WEBVTT 00:00:00.510 --> 00:00:03.089 If you're a football fan, last weekend, this 00:00:03.089 --> 00:00:06.790 weekend, next week, right? NFL today, college 00:00:06.790 --> 00:00:09.230 championship tomorrow. It's just, it's some of 00:00:09.230 --> 00:00:11.070 the best time to watch some really great football 00:00:11.070 --> 00:00:14.269 on TV. And when you coach football, and I used 00:00:14.269 --> 00:00:17.089 to do that for a lot of years, there's something 00:00:17.089 --> 00:00:18.289 about coaching football that's a lot of fun, 00:00:18.350 --> 00:00:20.589 but my most fun I had coaching football when 00:00:20.589 --> 00:00:23.550 I was able to coach the youngest players and 00:00:23.550 --> 00:00:25.149 the ones that were playing for the first time. 00:00:26.320 --> 00:00:28.260 All right, so the question as a coach with all 00:00:28.260 --> 00:00:29.820 these players, how do you tell a good football 00:00:29.820 --> 00:00:34.219 player? And so you have them run the 40 -yard 00:00:34.219 --> 00:00:37.939 dash, see how fast they are. Have them run around 00:00:37.939 --> 00:00:40.700 the track for a mile and see who can stay standing, 00:00:40.700 --> 00:00:42.399 not puking by halfway through, see if they did 00:00:42.399 --> 00:00:45.479 any kind of running over the summer. Make them 00:00:45.479 --> 00:00:47.420 lift weights, make them bench press, squat, see 00:00:47.420 --> 00:00:50.520 how strong they are. See who can throw, spiral, 00:00:50.799 --> 00:00:54.969 see who can actually catch. Try to find a kicker. 00:00:55.229 --> 00:00:56.450 That's one of the hardest things in football. 00:00:56.509 --> 00:00:58.890 Maybe someone can kick the ball more than a few 00:00:58.890 --> 00:01:02.609 yards through the air. So you find all those 00:01:02.609 --> 00:01:06.969 skilled people, but then if you coach football, 00:01:07.150 --> 00:01:10.790 you know the key thing that has to be there. 00:01:12.209 --> 00:01:15.890 Can they take a hit? And you don't know that 00:01:15.890 --> 00:01:18.620 until it happens. Whether it's in practice or 00:01:18.620 --> 00:01:21.659 a game, and you're watching, and this player's 00:01:21.659 --> 00:01:23.579 all excited about playing, and all of a sudden 00:01:23.579 --> 00:01:25.560 they don't see it coming, and man, they just 00:01:25.560 --> 00:01:28.060 get creamed, and you're just like, that's going 00:01:28.060 --> 00:01:31.319 to hurt. You go up to them and check if they're 00:01:31.319 --> 00:01:33.459 injured, and they're not injured, but they're 00:01:33.459 --> 00:01:34.939 hurt, right, because there's a lot of pain, and 00:01:34.939 --> 00:01:36.219 there might be a little bit of tear if they're 00:01:36.219 --> 00:01:37.620 the youngest players, they're not used to it. 00:01:38.540 --> 00:01:41.879 And then you watch. Are they able to get back 00:01:41.879 --> 00:01:45.700 in and... Stay in there? Or in practice, when 00:01:45.700 --> 00:01:48.359 they see the hit coming, do they clench up? Because 00:01:48.359 --> 00:01:50.480 if you play football, you know this. If you tighten 00:01:50.480 --> 00:01:52.239 up, you're probably going to get hurt. Your body's 00:01:52.239 --> 00:01:55.680 just going to kind of let it loose. Or do they 00:01:55.680 --> 00:01:59.239 avoid the contact, right? You never know. But 00:01:59.239 --> 00:02:03.439 the best players have to be able to take the 00:02:03.439 --> 00:02:07.459 hits because that's the game. And what's true 00:02:07.459 --> 00:02:10.280 in that game is true in, I guess, the game of 00:02:10.280 --> 00:02:15.620 life. You've got to take the hits. They're always 00:02:15.620 --> 00:02:19.479 going to be there. And you know it, right? You 00:02:19.479 --> 00:02:21.960 know that there are going to be people that are 00:02:21.960 --> 00:02:25.379 mean. That they're in school. There are kids 00:02:25.379 --> 00:02:29.099 who are going to be bullies. That mean words 00:02:29.099 --> 00:02:32.139 are going to be said. That gossip is going to 00:02:32.139 --> 00:02:35.039 be there. There are going to be hurtful words 00:02:35.039 --> 00:02:38.699 and hurtful actions. As you get a little bit 00:02:38.699 --> 00:02:40.379 older, you start to realize something too is 00:02:40.379 --> 00:02:44.319 those same words and actions and gossip, it starts 00:02:44.319 --> 00:02:46.379 to dig a little bit deeper, right? Words really 00:02:46.379 --> 00:02:49.219 hurt. And sometimes hurtful words and hurtful 00:02:49.219 --> 00:02:54.039 actions ruin relationships. Really important 00:02:54.039 --> 00:03:02.080 ones. Mess up lives in major ways. Cause real 00:03:02.080 --> 00:03:10.919 pain and real hurt. And then I have to realize 00:03:10.919 --> 00:03:13.099 something, that the people that said that or 00:03:13.099 --> 00:03:15.520 did that are often the people that are closest 00:03:15.520 --> 00:03:20.400 to me. A sibling, a parent, a spouse, a friend. 00:03:22.479 --> 00:03:25.080 And then I want to have this, right? I want, 00:03:25.259 --> 00:03:28.439 although I know I shouldn't, I want payback. 00:03:29.419 --> 00:03:37.789 I want revenge. Just a little bit. TV. As Christians, 00:03:37.830 --> 00:03:39.830 we know that that's not what God wants us to 00:03:39.830 --> 00:03:47.490 do. And so how do you forgive? And I really think 00:03:47.490 --> 00:03:50.870 for a lot of people in life, this is a major 00:03:50.870 --> 00:03:53.669 issue, that there is something that's in front 00:03:53.669 --> 00:03:55.750 of you, there is something out there, that there 00:03:55.750 --> 00:03:59.210 is a person or people in your life that are constantly 00:03:59.210 --> 00:04:02.569 kind of being negative in your life, that it's 00:04:02.569 --> 00:04:07.789 hard for you to get past it. And so this morning 00:04:07.789 --> 00:04:08.930 we're going to look at that, and we're going 00:04:08.930 --> 00:04:11.490 to look at that through the life of a man named 00:04:11.490 --> 00:04:14.229 Joseph. And we're going to take just a little 00:04:14.229 --> 00:04:17.910 bit towards the end of his life. But before we 00:04:17.910 --> 00:04:19.949 get to the end of his life and see what he does, 00:04:20.089 --> 00:04:24.310 we have to know the arc of his life. Remember 00:04:24.310 --> 00:04:26.610 Joseph in the Old Testament? He is one of the 00:04:26.610 --> 00:04:31.209 12 sons of Jacob. There are two sons of Jacob, 00:04:31.290 --> 00:04:34.250 and their most favorite, it's Benjamin and Joseph. 00:04:35.399 --> 00:04:37.620 And Jacob showed a lot of favoritism to Joseph 00:04:37.620 --> 00:04:40.660 and how the Bible portrays Joseph as not someone 00:04:40.660 --> 00:04:43.939 who was really humbled for that favor by dad, 00:04:44.000 --> 00:04:45.639 but just the opposite. He was just an arrogant 00:04:45.639 --> 00:04:52.040 kid. And his brothers hated him. God gave Joseph 00:04:52.040 --> 00:04:55.939 a gift of dream interpretation. You might know 00:04:55.939 --> 00:04:58.240 Joseph for the story of the coat of many colors, 00:04:58.360 --> 00:05:00.459 the scene in the musical. But the other part 00:05:00.459 --> 00:05:02.980 of that story is that that dream interpretation, 00:05:03.220 --> 00:05:05.139 the way Joseph got one of these dreams and essentially 00:05:05.139 --> 00:05:07.220 told his brothers, yeah, you're going to bow 00:05:07.220 --> 00:05:11.540 down to me someday, you and dad, and not in a 00:05:11.540 --> 00:05:13.160 way that made the brothers like him anymore. 00:05:13.980 --> 00:05:16.060 Remember the story of Joseph? One day he was 00:05:16.060 --> 00:05:18.060 going out to the field to meet his brothers and 00:05:18.060 --> 00:05:20.399 they saw him coming and they said, let's kill 00:05:20.399 --> 00:05:24.779 him. One brother knew that wasn't right, so I 00:05:24.779 --> 00:05:26.759 will put him in a well, I'll come back and release 00:05:26.759 --> 00:05:30.709 him, but... In the meantime, another brother, 00:05:30.810 --> 00:05:33.709 Judah, said, hey, look at this. It's a caravan 00:05:33.709 --> 00:05:36.569 of slave traders. Let's sell Joseph to them. 00:05:37.250 --> 00:05:41.790 And so they did. They told dad Joseph was killed 00:05:41.790 --> 00:05:46.029 by a wild animal. Joseph sold to a man named 00:05:46.029 --> 00:05:51.529 Potiphar. High up in the land of Egypt, underneath 00:05:51.529 --> 00:05:55.819 Pharaoh. And so now Joseph being sold into slavery, 00:05:56.100 --> 00:05:58.500 working in this man's house, and things are going 00:05:58.500 --> 00:06:01.720 well. The Bible portrays it. And then, no fault 00:06:01.720 --> 00:06:05.240 of Joseph, Potiphar's wife makes advances. Joseph 00:06:05.240 --> 00:06:06.980 stops her and says, hey, I'm not going to do 00:06:06.980 --> 00:06:09.180 such a wicked thing and sin against God. And 00:06:09.180 --> 00:06:14.819 off to prison he goes. In prison, things go a 00:06:14.819 --> 00:06:17.019 little bit better. He helps some of the prisoners 00:06:17.019 --> 00:06:19.600 out, interprets dreams, and they forget about 00:06:19.600 --> 00:06:24.740 him. One's released. Joseph still lingers. Then 00:06:24.740 --> 00:06:28.600 Pharaoh has a dream. The guy remembers there's 00:06:28.600 --> 00:06:31.379 a guy in prison who, oh yeah, I know a guy, Pharaoh. 00:06:33.160 --> 00:06:36.899 Joseph interprets Pharaoh's dream that there's 00:06:36.899 --> 00:06:39.920 going to be a famine coming. And all of a sudden, 00:06:39.980 --> 00:06:44.839 Joseph, prison, now elevated to second in command 00:06:44.839 --> 00:06:50.529 of Egypt, starts to plan for this famine. The 00:06:50.529 --> 00:06:53.610 famine comes and life comes right full circle. 00:06:53.810 --> 00:06:56.569 Famine isn't just in Egypt. Famine's all over 00:06:56.569 --> 00:07:02.250 the world. And guess who is starving? Jacob and 00:07:02.250 --> 00:07:06.629 his brothers. And guess who comes to Joseph's? 00:07:07.329 --> 00:07:12.009 The brothers. And the Bible for a couple chapters 00:07:12.009 --> 00:07:15.370 has this kind of tense exchange with Joseph and 00:07:15.370 --> 00:07:17.709 his brothers. But the brothers don't know it's 00:07:17.709 --> 00:07:19.790 Joseph, right? Because Joseph is an Egyptian. 00:07:20.170 --> 00:07:22.430 He is speaking through an interpreter that they 00:07:22.430 --> 00:07:24.110 don't see through his face and his robes and 00:07:24.110 --> 00:07:27.430 his language. They start to realize something 00:07:27.430 --> 00:07:32.290 as Joseph in this tense exchange. Uh -oh. Not 00:07:32.290 --> 00:07:34.970 that they feel bad for what they did, but it's 00:07:34.970 --> 00:07:38.610 like karma. We're getting paid back for what 00:07:38.610 --> 00:07:47.290 we did. And then Joseph finally had enough. The 00:07:47.290 --> 00:07:50.870 gig is up and here's where we begin. Notice what 00:07:50.870 --> 00:07:53.129 Joseph does. He's going to tell them who he really 00:07:53.129 --> 00:07:57.189 is. Joseph could no longer control himself before 00:07:57.189 --> 00:08:00.050 all his attendants and he cried out, have everyone 00:08:00.050 --> 00:08:03.829 leave my presence. So there was no one with Joseph 00:08:03.829 --> 00:08:06.939 when he made himself known to his brothers. And 00:08:06.939 --> 00:08:09.639 he wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard him 00:08:09.639 --> 00:08:12.540 and Pharaoh's household heard about it. Joseph 00:08:12.540 --> 00:08:15.519 said to his brothers, I am Joseph. Is my father 00:08:15.519 --> 00:08:19.160 still living? But his brothers were not able 00:08:19.160 --> 00:08:22.540 to answer him because they were terrified at 00:08:22.540 --> 00:08:25.160 his presence. Then Joseph said to his brothers, 00:08:25.300 --> 00:08:28.279 Come close to me. When they had done so, he said, 00:08:28.399 --> 00:08:31.649 I am your brother Joseph. the one you sold into 00:08:31.649 --> 00:08:34.610 Egypt, and now do not be distressed and do not 00:08:34.610 --> 00:08:36.830 be angry with yourselves for selling me here, 00:08:36.929 --> 00:08:40.169 because it was to save lives that God sent me 00:08:40.169 --> 00:08:42.850 ahead of you. For two years now there has been 00:08:42.850 --> 00:08:45.250 famine in the land, and for the next five years 00:08:45.250 --> 00:08:48.230 there will be no plowing and reaping. But God 00:08:48.230 --> 00:08:51.090 sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant 00:08:51.090 --> 00:08:54.789 on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance. 00:08:55.759 --> 00:08:58.139 So then it was not you who sent me here, but 00:08:58.139 --> 00:09:01.580 God. He made me father to Pharaoh, lord of an 00:09:01.580 --> 00:09:04.960 entire household and ruler of all Egypt. Now 00:09:04.960 --> 00:09:07.679 hurry back to my father and say to him, this 00:09:07.679 --> 00:09:10.019 is what your son Joseph says. God has made me 00:09:10.019 --> 00:09:12.820 lord of all Egypt. Come down to me. Don't delay. 00:09:12.919 --> 00:09:14.899 You shall live in the region of Goshen and be 00:09:14.899 --> 00:09:18.559 near me. You, your children and grandchildren, 00:09:18.779 --> 00:09:24.919 your flocks and herds and all you have. When 00:09:24.919 --> 00:09:29.139 Joseph came there and the brothers there, and 00:09:29.139 --> 00:09:34.919 what did he say? Aha, finally. How the tables 00:09:34.919 --> 00:09:39.679 have turned, brothers. I'm going to let you just 00:09:39.679 --> 00:09:42.919 experience just a little bit of my life the last 00:09:42.919 --> 00:09:49.720 20 or so years. No, not at all. That back and 00:09:49.720 --> 00:09:53.580 forth, those words from Joseph, right? His weeping. 00:09:55.370 --> 00:09:59.809 His just, hey, how's dad? Everyone's starving. 00:09:59.870 --> 00:10:01.950 You're coming here. I'm going to bring you to 00:10:01.950 --> 00:10:03.629 the land of Goshen. That's a really beautiful 00:10:03.629 --> 00:10:05.509 area. Everybody's going to come here. It's going 00:10:05.509 --> 00:10:11.789 to be great. And then you hear those words and 00:10:11.789 --> 00:10:16.710 then remember Jesus' words. How does Joseph say, 00:10:16.909 --> 00:10:23.950 I love you in that way? Because sometime, Joseph 00:10:23.950 --> 00:10:32.029 had to have forgiven them from his heart. Maybe 00:10:32.029 --> 00:10:34.529 it was when they walked through the door the 00:10:34.529 --> 00:10:39.149 first time. Maybe it was when he was languishing 00:10:39.149 --> 00:10:43.049 in prison. Maybe it was when he's sitting in 00:10:43.049 --> 00:10:45.889 the well before he was sold. He's like, oh yeah, 00:10:45.970 --> 00:10:48.850 I am fine. I know I shouldn't have said that 00:10:48.850 --> 00:10:52.259 stuff. I don't know where it was in Joseph's 00:10:52.259 --> 00:10:55.100 life. It's finally dawned on him. But he made 00:10:55.100 --> 00:11:01.440 peace with his brothers. Before they did what? 00:11:02.799 --> 00:11:09.299 Before they actually said, I'm sorry. He forgave 00:11:09.299 --> 00:11:13.080 his brothers before they did what? Before they 00:11:13.080 --> 00:11:16.139 said, Joseph, we were really mean to you. What 00:11:16.139 --> 00:11:20.029 we did was, we shouldn't even. Actually, when 00:11:20.029 --> 00:11:22.809 you kind of read how his brothers talk, I don't 00:11:22.809 --> 00:11:24.710 know if they've ever actually spoke those words. 00:11:26.929 --> 00:11:35.490 But Joseph forgave from the heart. He didn't 00:11:35.490 --> 00:11:40.909 collect on the debt he was owed. See, that's 00:11:40.909 --> 00:11:44.799 forgiveness, right? Forgiveness really is you're 00:11:44.799 --> 00:11:47.299 saying to someone, I am not going to collect 00:11:47.299 --> 00:11:51.820 on the debt you owe me. Here's what I mean by 00:11:51.820 --> 00:11:56.259 that. When you're wronged, right? When someone 00:11:56.259 --> 00:11:58.440 does something wrong to you, says something bad 00:11:58.440 --> 00:12:02.220 to you, is mean to you, right, in light terms. 00:12:02.320 --> 00:12:05.440 Or, right, even as it gets worse and worse and 00:12:05.440 --> 00:12:08.139 what they did or what they said is so terrible, 00:12:08.259 --> 00:12:12.279 it ruins a family and ruins relationships. the 00:12:12.279 --> 00:12:15.659 person that is the one offended against and sinned 00:12:15.659 --> 00:12:21.539 against says, man, you think you owe me. And 00:12:21.539 --> 00:12:23.460 the debt I am going to collect is you're going 00:12:23.460 --> 00:12:29.500 to feel similar pain, similar grief, similar 00:12:29.500 --> 00:12:34.539 heartache, similar struggles. At the very least, 00:12:34.539 --> 00:12:36.960 I want you just to understand just a little bit 00:12:36.960 --> 00:12:43.419 of what you caused me to do. And what you caused 00:12:43.419 --> 00:12:44.700 are light. And I want you to just experience 00:12:44.700 --> 00:12:51.440 just the mess that you've caused. See, to forgive 00:12:51.440 --> 00:12:55.620 someone is to say, I am not going to get that 00:12:55.620 --> 00:12:59.039 debt repaid. I am not going to get revenge on 00:12:59.039 --> 00:13:03.559 that person. But here's what's hard about that. 00:13:04.960 --> 00:13:09.740 The debt has to be paid. And the debt's paid 00:13:09.740 --> 00:13:17.460 by you then. you don't get to have revenge then. 00:13:20.100 --> 00:13:23.679 In a similar way, think of it this way. If you 00:13:23.679 --> 00:13:25.820 walk into a house and you knock over a lamp and 00:13:25.820 --> 00:13:29.159 you break it, don't worry about it, accident, 00:13:29.399 --> 00:13:33.740 no big deal. The lamp's broken. Just because 00:13:33.740 --> 00:13:36.240 I said no big deal, I forgave you, doesn't mean 00:13:36.240 --> 00:13:39.059 that there's not a debt. I have to go out and 00:13:39.059 --> 00:13:43.039 buy a new lamp. Not my fault, your fault. I don't 00:13:43.039 --> 00:13:45.879 care, right? I'll take care of it. That's the 00:13:45.879 --> 00:13:50.879 same thing with forgiveness. You can't collect 00:13:50.879 --> 00:13:56.559 the debt. You have to take it. You have to pay 00:13:56.559 --> 00:14:03.240 for it. And here's what's hard about that. That 00:14:03.240 --> 00:14:05.200 goes against every part of our being, right? 00:14:05.480 --> 00:14:11.340 You know, that person truly did hurt you. Your 00:14:11.340 --> 00:14:16.129 life is truly detoured now. Everything you hoped 00:14:16.129 --> 00:14:18.169 and dreamed for might have blown up in smoke, 00:14:18.330 --> 00:14:23.929 and it's not your fault. And Jesus now says, 00:14:24.149 --> 00:14:33.190 forgive that person from your heart. Here's the 00:14:33.190 --> 00:14:36.850 alternative, isn't it? The alternative is, be 00:14:36.850 --> 00:14:40.889 angry with them. Every time you see them, walk 00:14:40.889 --> 00:14:45.009 the other way. And you know how that feels when 00:14:45.009 --> 00:14:48.470 that person is there. In your heart, we start 00:14:48.470 --> 00:14:49.830 to realize why Jesus says you've got to forgive 00:14:49.830 --> 00:14:51.750 from the heart because if you don't forgive from 00:14:51.750 --> 00:14:56.409 the heart, what stays in there is those feelings 00:14:56.409 --> 00:15:01.009 of anger and revenge and that just stays. And 00:15:01.009 --> 00:15:03.629 you know that kind of heart, that is going to 00:15:03.629 --> 00:15:07.710 come out in other ways. And then suddenly, right, 00:15:07.789 --> 00:15:11.629 that person no longer hurting you because they've 00:15:11.629 --> 00:15:15.789 moved on. But the hurt is still there and you 00:15:15.789 --> 00:15:17.990 kind of re -hurt yourself over and over again. 00:15:18.129 --> 00:15:20.250 And in school, one of the phrases that we start 00:15:20.250 --> 00:15:24.529 to teach the kids is, in Christ, I'm not a victim, 00:15:24.610 --> 00:15:29.289 but I'm a victor. What it means is, in Christ, 00:15:29.289 --> 00:15:34.730 I am forgiving him. So how do you do that? Look 00:15:34.730 --> 00:15:37.190 what Joseph did. In his words, you kind of see 00:15:37.190 --> 00:15:40.950 how Joseph's able to forgive, right? Notice throughout 00:15:40.950 --> 00:15:43.600 his... words to the brothers, there's this phrase 00:15:43.600 --> 00:15:48.360 over and over again, God sent me. It was not 00:15:48.360 --> 00:15:51.000 you who sent me here, but God was a part of this. 00:15:51.659 --> 00:15:55.059 God has made me Lord over all Egypt, right? Joseph 00:15:55.059 --> 00:15:58.059 understood that his life arc and all the different 00:15:58.059 --> 00:16:00.240 things that happened to him, he saw God's hand 00:16:00.240 --> 00:16:06.419 working through that. And then I'm guessing you're 00:16:06.419 --> 00:16:09.259 hearing that and you're like, yeah, I guess, 00:16:09.279 --> 00:16:11.519 Pastor, if... I was put second in command of 00:16:11.519 --> 00:16:13.759 the United States and I won the lottery. I feel 00:16:13.759 --> 00:16:16.259 good. Oh God, I see your plan now. My life is 00:16:16.259 --> 00:16:18.580 in tatters, but suddenly now everything is mine. 00:16:18.659 --> 00:16:20.580 So yeah, I'm good with whatever's done to me. 00:16:23.279 --> 00:16:28.080 No. You have to understand and believe some of 00:16:28.080 --> 00:16:30.299 the truths in Scripture that says God truly does 00:16:30.299 --> 00:16:36.019 have a plan for you. God's promises are true 00:16:36.019 --> 00:16:42.740 for you too. And I'm not trying to minimize or 00:16:42.740 --> 00:16:47.720 say it doesn't matter. Because you know that 00:16:47.720 --> 00:16:49.460 in the situation in life where you have been 00:16:49.460 --> 00:16:51.940 wronged and things have been terrible, that it 00:16:51.940 --> 00:16:58.460 truly is bad and rough and difficult. But there 00:16:58.460 --> 00:17:00.779 are promises that God has for you that says, 00:17:00.879 --> 00:17:03.659 I plan to be there and to surround you and to 00:17:03.659 --> 00:17:06.619 be your constant presence. And we've got to trust 00:17:06.619 --> 00:17:11.200 in that. I think one of the problems we have 00:17:11.200 --> 00:17:13.480 with this thought of forgiving from the heart, 00:17:13.599 --> 00:17:16.559 even though the person around me might not be 00:17:16.559 --> 00:17:19.480 repentant towards me, right? Because I think 00:17:19.480 --> 00:17:22.220 in the Christian mind, we say, I forgive. When 00:17:22.220 --> 00:17:24.299 they apologize, I forgive them. When they feel 00:17:24.299 --> 00:17:32.019 sorry, I forgive them. No. I want a person to 00:17:32.019 --> 00:17:34.579 apologize. I want a person to repent, right? 00:17:34.680 --> 00:17:37.599 Because that's what God wants. But my heart of 00:17:37.599 --> 00:17:42.319 forgiveness, is not contingent upon acts of repentance. 00:17:42.539 --> 00:17:50.799 It is not contingent upon an apology. But it 00:17:50.799 --> 00:17:54.299 doesn't mean that the relationship is all going 00:17:54.299 --> 00:17:57.480 to be perfect and okay now, right? You understand 00:17:57.480 --> 00:18:00.880 this. In a marriage, sometimes, right, we might 00:18:00.880 --> 00:18:03.960 say or do things towards our spouse and, oh yeah, 00:18:04.000 --> 00:18:06.759 I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that. And your 00:18:06.759 --> 00:18:10.579 spouse says, I forgive you, Tim. And then months 00:18:10.579 --> 00:18:13.940 later, maybe you say the same thing, and then 00:18:13.940 --> 00:18:15.940 your spouse says back to you, you're doing the 00:18:15.940 --> 00:18:18.200 same thing you did a couple months ago, and your 00:18:18.200 --> 00:18:20.359 response is, I thought you forgave me for that. 00:18:22.480 --> 00:18:26.660 Yeah, but we're not talking about forgiveness 00:18:26.660 --> 00:18:28.519 of the past. What we're talking about is trust, 00:18:28.720 --> 00:18:34.720 right? Trust has to be rebuilt. And so there 00:18:34.720 --> 00:18:38.670 is forgiveness. But then there are consequences 00:18:38.670 --> 00:18:41.650 in life. And sometimes forgiveness doesn't mean 00:18:41.650 --> 00:18:44.029 instant reconciliation. Sometimes forgiveness 00:18:44.029 --> 00:18:45.710 doesn't mean that everything is back the way 00:18:45.710 --> 00:18:48.250 it's normal and we're all good. Not all the time. 00:18:49.390 --> 00:18:52.289 We have to set boundaries in our lives of people 00:18:52.289 --> 00:18:54.990 that might be hurting us and not really doing 00:18:54.990 --> 00:18:58.210 what they need to do. But it doesn't mean that 00:18:58.210 --> 00:19:02.289 I can't forgive them or my forgiveness towards 00:19:02.289 --> 00:19:05.369 them is contingent upon them making better choices. 00:19:09.609 --> 00:19:11.569 In our growth groups this week, there's a question 00:19:11.569 --> 00:19:14.150 at the end and it's going to ask, what person 00:19:14.150 --> 00:19:18.470 in your life do you need to forgive? And what 00:19:18.470 --> 00:19:23.809 steps can you take to do that? Some people may 00:19:23.809 --> 00:19:28.529 not have anybody in their life to forgive. And 00:19:28.529 --> 00:19:32.970 if you're not really sure if you do, I guess 00:19:32.970 --> 00:19:35.670 think of the person that maybe you struggle with 00:19:35.670 --> 00:19:38.109 and that might be the person, oh, no, this might 00:19:38.109 --> 00:19:40.240 be the one. I guess here's a question for you. 00:19:40.299 --> 00:19:46.839 Can you tonight go home, pray for them? When 00:19:46.839 --> 00:19:49.160 they walk, if they'd walk into church and sit 00:19:49.160 --> 00:19:56.339 nearby you, are you happy they came? Or are you 00:19:56.339 --> 00:20:00.980 angry that they're here and this is my one spot 00:20:00.980 --> 00:20:03.380 and I can't have you? And you are remembering, 00:20:03.539 --> 00:20:06.119 are you seeing them in what they did to you? 00:20:07.529 --> 00:20:09.430 Do you have just this constant feeling that you 00:20:09.430 --> 00:20:12.910 wish that, man, every time I see them or even 00:20:12.910 --> 00:20:14.849 worse, right, you see a positive thing in their 00:20:14.849 --> 00:20:16.869 life on social media and it just grinds your 00:20:16.869 --> 00:20:20.789 gears. You screwed our life up and now look at 00:20:20.789 --> 00:20:25.609 you. You should not be having this. I think if 00:20:25.609 --> 00:20:30.289 those feelings are there, there is a wound that 00:20:30.289 --> 00:20:35.309 you have that has not yet been healed. And the 00:20:35.309 --> 00:20:38.990 wounds that haven't been healed can only be healed 00:20:38.990 --> 00:20:47.230 through forgiveness. See, the life of Joseph 00:20:47.230 --> 00:20:55.250 gives us an example of forgiveness. But when 00:20:55.250 --> 00:20:58.549 you hear it, if you see it, and if you have this 00:20:58.549 --> 00:21:00.630 issue, you're like, I don't know how much that 00:21:00.630 --> 00:21:07.670 helps. I'm not Joseph, Pastor. Here's the thing 00:21:07.670 --> 00:21:11.990 with Scripture, especially Old Testament people, 00:21:12.210 --> 00:21:17.869 always are meant also to point us to Jesus. And 00:21:17.869 --> 00:21:21.009 you think, centuries after Joseph left, Joseph 00:21:21.009 --> 00:21:24.430 points me to Jesus because there you have Jesus 00:21:24.430 --> 00:21:30.569 who was betrayed by his brothers, sold for silver, 00:21:30.710 --> 00:21:39.480 thrown into prison. unjustly accused, paying 00:21:39.480 --> 00:21:43.759 for sins that he did not commit, dying on the 00:21:43.759 --> 00:21:47.059 cross for no fault of his own, all fault of his 00:21:47.059 --> 00:21:50.339 brothers. And then what happened to Jesus? Rode 00:21:50.339 --> 00:21:53.619 from the dead, elevated next to God's right hand, 00:21:53.720 --> 00:21:55.440 and what was the first thing that Jesus did up 00:21:55.440 --> 00:22:01.079 there? Interceding for us. For the very people. 00:22:02.089 --> 00:22:06.529 that at times reject him, betray him, don't put 00:22:06.529 --> 00:22:13.210 him first in their lives. Jesus' first thought 00:22:13.210 --> 00:22:16.809 is not, hey, people, you consistently neglect 00:22:16.809 --> 00:22:21.869 me. I am going to consistently neglect you until 00:22:21.869 --> 00:22:27.470 you figure it out. That's not Christ. Jesus is 00:22:27.470 --> 00:22:33.250 what he says in Matthew. How many times are sins 00:22:33.250 --> 00:22:37.490 forgiven because of Christ? Seven times? No, 00:22:37.549 --> 00:22:42.609 77 times, right? Over and over and over again. 00:22:47.009 --> 00:22:52.970 If you struggle with forgiveness, it does cause 00:22:52.970 --> 00:22:58.849 a lot of problems in your life. It's hard. It's 00:22:58.849 --> 00:23:01.549 hard to live that way. It's hard to live with 00:23:01.549 --> 00:23:05.849 bitterness and no one wants to. I 100 % believe 00:23:05.849 --> 00:23:10.549 that. No one wants to do that. So here you have 00:23:10.549 --> 00:23:14.509 this morning. In Joseph, you have the example 00:23:14.509 --> 00:23:22.329 of what it looks like. And in Jesus, the one 00:23:22.329 --> 00:23:24.690 who has forgiven all your sins over and over 00:23:24.690 --> 00:23:30.880 and over again, you have the grace. and the power 00:23:30.880 --> 00:23:39.380 to replace vengeance with forgiveness, even to 00:23:39.380 --> 00:23:42.299 that one person in your life, man, that you struggle 00:23:42.299 --> 00:23:48.480 with. Jesus, right, just like the hymn, Jesus 00:23:48.480 --> 00:23:55.220 paid it all. And now I can't forgive too. Amen. 00:23:58.089 --> 00:24:01.190 Thanks for listening to Emmanuel's Sermon Podcast. 00:24:01.750 --> 00:24:04.769 If you'd like to learn more about Emmanuel, you 00:24:04.769 --> 00:24:08.529 can follow us on Facebook or visit us at imluth 00:24:08.529 --> 00:24:13.630 .org. That's I -M -M -L -U -T -H dot O -R -G. 00:24:13.930 --> 00:24:15.150 Have a great day.