Women's Bible Study - October 25th, 2023 - Review and New Topic: Forgiveness
First B Jackson
2023-10-25

Automatically transcribed. Where this and the recording disagree, the recording is the record.

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Good morning, ladies. You have one song to finish eating. So, gobble it up. We're gonna worship. If you're done eating and you wanna stand, by all means, stand.

If you need to finish eating, finish up. Just sing of his worthiness. Jesus, we acknowledge that you are here by your Holy Spirit. Lord, we thank you for your presence. Presence.

Come and have your way in this place today. Amen. Of every song we could ever sing worthy of all the praise we could ever bring. Just make that your prayer this morning. Worthy of every breath we could ever breathe, we live for you.

We know you. Let's stand together. Sing Jesus. Let's honor him. Jesus, the name above every other name.

Jesus, the only one who could ever What if that was just our prayer? As simple as that is, acknowledging that he's holy, fixing our eyes on him, acknowledging there's no one beside him, there's no fear greater. He's a strong and mighty God. And then just asking him, show me who you are and fill me. What a great prayer that is.

So it can be overflowed to the people around us. Let's just have that be our prayer this morning. Sing holy to him. I was just thinking of this picture just came to my mind of one time I was at Pikka's, and I got up to place my order. And then I had my card out, and I was ready to hand it to the gentleman at the counter.

And he said, oh, it's already paid for. And I was like, no. The my cards are here. Like, I need to pay. And he said, no.

It's it's already paid for. And I it's just like no. I don't think you're like, I just ordered. Like, I haven't paid yet. And I just kept saying it over and over.

And he said, no. The person before you already paid for your food. And I remember just thinking how like, that's, you know, that's super cool. Right? I mean, someone just, you know, paid it forward and did that for me.

And, like, all day long, I thought about it. All day long, was like, that's so cool that someone paid for my food. And then just as we were singing this song, I just thought about your forgiveness was bought not just like $23 at Pikas for my burrito, which is amazing. But forgiveness was bought with the precious blood of Jesus Christ. I mean, like, that's like the basic truth of the gospel is we have got to understand that.

Like, forgiveness was already paid before I even walked up to the counter. I didn't do anything to earn that free burrito. I hadn't been particularly nice that morning. You know, I I walked up and someone had paid for my meal, and that was a burrito. And it was awesome, but think about that forgiveness for you today was already bought.

It's already bought and paid for in full. The receipts already been sent. But it wasn't just money. It was with the shed blood of Jesus on the cross, the sacrifice that he paid for each and every one of us. And I guess my heart is stirred in this truth because what if what if you just haven't accepted or realized yet that it was already bought for you and you're still trying to earn it?

I'm still trying to force my credit card on the guy, you know? And it just today, I just feel like there's just breakthrough in this room of that whether you've been walking with the Lord for thirty years or maybe three days. That there's nothing we can do to earn it. And that's where our worship comes from. Right?

Like, we just get overwhelmed that he paid it before I even turn to him. It's it's overwhelming. And every time I go into a song and I just think worthy, worthy, worthy, that's what I picture. That while I was over here running my game, doing my thing, living my own life, making my own decisions, using the Lord's name in vain, not acknowledging who he was. He died for me.

And it that's where that part of worship comes from. Not because I could earn it. It's exactly that because I'm just so thankful. I'm so thankful. Just close your eyes with me.

Lord Jesus, we just tell you how thankful we are today. Thank you. But these aren't just words to a song. This is truth that has changed our life and changed our eternity. Yeah.

That forgiveness was bought with the precious, precious, every drop, sinless, and precious. It had to be to pay the price for all of mankind's sin. Thank you, lord that you had such a beautiful plan And through your blood comes forgiveness. All we have to do is receive it. Thank you.

What a savior. What a savior. We serve when we sing those words. Isn't he wonderful? Isn't he beautiful?

We just tell you we love you, Jesus. Let's just sing this prayer to our wife. Just thank him. We just thank you for your goodness. Even if you can't think of one good thing around you right now, think of what he did on the cross.

And then just ask him to give you eyes to see his goodness. Let's just sing that again. Love you, Lord. I love you, Lord. Lord, we acknowledge your presence in this place today.

Thank you that we can come freely and worship you today. Speak to our hearts like your word says, search my heart, oh God. Search each and everyone of us today. Draw us close. Your word says that as we draw close to you, which we're doing right now, you promise to draw close to us.

So promise. So draw close to us today. Open our hearts to what you have for us through Deborah's teaching today and through your word. We tell you we love you. Sweet, wonderful, strong, precious savior.

In Jesus name, amen. Amen. Wow. Thanks, We are blessed. Wow.

Alright. Well, this morning is very bittersweet for me. I am ready for a break, but I'm gonna miss you all so, so much. You know what I tell everybody? You want to meet the best women in the valley?

Wednesday morning, ten to noon. Yeah. Best women in the valley. Okay. So what I'd like to do with you this morning is just do a real quick review and then we are going to jump into a topic that I want to drill down with you.

Okay? Alright. So quick review. First chapter in Root It was about return. Why return?

I think just like Esther, every one of us were called for a time such as this. And we have been talking about the shift that we're seeing in our world. Just this morning when I was getting ready, my news feed was very interesting because remember we talked about one of the signs with the natural catastrophes. Did you all know there was like this bizarre hurricane yesterday off the coast of Mexico near Acapulco where they don't even really get hurricanes? And this tropical storm all of a sudden turned into this monster cat five hurricane.

And the meteorologists were saying, this is very weird. We we've never seen anything like this. And the magnitude of this Cat five was absolutely frightening. Thank God it wasn't in a very populated area, but I thought, I know where that Cat five hurricane is coming from. And then so shockingly, yesterday, the White House was took a stand to not defend Israel when asked in a question.

Now they're they're backing down on that, but they they they share their real heart with us. And what I found very interesting about that was, did you know that only 2% of the American population is Jewish? And yet, according to the FBI, 51% of hate crimes are against Jews. I find that just absolutely shocking. And the FBI is saying, well, that number is definitely going up after the past week because crimes have increased and persecution against the Jewish people have increased.

And I wanna share with you that I really believe that is coming to us too. That is why it is now more important than ever to root into our relationship with Jesus, to root into the truth. So we return to him and then we remain in him. This is why we unpack the spiritual disciplines because what we do does something to us. So what we do on a daily basis is going to affect everything about us.

How we think, how we feel, the choices we make, how we respond to what's happening around us, how we react. And that leads us into chapter three, we reap what we sow. What are you sowing into your life? Remember the challenge, just when you go to bed at night, just to evaluate where was my mind today? What narrative was I allowing to play?

What am I sowing? Am I sowing truth into my heart? Am I sowing truth into others and love into others? Because we do reap what we sow. Not in the karma way we get what we deserve.

Thanks be to God. Because we live under a mantle of grace and mercy. We don't get what we deserve. That is the definition of mercy. And then Natalie did such a great job with chapter four resolve.

Just choosing to persevere, to run the race to the finish line. And I love what she shared that she did it. She ran her race, her first race just on her own. And she bonked. And I wanna share with some of you that did not understand the definition of bonking that yes, those bad girls back there, I don't think like they do.

But bonking is when you hit the wall. And those of you who've ran a race know what that means. You just hit the wall. You can't move anymore. And we can spiritually bonk if we're on our own.

And Natalie said, we need a coach. So now they got a coach. The coach is the Holy Spirit through the word of God. And she said, and then I started running with other people and that helped me to press on. This is why we come together in Bible study and in community.

We pray for one another, and we share truth with one another. And then we talked about the remnant. Who are the remnant? Oh, man. I pray that you've chosen to be the remnant.

The remnant are those who've made the decision, I'm gonna follow Jesus when the rest of the world isn't. When the culture no longer follows him, I'm I'm I'm I'm in this for the long haul. Remember in Ezekiel nine when the Lord called his messengers down that his angels of the Lord and he allowed Ezekiel to watch them go through the temple and go through Jerusalem and mark the remnant. And what did the Lord say about the remnant? Hell is coming up on Israel, but I will protect my remnant.

So whatever's coming against us, we are marked by the promised Holy Spirit, and we are going to be protected. God will see us through it. And that leads into revival. That revival is just an awakening, and I love the verse of first Chronicles twelve thirty two. The people of Issachar understood what was happening, and they knew what to do.

Do you understand what's happening in our world? Because it's changing, ladies, and I don't think we're going back. And that's okay. We have nothing to fear. Okay?

We know how to respond. God is calling us to a spiritual awakening. What is a spiritual awakening? It is a movement of the Holy Spirit within us. Remember, we don't wanna put a lid on the spirit.

And what puts a lid on the spirit? Sin, doubt, fear. That puts a lid on the spirit moving within us. So we wanna move remove that lid and let the Holy Spirit work through us, but it is also a movement of the Holy Spirit among nonbelievers bringing them in. So the Lord wants to partner with us to bring this revival to America.

I believe that with all my heart. I believe a revival is coming because people are on the edge, and they're getting pretty sick and tired of being told what to think and how to act, especially with our children. And they're just looking for someone to say, like Jamie Smock. Where's Jamie? Jamie is just like proud little warrior.

And I know she's like, not happy I did that. But she will stand up in boldness and truth, and she doesn't need some mom to come alongside her and say, I'm with you, Jamie. Let's do this. Let's go to the school board. Let's go to that teacher and speak out on behalf of our children.

Okay. But here's the thing. There is something that keeps coming up in almost every conversation I have, and it came up almost every week in Bible study. And it's it's like the Holy Spirit's way of saying to me, Deborah, address this with the ladies. There is something that will block all of this from happening, that will block our rooted into our relationship with Jesus from happening, and that something is called unforgiveness.

Okay? So I wanna talk to you today about unforgiveness. Paul in Ephesians four explains how we can walk out of darkness into light, how we can have a root at life and make a difference in this world. I put this on your handout on your table. I didn't include all the verses, but just the important ones.

Verse three, Paul says, let the spirit renew your thoughts and and attitudes. Renew, revive, come alive. Put on the new nature, create it to be like God who is truly righteous and holy. And then Paul says, do not bring sorrow to God's Holy Spirit by the way you live. And I love this next part.

He says, remember, he has identified you as his own, guaranteeing that you will be saved on the day of redemption. You belong to God. You have the mark. You he is my God, and I am his child. And God says a better day is coming.

So you hang in there because I'll save you for that day. And then Paul goes through all these sins that are like the 10 commandments sins. So get rid of lying, get rid of stealing, get rid of all these things, and it's very interesting how he ends this whole passage. This was his message, and this is how he ends it. He says, get rid of.

It means do whatever it takes to get rid of bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, slander. Just get rid of it. Instead, be kind to each other, tender hearted, forgiving one another just as God through Christ has forgiven you. So why are we talking about this? I was processing this with my husband.

I said, why do you think forgiveness is such a big issue? And he said, because we live in a pretty ugly culture right now. He's like, you read things to me on social media and I can't believe people actually say that and say it to the whole world. We're like in this vicious cycle of you hurt me, I'm gonna hurt you even more. You offended me, I'm gonna offend you even more.

You canceled me, well off with your head. That's the culture that we live in. So you know what? My husband said, people give you a lot of reasons to practice forgiveness. And I was like, oh, that that is so true.

There's this verse in Isaiah, Isaiah forty four twenty one b through 22 a that I love because it sets me in the right frame of mind. I, the Lord, he's saying this to us today. I, the Lord, made you. I made you. You came from the hand of God.

You were his idea. I, the Lord, made you. I will not forget you. I know what you're going through. I know how people have hurt you.

I I I don't forget that. I have but between you and me, I have swept away your sins like a cloud. I have scattered your offenses like the morning mist. You return to me. Return to me because I have paid the price to set you free.

What Lisa was talking about, the blood of Jesus paid the price to set us free. So don't don't walk in bondage. Don't be in the prison of unforgiveness and bitterness. I wanna share a parable with you from Matthew chapter 18. It goes like this.

It's called the unforgiving servant. The kingdom of heaven is like a king who one day decided to call in his debtors. He called in a man who owed him a large amount the man can never pay back. Theologians say in today's terms, would be like $25,000,000. You cause the man in, he says, you owe me $25,000,000.

The king is saying this. And the man is like, I'm broke. I'm I I can't pay you back. So the king says, because in the culture of this day, this would have been the consequence. Alright.

You have to sell your wife, sell your kids, sell your house, sell everything you own, and while you're at it, you're going to prison. Not that that was worth $25,000,000 to the king, but he needed some return on his investment. The man begged the king and even made the ridiculous promise of paying him back someday even though he couldn't in a million years. And somehow the man's begging touched the king's heart and he was moved to mercy. So the king does far more than what the man asked for.

The king not only released him from prison, the king said, I'll just forget your debt. It's you're clean. Your slate is clean. You owe me nothing. There's this great verse in Hebrews 10.

I love how the message says it. That Jesus sacrifice was the perfect sacrifice by the perfect man to perfect some very imperfect people. I love that. And verse 17 says that Jesus wipes our slate clean. When we come to him and say, father, I wanna receive this, your son into my heart.

I confess him as my Lord and savior. Your slate is clean. And then he gives you an eraser because he says you're gonna mess up a lot. So when you sin, you just repent and your slate is clean again, erased. And that's what happened to this man.

But we're told as the man left the palace, he catches his friend out of the corner of his eye and he's like, you owe me $10. I want my $10 right now. And he's giving this guy a hard time for his $10. The guy didn't have $10. So the man throws him in prison because in this culture, someone owed you money, you could put them in prison.

Well, it's very interesting in Matthew 18 because Jesus tells us others were watching this play out because you know what? Others are always watching you. They're always watching. And they couldn't believe their ears. This man had been shown so much mercy.

He wasn't willing to give a pinch of mercy. And this, you know, I got up really really early one morning. I was just sitting on the couch. It was pitch black dark. I was thinking about this and I was like, Lord, I just wanna go through my mind, like how you wiped my slate clean.

It's pretty overwhelming. Have you ever done that? I mean, I was in tears because I as I shared with you, I didn't follow him for throughout my twenties. I mean, I lived in sin with my husband, almost killed my parents. I regret that I did that, but he wiped my slate clean.

I made so many other bad choices. He wiped that clean. Amazing to me how much he loves us. So these people went to the king and they said, You know that guy that you forgave that crazy debt from? He won't even forgive this guy for $10.

And the king was ticked. The king said, really? I canceled all that debt and you can't show any mercy? Verse 34 in Matthew 18 says, the angry king sent the man to prison to be tortured until he paid his entire debt. Okay.

Now, what is amazing about this story is that Jesus, Jesus told the story. You know, we wanna make Jesus out to be this little, you know, Melbourne milk toast. He is the lamb, but he is also the lion. Okay? Jesus told this story and he doesn't leave us to wonder with what the application is for you and me because in verse 35, he said, this is how my heavenly father will treat each of you unless you learn to forgive.

You learn to forgive. So who are the tormentors that came to the man in prison? I was praying to Lord. I was like, what does that mean exactly? And I think it means so much more than a physical tormentor.

It is the tormentors of bitterness and anger that just eat us up inside. And you guys know what it's like because we've all been hurt, every single one of us, and we've all had to be at a crossroads where we either forgive or we become angry and bitter, and it just eats us up. And you know what else it does? It steals our sleep. Because what do we think about when we wake up at two in the morning?

We start playing that stupid, rotten thing someone did to us over and over and over and over and over. And it's like, stop. I don't wanna play that anymore. And the tormentors are the ones the hard heart that chases you around all day and just steals your joy. You can't even enjoy the mercies that are new for us every day, the blessings.

You know, Christianity more than anything else, one year my son, I had our table full of his college friends and they said if you could describe Christianity in one word, what would it be? And I said mercy without even thinking about it. I just said mercy. Mercy and a big part of mercy is forgiveness. Right?

And here's the problem. God only gives one solution for this problem of sin And it's the blood of his son, forgiveness. He took the first step, but then he says, if you're my child, if you're marked, you have to follow in my footsteps and learn to forgive because you can't be spiritually healthy until you figure this out. Okay? So I just wanna share with you some things I've learned about forgiveness.

And I will tell you that teaching for twenty eight years, the Lord has really worked my spiritual muscle of forgiveness. Because almost on a weekly basis, I receive some criticism. So I've had to learn how to deal with that. Okay? And a lot of you are so amazing and you're such encouragers and I appreciate you.

I really do. And some criticism is constructive. I need to hear it and I need to consider it and make changes. But some criticism is just to hurt. So what do you do with that?

What do you do with that? Because if you stand up, you stand out and you're going to have a target. So here are some things I've learned. The first point, don't confuse petty offenses with deep wounds, especially within our families. Can I get an amen?

Yeah. Don't confuse it. People get tired and grumpy and hangry, and they say things they don't mean. They say things they regret. Ecclesiastes seven twenty says, not a single person on earth is always good and never sins.

Not a single one of us. And Proverbs nineteen eleven says, it is to one's glory to overlook an offense. Do you know what that word glory means? This is what I think of when someone offends me. It is is like the Lord looks at you when you overlook an offense.

Glory means it's beautiful and honorable. Okay. He looks at you and says, that was a beautiful and honorable thing you did. You've just overlooked it. And Proverbs seventeen nine says, love forgets mistakes.

Nagging and nagging and nagging about them separates close relationships. I don't I don't wanna be that person. Even just a couple days ago, this lady came up to me and and she goes she doesn't come to the study. And she goes, Deborah, I have two friends in the study and the Holy Spirit's really moving. And I said, well, thanks be to God.

And then she leans in and I'm like, here it comes. And she goes, I just wanna thank you for what you're doing in this valley because this valley needs a light little simple fluffy study. Uh-huh. Yeah. And you know what?

Twenty eight years ago when I started, that would have sent me down the rabbit hole. And I would have played that over and over. And I've been like, I'll show her light and simple and fluffy. And and I honestly, I haven't even thought about it except to give you the illustration because it was like, here's where I'm at. I answer to the Lord.

I do what he tells me to do. I put it out there, and however people respond, it's really none of my business. It's just none of my business. Yeah. So I'm totally fine with that.

But sometimes, I'm not talking about offenses. These are deep wounds point number two. We have to have conflict revolution resolution, and we have to confront the person who hurt us. Okay. Is there anybody that hates confrontation more than me?

I doubt it. I love it when everyone is happy. That's that's my space right there. I don't like confrontation, but of course, it's part of our journey. So I've had to grow up in this area, and God has given me a lot of opportunities to grow me up in this area.

Matthew 18 says, if your brother or sister sins, go point out their fault. Okay. That alone just gives me a stomachache. Go point out their fault. Oh my gosh.

And just between the two of you, if they listen to you, you have won them over. But this is the place I got with godly confrontation. To be silent with some people only emboldens them for their bad behavior. And bad behavior continues because it's allowed in your relationship. Not only does it embolden them, to some people it's like giving them approval.

So, no. No. I'm not gonna be part of that. But here, you could ask my kids. This is one of my sayings in life.

It's not what you say, it's how and why you say it. Okay. So before I confront anyone, I go through this exercise in my head. Why am I saying this? Why am I confronting?

Because the Lord tells us that we confront with one goal, reconciliation and peace. Okay? And if there's just a little bit of anger in me, I'm gonna confront because I wanna hurt you a little or I wanna pay you back a little. That's just the honest truth. So I have to sit with this until my anger is, and I don't wanna hurt you.

I don't wanna pay you back. I want reconciliation and peace. So until you're to that point, do not confront because it will not be godly confrontation. Okay? Luke seventeen three says, if your brother or sister sins against you, rebuke them.

And if they repent, forgive them. Okay. So if if they if they honestly repent, we don't have a choice. We have to forgive them. There's there's no negotiation with this with the Lord.

We have been forgiven so much. He's like, you can forgive a pinch here. Okay? If they repent though, not everybody repents, do they? One of the questions too that I wanted to share with you, something that opens the conversation without getting someone's back up if you're confronting them.

I truly do. This is my desire too. Just help me understand what happened. Like help me understand how we're having this conflict or what you said or walk me through that. And because that really is my goal.

I do wanna understand and I want conflict resolution. Now notice in both Matthew 18 and Luke 17, this is referring to brothers and sisters. It's a whole different thing out there with unbelievers. Okay? Because they're they're not helped by our standard.

They don't have the Holy Spirit of truth, the Holy Spirit of conviction. So be I would say be very careful confronting them. I usually don't. I just pray to the Lord to help me forgive. But brothers and sisters, God does not want his children fighting and not at peace.

Okay. So what happens if they don't own it? Or if they lie about it? That's happened to me too. Or if they just keep unhurting you on purpose and they're your sister or brother.

Point number three, sometimes forgiveness does not include a restored relationship. It just doesn't. There's a lady in the valley that I met when I first moved here fifteen years ago. And it's the most bizarre thing. I don't know what's wrong.

I haven't even tried to figure it out. But she just has lied about me, slandered me. She's gone to pastors and said that I should not be teaching in this valley. She's called my husband. That didn't go very well for her.

She did that once. She's just it's the most bizarre thing and I've gone to her. Matthew 18 her because she says she's a believer. Especially in the beginning of this. And she would cry and say, I'm so sorry.

I yeah, that wasn't right. I'm sorry. And then two weeks later, she's right back at it. Okay. It got to the point where it was so bad that I told her I'm calling your pastor and you and I are gonna sit down with your pastor.

And again, she cried. She said, I'm sorry. I won't do it again. And she did it again. So this is no exaggeration.

After ten years of this, I was praying about it one day and totally felt the Holy Spirit say, shake the dust off your sandals and move on. Like, there is no repentance with her. I do not need you to engage with her And Matthew 18 her anymore until there is real repentance. And here's the thing. God is a forgiving God and he is a very loving God, but he only forgives those who repent.

And I think that's true for you and me too. We are called love is the big daddy. We are called to love everyone. But sometimes we cannot be in relationship with everyone, especially the people we have a choice with, like friends. Family is a different thing because sometimes you just get what you get and you don't throw a fit.

Like you just have to hang in there with your family. Right? But with friends, with friends, I don't need to be in relationship and intimacy with friends. So when I see her, I just saw her and there's no bitterness, but I'm not going to engage with her anymore. I can say hello, but I'm not engaging.

And that leads me well, before I want to share a verse with you because I think this is super important. Paul wrote to Timothy. This is Paul. I mean, Paul is like the epitome of a man who followed close to Jesus in the in the dust of our rabbi. Right?

He wrote to Timothy and he said, Timothy, Alexander did a lot of harm to me. The Lord will repay him. But Timothy, I want you to be on guard against him because he strongly opposed what we were doing. Okay? So it's it's a healthy thing to have boundaries.

It's okay for us to have boundaries. I mean, I've had Christians say, Deborah, oh my gosh, you should engage with this person or that person. And I'm like, well, no I shouldn't. Because if someone is struggling with a spirit of gossip, a spirit of divisiveness and they're not willing to deal with that spirit, I'm out. I'm out.

I I will love you and point number four, I will pray for you. Okay? Pray for the person who hurt you. I honestly, I don't I can tell you, I don't know how else we get over it. Because it does doesn't change your heart overnight, but it does change your heart.

And Jesus said in Luke six twenty eight, bless those who curse you and pray for those who hurt you. And we don't pray those old testament prayers, Lord, please strike lightning today right on their toes. I don't know. That's not what we get to pray. We what what do we pray?

I'll tell you what I pray. I pray that they would God would bless them with his truth, his mercy, his love. I pray that the Lord would draw them to repentance. I pray that he would break their hard hearts. And I pray they will feel the peace and presence of Jesus Christ because hurting people do not feel the peace of Christ that hurt you.

Okay? So I pray they feel the peace of Christ and I always pray for me that my heart will not become hard. And you know what what helps me in this whole process too? Is I it comes down to for me, am I gonna give this person the power to affect my relationship with Jesus, number one, or the power to affect my witness for him? No.

You don't get that kind of power in my life. So I'm gonna pray blessings over you because that's what God tells me to do. Timothy Keller says, it is hard to stay angry at someone if you are praying for them. And that's true. It is also hard to stay angry unless you feel superior.

And it is hard to feel superior if you're praying for them. Since in prayer you approach God as a forgiven sinner. So here's the thing about forgiveness. When we have like a really deep wound and pain, struggling to forgive is not what destroys us because it's a process. You know what destroys us?

Saying, I can't forgive or I won't forgive. That destroys us. And sometimes, point number five. Point number five is we choose to move forward but sometimes when we choose to move forward after we've confronted the person, after we've prayed for the person, we need to go to DEFCON two. Okay?

And that has only happened to me one time in my life. I had a my my like little weak spot, I'll just tell you is betrayal because I've had close friends that have just like wrecked me, betrayed me. In my family growing up, I had some betrayal. And I realized when I had my kids that I had not dealt with something that happened to me. As a child, that was a big betrayal.

Like, okay, I wanna forgive. I prayed, prayed, prayed, prayed, prayed for this person. I just couldn't get there. And then everywhere I went, the message was about fasting. And sometimes, it is a situation of just breaking you and only fasting does it.

And I fasted for five days. I have never done that since for five days, but it was a situation where the Lord knew I wanted to, but I couldn't get there. And after five days, it was it was really the most amazing experience because the Holy Spirit just came up on me and told me things I didn't know. Remember Jeremiah thirty three three? That if you call him, he'll answer and he'll tell you things you don't know.

He told me things I didn't know about this person and he told me some things that just helped me go, okay, I'm done. I I it was a true breaking free for me. And so if you have something that just hurt you to the core, especially if it's it's been a long term hurt, maybe you have to consider fasting. Something that I do that's a little bit easier than fasting, especially for five days, is sometimes after I pray about it, I'm still a little stuck and I can't move forward. And there's just I don't know why this works, but writing it all out.

Not typing it, but writing it out. It's like it gets it out of you. And then I take it and I say, here it is, It's yours now. I don't own this anymore. And I either shred it or I burn it.

And then when it comes up, because they always will come up, I say, oh, thank you. I don't need to play that tape. The Lord's already dealt with that. I I remember giving that to you, Lord. I'm not gonna play this over and over and over.

So as Lisa and her team come up, I just invite you to take a minute. We don't want any barriers between us and Jesus. Right? We want to hear him move in our life. We want him to use us.

We want this life to matter. But that barrier of unforgiveness is like putting a lid on his movement within our heart. So I just invite you to close your eyes and just between you and the Lord, is there something that you need to give to him today? Or is there something that you say, Lord, this is so it's so deep within me. I don't know if I can give it all today, but I'm gonna work on it.

Between you and me, we're gonna work on it. I'm gonna give it to you.

Just think about those words. Think about those words. It's my joy to honor you. I don't know that much more honors the Lord than our worship and our stepping outside of our self and forgiving like he forgave. As hard as it is, sometimes when I have a hard time forgiving someone, I picture what Jesus did on the cross and the thief next to And the people mocking him, and I think, oh my goodness.

If Jesus, who was perfect, can extend forgiveness in a moment like that, and the spirit of God lives inside of us, It's through the spirit that we can do that. Right? It's not in our own. It's not in our own power. But that very same spirit that was able to say on the cross, lord, forgive them.

They don't know what they do. It's the same spirit that lives in you. As we sing this again, just press and just ask him to search your heart. Maybe you know right off the top of your head. Yep.

I know exactly the unforgiveness I have, and maybe maybe it's buried kinda deep. Just ask him. Think about your own forgiveness. You are my key. You are my key.

That means you say, oh, you are my key. You direct my actions, your love to those around me. Lord, we thank you. We thank you for who you are. We can stand on you, stand on your truth.

Guide us in all things, Lord. We can't make it one day without you. We just tell you we love you. We ask that you would bury deep in our hearts what you've taught us and what you're speaking to us. And we also ask that you bury it deep, and then we ask that we would not hang on yesterday's anointing or revelation, but we would seek you fresh every single day.

Just like the manna in the desert, Lord, that we would hunger for you each and every morning, and that what a gift this study has been, Lord. Let the same Holy Spirit that lives in each of us. Speaks to us and is longing to speak to us continually. Continue to speak to us. Lord, give us the discipline to get into your word.

Give us the discipline to get up that extra hour early. To get filled up in your presence each day before we go out. And all day, just a reminder that you're with us, that your presence is with us. You're always longing to speak in every situation. Give us the discipline to get your word hidden deep down in our hearts.

That it would govern us, guide us, teach us. That's our part, Lord. Making the time to be intimate with you. You are our best friend, the lover of our soul. Our savior, we tell you we love you.

We thank you. Continue to deal with us, Lord. If there's any unforgiveness, take our hand and walk us through it, Jesus. Because it's by your strength. We love you, Jesus, and everybody said,

amen.

Deborah, do you have some closing words for us?

Am I on? Yes. Okay. Just that please mark your calendar. As Julia shared last week, the Christmas luncheon is Wednesday, December 6 from noon to two.

And it is quite expensive. So we do have table sponsorships available. They're $300 It doesn't mean you have to fill the table. It just means that you have bought seats for other people and you're welcome to fill the table too. And after that, we're going to do a winter study.

So mark your calendar for that right here at Frisbee. It will start Wednesday, January 10, and it's going to be a six week study through the book of James. Yes. How perfect is that? Right?

Because I I was telling Natalie, was like, we have to do James because we keep talking about our faith is one of action. There's no bigger actionator than James. So

womb as five days

of fasting.

I know. Yes.

And that will finish on Valentine's Day, February 14. And just to let you know, Nelly reminded me, the winter study is a little more low key, and we start off with thirty minutes of prayer, like altogether prayer. And it's it's really like a just a really sweet time to come together in community. And whatever you're struggling with, let us all pray for you in community. And then we do like a short lesson, and then we still have small group.

So I hope you're here in the winter, and you can do that with us. Anything else, Natalie?

There we go. Okay. One last announcement, only because I know there's a lot of moms in here with middle schoolers and high schoolers. This is not a ministry per se, but I was just made aware this morning by one of the high school moms that today sorry, tomorrow night at the high school, Teton County School District and GAP, or girls actively participating, are sponsoring. I'm I'm just so thrilled that they're doing this in the school.

So we're gonna take our high school ministry and welcome to all middle school and high schoolers. It's called Under the Influence, and they're it's programming on addressing vaping, drugs, and alcohol in the digital age. And it's just I'm thrilled that they're doing this from the pulpit, it's things that we're reinforcing with our students and student ministry to begin with. So it's open to the public six to 8PM in the Jackson Hole High School auditorium if you wanna bring your students and their friends and spread the word to other parents of middle schoolers and high schoolers. And also be on the lookout if you are a student parent because we're launching a joint community student ministry website that will be one landing place for anything student ministry related so that you know where to plug your kids in, ages kinder all the way up through high school.

It's just a way to increase communication and throughout the community to make that more accessible to students. So be on the lookout for that as well. I know that's not women's ministry,

but because we all have kids,

it is definitely closely intertwined.

Amazing. No. I love it. And Natalie, do you have enough do you need more volunteers for your dinner, for your high school ministry?

Yes. And thank you ladies so much. There are so many of you that signed up to bring a meal, but Thursday nights we do serve dinner. And there's been 20 to 30 students coming every week. So that's a huge help because they're usually coming straight from sports.

So I'll make sure that Julie includes that link again. I think we're good through November, but then we'll open up dates for December and next school year or calendar year when 2024 begins.

It's amazing. And just because you all do ask quite often how can we serve? What can we do? That's one way you can serve. And Lysa, don't you have another opportunity?

Yeah.

So Tribe and I know some other churches in town partner with Wind River Reservation. And the tribe bus goes down once a month about every six weeks full of donations that they need, so they let us know. Their most immediate need, and we're actually taking a bus down on Saturday, is for winter clothes. So they can be gently used. They can be new, whatever you have.

And I know it's a short runway for this trip, but they're really in need of any sizes, male, female, boots, the big five. You you all know what the big five are. And Adults and kids.

Yeah. Adults are

good. Adults and kids. Yep. So if you have things that are gently used, the tribe bus, it probably shouldn't announce this to the world, but the TMC at tribe and the tribe bus is never locked. The keys are actually

in it.