[0:00] If you're able, I'm going to invite you to stand as we're going to sing together.
[0:22] To God be the glory. To God be the glory.
[0:39] Great things he hath done. So loved he the world that he gave us his son. Who yielded his life and atonement for sin.
[0:55] And open the life gates that all may come in. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Let the earth hear his voice.
[1:08] Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Let the people rejoice. Oh, come to the Father through Jesus the Son.
[1:21] And give him the glory. Great things he hath done. Oh, perfect redemption. The purchase of blood.
[1:34] To every believer. The promise of God. The finalist offender.
[1:45] Who truly believes. That moment from Jesus. A pardon receives. Praise the Lord.
[1:56] Praise the Lord. Let the earth hear his voice. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Let the people rejoice.
[2:08] Oh, come to the Father through Jesus the Son. Oh, give him the glory. Great things he hath done.
[2:21] Great things he hath done. Great things he hath done. And pray our rejoicing. Through Jesus the Son.
[2:35] But pure and higher and greater will be. Our wonder, our transport. When Jesus we see.
[2:48] Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Let the earth hear his voice. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Let the people rejoice.
[3:01] Oh, come to the Father through Jesus the Son. And give him the glory. Great things he hath done.
[3:15] The Lord be with you. Take a moment, if you will, and greet your neighbor with the peace of the Spirit. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.
[3:27] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.
[3:38] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.
[3:49] Amen. Question. One day. One day. Amen. Amen. You ever have? Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. It's all girls so far.
[4:01] Any other kids want to come up? Very good, very good. Have you ever played a game called Chutes and Ladders?
[4:15] Looks like this. I think. There it is. Have you ever played that game? So what you do is you come down the ladders and you go up the chutes, right?
[4:27] Is that how it works? Whenever you get to a chute, you go up. And when you ever get to a ladder, you come down. Right? No? You go up?
[4:48] They kind of make things worse, huh? It'd be weird to play the game the other way, wouldn't it? Yeah. Yeah, because then every time you got to that 100 up there where you win the game, you'd lose, wouldn't you?
[5:01] Every single time. See, there's rules in games, right? There's all kinds of rules. And there's rules in life. Do you know why there's rules in games? Because if there weren't any rules, it'd be crazy.
[5:12] And like in that game, you'd lose every single time. Nobody would ever win, right? And that's why we have rules in life, too. Our parents make rules to keep us safe. And God makes rules to keep us safe and happy, too. And if we follow them, what happens is the world is good.
[5:26] If we don't, then we have problems. It's not because anybody's trying to make things not very fun or anything. It's because they're trying to keep us safe and healthy. All right? You guys got anything you're thankful for this morning?
[5:37] If you do, raise your hand and you can share it. Friends and family. Friends and family. My mom and dad. Anybody else?
[5:49] My mom and dad. Good. All right, let's pray. Lord, we do thank you for our moms and our dads, our grandmas and grandpas, our families and our friends.
[5:59] And especially we want to thank you for fathers on Father's Day. Bless us always, bless them, and bless all of us. In Jesus' name, amen. Okay, you guys can go out to church school if you'd like to. All the kids are welcome to go out to church school now.
[6:16] This morning, I am thankful we have air conditioning. I don't know if any of you would be here if we didn't have air conditioning. We used to be in this church without air conditioning. We'd open up the windows, turn on, fans would go, and we'd all die.
[6:29] I mean, it was terrible. You know, air conditioning is an amazing thing. When I grew up, air conditioning was for people that lived in the South. Us people up here didn't have it. Don't you remember? You rolled down the windows of your, and by the way, we rolled down.
[6:41] We didn't buzz down the windows of our car. And it's better buzzing them than rolling them, by the way, too. There's some blessings that we have in our culture today.
[6:51] As we look around at life and sometimes get discouraged or upset about things, we need to remember we have blessings and good things and wonderful things that have come to us, some directly from the hand of God and others through the hand of God through people.
[7:06] And so we're thankful to God for all these good things. And as we thank God for the blessings he gives to us, let's return our Thanksgiving with our morning tithes and our offerings. Let's pray.
[8:08] Let's pray.
[8:38] Let's pray.
[9:08] Let's pray. Let's pray.
[9:23] Thank you.
[9:53] Thank you.
[10:23] Thank you.
[10:53] Thank you.
[11:23] Thank you.
[11:53] Thank you.
[12:23] Thank you. Thank you.
[12:55] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. so keep her and her family in her prayers.
[13:07] And Karen Mahalski's mother died, so keep her in your prayers as well. We also wanna be in prayer for Abigail. This is the niece of Dave and Leslie Wagner. She's been in our church before, and she had surgery this last week.
[13:20] Also, Bonnie Frank had surgery this last week. Pastor Bob's wife, she had a carotid artery block, and so they found out what's wrong with her and put in the stent, so she's home and recovering as well.
[13:32] Some of you have asked about my daughter. She's home and recovering and doing better and appreciates her prayers. And just to let you know, last week I talked about Claire Boleslaw and that she was at one foot here and one foot there, and I called the hospital and they said she's not here, and I thought, well, maybe they're both over here.
[13:47] Well, I found out it's the other way. She's in a nursing facility right now with both feet over here. So, you know, God does some interesting things. Just when you think you're going one way, God says, nope, I think we'll go a different direction.
[13:59] We thank God for all the blessings, the joys, the wonders, the celebrations, and the worries and concerns we turn over to God when we lift up our prayers. Let's do that this morning.
[14:10] Dear God in heaven, center our lives. Pour into us your Holy Spirit. Push away all the distractions and all the things that cause us to not think of you or focus of you at this moment.
[14:31] Let us just only have you. Your thoughts, your presence, your healing touch in our brokenness.
[14:45] Bless all of these who have faced surgery or are struggling with the loss of someone they love. Bless all of us in our difficulties, our troubles in life, the problems we have in our relationships or with our finances or our work, those pains or difficulties we're having in our bodies.
[15:05] Lord, we just lift them to you. We take a moment, Lord, to get these things that just weigh on us, off of our minds and onto your hearts. Listen, Lord, as each of us prays.
[15:21] And now, Lord, as we go into this season of recreation, make us new.
[15:41] Give us the rest we need. Give us the joy we need. Give us the sense of what you would want for our lives. Show us our purpose. Help us to understand from the scriptures your word for us today.
[15:54] Help it to be a blessing in a special way. Touch our minds with the wisdom that you gave to us so long ago in your scriptures. Bless us in this coming week, Lord.
[16:06] That everything we do be touched by you, that we might be your presence in this world. Be our strength. Be our peace. Be our hope.
[16:17] Be with us today and always, because we've come, Lord, to this place for you. So come and be with us.
[16:30] We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. And now let's listen to the word of God. Good morning.
[16:56] Good morning. Our scripture reading today is taken from the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 18, verses 15 to 35. Hear these words of the Lord, and this is Jesus speaking.
[17:09] If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over.
[17:21] But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses. If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church.
[17:34] And if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector. Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.
[17:50] Again, truly I tell you, that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.
[18:05] Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times? Jesus answered, I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.
[18:21] Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold was brought to him.
[18:33] Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt. At this the servant fell on his knees before him.
[18:45] Be patient with me, he begged. I will pay back everything. The servant's master took pity on him, canceled the debt, and let him go. But when the servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins.
[19:01] He grabbed him and began to choke him. Pay back what you owe me, he demanded. His fellow servant fell on his knees and begged him, Be patient with me, and I will pay it back.
[19:13] But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown in prison until he could pay the debt. When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged, and they went and told their master everything that had happened.
[19:29] Then the master called the servant in. You wicked servant, he said. I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had on you?
[19:44] In anger, his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured until he should pay back all he owed. This is how my heavenly father will treat each of you, unless you forgive your brother or sister from the heart.
[19:58] This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Thank you, Lori. We have a small little sermon series. We're here about what do we teach that are the most important things that we need to pass on to each other, to our children, about our faith, and about our life together.
[20:19] Last week, we talked about the presence of God. Next week, we're going to talk about the purpose that God gives to each of us. And the last one will be about the wisdom of God. Today, we're going to talk about forgiveness, which is at the heart of the Christian message.
[20:34] I've probably shared this story with most of you at some point in time. There was a time when they did an experiment. They went to a playground. They had a fence around it, and they watched the kids. Turned the kids loose.
[20:45] They ran all over the place, all over the playground, having a great time. And then they took the fence out. And as soon as they removed the fence, the kids stopped running around.
[20:55] They stayed huddled. Close to the playground. Because without knowing where the safe boundaries were, they didn't know where they were allowed to go, where they should go, where it was safe to go.
[21:05] Boundaries are an act of love that we share with our children. Let's go over to the nursery. When I get older, losing my hair, many years from now, will you still be sending me a valentine, birthday greeting, bottle of wine?
[21:28] If I stayed out to a quarter to three, would you lock the door? Will you still need me? Will you still feed me? When I'm 64?
[21:40] If you stayed out to a quarter to three, your wife might hit you with a rolling pin years ago. Not anymore, but it's true. It's interesting if you ever look at a nursery, because we have bars and cages all over the place.
[21:54] We have belts to lock them in. We bind and cage our little children. Do we do that because we're mean?
[22:05] Do we do that because we don't want them anywhere near us? We do that because we want to keep them safe. If we put a little tiny baby in a bed for the very first time without any walls, without anything to protect them, we're afraid they're going to roll out.
[22:21] It's not because we're trying to get rid of them. It's because we're trying to protect them. Boundaries are an act of love, and we need boundaries. Boundaries, if someone you know sins, a brother or sister, go and point out their fault.
[22:41] Parents know more than kids. I know kids don't think so, but they do. And God knows more than us. I know sometimes we don't think so, but he does.
[22:54] If someone sins, if they knowingly break the rules of God, the actual word is harmatonum in Greek, which means to wander from the path of truth, if they wandered off the safe path into the dangerous place, we need to point that out.
[23:15] churches have as a role to help people to understand the boundaries, to teach them the truth.
[23:28] And if you have an idea that somebody's doing something wrong, and you go and point it out to them, and they don't listen, then they suggest that you go and get someone else to come with you. And if they don't listen, maybe you need to get the whole church together to talk about it.
[23:44] Not to get together to embarrass them or to make them look bad, but to make sure that if you're going to make this big of an issue with somebody, that you know that the church agrees, and that what you say is sin, is sin.
[23:58] You know, Christians don't always agree. As United Methodist Church, we meet every four years and discuss what we believe and what we think is right and wrong. And I've got to tell you, we don't always get along.
[24:11] You know, I used to talk about it years ago during presidential elections that Bill and Hillary Clinton and George and Laura Bush all went to the same Methodist Church in Washington, D.C. That'll turn your head around, won't it?
[24:24] So to Dick Cheney, by the way, just make it even, you know, all over the map. We disagree about a lot of things. But part of the purpose of the church is to set safe boundaries for people because sin hurts people.
[24:40] It's destructive. It breaks relationships. It causes pain and trouble for other people. One of the things I find fascinating about our culture is when I grew up, everybody assumed that having sex outside of marriage was wrong.
[24:57] Now everybody assumes it's okay. And the church seems to be the only one that teaches that this is a problem and people wonder, what is it? Does God not like us to have fun? This has nothing to do with God not like us.
[25:08] God wants you to have fun. In fact, God even wants you to enjoy that in the right relationship. Because promiscuous sex causes us to create concrete relationships with people we don't intend to be with for the rest of our lives.
[25:24] And when we do get together with the person we want to be with, it's hard for us to develop a lasting relationship. Do you think there's no correlation between promiscuity's rise and the rise of divorce?
[25:35] God gave us this act so that we could have healthy, long-term relationships. It's designed to make us so close to someone you can't even find the air between us.
[25:46] And we've turned it into something that's a plaything. And now our relationships are struggling and falling apart. God is not against you enjoying life.
[25:58] God gives you great gifts like that for you to have a blessing. But also for you to have healthy relationships forever. But we don't want to do what God wants and so we wonder why we end up in brokenness, in pain, in struggle, in hurt.
[26:15] Because sin is destructive. And when we refuse to do what's right, we actually are rejecting God, it says in verse 17. We're living like pagans.
[26:27] We're turning away from God himself. And so we want God to bless us, but we don't want to live within the things and the order of life that he's created for our blessing.
[26:38] We need to share the balance. Let's go back to the nursery. I could be handy mending a fuse when your lights have gone.
[26:54] You can get the sweater by the fireside. Sunday mornings go for a ride. Doing the garden, digging the weeds. Who could ask for more?
[27:06] Will you still need me? Will you still feed me when I'm 64? It's not just about being helpful to each other. Anybody can be helpful to one another.
[27:17] It's about being helpful within the right context and helping each other as partners in life to understand which way the world goes. We start very young with children. We give them the instructions for games, don't we?
[27:29] Now, do you think it really matters if you go up the chutes and down the ladders really ultimately to the course of life? Do you think it even matters if you win that game? It doesn't.
[27:40] But we have to teach children somehow that rules matter. Eventually, they're going to get a manual that'll teach them how to drive a car. We start writing laws in books.
[27:51] This is the Methodist Book of Discipline. It's got all the rules of the Methodist Church because when you get a lot of people together, you get a lot of laws. Now, this is just our church. Imagine what it's like to read every law in the United States, every rule there is.
[28:04] I bet you this room couldn't contain all the law and rule books that we put together as American people. And why do we take this book and start teaching it to our children and internalizing it and understanding ourselves?
[28:16] Because this gives us the boundaries, the safe place in the playground that we call creation that God put us into so that we can have a good life. The safe boundaries help us.
[28:28] They're an act of love. They're not to hurt us. This isn't intended to embarrass the person who's sinning. In fact, when it says, go and find some other people, that's not so that you can have enough people to make them feel bad.
[28:44] That's to make sure that you know you're right. You follow? Go and get somebody else and check out your story before you get in an argument with somebody about what's right and wrong and find out you're wrong. Has anybody ever done that?
[28:56] I've done that. Where I think I'm right and then I find out I'm wrong. Because the world changes a lot. I grew up in a world where the rules were clearly this way, that now they're over here.
[29:10] What we can say, what we can do, how we can act, how we can be with one another. All those boundaries have changed. Has anybody else seen that? So I find myself in trouble for things I didn't even know were a problem.
[29:25] And sometimes I have to go to somebody and say, somebody told me I did something wrong, but this doesn't sound right. Tell me what you think. And I found, by the way, I can't just ask people my age because they're like me, clueless about the change in rules.
[29:39] That doesn't mean older people are clueless because they've learned a long journey of how to live within the boundaries. But when the boundaries change, sometimes we need somebody to help us out.
[29:50] So it's just get together with other people. Talk to the whole church. Because the church is the body of Christ on earth. And if we talk together, we probably won't make as many mistakes. This is not to create defensiveness or hurt feelings or cause trouble for people.
[30:06] Ephesians says that we're to speak the truth in love. Are you trying to correct somebody because you love them? Or because you're trying to prove who's right?
[30:19] But Peter was worried because he thought maybe a different boundary was being crossed. He said, well, how many times do we forgive somebody? You know, how long do we put up with abuse? How long do we let others abuse us?
[30:31] Because some people are downright mean. Jesus told a parable. He said, there was a man who owed 10,000 bags of gold to his master.
[30:43] 10,000 bags of gold. Do you know how many of you would like to have one bag of gold? I can't even imagine what one bag of gold is worth, right?
[30:54] One bag of gold is probably like a million dollars. 10,000 bags. This is like in the billions. And he says, just give me time and I'll pay it off. And the answer is, yeah, right. You're not going to pay that off.
[31:05] The master knows it's impossible for him to pay it off. So he says, you know what? I'll just forgive that debt.
[31:16] Now we know this story is about God and us because we can't possibly work off our debt, our sin, our brokenness to God and God lovingly forgives us. So you'd think the guy would go out in a joyous and happy mood and he was until he saw his friend who owed him 150 bucks.
[31:34] 150 bucks is a little bit of money, but it's not enough money to, you know, like take a guy and choke him by the neck. That's what it says he did. Choke him by the neck and say, you bum, give me my 150 bucks.
[31:48] Wow, really? If you don't, I'm going to throw you in prison. I'm going to drag you away from your family. I'm going to make you pay my 150 bucks. Isn't it fascinating how it's so easy for us to see what's wrong?
[32:02] What little things are wrong with somebody else? And it's hard to realize what great things are wrong with us. Well, the master heard about it because the other servants told him, which some people would say, snitches, squealers, whatever.
[32:19] They're just worried because some guy's getting his neck choked over 150. You follow? And the guy ends up, the original guy ends up getting his debt put back in place and ends up in jail.
[32:34] See, there is a place where if we're going to continue to be abusive to one another, God will be the one who will bring the judgment.
[32:45] The book of Romans, it says, vengeance is the Lord's repent. For us, we're not to be overcome by evil, but to overcome evil with good. And the reason there are boundaries.
[32:57] What do we do about abusive people? We set boundaries. There are people in the world that will take advantage of others, and especially those who have a loving heart, who continue to love and continue to forgive, only to get hurt more and more and more again.
[33:11] So we need boundaries. Sometimes we need boundaries to protect people from people who are hurtful and won't change. And Peter points that out.
[33:23] But we need to remember those boundaries are meant to protect, not to hurt, not to punish, not to destroy. You see, in verse 16, it says that if we do the right thing, we may win over our brother and sister.
[33:38] Not we might win, but we might win them over, bring them to our side. We're so obsessed with winning.
[33:50] I had two dogs. Some of you remember them, Alpha and Omega. Alpha was the boy dog, and Omega was the girl dog. There was no place that Omega could go where Alpha didn't need to be with her.
[34:03] In fact, if Omega somehow got out of the yard, Alpha would run through the invisible fence and take it in the neck to get with her. We assume that if she died first, that dog, Alpha, would be totally lost.
[34:16] If he died first, she probably wouldn't care. She died first. And he was devastated. For two days, he went out to her grave, and he would sit there and stare at that grave.
[34:33] And then all of a sudden, he smiled, and it was like, I win. I get all the toys. I get all the food. I get the whole yard. I get all the attention of the people. I win! I am the winner!
[34:44] I win! That's how we're living life. That's how we're living life. As if it's all about winning.
[34:57] Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us. It's about winning people over, not winning over the top of people. We're not animals.
[35:11] We're people with souls and hearts. And we're dealing with people with souls and hearts. And we treat them like they're just tools. There was a situation where Jesus had a woman brought to him who had been caught in adultery.
[35:25] Just the woman, by the way. I haven't figured out how one person can be caught in adultery. I don't know about you, but I don't think that that can happen. But they just brought the woman because they were trying to figure out what to do, how they could catch Jesus, how they could win with Jesus.
[35:42] As they said, well, in the law, it says that if a woman gets caught in sin, you should stone her. And we're not talking about little tiny pebbles. We're talking about a big rock. They all got rocks in their hands and you can almost see them.
[35:53] What should we do, Jesus? Well, they knew that whichever answer he gave, he was in trouble because if he said, don't stone her, then he's breaking the law. And if he says, throw rocks at her, well, really, what kind of a merciless kind of guy is this guy, right?
[36:07] They got it. So Jesus kind of crouched down and started drawing in the sand. Now, it doesn't say in the Bible what he was drawing or what he was writing, but he's just writing in the sand. And then he stood up and he said that anybody here who has no sin casts the first stone.
[36:24] And it says he went back down to writing in the sand. Now, nobody knows what he wrote in the sand. We've got ideas. Maybe he was writing the Ten Commandments. Maybe he was writing the names of the mistresses of all the guys standing there.
[36:36] We really don't know. All we know is that one by one, they started dropping their rocks and walking away until the only one left was Jesus, who, by the way, is perfect and is one that can cast a stone because he's perfect.
[36:56] And he said to the woman, where's your accusers? He said, they're all gone. There's no one here to condemn them, he said. And I'm not going to either. Go and sin no more.
[37:09] See, we're so worried about winning. Winning is about hurting the other person. Winning over someone is about making relationships. relationships. Today's Father's Day.
[37:21] There is no way that we're going to continue to have relationships with our children as fathers if all we ever do is punish, punish, punish, punish, punish. Boundaries are to help children.
[37:33] Punishment is about abusing children for our own satisfaction. A good father knows the difference. A good husband or wife knows the difference.
[37:45] A good friend knows the difference. What do we win if we end up with all the toys and we have no one to play with?
[38:01] Be like my dog, Elton. That's not what life's about. The ultimate goal, according to this, is restoring relationships with God and with people.
[38:12] See, we've been using this parable for the wrong reason over the years. People use this actually seriously. They use this to make people feel bad and somehow point out their error and then they even have churches where they'll pull them up and say, this person sinned in front of the whole church.
[38:27] Really? That's going to win over a whole lot of folk, isn't it? We've been using it as Christians in the world to go out to you, bad, rotten people. They don't even belong to our covenant.
[38:37] They don't even agree with our rules. Why would they listen to us? It just makes us look awful. The goal is to win over people, not just to win, restoring relationship because everyone breaks the rules at some point.
[38:55] We've all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. There's not a person in this room that can claim to be sinless. We're all broken, including me, and as soon as we start pointing out the faults in people and telling them to leave, you know what we're going to have left?
[39:13] Nobody. Nobody. And yes, that even includes your pastor because we need to teach something else to our children.
[39:24] Back to the nursery. You'll be older, too.
[39:39] And if you say the word I could stay with you you'll be older, too.
[39:53] When I'm 64, you'll still be around. You'll be older, too. You've sinned just like me. You know one of the things we have to teach our children? This is kind of hard. It's harsh. We need to point out who they really are.
[40:06] We need to give them the mirror and point out that they've got faults, that there's something wrong with them, that they're not perfect. Because it doesn't help our children to tell them that they're perfect in every way and they do nothing wrong or to expect that out of them.
[40:21] Really, and by the way, we obsess about that in our culture. Why do we think our children should get better grades than us in school? Seriously. How does that make any sense? Why do we think that they should accomplish more than we could?
[40:33] Why do we put that on our children? I hope they do. Why would we expect that and think that that's right? Maybe we need to hold up the mirror this way once in a while.
[40:44] But part of the goal in life with raising children is to help them to understand that they're just regular folks like everybody else. They make mistakes and there's ways to fix the mistakes.
[40:55] It's not about being perfect in life. Because that didn't work. God tried that and nobody listened to the law. Everybody broke it. And so we also have to teach them what this means.
[41:07] What does it mean to suffer? What does it mean to forgive? What does it mean to die? To yourself? So that others can live. What did it mean that Jesus died on a cross?
[41:21] Because you see, we don't just follow a religion. Religion is a good thing. It's the manger that holds the Christ child. But if it's only by itself, it's just the manger. It's empty.
[41:32] It's full of rules. It's full of I win, you lose. It's hurtful. It can become very broken and that's why you see people doing hurtful, broken things in the name of religion.
[41:45] We need to teach our children that when people mess up, there's a way to get back into relationship again. The first thing is we need to learn to confess.
[41:57] The problem with this story is it talks about a guy who's not willing to say he's got a problem. I have a problem. We all have a problem. I'm not going to tell you all my problems.
[42:09] It's none of your business, okay? But I have problems just like everybody else. I may or may not be the worst guy in the world, but that's not the point. I'm not perfect.
[42:20] None of us are perfect. We're broken. And we need to admit that. That's the beginning of restoring relationship is confessing we have a problem.
[42:32] We're not perfect. We do it every week, don't we? We have a prayer of confession. Dear God, I have sinned.
[42:46] Not somebody else has sinned. Not the person sitting next to me has sinned. I'm sure they have, but that's none of your business. I have sinned. In Romans chapter 10, it says, if we confess with our mouth and believe in our heart that God raised Jesus from the dead, you will be saved.
[43:06] Confession is the beginning. Because remember, the goal is to win over people, to save the souls of folks, not to lose them by somehow winning in the way in which our world talks.
[43:22] Forgiveness is about restoration. And restoration is not easy because it comes to the cost. We often treat forgiveness too lightly.
[43:34] Just say, I'm sorry. Just say, I'm sorry. I mean, it's important to say you're sorry, but we need a little more than just, I'm sorry. We need a, I'm sorry, and we'll do it again.
[43:52] It's a trial not to do it again. Because you see, forgiveness hurts us. When we forgive someone, it hurts us. It means all of a sudden, all that indignation, all of that unrighteousness, all of that pain, all of that hurt, we have to swallow it up and let it go.
[44:11] Some people have a hard time letting go. That's why they carry around grudges. But you know who wins when you carry a grudge? The person you're carrying the grudge against wins. They're all not happy having a good time. You're the one who's suffering.
[44:23] At some point, we need to let go of it just to let go of it. But forgiveness is about letting go of this, giving it up. Corinthians says, love keeps no record of the wrongs. It's hard.
[44:35] It hurts. It has a cost. The cross did not come cheaply. God did not choose the cross to be the image of our faith because he wanted it to look simple and easy. He wanted us to understand the pain it caused God to forgive us.
[44:49] And yes, he knows it'll cause us pain. We don't want to do it. I understand. I don't want to do it, but we have to if we want to be forgiven ourselves. But forgiveness requires some cost on the part of those forgiven as well.
[45:05] Jesus said to the woman caught in sin, go and sin no more. He didn't say to her, well, that's okay. You do things wrong. Everybody does. That's all right. We all do.
[45:15] Go do whatever you want. He said, go and sin no more. Repent. Change. Otherwise, we can't trust people. We can't know when we're going to get hurt again.
[45:28] How many times should I forgive? Seven times, Peter says, when I was younger, much younger, like 35 years ago. I used to go out with my friends from work.
[45:41] Sometimes we'd have a drink or two and I'd come home and we'd have a nice evening, my wife and I. Every once in a while, I forgot that there's a boundary. Now, I don't know what you're like, but I know there's a boundary for me.
[45:54] And if I cross over and I have too many of those drinks, I don't know how to stop having those drinks. So I've had to learn to be hard about that boundary. Because otherwise, I'll keep drinking that stuff until I won't even know how I got where I got to.
[46:10] Quarter to three? How about quarter to six? You wake up on the side of the road leaning against the car wheel wondering, how did I get here? What did I do in the meantime? And whose life did I put at risk?
[46:23] And how much is my wife worrying back at home? Did she lock the door? No, she never locked the door on me. I'll give her a shot. She never locked the door on me. You know, the first time it happens, you just don't know what you're doing.
[46:35] The second time it happens, maybe it's a mistake. After the third or fourth or fifth time, it's on you. The last time I did it, I actually, I drank a quart and a half of whiskey.
[46:48] That's what I estimate. Anyways, anybody have any idea what that should do to me? Should have killed me. I am only here by the grace of God because I should have been dead. I didn't go to the hospital or anything.
[47:01] I slept it off for three days. My wife went to her mother's house. She did the right thing. I did the wrong thing. I don't do that anymore.
[47:13] Because that's wrong. That's hurtful. That's dangerous. That's crossing over a boundary. How many times do you forgive? It's hard to know when you've got somebody who's abusive and somebody who's just struggling.
[47:30] But if you're going to be in a relationship, somewhere along the line you're going to learn forgiveness is a big piece of it. I don't know what Jesus meant but he said not seven times, seven times 70 or 490 times.
[47:44] If you can keep track of it and forgive somebody for 490 times he says you're off the hook. 490 times? Sounds like a lot until you start thinking about a relationship and especially a long relationship and we're not just talking about one particular sin.
[48:01] I think he was talking about all the different things that you need to forgive people for. How many people here have been married for more than 10 years? How many of you have been married more than 20? 30?
[48:14] 40? Anybody here been more than 50? Do we have anybody in the place who's been married more than 64 years?
[48:29] Nobody passed that last night either. I did get one lady up to 60 years though. You want to have a relationship that lasts 64 years or till you're 64?
[48:41] And by the way when I first heard this song I was really, really young. Now 64 is pretty close. My wife and I were coming up on 40 years.
[48:53] How do you stay married 40 years? 40 divided into 490? That means she'd forgive me like what? 12 times a year? How about 12 times a week? Really? Long term relationships mean that we also learn how to teach our children and teach ourselves forgiveness and restoration.
[49:14] It's impossible to set a number. How many times has God forgiven you? What does the Bible say? Forgive us our sins as we Oh, I hate that part don't you?
[49:25] As we forgive those who sin against us. Especially our brothers, our sisters, our parents, our children, our spouses, the people we say we love. I know we need boundaries.
[49:39] We need boundaries to keep people safe within and boundaries sometimes to keep people safe who are mean and nasty and hurtful like this fellow in this story. But when we read this story we need to remember who we are.
[49:54] And I'm not the guy in the story who goes to point out sins. Even though I'm a rule setter in this world I find more often that what really strikes me and hurts me as a Christian is when I'm the other guy the one that somebody comes to and says do you know what you did wrong Pastor Tom?
[50:09] So when somebody comes to you and says that you've done something wrong how do you respond? Back to the nursery.
[50:21] Send me a postcard Drop me a line Stating point of view Indicate exactly what you mean to say You're sincerely wasting away Give me your answer Fill in a form Mine forevermore Will you still need me?
[50:44] Will you still feed me? When I'm 64 Ooh They broke the rules bouncing on that bed didn't they?
[50:57] You know the thing that I want to share about this is not in the crypt. There's a point where this has to become who we are. We've all sinned we've all fallen short of the glory of God we all need to be forgiven and we all need to learn where the boundaries are and try and live within them.
[51:14] That's the good thing. Play nice. And it happens because we learn what real love is. In the book of Jeremiah in chapter 31 Jeremiah describes the new covenant This is the new covenant I'll make with the people of Israel after that time declares the Lord.
[51:32] I'll put my law in their minds and I'll write it in their hearts I will be their God and they will be my people. Not written in a book we know it. No longer will they teach their neighbor or say to one another know the Lord because they will know me from the least of them to the greatest declares the Lord and I will forgive their weakness and remember their sin no more.
[51:55] That's the goal. That's what Christianity really is. It's a new covenant not based on the old covenant of the laws but the new covenant the new agreement because the old covenant didn't work.
[52:06] Boundaries are good but grace is better. Boundaries are needed and rules are important but love is more important.
[52:21] In 1 Peter it says love covers over a multitude of sins. Love deeply because in our world we don't need more pain and more hurt and more struggle and more winning and more pushing people down.
[52:39] We need somebody to pick up people who hurt love people who need compassion and add a little bit of wonder and maybe maybe we'll be together even when we're 64.
[52:55] everyone needs a pretty.. A Elm Everyone needs compassion, love that's never failing.
[53:29] Let mercy fall on me. Everyone needs forgiveness, the kindness of a Savior, the hope of nations.
[53:46] Savior, He can move the mountains.
[53:57] My God is mighty to save, He is mighty to save. Forever, author of salvation, He rose and conquered the grave.
[54:12] Jesus conquered the grave. So take me as if I could, all my fears and doubts.
[54:36] Fill my life again. Give my life to our Lord, everything I believe in.
[54:48] Now I surrender, I surrender. Savior, He can move the mountains.
[55:02] My God is mighty to save. He is mighty to save forever. Author of salvation.
[55:14] He rose and conquered the grave. Jesus conquered the grave. Shining light and let the whole world see.
[55:26] We're singing for the glory of the risen King. Jesus, shining light and let the whole world see.
[55:37] We're singing for the glory of the risen King. Savior, He can move the mountains.
[55:49] My God is mighty to save. He is mighty to save forever. Author of salvation.
[56:02] He rose and conquered the grave. Jesus conquered the grave. Savior, Savior, He can move the mountains.
[56:13] Savior, He can move the mountains. My God is mighty to save. He is mighty to save. Forever, author of salvation.
[56:25] He rose and conquered the grave. Jesus conquered the grave. fool, Lord, I swear to god he can move the mountains. I swear to God we will pray to him. Father, will pray to the eternal King. Lord, Lord, I swear to him.
[56:37] Lord, I swear to my all. For prayer to save. Jesus conquered the grave. Jesus conquered the grave. Jesus conquered the grave. Higher than the mountains that I face Stronger than the power of the brave Constant in the trial and the change One thing remains One thing remains Your love never fails, never gives up
[57:39] Never runs out on me Your love never fails, never gives up Never runs out on me Your love never fails, never gives up Never runs out on me Your love On and on and on and on it goes It overwhelms and satisfies my soul I'll never ever have to be afraid One thing remains One thing remains One thing remains Your love never fails, never gives up Never runs out on me Your love never fails, never gives up
[58:40] Never runs out on me Your love never fails, never gives up Never runs out on me Your love In death, in life, I'm confident But then I'm covered by the power of your great love My death is pain My death is pain There's nothing that can separate my heart From your great love From your great love Your love never fails, never gives up Never runs out on me Your love never fails, never gives up Never runs out on me Your love never fails, never gives up Never runs out on me Your love Higher than the mountains that I face
[59:48] Stronger am the power of the brave Constant in the trial and the change One thing remains This one thing remains Oh Lord, you've served me You know my way
[60:54] Even when I fail you I know you love me Your holy presence Surrounding me In every season I know you love me I know you love me At the cross I bow my knee Where your blood was shed for me There's no greater love than this You overcome the grave The glory fills the highest place
[61:57] What can separate me now? You go before me You go before me You shield my way Your hand upholds me I know you love me Your hand upholds me I know you love me And when the earth fades Falls from my eyes And when the earth fades Falls from my eyes And you stand before me And you stand before me
[62:58] I know you love me I know you love me I know you love me At the cross I bow my knee When the blood was shed for me When the blood was shed for me There's no greater love than this There's no greater love than this You have born but I'm the grave Glory fills the highest place What can separate me now?
[63:33] You told the veil You told the veil You made a way When you said That it is done You told the veil You made a way When you said That it is done At the cross I bow my knee Where your blood was shed for me There's no greater love than this You have all become the grave Glory fills the highest place What can separate me now?
[64:21] I know you love me I know you love me I know you love me Please be seated This is that awkward time in the service You know we like to have a time When we can just pretend There's nothing wrong with us Everything is good We live a Facebook life But this is that point in the service Where we have to admit the truth I don't tell you that I'm a sinner Because I'm doing some horrible awful things I'm afraid I get caught at I try to live as your pastor the best I can But I know we all have something Something between us and God That we need to take before So let's pray shall we?
[65:17] Dear God in heaven I have sinned I've broken your laws Broken your covenant I've hurt you And I've hurt others I've wandered from the path of truth Forgive me Lord Forgive me Lord And teach me to repent Give me the strength to repent And give me the ability to forgive As I've been forgiven In Jesus name we pray Amen In the name of Jesus Christ your sins are forgiven Glory to God Amen And as forgiven people seeking Christ in our lives Everyone is welcome at the table It's a celebration of life restored and renewed through Christ
[66:21] So as we celebrate the Lord be with you Lift up your hearts Let us give thanks to the Lord our God It is right and a good and joyful thing Always and everywhere to give thanks to you Father Almighty Creator of heaven and earth You formed us in your image And breathed into us the breath of life When we turned away And our love failed You remained steadfast You delivered us from captivity Made covenant To be our sovereign God And spoke to us through your prophets And so with your people on earth And all the company of heaven We praise your name and join the unending hymn Holy Holy Holy Lord God of power and might Heaven and earth are full of your glory Hosanna in the highest
[67:23] Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord Hosanna in the highest Holy are you and blessed is your son Jesus Christ Your spirit anointed him to preach good news to the poor To proclaim release to the captives And recovering of sight to the blind To set at liberty those who are oppressed And to announce that the time had come When you would save your people He healed the sick Fed the hungry And ate with sinners By the baptism of his suffering Death and resurrection He gave birth to your church Delivered us from slavery to sin and death And made with us a new covenant By water and the spirit When the Lord Jesus ascended He promised he would be with us always In the power of your word and Holy Spirit On the night in which he would give himself up for us He took bread And he gave thanks to you
[68:26] And he broke the bread He gave it to his disciples and said Take and eat This is my body Which is broken And given For you Do this In remembrance of me When the supper was over He took the cup He gave thanks to you And he gave it to his disciples and said This is the blood of the new covenant Poured out for you And for many For the forgiveness Of sins Drink of this often In remembrance of me And so in remembrance of these Your mighty acts in Jesus Christ We offer ourselves in praise and thanksgiving As holy and living sacrifices In union with Christ's offering for us As we proclaim the mystery of faith Christ has died Christ is risen
[69:28] Christ will come again Pour out your Holy Spirit on us gathered here And on these gifts of bread and wine And make them be for us the body and blood of Christ That we may be for the world the body of Christ Redeemed by this blood By your spirit Make us one with Christ One with each other And one in ministry to all the world Until Christ comes in final victory And we feast at his heavenly banquet Through your son Jesus Christ With the Holy Spirit and your Holy Church All honor and glory is yours Almighty Father now and forever Amen Now let us pray together the prayer that Jesus taught us Our Father who 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 trespasses As we forgive those who trespass against us
[70:31] And lead us not into temptation But deliver us from evil For thine is the kingdom And the power And the glory forever and ever Amen Will those who are serving please come forward Amen May His times Jesus Christ For ourilla My father is B acid Unbelievable Why?
[71:25] records Thank you.
[71:55] Thank you.
[72:25] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
[73:25] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. We're going to sing together, Great is Thy Faithfulness.
[73:51] Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father, There is no shadow of turning with Thee.
[74:19] Thou changest not, Thy compassions they fail not, As Thou hast been, Thou forever wilt be.
[74:33] Great is Thy faithfulness, Great is Thy faithfulness, Morning by morning new mercies I see.
[74:49] All I have needed, Thy hand hath provided. Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me.
[75:04] And now may God bless you. May God bless you not only to go out and forgive and love others, but to have others that will love and forgive you.
[75:15] May God teach you to go out and bring to the world the true message of Christ, of grace and hope and possibilities. That we might change this world into what God intended it to be.
[75:25] That we might not have to lock people up, put fires on the windows and chains on folks. That we can bring everybody to the glory of God.
[75:36] May God's peace be with you now and always. Happy Father's Day. Amen. Happy Father's Day. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.
[75:47] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.
[76:00] Amen.