The Faith To Forgive | Tim Timberlake | Celebration Everywhere

foreign [Music] to Ephesians [Music] Ephesians chapter 4. we're kicking off a new series today entitled keep the change everyone say keep the change the purpose of this series is for us to Steward the change that Jesus has made in us will and in order for us to do that we have to continually go through a series of refining a series of purification a series of placing things at the feet of Jesus so that we can actually keep the change amen how many of you have been changed by Jesus oh I can't hear you this morning I said how many of you have been changed by the most high gods how many of you have been renewed in your thinking been transformed in the way that you do things and so in order for us to keep that change we have to do some things and so this series we're going to walk through some things that I believe in God would have us to do to maintain to Steward the change that we have experienced in this life Ephesians chapter four we're going to read this passive scripture then I'm going to pray quickly give you the subject matter that we'll be covering today then we'll unpack it Ephesians chapter 4. verse 31 it says we are taught to get rid of all bitterness rage anger brawling and slander along with every form of malice be kind look at your neighbor tell you never be kind come on look at your other neighbor tell them be kind be kind and compassionate to one another here's where we're going to be today forgiving each other just as in Christ God forgave you forgiving each other just as in Christ God forgave you for a moment I want to teach to you from the subject matter the faith to forgive the faith to forgive let's pray the Holy Father we thank you for your word God we're so honored that we get an opportunity to experience you in fresh and new ways every single day and so God right now we ask that you would fall in this place in this moment God wherever we may be tuning into this moment across the world and God we promise to give you all the glory honor and praise it is in your name that we pray the name of Jesus to Christ Our King and all those that agree let me hear you say Amen amen you can take your seats [Music] today I want to be a little more surgical than celebratory and so the Cadence in which I teach today will be a little bit different because I want to pull out of each of us some of the things that we may be carrying holding on to that may have been dormant for many many years that needs to be extracted and taken out amen in Matthew chapter 10 verse 8 the living Bible says give as freely as you have received how many of you have received forgiveness from Jesus and so as freely as we have received as freely as we should what give it's a lot easier said than done because there are some things that have happened to you there's some trauma that's happened to you there's some things that have taken place in your life that you have uh carried in the form of unforgiveness that I pray you release today unforgiveness is a lot like having a internal wound that causes bleeding that no one else can see but is killing you slowly I remember watching this episode of er some years back and there was uh this couple uh that were together in uh this guy was driving the car and he began to run from the police to avoid getting a ticket and go to jail for an outstanding warrant that he had when he was running he ran into a fire hydrant and he hit his head on the steering wheel when the cops got there they could tell what his injuries was because they could identify where the blood was coming from his wife however was laying uh in the seat with the seat belt on with her head down unresponsive and they thought that she was unconscious for a number of reasons that they could not tell so they take her to the hospital they identified that she has internal bleeding from the impact of the seat belt her injury was far more severe than his injury although they could see the blood on the outside although they could identify where his wound was her injury was far more a severe and urgent than his because she had internal bleeding she had something going on on the inside that people could not see on the outside and if it had not been treated she would have died unforgiveness is experiencing internal bleeding that no one else can see that will eventually kill the god-given destiny he has set before you if it goes untreated and so today we want to treat those areas of unforgiveness that we have in our lives so that we can walk into the things that God has for us amen I want you to write this down forgiveness is the reset button of an overcomer forgiveness is when we press reset on our lives and don't allow people that have impacted us in a traumatic way to hold us Hostage to something that they did if we continue to focus on the hurt or the impact we will continue to suffer but if we continue to focus on the lesson and our god-given destiny then we will continue to grow forgiveness does not change the person that hurts you are you listening to me forgiveness doesn't change that person forgiveness changes you let's be honest for a moment how many of you desperately desire change in your life forgiveness changes you guess what forgiveness does not do forgiveness does not mean you forget [Music] one of the most crazy theories is that you forgive and forget you don't forget but you do have the opportunity to forgive every time you remember and there are some things in my life and there's some people in my life that every time I remember I have to forgive them again forgiveness is not a one-time fix-all forgiveness is a daily sacrifice that I have to implement so that I can receive what it is that God has for me if I don't put into practice forgiveness for those that have hurt me and those that have impacted me in a negative way then I hold myself Hostage to a prison that God never intended for me to stay put in [Music] so the person that hurts you may never know that you have forgiven them and and to be honest with you forgiveness does not does not mean that they regain proximity to you forgiveness means that you are no longer bleeding on the inside from something that someone else did to you and every single day you have to make up your mind that you will become more and more like Jesus through the altar of forgiveness Jesus on the cross said father forgive them for they know not what they do but here's the beauty of Jesus Jesus even forgives when you know what you should do and you still don't do it so it not only quantifies and and qualifies forgiveness for those who don't know what they did to you it also gives you an opportunity to forgive those that know exactly what they did to you and here's the beauty in all of it it does not change them you can't expect people to change what you can change forgiveness does just that it is a guarantee that I am stewarding the change that Jesus has placed in me well so that I can become everything that he desires for me to become forgiveness is not conditional forgiveness is unconditional and based upon where you believe you're going will determine the speed in which you forgive when you understand that what's in front of you is greater than what's behind you then you have to bring yourself to the altar of forgiveness and say God I don't want to it's painful it's triggering but I'm going to submit to you the people or the person that did this to me and have the faith to believe that you can ReStore in me who it is that you want me to become through my obedience to you see forgiveness is not a gift you give them forgiveness is a gift you give yourself that continues to unravel and unwrap the closer you get to the presence of Jesus Christ and when you find yourself at the altar of forgiveness you find yourself stewarding the change that Jesus has birthed on the inside of you let me go a little bit deeper [Music] forgiveness isn't minimizing the seriousness of the offense or trauma [Music] forgiveness is maximizing your potential and stepping into a season that you would not step into if you held on to what and who hurt you hear me family something that was meant to hurt you a lifetime can hurt you in one season of your life and no other if you implement forgiveness again there's people that I have to forgive every single day every time I think of them I have to say God I release them to you I forgive them I thank you God that you are blessing them so that they don't do what they have done to me to other people I have to verbalize that every single day because if I don't the unforgiveness turns into bitterness and then the bitterness turns into malice and the malice turns into rage and then what was happening on the inside begins to seep on the outside and whenever someone has internal bleeding to the point that it begins to bleed through their nose and their eyes and their ears there is a serious problem and so today we we just want to identify the areas that we may be bleeding in the areas that have wounded us that have impacted us that have caused trauma that have triggered us that have that have caused us to bleed internally so that they don't get passed on to other people forgiveness it's not resuming a relationship without change there is a difference between forgiveness and Reconciliation in order for you or me to reconcile with someone there has to be an understanding that wrong has been done forgiveness is implemented to the person or the people even if they don't know or understand what they did wrong the reality of the matter is some people deserve your forgiveness but don't deserve to have a conversation with you ever again in order to restore relationship this is just in my opinion this is third Timothy chapter one verse 1 I have to preface that so that y'all not looking for this in Scripture in order for someone to regain proximity to me to have a relationship restored there has to be three things the first one is repentance and I'm not talking about just verbal I'm talking about actions that display them turning from the actions that they have done there has to be repentance the second thing that has to happen there has to be restitution if you don't know what restitution is restitution is taking me back to the place that you wounded me and explaining to me why you did what you did so that you never do it again and then the third thing is this a rebuilding over time with God one of the greatest misconceptions in life is that time heals all things that's a lie time does not heal all things God In Time Heals all things and if a person is not willing to allow Jesus to be the bonding agent through time don't waste your time trying to rebuild a relationship with them are y'all listening to me [Applause] Jesus has to be at the center of any of this rebuilding of trust so that I can know that they are laying and surrendering their life at the feet of Jesus also real forgiveness is not forgetting what happened it's not the removal of your memory real forgiveness is the removal of your pain every person that hurts you every situation that hurts you every everything that hurts you forgiving them and forgiving it is not the removal of the memory of it it's the removal of the pain there's some things that have happened to you from some people that you'll never forget this is my prayer my prayer is that every time you remember you remember the faithfulness of Jesus Christ that sustains you that brought you over that carried you through that took you out that pushed you into a place of healing and wholeness look at me you are not what happened to you did you hear what I said look at me look at me look at me look at me look at me you are not what happened to you don't you dare give them the freedom to hold you hostage to what they did to you don't you dare live your life under a label that they tried to place on you you are not what happened to you you are a child of God and children of God understand this who the son has set free is free indeed is there anybody grateful that you are no longer bound to the hurt to the pain to the memory but you are now free through the altar of forgiveness taking notes I want you to write this down the reason we forgive and can forgive is because we can remember how much we've been forgiven Point number one Ephesians chapter 4 verse 32 says Be Kind and compassionate to one another forgiving each other just as Christ and God forgave you how many have ever been forgiven of something now how many of you have ever been forgiven of something that was really bad if you don't have your hand raised you are lying and you need to ask for forgiveness because there's been many times you told God that you would not do something and you found yourself doing it anyway not only did you find yourself doing it anyway you found yourself making excuses to convince yourself that what you were doing was not that bad how many ever been there before well if it was really that bad God would not continue to do a b c and d for me if it was really that bad then I would not be able to continue to do the things that I love to do if it was really that bad we use the scripture all the time the gifts of God are given without repentance if it was really that bad what I was doing God's hand wouldn't still blow my life see what you are experiencing is pride and arrogance when you are operating in sin and convincing yourself that the sin you are living in is not that bad you have not made the changes and the strides you think you have and so understanding all of us have been there and God has still forgiven us through the grace of Jesus Christ then we should freely give what we have received two amens the second thing I want you to write down this is a big one I have to relinquish my right to get even I have to relinquish my right to voice my opinion I have to relinquish my will my way my wants to do what I desire to do because the heart of genuine forgiveness relinquishes the right to get even Romans chapter 12 verse 19 says never avenge yourselves we can shut it right there never avenge yourself leave that to God for he has said that he will repay those that deserve it I don't have to worry about revenging myself or my name as long as I lift up the name of Jesus true forgiveness true repentance true modeling and reflections of Jesus Christ understand this it is not about avenging ourselves it's about Allowing God to do that for us that's where faith comes into play see it takes Faith to believe that God is going to avenge all of the things that have been done to you wrong when you desire to avenge yourself you know why it takes faith because we don't see it happen in the time frame that we want it to happen in when someone when someone hurts us we immediately want to react I want them to feel what I feel how many have been there before you did this to me I'm going to do this to you you said this about me I'm going to now react I'm going on Instagram live at 9 tonight y'all go hear about me [Music] such and such they did this this is what I think and you know it happens we begin to exchange sin instead of release the unforgiveness to accept the grace that Jesus has given us don't to have the type of power over me where I accept what they did to me in exchange for sin that I didn't give them no one hear me no one in this life has the power over you to make you sin we don't want to hear that because sinning sometimes feels good especially when we can voice our opinion why doing it I'm gonna give you a piece of my mind can we be a people that instead of reacting and even responding we pray [Applause] y'all hear that [Applause] that's a courtesy clap [Music] you know what that that says I know it's the right thing to do I don't want to do it though but I don't want him to know I'm not in agreement so [Applause] y'all not clapping for me you clapping for you you're not getting free for me you're getting free for you when whenever someone does something to us the reason they are doing something to us purposely is to wound you and impact you so that they can live rent free in your mind nobody deserves to stay rent-free in your mind [Applause] if y'all are thinking about them more than you are thinking about Jesus they have accomplished everything that they set out to accomplish [Applause] if you're Googling them Facebooking them checking their Instagram looking what they doing on our ex used to be Twitter they got too much power over you when you forgive you release them to continue to do whatever they go do while you carry out and walk out the will of God for your life I'm not worried about what people continue to say about me after they wounded me once and I forgive them I'm releasing them to God and not allowing them to have an audience with me or my ears until God tells me differently never avenge yourselves leave that to God for he has said that he will repay those who deserve it the faith to forgive is believing that God will repay those that deserve it and God would do everything that he said that he will do his seat of judgment is far greater than my words of judgment and when I have the faith to forgive I am actually keeping the change that he has started on the inside of me the third thing that I want you to write down is you know that you have truly forgiven and are operating in the spirit of forgiveness is when you respond to evil with good did you hear what I said his mighty quiet in this church today when you can respond to evil with good you know that you are operating in the spirit of forgiveness when you hear what they say when you know what they have done when you see what the enemy is trying to do and you respond to evil with good Luke chapter 6 verse 27 says do good to those who hate you wow this is what the Bible says you know how I know the Bible is not written by men and can only be written by God because of scriptures like this who in their right mind would write this who absent of the presence of God would write something like this do good to those who hate you but God they hate me why in the world would I want to do something good to them bless those who curse you and pray for those who mistreat you these are the three remedies that will help you stay out of bitterness resentment and Malice let me go over them again do good number one bless number two pray number three you want to know how you're maturing in the things of God do good to those that hate you bless those that curse you pray for those that mistreat you you want to know when you are actually walking in the footsteps that Jesus has tried it before you when you can do good to those that hate you Jesus is being pierced in his side being whipped with a cat in nine tails hung on the cross knelt in his wrist and in his feet said father forgive them for they know not what they do you know when you are becoming like Jesus and you can respond to evil I'm not just talking about wrong I'm talking about those who mean evil against you we live in an evil world and there are evil people that live in this world and they will try to do evil things to you but when they try respond with good don't you respond in an evil way respond with good when people curse you bless them it don't mean you go to the ATM you take out money you give it to them it means you pray God I ask that you would bless them I ask that you would grab a hold of their heart and allow them to experience you in a way that they have not yet experienced you God you see what they have tried to do but I thank you that you have not only shielded me but you are guiding them you want to know how you're becoming more like Jesus pray for those that treat you wrong and you don't pray Lord kill them how many ever prayed that before come on hope they drive off a bridge God now I never said that before I'm the only one no no pray that God would bless them that's maturity that's following in the footsteps of Jesus Christ pray that God would genuinely bless them you want to know how you're operating in forgiveness Point number four repeating this process as long as necessary you do these things over and over and over and over again understanding that forgiveness is not a One-Shot event forgiveness is a lifestyle that you must walk out in order to keep the change that God has started on the inside of you and so right now I want you to stand your feet I want you to buy your heads close your eyes I'm going to ask that you don't rush out of here because sometimes we we leave the change that's supposed to happen in the room because we rushed out to make brunch for a moment just let the Holy Spirit work out of us some things that people have tried to hurt us with I want you to get them on your mind and you know who they are you know what they did to you you know how bad they hurt you you know how they tried to ruin you you know how they tried to do things in your life that would cause you to be less than who God has called you to be get them on your mind I know it's difficult I know it's painful some of us have been living with this internal wound for years and years and years and years and you've maintained but you haven't advanced today my prayer is at God would heal us [Music] and they're allowed to be reset through forgiveness [Music] if you got somebody if you got some people you got something on your mind and you want to step out in faith to forgive I just want you to lift both hands right now [Music] I can feel the tension for some of you I don't want to forgive them they don't deserve this forgiveness they don't deserve for me to forgive them and you're absolutely right they don't deserve it but you do [Music] you deserve freedom [Music] you deserve to be set free if if it was a church or people in a church listen to me I am so sorry that that happened to you and you feel like I I can't find Freedom in church anymore I'm telling you your freedom is not found in a building your freedom is found through Jesus [Music] [Applause] [Music] come on lift those hands [Music] [Music] now I want you [Music] to get them on your mind and vocally say I forgive them I forgive them you don't have to call them by name because the person in front of you may have the same name as the person you're forgiven but I want you to verbally say I forgive them foreign [Music] in forgiveness [Music] come on if it's hard just lift those hands a little bit higher [Music] they stripped you of your innocence they don't deserve your forgiveness but you deserve it I forgive them they went around to your friend group and they spread lies about you and they said all these bad things about you they don't deserve your forgiveness but you do I forgive them [Music] a family member that molested you they don't deserve your forgiveness but you do I forgive them [Music] the person that raped you or took advantage of you they don't deserve your forgiveness but you do [Music] I forgive them [Music] so right now in the name of Jesus we thank you that there's freedom through this moment of forgiveness [Music] we ask today God that every time we remember that you would give us the strength to forgive right now we're stepping out in faith and we are believing God that you can heal this broken heart that you can fix these wounds and this internal bleeding God you can do the impossible when we return our lives back to you God you are more than able [Music] so today God we forgive not so that you could take the memory but so that you can take the pain [Music] the name of Jesus we thank you for freely giving to us so we freely give [Music] no longer do they have power over you [Music] no longer do they control what you think about yourself no longer will they dictate or determine how you walk out the rest of your life you are free free indeed by the blood Jesus Christ [Applause] [Music] come on one more time just lift your hands foreign [Music] Lord come on say it louder than that Lord every time I remember remind me to forgive I ask that you would heal my mind I asked that you would heal my thoughts I ask that you would heal my memory and God allowed me to see me the way that you see me and not through the lens of what they did to me in Jesus name amen and amen

Channel: Celebration Church

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Id: Q4Xq7G9gLdA

Length: 42min 35sec (2555 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 06 2023