Carter Conlon emphasizes the transformative power of releasing God's forgiveness, illustrating that true freedom and joy come from letting go of unforgiveness. He explains that unforgiveness can trap individuals, hindering their spiritual growth and connection with God. Through biblical examples, Conlon highlights that forgiveness is not only a command but a pathway to experiencing God's joy and grace. He encourages believers to seek God's strength to forgive others, reflecting on the mission of Christ to forgive humanity. Ultimately, the sermon calls for a heartfelt release of past grievances to embrace the joy of God's forgiveness.

This message is one of the Times Square Church pulpit series. It was recorded in the sanctuary of Times Square Church in Manhattan, New York City. Other tapes are available by writing World Challenge, P.O. Box 260, Lindell, Texas 75771 or calling 903-963-8626. You are welcome to make additional cassettes of this message for free distribution to friends. However, for all other forms of reproduction or electronic transmission, existing copyright laws apply. Colossians chapter two in the New Testament, please, if you'll turn there, I'm going to speak tonight on the joy of releasing God's forgiveness, the joy of releasing God's forgiveness. Let's pray together now. As soon as you find that Jesus, mighty God, I come to you tonight as healer and deliverer. I come to you tonight on behalf of those who cannot get out of the snare that has been planted in their soul. I come to you, Jesus, and I'm asking you to take out your sword and your oil and heal those that have been wounded in heart and fight against every enemy of righteousness. I'm asking for a mighty deliverance tonight. I'm asking for victory and freedom that can only come from your hand. Lord, we can't reason our way out of unforgiveness. It's an issue of the heart. It's too deep. It's too strong. It has to be your power that sets people free. Oh, Jesus, I'm asking you to come. I'm asking you to anoint every word. I'm asking you to take me, God, out of the way and let your voice be heard. Let the sword of your spirit be wielded. Let the oil of your healing touch every heart. God, I thank you for the anointing that will cause your kingdom to advance in the hearts of your people. I ask for a genuine shout of joy, a genuine reason to praise him for many who have never known it for years. At the end of this service tonight, that mighty God, there'd be an absolute oil of joy. Come and touch the hearts of those who've been captivated. Father, I thank you for a great victory. Even before I speak, you put the anticipation in my heart, and I thank you for it in Jesus' mighty name. Releasing the joy of releasing God's forgiveness. Beloved, listen to me. I'm going to ask you to follow through on this message. I'm going to take you on a little bit of a journey. A journey through the word of God, but I think for many people it's a journey through your heart. It's a journey where you're living right now. The Lord has given me a word of deliverance tonight. There are some very difficult days ahead for the whole world, not just New York City. The whole world is going into a perilous time. In my heart, I have an inner knowledge that the days ahead are going to be so difficult that the only way you and I will get through is the life of Christ in us. And if you know that, there should be every effort made to make sure that things that are obstructing that life are taken out of the way. I believe for many tonight, the difference between making it and not making it in the coming days is going to depend on how you deal with the word that you're about to hear tonight. Perhaps you've never, you've heard it before, you've tried. I'm going to talk about some things. I'm going to talk about unforgiveness, especially near the end of this message in a way perhaps you've not heard it. But I believe that if you'll hold through to the end, if you'll deal seriously with this, God says I'm going to deal seriously with it and I'm going to seriously give you a victory. You're going to know not just how to forgive, but how to get into the joy of that forgiveness. There's a joy in forgiveness. Colossians 2.13 says, and you being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, as he quickened together with him, having forgiven all your trespasses. Now, the moment we were forgiven, God's forgiveness introduced us to the quickening power of God. And the quickening power of God is that power within to change and to be made into that which God has destined us to be. Someone other than whom we have been all our lives. And it all began with forgiveness. We were dead in our flesh. We were dead in all of what we were and how we tried to live. But the moment the forgiveness of God touched us, we were quickened by the Holy Ghost and given the power to be something other than what we have been. Verse 14 says, blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross. Verse 15 says, and having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it. Forgiveness introduced us to the quickening power of God. Verse 14, forgiveness took away the list of past wrongs and gave us a brand new start. Isn't that an amazing thing? A list of all the wrong things that we had done against God. I don't know about your list, but I had a fairly lengthy one. And when I came to Christ by God's grace and his grace alone, he's absolutely just and holy, and he would be perfectly within his right as God to not forgive my sin. But he chose to forgive me. And when he forgave me, not only quickened me, but he blotted out the list that was held against me. Verse 15, he spoiled principalities and powers and made an open show of them. In other words, he took away the right of evil to rule any longer in my life. Evil had a right to rule before Christ came. It lawfully held me. But when Christ forgave me, the power of the Holy Ghost came upon me and by the power of the Holy Ghost within me, Christ makes an open display of the powers of darkness. He openly displays their inability to rule and reign anymore by setting his people free. That's the open display. That's the display that will be shown through heaven for all of eternity. It's a bride redeemed by the precious blood of Christ, empowered by the Holy Ghost and given the power by the inward dwelling of God to be a display that the devil and sin and flesh and all the traps of darkness have no longer any right to rule in our lives. Hallelujah. He makes our lives an open display. That's what your life and mine is supposed to be. An open display of the powerlessness of the devil, the powerlessness of sin. Oh, yes, the devil can come and tempt and yes, our flesh can fail, but they can no longer reign. That's really the key. An open display, spoiling powers and principalities, openly showing their powerlessness and triumphing over them. And it all came to us because of God's forgiveness. God forgave us when we didn't deserve it. We heard earlier this evening through the New Believers class, it was not something we could work for. It was an unmerited favor. It was God's goodness that he became a man and died on a cross because it was his mission to forgive you and to forgive me. I don't fully grasp that. I accept it by faith and perhaps one day when we get to heaven, as the Bible says, our minds will be expanded and we will know even as we are known, we will see the infinite distance that God bridged when he became a man and understand the depth of his forgiveness. It was the whole mission of God through Jesus Christ to forgive. Jesus himself said in John 3, 17, God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world which is everyone who would receive through him might be saved. The world might be saved. It was God's mission that whosoever will, irrespective of background or what they have done or the depth and depravity of their sin, that everyone who would come to him, he would forgive them. Incredible mercy. Incredible mercy. When you think of the fact that even those that put a plate at the crown of thorns and put it on his head and put a mock robe on him and bowed the knee and took the reed and hit him on top of the head, driving the thorns deeper into his brow. It was his mission to forgive them. Almighty God becoming a man and forgiving the most ignorant and depraved of action. I can think of a lot of things that humankind has done and have done to one another over the years, but I can't think of a single act more depraved than what was done to Christ at Calvary. That is the God Almighty encourage him to take God Almighty and spit in his face. Take God Almighty and slap him. To take God Almighty and punch him. To take God Almighty and nail him. To take God Almighty and part his garments. To take God Almighty and wag their heads and their tongues at him as he died because he loved them. I don't know of a single act of depravity that humankind could concoct that would surpass that one. But even then on the cross Jesus said, Father forgive them for they don't know what they're doing. Up to this point he had experienced rejection. Many here tonight you've understood you know what rejection is all about. He had been publicly humiliated. He had been the subject of incredible pain. And now as he speaks these words they're dividing his clothing. What would you do if you had been God? Created the world. Had everything in the palm of your hand and looked down at all these mockers and the pain that they'd inflicted on you and now they're dividing your clothing. I suppose it would take grace beyond what any of us could ever produce not to curse the whole thing right there. Just curse the whole lot of humanity. Wipe it out and recreate perhaps another man or others made after the image of God. His mission was to forgive. It was the entire mission of God to forgive fallen humanity. Incredible. It's because of that that you and I are here tonight. We wouldn't be here if it wasn't his mission. If it wasn't pure grace what hope would we have? If God marked iniquities who would be here tonight? If God took an account of the wrong thoughts that you've thought this week would you be here? Would there be any hope before God? It's his mission to forgive and he constantly forgives. Constantly covers. Constantly cleanses. Incredible. Thank God. Thank God for his unspeakable gift of grace through his son Jesus Christ. And even after the cross when he came back three years walking in close intimacy with those that supposedly were making a boast. I'll be your friend forever. I'll go with you right to Jerusalem. I'll die with you if I have to die. I will not forsake you. I'll not fail you. And yet even in the midst of that you see Peter for example cursing and bringing down curses and oaths upon himself that he said I don't know the man. I've never met the man. I have no idea who he is. And even in John chapter 21 after the after betrayal by the the most intimate of friends. Those that knew him. Those that understood or should at least have understood his mission. All fleeing out of the garden. All running away and even beyond that denying they ever even knew him in Peter's case. And we see in John 21 Jesus comes again just simply continuing his mission to forgive fallen humanity. Coming to Peter and just simply asking do you love me and finally Peter says in exasperation Lord you know I love you. And he says well feed my sheep then. Feed my lambs. Peter if you now know the depth of my forgiveness. If you now know the depth of my love pass that on to the next generation. Pass that love on to those that are coming into my kingdom. Teach them. Feed them with the same love that you've experienced in your own heart. And then he said to Peter follow me. It's an invitation. Oh yes it's an invitation to take up our cross. There are many things in the bible we can't deny. God gives us an invitation to do many things but the invitation also includes to forgive. Follow me Peter. I've forgiven you and I've forgiven you a great debt that you could never repay. I've forgiven you all your failings and all your shortcomings. I've forgiven even your false speech towards me. But now I'm asking you to follow me. I'm asking you to walk Peter in the same path that I have carved out for you. Forgiveness can be one of the most difficult paths to follow. It's a hard path. You can give up cigarettes and drugs and there are a lot of things that we can even in human effort can say well I'm not going to do this anymore. I've come to Christ. Now the Holy Ghost will always enable us but there are still some things that we can make decisions through. I'm not going to pornographic theaters if that's what you used to do. You can make the decision not to go. But forgiveness is another issue. It's something that's intertwined right in the character of man. It's a difficult path to follow but it's one of the most crucial. And let me tell you why. It's because the unforgiving person is locked out of all that God wants to do in his or her life. If unforgiveness grips you, you are locked out. God wants to do marvelous things in your life. He wants to display the powerlessness of the devil in the flesh. He wants to raise you up as a testimony. He wants to make you what you are not. Take you where you'll never be able to go. He wants to take you out of the dunghill and set you among princes. He wants to put a song in your mouth that people around will see it and they will fear God and begin to trust in him because they see the working of God's hand. I've known personally of no other sin that has a greater power to lock you out of God's presence and kingdom than unforgiveness. In reality, can we honestly say that the unforgiving person is really walking the same pathway as Jesus Christ? If I say I'm a Christian and unforgiveness is in my heart, now understanding that the whole mission of God through Christ is to forgive. So if I say I'm walking with Christ and unforgiveness is still in my heart, can I honestly say I'm walking the same pathway as my Savior? Amos 3.3 says can two walk together except they be agreed. God says how can I walk with you unless we agree on this issue together? Now the unforgiving person, go back in your Bible with me to the book of Matthew chapter 6. I'm going to show you just a few things before we move on. Matthew chapter 60 shows us that the unforgiving person can be in the same state of lifelessness as the unbeliever. An unbeliever has no power. An unbeliever is cut off from the life of God. An unbeliever is relegated to the realm of trying and failing. Matthew chapter 6 verse 12. Now Jesus was teaching the disciples how to pray or those that were gathered in this particular time. He's teaching them how to pray. This is what we commonly come to know as the Lord's Prayer. In verse 12 he shows us an element of that prayer and he says now forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. Verse 14 says for if you forgive not men their trespasses your heavenly father for if you forgive men their trespasses your heavenly father will also forgive you but if you forgive not men their trespasses neither will your father forgive your trespasses forgive us he said is the pray that word of prayer as we forgive our debtors now that the translation of that really means God as we walk in forgiveness you forgive us as we forgive those forgive us the same way that we forgive others around us Lord we come to you and we say give us this day our daily bread give us deliver us from evil keep us from temptation let your kingdom come let your will be done and forgive us in the same manner that we choose to forgive those that are around us he said pray this way and then he concludes there are a lot of verses in the Lord's Prayer but the only one that he further expounds on is this one verse of scripture he said because if you don't forgive men the wrong things that they've done against you your heavenly father will not forgive your trespasses and so the only conclusion I can draw from that is that if I have unforgiveness in my heart I am in the very same state as an unbeliever yes I may have Christ profession on my lips I may go to church I may sing happy songs I may even have a pretense of worship but unforgiveness locks me out of the of the life of God folks listen to me I've been a pastor for quite a few years now I'll tell you I have seen people that just simply don't grow they don't grow they're 25 years still asking the same questions they never mature there's never a testimony of life and you will always bring it down to unforgiveness you'll always bring it down as somebody wronged me and I just refuse to let the debt go whether it's my mother my father another race of people whatever the situation is I'm just not letting it go I'm going to hold on to this thing and subsequently find themselves just locked out of Christ's life they go from bible study to bible study service to service tape to tape and never grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ the unforgiving person cannot grow in grace because the promises of God are linked to obedience in the area of forgiveness I'm going to prove that to you if you go to mark chapter 11 mark chapter 11 verse beginning at verse 22 I think one of the most profound passages of scripture and it is really one that changed my life mark 11 22 Jesus said have faith in God for verily I say unto you now this is a promise for you and me that whosoever shall say unto this mountain now that really the context would be whatever obscures your pathway whatever is blocking you from getting through to God be thou removed and be thou cast into the sea and shall not doubt in his heart but shall believe that those things which he says shall come to pass he shall have whatsoever he sayeth therefore I say unto you what things soever you desire when you pray believe that you receive them and you shall have them incredible you know you find other passages of scripture where Christ said you know up to this point he said you've asked for nothing but now ask that you may receive and your joy might be full God said listen I want my power to be manifested in you I want to take you from image to image and glory to glory and give you victory over all your enemies he says all all you have to you stand and whatever is standing in the way of my promise and where you are you can speak to it you can speak to it fear get out of my way God's not giving me a spirit of fear but power and love and a sound mind you speak to it Jesus said and if you desire a boldness in the faith if you desire a life that will honor me ask he said and I'll give it to you but then he tags a condition onto it verse 25 he said and when you stand praying now the praying is this prayer for the life of God forgive if you have ought against any that your father also which is in heaven may forgive your trespasses but if you do not forgive neither will your father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses the unforgiving person cannot grow in grace because the promises of God are linked to obedience in this area of his life and lastly if you go back to Matthew chapter 18 again the unforgiving person in reality may attend church but is in truth moving farther and farther away from the peace that Christ brings into the heart of a believer he's moving farther away there are people who come to church for years and in the end wind up so bitter end up so tormented in Matthew chapter 18 verse 32 now the parable is about a man who's forgiven a great debt a debt he could never repay and goes out and finds somebody that owes him something that's really insignificant in comparison to what he owed and he takes that same person by the throat and refuses to forgive them verse 32 it says that his lord after that he had called him said to him oh you wicked servant i forgave thee all that debt because thou desired me you know when you think of it that's the only reason that we were forgiven we desired Christ should not thou also have had compassion on thy fellow servant even as i had pity on thee and his lord was wroth and delivered him to the tormentors till he should pay all that was due to him now listen to the words of jesus so likewise shall my heavenly father do also to you if ye from your heart forgive not everyone his brother their trespasses from your heart there's a man in the bible in the old testament his name was jonah i'm not going to go through the whole scenario but he was a man who just simply decided to go the other way god said i want you to go to a certain people and i want you to call them to repentance and jonah had an argument with the lord he said god i know you i know how merciful you are because i believe jonah had also personally received much mercy how else would he know he knew the mercy of god he was familiar with it and he said god i know and in his heart he said if i go you're going to forgive these people and they're my enemies they're the enemies of israel they're an oppressor nation they've they've done harm they've been violent vicious to other people and they're they're threatening us now and this is their eventually their capital city of nineveh you want me to go to this city and you want me to call them to repentance and and run the risk that they're going to actually repent and you're going to forgive them jonah said no way i am not into forgiving my enemies i'm going the other way and so he heads the other way and you know folks it's sad but there are people in the church like that come and know the mercy of god absolutely familiar with god's mercy could come and preach a sermon right now if i were to sit down and tell you about the mercy of god and they're so familiar with it and then god says well now i've got something i want you to do i want you to go to this place of your enemies i want you to forgive them i want you to present me in a way that they at least have the option to be forgiven and jonah says absolutely not and many people are just like that god maybe you're interested in forgiving them but i'm not i'm not going that way lord if you only understood what they did to me but you see christ says yes i do understand what they did to you you see they've done more to me than they will ever do to you and here's what happens to jonah he heads the other way and it's the type of what happens when we decide when we make that inward decision i'm not going to forgive i'm not going your way lord i accept your mercy and forgiveness for me but i'm not willing to give it to those that have threatened me or hurt me or wounded me or caused my family distress or my people or whatever the situation jonah heads off in the ship in another direction and the very first thing that we find about jonah when he goes into the ship is a storm arises all around him and everybody is in fear but this man jonah is asleep in the middle of the storm bible tells us he went down into the sides of the ship and he lay and was fast asleep and i can't help but wonder we're in a storm our society is in a storm our children are in a storm our whole culture is in a storm the entire world is in danger of going into a a horrific storm and how many in the church of jesus christ are asleep down in the sides of the ship walking gently with the waves just as long as everything is okay with me and and how many people are in that kind of a state because of unforgiveness a spiritual slumber has come upon them whole churches in america are in a slumber there are churches that will not forgive the past they will not let go of wrongs actual or perceived because they won't let it go they are living in a slumber they're asleep in the storm when they should be up and calling upon their god and calling upon the mercy of god and believing god to give great victory even to those who are ignorant of his ways that they're in the same storm with but they're asleep in the bowels of the ship god forbid that we should be found asleep in this coming storm chapter 1 again verse 15 of jonah please let me just read it to you tells us again what happens to the man who heads the other way eventually the people on that ship took him up and cast him forth into the sea folks i want to tell you something there's a law of sowing and reaping paul said to the galatian church don't be deceived god is not marked whenever a man sows that's what he's going to reap he that sows to his flesh shall reap destruction he that sows to the spirit shall reap life everlasting be not deceived god will not be marked in this thing you'll find people who are unforgiving eventually are cast out of fellowship if a man was in close association with a hungry christ exalting christian and all of a sudden out of your mouth you're spewing venom about the past and all the wrongs and everybody that's hurt you you might get away with it once you might get away with it twice but eventually you're going to find yourself even in a big church like this absolutely isolated from every godly person around you who really wants nothing to do with a bitter spirit because a bitter spirit will taint everything around it the bitter spirit will poison everything it touches you end up you've you've judged the people that wronged you and because that thing is still in your heart you find yourself reaping the same judgment thrown into the sea in the midst of the storm people not wanting you in their fellowship oh wandering from i've seen so many christians over the years wandering from pillar to post trying to spew their grievances about the past and then eventually finding a few misguided people like themselves and forming a little home fellowship where they can curse the church for the rest of their days and curse people made in the image of god and spew out their bitter water and form their own righteousness not realizing they're absolutely cut off from the life of god and then ultimately the end result of unforgiveness is jonah was plunged into deep despair he was thrown over and he was swallowed the scripture tells us by a huge fish and he was in the belly of that fish and he said i cried by reason of my affliction to the lord and he heard me out of the belly of hell i cried and you heard my voice he said they that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy jonah finally came to himself and said god i'm so sick of the despair i'm so tired of the way i'm feeling i'm so tired of the blackness and the darkness because you called me to do something and i've refused to obey you in this thing and so finally jonah cries out to the lord says god i want to go and i want to i want to do what you've asked me to do the moment we begin to cry out to the lord we'll find ourselves given another chance and that's i think what happened to many here tonight given another chance in other words spewing out of your situation and god says now go and do what i've asked you to do because really it's a life and death issue now jonah becomes the type of a christian now here's where you've really got to put on your listening ears i don't have much left to say but hear me on this jonah becomes the type of a of a christian who moves into reluctant obedience reluctant obedience is just simply this he says okay okay i'm going to do this because i'm tired of the torment i'm tired of being asleep in the storm i'm tired of reaping the same judgment i'm tired of the darkness and the torment so i'm going to go out and forgive my enemies and so they go out and they say well all right i forgive you they might even write a letter i forgive you i forgive you they phone people i forgive you i forgive you but deep down in the heart but god is going to damn you listen to me that's exactly what was in jonah's heart walked into nineveh and said oh you know in his heart knowing the mercy of god was going to come and then when he was done with his message he went and sat on the top of a hill and waited for god to judge them it's the type of a person that goes halfway into forgiveness and says okay i forgive my my my guardian i forgive that person i forgive the person that that horribly abused me whatever the situation was oh i forgive you but god is going to get you god is going to burn you in hell forever i forgive you but god's going to burn you in hell and he sat up on the hill and waited for the judgment of god and there are many people who who've gone halfway in forgiveness and they they come to church and they're sitting on calvary as it is and just waiting for the day that god's god i forgive you but god's going to send you to hell for what you did to me and then the lord comes and the king and all the people put on sackcloth and ashes and they repent of all their evil deeds and all the wrong things that they've done and jonah sits on the top of the hill and says i knew it i knew it god this is the thing almost that i feared that you were going to forgive these people that you you were actually going to put away their sin and give them another chance and god comes to jonah and he says do you well to be angry jonah is this a good thing do so well jonah for for to be angry the word in the hebrew for well means to be glad or cheerful it means a vertical bond with god that's reflected in horizontal social relationships and basically god's saying to jonah jonah are you one in heart with me yet in this matter jonah jonah is this a good thing yeah you've gone and you've you've proclaimed uh what i told you to do but here you are sitting on the hill you're still angry you're still gripped with unforgiveness it just has another name now you you can honestly come to church now and say i've forgiven you i did it i fulfilled the letter of the law i made the call i wrote the letter but he said jonah are you yet one in heart with me do you yet understand the very nature of forgiveness have you yet to understand the joy that's in heaven over one sinner that repents there's joy i can imagine jesus saying jonah listen to this understand something one when any of those soldiers i don't know how many of those that that crowd that was there made it to heaven i know the centurion said surely this is the son of god i don't know if that led to a conversion experience or not but can you imagine heaven looking down and seeing christ slapped and spit on and beat and mocked the soldiers doing all kinds of unspeakable harm and evil and perhaps if it happened eternity will reveal it that maybe one of those soldiers bowed his knee and received christ after all that he'd done his savior and you see heaven rejoicing beloved heaven rejoices because christ is rejoicing god the father is rejoicing over every sinner that repents no matter how vile their actions have been or how much they even harm the son of god all of heaven is rejoicing and the lord said to jonah is this a good thing yeah you you're walking in the letter but you're not sharing my heart in this yet it's my delight to forgive but it's a sheer joy of heart when my offer is received by even those who have wounded me the most grievously jonah do you understand this yet do you understand the joy of releasing my forgiveness but we ask and we ask it rightly god how do i do this how do i forgive lord help me it's it's like the man with the demon-possessed child that comes to this guy i believe but help my unbelief i've gone as far as i can go how do i go any farther how do i get out of this prison how do i break these snares these chains that bind me i see the danger but how do i get out i'm going to show you now what the holy spirit has shown man it's so simple sometimes we just miss it i want you to go to matthew chapter 25 i'm going to close with this matthew chapter 25 the kingdom of heaven verse 14 this is the way out i have lived this and i can honestly stand here tonight and say this is true god will make a way out if you want out he'll show you the way out matthew 25 14 he said the king and i want you to i'm going to read some scriptures but i want you to look at these with me in the in the context of forgiveness and keep them in that context it'll help you better to understand this for the kingdom of heaven is as a man traveling into a far country and he called his own servants and delivered to them his goods and he gave unto one he gave five talents and to another two and to another one to every man according to his several ability and straightway he took his journey and so he's giving an illustration of himself in this church he was saying in essence i'm going to go into a far place but i'm going to give you my goods i'm going to give you everything that you're going to need to honor me while i'm gone to live for me and to invest as it is i'm going to invest in you that you might be able to invest all around you and then he came back and he began to reason with those servants the bible tells us that the man who had received five talents gained five more then it goes on to verse 22 and it says he also that received two talents came and said lord thou delivered some to me two talents and behold i've gained two other besides them he said unto him well done good and faithful servant has been faithful over a few things i'll make thee rule over many things enter thou into the joy of thy lord this is it in a nutshell he says i've given you the power i deposited the enough power in you for you to forgive everyone you have to forgive say for example the man who needed to forgive five people he says i put enough in you he said you gave me five and i brought home another five and the man who received two perhaps you have two people that you need to forgive god says i've deposited in you enough of my life that you can call upon me and i will enable you to forgive them i see the man coming say god you forgave me and you gave me the power that i needed and i went to the two that wronged me and i was they were released to be forgiven by you i not only forgave them but i released them and in my heart i began to desire that you would forgive them i wasn't asking forgiveness to get out of the snare i actually became burden for their souls and the lord said this has been the attitude of your heart verse 23 basically he said you've been faithful over these few things now i'm going to increase i'm going to make your ruler now for many things you've been faithful to do these things you took the power that i gave you and you put it to the use that it was intended for you see it's not within us to forgive it's within the heart of god to forgive and god's life is now in us we're not able to do it in our own strength but when we call upon him he said call to me and i will do mighty things for you i will give you the power to forgive as i forgave you i will give you the power to forgive all that have wronged you i will give you everything you need i'll give you all the goods that you require to go to them not just to say i forgive you but i i i long for your soul to come into god's kingdom i long for you to be forgiven your sin as i was forgiven mine and christ said when that gets into your heart i make an invitation to you enter thou into the joy of thy lord you will now begin to understand my heart when you have completely released the debt when you've let everybody go that owes you and you hope beyond hope in your heart that they will come to the saving knowledge of christ yes the person that abused you because of your race yes the person that abused their authority over your life yes the person that stole from you that owed you and wouldn't pay the debt you let them go and ask god to save them god said if that gets in your heart you're going to know my joy you're going to know the joy of releasing my forgiveness hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah my altar call tonight is yes obviously for those who need to forgive but it's specifically for those that have gone halfway in this issue you're halfway to the life of god yes you're forgiven but in your heart you still want the person that wronged you judged and tonight the lord says if you want to know my life you've got to lay this down you've got to begin to share my heart for every lost person in this world and when you begin to do that you're going to enter into the joy of your lord you're going to understand what my heart is for fallen humanity but the promise is so far beyond this you remember through ezekiel when he said i'm coming to a people and he said i'm going to give you a new heart and that's really got to be your cry tonight jesus give me a new heart he said i'm going to give you a new mind and for many tonight oh god you say your ways are not mine give me a new mind you the life of god is in you if you're a christian the life of god is in you the creative power of god is in you god give me a new mind towards these persons that have harmed my life and he said i'm going to give you a spirit it all comes from the hand of god because this is a snare that you can't get out of in your own strength you can't escape it it's too strong but god will make a way god will make a way through this fire god will make a way through this flood god will make a way through this trial and he will set you free from the snare of unforgiveness and you will begin to experience the joy of releasing god's forgiveness to others hallelujah hallelujah you can say like paul no man owns me i'm not owned by any past situation i'm not owned by the experience of the past hallelujah i'm free by the blood of christ by the power of god i'm free i'm free absolutely free i'm free to grow in the grace and knowledge of christ i'm free for god to come and make an open display of the powers of darkness i'm free to understand the forgiving grace of my savior hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah i can't tell you anything other than what the holy spirit has told me that those that would come tonight that god is going to give you the power to be free it's as simple as that no man of self-effort is going to do this you just get up and say jesus i'm sick of this in my life i'm tired of it i don't want it anymore i don't do well sitting on this hill wanting judgment on somebody that has wronged me pretending that they've been forgiven but in reality the forgiveness is not yet complete jesus i want to let it go i want the joy and god promised me those who pray that tonight you're going to experience his joy before you leave this house you're going to experience the joy of releasing the forgiveness of god hallelujah hallelujah thank you jesus thank you lord mighty deliverer mighty god hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah thank you jesus mighty god you're the deliverer you're the deliverer you're the mighty god mighty god set people free set people free set people free holy spirit set them free in this house tonight my jesus thank you god thank you for the truth that sets men free hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah thank you mighty god every prison door has to open every wounded heart has to be healed the spirit of god will touch you the spirit of the lord will set you free hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah thank you for forgiving us tonight we don't deserve our salvation we've wronged you we've cursed your name we've blasphemed you we've been among those that have done unspeakable evil to you we want to share that joy we want to repent god forgive me release us from the prison of unforgiveness pray with me tonight lord jesus as i choose in your strength and in your power to release those that have wronged me and hurt me betrayed me and wounded me tonight i make the choice to release them from the debt they owe me as you released me on the debt that i have owed you there was joy in heaven the day i received you as savior tonight i ask you to put joy in my heart at the thought of these who have wronged me receiving you as savior being transformed unconditionally forgiven made into new creations god i release them and i thank you tonight for releasing me from the prison of unforgiveness now holy spirit close the door behind me and never let me go there again mighty god throw away the key may i know the joy of releasing your forgiveness to all who will ever wrong me for the rest of my life i thank you the holy spirit you will make my life a testimony of love a testimony of forgiveness you will openly display the powerless of my powerlessness of all of my enemies lord god i praise you for tonight the joy of the lord is my strength and the triumph of christ is my everlasting hope thank you for forgiving me and giving me the power to forgive others i thank you in jesus name hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah thank you lord thank you mighty god we praise you we bless you we're free we're free mighty god we're free mighty god we're free thank you jesus thank you jesus thank you lord free we're free we're free we're free we're free we're free hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah thank you jesus this is the conclusion of the message