Today I am simply noting some thought from the message yesterday. NorthStar is crazy, fanatical, extreme and passionate.  In our culture, normal means broke, living from pay check to paycheck, depression, bad marriage, stressed, worried and freaked out, overwhelmed, bad relationship with parents….We are not normal! God has called us to be different. Normal is not working. Today I want to talk about what it means to be a crazy church.

We believe church is not supposed to be same group of people staying the same but reaching people far from God. The vision of many churches is keeping church people happy. If we are going to be a crazy church I am going to share four things we can focus on today.

>>Jesus Loved And Is Committed To This Church

We have members/owners, we have guest and we have people dating this church.

Some say I am searching for a church where my kids can get something good, I am searching for a place to belong….The number one question should be: “Is the presence of God in this place?”

That should be the difference maker. It makes me crazy when people say “I love God I just don’t need church.

Matthew 16:18  The church belongs to Jesus so the church is important.

Ephesians 1:22 The church was not mans idea but God’s so it has a divine purpose.

Ephesians 3:10  In other words God wants to use his church to proclaim the gospel to the world.

Ephesians 3:20-21

You cannot separate Jesus and the church. Jesus loves and committed to this church. I am focused on this church, I am sure he loves others too.

 >> I Love And I Am Committed To This Church

We love new. When something new comes out at a restaurant or store everybody goes crazy. But the new wears off. The condition of the church in America is not in the best shape because many church leaders love new and the new has worn off.  People will try a church for a while and then move on to another church.

 

I am not the perfect person but I am pursuing Jesus and trying to show you how we can live the Christian life. Please pray I will lead this church well. In order for me to do this there has to be some changes.  The closer you get to Jesus there are more layers he peals back.   

There is a difference in church attendance and walking with Jesus. If we will walk with Jesus we do not become more judgmental, arrogant and self righteous. If we walk with Jesus we become more humble, desperate and compassionate.

The worship leader in our life changes us.  As we walk with Jesus we don’t become people sitting on top of the cross but rather people kneeling at the cross because we are changing. Please read Psalm 139:23-24   This prayer will revolutionize your life. I have to do things in my life that will set me up for success and the church for success.

>>I Am Asking You To Love and Be Committed To This Church

 I have already told you that Jesus is and that I am so I think it is only fair to ask you to be. Jesus did not build the church so we could have a place to attend but where we could belong. 

Ephesians 2:19-22

At the end of the day we are called to belong to the local church. We need the church.  Often the first step people take away from God is away from the church. For those of you who are messing around and not plugging in to the church get plugged in. Half hearted men do not change the world.

Ephesians 4: 11-14

We will never attain spiritual maturity until we use the spiritual gifts God has given us in the context of the local church. If you want to mature, you need to understand maturity is not information. Maturity is allowing information to produce transformation in our lives.  Saved people serve people so that served people can become saved people. If we are going to be like Jesus we are going to have to serve.  He said I am come to serve not be served.  I am asking you to commit your life to something that matters.  Pick a church and plug in.  Take off your referee shirt and whistle and get involved in the game.

>>We Need To See Others Commit Their Lives To Christ and His Church

I want to be like Jesus so I look at how He did ministry. Matthew 9:9-13  Jesus went to Levi and to his house because his friends needed Jesus.

There are people outside this walls that need Jesus and Jesus has called this church to reach them. We don’t need to be comfortable and inward focused but rather go outside the walls of this church to bring the message of Jesus to the world. People matter to God

The First Week...

The day finally came and the church officially launched. Busy doing the last minute task that had to be done before opening Sunday, the launch team worked tirelessly. The dream of this church launching Easter Sunday was about to become a reality. Easter Sunday, over 350 people gathered from the four corners of the county to worship the risen Christ. Forty nine children filed into the children's area which had been designed with children in mind. The stage was set, the lights were burning, as people gathered with the purpose of worshiping and hearing from God. The greatest thing was that God was in their midst.

NorthStar Church... a reality! NorthStar- Real people at a relevant church who connect people to a growing relationship with Christ and others to fulfill their life's purpose. It is NorthStar's desire to show God's love in such a way that people exchange ordinary living for an extraordinary life through the power of Jesus Christ. Now that the church has launched, many are asking: What now? Can I still get in on the excitement? Has the momentum died down? CanI be involved? Certainly! We've only just begun! Will you come and be a part of this community? There is room for you! Ready for a fresh start? Come join us!

Share With Your City

The direction of the great commission church is not to come but to go. Everywhere the Great Commission is issued in scripture, the direction is the same; it is Go--not Come. The church must be going to the people who need the gospel. The Bible never anticipates and Jesus never commands the unbelieving world to come to the church, but commands the church to go to the unbelieving world. This means we must always be taking the church to the people.

Note: I believe there has been a subtle reversal of the Great Commission in the life of the church.  

Matthew 28:19-20    ¹⁹ Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

We expend energy and resources trying to figure out how to persuade non-Christians to come to us rather than figuring out how we can most effectively reach out to them. In my lifetime the church has spent more time and energy doing marketing rather than doing ministry. Marketing is our attempt to get the world to come to us. Ministry and Evangelism is the biblical way of getting the church into the world. The expectation of Christ for His church is that we should always be exploring ways to take the church to where the people are. This was a mistake the early church made and we can track it in the book of Acts.

The early church exploded on the scene on the Day of Pentecost with 3,000 people being saved and added to the church in one day. The early church had a contagious atmosphere of love and fellowship-- "The Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved."

The church grew comfortable with the fellowship and growth that it was experiencing in Jerusalem, so much so, that the Apostles seemed to have lost sight of one of the last things Jesus told them, "You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit is come upon you and you shall be witnesses unto Me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and to the End of the earth.” Acts 1:8
The early church seemed to have gotten so comfortable with life in Jerusalem that no intentional attempt was being made to expand the kingdom perimeters beyond Jerusalem.
That is why in Acts 8 we are introduced to a vicious enemy of the Church named Saul who was committed to destroying the church.  Saul sponsored a campaign of persecution in the Jerusalem area that got so intense, the disciples had to flee for their lives as refugees.

Vs. 1 says, "At that time a great persecution arose against the church which was at Jerusalem . . ."

You have to stop here and ask the question, "What are all you guys still doing in Jerusalem?  Didn't Jesus tell you to also be witnesses in all Judea, Samaria and to the utter most regions of the entire world?

The verse continues, "and they were scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria . . ." Acts 8:1  And then Acts 8:4 tells us what these displaced disciples did, "Therefore, those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the word." It seems like God used persecution in Acts 8:1 to make the church do what it had been told to do in Acts 1:8!!

The point is, we must guard against getting all huddled up in our comfortable Christian enclaves, and neglect doing the hard, sacrificial work of taking the church to the world.
The Demand of the Great Commission is to Proclaim not Produce 
It is good to remember that we are simply to go and tell, but it is the responsibility of the Holy Spirit to produce the converts. It is not our responsibility to grow the church. It Christ's responsibility to grow His church.
Jesus said, "Upon this rock I will build My church." (Matthew 18:18)
Paul said, "I planted, Apollos watered, but GOD gave the increase." (1 Corinthians 3:6)
It is not your or my responsibility to Win anyone to Christ. It is our responsibility to Witness.  The Holy Spirit will do all the Winning. It is not your or my responsibility to Grow the church. It is our responsibility to Go--God will do the Growing.  
The Design of the Great Commission is to Produce disciples not just Decisions
Jesus said, "Go and make disciples..." (Matthew 28:19) He did NOT say, "Go and try to manipulate people into making mere decisions."

Being a Christian is more than making a mere decision. It is receiving the very life of Christ into our being and His life producing in us, an ongoing commitment to maturity as disciple of Jesus Christ.

I am adamant about Church Planting and coming to church because disciples are best produced in the context of thriving, living, Spirit-filled, churches.
Any evangelism plan that does not include plugging people in to the local church is an inadequate plan. That is why we are so strongly committed to starting new churches and reproducing ourselves as a church here at NSC.
The Destination of the Great Commission is Global not Local
The Great Commission is a Global Enterprise not just a Local Enterprise.

**There are no Racial boundaries to the Great Commission.  Jesus said, "Make disciples of all NATIONS." (Matthew 28:19)  (Nations = ethnos, from which we get our word ethnic)

**There are no Regional boundaries to the Great Commission. Jesus said, "Go into all the World..."

(World = cosmos, the entire Globe is our responsibility)
This means that we cannot allow ourselves to become  n arrow minded in our vision and ministry.  We must

keep all the communities outside our church in sight as we pray and plan and do ministry. This is exactly the mistake the early church was making in the early chapters of the book of Acts.  They had become entirely narrow minded and had not expanded beyond Jerusalem in their mission or ministry.  The entire world is our responsibility.

Each of us has a responsibility to participate.  I believe the mandate of the Great Commission requires,  1) Total Penetration2) Total Participation
Think Kingdom growth, not just Church growth.  We must be a "kingdom minded" church.  We must not be selfish in our ministry.  We must avoid the trap of turning inward and focusing exclusively on our own growth. We must be intentional about sharing our  resources and partnering with other Great Commission ministries. We must  be intentional about building the kingdom of God as opposed to building our own kingdom. Think Meta-church, not just Mega-church. The term "mega" means "large,"  The term "meta" means "change."    
A church that changes the way it thinks about doing ministry. A church that refuses to limit its ministry to one campus, one location.
Think Catalytically  not just Institutionally.  When a body of believers "institutionalize" it won't be long until they "fossilize."  When a body of believers become "institutionalized"  The institution becomes and "end in itself" rather than a "means to an end."  When a body of believers becomes institutionalized, it loses the focus of its purpose for existing.  Protecting, maintaining and guarding the institution become the purpose for existing.
As this relates to the local church, a local church can subtly lose its Great Commission vision and begin to exist for the sole purpose of protecting its institutions, programs, organizations, fellowship groups, and systems.
This is why 80 to 90% of all Evangelical Churches in America have stopped growing and have either reached a plateau or are in decline.  If we are going to remain effective and productive in our Great Commission mandate, we have to be radically committed to change.
I don't know about you, but I don't want to be a "guardian of an institution," I want to be a catalyst for productive ministries.  I don't want to live my life to be comfortable. I want to live my life to be effective and productive and fruitful.
What Does God Demand of us Today?
These three statements  define the needs of our church. They define what it is going to mean to be an active, participating, contributing member of  this body of believers.  They capture the essence of our mission and our ministry.

1. Great Commission Love Demands Commitment.  Every member of this body, getting committed and involved. We need Laborers  who are committed to the harvest. 

We need  Teachers, small group leaders, Greeters,  Parking Lot, Ushers, Children's Workers,  Student Ministry Workers,  Prayer Warriors, Musicians.  If you have been a member of this church for six months or more, what are you doing to Labor in the harvest? What do you think it means to be a member of this church?  Do you think it entitles you to all the benefits and the ministries of this church, with no obligation to participate or give?

We are going to have to be willing to get out of our comfort zones, get our focus off ourselves and our needs, roll up our sleeves and go to work.

2.  Great Commission Love Demands Communication. 

Everyone of us becoming intentional, bold, vibrant, loving witnesses for Jesus Christ. There is a vast army of people in this room right  now, who claim to know Christ, but have never shared your faith with anyone.

Evangelism is a spiritual responsibility. The window of opportunity for us to be witnesses may be as open as it has ever been for our generation. The terrorists' attacks on America, and the frightening world events have opened people's hearts to their need for God. People who have never thought about praying before are sure thinking about it now.

 3. Great Commission Love Demands Community.  We have to be committed to radical love for one another.

 It is our passionate love for each other, our unity of hearts, and our commitment to each other that is our greatest platform for witness to our culture. John 13:35

When we commit to being in growing, intimate, loving relationships with each other, we are contributing to the work of the Great Commission.

Love Your City

NorthStar is such a great church and we have so much to be thankful for. It is incredible how God has continued to pour out His Spirit on our church and the best is yet to come. This past Sunday, we talked about  loving our city. I wanted to share a recap of yesterday's service. What an incredible day we had in God's house together with believers.
I Corinthians 13 says the greatest of these is love. It says though I speak well, do well, work well etc if I do not have love it is worthless.  That is why today I want to talk about doing these things with love. Ministering to and Serving with love.
This was the character of Jesus.  Matthew 20:26-28   ²⁶ Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, ²⁷ and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— ²⁸ just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Serving honors God.  John 12:26  ²⁶ Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.
In our culture somehow we get the notion or idea that we’ve earned it or somebody owes me something.  We may not say it but often we live a life that reflects a belief that it is all about me. Notice how the Lord’s prayer start off.  
Matthew 6:9-10   ⁹ “This, then, is how you should pray: “‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, ¹⁰ your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”
It never mentions me, our, mine, etc. This starts off as a posture of surrender not suggestion. Therefore, it is not about me, you or us!  This tells us  It’s Not About Me. We love in a society that tells us it is all about me.  We live in a society that gets ticked off when Chic-fil-A puts a pickle on our sandwich. We are empowering a society that thinks it’s all about me.  Have it your way.

In our text, some of the religious leaders were trying to trick Jesus when they ask him “what is the greatest commandment?”   Matthew 22:34-40  ³⁴ Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. ³⁵ One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: ³⁶ “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”  ³⁷ Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’^{[c] 38} This is the first and greatest commandment. ³⁹ And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’^{[d] 40} All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

We are to love God and love others.

We Serve Our City When We Pour Out Ourselves to God

Jesus says the greatest commandment is to love God. The more we love God the more we can love others.
Romans 12:1  Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.

This tells us to give yourself totally to God. Find direction from God. If we don’t know who He is and what He desires for us, we will flounder around without direction. A solid foundation in Christ can be built by regularly attending church, giving, reading your Bible and serving. But if any one of those is missing, your foundation begins to wobble.

2 Chronicles 16:9   ⁹ For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. You have done a foolish thing, and from now on you will be at war.”

The church that God is making us to be requires helping hands and faithful hearts!

We Serve our City by Serving in the Church

For some when it comes to church it is looked at as a place we go to be served. We go to have a few moments of great music and hear an inspiring message. We look forward to our favorite songs, to listen to a "good" band,  have the pastor speak to us, to have excellent ministry for our children, be encouraged and then, having been "well served" we go home.  If we were honest we'd have to admit that when we were "church shopping" we had our mental list of things we needed the church to be for us. Often when a new family comes they are probably making a circuit of different churches. We're being evaluated in terms of what we have to offer them.   I'm sure they're asking, "How can NorthStar serve us?"

I'm here to tell you that we have got to flip the script on that kind of selfish, self-centered, sinful thinking.  Somewhere in the journey of faith a transition has to happen. Somewhere, somehow as Christians, we need to find ourselves moving away from "serve-us" to "service". Where the church is no longer a place we go "to be served" but "to serve".

James 2:14-18 says:   ¹⁴ What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? ¹⁵ Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. ¹⁶ If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? ¹⁷ In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. ¹⁸ But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds.

You've got to do something.  Talk is cheap.  **serve with passion- rooted in a loving heart. **serve with enthusiasm-rooted in a expectant heart. **serve with commitment- rooted in obedience. Often crashing through the quitting points. This often requires sacrifice. **serve with a giving and sacrificial heart. We Serve our City by Giving.  **serve with expectancy Realize that God wants to do more in and through my life than I can imagine.

Ephesians 3:20  ²⁰ Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us,

Meeting needs and making His name known. It will not happen on its own. They do not come to us we must go to them.  You will never be more like Jesus than when you give and serve.

We Serve Our City by Acting

We see Jesus meeting Spiritual, Physical, and Emotional Needs.

I want to take a few minutes to be very practical. In order for us to effectively serve our community we’ve got to act. Maybe you know a single mom who needs her lawn mowed or fence repaired. Maybe you know someone in the hospital and their family could use some frozen casseroles. Maybe there is an older person who needs their rain gutters cleaned out, but they can’t do it themselves. Or maybe there is someone who can’t get out and about and would love to have someone come over for a coffee.

God still puts in your hands something with which you can serve others.  It might be time.  It might be physical strength.  It might be wisdom.   It might be laughter.  But whatever it is - if you will only take what God has placed in your hands and place your hands in HIS - somebody will be blessed.  See, anything can be a blessing - it all depends whose hands it's in. A basketball in my hands is worth about $19.  A basketball in Le Bron's James' hands is worth $19 million.  It all depends whose hands it’s in.  A baseball in my hands is worth $6; in A-Rod's hands its $60 million. A rod in my hands will keep away a stray dog. A rod in Moses' hands will part the Red sea. A sling shot in my hands is a kid's toy A sling shot in David's hands is a mighty weapon. Nails in my hands might produce a footstool. Nails in Jesus' hands will produce salvation for the entire world. It all depends on whose hands it’s in.  So God is asking will you minister to my city?
In just a few days we have two from our missions team going on a vision trip to Haiti.  I am so excited about this and I know this going to be a great opportunity for our church to be the hands and feet of Jesus.
Also, we are embarking upon a great opportunity to "Feed The City" this fall. Be listening for more details that are coming soon.

Forgiveness

If you could see into the world of souls, you would see a lot of people carrying baggage. Sometimes people don’t realize they are carrying baggage. Some don’t want to admit it.  They have issues in life they don’t want to face. We carry this into our relationships and we don’t know how to function with them so we try to cover them up.

Each of us approaches the subject of forgiveness with a different perspective. Maybe you grew up unscathed and don’t know what it means to have a deep injury to your soul. Others grew up in home where you were exposed to all kinds of things and had a great deal of injury.

It is important when we look at scripture we have to rightly divide the word of truth.

Matthew 18:15-35 ¹⁵ “If your brother or sister^[a] sins,^[b] go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over. ¹⁶ But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’^{[c] 17} If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector.  ¹⁸ “Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be^[d] bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be^[e] loosed in heaven.  ¹⁹ “Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. ²⁰ For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”  ²¹ Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?”  ²² Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.^{[f]  23} “Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. ²⁴ As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold^[g] was brought to him. ²⁵ Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.  ²⁶ “At this the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ ²⁷ The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.  ²⁸ “But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins.^[h] He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded.  ²⁹ “His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it back.’  ³⁰ “But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. ³¹ When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened.  ³² “Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. ³³ Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ ³⁴ In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.  ³⁵ “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”

He was talking to Jews who were knowledgeable of the law.  They knew a trespass was a serious offense. It was a serious injury that if not fixed you would consider ending the relationship. Little petty things you blow off…minor things.  The major things we deal with different… here Jesus is telling us that they are steps we take in dealing with these things.

In our culture it is common to go to everyone else instead of the one who we need to go to. Peter is thinking about this and asked in vs 21 how often should I forgive him? Seven is a number of completion.  So he asked him seven times?  Jesus said no seventy times seven. Then Christ went into a parable.

Don’t miss this principle: Forgiveness is an amazing force for overcoming evil. Unforgiveness is a weight that will hold you back and open doors for trouble. 

 Ephesians 4:32   ³² Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

There are going to be times that people will sin against us that they can never pay it back.  How do you pay back murder, molestation….? There are people that cannot possibly ever pay back.

You know why people don’t have faith in forgiveness… we think we are letting them off the hook.  Forgiveness is not justifying, understanding, or explaining away some one's behavior. Time does not heal all wounds. If time was the healing factor then people would simply get better over a weeks or months. This is a misused and damaging cliche. Forgiveness is not denying that we have been hurt or pretending it was no big deal.   In fact this attitude works against the forgiveness process.

Jesus is teaching you will lose. The servant fell down….have mercy, the master forgave the debt.

Vs 29-35 If you harbor a grudge it brings shame on you so you are wrong and others can see it. We can be so easy on ourselves but tough on others. It is so easy to write people off. If it is a severe offense we should not just blow it off.  He gives us a process.

Note:  How do we deal with the people who wrong us and refuse to acknowledge their debts?  The person that is totally unrepentant.  We cannot allow the weight of unforgiveness to stay in your heart. Lev. 19:17-18

>>What Unforgiveness Looks Like

It is a desire open and or secret for revenge.  …the will to retaliate. The imagination is about retaliation. When you do that you become a prisoner to that person. You have that person on your back. You may have been raped, molested, ripped off.

When you are praying for bad things to happen you are a prisoner to that person. You are in Gods way.

Proverbs 24:29, Romans 2:6, Romans 12:19,  When you hand it over to the Lord, God steps in. If you are doing it yourself you are in territory you should not be in. Vengeance is God’s domain.

God says let me deal with it. We have to be satisfied that God will fix this problem. Trust me, He will deal with it. At that point it is a spirit of forgiveness. We have to watch God.  Remember that forgiveness is for our benefit. When we live with an unforgiving spirit towards other people we are simply placing ourselves in emotional and spiritual bondage. When we really understand that we are forgiven people through the cross of Christ, then and only then are we prepared to forgive others.

>>What Forgiveness Looks Like

As seen in the life of Joseph

A.  The heart of a forgiving person believes God is sovereign in His dealings and makes all circumstances work for good.

Gen 45:5-8  ⁵ And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you. ⁶ For two years now there has been famine in the land, and for the next five years there will be no plowing and reaping. ⁷ But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance. ⁸ “So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God. He made me father to Pharaoh, lord of his entire household and ruler of all Egypt.

 Gen 50:20 But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive.

Rom 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.

Isa 43:2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, nor shall the flame scorch you.

Acts 7:9-10 The patriarchs, becoming envious, sold Joseph into Egypt. But God was with him and delivered him out of all his troubles and gave him favor and wisdom in the presence of Pharaoh, king of Egypt; and he made him governor over Egypt and all his house.

B.  The heart of a forgiving person has allowed the breaking points in life to become grace encounters.

Gen 39:2-3, 21  The Lord was with Joseph, and he was a successful man; and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian. And his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord made all he did to prosper in his hand.    21 But the Lord was with Joseph and showed him mercy, and He gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison.

C.  The heart of a forgiving person has been softened by life's hard experiences.

Gen 42:23-24 But they did not know that Joseph understood them, for he spoke to them through an interpreter. And he turned himself away from them and wept. Then he returned to them again, and talked with them. And he took Simeon from them and bound him before their eyes.

Gen 43:30-31 Now his heart yearned for his brother; so Joseph made haste and sought somewhere to weep. And he went into his chamber and wept there. Then he washed his face and came out; and he restrained himself, and said, "Serve the bread."

Gen 45:2 And he wept aloud, and the Egyptians and the house of Pharaoh heard it.

Gen 45:14-15 Then he fell on his brother Benjamin's neck and wept, and Benjamin wept on his neck. Moreover he kissed all his brothers and wept over them, and after that his brothers talked with him.

D.  The heart of a forgiving person does not live in the pain of the past.

Gen 41:50-52 And to Joseph were born two sons before the years of famine came, whom Asenath, the daughter of Poti-Pherah priest of On, bore to him. Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh: "For God has made me forget all my toil and all my father's house." And the name of the second he called Ephraim: "For God has caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction."

E.  The heart of a forgiving person does not take on God's responsibilities in dealing with offenders.

Gen 50:17 Thus you shall say to Joseph: "I beg you, please forgive the trespass of your brothers and their sin; for they did evil to you."' Now, please, forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of your father." And Joseph wept when they spoke to him.

Gen 50:19-21 Joseph said to them, "Do not be afraid, for am I in the place of God? But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive. Now therefore, do not be afraid; I will provide for you and your little ones." And he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.