Key points
1God's first foot forward is compassion and mercy, not judgment
Pastor Pat retells the story of Moses at Mount Sinai after the exodus, where God passes by in His glory and describes Himself first as compassionate, merciful, slow to anger, and forgiving before mentioning that He does not excuse the guilty. The point is that if you want to know who God really is, you look at how He describes Himself, and His first foot forward is grace, not an endless list of do's and don'ts.
2How you view God matters, especially when you fail
Pastor Pat asks whether, when people mess up, they run to God or away from Him, arguing that many Christians secretly picture God as an overbearing boss handing down rules rather than a God whose nature is kindness and forgiveness.
3Jesus tells Peter to stop counting forgiveness and tells the parable of the unforgiving servant
Peter asks if forgiving someone seven times is enough (already double the religious teaching of his day), and Jesus answers seventy times seven, meaning stop counting. Jesus then tells of a servant forgiven an unpayable debt who refuses to forgive a much smaller debt owed to him, and is handed over to be tortured, showing that our relationship with God is tied to our willingness to forgive others.
4What forgiveness is not, and what it actually is
Pastor Pat clarifies that forgiveness is not condoning, pardoning, forgetting, a feeling, or the same as reconciliation and trust, quoting a pastor friend that forgiveness is free but trust is earned. He shares his own recent experience of being deeply wounded, writing down every hurt and burning the paper, and admits forgiveness is a process that can resurface even in dreams.
Forgiven people should be forgiving people
Forgiveness is free, trust is earned
Bitterness is like drinking poison and hoping the other person dies
he who seeks vengeance should dig two graves
A story from life
Pastor Patrick shares his own recent wounding, late-night wrestling with bitterness, writing names on paper and burning it, and a subsequent dream about throat-punching an offender
5The enormity of what we've been forgiven
Pastor Pat walks through several favorite passages — Isaiah, Psalm 103, and Second Corinthians 5 — having listeners insert their own names, to show that God no longer counts our sins against us and has removed them as far as the east is from the west, with no 'deleted folder' of past sin.
6Forgiven people must be forgiving people, and Jesus modeled it from the cross
Pastor Pat sharpens the phrase from 'should' to 'must' for those who claim to follow Jesus, then describes Jesus' brutal crucifixion in detail and His first words from the cross, Father, forgive them, as proof that forgiveness was never easy, even for Jesus Himself.
Father, forgive them
Illustration
A girl on a rope swing over the Blackfoot River who swings out but won't let go at the peak and gets hurt on the way back
Application
Pastor Pat's charge is that forgiven people must be forgiving people, so stop holding on and give it to God.
Check how you view God
Notice whether you run toward or away from God when you fail, and let His true nature of compassion and mercy be your first thought, not a picture of Him as an overbearing rule-keeper.
Stop counting how many times to forgive
Like Jesus told Peter, stop keeping score of offenses against you and move toward continual forgiveness instead of a limit.
Give your hurt to God instead of carrying it
Picture the accounting sheet of every wrong done to you and hand it to God rather than pretending it didn't happen or waiting to feel like forgiving.
Let go, physically and specifically
Pastor Pat asked people to stand, open their hands palms up, and in prayer name what they are still holding onto and release it to God this week.
Take it into your week
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