh at that. But you can't think of Let it go and not think about Frozen and Elsa. But here's what blows my mind. Many of our lives mirror sister girl Elsa. Cause remember, she got the worst fatherly advice ever. Go back and watch the movie. She got the worst Disney father advice ever. I want to punch her daddy in the face. He gave her whole horrible, horrible advice. See, that's why I rock with Mufasa. Because Mufasa gave simple, good advice. Shout out James Earl Jones. Everywhere delight touches is our kingdom. I like that. That's good advice. Do you remember what Elsa told her daddy? Told her, gave her the gloves and told her, conceal it, don't feel it, don't let it show. What kind of messed up advice is that? You know how many people do that when it comes to hurt? When it comes to offense, conceal it, don't feel it, don't let it show. And you keep burying that pain. And you keep burying it, not realizing it is poison on the inside of you, affecting you. Nowhere in the Bible does it say, conceal it, don't feel it, don't let it show. That's why I love what Paul says to the church at Ephesus. In Ephesians, chapter 4, verse 31, it is the antithesis of Conceal it. Don't feel it. Look at what he says. Get rid of all bitterness. Let it go. Get rid of it. Rage, anger, harsh words and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior. Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another. Forgiving. I can't forgive, Lord, how do I do it? Paul, that's too hard. I can't forgive them. I'm not finished. Just as God, through Christ, has forgiven you. Do you see, Paul? He's talking about that flow. Forgiveness flows to you. It must flow through you. How's your flow? In Colossians, chapter 3, verse 13, he feels the need to write about it again. He says, make allowance for each other's faults. Make allowance for it and forgive anyone who offends you. Anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. Once again, Paul is writing to the church, trying to let them know that there is a flow that you cannot allow unforgiveness to block. You have received it, you must give it. And the problem with many of us is we have been holding people hostage to unforgiveness for so long, we actually think it's our superpower. You think you're strong because you don't forgive. For some of you, it's been the fuel of your success. Because, let's be honest, there is a fake empowerment that you get whenever somebody has done you wrong and you know they did you wrong. And it feels good to know that when they walk in the room, they better come correct. Don't play with me. Cause you know you're wrong. It's a fake empowerment, isn't it? Y' all don't want to be real in church. It kind of feels good, low key. To know. I know what you did and you know what you did. And you better be careful when you come around me, because I will remind you what you did to me. Oh, it feels good to our flesh. It feels empowering to know. You see, Jesus said, father, forgive them. They don't know what they did. But someone's like, that's you, Jesus. They know what they did. They know what they did. I ain't forgiven. They know. And it is a fake empowerment. And many of us have been on that energy for a long time. You actually are trying to prove other people wrong, and it's all out of unforgiveness. You're trying to let them know, I'm still enough. I'm still okay. No, I didn't need you. And the problem with that type of pain fueling your success is you can be successful and still bound. You can be driven and still be in chains whenever you allow bitterness and poison in your soul from unforgiveness to rot and to fester. Here's what I'm telling you today. Please let it go. Forgiveness is a gift that you give to yourself. Hear me. Forgiveness is a gift that you give to yourself. Forgiveness does not mean they were right. It just means they no longer have the right to keep you stuck. It's my birthday. I can't get one. Amen. It's all right. Try one more time. Forgiveness doesn't mean they were right. It just means they no longer have the right to keep you stuck. I refuse to stay stuck at where you hurt me. I refuse to stay stuck in bitterness. I refuse to let your hurt limit me. God has greater in front of me than the pain that I've gone through behind me. And I might not see how I'm gonna make it right now, but I choose to trust God that somehow, some way, he is gonna use this for my good. I will not allow you to have that power and control over me. Forgiveness is a gift that you give to yourself. And so I want to give you a definition of forgiveness. But before I tell you what forgiveness is, I want to give you four things forgiveness is not. The note taker's gonna be blessed today. Here are four things that forgiveness is not. And the reason I want to give you these four things that forgiveness is not is because if you don't know what forgiveness is, the biblical definition of forgiveness, you will exhaust yourself trying to forgive in a way that God never called you to forgive. So I want to give you four, four, four, four things that forgiveness is not. Y' all ready? Number one, Forgiveness is not a feeling. Look at your neighbor. Say, neighbor, forgiveness is not a feeling. If you are waiting to feel like you want to forgive, you're going to be waiting a long time. Some of us think that there's going to be this day where all of a sudden, like, worship music is going to play out of nowhere, and all of a sudden we're just going to get Holy Ghost goosebumps. You're like, oh, now I feel like forgiving them for what they did to me. You are never going to feel like forgiving them. This has nothing to do with your feelings. Everything to do with obedience to God. Can I tell you something? It takes faith to for it's not about how you feel. It takes faith to forgive. Well, could you give us a scriptural reference for that PR. Yes. Luke, chapter 17. Remember Luke 17? I didn't give it to him, but read it when you get to the crib. Jesus is with his disciples and he feels the need to let them know, hey, guess what? It is impossible that no offenses should come. Think about that. A God who does the impossible says, there's one thing that is impossible. It is impossible that no offenses should come. In other words, he's saying, if you are breathing, listen, somebody is going to offend you. Somebody's gonna do you wrong. You may as well just. You ain't gotta be prophetic. Just know that it's coming. Somebody gonna send you a sideways email. Somebody gonna be nice, nasty to you and say, can you please reply? I just need clarity. Somebody's gonna say, God bless you and ain't gonna mean bless you. Somebody's gonna cut you off on the highway. He's letting you know offenses are going to come. And somebody needs to just understand that right there because you live in this false Disney fairy tale that everything's supposed to be good. I came in the church, I can't believe they're doing me wrong in the ch. He says, it's impossible that offenses will not come. It is a part of life. He then on the back end of that says, but woe to you through whom they come. He said, if you out here in these streets just offending people, Woe to you. Woe to you. That causes dissension and division in the body of Christ. Woe to you with your YouTube channel that feels the need to destroy everybody in ministry. Woe to you. That's talking about people within the church. Woe to you. They said, I want to come and I just want to serve social. But you sleeping around with multiple girls throughout the church. Woe to you. That wasn't in my notes. I'm just being led by the spirit. Whoa. If you are sowing seeds of discord, if you got drama everywhere you go, whoa to you. Here's what he says. It's better that a millstone be tied around your neck. A millstone was a rock the size of a washing machine. He said, you better off putting a rock the size of a washing machine around your neck and jumping in the ocean than to deceitfully and insidiously sow seeds of division and offense to a brother or sister in Christ. It's wrong. Woe to you. Whoa. Look at your neighbor say, whoa. Yeah. You ever got a woe text? Whoa. He says, woe to you if you're doing it. But then he goes on to say, but if your brother does offend you, if your brother does, go to him. Don't go to social media. Go to him, he says, and forgive. And then goes on to say, if he does it seven times in one day, forgive. Seven times in one day. And it makes me laugh because all the apostles, after hearing Jesus, said, if your brother offends you seven times in one day, forgive them. All. The apostles didn't say, well, praise the Lord. They go, lord, increase our faith. If you want me to do that, you better increase my faith. What are you saying? It takes faith to forgive. Faith to forgive. It's not about how I feel. I have faith in trusting God, that in spite of this hurting me, I choose to forgive. Because somehow God is going to use this for his glory and for my good. Come here, Joseph. Yes. My brothers threw me in the pit and stripped me of my coat of many colors. It didn't feel good. I'm bleeding when I'm in the pit. It didn't feel good when I was sold into slavery. It didn't feel good when I was lied on and I was in the prison. But when I got to the palace after, I went through some things and I chose to forgive. Now I can say, you meant it for evil, but God used it for good. And I don't know who this is for right now, but give yourself the gift of forgiveness and watch how God uses it for his glory. No matter how you feel, it takes faith. Faith to forgive. God, I trust you. I believe you. So faith and forgiveness are connected. Faith is not a feeling. Number two, forgiveness. Forgiveness is not forgetting. Forgiveness is not forgetting. We don't have the cognitive capacity to forget it. Come on. If your brain starts forgetting, it's malfunctioning. Come on, stop thinking. There's going to be some spiritual moment where you're like, I'm just going to forget about the abuse. I'm just going to forget about the molestation. You will never forget about it. You can't read the Book of Leviticus enough. You can't take enough communion for it to go away. Forgetting is not forgiving. It'll be there forever. And hear me. Forgetting would actually rob God of the glory that he can get out of that painful situation. It's interesting. Even on the cross, they tried to offer him vinegar and gall, trying to numb the pain. And they would do it often to numb the pain of what you were going through. And our Savior refused. He said, I'm not going to a substance. I don't want to forget this moment because it looks like it's weakness, but glory is coming out of him. Hear me. Forgiveness is not forgetting. I wish we could forget. Who? Especially me. I got the spiritual gift of remembering. Y' all ain't gonna let me be real on my birthday. I remember. I remember what outfit you had on and what time you said it. I don't have that. You. You can't forget. God has that ability. But you are not God. And some of you have put God expectations on yourself. You ain't gonna forget it. God has the ability to throw your sin into the sea of forgetfulness. We don't have that ability. Even if I could throw into the sea of forgetfulness, if you start acting funny, I'm going deep sea fishing. I'm like, oh, see? Nuh, you done forgot what you did. Hold on, let me bring it back. Wait. Forgiveness is not forgetting. Number three. Forgiveness is not fair. It's not fair. Fair is you hurt me, I hurt you. Fair is you did me wrong. I do you wrong. And hear me, you don't want fair. You don't want fair. How many know God is not fair. He's just. He's good, but he is not fair. Hear me, the next time you scream it, it's not fair. They should go through that and go through this. Be careful when you say you want it to be fair. Because that means everything that you have done, you want to reap the consequences of that. Forgiveness is not fair. And thank God, forgiveness is not fair. Then we couldn't be forgiven. Thank God that he is not fair. We wouldn't have grace. Grace is not fair that we get God's riches at Christ's expense. Fair is every single one of us would have been on that cross. But I want to take a little praise break and thank God that he's not fair. I don't want to get what I deserve. I deserve hell. I deserve eternal punishment. But thank God for his grace. Thank God for his mercies that are new every single morning. You don't want fair. You don't want fair. Reminds me of Psalms 103, 8, 10. Look at what the psalmist says. The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever. He does not treat us as our sins, deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. If you needed a place to shout, it's Right there. Thank you, Jesus, that you're not fair. Number four. Forgiveness is not fellowship. Forgiveness is not fellowship. Ooh, this blessed me. It blessed me to know that there's a difference between forgiveness and reconciliation. Forgiveness is something that I can do with God and say, God, I give this to you by faith, whether I feel it or not. I choose to forgive my father. I choose to forgive my mother. I haven't gotten an apology, but by faith I choose to forgive them. It is not the same as reconciliation. Reconciliation. Two parties have to come together and are willing to do whatever is necessary to bring reconciliation to the relationship. I'm thankful that God doesn't allow us to just stay in a situation where we're a doormat and allow people who have developed a pattern of abuse and a pattern of mistreating you. And God doesn't just say, well, just stay there. I can forgive you and still not go to lunch with you. I can forgive you, and we ain't gonna do Christmas together. And it's not out of bitterness. Check your heart. It's not out of bitterness. Forgiveness is something separate from reconciliation. It takes two. So pr. If forgiveness is not a feeling, if it's not forgetting, if it's not fair, if it's not fellowship, what is it? Here it is. Forgiveness is letting go of what they owe because Jesus paid it all. Forgiveness is letting go of what they owe because Jesus paid it all. The actual Greek word that is used to forgive is a word that suggests, hear me. Cancel the debt. Cancel the debt. You don't owe me. You don't owe me. Jesus paid it all today for somebody's freedom. I'm begging you, let go of what you think they owe you because Jesus paid it all. I'm not saying they didn't hurt you. I'm not saying that they were right. I am saying that Jesus already covered the debt on the cross, and I asked the worship team to join me. I love that Jesus didn't just model forgiveness as he's on the cross. He also modeled it in the template that he gave the disciples for prayer. I want you to look at it. It's in Matthew, chapter six. It's what we know as the Lord's Prayer. The disciples say, hey, Jesus, teach us how to pray. I want you to think about this. This is the template that Jesus gave us to pray. And he says, in this manner, therefore pray. Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. Pause. Daily bread. If he's saying in this template of prayer, lord, give us this day our daily bread. He's suggesting that this is the template for prayer every day. Otherwise, he would say, give us this week our daily. Our weekly bread, and you can pray once a week and not feel any condemnation. Somebody said, hallelujah. No. Daily. Daily. Give us this day our daily bread. Then he says, and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. Hold on. You mean to tell me that Jesus knew the human heart so much that he said, every day you pray, there ought to be some prayer, some words that speak to God. Forgive me. Forgive me for the stuff I said. Forgive me for the things that I did. Forgive me for the things that I didn't do. But also, Lord, I forgive them for what they did to me daily. Why would we need to pray this daily? Because every day is going to be a new opportunity. And the best time to forgive, hear me, is before they do it. What if. What if you woke up tomorrow and said, God, I first come to you asking for your forgiveness. Forgive me. But, Lord, today I choose to forgive anybody that might offend me today. Can you imagine how that would change you? When you walk into your cubicle and that coworker that gets on your last nerves, and they do what they do every single time, and this time they do. And you're like, oh, man, I love you. And they're like, huh? How you do that? I had a conversation with somebody earlier today, and I canceled the debt. You don't owe me. You don't owe me. That's hard to do. I'll tell you how hard it is to do. It's so hard that even after the prayer. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For yours is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever. Now, generally, when you say amen, the prayer is over, right? So we done got that forgiveness out of the way. He backs up the prayer and comes in again and says, for if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. The prayer is over, and you gonna come back again, Jesus, and say, hey, by the way, the way you release forgiveness is the same way you'll receive forgiveness from me. That's scary. It's scary because most of us are like Peter. Remember Peter in Matthew chapter 18? Peter comes to Jesus with this question in Matthew 18, and he says, lord, how many times shall I forgive My brother or sister who sins against me up to seven times. I am convinced that Peter had somebody that was getting on his last nerves. And he had already gave him seven, six times of grace. It's like, yo, they got one more time. I've already been kind. You know how you get? I've already gone above and beyond. So let me ask Jesus, what's the limit on this thing? Because it's getting out of hand. This keeps happening. How about seven? Because I think that's pretty good. And Jesus answered, I'll tell you. Not 7 times, but 77 times. Another version says, 70 times 7. Now, think with me today. Do you think Jesus really meant 409? If we go with 70 times 7, that he meant 490 times? They can do you wrong. But on 491, you can let them know what you've written. No, no. He's saying, you don't understand, Peter. If you are still trying to keep record of every single wrong that a person has done, you haven't allowed my forgiveness to sink into your heart. Because forgiveness is not about keeping score. Forgiveness is about losing count. Forgiveness is about having your eyes so fixed on a Savior that forgave you of so much sin, you say, you know what? I've lost count. Because I know that he's lost count on how many times he's forgiven me. And if God has given me chance after chance after chance, it's gotta flow through me, not just to me. So I choose today to give you a gift for myself. I forgive you. I let it go. And I may not ever get an apology, and I may not ever get an explanation. But I don't need one to forgive. I need to fix my eyes on the Savior, who, with his arms stretched out wide, said, father, forgive them. Hear me today. I am not dismissing the pain. I am not belittling what they did to you. We all have stories. I have mine. And I remember thinking to the Lord, hey, you know how you get real spiritual? I said, lord, when I'm healed, then I'll forgive. I thought that was pretty good. I'm like, lord, I know they ain't gonna give me an apology because they don't know, but when I'm healed, I'll forgive. And he took me back to the cross and said, son, when I said, father, forgive them, I was still bleeding. I wasn't healed. Can you be bleeding and still forgive me? We think we'll forgive when we're healed. Not realizing you have to forgive to be healed. On this Father's Day, I'm speaking to everybody, but I'm even speaking especially to some men. You've been carrying it for a long time. That hatred, that anger. People in your family, people around you have learned to maneuver around your rage. We don't want to set him off. And today the Savior says, I know what you've gone through, but forgiveness is for your freedom. I want to do something today that I got clear instruction from the Holy Spirit to do. Here's how I want some of you to respond today. I'm not going to force you to do it, but I do believe that this, hear me, is a divine setup for you to finally be free. I wish I could give you the apology that you've been longing for. I wish I could give you the explanation. I wish I could tell you that you're going to get it. But you may never get it. Forgiveness is not about how you feel. It is a decision by faith. I forgive. So in every single seat, there is a blank card and a pen. And I believe that that blank card is going to create space for somebody's freedom today. And here's how I want you to respond. Hear me, you don't have to. You don't have to. But somebody's freedom is on the other side of this act that we're going to do today. In a moment, the worship team is going to lead us. But here's what I want you to write on that card. I want you to write, whatever or whoever has been blocking your flow, we receive forgiveness from the Father. We have to release it. And. And for some of you, you know the betrayal, you know the person, you know the moment, and it has blocked your flow. And you said, I can't. And you think it's destroying them and it's destroying you. And today I just want you maybe write the moment, maybe just write the name of the person. And what's going to happen as the worship team leads us. I want you to. I want you. When you feel ready to bring that paper folded up, I just want you to drop it on this stage. Anywhere on this stage. Those of you in the back, they have a receptacle there in the back. But some of you that are in the back might need to walk all the way up to the front because God says as you step, freedom is going to come into your life today. I just want you to write. Some of you hear me, you need to write your name on there because you haven't forgiven yourself and you keep beating yourself up for what Jesus already paid the price. For so today I'm just gonna create space. This is the instructions that I got from the Holy Spirit today just to create space. And as the worship team begins to lead us, when you feel led, if you feel led, I want you to write it and I want you to drop it here, believing that when I leave it here, I'm letting it go. I am exercising true biblical forgiveness. I'm letting go of what they owe. Why? Because Jesus paid it. Oh. So even before you move and before the worship team sings, would you bow your heads? Father, I thank you for this moment. Thank you for the holiness of this moment, Father, thank you for the freedom of this moment. God, thank you that you, as a loving father, you know every circumstance, you know every situation. And Lord, today I pray as we look at the cross and see what you did, as we realize how much we have been forgiven of that today, you would open up our hearts again and we would allow forgiveness to flow through us. Heal hearts today. Set people free today, even if they don't feel it. God, we do it today by faith. In Jesus name, Amen. O to him I owe. Sin has left a crimson stain. He washed me white as snow. Oh, to thee, my blessed Savior, I surrender. Thank you, God. Father, that's our heart's cry today. We hold nothing back from you. Thank you for being a good, good father. Thank you for not just saying that you love us, but God, you showed up. Other people might not have showed up, but God, you showed up. You demonstrated your love for us, and while we were sinners, you died for us. So, Father, today we stand recipients of your forgiveness. Lord, today by faith, we will be releasers of your forgiveness. Give us the strength and the grace to let it go, to let it go, to let go of what they owe. Because we know that you paid it. All heads about eyes are closed in this moment. I do want to give somebody an opportunity to receive that forgiveness. That's the first step to put your faith in Jesus to those of you who put your faith in him. But you said today I just. My flow has been blocked by a hurt of betrayal. I believe something powerful happened today as you laid this card at this altar. But hear me, it doesn't mean that you're never going to be triggered. It doesn't mean that you're never going to feel the pain again. God heals in moments and in process. But never stop talking to your Heavenly Father when it's dark. Talk to to him when you feel forsaken. Keep talking to him with heads bowed and eyes Closed today. If you'd be so honest to say, hey, pr, I first need to receive this forgiveness. I've not put my faith in Jesus. Hear me. It is not by your works. It is not by your record. It is what he has already done. You don't have to be perfect. You have to put your faith in the perfect one. So with heads bow and eyes closed, I don't care if it's just one person, what a beautiful Father's Day for you to surrender your life to this safe father. He's safe. So with heads bowed and eyes closed, if that's you, you say, hey, I need to put my faith in Jesus and freely receive the forgiveness that he paid for on the cross. If that's you, would you lift up your hand high enough and long enough to where I could see it? Yeah. Thank you, Lord. I see those hands. Thank you. Watch party room. Those are the watch party room right there in that altar. I believe God's doing something even there. Anybody else, can we pray this prayer? We're all going to say it, but those of you who responded especially, would you say this from your heart? Say, jesus, I need you. I cannot do life without you, Lord, today I surrender Jesus. I believe that you're the Son of God. I believe that you lived the life that I was supposed to live. You died the death and I was supposed to die. You took my place. Father, thank you for my forgiveness. Forgive me of my sin. Make me brand new. From this moment forward, I am walking with you. I receive forgiveness and I release forgiveness. Goodness. In Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Amen. If you meant what you prayed, would you give God praise today? Come on, social fan, you could do better than that. Would you give Jesus praise today?