[0:01]How you doing everybody? You guys good? All right. All right. Well, it is good to be here with you today. My name is Mike. I am one of the pastors here at Palm Valley Church. If this is your first time visiting with us, I want to extend a warm welcome to you. I also want to welcome everyone that's with us online. It's uh, it's good to, uh, it's good to have you, uh, join us, uh, as well. Uh, can you believe Easter is right around the corner? I mean, it just seems like the year is, is, uh, is rolling along at uh, at breakneck, uh, speed. Um, but it'll, it'll be here very, uh, very, very soon. Uh, so, uh, we want to take advantage of the opportunity, uh, to invite people, each one, uh, reach one. If you, uh, if you just got one person that you can, uh, encourage to come, uh, man, it can make a huge difference. Uh, we are fond of saying that you never know what God can do with an invitation. So, I want to encourage you to take advantage of this, uh, this opportunity. Uh, if you are, uh, a member here, uh, or you attend regularly, I want to thank you for, uh, supporting our ministry financially. It, uh, it enables us to do all the work that we do as a church. We, um, we, uh, do all sorts of, uh, engagement in the community. Uh, to be, uh, a blessing to our community, uh, here in the West Valley. Uh, we also reach out, uh, and, and, uh, and provide resources and training and know-how, uh, to churches throughout the valley. Uh, as well as throughout the, uh, the state, uh, in our region and around, uh, the world. We believe very much, uh, that part of our mission is to take the, uh, strategies and, uh, uh, and, uh, and training that we provide to our people here and provide those, uh, to, uh, to other churches so that they can grow in their capability and expand their capacity so that they can reach more and more people with the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And your gifts make all of that possible. So, I want to thank you, uh, for doing that. If you would like to, uh, uh, give, uh, I want to encourage you to do that. It's really, really easy to do. If you just take your phone and tap the sticker on the back of, uh, the seat back in front of you, uh, you will, uh, be taken to a connection, uh, page on your phone and, uh, and the option to give is, uh, right there at your disposal and, uh, we make it really, really, uh, easy for you. Uh, we're going to take a moment to pray. We're going to thank God for the, uh, for the gifts, uh, that have been given and we're going to ask him to bless our time together. All right, Let's pray. Lord God, we thank you so much. Uh, thank you for all that you provide us, Lord. And we ask God, uh, that the gifts, the offerings, the tithes, uh, that we have given back to you, Lord, that you would take those and multiply them. Uh, and, and magnify them and use them, Lord, for the furthering of your gospel. And we pray God that that in doing that, lives would be transformed and people would be ushered into eternal relationship with Jesus Christ. All for your glory. And we pray God that as we take this time together to hear from you that you'd give us ears to hear your voice. And let us be transformed by the truth of your word. Give us understanding. And help us, God, to leave this place changed just a little bit by your Holy Spirit from the way we were when we arrived. In Jesus name. Amen. All right. Well, we are continuing our series called Gold from Golgotha. Gold from Golgotha. Golgotha is the Hebrew name. It means Skull. Uh, the Latin word is Calvary. Um, lands a lot nicer on the ear, doesn't it? Um, uh, but but it is the place where Jesus was led, uh, to be crucified. And, uh, and he was nailed to a cross and, and as he hung on that cross, there are things that he said that are recorded in scripture. And one of the things that we know is that when a person is facing death, usually the things that they say reveal their truest self. They tend to truly reflect that person's real character. And everything Jesus said was genuine and reflected his, his, his true character, but that's never more true than as he found himself facing death, hanging on the cross there. At Golgotha. As he hung there, as he bled, as he died, as he suffered in pain and agony. The words that came from his mouth were precious, just like gold. And that's why we call the series Gold from Golgotha. And the benefit we have with this series is, is to examine some of the things that he said, see what they reveal to us about him. And then based on what we learn about him, what does it teach us about how we should live our lives? So, we're going to take a, a look. Last week we looked and we saw that he, uh, he spoke to his mother, uh, Mary and, and to his disciple John and he, he told her that John was his son and from now on and, uh, told John, that's your mother from now on and John took care of her and we learned just how much Jesus valued family. And we also came to understand, uh, how he really views his followers as family. And how we are to treat one another as family. Well, let's see what he has in store for us, uh, today. We're going to look at what he said in Luke chapter 23 verse 34. Luke chapter 23 verse 34. You can follow along in the church center app if you just, uh, pull that up and tap on message notes, or you can just look at the side screens and the, uh, verses will come up there, uh, as well. Luke chapter 23 verse 34. Jesus said, Father, forgive them, for they don't know what they are doing. Jesus said, Father, forgive them, for they don't know what they are doing. So, here's Jesus. In excruciating pain, hanging on this cross, blood spilling from his body. What would normally be the case for the average person is when you're suffering to that degree, our view of things narrows down to a very compact vision of the world. And it's literally our whole preoccupation is what's happening to us at that moment. The pain blinds us to anything else. The nature of the situation causes us to just think about ourselves. and what's happening to us and, and, uh, and the fact that we're dying and everything's closing in and coming to an end. And death combined with pain tends to cause us to just fully be enveloped by our circumstance. But that's not Jesus. That's not Jesus. Last week we saw he was hanging on the cross and he thought about his mom. And he looked after her needs. And here we see, he's hanging on that cross. And he thinks about the needs of the people who are crucifying him, the people, who are shouting insults at him, the people who are responsible for putting him in that situation. And are there to witness his execution. And instead of being bitter,
[9:47]instead of being filled with resentment, he calls out to God the Father. and asks him to forgive them. Because he knows more than anything, that is their principal need.
[10:12]I'm going to be real with you. I do not understand that. I mean, in my muscles, I don't get it. Intellectually, I understand it. He's God and as his ability to transcend the circumstances and I can do all the theology. I'm talking about, can I relate to what he did? And when I'm really honest with myself, deep down inside, I cannot. And you know why? Because I'm not like God and God is not like me. But if I can just take baby steps, and become just a little bit more like him. I'll develop the capacity.
[11:21]to demonstrate that same measure of mercy and forgiveness. See, his capacity to forgive is, is huge because he could not bear our sins if he harbored resentment in his heart even as he hung on that cross.
[11:51]But here's the other thing. Think about the fact that he's forgiving these people as they crucify him. As it's happening.
[12:10]And he does it without preconditions. Nobody said they were sorry. Nobody felt regret for what they were doing. Nobody even thought they were doing anything wrong.
[12:38]And for you and me, those are, those are kind of the minimum requirements to think about forgiving somebody. And yet, he forgave. And he called out to the Father. He said, they don't know what they're doing. Please forgive them.
[13:06]What do we learn about Jesus? We learn that he is full of mercy. Full of mercy. Filled with boundless grace.
[13:31]Grace that reflects the grace of God in total. Why does that matter? I'll tell you why, because some of you are sitting here right now. Some of you are here in this place and you walked in carrying a heavy weight of guilt. You walk around with it every day. There are things that you've done in your life and that you regret. Some of you you've, you've confessed it to God. You, you follow Jesus and you, you've confessed those sins to God, but, but you haven't embraced his forgiveness. You can't imagine that he's actually forgiven you for what you've done wrong. And so you are still shackled by your sin and your shame. And that guilt weighs you down. Because you think God is like us. But God's not like us. He's nothing like us. And so the freedom that Jesus bled and suffered and died for is being wasted. Because you can't imagine, he has the capacity to truly forgive you. Intellectually you know it maybe, but as a practical matter, you still operate like God is, is angry at you and harboring resentment toward you. That's how sin has warped our wiring inside.
[16:03]We can't let go of things. We can't let go of things and we harbor them and we stew about them. And we remember, oh man, do we remember. And so we reach back and we grab stuff and, and we pull it back up. And we throw it in other people's faces or we throw it in our own face. And we cling to shame. And that's not how God wants you to live. It's not what he's called you to. It's not what Jesus suffered for and it is contrary to the nature of God. How do I know this? Man, it takes great pains to tell us this. We're going to just look at one example in the Psalms. Psalm 103. Psalm 103, we're going to look at verses 8 through 12. Look at what it says. The Lord is compassionate and merciful, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. He will not constantly accuse us, nor remain angry forever. See the Psalmist starts by just telling us what God is like. He's, he's full of compassion. He's, he's slow to get angry. He doesn't, he doesn't lose his temper. And he's filled with unfailing love. Then he distinguishes God's character from our character. And this is how he does it. Look at what he says in verse 9. He will not constantly accuse us, nor remain angry forever. Those things should sound familiar. Because that's how we operate. We constantly accuse ourselves. We constantly accuse others. When we've been wronged or if we've done wrong, we just go back, we rerun it over and over and over again. We grind ourselves to a powder. But that's not God.
[18:48]Verse 10. He does not punish us for all our sins. He does not deal harshly with us as we deserve.
[19:01]God doesn't treat us according to what we deserve. God treats us according to his character, his nature.
[21:32]So, Jesus had the capacity to forgive these people who in their cruelty, in their evil, in their sin-soaked anger toward him, he was able to forgive them because he loved them. He loved them. And he loves you.
[22:07]In spite of whatever it is that's weighing you down, this, this thing that has you racked with guilt, this, this shackle that has you bound and imprisoned. He loves you in spite of that thing. And he has forgiven you. And if he's forgiven you then, well, then you need to forgive.
[27:39]That, I mean, that's the issue for all of us. Look at what it says in Ephesians chapter 4. Ephesians 4, 31 and 32. Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior.
[28:24]Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.
[28:38]There's two shackles we tend to wear. One is guilt because we can't forgive ourselves. And the other is bitterness because we can't forgive others. Now, you may be here and
[29:38]you walk through these doors and you're bearing a guilt and you, you didn't even know that Jesus bore your sin on his body on that cross.
[30:18]Your sins and my sins, his blood, paid the price for our sins. The debt that we owe to God, Jesus paid it. He died on that cross and three days later, he rose from the dead. In power and glory, conquering our sins, conquering death itself. If you place your faith in Jesus Christ, God's mercy, God's forgiveness, will set you free. You want that freedom? I want to offer you the opportunity to take hold of it right here right now. I'm going to ask that we all bow our heads, close our eyes. And if you want to begin to follow Jesus, if you want to become part of God's family, if you want God's mercy and the freedom that comes with it, then just in the quietness of your heart, repeat this prayer after me. God, I've done things I'm so ashamed of.
[31:50]And I know that you know about those things, but I didn't know that Jesus paid the price for the wrong that I've done. But I thank you that he has. I thank you that he suffered, bled and died to pay the debt that I owe.
[32:15]So, I place my faith in him today. And I ask you to forgive me for my sins because of the sacrifice Jesus made. And I commit that from this day forward, I will live my life for you. Thank you for your mercy. In Jesus name. Amen. Now, if you pray that prayer and you're sincere about it, I want to welcome you to the family of God. And I want to encourage you to do something. There is a, uh, there's a card in the seat back in front of you. It says take your next step. Grab one of those cards, fill it out and check the box that says that you place your faith in Jesus Christ. Then head out to the lobby and hand that card to the folks at the connecting point desk. If you don't have a Bible, let them know and they'll give you one. And then we'll reach out to you and we will send you access to resources to help you to have a productive, rewarding start to your relationship with God as you begin following Jesus. This isn't something you want to try to do alone. There's a whole community here. Ready and willing to help you to walk with God and experience the fullness of the freedom that Jesus purchased for you. All right. Well, don't forget your Easter invite. Each one, reach one. I want to ask that we stand. Our worship team's going to close us out. You guys have an amazing week.
