It Is Written

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants:

Series Code: IIW

00:16 ♪[music ends]♪♪
00:20 >>John Bradshaw: This is "It Is Written."
00:22 I'm John Bradshaw. Thanks for joining me.
00:25 There are not too many times in the Bible that God says,
00:28 "If you do this, you will not be saved."
00:31 Now, there's a place right at the very end of the Bible,
00:34 in fact, the seventh-last verse of the Bible, where God says,
00:38 "But outside are dogs and sorcerers
00:40 "and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters,
00:43 and whoever loves and practice a lie."
00:45 That's Revelation 22:15.
00:47 Now, there's a passage in 2 Timothy 3 that says
00:49 that "perilous times [shall] come" in earth's last days
00:52 when "men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money,
00:56 "boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents,
01:00 unthankful, unholy"--and so on.
01:03 Ultimately, that's a catalog of 18 or 19 sins.
01:07 Of course, people caught in that may repent,
01:10 but when Paul writes, "From such turn away,"
01:13 you know it's clear that these people
01:15 are headed in the wrong direction.
01:17 But you're not surprised by that.
01:20 Sorcerers and the sexually immoral and murderers
01:23 and idolaters and liars and blasphemers
01:26 and lovers of money-- these people have told you
01:28 by their actions that they are not especially interested
01:32 in God's will for their life.
01:34 But here's something that might surprise you.
01:37 It's Matthew 6, starting in verse 14:
01:40 "For if you forgive men their trespasses,
01:43 "your heavenly Father will also forgive you.
01:46 "But if you do not forgive men their trespasses,
01:49 neither will your Father forgive your trespasses."
01:54 That's clear.
01:55 If you don't forgive, God will not forgive you.
01:59 And that's not saying we are forgiven because we forgive,
02:03 but we're forgiven as we forgive.
02:06 So let's look at that again. We'd hate to misread that.
02:09 "If you do not forgive men their trespasses,
02:12 neither will your Father forgive your trespasses."
02:16 That's soberingly clear. And I say "soberingly"
02:19 because so many people have issues with forgiveness.
02:23 And yet here's God saying if you won't forgive others,
02:27 you can expect that God will not forgive you.
02:31 And that stands to reason.
02:32 Forgiveness is an attribute of the divine,
02:34 an expression of divine love and grace.
02:37 When you welcome Jesus into your life,
02:40 forgiveness must become a feature of your life
02:43 because Jesus is now the anchor of your existence.
02:48 Then someone who has deep issues they're dealing with
02:50 thinks, "How is that possible?"
02:52 You know, hurt can go deep. People can do terrible things.
02:56 Certain things can be very difficult to forgive.
03:00 ♪[soft reflective music]♪
03:01 Let me share with you a story of forgiveness.
03:05 The man in question was born south of Buffalo, New York,
03:08 and raised in Long Beach, California.
03:10 As a child, he learned to fight so he could handle the bullies
03:13 who gave him a hard time for being Italian.
03:16 In high school he developed into an outstanding runner.
03:19 He competed in the Olympic Games trials in 1936
03:22 in New York City in temperatures of up to 100 degrees,
03:26 or 38 Celsius.
03:28 The stars of those trials included Jesse Owens;
03:31 Mack Robinson, the older brother of baseball's Jackie Robinson;
03:35 and this man, Louis Zamperini, who finished in a dead heat
03:40 for first in the final of the 5,000 meters,
03:43 becoming at just 19 years of age the youngest American
03:47 to ever qualify for the Olympic Games in the 5,000 meters,
03:51 which is a distinction he still holds.
03:54 He finished fifth in his heat at the Berlin Olympics
03:57 and eighth in the final.
03:59 At those Olympics, Zamperini met Adolf Hitler
04:04 after catching Hitler's eye by running the fastest single lap
04:09 ever run in the 5,000.
04:11 "You're the boy with the fast finish," Hitler said to him.
04:14 It wouldn't be long and Louis Zamperini and Adolf Hitler
04:17 would be looking at each other very differently.
04:21 Five years after the Olympics in 1941,
04:24 the year the United States joined World War II,
04:27 Louis Zamperini joined the U.S. Air Force.
04:30 He was posted to Tuvalu, or the Ellice Islands,
04:33 as they were then known, in the South Pacific.
04:35 And he narrowly escaped with his life when his B-24 bomber
04:38 was attacked by Japanese Zeros during a raid on Nauru,
04:42 which at the time was held by Japan.
04:44 Just weeks later his plane crashed into the Pacific Ocean
04:48 1,300 kilometers--that's about 800 miles--south of Hawaii.
04:53 And he drifted in a life raft for almost 50 days.
04:57 Sharks ominously followed the raft
05:00 while its occupants survived on rainwater
05:03 and the few fish and birds they were able to catch.
05:06 The raft was strafed repeatedly by a Japanese aircraft.
05:11 But in spite of being filled with holes, it never sank.
05:15 Of the 11 people on board the plane when it crashed,
05:18 only three survived.
05:20 One of those men died,
05:23 leaving only Zamperini and one other as the only survivors.
05:27 They were taken prisoner by Japan when they came ashore
05:30 on the Marshall Islands.
05:33 And it was then that Zamperini's life
05:36 descended into the stuff of nightmares.
05:39 His biography, "Unbroken," written by Laura Hillenbrand,
05:43 discusses the cruelty and torture he endured
05:46 at the hands of his Japanese captors.
05:49 The book spent more than four years
05:50 on the New York Times bestseller list,
05:52 including more than three months at number one.
05:55 It was made into a movie, also titled "Unbroken,"
05:58 directed by Angelina Jolie.
06:01 In the movie, the brutality of Zamperini's captors,
06:04 in particular one certain prison guard,
06:06 was portrayed in excruciating detail.
06:10 On one occasion he forced Zamperini to hold
06:12 a two-meter-long beam of wood above his head for 37 minutes
06:18 in an attempt to break the American.
06:21 The psychological cruelty was also extreme
06:24 during the two and a half years Zamperini spent
06:27 in three separate Japanese POW camps.
06:31 After the war, he was plagued by memories of what he endured
06:35 as a prisoner of war.
06:36 Of course, by now his running career was over.
06:39 When he competed at the age of 19 in Berlin,
06:43 he believed that the 1940 Tokyo Olympics
06:46 would be the real opportunity he would have
06:49 to win an Olympic gold medal.
06:51 Those games were never held,
06:53 although ironically it was the time he spent in Japan
06:57 that would largely define the rest of his life.
07:02 How do you come back from what Zamperini went through?
07:06 It was dehumanizing, soul destroying.
07:09 He endured brutal cruelty.
07:11 He suffered what today we call PTSD.
07:14 After returning home he had nightmares
07:16 in which he dreamed of being bludgeoned by his captors.
07:20 He often thought of murdering the man who stalked
07:23 and tormented him every day while he was a prisoner of war.
07:27 And he actually made plans to return to Japan
07:32 and kill that man.
07:34 Struggling with alcoholism and with his marriage in tatters,
07:38 at the urging of his wife,
07:39 he went to hear the famous preacher Billy Graham speak
07:42 at a revival meeting in Los Angeles.
07:44 The second night he attended,
07:47 his heart was touched by Graham's message,
07:50 and he gave his life to Jesus that very night.
07:54 And in an absolute miracle of God,
07:57 the hatred he felt for the man who had cruelly abused him
08:01 while he was a POW just melted away.
08:05 He forgave him.
08:06 He even wrote to the man expressing his forgiveness
08:09 and sharing with him his faith in Jesus.
08:13 There are many people living their lives
08:16 chained to another person.
08:19 I'll tell you more about that in just a moment.
08:22 ♪[upbeat music swells and ends]♪♪
08:31 >>John: Almost everyone has issues with forgiveness.
08:34 It can be hard to forgive an ex, a teacher, a boss,
08:37 or someone who has wronged you or your family.
08:39 Forgiveness can be difficult, but there is a way to forgive.
08:42 Jesus said if we don't forgive others, God won't forgive us.
08:46 Get today's free offer, "Forgiveness,"
08:49 and learn how you can forgive.
08:51 Call 800-253-3000
08:54 or visit iiwoffer.com.
08:56 "Forgiveness,"
08:57 call now: 800-253-3000.
09:02 >>John Bradshaw: Thanks for joining me on "It Is Written."
09:04 Author Laura Hillenbrand described Louis Zamperini
09:07 as an incorrigible delinquent as a child.
09:11 She spent seven years getting to know him,
09:13 researching, and writing her book, "Unbroken."
09:16 Here's what Hillenbrand wrote in a "Guideposts" article:
09:20 "To live in bitterness is to be chained
09:23 "to the person who wounded you,
09:25 "your emotions and actions arising not independently,
09:29 "but in reaction to your abuser.
09:31 "Louie became so obsessed with vengeance that his life
09:35 "was consumed by the quest for it.
09:37 "In bitterness, he was as much a captive as he'd been
09:41 "when barbed wire had surrounded him.
09:43 "This is why forgiveness is so liberating. But how is it found?
09:47 "For Louie, it lay in resurrecting his dignity,
09:50 "seeing himself not as the wretched creature
09:53 "that the Bird had striven to make of him,
09:55 "but as the object of God's infinite love."
09:58 It was forgiveness that changed Louis Zamperini's life
10:03 and set him free to live with peace in his heart.
10:07 In 1950 he visited a prison in Tokyo,
10:10 where several of his former prison guards were being kept.
10:13 And he told them he forgave them.
10:16 Prior to the Nagano Winter Olympics almost 50 years later,
10:20 he carried the Olympic torch for about half a mile
10:24 between rows of Japanese soldiers
10:26 near one of the prison camps in which he'd been held.
10:30 He tried to meet with the man who persecuted him so terribly
10:33 during his imprisonment in Japan.
10:35 But the man refused to meet him.
10:40 Forgiveness.
10:41 I spoke with a woman once whose parents were senselessly
10:45 murdered by a man who had escaped from a halfway house,
10:48 where he'd been serving a sentence for manslaughter.
10:51 The murderer made off with an old vehicle and $61.
10:56 During his trial, the woman, Sue,
10:58 visited the man and told him that she didn't hate him.
11:02 "My grandmother always taught me not to use the word hate,"
11:06 she told him.
11:07 "She taught me that we are here to love one another.
11:09 If you are guilty, I forgive you."
11:12 She later said, "I didn't think of him as a killer,
11:16 I thought of him as a human being."
11:18 Not everyone was happy that Sue chose not to hate.
11:22 To begin with,
11:24 even the killer was confused by Sue's words and actions.
11:26 She said, "There is no way to heal and get over the trauma
11:30 "without forgiveness.
11:31 "You must forgive and forget and get on with your life.
11:35 That is what Jesus would do."
11:38 While Sue never felt the murderer should be released
11:40 from prison, she became friends with him.
11:43 Through her example and friendship,
11:46 the man became a devout Christian believer.
11:50 Now, that can seem like a bridge too far for many people
11:53 who struggle with the idea of forgiveness.
11:56 But forgiveness does much more for you
12:00 than it does the person you forgive.
12:04 When an It Is Written team visited Rwanda
12:07 not long after the 1994 genocide,
12:10 It Is Written team members met a woman
12:11 whose family had been killed in the tragedy.
12:15 When she came face to face with the killer,
12:17 she explained to him that seeing
12:19 as she no longer had any sons, he would have to be her son.
12:25 She took him into her home and treated him
12:29 as she would have treated one of her own children.
12:32 That's radical forgiveness.
12:36 But whether or not that feels to you
12:38 like something you could ever do,
12:40 it does tell you what's possible.
12:43 And if someone can forgive
12:44 the person who brutalized him in POW camp,
12:47 if a woman can forgive the man who murdered her parents,
12:50 if a woman can forgive the man who killed her family,
12:54 then maybe you can forgive
12:55 whatever it is you're facing or dealing with.
12:58 Life has taught me that almost everyone has forgiveness issues
13:02 of one kind or another.
13:04 It might be an ex, an old teacher, a parent,
13:08 a boss or former boss, a colleague or former colleague.
13:11 And often people carry around with them baggage from years,
13:15 sometimes years and years ago.
13:18 You might have heard it said that choosing not to forgive
13:21 is like taking a poison pill and hoping the other guy will die.
13:25 Of course you've been wronged.
13:27 You've been harmed and, and hurt or maybe abused,
13:30 mistreated as a child, abandoned by your father,
13:34 raised by parents who were violent.
13:36 Let's not minimize any of that.
13:38 If you've been through some trauma or if you've had hurt
13:41 or pain or humiliation dumped on you, that's terrible.
13:45 But choosing not to forgive doesn't make it better.
13:48 In fact, it makes it a whole lot worse.
13:51 Forgiveness enables you to navigate pain successfully.
13:57 Imagine you were mistreated and your marriage went south.
14:00 Let's assume you were 100 percent in the right
14:04 and that he or she was 100 percent in the wrong.
14:07 That's definitely not outside the realm of possibility.
14:10 You were married for, let's say, 15 years, and it's been,
14:12 what, 10 years now,
14:15 and you've never forgiven the other person for what they did.
14:17 So what that means is that someone
14:19 who hasn't been in your life for a decade still causes you
14:24 to feel angry or bitter.
14:26 You're not married to them, you haven't been for a decade,
14:29 but you're still taking them with you everywhere you go.
14:34 How much sense does that make?
14:36 An old school teacher that you didn't like,
14:38 and who didn't like you, made your life a misery, was unfair,
14:42 maybe even cost you something.
14:44 It's probably been decades since you saw that teacher,
14:46 and here you are allowing them to have a massive influence
14:50 on your life all these years later.
14:52 If you forgive that person, they're no longer going to be
14:55 that kind of influence in your life.
14:57 Not forgiving causes you to carry a burden with you
15:01 everywhere you go.
15:04 So, what do you do?
15:05 What you do is... you choose to forgive.
15:09 Now, I know that opens up a can of worms,
15:11 but let's be sure we understand what forgiveness is not.
15:15 Forgiveness isn't making what that person did okay.
15:19 By forgiving your sister-in-law
15:20 saying horrible things about you,
15:22 you're not making what she did right or acceptable.
15:25 Forgiveness doesn't let someone off the hook.
15:29 And it doesn't mean that you have to go back
15:31 to being best friends.
15:32 Sometimes it might be best not to allow a relationship
15:36 to go back to what it was before whatever happened happened.
15:40 The thing with not forgiving is
15:42 it feels like you get some sort of satisfaction.
15:46 You can feel powerless after someone mistreats you.
15:49 And choosing not to forgive might feel like you have
15:52 some power, as though you're punishing that person.
15:56 Listen. Your dead grandfather
15:59 or your brother who moved to Costa Rica 20 years ago
16:02 or that cranky basketball referee who called fouls on you
16:05 in the championship game when you were in high school--
16:07 none of those people are worse off
16:10 because you won't forgive them.
16:12 They've forgotten all about the very thing you won't let go of.
16:16 No, you want to be bigger than that.
16:19 Remember what Jesus said about forgiveness.
16:21 "For if you forgive men their trespasses,
16:24 "your heavenly Father will also forgive you.
16:27 "But if you do not forgive men their trespasses,
16:29 neither will your Father forgive your trespasses."
16:32 If you refuse to forgive someone for what they've done to you,
16:35 God won't forgive you your sins.
16:38 That's how serious this is.
16:41 And that's because every last person alive has sinned
16:45 and is in need of forgiveness from God.
16:48 If you're willing to be forgiven by God,
16:50 it's inappropriate to not extend forgiveness to someone else.
16:55 Jesus taught a parable in which He spoke about a man
16:58 who owed his employer a gargantuan sum of money.
17:02 The boss demanded the man repay the money.
17:04 There was no way he could.
17:05 When the man begged for mercy,
17:08 his employer just forgave the debt, the whole thing,
17:12 just forgave him.
17:14 Well, then our man came across someone who owed him
17:16 a comparatively small sum.
17:19 When that man said he couldn't pay the debt right away
17:21 and begged for a reprieve, this man wouldn't have any of it
17:26 and lowered the boom on him and had him punished,
17:29 which obviously was grossly inappropriate
17:34 and made the point that Jesus was making.
17:38 But what about when you've been through something so bad
17:40 that you can't possibly forgive?
17:44 We'll look at that in just a moment.
17:46 ♪[upbeat music swells and ends]♪♪
17:55 >>John: Thank you for remembering that It Is Written
17:57 exists because of the kindness of people just like you.
18:00 To support this international life-changing ministry,
18:04 please call us now at 800-253-3000.
18:08 You can send your tax-deductible gift
18:10 to the address on your screen,
18:11 or you can visit us online at itiswritten.com.
18:15 Thank you for your prayers and for your financial support.
18:18 Our number again is 800-253-3000,
18:22 or you can visit us online at itiswritten.com.
18:26 >>John: There's nothing like a great dad.
18:29 Great dads influence their children,
18:31 protect and grow their families,
18:32 and contribute to society.
18:35 But the truth is not every dad is a great dad.
18:39 There are plenty of average dads, and, sad but true,
18:44 there's no shortage of bad dads.
18:47 Bad dads are found all through the Bible,
18:49 God preserving their stories
18:51 so we can avoid making the same mistakes they made.
18:54 Don't miss "Bad Dads and What They Teach Us."
18:58 Learn from the failings of some of the most illustrious people
19:01 in biblical history,
19:03 people who managed to make a mess of parenting.
19:06 There's hope for every parent who doesn't always get it right,
19:11 and that's because the best Dad of all wants to see parents
19:15 be all that they can be.
19:17 "Bad Dads and What They Teach Us,"
19:19 brought to you by It Is Written TV.
19:25 >>John Bradshaw: You talk about forgiveness and the importance
19:27 of forgiveness, and someone is thinking,
19:30 "But you don't know what I've been through.
19:31 How could I possibly forgive what was done to me?"
19:34 Right. It might have been something very difficult.
19:38 It's not so hard to forgive the person who left a little dent
19:40 in your car or who borrowed something and then lost it--
19:43 small stuff.
19:44 But while not everything is small,
19:47 everything is forgivable and should be forgiven.
19:51 It's better for you that way.
19:53 And it'll result in the blessing of God in your life.
19:57 You'll grow through that experience,
19:59 and you'll understand more of what God has done for you.
20:04 Remember, Jesus died for the sins of the world.
20:08 He died so you could be forgiven for the things
20:10 you've done that have brought pain to the heart of God.
20:14 The divine Son of God died for you.
20:17 The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 15, verse 3,
20:20 "Christ died for our sins."
20:22 And every person alive has sinned--everyone.
20:26 There's no one pure. The only pure one was Jesus,
20:30 and He died for your sins.
20:33 Now, there are at least two aspects to forgiveness.
20:36 One is forgiving others.
20:38 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once said,
20:40 "He who is devoid of the power to forgive
20:43 is devoid of the power to love."
20:45 When asked by one of His disciples
20:47 how often a person should forgive, Jesus said--
20:50 not seven times, as had been suggested by Peter--
20:54 Jesus said, "Seventy times seven."
20:57 And that's not suggesting a limit of 490 times.
21:01 This was Jesus saying, "Forgive."
21:05 And there's the aspect of being forgiven by God.
21:08 You might struggle with this
21:09 because of the way we are wired as humans.
21:12 We carry this idea with us that people deserve certain things,
21:16 and it's really hard to get out from under that idea
21:18 if you haven't done well or if you've done wrong
21:21 or if you have a bad track record, and you feel, then,
21:23 that you don't "deserve" to be forgiven.
21:26 That is a self-destructive idea.
21:30 God doesn't forgive you because you deserve to be forgiven.
21:35 He forgives you because He is merciful and gracious
21:38 and wants to free you from the burden of guilt and shame
21:42 and negative feelings.
21:44 God forgives those who genuinely want to be forgiven.
21:49 That's what God does.
21:53 The book of Psalms calls God "good, and ready to forgive."
21:59 Here's the assurance you have:
22:01 "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us
22:06 our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
22:11 Now, you hear people say all the time that they have
22:13 a hard time forgiving themselves for what they've done.
22:16 "If only I could forgive myself," someone says.
22:20 Well, no. Let me tell you this.
22:24 From a biblical perspective, there's absolutely nothing
22:27 that says you need to forgive yourself for something
22:30 that you've done or for the life that you've lived.
22:32 In fact, forgiving yourself is not possible.
22:37 Who made you God?
22:39 Instead of forgiving yourself,
22:41 you accept God's forgiveness for what you have done.
22:46 The reality is that people who talk about forgiving themselves
22:48 are really talking about something else altogether.
22:52 I'll give you an example.
22:54 You back out of your driveway
22:56 and run over your neighbor's little dog.
22:59 Your neighbor loved that dog
23:00 and will be heartbroken and lonely.
23:04 You were in a hurry. You didn't look behind the car.
23:06 You, you just backed out, and there was little Fido,
23:09 who's now dead.
23:10 Mrs. Jones next door tells you it's all okay,
23:13 she knows it was an accident,
23:14 Fido shouldn't have been off his leash anyway,
23:16 and she insists you should not worry.
23:19 You hear that, you understand that,
23:21 but as the days go by you still feel terrible
23:23 about the whole thing, and you think
23:25 that what you're wrestling with is that you can't figure out
23:27 how to forgive yourself for what you've done.
23:31 But that's not accurate.
23:32 You're not trying to forgive yourself for what you've done;
23:36 you're trying to work out how to live with the knowledge
23:38 that you did this unfortunate thing
23:40 and that now poor Mrs. Jones is without her little friend.
23:43 You say something horrible to someone.
23:45 You've been friends for years.
23:46 Again, you're trying to work out
23:48 how to live with that awful thing that you've done.
23:51 You cheat on your spouse; your marriage falls apart.
23:53 A ton of lives are turned upside down
23:56 because of your poor judgment.
23:59 And what you're trying to do is work out
24:02 how to live with what you've done.
24:05 You can't possibly forgive yourself,
24:08 so there's no point even trying to do so.
24:12 What you do is accept the forgiveness God offers you.
24:17 Even after being forgiven, you'll feel terrible
24:19 about what you've done, and you probably should.
24:21 But you trust that God has forgiven you,
24:23 and you accept that forgiveness.
24:25 That terrible feeling will get better with time.
24:28 Any forgiveness you could offer yourself
24:30 wouldn't be worth anything anyway.
24:33 Forget all about trying to forgive yourself.
24:36 Trust in the forgiveness that God gives you.
24:40 And forgiveness often isn't easy.
24:43 The truth is if someone has harmed you
24:45 or harmed someone in your family,
24:47 might be that you have to forgive again and again.
24:50 You might wrestle with feelings of anger and bitterness,
24:52 and, and that wouldn't be at all surprising.
24:55 But you continue to surrender those feelings to God,
24:57 and you know that in time
24:59 God will change your heart completely.
25:02 In Louis Zamperini's case it happened almost instantaneously.
25:07 In the lives of many others, it works differently.
25:11 In 2010 a teenage driver's moment of carelessness
25:16 behind the wheel resulted in the death of a 4-year-old boy.
25:20 News outlets reported that when the local community reacted
25:23 angrily toward the driver, the little boy's parents
25:27 chose compassion over anger and forgave the young man.
25:32 The father of the young child whose life was taken
25:35 said that the decisions he and his wife made
25:38 were also about helping their own recovery.
25:41 He asked this question: "How do you move forward
25:44 if you are consumed by hatred and anger?"
25:48 Regarding the anger that the community expressed,
25:50 the father said, "What did that anger serve?"
25:55 Peter denied Jesus, and Jesus forgave him.
25:59 As Jesus was being crucified,
26:01 He prayed to His Father, and He said, "Father, forgive them."
26:05 If you'll open your heart up to Jesus,
26:07 He'll give you the ability to forgive.
26:10 And as you do, you'll develop the character of Jesus.
26:15 You'll bless your own life,
26:17 and you'll bless the lives of others.
26:20 Now, to help you in this journey,
26:22 I've put together a resource, wrote it myself,
26:24 with you in mind. I want you to have it.
26:26 It's called "Forgiveness."
26:29 You read this little resource, you will learn how to forgive,
26:32 and you'll learn how to experience the blessing
26:34 of forgiveness in your life.
26:36 Here's what you do to get it.
26:37 Call right now: 800-253-3000.
26:41 Now, if the line is busy, call back later.
26:43 Call any time: 800-253-3000.
26:46 Or you can go online; visit us at iiwoffer.com.
26:51 Let me pray with you now.
26:53 Our Father in heaven, we thank You that You've given us
26:55 the blessing of forgiveness.
26:57 You forgive us for our sins,
26:59 those sins that fastened Your Son Jesus
27:02 to an old rugged cross.
27:04 And we are grateful for that forgiveness.
27:06 We don't deserve it.
27:08 Now, there are people who have wronged us,
27:09 and maybe we feel like they don't deserve forgiveness,
27:12 but I'm praying that You will give us grace
27:14 and empower each one right now to be forgiving,
27:17 to practice forgiveness.
27:19 And even if it doesn't feel like forgiveness has taken place,
27:22 give that person the ability to make a conscious decision
27:25 to forgive and know that forgiveness has happened.
27:28 Friend, can you forgive?
27:30 Are you thinking of somebody right now
27:31 that you should forgive?
27:32 Maybe you've felt like you cannot.
27:35 Now you know you can, and you must.
27:36 Can you make that decision now?
27:39 Lord, take our hearts, make them Yours, we pray,
27:42 and we thank You, in Jesus' name. Amen.
27:47 Thanks so much for joining me.
27:48 I'm looking forward to seeing you again next time.
27:50 Until then, remember:
27:52 "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone,
27:56 but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.'"
28:01 ♪[dramatic, triumphant theme music]♪
28:26 ♪[music ends]♪♪

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Revised 2024-04-05