Amnesty - Part 4, Pastor Rob Ketterling
SARAH: On June 9th of 1997, it was a Monday, between four and five o'clock in the afternoon. Got off early that day, and I used to love going down to the bluffs over the Mississippi River. Decided to sunbathe laying on a towel. And you know when you've had your eyes closed, and it is a really sunny day, it takes awhile for your eyes to adjust. All I could see in front of me as my eyes slowly adjusted was the figure of a man, his shadow over the top of me. He'd been stalking me. He had a mask on. That was the only thing
that he was wearing. I mean, the next thing I knew he was on top of me. And I screamed. And he wasn't expecting that. He tried to run. And I'm not sure why to this day, but I decided to chase him. I turned into that girl that runs up the stairs instead of out the front door in those movies where you're like, "Go out the front door!" That's when I realized I could die. I turned and ran and I went in the opposite direction.
I like to say that I survived that day, but that day was the beginning of a slow, long death. I think that I wanted to be living, but I knew that I wasn't. It was kind of this
thing that my family didn't talk about. You know, six months later I was called in for a lineup.
I mean, it was something that didn't necessarily go away right away. But it wasn't discussed.
And because of my lack of support system and family, I was left to fend for myself, and I had a lot of anger and bitterness. And I was suicidal. And as the drinking got worse to cope, or the drugs got worse, the more desperately I wanted to be free of all of that. And I got to the point where I realized I didn't want to die; I just didn't want to hurt anymore. I was ready to be free.
And I made the decision to forgive; not just forgiving him, but forgiving my parents. And even better, forgiving myself for a lot of things. And when I chose to let go of
that pain and that bitterness and that anger and that frustration, I got something far greater in return. You can't buy, you can't box freedom.
God restores and he redeems and in a very tangible way blotted out that day with something so much greater. Last year on June 10th I gave birth to my twin boys, Evan and Avery, on a Monday as well, between four and five in the afternoon. So almost exactly 17 years later. I don't think the timing was an accident. That date and that day and that hour, they used to own me. Not anymore. Something else owns me now. Two little people. And I love it. But I also love what God has created, something so beautiful out of something so ugly. It just blows me away on a daily basis. I love it.
PASTOR ROB: Thanks Sarah. I love that. Let's show our appreciation to Sarah for being vulnerable. That's so good.
I love what she said. You can't buy, you can't box freedom. And when you give forgiveness, when you ask God to give you that ability to forgive, man that freedom just takes place.
I can just tell you all the testimonies, I have loved all of them throughout this whole series. And I just so appreciate people saying, "I want to take my hurt, my pain, and use it for God's glory. I've worked through this. I am working through this, and I want to help others in that." So thank you to all those that shared and were vulnerable.
How many know this series has really hit home? As I traveled around and I'm out in the community, and I'm eating and people come up to me, I'm at a restaurant, and they are like, "This series is really, really good."
And I go, "Great."
And they are like, "I mean the other ones are good, too, but this one is really
good."
And I know what they mean. They are saying this one is really hitting home because we all need forgiveness. We all realize that. We all need forgiveness. We desire to be forgiven. That's just one hand; I need it, I desire it. And then I know what they mean as well, like, God is working on me because I need to give forgiveness, and I might not be that excited about giving it, but I need to realize that I need to do it.
Instead of being so happy to receive it and so closed to giving it, I think God in this series is saying, let's do this, let's do this, "Let's be willing to receive it and let's be
willing to give it." And so I love what God is doing in this series. I've realized this, that as I've lived my life and as I've studied in this series that the phrase "I deserve forgiveness," it doesn't make sense. It is like an oxymoron to say it is deserved forgiveness. Okay?
Forgiveness is a gift. Forgiveness is a gift. We don't deserve it. And it is a beautiful thing when it is given and when we receive it. So I just love what God is doing in it. I want to continue to build on that.
Of course, last week we talked about forgiving ourselves and we looked at the mosaic behind me. And I want again have the tech team pull out, take that into view of the mosaic, the face of Jesus. And each of those cards that is on that picture, each of those cards is representative of somebody that said I want to forgive somebody. I want to forgive somebody. I want to write their name down. Even some wrote the story. Others attached things to it and said I forgive this person.
And we talked about it last week that the top four things -- all these were received from all of our campuses, over two thousand of them -- and they said the top four things were forgiving mom, forgiving dad, forgiving my family and forgiving myself. So we talked about that fourth one. We talked about forgiving ourself last week. And I think that kind of drove the point home that, hey, when God's forgiven you, you need to realize you're forgiven and stop reminding him of it. You've got to. You're good. You don't have to keep
asking. It's all good. And we dealt with that.
And now today we are going to deal with those first three. And let's call it this, those closest to us. We are going to talk about forgiving those people that are closest to us. And it's interesting, because it's the people that are closest to us, how many know it's the ones that are closest to you that can hurt you the most. The people that are far away from you that you never met, they don't affect you at all.
I mean, I think about it, just illustrating this, the country of Peru, I've never been to Peru. I've got nothing against Peru. I don't know the people there. I have no
rivalries with Peru. We're all good. They are so far away. I don't know, but how many know Canada we got issues? I'm still bitter about hockey and curling from the Olympics, because these are our neighbor, right? How many know? And I'm not bitter about curling; that was totally a joke. Just bitter about hockey, all right?
But how many know when people are close to you, you notice what they are doing. They are close enough to hurt you. They are close enough to rub you the wrong way. And those people that are distant, they are way out there and we don't have to worry about them. So these are the people that are close to us that hurt us. And it seems like so many of the things that are up there, let's expand it; mom, dad, family, but it was also neighbors, friends. And there were a lot of people that were close to you that really hurt you. That's what we want to deal with.
I've had to forgive people that are close to me. I know I've shared it before about forgiving my old neighbors in a subdivision division we lived in. And some of you are like, "Yeah, that must be a hurt." No, it is a good illustration. And it just drives home the fact that I had to forgive them.
I wanted to split a one-acre piece of land that we owned into two half-acre lots.
I needed a variance, so I needed my neighbors to say yes. They showed up at the city
council, all my neighbors, and they were all opposed to me. And they are like, "We are not letting you do this. We are not giving you the variance." I was so angry with them. I can remember thinking of so many devious things to do. I mean, I was a youth pastor. I'm like, "I'm going to sic the youth group on you." You know, like all these thoughts were there.
And I was like, "God, get them!"
And he's like, "No, no, that's not the way we are going to operate. You need to forgive them. There is a bigger plan here."
And I was like, "Oh." And I had to forgive them.
And we drove through that neighborhood not that long ago, and it didn't bother me. I was, like, "I love these people. Blessings on them. Whatever you want, Lord, take care of them."
It is people that are closest to you. With my family, I have had some knock-down drag-'em-outs with my family. I remember one time in church I was getting
ready to do communion and serve communion, and God said, "You can't take communion today. You are too bitter at your family." And he's like, "You have to go and reconcile with them. You cannot partake of communion. You are bitter with them, and you know you need to do this. You need to take care of that, and before you ever take communion again, go solve this with your family. So I'm up here administering communion to the church, and I'm saying, "I will not be taking communion. I will administer it, but I have to go and ask forgiveness and get this solved with my family."
The people closest, hurting. My friends. I've had some doozies with friends and bosses. I've worked for some pastors and had some issues and some things, and I don't even want to tell you what they were. But I can tell you, yes, even working in the church I had some pastors that I had to forgive and ask for forgiveness and had some issues that lasted for years. I'm just telling you, it's the closest people to you, the ones that
are right there next to you that you have to learn to forgive. That's why we are going to deal with that today. Because here's the deal. They are close enough to us that we care about them, but they are close enough to us that we collide with them. Does that make sense?
They are close enough that we care and they are in our life, but they are the ones we collide with the most because they are so close to us.
That's why you hear that saying where they say that the most accidents happen within 25 miles of your home. How many know you've heard that? Most car accidents happen within 25 miles. Esurance had an article about this. And it makes sense because it's the frequency of travel. You're within 25 miles of your home on all the trips, because you're starting there and going out and coming back. So it is a coming and going. And it's just a closeness that's there, but it is also a familiarity. You get familiar with that corner, with that turn, you get familiar with that street, with that speed limit. You get familiar with those things, and so your guard goes down.
And some of us with our family, some of us with our friends, some of us with our neighbors, we are close, and they are so close and all of a sudden we get familiar and we start piling up offenses, and we have these issues that are there. Man, you got to realize just because they are close, don't harbor bitterness. They are close and they are going to collide with you. They may be the only person, but you're going to collide with them. That's just the way life works.
I'll never forget when Connor called me, and he said, "Hey, Dad, I got into a car accident. And Connor is our oldest son. And how many know when your kid gets a driver's license, you're like, oh, Lord, prayer and fasting. How many know that, right? So we are praying.
I said, "Well, how bad is it?"
He said, "Well, I'm in this parking lot."
I thought, "Okay, it can't be that bad, it's a parking lot." Right? You know, so the speed is lower.
He said, "This other guy and I ran into each other. You need to come and take care of this."
And so we get there. It's only Connor and this other car in this giant parking lot. I'm like, "Were you the only two here?"
"Yes."
I said, "There were no other cars or pedestrians or children on bicycles you had to swerve to miss?"
"No, just the two of us." "Okay, how did it happen?"
He goes, "Well, I thought he was going to stop. He didn't think I'd go. And I went and he didn't stop, and we were close enough to collide."
And I thought, "Isn't that just like life?" I mean, there is no one else to collide with, but you're going to collide with your family member you're close enough to collide with. That's just the way life is. So we've got to forgive those people. We've got to learn they are close enough to care, close enough to collide with, and we've got to be good forgivers.
I'll never forget -- I know you can relate to this, because I've counseled so many people in the church. I've talked with so many people. They are like, "I have to forgive, I have to forgive," and it is usually deep hurt with people that are very close to you.
I remember one day this guy came up to me and he said, "I'm so glad that I gave my life to Jesus at this church." He said, "A friend invited me, and you said I could be forgiven, and I grabbed hold of God's forgiveness, and it was so good." And he goes, "I'm so glad that happened because I was a bitter, angry person."
I said, "Ah, we are so glad you were forgiven."
He said, "I hated my ex-wife." And he said, "I hated her with a passion. I wanted to destroy her."
And I said, "Yeah, those things can get ugly. We are glad you're forgiven." He said, "No, I really wanted to destroy her."
I'm like, "Now we are really glad you're forgiven."
He said, "I know God changed me, because he convicted me and said, 'You were a jerk in the divorce. And in the divorce you fought for things that weren't yours.' He goes, 'Box them up and bring them back to her. They belong to her.'"
So he boxed them up and brought them to the doorstep. She thought, "What
is going on?"
He said, "Hey, I've given my life to Jesus. This stuff is yours. I fought you. I wanted this just to hurt you. This stuff is really yours. Take it. I'm sorry."
I'm sure she's thinking, "Am I getting punked here?"
How many know, forgiveness is so good you might think you're getting punked. Man, forgiveness is amazing. So I know, I know that you have situations, I know you have stories, and I wouldn't embarrass you, but it is very, very real. So if I could title this message I would call it Forgiving the Close Ones. Forgiving the Close Ones. And I think this as we look at God's Word today -- I want to read some scriptures -- I can feel a bonus sermon coming on right now. I can just feel it. I won't do it today, we'll do it up ahead. Maybe part way through the year we will do Forgiveness Round Two or Amnesty Round Two, because I just feel this so strong. It is something that's driving home, and I don't think we've covered it enough.
So let's look at God's Word. These scriptures will be on the screen. They will be there for you to read along. We will just look at some of these scriptures on forgiveness that we've been looking at in this whole series.
In Matthew, chapter 6, verse 12, it says, "And forgive us our debts -- " this is in the Lord's prayer. Jesus is teaching his disciples how to pray. And he says, "And forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors." He's saying, "God forgive us, and as you forgive us, we will forgive those other people. God, let's make sure we are doing it up and we're doing it out." This is something we should live by.
In Luke 17, Jesus is talking to his disciples, and he said, So watch yourselves. "If your brother or sister sins against you, rebuke them; and if they repent, forgive them.
Even if they sin against you seven times in a day and seven times come back to you saying, 'I repent,' you must forgive them."
So Jesus is saying this. And then, "The apostles said to the Lord, 'Increase
our faith!'"
Isn't that amazing? He didn't say, "Here's how you cast out demons," and they are like, "Give us more faith."
He's like, "Here's how you forgive your brother."
"I need more faith for that one. I need more faith. Lord, we need more faith, if we've got to do this, if we've got to forgive enemies." Because they lived in eye for an eye,
a tooth for a tooth. They knew those were the rules.
And now Jesus is saying, "God wants you to forgive people."
They are like, "We need more of God." And that's correct. We need more of God if we are going to be forgivers.
Matthew 18, similar story. "Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, 'Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?' Jesus answered, 'I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.'" As a matter of fact, some say seventy times seven.
And the whole point is it is unlimited. It is unlimited. It's as much as they
need, as much as they ask, it's unlimited. Don't keep score. You can't hit the number. It's an amazing thing about forgiveness.
Ephesians, chapter 4, the Apostle Paul is writing to the church at Ephesus, and he said, "Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you."
He's like, "You've got to forgive each other just as Christ in God, he forgave you, you need to forgive each other."
It must have been something that all in the church had to deal with, because then in Colossians, chapter 3, he's writing to another church. He repeats the same thing in verse 12. He says, "Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity."
Paul is telling these people how to live as Christians and he's giving them all these things that are man to man. He's saying, hey, here's how you're going to have to live. You're going to have to put on kindness, gentleness. You have to do these. If you're going to do this, you have to have lots of love and you've got to forgive one another. He doesn't say forgive another. He says forgive one another. What does he mean by that? He's saying this forgiveness is going like this (indicating back and forth) all the time. They may need it today; you will probably need it tomorrow. How many know that? It's just the way life works. You're not the one that never offends anyone. And he is saying forgive each other. Let's do this. Let's go from me to you, us to them, them to us, back and forth, all of this, we are all in this together. Let's be people that forgive one another.
Now, we are in a large church, and I'll tell you large families, large churches give you great opportunity to forgive lots of people. How many know that? Gives you great opportunity to forgive lots of people. Now there is great benefits of being a part of a large family or a large church and there is great opportunities, but there is also great ability to be hurt. There is a great ability to be hurt. There is just a lot of people here. You could be hurt in so many ways.
Even when we added our last campus at Eagan -- we just added a new campus. And they said we would be better together, so they joined us, became our sixth campus in Minnesota. I said, "We've got to give each other lots of forgiveness. You're joining a large church. There's going to be a lot of things that are being done that we may not understand. There is going to be things with multisite and we multiply the problems, but we multiply our effectiveness. And we've got to give lots of grace, lots of mercy, lots of forgiveness so this thing can work." That's the way it is. The bigger it is, the more you got to give. So we do this, we give out forgiveness.
And some of you say, "Well, I don't think I can do it. I don't think I can do it." In your own strength, I don't think you can. I don't think you can. I don't think we are good enough in our own strength. In our own strength we like to keep score. In our own strength we like to retaliate. In our own strength we like to just say we are going to get back. We want to do those things.
But here is what happens. God gives you the strength to be a forgiver. That's what happens. God gives you the strength to be a forgiver, and it's an amazing thing. "In his strength..." that's why the Bible says "...I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." That's why the disciples said, "Give us the faith to do this, give us the ability to do this," because in and of ourselves we can't do that.
And that's what causes Christianity to stand out. That's why it's so amazing,
because Christianity says, "I'll forgive those people that have hurt me, I'm not going to keep escalating the hurt." It's an amazing thing.
So you might be thinking, "But they did a lot. It was really bad. It was really, really bad." Okay, I understand that. I understand that people do bad things. Horrible, bad things. And I want to tell you this, even if they've done something that is illegal, a felony or something, they may have to face the consequences for that in the legal system. There is nothing wrong with that. But you need to be a forgiver of them. You need to be a forgiver. People say, "Well, it is really bad." I can tell you this, no matter what you did -- no matter what they did to you, you've done worse. You've done worse.
You are like, "How did I do worse?"
Let me illustrate this. I've got some people that are going to help me out with a ladder, and they are going to bring it out here. I just need this for my illustration here. I just want to illustrate how much this passage means when Paul says, "Just as God forgave you, you need to forgive one another." Now I just want to point this out here.
Now I've got my ladder. Thanks, guys, for bringing it out for me.
I want to just illustrate this. As God has forgiven you -- I just want you to envision this. If God was at the top of the ladder, if God was way up there on the step that says do not step on it, but all guys do -- how many know that step exists? If God was way up there, he's saying, "I've stepped from up there, and I've stepped down to forgive you.
Your offense against me is called sin." Your offense is sin. You have grieved God. You've done so evil against him, and he's like, "I came down from the highest of heaven, and I came down to forgive you." He says, "If I can do that, you can forgive people of what they've done against you."
Because compared to what we've done against God, our stand that we come down off of is a speck of dust. Think about it. God is like, "You sinned. You did evil.
You've got evil thoughts. You've done all this against me, and you ask for forgiveness. You were my enemies, and I forgave you. Before you even were thinking about it, I prepared the way for you to be forgiven." And God is like, "I gave you grace." And he's like, "I stepped down from there to give you forgiveness." Your distance between you and your friend is a speck of dust, between you and your brother is a speck of dust.
I'll illustrate. I've been there when families have fought at a funeral, at a funeral, and they are fighting because they are racing to grandma's house to grab that afghan because that belongs to them. And they get done with that, and they grab the afghan, and the other person is mad, and they are peeling out, and "I hate them!" And they never talk to each other. Like, just crochet another one, okay? That is a speck of dust.
That is a speck.
I've watched people get angry over their neighbor. They hate their neighbor. They're like, "Their dog pooped in my yard. I hate them." That is a speck of dust. In three months it dries up, it's gone. And you're like, "I hate them. I never want to talk to them again. I'm going to drive my car through their lawn." All these thoughts are going on.
People hate each other.
You're like, "But he did this to me." "They ripped down my reputation." "I lost
$10,000." "I lost this." "They did that. It was wrong."
It's a speck of dust compared to what we get from God. And if he can come down from there, you can come down off your speck of dust. Man, it's amazing. Say as God forgave you, you should forgive them. I mean, our offenses were sending us to hell, and mostly of what people do against us isn't even a misdemeanor. You're like, "I'm not forgiving them ever, ever, ever!" Don't live that way! Don't live that way!
That's why the parable of the talents, when Pastor Darin preached that week about forgiveness, the parable of the talents, the ten thousand bags of gold to be forgiven
and the guy that had a hundred talents or a hundred coins that needed to be forgiven, the point was this guy had a debt he could never pay back and yet the king forgave him. This guy had a debt that could be forgiven. The person could give you the afghan. The person could get a pooper scooper. The person could do that, okay? This (indicating) could be fixed. This (indicating) could never be fixed. And God is like, "I forgave you of what could never be fixed if I didn't give you grace and forgiveness. Please forgive the people that just have these small offenses against you. Puts it into perspective. Man, it's an amazing thing.
My advice, if you are harboring bitterness and unforgiveness is this advice: (Singing) Let it go. Let it go.
That's it. Man, revenge is small, forgiveness is great. Revenge is small, forgiveness is great. Be great.
Speaking of revenge. A lot of us try to forgive with revenge in mind. Okay, here's how it happens. You hear a message about forgiveness, you hear "I've got to forgive those people closest to me and those people that have hurt me." And you're just thinking, "There is no way, no way." And here is what usually goes through people's mind when you find out the Bible tells you you're supposed to be a forgiver. You think, "Wait a minute.
God, if I forgive them, no one will remind you of all the bad things they did." And you become like a prosecuting attorney, and you're like, "God, I want you to be sure you know what they did against me, and I can't forgive them because if I do that, no one will be pleading the case and complaining before you that they violated me and did these things and all these bad things." It's almost like you hear this, and you hear like you've got to forgive, and you're like, "Seriously? I feel like I'm a victim all over again. I'm victim all over again because I have to forgive them? You've got to be kidding me!"
But then something happens. And you're like, "Forgiveness, and God will take care of me." You're, "Wait a minute, what? "
And you realize Romans 19 talks about, "Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord."
And you're like, "Oh, wait, so you're going to go after them? You're not going to let them off the hook?" And here's what happens. You're like, "I forgive them. Get 'em, God!" How many know that? You didn't really forgive them; you just hired a hit man.
That's what you're thinking, right? "Get 'em, God! Do something good. Plank them or something." You know that's what you're thinking, right?
That's wrong, too. You haven't forgive them. You're moving closer, but you haven't forgiven them.
Then you get to the point where you're like, "Okay, forgive them. Out of my life. However you want to deal with it, God, just they're yours. I forgive them. Good. Just keep them away from me."
All right, you're getting better, but you are not still not where God wants you.
God wants you, according to Matthew 5, to pray for your enemies and to bless them. You're supposed to get to a level where in forgiveness you forgive the person. You're like, "God, I won't hold it against them anymore. I'm going to be generous. I'm going to get off my speck of dust." Again, maybe it was horrible, and maybe they had to go to jail. There can be just restoration and people can reform by paying for those crimes against society.
We understand that. But you say, "God, I forgive that person. I forgive them, and I'm letting it go. As a matter of fact, God, I pray blessing on them. I pray a blessing on them.
Because from this speck of dust, I know what I needed, and I pray blessing."
It's hard. It is only God can give you the strength to do that. But you have to do that. You have to give that unforgiveness, or both of you will be held prisoner. You'll both be held captive. You've got to give second chances as a follower of Jesus Christ or you can't move forward.
Both of our kids have gotten in accidents. You know, so I'll represent Logan's
accident now, too, so we're fair. And we don't talk about their accidents other than when I need a sermon illustration, so. But Logan got in his first car accident, and I'm saying this to illustrate how I didn't want to be a prisoner. He got in his first car accident. And, you know, he came home. He had smashed his car. He was crying.
I said, "You know, you could have died."
He's like, "I know. I'm sorry. Please forgive me."
I said, "I forgive you. I forgive you. Drive safe. We love you. Now fix your car. You have to fix it." He went out to the junkyard. He has a blue hood on a white car, but he fixed it.
Now here's the thing, I had to give him a second chance as a parent to drive again. Catch this. I had to give him a second chance to drive again because I don't want to be a prisoner to his schedule. Okay? If I don't give him a second chance, I'm like, "No!
One accident. Dad's going to driving you everywhere!" How many know I'm a bigger prisoner than he is? He gets a chauffeur out of the deal; I lose my schedule. Okay, I lose my freedom. Okay?
So I'm saying we got to give second chances. We got to give second chances to people. And if you don't, you are a prisoner to that. You're going to drag them everywhere. You're going to be in worship, and God is going to want to talk to you, and you're dragging them around. You're going to want to be happy in your family and something is just going to be said, and it is just going to rub you the wrong way, and you're going to be a prisoner then. You're going to bring them into your family. And God is saying "Let it go. Let it go." Don't be a prisoner. Give them the second chance and let them go.
Last thing I'll say about this. I think we should thank God for the people in our lives that we get to forgive. That we get to forgive. You're like, "I don't like that thought." Yeah, you do. You know why? Because when you get to forgive someone, you're most like
Jesus. Okay? God has so much for us, and he wants you to be more like Jesus. And so when you have somebody that has offended you or hurt you or violated you and you're able to forgive them, you are like Jesus, and you go to another level.
I can remember one day I had somebody that I needed to forgive. And I thought that I handled it really well, and I kind of trapped them a little bit. And God is like, "Really good job there, you were like a lawyer today."
And I was like, "I know. I'm working on my speaking skills. Thank you, Lord.
That's good."
He's like, "How would you like to be like me instead?" And I was like, "This is going to hurt. All right."
And he said, "I don't need you to be a leader like that. I need you to be a leader like me. And a leader like me would offer forgiveness and pray for blessing on them even though they hurt you.
And I was like, "Wow. All right. All right. I want to be more like you, Jesus."
And I thank God for the people in my life that pull me up that are further along in Christ, and I follow them as they follow Christ. I love those people.
But I thank God for the people in my life that rub me the wrong way, that chip off the rough edges, that irritate me. I know that seems weird, but I thank God for the people that irritate me and hurt me, because in giving forgiveness I become more like Jesus, and, guess what, a little more Rob falls off and a little more Jesus shows up. And so thank God for the people that you get to forgive. Thank God for that. Say, "God, thank you for the opportunity to look more like you, because you forgive the worst people. You came from way high to forgive us. God, I can get off my speck of dust and forgive others."
So, God, I pray right now that you'd help us to be forgivers, to be forgivers. To realize that it is a great opportunity to forgive people. Right now I'm sure there are people
that popped into our mind that we need to forgive, and I pray, God, that we would forgive them. It's an opportunity to forgive them and be like you. And so, God, help us to forgive them.
We thank you, God, that the worst of the worst can be forgiven by you. You stepped down from heaven. Sent your Son to pay the price so the worst of the worst could be forgiven, and, God, we thank you for that. If you can come from heaven to earth, we can get off our speck of dust and give forgiveness. So thank you for that.
Help us to forgive the people that come to mind that hurt that are so close. I pray that moms and dads will be reconciled. I pray that fathers and sons will be reconciled. I pray that mothers and children will be reconciled. I pray that neighbors and bosses and friends and former pastors and other people that are there that we've had offense against we can forgive and forgive and forgive. We've been forgiven of so much, God. Help us to be people that are forgivers.
In Jesus' name I pray. Amen, amen.
