Rev. Michael McGuire - The Release Of Forgiveness

I want to turn your attention to Mark chapter 6 6 and verse 14. Mark chapter 6 and verse 14. the Lord's been prodding me with this message and I know I told Pastor Brad that it wasn't a typical Wednesday night message and I loved what he said to me he said we're not going to box God in and so I believe that God is going to speak to his people through his word Mark Matthew chapter 6 and verse 14 it says for if ye forgive men their trespasses your heavenly father will forgive you but if you forgive not men their trespasses neither will your father forgive your trespasses Luke chapter 11 and 4 this is part of the Lord's Prayer says and forgive us our sins for we also forgive everyone that is indebted to us lead us not into temptation but Deliver Us from Evil and tonight I want to speak on this topic that I feel so strongly the Holy Ghost and it is the release of forgiveness the release of forgiveness you know sometimes God gives us a word preacher a word and he has given me that tonight I believe that what it's going to do is allow us to take the next step or a next step and your walk with God and your life I wonder if you would lift your hands before I begin to speak his word and would you ask God to penetrate your heart into work in your life here tonight Lord I Thank you for your word I thank you for the reign of the Holy Ghost that has begun to fall in this place here tonight I pray God that your word would go forth and that it would help us God that it would instruct us and that it would guide us and that it would teach us we thank you God for what your word is going to do and what you're going to do in this place we praise you amen you may be seated the practice of forgiveness is essential for every human being if there has not been yet there will be offenses there will be hurts there will be things said and actions taken against you that will rock your world now this can happen by family members this can happen by close friends or just people who may not have your best interest in mind and when it happens you have a choice will you choose to forgive or will you choose to hold on to that offense without showing forgiveness C.S Lewis observed forgiveness is such a beautiful word until you have something to forgive forgiveness is so important for every Christian and every Christian's life because without it you will not be released I'm going to talk about the release of forgiveness without forgiveness you will not be released to move forward to the destiny and growth and calling that God has purposed for your life and I felt this in prayer and so I'm going to just speak it to you as I feel it but if you are uh have you have been struggling to make Headway in your spiritual life you desire to grow deeper but you feel stuck I felt God prompt me to ask you to examine your life and ask him to help you examine your life to see if there is unforgiveness that has not been addressed sometimes there are things in our life that we don't realize and I believe that we I believe that you're here to grow in God and grow in the spirit because you wouldn't be here on a Wednesday night but sometimes it seems like like we become stuck and we can't move forward and we we can't seem to take the next step and I I feel in the Holy Ghost tonight that there is a reason for that and it is because there may be unforgiveness in your life as you look through the pages of the Bible you will see that Jesus is teaching a constant theme throughout the New Testament and that is forgiveness why did Jesus seem to make this point over and over it was so important because your forgiveness is conditioned on you forgiving others Jesus teaching his disciples to pray says this in Matthew 6 and 9 after this manner pray ye Our Father which art in heaven Hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come thy will be done on Earth as it is in heaven give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors lead us not into temptation but Deliver Us from Evil for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever amen he finishes that prayer and then after he finishes this prayer his very next words uh are him emphasizing this act of forgiveness he says in verse 14 for if you forgive men their trespasses your heavenly father will also forgive you but if you forgive men not their trespasses your heavenly father will not forgive your trespass I believe that he wants us to make sure that we understand that he is able and he is willing to forgive us our trespass and that word trespass could be an unintentional error or a willful transgression it doesn't matter if we accidentally sinned or if we willfully sin God is willing to forgive us amen are you thankful for that God is willing to forgive us first John 1 and 9 if we confess our sin he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness Colossians 3 and 13 for bearing one another says end forgiving one another If any man have a quarrel against any even as Christ forgave you so also do ye constant theme in the New Testament of forgiving others it is vital that Christians have a Biblical viewpoint especially on an issue as crucial as forgiveness forgiveness is so important because when I choose to forgive there is a release that happens and that's what I'm going to talk to you tonight the release of forgiveness first thing that I want to talk to you about is forgiveness first releases you it releases you bottling up and holding on to offenses causes all types of problems physically spiritually and emotionally I want to say that again bottling up and holding on to offenses in your life causes all types of problems physically spiritually and emotionally a failure to forgive leads to prolonged bitterness and you know bitterness doesn't happen overnight bitterness is like a weed it's out it starts out small but if it's not addressed its root system begins to grow deeper and deeper taking hold many times weeds are small and and they go unnoticed but in no time at all their root systems have begun to grow and the plant itself begins to get larger and larger becoming visible and more noticeable this just a few weeks ago I decided to plant grass in my front yard the yard looked horrible and I thought I'm gonna seed slit seed and and plant some grass and my my neighbor who's so full of Faith said well the last homeowner did that and nothing happened I don't know why you're wasting your time well I got that I was I was determined to make some grass grow let me tell you I watered that thing two to three times a day so I got that grass that slit Cedar and I went over it I don't know I put a lot of seed on there and I began to water it and water it and water it let that seed grow and just it just took a few weeks and there was a a lush green carpet of grass I mean I was amazed and that neighbor I went over to him and goes man did that grass grow said yes it did yes it did there was a lush green carpet of grass and and I was feeling pretty proud there that that came up and it looked nice and you know the next week went by and and I noticed that there were a couple of weeds here or there I didn't spray the weeds Roger before I aerated and seeded I just seeded the grass you know and I noticed that there were a few little weeds here and there and no big deal and then going on notice I you know get into the driveway and get out of the car and walk into the house and just go back and forth and and all of a sudden one day I I opened the car door and I looked out there and I thought where in the world did all of those weeds come from there were weeds everywhere taking over my grass I thought boy my neighbor he's he's going to tell me yeah I told you that wasn't going to work but those those weeds they were there they started out small and as I was watering there was there was grass that began to grow there was seed that that began to grow in the grass and it looked good but but just a little bit of time went by and those weeds begin to develop and their root systems begin to develop even under that grass and and they went unnoticed to me for just a little bit of time and then one day all of the sudden the weeds popped up and I began to see those weeds everywhere in my yard and our lives if bitterness is not addressed it may go unnoticed for a little while but after just a little bit of time the roots begin to grow inside and then it becomes more visible on the outside I'm sure that you've seen people who are so full of bitterness that that is the first thing that you see when you talk to them when they open their mouth bitterness just begins to spew out of their mouth it's caused by the inability to forgive others that have wronged you it's caused by the inability to let go of the hurt because of the bad things that have happened in your past or in your childhood or even in your adult life and because of those things that have happened to us we Harbor resentment and we Harbor anger and then bitterness begins to grow inside of us we didn't see it in the beginning we thought that we would just let it go and we thought that this unforgiveness would just just go away at some point in some time but after just a little bit of time those roots begin to grow and anger and resentment and bitterness begins to grow up out of our lives and then it becomes visible for many to see now listen to me I hope that you feel my heart and you can feel my spirit tonight I am not minimizing the hurt or the offense or the pain that you have endured I would say that that most people myself included that have not gone through the things that you have gone through and not face the things that you have faced probably do not understand the depth of the hurt that you've had to deal with and I'm talking about many times those that are close to us that have hurt us and sometimes it's taken us by surprise sometimes maybe we expect it but nonetheless there is hurt and pain and suffering and an offense that happens in our life and we just let it go and we let it go and we let it go and we feel like nobody else can understand me nobody understands what I'm going through but I I felt the Holy Ghost begin to speak to me as I was writing these words down on the page though I may not understand God understands what you have been through God understands what you have been through God has seen it and God is moved by your suffering you know he went through some pretty bad things himself Jesus went through pain and suffering and disappointment himself hurt and suffering himself he was rejected the Bible says that he came unto his own in his own received him not he was denied by the ones that loved him the most the one that walked with him and was closest to him denied him three times Jesus was beat and he was whipped and they put a crown of thorns on his head and they made him carry a cross and and there he hung on the cross and as he hung on the cross the soldiers began to stab him with that sword and and then they they began to gamble with his clothes and and you know what he said as he's on that cross as he's hanging there and and all of the things that are going through his mind all of the the denial and the Betrayal and the rejection and the hurt and the pain and the suffering and and they're killing him he looks up he looks down at what they're doing and he says father forgive them father forgive them and though you may say nobody understands what I've been through can I tell you that Jesus understands what you have gone through sometimes we use that as a crutch not to move forward sometimes we we use that as a means to stay where we're at because we don't want to address what we're going through or what we've been through because we can say well nobody understands what I've gone through and nobody understands me oh but I've come with a word from God today he understands you and it is time for you to take the next step of forgiveness forgiving somebody does not mean that you lost forgiving means that you won I'm going to say that again forgiving somebody does not mean that you lost forgiving somebody means that you won sometimes our pride stops us from doing the right thing and this forgiveness case it feels like if we forgive them it means that they won and we lost but forgiving somebody doesn't mean that you lost because as you forgive it releases toxic bitterness out of your life that has been stunting your spiritual growth it releases you to begin the healing process you see while you Harbor all of those feelings in your life the healing process cannot start but as you forgive it releases you to be healed as you forgive it releases you to take the next step as you forgive it releases you to move on with your life I've got some more things to say but I wonder would you lift your hands maybe you know somebody or maybe you're going through it but would you say God would you start this process of forgiveness and their life or maybe in my life Lord I Thank you for your word I thank you that you forgave us and I pray God now that this process of forgiveness would begin to start inside of us in our lives would you start that process today in our life forgiveness secondly first it releases you secondly it releases them Jesus never talked about a feeling when he talked about forgiveness forgiveness is not a Feeling though once it's done it can accompany a company a Feeling I don't know about you but I usually don't feel like forgiving somebody but when Jesus talks about forgiveness he's not talking about a feeling he's talking about debts Matthew 6 and 12 he says forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors Matthew 18 and 21 this should be on the screen I'm going to read this portion of scripture it says then Peter came unto him and said Lord how often will my brother sin against me and I forgive him as many as seven times Jesus said to him I do not say unto you seven times but 77 times therefore the Kingdom of Heaven may be compared to a King who wish to settle accounts with his servants when he began to settle one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents and since he could not pay his master ordered him to be sold watch this with his wife and children and all that he had and payment to be made so the servant fell on his knees imploring him have patience with me and I will pay you everything verse 27 and out of pity for him the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt when that same servant went out he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarian seized him and began to choke him saying pay what you owe so his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him have patience with me and I will pay you he refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt when his fellow servants saw what had taken place they were greatly distressed they went and reported to their master all that had taken place then his master summoned him and said you Wicked servant I forgave you all the debt because you pleaded with me should you not have mercy on your fellow servant as I've had mercy on you and in Anger his master delivered him to the jailers until he should pay all his debt so also my heavenly father will do to every one of you if you do not forgive your brother from your heart Jesus was and is very serious about forgiveness Peter thought that there should be a limit on forgiveness seven times we could put limitations on forgiveness if they cross the line of this offense it is Unforgivable lines such as murder or rape lines such as physical abuse or sexual abuse and and the list goes on and on and on but first John 1 and 9 says if we confess our sins he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness it doesn't say certain sins it doesn't say small sins there was no limitation on sins just that if we confess our sins he is faithful and he is just to forgive us our sins Jesus underlining and highlighting The Point again that in order for us to move forward and receive forgiveness of our debt we must also be willing to forgive the debts of others so Peter is asking how many times should I forgive Jesus how many limitations can I put on forgiveness and Jesus says forgive their debts so yours will be forgiven in other words people are probably he said seven times Peter said that and Jesus said no 77 times in other words people are probably going to fail over and over again and you may forgive them and I'm going to be real with you and they may offend you again the same way right you may forgive them and that same offense May pop up again Jesus says you have to forgive them again how many times oh I wept when I thought about this how many times have you had to ask God for forgiveness in your life how many times have you repented and many times it's not for a different thing different thing different thing different thing different thing and maybe I'm the only one but many times it's it's I've repented and asked for forgiveness and then it's the same thing again and sometimes it's the same thing again Jesus being full of grace and full of Mercy says if you will confess your sins I will forgive you and he expects you and I to offer the same forgiveness to others I'm glad that he doesn't put a limit on forgiveness I'm glad that there is no limitation on what he will forgive when I confess my sin he is faithful and just to forgive it we must follow his teaching and pattern to forgive others even if it means over and over again you know biblical forgiveness let me set the record straight here biblical forgiveness is not forgetting what happened or letting someone off the hook we feel like we lose sometimes when we forgive somebody because we're letting them off the hook biblical forgiveness is not letting somebody off of the hook biblical forgiveness is not absolving the person of any wrongdoing that's not what it is biblical forgiveness is is not restoring trust and Reconciliation to that person though hopefully that will happen but it doesn't happen immediately just because I forgive somebody doesn't mean that that I trust them 100 and we are reconciled that's not what Biblical forgiveness is but we hope and pray that that happens down the road when we forgive we relinquish our right of payment for the wrong done and we entrust Justice to God when we forgive we release the right of payment of their debts and we relinquish the Justice to God you see requiring someone else to change or own their fault before you forgive them that keeps you the prisoner because if you're waiting for somebody to either ask for forgiveness or own what they did you might be waiting a long long time this forgiveness this forgiveness says I'm releasing them of the debt that is owed and I'm relinquishing it to God forgiveness is the willingness to stop rehearsing the offense say that again forgiveness as when we stop rehearsing the offense I want you to think about this because the Lord impressed me about this if you have been if you rehearse the offense that's happened to you over and over and over if you talk to people about the offense that's happened to you over and over and over now I'm not saying that it's not um I'm not saying that it's not important for us to talk to other people with the healing process that begins to happen but if the only thing that is on your mind is the offense that's happened to you and you think about that over and over and over and over then I want you to think about it has forgiveness really happened have you really from the heart forgave Jesus said he's talking about forgiveness for your brother from the heart and Matthew 18 and 35.

it's easy for us to say well I forgive them I forgive them words are easy to say I forgive but have you done it from the heart forgiveness is an act of obedience and it's between you and God see when we forgive others it releases them from their debt to us that's what he's asking he says forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors so when we forgive them we are releasing them from the debt to us our forgiveness not only releases them I'm talking about releasing them right now it not only releases them but we see it in this case that the debtor's family was released from paying the price of what the debtor had done sometimes our families are affected directly and indirectly from our actions sometimes the people that are closest around us are

affected directly and indirectly by our actions you see but when you release them when you forgive them not only are you releasing them but you are releasing their family and the ones that are around them when you forgive someone it not only affects them but it affects the people around them forgiveness releases them and finally this release of forgiveness forgiveness releases God biblical obedience to forgive releases God to give unlimited forgiveness to us forgiveness releases God to start the miracle of healing in your life the power of gods are one of God's greatest gifts as forgiveness and that heals the broken relationships that heals the past trauma and pain it heals anxiety and fear and bitterness and I I felt as I was praying over this

message that God was speaking to individual people and so I'm going to speak to you and I don't know who it is but you have may have thought that you will never be whole again you may have thought that you will never recover because of the offense there is something wrong with you and you feel that there is no hope for you and no one will love you and no one will care for you and no one will respect you but I've come to shatter that lie from hell and that life from the enemy into pieces today and I've come to declare because of your choice to forgive you are releasing God to perform a miracle in your life you are releasing God to begin the process of healing and restoration in your life because of forgiveness you your life is not over because

of the offense your life is being restored because of the forgiveness hear me somebody today you may have counted yourself out and crossed yourself off the lifts because of the offense that has happened to you but your forgiveness has released God to do a mighty work in you and through you are you thankful for that would you clap your hands if you're thankful for the Forgiveness that releases God to do a miracle in your life stand with me if you will God has a Destiny for you but you have not been able to walk into it because of bitterness and unforgiveness in your heart I know listen to me I know I fought this a little bit because this is on a Wednesday night God has a Destiny for you God's calling on your life and has a calling on your life

but it has not been able to flourish because your focus has been on the offense rather than on forgiveness your spiritual growth has been stunted because of weeds of anger resentment bitterness that have choked out the spiritual things that were once growing in your life but when we choose to forgive you are releasing God to show you the destiny that he has planned for you you are releasing God to let you walk into the destiny that he has planned for your life when you choose to forgive you are releasing God to restore the calling that he has on your life choose to forgive that you are releasing God to start the process of spiritual growth again in your life I don't know why I don't know why God has stopped me on that growth so many times but

I feel like there's somebody maybe watching maybe in this place that that you were ready to grow you were ready to do things for God you were ready to grow spiritually but all of a sudden that growth stopped God wants to start that process of growth in your life again when you forgive you're releasing God to begin the healing process in your life there is a release that's going to happen when you choose to forgive it's going to release you it's going to release them and it's going to release God to do a mighty work in your life I wonder I want to I want to just take a minute to pray here you can do it at your seat that's fine but if you find yourself in a spot where you've been unable to forgive somebody for some offense tonight would be a good

night to start that process of forgiveness in your life because it will begin a process of healing that is going to take you to the next step would you bow your heads now would you begin to pray that God would begin to start that process of forgiveness and healing Lord I Thank you for your spirit I thank you God for your power for your presence that we feel I thank you God that you forgive us it doesn't matter how many times we mess up it doesn't matter how many times we sin how many times we fail over and over again you are willing to forgive us God I thank you for that forgiveness and I pray now that there would be a release of forgiveness that's happening in this place here today I pray God that first steps would be taken in people's lives

today that they will start the process of forgiveness in the name of Jesus in the name of Jesus in the name of foreign Hallelujah