Walking In Forgiveness | Peter Louis

[00:00:00] Foreign. [00:00:07] I'm excited to share the word with you this morning. If you have your Bible, go to John chapter 20. [00:00:14] I love that we sang of the resurrection of Jesus. [00:00:18] I think every time we go to church, we need to be reminded that Jesus is alive. It's easy. First Corinthians 15, Paul's writing to the church and the church was living as though Jesus was not really alive. [00:00:31] And it's possible as Christians, if you've been going to church your whole life or for some amount of time, it's possible to come and attend gatherings and prayer meetings and forget that the man that we're singing to is alive. [00:00:43] He's not like your grandpa that passed away that you just will see one day. He is alive right now, today, and he's in our midst. [00:00:52] And it, and it requires, like Roman said, it requires the Holy Spirit to become aware of that. [00:00:58] Because many of us, day in and day out, if we're not taught to walk in the Spirit, we end up living according to the flesh by how we feel what we see. And we're just like, okay, it doesn't seem like, I don't know if God is here. But with the eyes of our heart, we can see and experience the resurrected man in our midst. [00:01:14] And so in John 20, we'll start in verse 19. This is after Jesus has risen from the dead and he's going to appear to his disciples. Look at this. John 20, verse 19. [00:01:27] On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and he stood among them and he said to them, peace be with you. [00:01:41] When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. [00:01:45] Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. See, this is one of the signs. When you see the Lord, he makes you glad. [00:01:53] You can't be grumpy and see the Lord. [00:01:59] It's the whole point of worship is just to get your eyes off of you and on the Lord. If you got through that whole hour and you're still grumpy, you're still looking at you, that first hour wasn't for you. [00:02:12] It wasn't the warm up for the Word. [00:02:15] That first hour was for Jesus to see him, to adore him, to give him what is due to his name, which is praise, honor and glory. [00:02:24] They were glad when they saw the Lord. And Jesus said to them again, peace be with you. [00:02:33] Now listen to this. He says, as the Father has sent me, even so am I sending you. [00:02:46] Verse 22. [00:02:48] And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, receive the Holy Spirit. [00:03:00] This is weird. [00:03:05] Jesus walks through wall shut doors and he says, peace be to you. Look at my hands, look at my side. [00:03:14] Peace be to you. [00:03:16] Then the Bible says, as the Father, he said, as the Father sends me, so am I sending you. And then the Bible says, he breathes on them. [00:03:25] This is weird. [00:03:27] Come on. If, if the chosen did a series on this episode, you would see Jesus with his disciples and he would do this at some point. [00:03:39] That's weird. [00:03:42] That's not charismatic. [00:03:44] That's Jesus. [00:03:46] And I believe this is a picture of the disciples being born again. [00:03:50] It's a picture of the garden when God took Adam and he formed him and he breathed into his nostrils and he became a life giving man. [00:03:59] And Adam goes and he breathes and he sees God. This is their moment. And he goes, and then Jesus says, after he breathes, he says, receive the Holy Spirit. [00:04:11] Now let me ask you, did the disciples receive the Holy Spirit in this moment? [00:04:17] Yes or no? [00:04:19] There's like six yeses from the front row. [00:04:22] If the risen son of God looks at you and goes, receive the Holy Spirit, do you think that they could not receive the Holy Spirit? [00:04:33] Come on, he just took the keys to death in Hades back. He's resurrected. He's, he's, he's about to be glorified. And he walks in and he goes, guys, as dad sent me, so am I sending you. [00:04:46] First order of business, you cannot go without this. [00:04:53] You can do nothing without Jesus. Is this, oh, we need the breath of God again. [00:05:05] Some of you just need Jesus to get all up in your grill and just receive. Yeah, that's right. See, you're glad when you see the Lord. [00:05:16] I'm serious. You don't care when Jesus comes and gets into your space after he washes you with his own blood and he gets into your grill and says, receive the Holy Spirit and I'm sending you. Now listen, Christianity and ministry gets complicated. And I think John 20 really simplifies it. Here we get so complicated and sophisticated with our strategies. And I want to submit to you that this thing is really simple. [00:05:44] Really simple. He said, as dad sent me, so am I sending you. He breathes and he says, receive the Holy Spirit. The. Now listen to the very first instructions that he gives the disciples after becoming temples of God. This is important. Did you know in this moment when he breathed on them, they became living temples? [00:06:04] The temple used to be a localized place that Israel would go to. That would. That was where God's presence was on the earth. [00:06:13] But in this moment, they now became temples of God, dwelling places of God by the Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit came inside of them and sealed them. They had not yet been baptized, but they had been sealed. [00:06:26] It's really important. [00:06:28] And so they become temples. And he says this. He goes, hey, guys, now that God's inside of you, anyone who sins, you forgive. [00:06:37] They'll be forgiven. [00:06:39] But anyone who sins you withhold because God's in there will be withheld. [00:06:50] That's uncomfortable. We like the first part of that verse. We don't like the second part. [00:06:58] See, we like. I think. I think in the church, we like all the benefits that happen to us because of the Holy Spirit. But I think sometimes we get uncomfortable with understanding the authority that we now have in God because of the Holy Spirit. [00:07:12] Receiving the Holy Spirit, becoming a child of God, means that you now have a mission and an assignment and delegated authority from your head that now we need to be responsible for. [00:07:24] And if you don't understand the weight of what you've become in God, you will. If you don't know your responsibility, this is. This is husbands and wives. If you don't understand. If a husband doesn't understand his role in the family, the family's chaos. [00:07:37] It's the same in the church. If we don't understand our role, the world will be chaos. [00:07:44] And I believe this is. This is maybe the most simple way to distill the Christian life, is to release forgiveness by the power of the Holy Spirit. [00:07:54] This is our assignment. [00:07:57] Jesus whole life culminated on the cross. And he said, before anyone repented, I'm going to show you this Biblically, before anyone repented, while they were crucifying him, he's on the cross. No one had said, I'm sorry to God. [00:08:12] No one had repented. No one had showed any sign of repentance. And yet God reveals kindness, glory, and love. Says, dad, forgive them. [00:08:24] They don't know what they're doing. [00:08:28] Jesus now is our example. He said, as. As dad sent me. So I'm sending you in the same way that I forgave before people repented. I'm asking you to become those same messengers of reconciliation ambassadors for me, not counting men's trespasses against them. So good. [00:08:49] You guys got super quiet. [00:08:52] It's good because you're contemplating what that means for you. [00:08:57] I was always troubled by Matthew 11:11. [00:09:00] It's a scripture where Jesus is talking about John the Baptist and he says, you know, of. Of those born of a woman, there's been no one greater than John. [00:09:10] No one but the least in the kingdom of heaven. [00:09:15] The least one in the kingdom is greater than John. [00:09:20] And that always bothered me. And I always ask God, I said, God, on what grounds, by what measure is the least in the kingdom better than better than John? Because John turned a whole nation to you, and he said, on the grounds of forgiveness. [00:09:37] See, forgiveness of sins existed prior to Jesus. [00:09:44] Hello. [00:09:45] In the tabernacle, there was provision for forgiveness of sins. [00:09:50] You had to kill bulls and goats and turtle doves. And there was a measure of forgiveness that was God ordained that the priests would. Would function in. And so the temple. Watch this. The temple become. Became the place through which forgiveness was mediated for the people of God. [00:10:08] Oh, you got to get this. [00:10:11] So the temple became the place, the day of atonement. There would all be all these sacrifices, and the people would have this sense of, God forgives me. Because everything that took place in this temple in the presence of God, there's authority in forgiveness. Come on. If there's no authority, there's no forgiveness. [00:10:28] You know, if you sin against someone and it's really bad and someone else who's not related goes, oh, you're fine. You're forgiven. You don't feel forgiven, because the reality authority lies with the person that you sinned against. [00:10:43] And so that's what was so profound about the temple, is that when God revealed forgiveness through the temple, the people knew, we're good. [00:10:52] We're good. The Levites did their job. We brought the. We brought the bull, we brought the goat. We did the law. [00:10:58] We feel good for a little bit. But every year, there was a reminder of sins. [00:11:04] And then all of a sudden, after 400 years of silence, this hairy, wild man bursts onto the scene. [00:11:12] This is heaven's marketing campaign for Jesus. I would have loved to have been there on the whiteboard strategy session. Hey, Father, what are we gonna do to kind of market for Jesus? And he's like hairy man in the wilderness. Locusts and wild honey. That's my strategy. [00:11:27] That's an interesting strategy. Lord. [00:11:31] And so John comes preaching. Now watch this. The Bible says that he was baptizing people for the forgiveness of sins. [00:11:43] What. What community was he in? [00:11:47] He was among the Jews. What was the only way you could be forgiven to a Jew? [00:11:54] With blood. [00:11:57] And yet John comes and he's just dunking folks in a river. No blood going, you're forgiven. [00:12:08] This is a revelation. [00:12:13] He's. People are. Actually. Now, listen, this is what I think. A lot of us don't understand. He wasn't getting them born again. [00:12:20] He was scrubbing their heart and mind from the defilement of sin so they could see Jesus. [00:12:26] This is what forgiveness is about. Forgiveness is about scrubbing by the Holy Spirit, someone's heart and mind so they can actually see and come to Jesus. [00:12:39] And so John comes and the revelation is, now you can be forgiven with water. There's no blood, there's no bulls, there's no goats. Wow. What a man. Of those born of a woman, there's no one been like him. [00:12:52] But now in the kingdom, The place in which forgiveness is mediated in the earth is the temple. [00:13:05] And now it's not by blood and by water, it's by the Spirit. But all three agree. [00:13:15] Receive the Holy Spirit. [00:13:17] And now you and I, the very least in the kingdom, if you're brand new, born again, watch this. You have the power and the authority by the Spirit to release forgiveness. And when you do, I want to tell you something. There is a supernatural grace deposited. You start to apply the work of Calvary as a priest, as a minister. [00:13:40] Like I'm not in full time ministry. You don't have to be. You apply when you forgive. [00:13:45] When you forgive, you actually position that person before they repent, before they say, I'm sorry. You have the power as an offensive weapon in the kingdom to say, I forgive you. [00:14:01] And when you do, God says, I hear you. I see you. And all of a sudden, the efficacy of his blood starts to wash them. Does it mean they're born again? Can you do this with lost people? Yes. It doesn't mean they're born again. It means you position them now to hear the gospel, soft heart into actually come to God to be born again. [00:14:22] Do you. Do we understand this? [00:14:25] Jesus modeled it. And then if you look in Acts, chapter seven, you see Stephen is being stoned to death. [00:14:34] Stephen is being stoned to death. He preaches the most amazing sermon. If you want to like the Cliffs Notes of the Old Testament, read Acts 7 in the Sermon that Stephen preached. It's beautiful. [00:14:45] He's preaching this sermon and he. He gets stoned to death. [00:14:50] And Stephen does. Stephen is a man now. I think sometimes we stumble over Jesus. We're like, well, Jesus forgave, but that's Jesus. [00:14:59] Now I want to present to you, Stephen was a waiter at Applebee's. [00:15:05] And then God got him. [00:15:08] He was a waiter at. Do y' all have Applebee's up here? Okay, Like, we do, but we just. We don't. [00:15:20] No offense. If you love Applebee's, Look at it. Let's look at it. Because I don't. You guys are looking at me. I want you to see this. [00:15:40] Acts, chapter 7, verse 54. Now, when they heard these things, they were enraged and they ground their teeth at him. [00:15:48] But he, full of the. [00:15:53] Gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing. [00:16:17] Jesus is standing. How many of you know biblically, he's seated, but here he looks, and Jesus has gotten out of his seat. [00:16:26] One of his sons who's about to embody his perfect example. [00:16:31] He's applauding him because Christ was formed in him. [00:16:41] Can you imagine? [00:16:43] Some of you go, I don't want to die. I want to die like that. [00:16:48] If it means that he's standing and I've become who he said I would become, is there any greater joy than that? [00:16:58] Is there any greater commendation than Jesus getting up out of his throne of grace and applauding you as you enter the kingdom of heaven? [00:17:12] Come on. This is what we're living for. [00:17:15] This is. This is what success looks like for you. [00:17:18] You can build all you want on here, but I'm telling you, deep calls to deep the Holy Spirit inside of you. Your heart's beating. Oh, yeah, I'm actually made for that. I want him. It doesn't matter if I get stoned or I just want to finish my race. Well, But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together at him. Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him. [00:17:44] The witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. [00:17:50] And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, lord Jesus, receive my spirit. [00:18:00] And falling to his knees, he cried out with a loud voice, lord, do not hold this sin against him. [00:18:10] They had not repented. Guys, was that prayer just a nice platitude, or did it do something? [00:18:24] I'm going to pause here for a second before I get to the punchline of this. In Acts, chapter five, you see the inverse of this, I believe, with Ananias and Sapphira. [00:18:36] It's confused a lot of people. You say, why. Why would. What. What happened there? [00:18:41] What happened? [00:18:45] Ananias and Sapphira lie to the church, and they sold a portion of their property, and they bringed. They brought a measure of it, and they intentionally hid how much it was sold for. And they said, hey, here we go. And what they were doing was they were presenting themselves as if they were. They were among the people. And I. I don't. [00:19:06] Ananias and Sapphira were Saved or not, I don't know. [00:19:10] Doesn't feel like they were. Feel like they were like. Wanted to be in the family, but were kind of faking it till they made. Made it and they didn't make it. [00:19:20] And Peter, as the apostle, we say, you know, well, there was so much glory there. And yeah, there was so much glory there. There was so much glory in the church. [00:19:29] But Peter looks at him and. And I think in a lot of senses, as the apostolic leader, he withheld forgiveness over both Ananias and Sapphira, and they died like he withheld. God honored the withholding. You say, well, I don't think he should have withheld. Maybe he shouldn't have. But he did. [00:19:55] He did. And they died. [00:19:57] And they experience the consequence of their sin. Why? Because the wage of sin is death. [00:20:03] So we love that. We love the positive testimony. But what happens to people in our lives that we withhold forgiveness towards and yet they suffer under the consequences of their sins because no one has priested for them and said, hey, let me. Look at me, I forgive you. [00:20:21] You're telling me Peter, who denied Christ, couldn't find it within himself after three hours. And Sapphira comes and he goes, hey, tell me. [00:20:33] I think Peter was offended. [00:20:35] I think. I think he was like, this isn't okay. And I think God used it. I think God used that, that moment to produce the fear of the Lord among all the people. There was a. There was a real, like, reverence and awe of like, hey, don't play with this thing. This is the temple of God. We're the church of the living God, a pillar and foundation of the truth. Don't come in here with compromise and cheating and lying and pretending. [00:21:00] And God used that. [00:21:01] But there's a real example of him withholding forgiveness. And there was consequences. [00:21:07] How many people in our life, spouses, family members, are living under the consequences of sins because we're unwilling to forgive? [00:21:17] And you think it's about you. [00:21:20] You think it's about your pain and your. What you're feeling. [00:21:24] And God says, I've given you a priestly duty. [00:21:29] Don't be a people of my presence and not release forgiveness on the earth. [00:21:35] And so Stephen forgives. [00:21:39] He says, lord, do not hold this sin against them. [00:21:43] Now, I don't. [00:21:44] You can infer all you want, but in the ensuing chapters, Saul was there. Saul was breeding out, breathing out, murderous threats against the church. And he was supervising the stoning of Stephen. [00:21:58] He was. He was like modern day Isis, like he was just killing Christians. [00:22:06] And I Believe that when Stephen declared, lord, do not hold this against him, he was positioning Saul to become Paul. [00:22:22] Had Stephen said, lord, I don't forgive them, would Saul have remained blind to the gospel? [00:22:35] We'll never know, because he did release forgiveness. [00:22:39] And we do see what happened to Saul. [00:22:41] We do see that in that moment when Stephen released forgiveness, that moment didn't necessarily cause Saul to be born again. But what happened, I think it set a catalytic momentum and destiny upon Saul's life. [00:22:55] Hey, dad. [00:22:57] Hey, dad. I'm releasing Saul from murdering me. [00:23:04] And God says, deal. [00:23:08] Hey, son, go grab that one. [00:23:13] We might need that one. [00:23:16] We can use that one. [00:23:29] There's a responsibility we have. [00:23:31] This is Second Corinthians, chapter five. [00:23:35] See, we love Second Corinthians chapter five, verse 17, because it says, therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he's a new creation. The old has passed away, the new has come. And we love that verse for us. [00:23:46] I love that verse for me. Lord, I'm a new creation. Thank you, God. And we say it in first person, but biblically, did you know that 2nd Corinthians 5:17 is not about you, is about your neighbor? [00:23:59] He's trying to teach you how to see your neighbor. [00:24:04] He's saying, we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, but we do. We do so thus no longer. [00:24:10] And he's teaching you in the. In the body of believers. He's saying, therefore, if anyone's in Christ, we don't regard them according to the flesh, what they do to me. We regard them according to the Spirit, who they really are in God. [00:24:27] I'm not trying to step on anyone's toes, but I want to speak to us and say, I believe there is a. [00:24:35] There's an invitation from God that we mature as the body of Christ. [00:24:39] We need to mature. [00:24:41] It is good. It is good to have Jesus at the center. It is good to have his presence in our midst. But at some point, we have to mature and grow and understand who we are as his kids and represent him well on the earth. And if there's unforgiveness, if you are. Are not walking in forgiveness, not just forgiveness. I think sometimes we talk about forgiveness as if it's like it is. It's about all about you. [00:25:06] Like, yeah, but I was really hurt. [00:25:08] That's like, level 101. [00:25:11] I'm talking about a place in God where we get so free of people sinning against us that we actually understand and live in light of this, how are we. How are we still holding grudges in light of the cross, how you were. While you were a sinner, while you were rejecting God, while you were saying, while you were doing all the things to God, he said, I forgive you. I love you. [00:25:41] You couldn't see. You were blind. You were without God and without hope in the world. Strangers to the covenant of promise, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel. You were cut off without God and without hope in this world. And God said, I love you. I'm bringing you back. [00:25:59] How many of you are thankful for that now? See, some of you, I don't think you've. I don't think you've actually living under the weight of that. [00:26:08] I think you're still trying to get forgiven. [00:26:14] I may do two altar calls. [00:26:17] I'm serious. I think some of you need to receive that today. [00:26:22] Like, you're not living like there's no. There's no getting back with God. There's receiving forgiveness and getting face to face with him, or there's striving and you're miserable and you're doing all the right spiritual things, but you never quite feel clean. [00:26:39] The good news today is that by the authority of Jesus Christ of Nazareth and he forgives you. This is the good news. [00:26:47] There's no. You don't have to climb out of the hole. [00:26:51] You can't make up for it. You can never get. You can never do enough to feel right, get right. Come on, be honest with me. Let's walk in the light in church. How many of you, you live most times and you don't feel like you're doing enough for God and you don't quite feel right. Just be honest with me. Okay, look. Yeah, this is honest. This is like, I want to be honest. This is like, I'm really honest. Okay, look around. Every. Every head spinning. Look around. Yes. So you're in good company. But listen, if this is true, you are going to be exacting and judgmental because you're going to expect other people to do what you're doing to try to get into the presence of God and feel right with God. [00:27:31] And you're going to be critical and you're going to hold grudges and you're going to live in Proverbs 18:19 that says an offended man is more unyielding than a fortified city, and disputes are like the barred gates of a castle. [00:27:46] You're going to be like Jericho, all walled up. [00:27:55] And so if that's you, I want to just invite you. I felt faith there's going to be another. [00:28:01] Another call. But if. If you really Are like, man, I. I don't know that I've actually really, like, I've been born again, I've been saved, but I'm not. I'm not living under the forgiveness of God. Listen, forgiveness is just that. It's a gift. He forgives you. [00:28:18] I don't think. I still feel like we've humanized and carnalized forgiveness. It's like. It's like, prove it. There's no prove it. [00:28:28] It's so free. It's so. It makes for true biblical Christian forgiveness. It. It makes the world. It makes everyone uncomfortable. [00:28:36] We don't feel like it's. It's like, no, that can't be right. [00:28:40] It is right. [00:28:43] It is the most right. [00:28:46] The blood of Abel says you have to pay for that. But the sprinkled blood of Jesus says you're free. [00:28:56] If that's you, if you're like, man, I need. I need to receive the fountain that sprinkled blood. I want you to just come up here. [00:29:03] Yeah, Just come on. Yeah. Thank you, brother. Just come. [00:29:07] You're just going to receive. You're going to stay here. Just present yourself. You can get on your knees, you can sit, however, whatever. You're comfortable. [00:29:13] We're not done yet. But you're going to just receive from the Lord. [00:29:22] Yeah. Come, Come, Lord. [00:29:26] And you really don't have to do anything. This is you. You coming forward is just you confessing to the Lord. Lord, I want you to wash me today. [00:29:34] Get comfortable however you can. [00:29:49] Now, I know very well that I'm not Jesus, but I want you guys just to look at me. Those of you coming real quick, I want you to look at me. And then you can look at the Lord. [00:29:57] I just want to see your faces for a second. It's really important because I. I believe God exercises his will through people. And I'm just a vessel. I'm a vessel today. I'm just a guy from Dallas. I'm a family guy, married, five kids. [00:30:12] Amen. [00:30:13] I want to see you. I want to look at your faces. [00:30:16] And I really believe. John 20:21. [00:30:19] I believe that. And I believe there's a. There's an assignment of grace, that I can be a messenger. I can actually be the. Like, how do I really know that? I know that. I know. [00:30:31] And he said. He said, anyone who sins, you forgive will be forgiven. You're anyone to me. [00:30:38] Did you know that? [00:30:39] You. You fit within anyone. [00:30:42] And I want to speak to you. I want to look to your. Your face. I want to look to you. If you didn't know and not. Not by my own authority or not by my own ideas. I want to speak to you in the name of and by the authority of the blood of Jesus Christ of Nazareth that was shed for you. I want to speak to you, and I want to tell you to your face. [00:31:06] Look at me, brother. Yeah, the shaka. Yeah. Your sins are forgiven. [00:31:12] Your sins are forgiven. [00:31:18] Before you get really serious and before you really, like, have to, like, figure out how to receive it, I want to just say to you, they're forgiven. [00:31:29] He forgives you. [00:31:32] Not because I said it, but because 2,000 years ago, he shed his blood. [00:31:38] And that it. It is in this way. I think it is in this way where we look at each other and we say, hey, you're forgiven. [00:31:45] This is the good news of great joy for all people. You're forgiven. [00:31:49] You kneeling doesn't forgive you. You proving repentance doesn't forgive you. You're forgiven. [00:31:54] And by the Holy Spirit, as you just present yourself and receive that good news, guess what's going to happen? [00:32:01] You're gonna. You're gonna actually live in that. [00:32:04] You're gonna live, and you're gonna feel as if God is not. Not frowning at you, but that his, the countenance, his face is shining upon you. [00:32:15] And so all I'm asking you to do look at me. If you came. All I'm asking you to do is to lift your head to heaven. [00:32:23] To lift your head. [00:32:25] And I want to just say to you, may the Lord bless you. [00:32:29] May he keep you, and may he cause his face. [00:32:34] His face to shine. I think his. I think a shining face is a smile. [00:32:39] I really do. I think a shining face. The Aaronic blessing. I think the shining faces. We were like, may the Lord bless you. [00:32:46] We make it so religious. I think a shine. He's like. He goes, hey, guys, I just want to bless you that. That God's smiling, that you would live under his smile. [00:32:55] That the clouds of gloom, of depression and shame and guilt would just part the clouds, and that you would live under the smile of your dad. All I'm asking you is just to look up, to look up and to see his smile. [00:33:14] He loves you guys so much. [00:33:26] Church. Would you just. You don't have to do anything, but would you just extend your faith right now to these right here? [00:33:34] Would you just really, like, this is. We are the body of Christ. If one suffers, all suffer. If one rejoice, we all rejoice. [00:33:42] We're believing that the clouds are parting. [00:33:48] Some of these clouds have Been so heavy on these guys. I want you to just. Just get outside of yourself for a moment. The clouds have been so heavy on some of these ones. They have been tormented. There is physical sickness, physical disease, suicide, depression. And right now, I believe the Holy Spirit is delivering you right now. [00:34:07] I release the kingdom of heaven over you. Yes. [00:34:11] I'm telling you, receive it. Do not. Do not come up to this front. And don't think that God, the resurrected Jesus, the Son of glory, would not just completely transform you and give you everything that you need today through his smile. [00:34:29] Spirit of adoption, come. [00:34:34] Just extend your faith. Sam? [00:35:02] Yeah. If you're sitting down, I want you to practice this word that you've been hearing tonight. Right now. This is an activation. You can actually release with your mouth. Say, lord, I release the forgiveness over them. [00:35:12] Start to exercise your spiritual authority. Just be like, wow, Lord, I don't even know what they're going through, but I'm interceding right now. God, whatever's happened, whatever's taken place in their life, God, we just. We, as the body of Christ, we surround them and we say, let the blood flow. [00:35:28] Let the blood flow. You're not alone. We see you. [00:35:32] We see you. We need you free. [00:35:35] We need you whole. [00:36:07] You guys that are up front, just stay in this place. Continue to receive. [00:36:14] We're going to end this way with everyone else. [00:36:17] Psalm 77. [00:36:25] Asaph is remembering how God saved Israel through the sea. [00:36:32] In verse 18 or 16, it says this. It says, when the waters saw you, O God, when the waters saw you, they were afraid indeed. The deep trembled, the clouds poured out water, and the skies gave forth thunder. Your arrows flashed on every side. The crash of your thunder was in the whirlwind. [00:37:01] Your lightnings lighted up the world. The earth trembled and shook. [00:37:10] Look at this, verse 19. Your way, God's way was through the sea, your path through the great waters. [00:37:25] Yet your footprints were unseen. [00:37:31] You led your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron. [00:37:37] And I was reading that this morning, and the Lord reminded me that biblically, that waters represent judgment. [00:37:47] Waters are a picture when. When. When God's water came over Egypt, he was judging them, and he was liberating his people. [00:37:58] When John the Baptist baptized them in water, he was judging them forgiven. [00:38:05] See, water represents judgment. And I felt like for some of you not understanding the authority you have in the Spirit, you've allowed this deep, deep water to exist between you and people in your life, and it seems impassable. [00:38:25] It seems like there's just a chasm between you and these people, just like. Like water. It's like, man, I can't get to them. [00:38:32] There's too much water. People say it's water under the bridge, but this is now water over the bridge. [00:38:38] This is water that's between us. This is judgment. These are judgments that you've made about people that's created this. This water and turmoil. [00:38:49] And no one's ever told you that God's way is through the sea, that there is a path. You thought, then there's no path. [00:38:58] There's no way to get to them again. [00:39:03] And I really felt like the Lord wanted to give you faith today. [00:39:07] It's not to say you're going to be best friends with everyone. I'm not speaking of the. The relational end. I'm speaking of a spiritual reality that God wants in your life. [00:39:17] He wants you to be free. [00:39:20] He wants you to understand your authority as a son, as a daughter of God. [00:39:29] So I'm going to ask you if that's you. If you've got relationships where there's been judgment and you've been withholding forgiveness, I'm going to ask you to do something really bold today. [00:39:42] Not because you feel like it, not because your flesh goes, oh, this is going to feel nice, but because you have an example in the cross that we. That we have. Every week we see this cross, we're reminded of it. [00:39:55] And there's an opportunity today to walk in the truth of it and to say, just like Jesus, Father, forgive them. [00:40:03] They didn't know what they're doing. [00:40:07] And if that's you, I want to ask you that you would just stand and that you. By standing, what you're saying is, I'm going to. [00:40:16] I'm going to the best I know how. I'm going to release forgiveness based on this. John 20:21, where I didn't realize I had the authority to forgive, and I made forgiveness all about me. This is those of you saying, I'm willing to go on offense. [00:40:31] I'm willing to go on the offense and to go, you know what? Instead of being offended, I'm going to stand in intercession and stand in the gap. [00:40:44] And I really believe that, as some of you do, there's going to be a release, not just over the person that you forgave, but even in your own life. [00:41:07] Lord, we stand today as your sons and daughters, and we don't want to be happy recipients of your grace. [00:41:22] And yet we're stingy when it comes to extending it. [00:41:27] We repent of that. Today. [00:41:31] We Repent of our judgments, Lord. [00:41:37] We repent of being judge and Lord, over our brother, over our sister, over our mom, over our dad. [00:41:47] Lord, we really are grateful that you breathed upon us and that you made us your own and that you filled us with the Holy Spirit. [00:41:56] We thank you that you've forgiven us of our sins, that we don't have to pay for them. You're not asking us to climb out of some hole, Lord, that today we stand right before you because of you, Jesus. [00:42:11] And so, Lord, the best we know how, from our heart, with our lips, we ask that you would forgive these ones. [00:42:20] I'm going to ask you to put it on your lips. And I'm going to ask you to say, father, I release this person. Person. Put their name on your lips. Begin to pray for them. [00:42:32] Just extend forgiveness. You got to do it out loud. [00:42:35] You believe. The Bible says, I believe, therefore I spoke. Not I believe, therefore I thought about it. [00:42:42] Speak out. If you're believing this, speak it out. [00:42:49] It's okay to be bold, too, Lord. Let faith rise. [00:42:55] Your words matter. Picture your words right now flowing like a river washing that, that, that person, that mother, that father, that brother, that sister, that co worker, that boss. Picture your words like a river washing them right now. [00:43:11] Come on. You're more powerful than you know, says the Lord. [00:43:15] You are my son and my daughter. I break off that victim spirit. [00:43:24] You're not a victim, says the Lord. [00:43:27] You're mighty in God. [00:43:35] Come on, a few more minutes. [00:43:47] It may not sound like it, but there's a mighty river rushing out of this place right now. [00:43:53] He who has ears, let him hear. [00:43:57] There's a river flowing from the temple right now. [00:44:01] It's ankle deep, but it's. [00:44:04] It is flowing. [00:44:06] Come on, Church. [00:44:08] If you don't know what to pray, you can pray in the spirit. [00:44:18] In fact, do just begin to pray in the spirit. Softly, all over the room. [00:44:30] Come on, Church. Just eyes on Jesus. He's having your way. [00:44:35] We thank you, Lord. [00:44:41] This is what he promised. Kingdom of heaven is at hand. [00:44:47] Yeah, just come on. Eyes on Jesus. [00:44:53] Release the kingdom right now. [00:44:57] Every lying, tormenting and unclean spirit, we just say, go right now. [00:45:05] Come on. Some of you have been in bondage long enough. It's the. The. If the intercession isn't flowing, if the forgiveness isn't flowing, you. You might be bound up. There might be an unclean spirit just keeping you as a victim. And at some point, you're gonna have to, in faith, rise up and go, wait a minute. I'm a son of God. I'm a daughter of God. I'm not gonna live under the shadow of what's happened to me all these years. Lord, I release the them. [00:45:33] Thank you for joining King Movement online. I pray and hope that that sermon impacted you deeply. I would love if you shared this with a few friends and family. And before you go, don't forget to subscribe. See you next week.