April 6, 2025 • 46 mins
"Why do you seek the living among the dead?" This question from the angels at Jesus' empty tomb challenges everything we assume about death, life, and how forgiveness operates. When confronted with the resurrection, we must reconsider our understanding of reconciliation and forgiveness.
Our natural instinct when wronged is to establish boundaries and limits. Peter approached Jesus with this very mindset, asking, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?" He sought permission to draw a line in the sand. Jesus responded by transforming the question entirely, shifting from a limit to a lifestyle of forgiveness.
The story becomes deeply personal when we consider Peter's own failure. After boldly declaring his loyalty, Peter denied Jesus three times beside a charcoal fire. Yet after resurrection, Jesus intentionally prepared another charcoal fire on the shore, creating the perfect setting for reconciliation. Before Peter even swam the hundred yards to reach him, Jesus had already set the stage for healing.
This message outlines five practical ways to know if we've truly forgiven someone: Have we released their debt? Do we entrust justice to God rather than seeking vengeance? Do we wish them good rather than harm? Are we actively pursuing reconciliation? And most importantly, are we viewing them through the lens of what Christ has done for us rather than what they've done against us?
Forgiveness isn't primarily about feelings but choices. Like the women who couldn't properly honor Jesus' body before the Sabbath but discovered he was already risen, we often feel our efforts at forgiveness are inadequate. Yet Jesus works in the unseen while we wait. He prepares the shore, starts the fire, and waits for us to simply come to him.
If you want to learn more about the MidTree story or connect with us, go to our website HERE or text us at 812-MID-TREE.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
Please turn in your Bibles to Luke 24, 1-12, which
is on page 884 in Pew Bibles,and follow along as I read God's
Word.
But on the first day of theweek, at early dawn, they went
to the tomb taking the spicesthey prepared, and they found
(00:26):
the stone rolled away from thetomb.
But when they went in they didnot find the body of the Lord
Jesus.
While they were perplexed aboutthis, behold two men stood by
them in dazzling apparel and asthey were frightened and bowed
their faces to the ground, themen said to them why do you seek
the living among the dead?
He is not here but has risen.
Why do you seek the livingamong the dead?
He is not here but has risen.
(00:46):
Remember how I told you, whilehe was still in Galilee, that
the Son of man must be deliveredinto the hands of sinful men
and be crucified and on thethird day rise.
And they remembered his wordsand, returning from the tomb,
they told all these things tothe eleven and to all the rest.
Now it was Mary Magdalene andJoanna and Mother Mary of James
and the other woman with themwho told these things to the
apostles.
But these words seemed to theman idle tale.
(01:09):
They did not believe them.
But Peter rose and ran to thetomb, stooping and looking in.
He saw the linen cloths bythemselves and he went home
marveling at what had happened.
And as they were frightened andbowed their faces to the ground
, the men said to them why doyou seek the living among the
dead?
Speaker 2 (01:30):
This is the word of the Lord.
Thank you so much, maddie.
Larry, I got to say I love thefact you handed the microphone
off to your daughter to read thescripture.
What a cool.
I love it when families areable to get together and do
ministry and whatnot together.
All right, let me give you areal quick heads up.
I want to do some very quickhousekeeping type things and
then we will dive inHousekeeping.
(01:51):
Number one is we let me see ifshe's here.
I don't see her.
I don't do this very oftenbecause there are enough of us
here to where we can't do itevery Sunday, but today is
Carrie's 40th birthday.
She has snuck out.
She can't hear you.
Keep it all in for now.
Carrie not only sings on stagebut has been the church
(02:13):
administrator for a long periodof time.
Please love on her.
Oh, by the way, it's her 40thtoo, so it's kind of like big
deal day.
So if you see her, give her ahigh five or an awkward side
Christian hug.
Whatever is your flavor ofaffection.
Wanted you to know that.
Number two people on the wings.
We are trying to love youbetter and I just want you to
know that we have moved thesemicrophones back so that I'm not
(02:36):
staring at you throughmicrophones.
We had people raise.
I asked does it bother them?
Last service and there was aresounding yes.
It drives us crazy.
So we see you and we love you.
People who always pick the sidefor whatever reason, even when
you get here early.
I'll never understand you, butI love you.
All right.
Last little piece ofhousekeeping.
We got Easter coming up in acouple of weeks and we're doing
(03:00):
things differently than we havedone in the past and I want to
make sure you're in the loop onthat.
One thing that we're doing iswe have a Good Friday service.
We've never had a Good Fridayservice before.
Please invite anyone andeveryone to it.
It will be at the church onFriday, obviously, and we do
have childcare, but it's justfor the youngins four years old
and under.
(03:20):
And then on Easter Sunday,there are three different
services.
There's a sunrise service thatstarts at 645.
I think sunrise is at like 709or something, so we'll literally
watch the sun come up as wecelebrate the resurrection.
So sunrise service will be downin the field.
That one is family style.
So if you have kids, bring somepuffs, some goldfish, veggie
(03:42):
straws, whatever it is that youneed so that you can enjoy the
resurrection as well, and thenwe'll have our regular nine
o'clock and 11 o'clock service,please.
Easter continues to be a timethat our culture still leans in
on, and so invite your friends,invite your neighbors, invite
your family, so that they maycome and hear the good news of
(04:03):
Jesus Christ.
All right, so with that, goahead, grab your Bibles, and
we're going to do somethingmaybe a little bit differently
than we usually do.
Typically, I preachexpositionally, which means we
kind of go verse by verse,chapter by chapter, through a
book in the Bible.
I haven't told anybody this, Ididn't tell First Service, I
don't know why.
It slipped my mind.
(04:23):
In case you're curious, we'regonna finish the book of Luke on
Easter.
Obviously, resurrection, that'swhere Luke finishes his book,
so we will finish with him aswell.
Then we're going to.
I'm real curious how people aregoing to feel who come to church
for the first time on Easter,because we are then, the next
week, going to begin a littlebook called the Song of Songs,
(04:46):
which is the most romantic andawkward book of the Bible to
read.
It's also, when I was a kid,what I would turn to if I got
bored because it was fascinating.
So we'll be doing Song of Songs, also known as Song of Solomon,
and then we have Joshua, thebook of Joshua from the Old
Testament, coming as well.
The reason today is going to bea little bit different than
(05:09):
usual is because of whathappened last week.
Last week I had more peoplewant to talk and pray than any
week that I can remember, and itwas a week when we had fewer
people than we usually dobecause of spring break.
Tons of response, fewer peoplethan normal, and I looked at
(05:34):
that and sort of in ashepherding sense.
We were talking aboutforgiveness and the forgiveness
that Christ offers, the factthat we ought to be a forgiving
people, and I just wanna tellyou what happened.
I had somebody come up to meand say Will, there's a person
that I hate and I don't know howor if I even should forgive
them.
Even after listening to this, Ihad a child come up to me and
(05:58):
say there was an adult that isnot my parent.
They were about 10 years oldand they did something in my
life and I don't think I'veforgiven them.
And, if I'm honest, I'm alittle nervous because I've read
that if we don't forgive others, god will not forgive us, and
I'm a little concerned about mysoul if I'm actually saved
because of this.
I had somebody come up when arelationship ended and they said
(06:22):
I just know it just fell fromtheir mouth.
I'm never going to talk to thisperson again.
And I had to encourage them letthe Bible use always and nevers
, but, as a Christian, be verycautious too, because God may
call you to something that rightnow you can't feasibly see.
And then, my favorite, oh,somebody came up to me and
needed to ask me for forgiveness.
I didn't forgive him, don'tworry about it.
(06:44):
And then I was like you pickeda good Sunday and then I had
somebody who was sitting in thecongregation when I started
telling a story.
One of the questions that I hadus wrestle with last week is is
there somebody that you forgivethem but you're holding at
arm's length?
And this person said the momentyou said that somebody came to
(07:07):
mind from 20 years previous,somebody who mistreated me, did
something wrong, and I have heldthem at arm's length for the
past two decades.
I continued to preach and whenI told a story about my high
school life, I called thatperson out by name while they
were wrestling with it, and sothey were like, oh my gosh, like
(07:27):
okay.
So here's what I want to becareful of.
I think pastors and dads aremaybe the two people who do this
sort of poorly.
They assume, hey, I've saidsomething once, so now you all
know it and you're going tooperate off of it.
Right?
And that's not usually how lifegoes.
I'm not going to preach thesame sermon I preached last week
(07:53):
.
I did not need more time toprep for Easter, nor Thailand.
What I want to do is answer thequestion that almost every one
of those people asked after lastweek.
I know I'm called to forgive.
You have made the biblical case.
Forgiveness is something thatGod expects of me.
How do I know if I've done itor not?
Is what I've done enough or isit not enough?
(08:14):
How can I possibly know if Ihave forgiven someone?
And so this morning I want toteach you that I tend to be a
preacher by default.
I go into preaching mode evenwhen I'm not up here.
I get preachy when I'm teachingsomebody how to cast a fishing
pole.
(08:34):
I get preachy when I talk aboutthe meaning of different movies
.
I can't turn that thing off.
But if preaching is.
I want you to feel theimportance of this thing.
This morning is going to be moreteaching.
I need you to feel theimportance of this thing.
This morning is going to bemore teaching.
I need you to know something.
I want you to know how you canpossibly know that you have
forgiven someone.
So let me pray and then we'lldive in.
(08:55):
Father, a simple and a quickprayer here.
Would you give us the abilityto forgive people who are hard
to forgive?
Would you help us remember theforgiveness that, for those of
us who are in Christ, wasoffered to us when we had sinned
against you in limitless ways,because of your unlimited value
and glory?
And, father, for those of uswho are going to wrestle with
(09:17):
what reconciliation looks like,that seems to be the one that is
most difficult for us would you, even now, begin to show us
what a path towardsreconciliation with those who
have wronged us looks like?
And I pray all of this inChrist's name, amen.
All of the people that I talkedto last week almost every one of
their questions when it came tohow can I know if I forgave
(09:38):
someone centered on this when isthe line and have I measured up
to it.
Some of them wanted to forgive,some of them wanted to want to
forgive and some of them justwanted to do enough so that they
would know that they were okaywith God on this side of
eternity.
But we're not the only ones whoever had a question like this.
(09:59):
Peter did too.
Oh sorry, that's not what Imeant to go to.
Peter did too.
Oh sorry, that's not what Imeant to go to there.
Okay, peter had a very similarquestion.
Peter came up and said to JesusLord, how often, how many times?
Where is the line and where isthe limit when it comes to
forgiveness?
How often will my brother sinagainst me and I still forgive
them?
As many as seven times.
(10:22):
And Jesus said to him I do notsay to you seven times, by the
way, in Hebrew sort of worldview, that is a number of
completeness.
So it could be Peter sayinglike this is a pretty big number
, it's a pretty complete number.
Seven times certainly would beenough, right, jesus?
And Jesus said I don't say toyou seven times, but 77 times.
Is Jesus drawing the line inthe sand?
(10:43):
And your husband has left hissocks out and you're on 72, and
you just know five more baby.
I'm going to get there thisweek, I know it, and then I'm
going to be done with this.
I don't think so.
I don't think that's what'shappening.
When we see Peter say seventimes, there's probably
something going on in his mind.
(11:03):
Let me show you what I thinkthat may have been.
When we look at Amos and when welook at Job, we do see
forgiveness in a numericalmetric.
Thus says the Lord for threetransgressions of Israel and for
four, I will not revoke thepunishment.
They sell the righteous forsilver and the needy for a pair
of sandals.
They are so selfish and greedythat they mistreat other people.
(11:27):
They've done this three times,even four.
I am not going to forgive themwithout discipline coming in.
Might it be that Peter looks atthis and he says if I tell
Jesus seven, this is twice whatwe see here.
If you want to see this in thepositive, you can go to the book
of Job.
He, being God, has redeemed mysoul from going down to the pit
(11:49):
and my life shall look upon thelight.
Behold, god does all thesethings.
What things.
He redeems our souls twice,three times, with a man to bring
back his soul from the pit thathe may be lighted with the
light of life.
Might it be that Peter, knowingthese realities from Old
(12:10):
Testament prophets in the storyof Job, looks at Jesus and says
certainly Jesus, seven times isenough.
If somebody sins against me,seven times, isn't that enough?
I mean, god, if three or fouris going to cause discipline to
be needed.
If Job looks and he says Godhas been so gracious to see me
sin and sin again and even sinagain and still bring redemption
(12:32):
, certainly seven is enough.
Now I do not have time, itdoesn't allow me to teach you
one of my favorite stories onforgiveness, but I bring up this
passage in Matthew 18 for someof you to write this down, if
forgiveness is something youknow that you struggle with, for
you to go back to and read.
This is why I left verse 23 upthere.
Jesus hears Peter's questionand he gives him a story.
(12:55):
Therefore, the kingdom ofheaven may be compared to a king
who wished to settle accountswith his servants, and then he
tells the parable of theunforgiving servant.
I would encourage you to lookat that in your own devotional
time.
For now, what I think isimportant for us to see is that,
when it came to forgiveness.
Peter wanted a limit.
Jesus wanted a lifestyle.
By the way, we have communiontoday.
(13:16):
As we get ready to come to thetable, I'm going to show you a
story of Jesus living out thislifestyle of forgiveness and I
don't want you to miss it.
And I'm so afraid I'm gonnashow you a story of Jesus living
out this lifestyle offorgiveness and I don't want you
to miss it.
And I'm so afraid I'm gonnaforget to say it because it is
not in my notes to remind you ofWatch how ready Jesus is to
reconcile with people who havetreated him so poorly.
(13:36):
Watch how Jesus sets the tableand shows up first to make steps
toward those who have sinnedagainst him egregiously.
Keep this in mind.
Peter wants to know where theline is and Jesus points to a
lifestyle.
Peter would eventually get tothe place where he recognized
(14:02):
that this limit was not going towork, but he didn't get there
until he sinned against Jesus ina way that was absolutely
atrocious.
And here is what that lookedlike.
This is on the night when Jesuswas betrayed, he has prayed in
the garden of Gethsemane.
He has prayed that God wouldstrengthen him, and an angel was
(14:23):
sent to do so.
He knows he is headed to thecross, but he's not there yet.
And he has already looked atPeter and he has said you're
going to betray me.
Peter said no man, I'll go toprison, I will go to die for you
.
And then this happens.
Peter said man, I do not knowwhat you are talking about.
(14:44):
Hey, do you know Jesus?
I have no clue what you aretalking about.
And immediately, while he wasstill speaking, the rooster
crowed and the Lord turned andlooked at Peter.
And Peter remembered the sayingof the Lord how he had said to
him before the rooster crowstoday you will deny me three
times.
And Peter went out and weptbitterly.
Let me get your eyes for just aminute.
(15:04):
Jesus has done something inthis scene that is hard for you
to see if you're just doing acursory reading of the text.
A lot of times our memories aremade.
When something big or heavyhappens, we can agree.
All right.
Something huge and wonderfulhappens, it makes a memory.
(15:28):
Something very difficult anddark happens, it makes a memory.
But there are also memoriesthat you have simply because of
a sound or a smell.
How many of you right now canhear the bell ringing between
classes?
If you try to Dude.
It was the best sound in theworld.
It was also the worst if youwere like hustling down the hall
(15:51):
to make it before you gotcentral detention for being
tardy that fifth time orwhatever it was.
I can hear that metallic, madein 1972 bell that had been on
the wall of that concretehallway forever.
How many of you can hear thesound that your mom or dad made
when they called you as a child?
(16:12):
Did any of y'all have thisgrowing up?
Oh gosh, it gets under my skin.
Is my mom in here?
She left and went to a meeting.
She would do this and itdropped like to this day.
I remember making fun of kidswhose parents would walk out of
the door and blow a whistlewhile we were playing football
at a dude's house and that waswhat called them home.
(16:33):
We got called home by streetlights when the light came on.
How many of you can do thiswith a smell?
How many of you guys can smellsomething that was like rubbery
or plastic from when you wereeight years old and you go all
the way back to being that old?
I want you to know that what ishappening here, this sound of
the rooster crowing, issomething Peter would not be
able to shake for the rest ofhis life, even when Jesus
(16:58):
reconciles him in his sin.
This is, in Wilhawk's opinion,the closest thing to the limit
of forgiveness you will find inScripture.
And let me explain to you why.
Peter's saying I don't evenknow who Jesus is, I think is
(17:18):
the apex of sin that you willsee in scripture.
And you may say, well, no,there's adultery all throughout
scripture.
There's murder, and I guaranteeyou that's worse than me being
like I don't know who my wife is, I don't even want to be with
that person.
There are worse things I can do, and I would say you're correct
.
There are worse things that youcan do, but one of the
(17:39):
realities of sin is that our sinincreases based on the value
upon the one that we sin.
Let me prove this to you.
When I was about nine years old,I was practicing baseball in
the backyard.
Somebody here just got a newbaseball bat and I saw them at
Academy.
I was outside practicingbaseball, next to our house.
(18:00):
Does anybody want to guess whatthe next part of the story is?
Fire away, swing the bat, tinksoff, goes into the window, and
I know in that moment I am dead.
I know that's it.
I'm eight years old.
Windows probably cost $8,000for all I know.
Whatever it is, it's aninsurmountable amount for my
little allowance to deal withand I know it's game over for me
(18:24):
.
What happens?
Mom and dad see it.
They forgive me, I don't pay apenny for it and everything is
fine, all right.
Now I want you to imagine Ihave a baseball in my hand.
I walk into a church withstained glass windows, one of
which depicting Jesus, and Iwalk in and I throw the baseball
(18:44):
through the window.
Is one of those things worsethan the other?
Is one worse than the other?
And you can immediately beginin your mind building out why it
is worse.
What is one reason?
Walking into the church andthrowing the baseball is worse?
All right, I did it on purpose,all right, that's one.
One was an accident.
(19:05):
One of the other things that Iheard is can we agree stained
glass is more valuable thanregular glass?
Yes, there is something aboutthe value of what is broken that
makes it worse.
Can we agree?
The fact that it depictedChrist takes it to a different
level?
Yes, the reality of it is whenit comes to our sin, and we will
look at our sin.
As the value of the offendedincreases, the gravity of our
(19:29):
sin grows.
So could Peter have donesomething worse like murder?
Yes, but he could never sinagainst anyone more valuable
than Christ.
Could the one who had made thepromise to never betray him have
done something worse than turnhis face from the one who is
going to die for him?
(19:49):
If you walk up and you hit me,there are going to be
repercussions.
If you walk up and hit a cop,there are going to be bigger
repercussions.
If you walk up and hit apolitician, there are going to
be bigger.
And if you walk up and punch aking or a president, they're
going to be bigger.
Why?
Because they are more human?
No, but because, as the valueof the offended grows, the
gravity of our sin does as well.
(20:11):
And the very person who askedJesus what's the limit on
forgiveness gets as close as hepossibly can to it.
And I want you to watch whatJesus does.
I would tell you in a momentlike this, peter no longer wants
forgiveness to have a limit.
He doesn't want that.
What he wants is this lifestyleof forgiveness which, by the
(20:33):
way, is exactly what Jesus givesthem.
Now it's important that youknow.
The story that I'm about toread to you comes after Jesus
has resurrected.
He has died on the cross.
Death has been swallowed up invictory.
Its victory is gone.
Its sting is gone.
Here Jesus is new body, newlife, hope being poured out on
(20:54):
all of his followers, and inthis moment, I want you to watch
Jesus push for reconciliation.
Just as day was breaking, jesusstood on the shore, yet the
disciples did not know that itwas Jesus.
Jesus said to them he's callingout children.
Do you have any fish?
They answered no.
He said to them cast the net onthe right side of the boat and
(21:17):
you will find some.
So they cast it, and now theywere not able to haul it in
because of the quantity of fish.
This is my favorite lines ofthe whole thing.
Okay, they've seen this before.
Right, if you're the guys whohave been fishing and you hadn't
caught anything, and someonesays, try the other side of the
(21:39):
boat and you can't pull it in,who's that?
Gonna be Jesus?
Okay, it's gonna be Jesus.
This is my favorite line.
Verse seven the disciple whomJesus loved that's John, being
somewhat humble, because he'sthe guy writing the book at this
point the disciple whom Jesusloved, said to Peter it's the
Lord.
(21:59):
Peter didn't get it.
He was so pumped about all thefish he didn't even get the
message that Jesus was seeing.
He didn't even see theforgiveness that was being doled
out to him.
When Simon Peter heard that itwas the Lord, he put on his
outer garment, for he wasstripped for work.
Now listen, I don't know howhot it was, I don't know how
(22:19):
naked he got, I don't know howclose those guys were to each
other, but Peter was workinghard enough and naked enough
that he knew I can't show up tothe shore like this, it's just
gonna be a bit awkward.
So he puts on clothes to jumpinto the water.
I just want you to appreciatethat moment.
To make it harder to swim, hedidn't run across the top.
(22:41):
Faith wasn't quite there forthis little journey.
So he swims across.
This is the best.
And he threw himself into thesea.
The other disciples came in theboat dragging the net full of
fish.
Remember this story for a fewmoments from now, for they were
not far from the land, but abouta hundred yards off.
(23:01):
Okay, time out.
I appreciate that they aresailors.
I appreciate that they are menwho are comfortable with the sea
.
If you said, hey Will, justreal quick, it's going to be a
short journey.
I'm not thinking a hundredyards, okay, I'm just not.
If I'm about to throw my, howmuch Peter wanted to be near
(23:22):
Jesus.
He looked across a footballfield and jumped in.
Okay, I don't want you to getthe sense that Jesus is right
there.
He's like, hey, I'll see youguys in 30 seconds.
Peter is longing to come near tothe one that he had turned his
back on.
He is longing to be made rightwith the one that he had so
(23:44):
horribly wronged.
He is, in a limitless fashion,pouring himself in to the very
one that he said.
Is there a limit on forgiveness?
It seems like there ought to be, but I want you to notice verse
9.
When they got out on land, theysaw a charcoal fire in place
(24:05):
with fish laid out on it.
I mentioned to you that thereare a number of different ways
that we make memories Highmoments, low moments, sights,
sounds and smells.
Which of those is the strongestin making memories?
For those of you who rememberninth grade science, the
strongest in making memories forthose of you who remember ninth
grade science?
Smell, your olfactory sense.
(24:26):
There's nothing that comparesto it.
I know that a certain smellwill attend every cookout, every
campout, every birthday andevery Christmas Eve I have, and
that is the smell of smoke.
Yes, I really appreciate theenthusiasm.
Who was it?
Yes, take it from a guy maybetwo guys who played with matches
(24:52):
as a kid.
You know the way a match smellswhen you light it.
I just want you to notice verse9.
Why do I want you to noticeverse 9?
When they got on land, they sawa charcoal fire in place with
fish laid out on it and bread.
When's the other time we see acharcoal fire?
(25:12):
The servant girl at the doorsaid to Peter you also are not
one of this man's disciples, areyou?
He said I am not.
Now.
The servants and officers hadmade a charcoal fire because it
was cold.
They were standing and warmingthemselves.
Peter was with them.
The last time Peter stoodbefore a charcoal fire, he
rejected Christ.
(25:34):
And what has Jesus done to setthe table to reconcile with
Peter?
He has lit the matches andstarted the fire to remind Peter
of his sin, that Peter would bereminded of the limitless
forgiveness that Christ offers.
This to me, is no smallcoincidence.
(25:59):
This, to me is intentionalityon the part of the Savior to
have a lifestyle, not a limitwhen it comes to forgiveness.
The other thing that I willpoint to is simply this Jesus
asks them if they have any fish,and by the time they get there,
(26:23):
he already has it.
Hey guys, y'all got any fish?
No, try the other side, holymoly.
Peter jumps in, they startpaddling probably took him a
while with all of this fish andby the time they arrive, jesus
already has what he was askingthem for.
By the way, this is going to bethe case for those of you in
this room who are believers thatstruggle to forgive someone.
(26:45):
Christ already has what he isasking you for.
He's got it.
The question is are you willingto give it?
When it comes to forgiveness,we want a limit, but Jesus wants
a lifestyle.
I told you I was gonna teach,so this is how we are going to
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spend the rest of our little bitof time left together Five ways
to know if you have forgivensomeone.
If you ever want these notes bythe way, you can take pictures
if you want I'll be happy toscreenshot them and share them
with you.
If you're a note taker, great.
If you're not.
To me, this is what I calltoolkit Christianity.
This is the kind of stuff thatneeds to live on a note in your
phone, in your back pocket,scribbled down somewhere.
(27:26):
So when you want to answer thequestion how can I know if I've
forgiven someone, you have abiblically literate response.
Question number one have Ireleased their debt?
Five ways to know if you haveforgiven someone.
Number one have I forgiventheir debt?
Colossians puts it this way youwho are dead in your trespasses
(27:47):
and the uncircumcision of yourflesh.
God made a life.
You are dead.
He gave you life.
You are never going to have toforgive somebody the way that
God has forgiven you.
You are dead.
He gives you life.
You ran toward death.
He runs toward life.
You ran from him, he runs toyou.
And how does Colossians put this?
By the way, this is calledjustification.
(28:08):
God made us alive together withhim, having forgiven us all our
trespasses, by canceling therecord of debt that stood
against us With its legaldemands.
This he set aside.
Does it mean it is gone?
No, does it mean it doesn'tlive in your memory?
No, does it mean you can't feelit anymore?
(28:30):
No, jesus has taken for thoseof you who are Christians in the
room.
Jesus has taken your sin.
He has pushed it to the side.
To be more accurate, he has putit upon himself and has pushed
it from you to the cross, sothat he, when he looks at you,
no longer sees this anymore.
And the question is when itcomes to your forgiveness of
(28:52):
another, have you pushed it tothe side?
Some of you sit in this roomand if you were to take out your
phone right now and look atyour bank account, you see that
things are not the way they'resupposed to be, because someone
sinned against you To the tuneof thousands of dollars, tens of
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thousands of dollars.
They may have even claimed tobe a Christian.
You probably haven't spoken tothat person in years and you can
still look at where you arefinancially with increasing
levels of frustration and anger.
And my question to you issimply this and simply biblical
have you pushed their debt tothe side or are you still
(29:34):
holding them accountable?
Maybe your disruption is notfinancial, Maybe it's emotional.
Maybe you have never feltnormal since your dad did this.
Maybe you have never felt likeyourself since this person said
that.
Maybe you've never looked inthe mirror the way you used to
look in the mirror because youheard someone say this thing
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Christian, have you pushed it tothe side?
If you're in this room andyou're not sure if you're a
Christian, this is a metric ofit.
If you are unable to do this,it may be because you have not
received forgiveness from God.
By the way, this is also one ofthe realities of Jesus's answer
(30:18):
to the disciples' questions.
Jesus, how are we supposed topray and Lord, forgive them of
their debts, as you haveforgiven us of ours?
Secondly, do I entrust justiceto God?
Am I going to bring about thepunishment that they deserve or
am I entrusting justice to God?
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By the way, this would becalled providential judgment.
This is you saying.
I am trusting God and Hisgoodness, holiness and timing is
going to do what is right andnecessary.
That judgment will not bepushed away forever.
But Christians in the room, letme just read to you what God's
word says to you Beloved, neveravenge yourselves.
(31:03):
When I hear Christians talkabout forgiveness, I hear more
times them saying I could neverforgive them.
For You're not going to findthat in the Bible.
What you are going to find isnever avenge yourselves, leave
it to the wrath of God.
It is written vengeance is mine.
I will repay, says the Lord.
(31:25):
Do I entrust my justice to God?
Maybe they haven't apologized.
Maybe they haven't apologizedfully or properly, maybe they
haven't made an appropriategesture.
The question is simply this canI trust God with judgment or do
I feel like I have to be the onewho brings it?
And can I just tell you what istucked into that?
(31:47):
There's nothing wrong withhaving a sense of right and
wrong and what is just, butthere is something wrong with
the convicted criminal feelinglike they should also be judge
and jury, and there is no one inthis room who ought to be judge
and jury over another person'ssoul.
You can be right and still notbe called to be judge.
Have you trusted God to bringthe right amount of justice at
(32:13):
the right time?
Thirdly, do I wish them harm ordo I wish them good?
Full transparency this is thetough one for Will.
This is the one that is hardfor me.
The reason that it is hard forme is not in maybe the typical
sense.
I think all of us at one pointhad somebody on the bus do
(32:36):
something annoying or horrible.
They throw your homework outthe window and now you're like
no, like bad things shouldhappen to that person.
When they get out, I do hopethat they cross and get hit by a
car and I think, look, we canlaugh at it.
But let me just tell the adultsin the room what's happening.
Kids have a sense of right andwrong and justice, just like you
(32:57):
do.
They just don't clean theirs upon the outside.
They feel the same stuff you do.
You've just figured out how toclean it up on the outside.
You still feel the same stuffon the inside, and it may not be
that you want them to get runover by a truck, but it might be
, and this is where it is true.
For me, it might simply be.
(33:18):
You know, if something badhappened as a result of the sin
that they did, the world wouldknow that God is not okay with
that, or wanting somethingdifficult to enter into their
life so they would realize whatthey had done was wrong.
(33:38):
Can you still seek the good ofthose who have done the opposite
to you?
It's either a limit or it's alifestyle, and what you apply to
the people in your life is whatyou ought to apply to yourself
from God.
You do not want limitedforgiveness from God.
(34:00):
He is the stained glass.
You are the basic window.
You want a lifestyle offorgiveness from God?
Oh, I didn't show you thescripture on that one, apologies
.
Listen to this as though you'venever heard it before, because
there are a lot of people in theroom who have.
But I say to you love yourenemies.
Love your enemies by the way, Ithink that is actually easier
(34:24):
than what Jesus says next andpray for those who persecute you
.
And I'll tell you why.
As a Christian, I can say love,1 Corinthians 17.
Love is patient.
I can do that.
I'll be patient because I'mnever going to talk to him again
.
Love is kind.
I can do that because I'm nevergoing to talk to him again.
It's self-controlled.
That's easy, because I'm nevergoing to talk to them again.
(34:47):
But what happens when we movepast our limited version of love
and we start praying forsomebody?
All of a sudden, it doesn'tlive in tight little confines.
All of a sudden, when you'repraying for your fill in the
blank, you have to be activeabout it.
You have to be seeking theirgood, you have to be praying.
Notice it says pray for them.
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It's not praying for youbecause of them, it's actually
praying for their good, and someof us in the room wonder why it
is that we have tried so manyof the things that are already
up here and we don't feel likewe've fully forgiven someone.
You haven't prayed for them.
You haven't taken the personwho wronged you and taken them
(35:30):
to God as the person who mostwronged God, recognizing that
they too could find forgiveness.
Maybe you don't want them to.
Maybe you, when you see do Iwish them harm or good?
Recognize that you are verymuch like a prophet, but not the
one you want to be aligned with.
Maybe you're an awful lot likeJonah.
(35:51):
Maybe you look at theseNinevites and you say do you
know the history of what theyhave done to me?
Do you know what they have doneto my friends?
Do you know what they have doneto my family?
Do you have any clue, god, whatthey have done?
And I know I know if I offerthem forgiveness, they're going
to gobble it up and live asthough they had never done
anything wrong.
Maybe we need to recognize thatit does not go well for Jonah
(36:15):
at the end and God has to teachhim a lesson.
Jonah, what did you do to havethe life that you now have
Nothing.
I have done this for you.
You need to forgive thosearound you.
Fourthly, am I seekingreconciliation?
Fair warning, this is going tobe the hardest for most of you.
Am I seeking reconciliation?
Fair warning, this is going tobe the hardest for most of you.
Am I seeking reconciliation?
It is also going to be thehardest one to measure, by the
(36:38):
way.
You can now look at the boardand I want you to realize
something.
Have I released their debt?
Do I entrust justice to God?
Am I wishing them harm or good,and am I seeking reconciliation
?
Let me get your eyes for just aminute.
You don't have to feel a thingto do this.
Why is it that people sometimesfeel far from God, even if they
(37:01):
are justified with him and haveasked for the forgiveness of
their sins?
Because if they base theirrelationship with God on
feelings, they are going to gofrom highs to lows, to highs to
lows.
Why is it so often when I meetwith couples that they say I
just don't feel like I love themanymore Because you don't feel
love for them anymore?
Love is not just a feeling, itis an active choice, and
(37:27):
forgiveness is the same If youthink you can only be close to
God when you feel close to him.
You can only love someone whenyou feel love toward them and
you can only forgive someone ifyou feel like forgiving them.
You will not do any of thethree well.
You will not do any of them ina lifestyle type way.
Love is a choice, relationshipis a choice, forgiveness is a
(37:51):
choice.
You don't have to feel a thingto do these four.
You can do all of them devoidof feeling.
I hope your feelings catch up,but it isn't a requirement.
And when it comes toreconciliation, it's going to be
the toughest when it comes tofeeling.
Romans 12 puts it this way Ifit's possible, so far as it
depends on you, puts it this wayif it's possible, so far as it
(38:12):
depends on you.
Live peaceably with all One ofthe follow-ups that I had from
last week.
I was having breakfast withsomebody at Chick-fil-A and
while we're talking about arelationship in which they were
mistreated and abused, they saidI think I've forgiven and I
know I'm never going to talk tothem again.
And I said flag on the fieldtimeout.
(38:32):
You just used a never whereGod's word would not use a never
.
You just said I'm never goingto talk to them again.
Might it be that God has alevel of reconciliation tomorrow
that you can't imagine today?
Yes and absolutely, if it ispossible.
(38:59):
So much as it depends on you.
Live peaceably with all.
Can I tell you I find itnon-surprising and yet
fascinating that Jesus hadalready come 51% of the way to
Peter.
Can I just tell you that I findit beautiful that Jesus is
already on the shore.
He has already made the mealand now he was calling out Peter
(39:20):
.
Do you want to fix this?
Do you know how many stepsJesus had to take towards Peter
when Peter was taking stepstowards them?
Zero, he was already there, asmuch as it depended on Christ,
he had come.
Christians, this is theexpectation of your
reconciliation, and I would alsojust note there is something
(39:43):
special about a meal.
There is something that God hascreated Husbands, if you want
to be closer to your wives.
Vice versa, boyfriends, if youwant to have a cool little trick
in your back pocket to causethem to just think.
I just feel close to this guy.
And I do not know why, when yousit down to have a meal with
your loved ones, parents, as youthink about your kids eat meals
(40:05):
looking at each other.
There is something about eatingfood in the brain that tightens
relationships.
There is something when eatingfood in the brain that tightens
relationships.
There is something when youhave a difficult situation with
someone to do it around the mealrather than under fluorescent
lights on the lifetime plastictable.
I can tell you how the ladder isgoing to go.
We're going to lay it all out.
You did this.
(40:25):
You did this.
There's something that happensin a meal.
By the way, pro tip, guys,don't face televisions and
you'll do better at this if youhappen to be in a restaurant.
I did that this weekend and mywife was like you should tell
guys that that's a good pro tip.
I still glance at thebasketball game twice, in full
honesty.
Finally, I would say this as weget ready to come to the table
(40:48):
of communion.
This is number five and thelast one, by the way.
This is the one from which allof them flow.
This is how you can move from alimit to a lifestyle, because
you'll look at those fourquestions and you're gonna be
prone to check them off the box.
Am I continually viewing them,whoever they are, in light of
what they've done to me or whatChrist has done for me.
(41:11):
Christians, you have thisability.
Unbelievers, if you come toChrist, he will give you this
ability to look into the face ofthe person who has most wronged
you and, instead of seeing them, see the wrong you have
committed to Christ, and whenyou can see their sin next to
your sin, all of a suddensomething begins to change.
(41:32):
All of a sudden you can realizethe lengths that God went to to
draw you near so that you maybe kind to one another, that you
would be tenderhearted, thatyou would forgive one another.
And there could be a period,but there is a comma.
Why?
Because we forgive people asGod in Christ forgave us.
(41:54):
This is what forgiveness lookslike, and if you look at that
person's face and your stomachturns, you need to quit looking
at their face and you need to belooking at the cross.
You need to look at the face ofyour brokenness that Christ
went to the cross for.
This is how we can know if wehave forgiven someone, and I
(42:15):
would be willing to bet thatthere are a couple of those you
feel pretty good about and oneor two that catch you up.
I just want you to know.
I'd be happy to talk with you.
So in any pastor, mcg leader inthe room, we would love to talk
with you.
But I wanna close this out andI wanna take us to the table,
and the way that I want to dothat is by reminding you of the
women that Maddie read about.
(42:35):
This struck me.
The women who had come withJesus from Galilee followed and
they saw the tomb.
They saw how his body was laid.
Then they returned and preparedspices and ointments.
They did what their culturedemanded.
Jesus deserved to be buriedproperly.
(42:55):
He deserved to be honored withspices and ointments.
He deserved this.
The problem was he died so latein the day.
They laid him in the tomb, theywent to honor him the best way
they could and then, all of asudden, the Sabbath began and
they couldn't walk, theycouldn't work, they couldn't
leave, they couldn't do thisthing.
So on the Sabbath, they restedaccording to the commandment.
(43:16):
I tell you this because, whenyou look at this, what I want
you to realize is this not onlyhas Jesus already come to the
shore, not only has he preparedthe table of communion so that
you need only to walk to him.
I want you to realize this.
Those women felt like they haddone everything they could do
(43:37):
and it wasn't enough.
But they did not realize thatJesus was working while they
were waiting.
All they realized was we weren'table to do enough for Christ,
we weren't able to honor him.
We can't fix this.
Our emotions are raw, we can'tdo anything about it, we can't
(43:58):
see how this is going to be maderight and it seems absolutely
hopeless in the moment.
The same is going to be truewith you forgiving others, but
Jesus is working in the unseen.
He's working when you can'tfeel it and when your emotions
are raw.
He is working while we arewaiting.
Can we trust him and know thathe has come all the way, so that
(44:22):
we simply need to come to him?
Our team's worked on a fewquestions for us to wrestle
through as we go to communion.
Dave, if you wouldn't mindthrowing those up, I would
encourage you, before you cometo the table that is prepared
for you, that you think is theresomeone I need to go to first,
and we've also put together afew questions so that you can
(44:45):
meaningfully come to the one whoforgave you so meaningfully.
We'll move as Stokes leads usin a few moments.
Please turn in your Bibles to Luke 24, 1-12, which
is on page 884 in Pew Bibles,and follow along as I read God's
Word.
But on the first day of theweek, at early dawn, they went
to the tomb taking the spicesthey prepared, and they found
(00:26):
the stone rolled away from thetomb.
But when they went in they didnot find the body of the Lord
Jesus.
While they were perplexed aboutthis, behold two men stood by
them in dazzling apparel and asthey were frightened and bowed
their faces to the ground, themen said to them why do you seek
the living among the dead?
He is not here but has risen.
Why do you seek the livingamong the dead?
He is not here but has risen.
(00:46):
Remember how I told you, whilehe was still in Galilee, that
the Son of man must be deliveredinto the hands of sinful men
and be crucified and on thethird day rise.
And they remembered his wordsand, returning from the tomb,
they told all these things tothe eleven and to all the rest.
Now it was Mary Magdalene andJoanna and Mother Mary of James
and the other woman with themwho told these things to the
apostles.
But these words seemed to theman idle tale.
(01:09):
They did not believe them.
But Peter rose and ran to thetomb, stooping and looking in.
He saw the linen cloths bythemselves and he went home
marveling at what had happened.
And as they were frightened andbowed their faces to the ground
, the men said to them why doyou seek the living among the
dead?
Speaker 2 (01:30):
This is the word of the Lord.
Thank you so much, maddie.
Larry, I got to say I love thefact you handed the microphone
off to your daughter to read thescripture.
What a cool.
I love it when families areable to get together and do
ministry and whatnot together.
All right, let me give you areal quick heads up.
I want to do some very quickhousekeeping type things and
then we will dive inHousekeeping.
(01:51):
Number one is we let me see ifshe's here.
I don't see her.
I don't do this very oftenbecause there are enough of us
here to where we can't do itevery Sunday, but today is
Carrie's 40th birthday.
She has snuck out.
She can't hear you.
Keep it all in for now.
Carrie not only sings on stagebut has been the church
(02:13):
administrator for a long periodof time.
Please love on her.
Oh, by the way, it's her 40thtoo, so it's kind of like big
deal day.
So if you see her, give her ahigh five or an awkward side
Christian hug.
Whatever is your flavor ofaffection.
Wanted you to know that.
Number two people on the wings.
We are trying to love youbetter and I just want you to
know that we have moved thesemicrophones back so that I'm not
(02:36):
staring at you throughmicrophones.
We had people raise.
I asked does it bother them?
Last service and there was aresounding yes.
It drives us crazy.
So we see you and we love you.
People who always pick the sidefor whatever reason, even when
you get here early.
I'll never understand you, butI love you.
All right.
Last little piece ofhousekeeping.
We got Easter coming up in acouple of weeks and we're doing
(03:00):
things differently than we havedone in the past and I want to
make sure you're in the loop onthat.
One thing that we're doing iswe have a Good Friday service.
We've never had a Good Fridayservice before.
Please invite anyone andeveryone to it.
It will be at the church onFriday, obviously, and we do
have childcare, but it's justfor the youngins four years old
and under.
(03:20):
And then on Easter Sunday,there are three different
services.
There's a sunrise service thatstarts at 645.
I think sunrise is at like 709or something, so we'll literally
watch the sun come up as wecelebrate the resurrection.
So sunrise service will be downin the field.
That one is family style.
So if you have kids, bring somepuffs, some goldfish, veggie
(03:42):
straws, whatever it is that youneed so that you can enjoy the
resurrection as well, and thenwe'll have our regular nine
o'clock and 11 o'clock service,please.
Easter continues to be a timethat our culture still leans in
on, and so invite your friends,invite your neighbors, invite
your family, so that they maycome and hear the good news of
(04:03):
Jesus Christ.
All right, so with that, goahead, grab your Bibles, and
we're going to do somethingmaybe a little bit differently
than we usually do.
Typically, I preachexpositionally, which means we
kind of go verse by verse,chapter by chapter, through a
book in the Bible.
I haven't told anybody this, Ididn't tell First Service, I
don't know why.
It slipped my mind.
(04:23):
In case you're curious, we'regonna finish the book of Luke on
Easter.
Obviously, resurrection, that'swhere Luke finishes his book,
so we will finish with him aswell.
Then we're going to.
I'm real curious how people aregoing to feel who come to church
for the first time on Easter,because we are then, the next
week, going to begin a littlebook called the Song of Songs,
(04:46):
which is the most romantic andawkward book of the Bible to
read.
It's also, when I was a kid,what I would turn to if I got
bored because it was fascinating.
So we'll be doing Song of Songs, also known as Song of Solomon,
and then we have Joshua, thebook of Joshua from the Old
Testament, coming as well.
The reason today is going to bea little bit different than
(05:09):
usual is because of whathappened last week.
Last week I had more peoplewant to talk and pray than any
week that I can remember, and itwas a week when we had fewer
people than we usually dobecause of spring break.
Tons of response, fewer peoplethan normal, and I looked at
(05:34):
that and sort of in ashepherding sense.
We were talking aboutforgiveness and the forgiveness
that Christ offers, the factthat we ought to be a forgiving
people, and I just wanna tellyou what happened.
I had somebody come up to meand say Will, there's a person
that I hate and I don't know howor if I even should forgive
them.
Even after listening to this, Ihad a child come up to me and
(05:58):
say there was an adult that isnot my parent.
They were about 10 years oldand they did something in my
life and I don't think I'veforgiven them.
And, if I'm honest, I'm alittle nervous because I've read
that if we don't forgive others, god will not forgive us, and
I'm a little concerned about mysoul if I'm actually saved
because of this.
I had somebody come up when arelationship ended and they said
(06:22):
I just know it just fell fromtheir mouth.
I'm never going to talk to thisperson again.
And I had to encourage them letthe Bible use always and nevers
, but, as a Christian, be verycautious too, because God may
call you to something that rightnow you can't feasibly see.
And then, my favorite, oh,somebody came up to me and
needed to ask me for forgiveness.
I didn't forgive him, don'tworry about it.
(06:44):
And then I was like you pickeda good Sunday and then I had
somebody who was sitting in thecongregation when I started
telling a story.
One of the questions that I hadus wrestle with last week is is
there somebody that you forgivethem but you're holding at
arm's length?
And this person said the momentyou said that somebody came to
(07:07):
mind from 20 years previous,somebody who mistreated me, did
something wrong, and I have heldthem at arm's length for the
past two decades.
I continued to preach and whenI told a story about my high
school life, I called thatperson out by name while they
were wrestling with it, and sothey were like, oh my gosh, like
(07:27):
okay.
So here's what I want to becareful of.
I think pastors and dads aremaybe the two people who do this
sort of poorly.
They assume, hey, I've saidsomething once, so now you all
know it and you're going tooperate off of it.
Right?
And that's not usually how lifegoes.
I'm not going to preach thesame sermon I preached last week
(07:53):
.
I did not need more time toprep for Easter, nor Thailand.
What I want to do is answer thequestion that almost every one
of those people asked after lastweek.
I know I'm called to forgive.
You have made the biblical case.
Forgiveness is something thatGod expects of me.
How do I know if I've done itor not?
Is what I've done enough or isit not enough?
(08:14):
How can I possibly know if Ihave forgiven someone?
And so this morning I want toteach you that I tend to be a
preacher by default.
I go into preaching mode evenwhen I'm not up here.
I get preachy when I'm teachingsomebody how to cast a fishing
pole.
(08:34):
I get preachy when I talk aboutthe meaning of different movies
.
I can't turn that thing off.
But if preaching is.
I want you to feel theimportance of this thing.
This morning is going to be moreteaching.
I need you to feel theimportance of this thing.
This morning is going to bemore teaching.
I need you to know something.
I want you to know how you canpossibly know that you have
forgiven someone.
So let me pray and then we'lldive in.
(08:55):
Father, a simple and a quickprayer here.
Would you give us the abilityto forgive people who are hard
to forgive?
Would you help us remember theforgiveness that, for those of
us who are in Christ, wasoffered to us when we had sinned
against you in limitless ways,because of your unlimited value
and glory?
And, father, for those of uswho are going to wrestle with
(09:17):
what reconciliation looks like,that seems to be the one that is
most difficult for us would you, even now, begin to show us
what a path towardsreconciliation with those who
have wronged us looks like?
And I pray all of this inChrist's name, amen.
All of the people that I talkedto last week almost every one of
their questions when it came tohow can I know if I forgave
(09:38):
someone centered on this when isthe line and have I measured up
to it.
Some of them wanted to forgive,some of them wanted to want to
forgive and some of them justwanted to do enough so that they
would know that they were okaywith God on this side of
eternity.
But we're not the only ones whoever had a question like this.
(09:59):
Peter did too.
Oh sorry, that's not what Imeant to go to.
Peter did too.
Oh sorry, that's not what Imeant to go to there.
Okay, peter had a very similarquestion.
Peter came up and said to JesusLord, how often, how many times?
Where is the line and where isthe limit when it comes to
forgiveness?
How often will my brother sinagainst me and I still forgive
them?
As many as seven times.
(10:22):
And Jesus said to him I do notsay to you seven times, by the
way, in Hebrew sort of worldview, that is a number of
completeness.
So it could be Peter sayinglike this is a pretty big number
, it's a pretty complete number.
Seven times certainly would beenough, right, jesus?
And Jesus said I don't say toyou seven times, but 77 times.
Is Jesus drawing the line inthe sand?
(10:43):
And your husband has left hissocks out and you're on 72, and
you just know five more baby.
I'm going to get there thisweek, I know it, and then I'm
going to be done with this.
I don't think so.
I don't think that's what'shappening.
When we see Peter say seventimes, there's probably
something going on in his mind.
(11:03):
Let me show you what I thinkthat may have been.
When we look at Amos and when welook at Job, we do see
forgiveness in a numericalmetric.
Thus says the Lord for threetransgressions of Israel and for
four, I will not revoke thepunishment.
They sell the righteous forsilver and the needy for a pair
of sandals.
They are so selfish and greedythat they mistreat other people.
(11:27):
They've done this three times,even four.
I am not going to forgive themwithout discipline coming in.
Might it be that Peter looks atthis and he says if I tell
Jesus seven, this is twice whatwe see here.
If you want to see this in thepositive, you can go to the book
of Job.
He, being God, has redeemed mysoul from going down to the pit
(11:49):
and my life shall look upon thelight.
Behold, god does all thesethings.
What things.
He redeems our souls twice,three times, with a man to bring
back his soul from the pit thathe may be lighted with the
light of life.
Might it be that Peter, knowingthese realities from Old
(12:10):
Testament prophets in the storyof Job, looks at Jesus and says
certainly Jesus, seven times isenough.
If somebody sins against me,seven times, isn't that enough?
I mean, god, if three or fouris going to cause discipline to
be needed.
If Job looks and he says Godhas been so gracious to see me
sin and sin again and even sinagain and still bring redemption
(12:32):
, certainly seven is enough.
Now I do not have time, itdoesn't allow me to teach you
one of my favorite stories onforgiveness, but I bring up this
passage in Matthew 18 for someof you to write this down, if
forgiveness is something youknow that you struggle with, for
you to go back to and read.
This is why I left verse 23 upthere.
Jesus hears Peter's questionand he gives him a story.
(12:55):
Therefore, the kingdom ofheaven may be compared to a king
who wished to settle accountswith his servants, and then he
tells the parable of theunforgiving servant.
I would encourage you to lookat that in your own devotional
time.
For now, what I think isimportant for us to see is that,
when it came to forgiveness.
Peter wanted a limit.
Jesus wanted a lifestyle.
By the way, we have communiontoday.
(13:16):
As we get ready to come to thetable, I'm going to show you a
story of Jesus living out thislifestyle of forgiveness and I
don't want you to miss it.
And I'm so afraid I'm gonnashow you a story of Jesus living
out this lifestyle offorgiveness and I don't want you
to miss it.
And I'm so afraid I'm gonnaforget to say it because it is
not in my notes to remind you ofWatch how ready Jesus is to
reconcile with people who havetreated him so poorly.
(13:36):
Watch how Jesus sets the tableand shows up first to make steps
toward those who have sinnedagainst him egregiously.
Keep this in mind.
Peter wants to know where theline is and Jesus points to a
lifestyle.
Peter would eventually get tothe place where he recognized
(14:02):
that this limit was not going towork, but he didn't get there
until he sinned against Jesus ina way that was absolutely
atrocious.
And here is what that lookedlike.
This is on the night when Jesuswas betrayed, he has prayed in
the garden of Gethsemane.
He has prayed that God wouldstrengthen him, and an angel was
(14:23):
sent to do so.
He knows he is headed to thecross, but he's not there yet.
And he has already looked atPeter and he has said you're
going to betray me.
Peter said no man, I'll go toprison, I will go to die for you
.
And then this happens.
Peter said man, I do not knowwhat you are talking about.
(14:44):
Hey, do you know Jesus?
I have no clue what you aretalking about.
And immediately, while he wasstill speaking, the rooster
crowed and the Lord turned andlooked at Peter.
And Peter remembered the sayingof the Lord how he had said to
him before the rooster crowstoday you will deny me three
times.
And Peter went out and weptbitterly.
Let me get your eyes for just aminute.
(15:04):
Jesus has done something inthis scene that is hard for you
to see if you're just doing acursory reading of the text.
A lot of times our memories aremade.
When something big or heavyhappens, we can agree.
All right.
Something huge and wonderfulhappens, it makes a memory.
(15:28):
Something very difficult anddark happens, it makes a memory.
But there are also memoriesthat you have simply because of
a sound or a smell.
How many of you right now canhear the bell ringing between
classes?
If you try to Dude.
It was the best sound in theworld.
It was also the worst if youwere like hustling down the hall
(15:51):
to make it before you gotcentral detention for being
tardy that fifth time orwhatever it was.
I can hear that metallic, madein 1972 bell that had been on
the wall of that concretehallway forever.
How many of you can hear thesound that your mom or dad made
when they called you as a child?
(16:12):
Did any of y'all have thisgrowing up?
Oh gosh, it gets under my skin.
Is my mom in here?
She left and went to a meeting.
She would do this and itdropped like to this day.
I remember making fun of kidswhose parents would walk out of
the door and blow a whistlewhile we were playing football
at a dude's house and that waswhat called them home.
(16:33):
We got called home by streetlights when the light came on.
How many of you can do thiswith a smell?
How many of you guys can smellsomething that was like rubbery
or plastic from when you wereeight years old and you go all
the way back to being that old?
I want you to know that what ishappening here, this sound of
the rooster crowing, issomething Peter would not be
able to shake for the rest ofhis life, even when Jesus
(16:58):
reconciles him in his sin.
This is, in Wilhawk's opinion,the closest thing to the limit
of forgiveness you will find inScripture.
And let me explain to you why.
Peter's saying I don't evenknow who Jesus is, I think is
(17:18):
the apex of sin that you willsee in scripture.
And you may say, well, no,there's adultery all throughout
scripture.
There's murder, and I guaranteeyou that's worse than me being
like I don't know who my wife is, I don't even want to be with
that person.
There are worse things I can do, and I would say you're correct
.
There are worse things that youcan do, but one of the
(17:39):
realities of sin is that our sinincreases based on the value
upon the one that we sin.
Let me prove this to you.
When I was about nine years old,I was practicing baseball in
the backyard.
Somebody here just got a newbaseball bat and I saw them at
Academy.
I was outside practicingbaseball, next to our house.
(18:00):
Does anybody want to guess whatthe next part of the story is?
Fire away, swing the bat, tinksoff, goes into the window, and
I know in that moment I am dead.
I know that's it.
I'm eight years old.
Windows probably cost $8,000for all I know.
Whatever it is, it's aninsurmountable amount for my
little allowance to deal withand I know it's game over for me
(18:24):
.
What happens?
Mom and dad see it.
They forgive me, I don't pay apenny for it and everything is
fine, all right.
Now I want you to imagine Ihave a baseball in my hand.
I walk into a church withstained glass windows, one of
which depicting Jesus, and Iwalk in and I throw the baseball
(18:44):
through the window.
Is one of those things worsethan the other?
Is one worse than the other?
And you can immediately beginin your mind building out why it
is worse.
What is one reason?
Walking into the church andthrowing the baseball is worse?
All right, I did it on purpose,all right, that's one.
One was an accident.
(19:05):
One of the other things that Iheard is can we agree stained
glass is more valuable thanregular glass?
Yes, there is something aboutthe value of what is broken that
makes it worse.
Can we agree?
The fact that it depictedChrist takes it to a different
level?
Yes, the reality of it is whenit comes to our sin, and we will
look at our sin.
As the value of the offendedincreases, the gravity of our
(19:29):
sin grows.
So could Peter have donesomething worse like murder?
Yes, but he could never sinagainst anyone more valuable
than Christ.
Could the one who had made thepromise to never betray him have
done something worse than turnhis face from the one who is
going to die for him?
(19:49):
If you walk up and you hit me,there are going to be
repercussions.
If you walk up and hit a cop,there are going to be bigger
repercussions.
If you walk up and hit apolitician, there are going to
be bigger.
And if you walk up and punch aking or a president, they're
going to be bigger.
Why?
Because they are more human?
No, but because, as the valueof the offended grows, the
gravity of our sin does as well.
(20:11):
And the very person who askedJesus what's the limit on
forgiveness gets as close as hepossibly can to it.
And I want you to watch whatJesus does.
I would tell you in a momentlike this, peter no longer wants
forgiveness to have a limit.
He doesn't want that.
What he wants is this lifestyleof forgiveness which, by the
(20:33):
way, is exactly what Jesus givesthem.
Now it's important that youknow.
The story that I'm about toread to you comes after Jesus
has resurrected.
He has died on the cross.
Death has been swallowed up invictory.
Its victory is gone.
Its sting is gone.
Here Jesus is new body, newlife, hope being poured out on
(20:54):
all of his followers, and inthis moment, I want you to watch
Jesus push for reconciliation.
Just as day was breaking, jesusstood on the shore, yet the
disciples did not know that itwas Jesus.
Jesus said to them he's callingout children.
Do you have any fish?
They answered no.
He said to them cast the net onthe right side of the boat and
(21:17):
you will find some.
So they cast it, and now theywere not able to haul it in
because of the quantity of fish.
This is my favorite lines ofthe whole thing.
Okay, they've seen this before.
Right, if you're the guys whohave been fishing and you hadn't
caught anything, and someonesays, try the other side of the
(21:39):
boat and you can't pull it in,who's that?
Gonna be Jesus?
Okay, it's gonna be Jesus.
This is my favorite line.
Verse seven the disciple whomJesus loved that's John, being
somewhat humble, because he'sthe guy writing the book at this
point the disciple whom Jesusloved, said to Peter it's the
Lord.
(21:59):
Peter didn't get it.
He was so pumped about all thefish he didn't even get the
message that Jesus was seeing.
He didn't even see theforgiveness that was being doled
out to him.
When Simon Peter heard that itwas the Lord, he put on his
outer garment, for he wasstripped for work.
Now listen, I don't know howhot it was, I don't know how
(22:19):
naked he got, I don't know howclose those guys were to each
other, but Peter was workinghard enough and naked enough
that he knew I can't show up tothe shore like this, it's just
gonna be a bit awkward.
So he puts on clothes to jumpinto the water.
I just want you to appreciatethat moment.
To make it harder to swim, hedidn't run across the top.
(22:41):
Faith wasn't quite there forthis little journey.
So he swims across.
This is the best.
And he threw himself into thesea.
The other disciples came in theboat dragging the net full of
fish.
Remember this story for a fewmoments from now, for they were
not far from the land, but abouta hundred yards off.
(23:01):
Okay, time out.
I appreciate that they aresailors.
I appreciate that they are menwho are comfortable with the sea
.
If you said, hey Will, justreal quick, it's going to be a
short journey.
I'm not thinking a hundredyards, okay, I'm just not.
If I'm about to throw my, howmuch Peter wanted to be near
(23:22):
Jesus.
He looked across a footballfield and jumped in.
Okay, I don't want you to getthe sense that Jesus is right
there.
He's like, hey, I'll see youguys in 30 seconds.
Peter is longing to come near tothe one that he had turned his
back on.
He is longing to be made rightwith the one that he had so
(23:44):
horribly wronged.
He is, in a limitless fashion,pouring himself in to the very
one that he said.
Is there a limit on forgiveness?
It seems like there ought to be, but I want you to notice verse
9.
When they got out on land, theysaw a charcoal fire in place
(24:05):
with fish laid out on it.
I mentioned to you that thereare a number of different ways
that we make memories Highmoments, low moments, sights,
sounds and smells.
Which of those is the strongestin making memories?
For those of you who rememberninth grade science, the
strongest in making memories forthose of you who remember ninth
grade science?
Smell, your olfactory sense.
(24:26):
There's nothing that comparesto it.
I know that a certain smellwill attend every cookout, every
campout, every birthday andevery Christmas Eve I have, and
that is the smell of smoke.
Yes, I really appreciate theenthusiasm.
Who was it?
Yes, take it from a guy maybetwo guys who played with matches
(24:52):
as a kid.
You know the way a match smellswhen you light it.
I just want you to notice verse9.
Why do I want you to noticeverse 9?
When they got on land, they sawa charcoal fire in place with
fish laid out on it and bread.
When's the other time we see acharcoal fire?
(25:12):
The servant girl at the doorsaid to Peter you also are not
one of this man's disciples, areyou?
He said I am not.
Now.
The servants and officers hadmade a charcoal fire because it
was cold.
They were standing and warmingthemselves.
Peter was with them.
The last time Peter stoodbefore a charcoal fire, he
rejected Christ.
(25:34):
And what has Jesus done to setthe table to reconcile with
Peter?
He has lit the matches andstarted the fire to remind Peter
of his sin, that Peter would bereminded of the limitless
forgiveness that Christ offers.
This to me, is no smallcoincidence.
(25:59):
This, to me is intentionalityon the part of the Savior to
have a lifestyle, not a limitwhen it comes to forgiveness.
The other thing that I willpoint to is simply this Jesus
asks them if they have any fish,and by the time they get there,
(26:23):
he already has it.
Hey guys, y'all got any fish?
No, try the other side, holymoly.
Peter jumps in, they startpaddling probably took him a
while with all of this fish andby the time they arrive, jesus
already has what he was askingthem for.
By the way, this is going to bethe case for those of you in
this room who are believers thatstruggle to forgive someone.
(26:45):
Christ already has what he isasking you for.
He's got it.
The question is are you willingto give it?
When it comes to forgiveness,we want a limit, but Jesus wants
a lifestyle.
I told you I was gonna teach,so this is how we are going to
(27:06):
spend the rest of our little bitof time left together Five ways
to know if you have forgivensomeone.
If you ever want these notes bythe way, you can take pictures
if you want I'll be happy toscreenshot them and share them
with you.
If you're a note taker, great.
If you're not.
To me, this is what I calltoolkit Christianity.
This is the kind of stuff thatneeds to live on a note in your
phone, in your back pocket,scribbled down somewhere.
(27:26):
So when you want to answer thequestion how can I know if I've
forgiven someone, you have abiblically literate response.
Question number one have Ireleased their debt?
Five ways to know if you haveforgiven someone.
Number one have I forgiventheir debt?
Colossians puts it this way youwho are dead in your trespasses
(27:47):
and the uncircumcision of yourflesh.
God made a life.
You are dead.
He gave you life.
You are never going to have toforgive somebody the way that
God has forgiven you.
You are dead.
He gives you life.
You ran toward death.
He runs toward life.
You ran from him, he runs toyou.
And how does Colossians put this?
By the way, this is calledjustification.
(28:08):
God made us alive together withhim, having forgiven us all our
trespasses, by canceling therecord of debt that stood
against us With its legaldemands.
This he set aside.
Does it mean it is gone?
No, does it mean it doesn'tlive in your memory?
No, does it mean you can't feelit anymore?
(28:30):
No, jesus has taken for thoseof you who are Christians in the
room.
Jesus has taken your sin.
He has pushed it to the side.
To be more accurate, he has putit upon himself and has pushed
it from you to the cross, sothat he, when he looks at you,
no longer sees this anymore.
And the question is when itcomes to your forgiveness of
(28:52):
another, have you pushed it tothe side?
Some of you sit in this roomand if you were to take out your
phone right now and look atyour bank account, you see that
things are not the way they'resupposed to be, because someone
sinned against you To the tuneof thousands of dollars, tens of
(29:12):
thousands of dollars.
They may have even claimed tobe a Christian.
You probably haven't spoken tothat person in years and you can
still look at where you arefinancially with increasing
levels of frustration and anger.
And my question to you issimply this and simply biblical
have you pushed their debt tothe side or are you still
(29:34):
holding them accountable?
Maybe your disruption is notfinancial, Maybe it's emotional.
Maybe you have never feltnormal since your dad did this.
Maybe you have never felt likeyourself since this person said
that.
Maybe you've never looked inthe mirror the way you used to
look in the mirror because youheard someone say this thing
(29:58):
Christian, have you pushed it tothe side?
If you're in this room andyou're not sure if you're a
Christian, this is a metric ofit.
If you are unable to do this,it may be because you have not
received forgiveness from God.
By the way, this is also one ofthe realities of Jesus's answer
(30:18):
to the disciples' questions.
Jesus, how are we supposed topray and Lord, forgive them of
their debts, as you haveforgiven us of ours?
Secondly, do I entrust justiceto God?
Am I going to bring about thepunishment that they deserve or
am I entrusting justice to God?
(30:39):
By the way, this would becalled providential judgment.
This is you saying.
I am trusting God and Hisgoodness, holiness and timing is
going to do what is right andnecessary.
That judgment will not bepushed away forever.
But Christians in the room, letme just read to you what God's
word says to you Beloved, neveravenge yourselves.
(31:03):
When I hear Christians talkabout forgiveness, I hear more
times them saying I could neverforgive them.
For You're not going to findthat in the Bible.
What you are going to find isnever avenge yourselves, leave
it to the wrath of God.
It is written vengeance is mine.
I will repay, says the Lord.
(31:25):
Do I entrust my justice to God?
Maybe they haven't apologized.
Maybe they haven't apologizedfully or properly, maybe they
haven't made an appropriategesture.
The question is simply this canI trust God with judgment or do
I feel like I have to be the onewho brings it?
And can I just tell you what istucked into that?
(31:47):
There's nothing wrong withhaving a sense of right and
wrong and what is just, butthere is something wrong with
the convicted criminal feelinglike they should also be judge
and jury, and there is no one inthis room who ought to be judge
and jury over another person'ssoul.
You can be right and still notbe called to be judge.
Have you trusted God to bringthe right amount of justice at
(32:13):
the right time?
Thirdly, do I wish them harm ordo I wish them good?
Full transparency this is thetough one for Will.
This is the one that is hardfor me.
The reason that it is hard forme is not in maybe the typical
sense.
I think all of us at one pointhad somebody on the bus do
(32:36):
something annoying or horrible.
They throw your homework outthe window and now you're like
no, like bad things shouldhappen to that person.
When they get out, I do hopethat they cross and get hit by a
car and I think, look, we canlaugh at it.
But let me just tell the adultsin the room what's happening.
Kids have a sense of right andwrong and justice, just like you
(32:57):
do.
They just don't clean theirs upon the outside.
They feel the same stuff you do.
You've just figured out how toclean it up on the outside.
You still feel the same stuffon the inside, and it may not be
that you want them to get runover by a truck, but it might be
, and this is where it is true.
For me, it might simply be.
(33:18):
You know, if something badhappened as a result of the sin
that they did, the world wouldknow that God is not okay with
that, or wanting somethingdifficult to enter into their
life so they would realize whatthey had done was wrong.
(33:38):
Can you still seek the good ofthose who have done the opposite
to you?
It's either a limit or it's alifestyle, and what you apply to
the people in your life is whatyou ought to apply to yourself
from God.
You do not want limitedforgiveness from God.
(34:00):
He is the stained glass.
You are the basic window.
You want a lifestyle offorgiveness from God?
Oh, I didn't show you thescripture on that one, apologies
.
Listen to this as though you'venever heard it before, because
there are a lot of people in theroom who have.
But I say to you love yourenemies.
Love your enemies by the way, Ithink that is actually easier
(34:24):
than what Jesus says next andpray for those who persecute you
.
And I'll tell you why.
As a Christian, I can say love,1 Corinthians 17.
Love is patient.
I can do that.
I'll be patient because I'mnever going to talk to him again
.
Love is kind.
I can do that because I'm nevergoing to talk to him again.
It's self-controlled.
That's easy, because I'm nevergoing to talk to them again.
(34:47):
But what happens when we movepast our limited version of love
and we start praying forsomebody?
All of a sudden, it doesn'tlive in tight little confines.
All of a sudden, when you'repraying for your fill in the
blank, you have to be activeabout it.
You have to be seeking theirgood, you have to be praying.
Notice it says pray for them.
(35:08):
It's not praying for youbecause of them, it's actually
praying for their good, and someof us in the room wonder why it
is that we have tried so manyof the things that are already
up here and we don't feel likewe've fully forgiven someone.
You haven't prayed for them.
You haven't taken the personwho wronged you and taken them
(35:30):
to God as the person who mostwronged God, recognizing that
they too could find forgiveness.
Maybe you don't want them to.
Maybe you, when you see do Iwish them harm or good?
Recognize that you are verymuch like a prophet, but not the
one you want to be aligned with.
Maybe you're an awful lot likeJonah.
(35:51):
Maybe you look at theseNinevites and you say do you
know the history of what theyhave done to me?
Do you know what they have doneto my friends?
Do you know what they have doneto my family?
Do you have any clue, god, whatthey have done?
And I know I know if I offerthem forgiveness, they're going
to gobble it up and live asthough they had never done
anything wrong.
Maybe we need to recognize thatit does not go well for Jonah
(36:15):
at the end and God has to teachhim a lesson.
Jonah, what did you do to havethe life that you now have
Nothing.
I have done this for you.
You need to forgive thosearound you.
Fourthly, am I seekingreconciliation?
Fair warning, this is going tobe the hardest for most of you.
Am I seeking reconciliation?
Fair warning, this is going tobe the hardest for most of you.
Am I seeking reconciliation?
It is also going to be thehardest one to measure, by the
(36:38):
way.
You can now look at the boardand I want you to realize
something.
Have I released their debt?
Do I entrust justice to God?
Am I wishing them harm or good,and am I seeking reconciliation
?
Let me get your eyes for just aminute.
You don't have to feel a thingto do this.
Why is it that people sometimesfeel far from God, even if they
(37:01):
are justified with him and haveasked for the forgiveness of
their sins?
Because if they base theirrelationship with God on
feelings, they are going to gofrom highs to lows, to highs to
lows.
Why is it so often when I meetwith couples that they say I
just don't feel like I love themanymore Because you don't feel
love for them anymore?
Love is not just a feeling, itis an active choice, and
(37:27):
forgiveness is the same If youthink you can only be close to
God when you feel close to him.
You can only love someone whenyou feel love toward them and
you can only forgive someone ifyou feel like forgiving them.
You will not do any of thethree well.
You will not do any of them ina lifestyle type way.
Love is a choice, relationshipis a choice, forgiveness is a
(37:51):
choice.
You don't have to feel a thingto do these four.
You can do all of them devoidof feeling.
I hope your feelings catch up,but it isn't a requirement.
And when it comes toreconciliation, it's going to be
the toughest when it comes tofeeling.
Romans 12 puts it this way Ifit's possible, so far as it
depends on you, puts it this wayif it's possible, so far as it
(38:12):
depends on you.
Live peaceably with all One ofthe follow-ups that I had from
last week.
I was having breakfast withsomebody at Chick-fil-A and
while we're talking about arelationship in which they were
mistreated and abused, they saidI think I've forgiven and I
know I'm never going to talk tothem again.
And I said flag on the fieldtimeout.
(38:32):
You just used a never whereGod's word would not use a never
.
You just said I'm never goingto talk to them again.
Might it be that God has alevel of reconciliation tomorrow
that you can't imagine today?
Yes and absolutely, if it ispossible.
(38:59):
So much as it depends on you.
Live peaceably with all.
Can I tell you I find itnon-surprising and yet
fascinating that Jesus hadalready come 51% of the way to
Peter.
Can I just tell you that I findit beautiful that Jesus is
already on the shore.
He has already made the mealand now he was calling out Peter
(39:20):
.
Do you want to fix this?
Do you know how many stepsJesus had to take towards Peter
when Peter was taking stepstowards them?
Zero, he was already there, asmuch as it depended on Christ,
he had come.
Christians, this is theexpectation of your
reconciliation, and I would alsojust note there is something
(39:43):
special about a meal.
There is something that God hascreated Husbands, if you want
to be closer to your wives.
Vice versa, boyfriends, if youwant to have a cool little trick
in your back pocket to causethem to just think.
I just feel close to this guy.
And I do not know why, when yousit down to have a meal with
your loved ones, parents, as youthink about your kids eat meals
(40:05):
looking at each other.
There is something about eatingfood in the brain that tightens
relationships.
There is something when eatingfood in the brain that tightens
relationships.
There is something when youhave a difficult situation with
someone to do it around the mealrather than under fluorescent
lights on the lifetime plastictable.
I can tell you how the ladder isgoing to go.
We're going to lay it all out.
You did this.
(40:25):
You did this.
There's something that happensin a meal.
By the way, pro tip, guys,don't face televisions and
you'll do better at this if youhappen to be in a restaurant.
I did that this weekend and mywife was like you should tell
guys that that's a good pro tip.
I still glance at thebasketball game twice, in full
honesty.
Finally, I would say this as weget ready to come to the table
(40:48):
of communion.
This is number five and thelast one, by the way.
This is the one from which allof them flow.
This is how you can move from alimit to a lifestyle, because
you'll look at those fourquestions and you're gonna be
prone to check them off the box.
Am I continually viewing them,whoever they are, in light of
what they've done to me or whatChrist has done for me.
(41:11):
Christians, you have thisability.
Unbelievers, if you come toChrist, he will give you this
ability to look into the face ofthe person who has most wronged
you and, instead of seeing them, see the wrong you have
committed to Christ, and whenyou can see their sin next to
your sin, all of a suddensomething begins to change.
(41:32):
All of a sudden you can realizethe lengths that God went to to
draw you near so that you maybe kind to one another, that you
would be tenderhearted, thatyou would forgive one another.
And there could be a period,but there is a comma.
Why?
Because we forgive people asGod in Christ forgave us.
(41:54):
This is what forgiveness lookslike, and if you look at that
person's face and your stomachturns, you need to quit looking
at their face and you need to belooking at the cross.
You need to look at the face ofyour brokenness that Christ
went to the cross for.
This is how we can know if wehave forgiven someone, and I
(42:15):
would be willing to bet thatthere are a couple of those you
feel pretty good about and oneor two that catch you up.
I just want you to know.
I'd be happy to talk with you.
So in any pastor, mcg leader inthe room, we would love to talk
with you.
But I wanna close this out andI wanna take us to the table,
and the way that I want to dothat is by reminding you of the
women that Maddie read about.
(42:35):
This struck me.
The women who had come withJesus from Galilee followed and
they saw the tomb.
They saw how his body was laid.
Then they returned and preparedspices and ointments.
They did what their culturedemanded.
Jesus deserved to be buriedproperly.
(42:55):
He deserved to be honored withspices and ointments.
He deserved this.
The problem was he died so latein the day.
They laid him in the tomb, theywent to honor him the best way
they could and then, all of asudden, the Sabbath began and
they couldn't walk, theycouldn't work, they couldn't
leave, they couldn't do thisthing.
So on the Sabbath, they restedaccording to the commandment.
(43:16):
I tell you this because, whenyou look at this, what I want
you to realize is this not onlyhas Jesus already come to the
shore, not only has he preparedthe table of communion so that
you need only to walk to him.
I want you to realize this.
Those women felt like they haddone everything they could do
(43:37):
and it wasn't enough.
But they did not realize thatJesus was working while they
were waiting.
All they realized was we weren'table to do enough for Christ,
we weren't able to honor him.
We can't fix this.
Our emotions are raw, we can'tdo anything about it, we can't
(43:58):
see how this is going to be maderight and it seems absolutely
hopeless in the moment.
The same is going to be truewith you forgiving others, but
Jesus is working in the unseen.
He's working when you can'tfeel it and when your emotions
are raw.
He is working while we arewaiting.
Can we trust him and know thathe has come all the way, so that
(44:22):
we simply need to come to him?
Our team's worked on a fewquestions for us to wrestle
through as we go to communion.
Dave, if you wouldn't mindthrowing those up, I would
encourage you, before you cometo the table that is prepared
for you, that you think is theresomeone I need to go to first,
and we've also put together afew questions so that you can
(44:45):
meaningfully come to the one whoforgave you so meaningfully.
We'll move as Stokes leads usin a few moments.
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