Guillermo Morales, the national field director of Chosen Children Ministries, shared during our closing services for our 2014 Global Impact Conference.

One of the things I love about our church is seeing more and more people telling God-stories from the mission field. I think to be a church about missions is to be a church that is about the heart of God, and that is just good.

One of the things I love about our church is seeing more and more people telling God-stories from the mission field. I think to be a church about missions is to be a church that is about the heart of God, and that is just good.

I can’t believe we are already at our fourth and final message on forgiveness, already at the end of January. We started the year off saying forgiveness may be the greatest need in our lives, not just once at salvation, but an ongoing issue. We have spent the last two weeks looking at forgiving others as the way of handling that anger. Today I want to come back to guilt. Because just like Satan will waltz into our lives reminding us of how we have been hurt, he will also remind us of how bad we are. Satan will whisper in our ear, You know what you’ve done, what you’re really like. You don’t deserve to be loved or forgiven. God has an answer for that. Look with me at Romans 8:1, 31-39.

I can’t believe we are already at our fourth and final message on forgiveness, already at the end of January. We started the year off saying forgiveness may be the greatest need in our lives, not just once at salvation, but an ongoing issue. We have spent the last two weeks looking at forgiving others as the way of handling that anger. Today I want to come back to guilt. Because just like Satan will waltz into our lives reminding us of how we have been hurt, he will also remind us of how bad we are. Satan will whisper in our ear, You know what you’ve done, what you’re really like. You don’t deserve to be loved or forgiven. God has an answer for that. Look with me at Romans 8:1, 31-39.

One of my favorite Bible characters is Joseph. His story is told in Genesis 37-50, and I think it is one of the most inspiring stories of forgiveness inside or outside the Bible. I am amazed by the number of people he forgave and the depth of the offenses against him that he forgave. I am amazed how he held onto God through it all. It is not hard to turn all the pain we endure into anger against God.

One of my favorite Bible characters is Joseph. His story is told in Genesis 37-50, and I think it is one of the most inspiring stories of forgiveness inside or outside the Bible. I am amazed by the number of people he forgave and the depth of the offenses against him that he forgave. I am amazed how he held onto God through it all. It is not hard to turn all the pain we endure into anger against God.

Last week we talked about receiving God’s forgiveness, saying this was the biggest need in our life, whether that is what we were thinking on January 1 or not. If we don’t have His forgiveness then it doesn’t really matter what happens good or bad this year. Jesus says we gain nothing if gain everything we want in the world, but lose our soul. So forgiveness is the big issue in life, and I think many of us here would say we have that, but are we enjoying it? Are we experiencing its power in our lives?

Last week we talked about receiving God’s forgiveness, saying this was the biggest need in our life, whether that is what we were thinking on January 1 or not. If we don’t have His forgiveness then it doesn’t really matter what happens good or bad this year. Jesus says we gain nothing if gain everything we want in the world, but lose our soul. So forgiveness is the big issue in life, and I think many of us here would say we have that, but are we enjoying it? Are we experiencing its power in our lives?

I am going to suggest our real need is forgiveness, whether we need to receive it or give it. My guess is very few were thinking that was there real need on January 1. Over the next several weeks we are going to learn how to live in it, enjoy it, and give it. We are going to discover the power and life it gives, to forgive.