Imagined injury and holding grudges and vain talk hinder our our life. Pain and blame and revenge seeking plague people today. May we forgive and be released to shine as the noonday sun. The dark world needs forgiven and forgiving people. Isaiah 58:8-11; Luke 7:36-50

Speaker(s): Thomas Schaller
Sermon 12334
11:00 AM on 7/10/2022

P. Schaller –

Our subject is for a few minutes – I wanted you to turn to Ephesians 2. And this message today is about forgiveness. We
did Psalm 32 last week. Today we’ll do Isaiah 58.
We were in Richmond, Virginia yesterday on a mission outreach. About 27 people from here
went down there. Some people also from Culpepper came over. We just had a fantastic time.
We went down Friday. We stayed overnight. We did evangelism in the park. We had raps. We
ate together. We just enjoyed it. It was such an encouraging time. We want to plant a church in
Richmond, Virginia. We’re dong 31 days of outreach in the city. If you want to be part of that
you can jump in and join. You’re welcome. Very nice people. Very polite, cordial, open, kind, a
really good time. We enjoyed it a lot.

Has anybody heard that phrase, people are hurting? You meet someone on the street and you
talk about things in general and they go there’s a lot of people hurting. Has anyone heard that?
I think it’s true but that hurt is also coming from reaping what I sow. It comes from also bad
decisions. Not knowing how to live. By the way, Bible college starts in September. Our Bible
college isn’t like college. It is but it’s spiritual. It’s deep. It’s edifying and you learn how to live.
This is what happened in my life many years ago, many of our lives. We learned how to live. We
learned how to think, how to live, how to make decisions. We learned doctrine which teaches
us.

I want you just to look at this verse about remembering. I think we could turn to a different
text. Turn to Luke 7. This is abbreviated I think. Sorry about that. Luke 7. There was a woman
who was in Simon the Pharisee’s house. This is vs. 44-45, we have two people here. Simon the
Pharisee. He’s kind of cold. He’s judgmental. We could say he puts forth the finger like this. If
you look up here. He puts forth the finger. He’s a judge. That phrase “puts forth the finger”
we’ll read in Isaiah in a few minutes. Simon is a cold, religious person. He doesn’t have the spirit
of grace. He doesn’t have love in his heart. He’s not forgiving. He’s not gracious. Jesus is telling
him this, vs. 46. Did she have many sins? Turn to your neighbor and ask them the question. Did
this woman have many sins? Go ahead. P. Eugene, did she have many sins? P. Eugene said she
did have. How many? Many sins.

Let’s say it together. Many, many. Dramatize it. Many, many, many sins. Ahh! Out! Get her out! Get her out of here! Many, many sins. There’s rape, murder, child abuse, thievery, corruption, pride, arrogance, gossip, slander. Many sins.
What happened to this woman? Look at vs. 47. Forgiven? I have a book here. Is that it? Yeah. I
recommend this book. It’s called Total Forgiveness by R. T. Kendall. I have about, I ordered
these and I have them in my office and people if I feel they need to read it, I give them the copy
and say if you want to talk to me in three weeks after you read it, then you can talk to me. I
think everybody said I don’t need to talk to you. This dealt with it. I had to deal with this.

Total forgiveness. There is partial forgiveness. There is a forgiveness that we have in our nature.
But there’s not total forgiveness. That’s what this is about. It’s amazing what it means. When
this woman was forgiven, it was God forgave her. It was over. It was gone. It was not brought
up. It was not remembered. And she knew it. What happened then? What happened after
that? After she was forgiven much, she loved much.

Look at the verse. Vs. 47. Do you know what? I think sometimes there is little love with us
because we don’t forgive much. We’re very good at holding forth the finger and judging. We’re
very good at that. This was wrong. Look at the countries in history that fight with each other
because they cannot forgive. Yugoslavia, Spain, Russia, and now in the United States the effort
to divide our country by judging also by hatred by accusing, putting forth the finger. And in
neighborhoods and in families and in friendships and in marriages. It’s a common thing. So, that
will be our theme today.

Let’s go look at vs. 47 one more time. This is not our text for today but it introduces it. By the
way, your sins which are many. You might say I’m not that great of a sinner. Well, you are. You
are. You just don’t know it. You don’t know how bad you are. You don’t know how wrong you
can be. You will sell your mother for a dollar if you had to. You and I we don’t know the
magnitude, what we are capable of. What we are capable of in our hearts. It’s just that time
and circumstances hasn’t brought out the worse but it’s there. It’s in our nature. We have been
forgiven much but we also have been born again. With the new birth, we have a new heart, a
love for God, and a love for righteousness and we love much because we have been forgiven a
lot.

Okay. Now we can do the offering and the song, and the song is beautiful. Let’s pray for the
offering. By the way, we’re going to have a rain garden out front. Construction starts Monday.
This is renovated. This is going to be dug out and roped off and there’s going to be a rain garden
out there. So, it will take about a month or so. We have a slide show that shows about that and
so on. I just wanted to make sure you are aware of that. Okay. (Prayer). Okay.

You may be seated. Turn in your Bibles to Isaiah 58. I really want the blessing of God in your life. I
know it’s there that you are blessed of God in Jesus Christ. But in practice sometimes we as
believers don’t know the ways of God and we don’t know the thoughts of God. We need to
learn them by turning in the Bible. If the Bible could speak to me and teach me, that’s a very big
statement. If the Bible could speak to me and teach me how to live, it changes my life. God
changes my life. God becomes real in our lives. If there would be anything I want for you and
myself but all believers everywhere would be God’s blessing in our lives. Very practically and
very really.

But as a pastor, I find sometimes people get hijacked. Like sometimes people just live in the
natural life, natural way of thinking and their life gets hijacked. What’s hijacked mean?

Hijacking an airplane, the plane is going that way and somebody in the plane takes over and it
goes that way. It’s hijacked. My life is hijacked. How did that happen? How did I end up here? I
was going to the Caribbean and I end up in Switzerland. How did that happen? Has it ever
happened to you? How did I get depressed? I was never depressed before. What happened to
me? Why am I depressed? I need to go to church and listen to this message this one, cause this
will help you. It’s for some people, – I think it’s for all of us all the time but for some people,
they really need an extra dosage of this message that I want to share with you today. Cause
forgiveness is not always easy.

Let me read a story. “In 2016, Charles Roberts walked into an Amish schoolhouse armed with
three guns. There were 26 students in the schoolhouse. He allowed the 15 boys, a pregnant
female student, and three other adult females with infant children to leave safely, but held the
remaining 15 girls captive and tied their feet together. His deranged rationale for his actions
was that he wanted to exact revenge for something that had happened in his past.” By the way,
I understood that he grew up in a Christian home but there was something in his past. “Notes
that he left behind indicate anger towards himself and God for the death of his newborn
daughter almost 9 years earlier. Authorities were alerted. Soon arrived on the scene.

Not long after police arrived, Roberts started shooting, killing three children and himself. Two
more children later died.” So, five children died and himself. “In the face of such tragedy, one
can only imagine the hurt and anger the loved ones of the victims might feel. In an
extraordinary demonstration of forgiveness, members of the Amish community including family
members of the deceased victims attended Robert’s funeral, comforted his widow. The Amish
community did not stop there. They offered financial support to Robert’s widow.” I heard also
that the Amish elders walked to the father of Robert – Robert’s father – who was just
disconsolate. Weeping. Weeping. Grieved. And the elders said we forgive your son. You are not
to blame. We love you. I also remember reading they tore the schoolhouse down and then they
plowed the field and planted corn. So, it’s over. They forgave.

I want to talk about this because it’s hard. It’s hard. It’s not natural. There are things that have
happened in your life of a small degree or greater degree that bothers you. And there’s
something we need to teach about this because maybe you don’t understand what it means to
forgive. And what it means to be Spirit filled and to think a certain way. There are some things
that happen to people and they have it in their memory. I was making up a story in my mind of
driving on the highway and a drunken driver runs into me or someone and I lose my leg in the
accident. The drunken driver survives and I do, too. But I lost my leg. And every time I get up in
the morning on my one leg, I have a memory of what happened. And how do I process this?
How do I think about it?

It’s very important that you and I would think a certain way regarding maybe child abuse.
Maybe you were abused as a child or rape or someone took a lot of money from your family or you. This is our context for the text of Scripture that we chose today. So, it’s Isaiah and I want to
help you because I want your life blessed by God and it happens but not if I am unforgiving. If I
am unforgiving, there is a direction here. There’s a few words. I’ll put them up on the screen.
We have grudges. Sorry for my writing. Bitterness. Accusation. Unforgiveness. A lot of this
happens to people. There’s reason. Because we look for justice.

We hear a lot about that word in our society today. Justice. We’re looking for justice oh, really? Are you looking for justice? Ialso. I also but there’s another part to life and it’s not justice. What is it? What is it? What’s the
other part of life that actually the result of this other part in life is the reason you are here
today.

God did not give justice to you. He gave justice to his Son and the wrath of God came on him
and he was judged he was found guilty. He was crucified and he was judged. That’s justice.
What did God do to you and me? What? Grace. She that has been forgiven – let’s put the word
“forgiven” is not justice in the sense that you should pay for your sin. You should pay for your
sin. But justice in the mind of God he did something incredible. I will pay for your sin. God says I
will pay for your sin so you can go free. It’s very much illustrated by Barabbas the criminal going
free and Christ being crucified. The criminal went free and so did you cause you are guilty of sin.
And the woman that was forgiven was forgiven of many. She has sinned much. A lot of sin. A lot
of sin and she goes free; therefore, she loves much.

Let’s say love is what is missing in a lot of families. In family life, we are kind and polite and fun
loving and so on but something will happen in your family and you will look for justice. Your
brother will steal some money from you. Your sister will slander you and speak evil behind your
back. Your mother or father will mistreat you or have already done it. Families are filled with
problems. You know what a family needs? They need to find something else. And you know
what you and I need? We need to find something else, not this justice that the world is so hot
on. They’re so hot on it. We believe in it but life has got to be filled with forgiveness. It’s got to
be filled with grace. It’s got to be filled with something else. It’s got to be filled with God. We
have to find God. We have to find God. Do you understand that? I think you do.

Let’s read the text. Isaiah 58 is talking about another kind of fast. Let’s write the word here. Fast.
What does it usually mean? It means not eating food. Not eating food for a day or two or three
or more. A fast. Not eating food. It’s self-inflicted. It’s the denial of yourself. You have religious
people doing it and we do it also. But religious people can do it for their notoriety, their
discipline. They can do it also – it can turn inward that there is some kind of self-pity connected
with it. There can be something not exactly right with the fasting of food. On the other hand,
the Apostle Paul fasted often. Jesus fasted for 40 days we know. There is something about the
right kind of fast with regard to food and that’s an important thing to know.

But the Lord is saying there is another kind of fast. It’s chapter 58:5. Because of time you can
have your Sunday afternoon Bible reading here from vs. 5-14. Take some time and chew on this. I don’t want to go into this with much detail. I want you to see there is another kind of fast.
Vs. 5-7. I want, we want to say there is a fast in a few words where you turn from being inward
to others. There is another kind of fast where you are caring for others. You are caring for the
oppressed people. It’s mentioned there. The people afflicted. People with heavy burdens. It’s
caring for the homeless. Caring for the hungry. Caring for the oppressed in the world. We are
caring for others, people in our community. We are caring for some children in a school or a
lonely man, a lonely child maybe that doesn’t have a friend. For a teenager to say, I will be his
friend. I turn from – Ed, just help me cause I got to keep my concentration. I turn from myself to
others.

Notice vs. 8. So, we have a spiritual blessing happening. Why? Vs. 9. God will say, here I am and
you will know that. I cry to God and God answers, here I am. Vs. 9. If. If. You see the part if you
take away from the midst of thee the yoke – and there is a list here. You can go through these
lists in this chapter. I enjoyed it. I did it today and did a lot of them. I think this one has four. Vs.
10. Put here #1 yoke. Get rid of the yoke. What is the yoke? It’s a wooden device from years
ago with animals where they would connect two animals together both with a piece of wood
and it would fit on the animals collar and they would pull a load.

The yoke that human beings have there are many different kind where we are yoked with
something bad. I am yoked with revenge. I am yoked with depression. I am yoked with
unforgiveness. I am yoked with a burden maybe I can’t break the yoke. I can’t get away from it.
There are people addicted and yoked to drugs and medication and sex and many things that are
hurting them. But they welcome the yoke. They have it as a habit in life and they welcome it
and don’t have any fight against it. They don’t fight against it. They go this is the way my life is
and this is how I’m going to live. And God is saying then you won’t have the blessing. You have
it as a born again believer but the teaching here is that some things I need to get ahold of in my
heart and mind so that my life is – I could say, God. And God would say immediate, here I am.
Here I am. Or I’m in obscurity.

There’s a verse we’ll read. I’m in obscurity. I’m in a wilderness or a dark hole. I’m in a blackness
of darkness. I’m in trouble. I’m in obscurity. And light rises out of obscurity for me. I stop doing
these things. I get understanding about it.

Look at vs. 9. #2. The putting forth of the finger. Let me explain that. It means this: there are
people that are living like this all the time. Look up here. He’s the problem. It’s them. Those
people. She should have never done that. My father. My problem is my father. It’s always
putting forth the finger. Always accusing. Where is my blessing? I don’t have it cause I’ve
developed a mentality where it’s always other people that are the problem. It’s other people
that are the problem. God is saying you have no idea what you need. You have no idea what I
have for you. You’re so filled with yourself. You are so occupied with yourself and you actually
want blessing. You desire other things but you can’t stop doing this. Alright. Do you see it?

Holding a grudge. My brother, I will never forgive him for what he did to me. I’m holding a
grudge. Where is God in that? Matthew 18, I have forgiven you of a ten million dollar debt and you
can’t forgive your brother for $20? In the Amplified, those are the numbers. You are forgiven
for a ten million dollar debt. You go thank you very much. I’m forgiven. And then you turn
around and your brother owes you $20 and you can’t forgive him. You pay me the $20. You pay
me the $20. The Lord says you’re going to go to prison and you’re not going to come out of
prison until you pay for all your sin which will never be paid for because you have no idea how
wrong you are. You are not trained right. I think part of it is our training. We learn in our society
to blame others and to accuse and say I’ve been abused. I’ve been a victim. I’ve been hurt. I’ve
been stolen from. I’ve been hurt in so many ways.

Let’s say I don’t doubt the pain. I don’t doubt what you are saying. I’m not sympathetic about
any criminal. I’m not saying anything good about any of that. I agree with you. I am very sorry
for it. I understand it. I haven’t personally been a victim that way, a victim of injustice in some
of those ways that I am mentioning but I have been. And by the way, you can make a mountain
out of a molehill. You can say, he hurt me. And then you sit down with a counselor and you
explain it to him for like 30 minutes and then the counselor says, is that all? Then the person
says, don’t you understand? I have been really hurt. And the counselor says, okay. Tell it to me
again. Let’s go over it again. Thirty minutes again the counselor says, is that all? Is that all? You
know, come on.

We are babied and coddled to become victims of our misfortune and injustice and we are
cheating ourselves of God. God is saying I forgave you and I am God. I want to bless you. I will
bless you. These Amish people up in Pennsylvania as far as I understand it, they got it right.
They got it right. It’s over. it’s done. We’ll see our children in heaven. The poor people in the
family that are broken hearted about the killer having done an outrageous crime, they need our
help. They need to know what forgiveness and grace is.

The same thing with the black church down in South Carolina. Wasn’t it? Nine or ten elderly
precious people meeting for a Bible study and some guy came in and killed them all. Didn’t he
kill them all? And then they forgave him. Wow. That’s shocking. And President Obama went and
spoke there I think. That’s shocking forgiveness. That’s amazing.

Okay. Let’s go to the next part. It says #3. Speaking vanity. Do you think sometimes – he’s
saying if you stop doing these things, you stop talking. You stop your talking. You forgive. You
learn what that is. You stop talking vanity. Repeating it. Talking about it. Crying about
everything. I’m going to do a message about excuses, excuses. There’s a song that P. Sturge
sang yesterday in the car. Excuses, Excuses. It’s from a quartet. Also, I want to speak about
teenagers making excuses. Teenagers growing up and facing the giant. They got to go in for an
interview. They don’t want to do the interview. They got to make an excuse. They don’t want to face it. They want to make an excuse. They are young men and they make excuses and they get
away with it. They make excuses in life. We are all like this. Luke 14, it happens.

But when you start speaking not vanity you face it. You look at truth. You face the truth and we
humble ourselves before the truth. God will say, we’ll say God and God will say, here I am. We’ll
say thank you. If you are here, I can do it. I can go to my interview. If you are here, I can finish
school. If my dad would say to me when I joined something, he goes you’re not quitting. I don’t
care if you like it or not. You’re finishing. So, I was on the football team and there were times
when those words would come back to me. You’re not quitting. You got to face it. You got to
face reality. You got to be a man. You got to do your duty. You got to do it whether you like it or
not. What do you think about this?

God is saying some things to the Jewish people in this chapter. He’s saying I need you but I want
you to know me but I can’t let you live in your excuses. I got to release you into who I am. I
want you to be like me. I am a gracious God, a merciful God, a forgiving God. I forgive people.
I’m afraid that you and I we hold grudges and sometimes we look for revenge and sometimes
we talk about it to our friends and we gossip and talk about stuff we shouldn’t be talking about.
It’s none of their business. Learn to say that brothers and sisters in the faith. Say I appreciate
that you are talking to me but I think what you are talking right now is none of my business.

Thank you very much. I don’t have an ear for that. I don’t care about it. It’s speaking vanity.
Now, #4. Feed the hungry. But I want to elaborate on hungry cause it says satisfied the afflicted
soul. I think a soul can be afflicted by not only the absence of food but the absence of love. The
absence of friendship. An afflicted soul, the homeless folks we see on our streets here in
America. Yes, some of it is mental sickness but not all of it. Some of it is the afflicted soul and
they need counsel. We’ve had them come into our church and find a new life in Christ. It’s a
great testimony. If we care about others, the afflicted soul, the depressed, the lonely he people
that don’t have much, if we are caring then what will happen?

Look at vs. 10. Then shall your light rise in obscurity. Out of nowhere you could say. It came out
of nowhere. What happened? Light came. Out of nowhere. Thank you, God. You visited me.
You comforted me. You taught me something. Not to live like the world, talk like the world, be
yoked with the world. What is it, put forth the finger like the world. The world is doing this all
the time. I learned and I think you too understand this, when I went to judge somebody, the
Lord could say, okay. Judge them. What judgment are you going to give them? You could say,
I’m not going to talk to them anymore. I’m going to have a dart board in my bedroom and just
throw darts. Okay. How are you going to judge that person? I’m not talking to them anymore.
They’re out of my mind. Suddenly cause you can’t forgive them, suddenly everywhere they are
in your life. They don’t go away. They’re everywhere just like the frogs in Egypt. They were
everywhere. They were in the bed chamber.

They were in the bathroom. Frogs were
everywhere. If you and I don’t learn this then your life will become very small and you’ll be talking about the
same thing ten years later, twenty years later, even on your death bed. You’ll be talking about
the same thing. I preached on this in Hungary one time and a woman, Hungarian woman came to me
afterwards. I used an illustration of a house. There was a husband and wife. They got in an
argument. The husband cut the house in half with a chain saw and then he moved the house
away. I mean it was an incredible story of revenge and hatred and looking for justice.
A woman came up afterwards and told me I want to tell you a story about my family. She was
older than I am. She said my mother and father destroyed our family over a pickle jar. Pickle
jars are like precious antiques.

They’re clay jars maybe this big and you put pickles in them with
vinegar and stuff. So, it’s a real thing and it was valuable in the family. But the father broke it by
accident and she could not forgive him. And it became this thing that just ruined the family.
So, that’s you and me. That’s you and me. What could ruin your family, your friendship, your
church? What could happen that could ruin our lives? These four things that we put up on the
board. Just stop doing it. Let’s go over it and we’ll finish. The yoke of revenge. By the way, I’m
going to say something. Revenge is sweet to some people. It can be to you. I want revenge. I
want justice. I want him destroyed. I want to take him out. After he’s dead I want him to be and
on it goes. Totally that’s a world that people live in.

Not you. You can’t do that. You got to rejoice in mercy, not revenge. Vengeance is mine saith the Lord. That’s his business. He will repay. Not you. You don’t know how to do it. you don’t know how to judge people. You can’t
judge people. You don’t know how to do it. You have to give them mercy. You have to forgive
them and forgive them and forgive them. That’s the nature of God.
God wants you and I to live like that in this world and to forgive. That’s a short version. There’s
a lot more to say about it. #2. Stop accusing people. Stop blaming your wife. Stop accusing your
husband. Stop blaming your friend. Stop blaming the church. Stop blaming God. Stop blaming.
Just stop it. Stop blaming the United States of America. Stop blaming your neighbor. You know
what your neighbor needs? Not your judgment. Your neighbor needs grace.

Your neighbor needs love. Your neighbor needs encouragement. Your neighbor needs for us to care for the
afflicted soul and to say – there was a man in prison in Maine. One of my friends was the pastor
in that penitentiary. And the man had a life sentence for killing his father. He was a big man
with a rifle. He planned it all out and murdered his father and went to jail.

The pastor went there and told the man God loves you and so on. The guy was cold. Stone
heart. And the pastor would just keep telling him. God loves you. God forgives you. Jesus loves
you. Jesus forgives you. The man is a big man and just hard. Just a tough guy. And then the
pastor just hugged him. And he could feel that the guy totally melted. The guy just started
crying. Like it touched him. Do you think the afflicted soul needs our hardness? Or does the afflicted soul need God? Isn’t God the one that forgives? And can’t we forgive if we have been
forgiven? And isn’t that how our light comes out of obscurity. I can’t believe it but God is with
me. I praise you God. How did that happen? Maybe because I practice this. I stop putting forth
my finger and accusing people and walking around like a policeman and judging and making
sure the church is like right. This church needs to be right. It’s like hey! It’s not your church and
you’re not in charge.

We don’t need the Pharisee in the house. We need the woman weeping and worshiping Jesus
Christ and saying I can’t believe that I have been forgiven of my sin. And that’s how we all feel.
We end up treating each other in a different way. It’s not about me and my pride. It’s about
Christ and his nature and the living God. The living God is the one that changes us. Isn’t that
true? Stop talking vanity, foolishness and out of your own arrogance and wound and just start
taking care of other people and loving them. What will happen? Your light will rise out of
obscurity. You’ll go to bed at night saying, man, revenge is nothing. I could care less about
revenge. I got forgiveness in my heart. And I pray not only that person is forgiven but that
nobody will find out about it. Not only that – I don’t mean criminal. I’m not talking about hiding
crime even though that can apply. I don’t understand it.

You got to get it from God how to handle a crime. I think crimes should be reported. And crime is a real thing in life for the helping people in our society.
But I’m also saying there is something incredible about this. God is gracious to the guilty every
day. God is something beyond us. God will take care of people. God will deal with vengeance is
mine. We have civil laws I know. This is hard to explain, the whole picture. Understand that.
That’s why I’m kind of saying too that you want to get that book Total Forgiveness. I
recommend it cause it covers the subject very extensively and in a good way.

My message this morning is simply to say I like to go to bed with a lot of mercy and grace in my
heart cause he gave it to me and I like to minister that to my family. I don’t want my family to
be ripped up by my judgmental spirit and attitude of arrogance. I want to say, please forgive
me.

D. L. Moody was known for his anger, by the way. He was a great evangelist. There was one
thing. He had a big building. In a stairwell, there’s thousands of people coming. One man was
coming up the stairs and they got in a little—D. L. Moody, the preacher, they got in a little
confrontation and Moody pushed him down the stairs. And a lot of people saw it. When Moody
went to the pulpit, he asked for forgiveness. He said I have a problem with my anger and I say
to my children at night, please forgive me. And he said to the whole congregation before he
preached, please forgive me for what I did some minutes ago in the back there.

What does that mean? That means a lot to me. That means, you know, we’re not pretending.
That means we all need forgiveness. And when we ask for it, we should get it. Not one of these, I forgive you but never do that again. What is that, a condition? I got to live before you like by
law? I have to be approved by you? God didn’t say that to us. He didn’t say I forgive you but
never do it again. He said to the woman taken in adultery for her own sake, you are forgiven.
And what did he say? And what? [indistinct]. Okay. I can’t hear you? And do it no more. Yeah.
Do it no more. That’s counsel. That’s good advice.

But here forgiveness wasn’t based on her not doing it anymore. As kids, that’s how we would
talk. You can do it 70 X 70 times a day and I am supposed to forgive you, Luke 17. I am trying to
say today and provoke you to think with me, we might know so little about the subject and we
just need to learn what it is. I’m also saying. Get ready. Get ready. Something is coming in life
and it’s going to need our forgiveness. Total forgiveness. Get ready. Something can happen.
And we need to know God and learn what that means and speak in a different way to each
other and love each other and not know each other based on our sins.

One of the things I am so thankful for about my sins is that God is not broadcasting them. Thank
you, Lord. Lord are you ever going to tell all of them about my sins? No, I can’t remember them.
They are gone. You’re not going to tell them about my sins? You’re not going to tell all the
world about my sins? God is saying, no. I cover them. I hide them behind my back. I’m not
broadcasting my sin. What else, Lord? I’m going to bless you with my grace. Grace? I don’t
deserve? Yes, grace. I’m going to shower you with my grace. I’m going to bless you with who I
am. I am God and I want you to know me and then I want you to minister, not go inward but I
want you to learn to go outward and love others. Stop pointing your finger and love them. Stop
pointing your finger and lay down your life and forgive them and love them and light will rise
out of obscurity and you’ll say, woohoo! Lord! Okay. Amen.

Please enjoy these sermon notes from the messages preached at Greater Grace Church in Baltimore. These notes are provided to aid in your study and understanding of the Word. Note that these notes do not represent complete, word-for-word transcriptions. Also, they may contain omissions as well as some errors in spelling and structure, etc., as we attempt to provide them as soon as possible. Our hope is that these notes serve as a way to help you search and connect with messages on related subjects and passages. Thank you for your interest in the ministry of Greater Grace.