That you wanna take your Bibles and find Ephesians four, we'll be there in a second. Ephesians chapter chapter four. That That song, of course, is based upon a parable that Jesus told about the shepherd and the 99 sheep and how the shepherd risked him himself and went out to find that one sheep. That one sheep being essentially who? Us.

Us. That Jesus went through the cross to find and bring and bring to himself. Interesting story around that song, was written by Ira Sankey. Ira Sankey was often the song leader for D. L.

Moody. And on his travels, someone had handed him a copy of this poem, The Ninety and Nine, and he he just happened to have it in his pocket as he was at one of D. L. Moody's meetings. And as D.

L. Moody was preaching, he felt in his pocket and he felt that paper there. So he pulled it out and he went, wow, this would just go perfect as an invitation song to the message. And so he wrote the music to that song on the fly as he got up to lead it for the very first time as an invitation to one of D. L.

Moody's meetings. Invitation to that one lost sheep that Jesus went forth to seek and to save. And so beautiful song, wonderful message about the love and mercy and grace and sacrifice of Jesus Christ, the good shepherd. We are going to again begin by reading Ephesians four beginning in verse 26. Ephesians chapter four and verse 26.

Be ye angry and sin not. Let not the sun go down upon your wrath, neither give place to the devil. Verse 29, let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. And grieve not the holy spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed until the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice and be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.

Let's pray. Dear heavenly father, thank you, Lord, for the opportunity to share your word this morning. Lord, I pray that the Holy Spirit would guide us, Lord, today, me and the words that I say. I pray, Lord, that you open our heart to receive your message this morning and the challenge that we find therein to follow in the steps of Jesus Christ, our savior, in regards to those around us, especially those in the church, Lord, that our ministry here would grow and flourish and that Jesus Christ would be magnified, his grace and mercy whereby he has brought us to the savior and forgiveness and eternal life. We do pray if there is one here this morning that is yet to receive Christ as savior, we pray today would be the day of their salvation.

In Jesus' name. Amen. To is human. To forgive is divine. Now, that is a quote from a guy named Alexander Pope.

It's true. To is human. To forgive is divine. We will all but not all forgive. But in Christ, we must learn too.

For we have been what? For we have been forgiven. In our church covenant, as we were reading through it, the last section next to last says toward one another. It says there, further engage to watch over one another in brotherly love, to remember one another in prayer, to aid one another in sickness and distress, to cultivate Christian sympathy and feeling and Christian courtesy and speech, to be slow to take offense but always ready for reconciliation and mindful of the rule of our savior to secure it without delay. Forgiveness is an attitude.

It is a mindset, a condition of the heart and soul, not just an action. And a condition of the heart that is brought into the life of every believer in Jesus Christ that should be nurtured and that should grow and be evident to the world around us. If you happen to read my weekly devotion, the first part of the message this morning might sound a bit familiar. I would assume that some of you saw Erica Kirk's speech at Charlie Kirk's memorial last Sunday. Hopefully, you didn't see it live because you were here at church.

Okay? But I assume many of you saw it or saw the recording of it. And if so, what stood out in her speech? What did the world find quite strange from her speech? Well, she declared her forgiveness for the young man that killed her husband.

How could she do such a thing? Why would she do such a thing? Is it as simple as saying it? Let's start with the reason why. Well, she she declared the reason why in her speech.

Because of the forgiveness of who? Of Jesus Christ. And because her husband, she was sure would have done the same. Thus, she did it for the sake of the testimony of Christ and her husband. And she felt that refusing to forgive, living day after day in hatred and anger and wrath would not serve her or her family or him for the sake of the gospel.

And I agree. I agree. By the way, that does not mean that the killer gets off the hook for his horrendous crime. Her personal forgiveness does not negate the punishment that he may rightly suffer at the hands of our judicial system or one day at the hand of who? At the hand of God.

Those would require an act of pardon from the governor or the president or from God himself. Nonetheless, her personal forgiveness is of note and is important. By forgiving him, she is saying to God, I will let you take care of the justice, whether it be by the penal system of The United States or God in heaven or both. She is choosing to let God deal with that. Let God worry, concern himself with that.

That is following scripture, by the way. Romans twelve nineteen, dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place on the wrath for it is written, vengeance is mine. I will repay, saith the Lord. The most important forgiveness that can be found is in Jesus Christ. She referenced the words of Christ on the cross.

Father, what? Forgive them for they know not what they do, though she did get two words mixed up. Father, forgive them for they know not what they do as he hung there on the cross and offered forgiveness to everyone in that crowd and down through the centuries whose sin hung him there. He is a God of mercy. He is also a God of justice and we can trust his justice.

And we need to trust his justice and to let God be God and not to live in hatred or malice or bitterness over something that is not not our prerogative, but but God's. We need to learn, and we can by God's grace because we are his children. We need to learn to choose the way of forgiveness and let God be God, to let God take care of it Because you can you can trust him with it. You can trust him to be just. You can trust him to be fair.

Yes. And you can trust him to be merciful. And it's a good thing he is because if he were not, he would not have hung on that cross. He would not have died for our sins, and he would not have offered any of us eternal life because we are sinners. But instead, because of his mercy and grace, he did.

And that is so important for the world to hear and the world to see in God's children, that God is a God of mercy. When she did this, it indicated to him, that is the murder, and to the world that despite the overwhelming human desire for getting revenge for such a terrible thing. And it is an overwhelming desire. That despite that, that Jesus truly makes a difference in the heart of those who trust him. And in Christ, forgiveness is a reality.

Saul, we know him often as Paul, before he became Paul, was not entirely unlike that young man. What was Paul seeking to do before he came to Christ? He was seeking to shut up those who were declaring the truth in the name of who? Jesus Christ. He stood there and held the coats of those that violently stoned Stephen to death on the spot, consenting to his death because Stephen dared to speak the truth concerning Jesus Christ that he was at the right hand of the father making intercession for all who came to him by faith.

And Christ forgave Paul. I would imagine there were families in Jerusalem that lost loved ones due to Saul's purge before he came to Christ. Can't imagine it was easy for some of them to forgive him. But forgiveness was the right thing because God forgave him. And later, Paul would forgive others who stoned him and left him for dead in the city of Lystra.

A matter of fact, you think Paul would have avoided the city the next time he went by there, but he didn't. Instead, he went by the city of Lystra and he picked up a young man named Timothy who became his right hand man in the ministry of the gospel throughout what today is Turkey and Greece. Because he learned to do the hard thing and forgive. But I don't believe it's necessarily the easy thing. I can't imagine that it would come easy for me if someone I loved had been gunned down.

Yet with God, all things are what? All things are possible. Now, back to our text. Ephesians chapter four. Most of us will not be put in such a place as Erica Kirk was.

And yet we often find it hard just to be merciful and forgiving towards those who say something mean to us. I don't know if you've any watched any of Charlie Kirk's videos, his debates. You know what was always the case? People were always mean to him. Always mean to him.

And yet, he kept his cool and for the most part, was nice to them. But we get so out of joint because somebody said something mean or they picked on us or they they forgot to give back the book that we borrowed them. They they looked at us in a funny way. Not not over a loved one getting shot in cold blood, but but just over a word said in a moment that is relatively meaningless. How shallow and mature and petty sometimes God's children can be.

Now, offending party may be wrong. Maybe they shouldn't have said it. But maybe we should just get over it. There are better uses of our time and energy and thoughts. And maybe if we will just let it, what, let it go or deal with it kindly.

The small problem will just, what, vanish away rather than becoming a big one. So many little problems become big problems because we turn make a mountain out of a what? Molehill. If you're probably under 50, you may not have ever used that. Anyway, idiom.

If we're to work together for the cause of Christ and make a difference, being salt and light before the lost, we need to get over the small things. We need to show a little more mercy and grace. We need to let things go and be willing to what? To forgive. Even those who don't deserve it.

Well, that that's why they need what? Forgiveness because, well, they did something that they didn't deserve it. We didn't deserve it. And yet Christ, what? Forgave us.

He offered it from the cross. He granted it when we came to him in faith and in repentance. He said, ask and it shall be, what? Given. Knock and it shall be opened unto you.

For he that asketh receiveth and he that seeketh find it. To him that knocketh, the door shall be opened. And as verse 32 tells us, we should forgive because we have been what? We have been forgiven. Have you come to Christ to accept his forgiveness?

Or are you telling yourself, I don't need it? You do. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. We have all offended our maker many times over. You can't go back and erase those things, but you can have forgiveness.

You can have forgiveness in Christ Jesus who died for you. If you will accept it by faith, accept him. John one eleven and twelve say this, he came unto his own and his own received him not, but as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God even to them that believe on his name. Do you want to know the power of forgiveness? Well, it starts by accepting the forgiveness of Jesus Christ and him as your Lord and savior.

If you will do that, you will know the power of forgiveness. And you can, if you will. But let's back up for a moment back to verse 26. We read there, Be ye angry and sin not. Let not the sun go down upon your wrath, neither give place to the devil.

Be ye angry and sin not. Do not give place or opportunity to the devil. But instead, as it says down in verse 31, let all what? Bitterness. And that is, you know, holding a grudge, harboring anger in your heart towards somebody.

Wrath, which is rage. And anger and and clamor, which is complaints and accusations and evil speaking, be put away from you with all malice, that is with all evil intent upon others. Put these away and sin not in your anchor. Was Joseph angry with his brothers when they threw him in a pit and left him for dead and then sold him to be a slave? Well, the Bible doesn't exactly tell us, but I'm guessing he was just a little bit angry at his brothers.

I do believe that. But did he follow it up with bitterness and rage and malice toward them? What did he follow it up with? He forgave them. He forgave them.

Did David have a right to be angry with Saul as he ran around for months on end trying to kill David for having done nothing wrong? But did David maliciously seek to take Saul's life? No. Instead, he chose to spare it at least twice. Did Paul have the right to be angry when a mob in the temple temple courtyard started shouting and swearing at him, and then started punching and kicking him and would have killed him had the Roman soldiers not come and drug him out of the temple courtyard.

And they drug him up on the steps. You know what Paul pleaded to do as they were dragging him away? Let me speak. And what did he want to say to the people that just had beaten him to an inch of his life. He wanted to tell them about the love of who?

The love of Jesus Christ. That's what he was fighting to do. Did David have the right to be angry with Goliath? Yes. He was blaspheming God.

Seems like a good reason to get angry. But it did not seem that David was filled with rage, but righteous indignation and faith in who? And faith in God. And he slew the enemy of God. And Israel won an incredible victory.

Did God have a right to be angry with Adam and Eve in the garden? He gave them one command. One. Only one restriction, only one thing. Every tree in the garden, it's yours.

Just one tree. Don't eat of the one tree. That's it. Just don't eat from the one tree. And what did they have to do?

They had to go and they had to eat from the what? From the one tree that God told them not to. And yet, what did God do? He spoke with them. Spoke with them calmly, kindly.

He told them there were consequences for what they had done. But before he carried out all of those consequences, he indicated that this wasn't the end. There would be a seed, a son of Eve that would put everything right and defeat the enemy that had deceived and manipulated them into this. We know that that child of Eve was a child of Abraham, was a child of David, was a child of Mary, and his name is what? Jesus Christ because he is also the son of who?

The son of God who gave his life for us. It's not always wrong to be angry. It's how we deal with the anger or the reason for our anger that is problematic. Potentially destructive and offensive to God rather than constructive into his glory. I would say David killing Goliath was to God's glory as was his show of mercy and grace in sparing the life of king Saul.

If you allow anger to drive you to vengeance or hatred or bitterness or to curse or slander or violence, it is not constructive. It is what? Destructive. And it usually is. Cain got angry at Abel.

What happened? Well, he killed his brother and he got cursed and cast out. Joseph's brothers got angry. What happened? They threw him in a pit and left him for dead and then when they saw they might make some money off of him, they pulled him out of the pit and sold him instead.

David, filled with wrath and rage because he had been disrespected by a landowner named Nabal, was taking his men to go kill them all when Abigail showed up and pleaded with him to reconsider. And the rage left his heart and he did the right thing. He left it to who? He left it to God. Did God take care of Nabal?

Sure He did. David did the right thing. A number of leaders, religious leaders in Jesus' day, many of them sat on a ruling council called the Sanhedrin. Christ came just speaking the truth. They didn't wanna hear the truth.

And so it made them what? Made them angry. So angry that they plotted and planned how to get rid of him and kill him. But did they get rid of him and kill him? No.

He rose again from the what? He rose again from the dead and Satan lost as Satan always does. But but gotta watch out for that anger. It blinds us when we don't deal with it righteously. Told in James one nineteen and twenty, wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak slow to what?

Wrath. For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. The uncontrolled rage and wrath of man does not does not work or produce the righteousness of God. You have to turn that anger and that wrath and that bitterness over to who? Over to God.

And sometimes we get so angry over the dumbest things. I can think of a few times in my life when I did stupid things in anger. And you know, not one of those things do I remember why I got angry. Because it was dumb. I can understand why David might be angry or Erica Kirk might be angry.

But most of the time, I can't remember why I got angry because it wasn't that important. Fly off the handle, lose your cool, throw stuff, kick stuff, shout curse words or insults, stew inside your heart every day, feel your temperature rising when you see that person walk in the door. Wouldn't mind to see them harmed. That is what the wrath of man produces and it's not what? It's not good.

And it doesn't belong in the heart of who? A child of God. It is human nature and it rears its head, sorry to say, all too many times. It is the way of the world, those who do not yield to the righteousness of God nor demonstrate his mercy and grace and love. The shooter that killed Charlie Kirk was eaten up with bitterness and hate for someone who loved him or at least many like him, who had been taken in by lies and darkness and needed to be shown the way out.

Yet he was in his heart full of rage and bitterness and anger. So much so that what did he do? He picked a a gun and shot him. The sad end of uncontrolled and ramped up hatred and bitterness. The wrath of man worketh not the what?

The righteousness of God. What does work the righteousness of God? For forgiveness and mercy and grace and self control, humility and meekness and love. We are told here in Ephesians four, instead of being angry and bitter, hateful people, God desires us to be kind and considerate, understanding, compassionate, and patient people. That's that's what Jesus is for us and that is what Jesus will enable us to be if we will draw close to him.

For with God again, all things are what? Possible. To be kind in our speech even when the other person is not so kind or careful or loving in theirs. To to say things that minister grace, things that build them up and encourage them in what is right. We are told in verse 29.

To genuinely seek the best for others, even those who rub us the wrong way or even those who might be seeking our harm or standing in our way. What did Jesus say in Matthew five? Pray for them who despitefully use you. Love your enemies. How do you show the grace of God?

Not by loving those who love you, but by loving those who what? Don't. Be considerate and understanding and compassionate. Tenderhearted is the word used here in our English translation. Sensitive and understanding, patient and merciful.

Before you fly off the handle, you might want to find out what's going on with that person that made them say that or think that or what they're going through because oftentimes, there's a reason and it's not just you. Somebody mentioned we were talking about this maybe Thursday in bible study or something and we were talking about driving down the road in our car and and you get behind somebody and for some reason, they're driving really slow and you need to get somewhere and they're not being considerate. They're not being kind. They won't get out of your way. They're over in the left hand lane where they're supposed to be going fast Instead, they're going piddly and you gotta make a left turn and you you can't get over.

So, here you are sitting, driving. The light is going to it's green, it's green, it's yellow, it's red. You would have made it but well, they wouldn't go. Well, you know, maybe they're 90 some years old and they need to go slow so they'll now run over somebody. Maybe they got a pot of soup they're taking to somebody sitting in the seat beside them and they don't want it to turn over and get all over in the car.

I didn't have a bowl of soup one day. I had a big gulp from seven eleven. I was 19 years old and driving my car. I put the big gulp in the floorboard when I pulled out of this seven eleven on this back country road in Virginia. And the minute I turned to get back in the lane, overwent the big gulp all over the inside of my car.

Like an idiot, I looked down. When I looked down, I turned my steering wheel to the left. And the next thing I knew, I crashed into somebody's driveway. My wheel went down in their culvert. I went right through their mailbox that had been painted silver and left a streak all the way down my car.

So maybe maybe you somebody might be careful when driving with the bowl of soup in there. Yeah, it makes sense. But we get all bent out of shape. We get bent out of shape when somebody ignores us or somebody snaps at us or somebody just doesn't seem happy. You know, get with it.

Get happy. You know, you're supposed to be happy. You know? One of the reasons they might be here and not happy is so you can you can encourage them and be more understanding. Let it go.

Give them room to fail, room to grow. Try understanding what they are dealing with or how they have been manipulated. Do not look for reasons to get angry or to be offended. If you do, you will surely find them. So grow a thick skin.

Let most things just roll off your, what, back. One of the most dumb words that has ever been invented in the past decade is microaggressions. Microaggressions. Look, they're they're offending me with microaggressions. What what are microaggressions?

Well, you know, they they they looked at you with a funny look. That's a microaggression. They they they walked by and they said hi to this person. Not microaggression. They, you know and it's just looking for peep any reason to get what?

Offended. Well, if that's what you want, that's what you'll get. You'll get offended a thousand times a day when people don't even know you're offended because they didn't do anything. That does not belong things go because why? Because if they're committing microaggressions against you, I am sure that you're committing microaggressions against them.

Let it go. Let it go. If you do that in a marriage, your marriage won't last. If you do that in business, your business won't last. If you do that in the church of God, It's going to lose its testimony and you, yours.

Let it go. Be ye kind one to another, tender hearted, forgiving one another even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. It is not an act, it is a mindset. It is a mindset that is divine. To is human, to forgive, divine.

Choose the way of love and courage and righteousness. Learn to forgive and let it go. Most of the time, it's unimportant. Why should you be so concerned what others think of you? They'll eventually figure it out.

If they were wrong, if you keep doing what is right, give them time. If you really need to speak to them, then do what? Speak to them. If you really need it, it's really that important, then speak to em. Don't.

Don't be a coward. Don't excuse your anger and bitterness. Don't get comfortable in it. Show some courage and go talk to them. That's what Christ prescribed in Matthew chapter 18.

Go go talk to him. Just you know, get it straightened out. You can fix it if you try. Go talk with them and if need be, take a friend. Many times, it'll fix.

And just grow a loving, compassionate, and forgiving heart like our savior. Learn from him who who said, father, forgive them for they know not what they do. Maybe there's someone you need to forgive or someone's this morning. Now would be a good time to to just let it go. Maybe you need to talk to him.

Go talk to Go talk to him. Maybe you need to have a little talk with Jesus today and accept his forgiveness because that is step number one and the most important step of all. Let's pray. Dear heavenly father, thank you Lord for this day. Thank you for the gift forgiveness that is be found in Jesus Christ.

Thank you for the forgiveness that you placed in our hearts. Your love and compassion. Lord, I pray that we would nurture it, exercise it, demonstrate it in our lives. I pray that you change our mindset, that we would not so easily be offended oftentimes over silly things. Lord, I pray that you would help us to demonstrate the love of Christ by offering forgiveness even to our enemies.

As you offered to yours and even gave your life for them. And Lord, I pray if there's one here today that is yet to receive Jesus Christ as savior that they wouldn't leave this place today until they have made sure of that, that they might come and meet me up here during the invitation this morning or after. We might be able to share with them the love of Christ and how they can be saved this day. Lord, I pray that you would not allow us to leave the same way we came this morning but Lord, if there's something in our life that needs to change, I pray as we sing this hymn of invitation that you would help us to change it, to confess it, and to forsake it. In Jesus name we pray.

Amen.