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Guest (Female): Welcome to PowerPoint with Jack Graham. You may have reasons to be resentful. You've gone through tough times. You've all experienced hurt, but you cannot allow the poison of the past to destroy your future. On today's PowerPoint, Dr. Graham brings a message about what it means to choose forgiveness rather than grow bitter. Now, here's Dr. Graham with his message, Forgiveness Over Bitterness.

Jack Graham: Take God's word, turn with me to the book of Proverbs as we consider again the 28th chapter of Proverbs to launch this message. Choices, choices that we make in life that frame not only our days but our destinies. The title of this message is Choosing Forgiveness Over Bitterness. At the core of the Christian faith and the Christian life is forgiveness, to be forgiven and to live a forgiving life.

When Jesus taught us to pray, he included this important fact and force in our lives: that we should pray, "Father, forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us." To live as forgiven people, therefore, to love rather than to hate, to be kind and gentle and gracious rather than contentious and angry and resentful.

When we realize how much we have been forgiven, when we recognize and remember just what God has done in Christ, forgiving us, then we will choose to live a life forgiving others. This includes forgiving those who have hurt us. I know when I speak, every time I speak, I'm speaking to a congregation of people who have been hurt. At one level or another, all of us have experienced hurt in our life, pain, and even hostility against us and mistreatment by others.

Yet, we are to live not in bitterness but in forgiveness. Jesus even taught us to pray for our enemies and those who despise us and despitefully use us. You say, "Well, that's hard." No, it's not hard; it is impossible in human strength. I am not capable of loving and forgiving like that, but Jesus is.

The same one who cried out on the cross, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do," the very ones who nailed him there, who mocked him there. If Jesus who died lives in me, I, having been crucified with Christ, live now in him, and therefore by his grace and his love, by his forgiveness, I can forgive others. This is divine, not human. I promise you this: you will never forgive more than God has forgiven you.

God has forgiven us of all our sins. Yet, so many people live with an unforgiving, unrelenting spirit towards others, towards those who have offended. We live in resentment and often bitterness, which is simply anger turned inward. There's so much rage today, roaring in the hearts of people that's often expressed. We see it on highways and roadways. We see it in our offices. We hear it on sports talk radio and political talk radio and television. We see so much anger, and often this is in the name of our own cause or our own religion or our own righteousness, but it is destructive.

It is destructive physically. I have a book in my library called, Is It Worth Dying For? The thesis of the book is that anger and rage, especially the rage turned inward, is killing people every day. It's not worth dying for to hold resentment and hostility, even to express that or to internalize that. It is not worth it physically. It certainly is damaging and destructive emotionally, spiritually, and obviously relationally.

So how are we going to, rather than live in resentment and bitterness, hostility and anger, how are we going to live lives of forgiveness? How do we choose? And it is a choice. If you are living in bitterness today or anger today, that is a choice that you are making and continue to make. So how are we going to begin to choose forgiveness over bitterness, blessing over cursing?

Well, Proverbs 28:13 gives us a start. It says, "Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy." So, at the outset of this message, let us say that choosing forgiveness over bitterness means that I choose the future, not the past. That includes, especially includes, my past sins.

Proverbs 29:8 says, "Scoffers set a city aflame, but the wise turn away wrath." If you're wise, if you're smart, you will turn away the wrath that comes from sin. How? By asking and receiving God's forgiveness. First John 1:9 is a verse that every believer should memorize. Let me remind you that the gospel of forgiveness is for the believer as well as the unbeliever. We all need to stay current with our confession, our fellowship with the Father, and this comes when we receive the forgiveness of sin.

First John 1:9 says, "If we confess our sins," and the word confess there means to say the same thing as, to agree with God that this thing in my life is wrong. We live today, so many live today with this whole victim mentality. One of the problems that we have in dealing with bitterness is because few are willing to deal with it because, number one, it may feel good to have a sense of control over others' actions. We can share our anger, hold our anger, give our anger, but one of the reasons it's so difficult to deal with is that most people think they are justified in their bitterness or their anger or their resentment.

He did that to me. She did that to me. It was my parents. It was my brother. It was my schoolteacher. It was my boss. We live in a time when people are definitely hurt. Life is hard. Yet, this is never an excuse for the believer to live a life of resentment. Therefore, we are to confess. We're to agree with God that our sin is wrong.

How are we to find forgiveness from the grace of God? Confess our sins honestly. Confess our sins immediately, rather than burying this thing. You know, David tried that after his great sin of adultery with Bathsheba. He tried to bury it and cover it up and held this campaign of cover-up throughout his administration, and yet it was killing him on the inside. He was burning with rage and anger, had a set-up deal to kill Bathsheba's husband. He was living in the bowels of his sin and brokenness of his sin, and ultimately, it wasn't until he was confronted with his sin and he confessed his sin that he was able to receive God's forgiveness and God's grace and go on to live a godly life.

The fact is, what we cover, God uncovers. Jesus said the sin that is buried, the sin that is hidden, will one day be shouted from the rooftops. What we cover, God uncovers. But what we uncover when we're honest with God and confess our sins before God, God will cover. God will cover our sins with the precious blood of Jesus and this grace. While it is free, it is not cheap. Sin requires a payment. The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus our Lord.

So Jesus, this is the gospel. Jesus went to the cross, took our sin, took the payment. He paid a debt he did not owe because we owed a debt that we could not pay. He died for us. He rose again, conquering sin and death and hell. When we receive Christ, we receive his forgiveness. He comes to live in us, to empower us to live life that pleases God, and we have a hope and a future with him forever in heaven.

This is the gospel. It's the gospel of forgiveness. You know, when we receive God's forgiveness, we no longer live in our sin. We no longer love our sin. In fact, Proverbs 8:13, the first portion of it says, "The fear of the Lord is the hatred of evil." What I formerly loved, I now loathe. I can't live the way that I used to live. Why? Second Corinthians 5:17, "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things are passed away; everything has become brand new." You don't have to be haunted by the ghost and the guilt of the past. You can come clean with God. You can be forgiven and completely graced by his love and his mercy. Then you don't have to live in the past. You can live fully today and tomorrow and every day in the future for him.

Guest (Female): You're listening to PowerPoint with Jack Graham and the message Forgiveness Over Bitterness. July 4th, 2026, will be a day of great celebration for the 250th birthday of our great country. However, there has never been a more important time in our 250 years as a nation where we need God to move in power and heal our land. That's why I'm inviting you to join Dr. Graham in a prayer challenge for our nation. To join, simply text CRY to 59789. Again, text CRY to 59789.

Remember that your support of PowerPoint Ministries helps bring the truth of Jesus Christ to people around the world. Every day, we hear from listeners who are searching for answers, longing for peace, and discovering hope through God's word, often for the very first time. Your generosity keeps that message going out. As our thanks for your gift today, we'd love to send you Dr. Jack Graham's book, The Jesus Book, a powerful guide to help you grow deeper in your relationship with Christ. Text MAY to 59789 to give your gift and request your copy. Again, text MAY to 59789. Thank you for helping proclaim the hope of Jesus. Now let's get back to today's message, Forgiveness Over Bitterness.

Jack Graham: Proverbs 29:22 says, "A man of wrath stirs up strife, and one given to anger causes much transgression." Proverbs 10:18, "The one who conceals hatred has lying lips." That's the whole idea of concealing your sin or concealing your bitterness or your hatred, and it's a lie. But love sets us free from offense. We all have critics. We all have people who have offended us, and if you are touchy, if you are easily offended, if you're overly sensitive, you're going to live your entire life as a victim and with a mentality that will never turn loose of the past in order to live today.

Now, you may have reasons to be resentful. You've gone through tough times, difficult and defeating issues. Maybe you were abused as a child. Maybe you were turned away in life by your friends. Maybe you're dealing with an illness. Maybe you've been betrayed by a friend. Maybe you've been cheated in business. Maybe someone has stolen your money. Maybe you've been hurt in a relationship. He said he would never leave, but he did. We've all experienced hurts, but you cannot allow the poison of the past to destroy your future. You must not allow the struggles and the issues of yesterday to keep you from living life to the fullest now.

Because I've discovered in life as a pastor for all these years that hurt people hurt people. Forgiveness means that I refuse to hate you for hurting me. You say, "I can't do it." Yes, you can. In Christ, by the strength and the power of the Holy Spirit, you can. Choose God's future over your past. Let go of offenses. Release that resentment. Don't bow down to bitterness in your life. You will never ever be happy in your life as long as you hold on to these hurts. Receive the forgiveness of God. Forgive those who have hurt you and live a forgiving life.

And oh, by the way, if you are the one who has offended or hurt someone, Jesus talked about that as well. Rather than stirring up strife, be a forgiver and go. He said if you come to the altar to pray, if you come to give your offering and you're reminded of the fact that someone has something against you, there's a relationship that has been ripped, ruptured, torn apart, you leave your gift at the altar, you leave your prayers there at church, and you go and make it right. Say, "Well, they don't always receive forgiveness. I don't know if they would forgive me." That's not your responsibility. It's your responsibility to obey Christ and to obey him by forgiving others or asking forgiveness.

So, "Well, I can forgive, but I can't forget. Am I supposed to just forget what happened? Am I supposed to just move on and approve of what was done?" God is not asking you to approve of what may have happened, the injustice or the mistreatment. Jesus wasn't approving of the people that he forgave as they crucified him. Nor can we possibly forget it. Only God can have divine amnesia, who forgives and forgets our sins and removes them as far as the east from the west. You could no more cease to forget something that happened to you more than you could forget your ABCs. It's something that happened, it's something that goes on, but when you go back there, when your mind goes back there and when your thoughts, your feelings are there, you no longer look at it as rage and anger and offense and hurt and hostility. But now you see it through the eyes of forgiveness and grace, and you keep asking God to help you to choose forgiveness over offense, to choose forgiveness over bitterness.

And secondly, to choose freedom over bondage. Look at Proverbs 4:23. It refers to the heart, which, while this is certainly true physically that we're to guard our hearts and take care of them physically, it's more true spiritually because out of the heart flow the issues of life. Jesus spoke of this when he said out of the mouth speak the things of the heart. Out of the heart flow lies and murders and envy and so on. This is because Proverbs 4:23 says, "Keep your heart, watch over your heart, guard your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the issues or the springs of life."

Or to put it another way, there are two files down deep in your heart that you can choose. One file contains all that hostility and that anger and that offense and that hurt and that pain and all the past, all the stuff that we may stack in that file. The second file that we may access is the grace of God, the love of God, the forgiveness of God, the freedom that we have in Christ. So here are these two files. Let me tell you what you ought to do with file number one: delete it.

I always wondered what happens to that information that gets deleted. Where does it go? I don't know, it just goes somewhere. It's deleted. And certainly in the mind of God, it's forgiven, it's forgotten, it's deleted. Delete those old files that you keep pulling up, looking at it again and reviewing it again and rehearsing it again. One day I asked one of my heroes in ministry, Dr. W.A. Criswell, "Dr. Criswell, what do you think is the secret of the longevity of your ministry?" And he looked at me and said, "Oh, lad, never review it." That's good advice. Don't live your life looking through the rearview mirror, reviewing everything, constantly pulling it up. Delete it. Get rid of it. Don't let it burn into the soul and cause bitterness in your life.

Hebrews 12:14 and 15. You need to look at these verses. Hebrews 12:14 and 15, "Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God, that no root of bitterness springs up and causes trouble," literally you trouble, "and by it many become defiled." You see that little phrase, the root of bitterness? The fruit of bitterness is obvious, but the root of bitterness is down below, down deep in the heart. If you've ever tried to get rid of weeds in your yard, you know you just can't cut them off at the top; you've got to go down and get them at the root. And that's true in the soul. We can't just shave off the top, but get down deep and ask God.

And you know, if you bury bitterness, it will never die. It just keeps festering and developing and deepening in our souls. Bitterness, this toxicity, is an acid that will destroy its own container, causing you trouble. We think we're causing others trouble by hating them or responding in an ungodly way, but we're only hurting ourselves, and by it many become defiled. Did you know that much immorality today is because people have been so hurt and so wounded by their own sin or the sin of others that they are defiled morally? If you have an issue with an addiction to sexual sin, if you are living in bondage to that kind of thing, you probably ought to start by digging up whatever root of bitterness there is in your life and getting it out because that's where it often starts.

Who could forget our President Reagan standing at the Berlin Wall that had separated East from West for so long and saying, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall." So I stand before you today, whatever walls are standing between you and others, whatever brokenness is keeping you from experiencing renewed life and relationship and love and grace, tear down that wall. Ask God to destroy it. Rise above it.

One final word. You want to choose forgiveness over bitterness, then choose mercy, not vengeance. Proverbs 24:17, "Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, and let not your heart be glad when he stumbles." Do not say, "I will do to him," this is verse 29, "Do not say I will do to him as he has done to me, I will pay the man back for what he has done." Or listen to Proverbs 25:21, "If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat, and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink." In other words, don't seek your own vengeance. God is just. God will pay back the offenses. God will settle the issues in your life. Trust him to resolve it.

Don't seek to correct all the wrongs that have been perpetrated against you. Let him handle it. Let God, hear me, let God right the wrongs in your life. The Bible says vengeance is mine, says the Lord. God will vindicate you. God will take care of you. Don't take matters into your own hands. God will fight for you. You don't have to fight this on your own. Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God and he will exalt you in due season. Don't interfere with God's plan. And yes, God does have a plan even in our hurts and our pain.

God often shapes us, did you know that God can shape us and discipline us through the inflictions that others put on us? It happened to Israel in the Bible. God used Nebuchadnezzar, the cruel dictator, as a rod of discipline to correct his people. Yes, God can use offense and hurt and pain and attack and mistreatment and misjudgment against us in order to shape us, but he always has a plan. Be willing to wait on God to bring justice into your life. Joseph's brothers intended his suffering and that betrayal for evil, but God meant it for good. Satan intended the suffering of Job for evil, but God meant it for good. Satan intended the crucifixion of Jesus and the mistreatment of Jesus for evil, but God meant it for good. Satan intended the mistreatment and the ultimate martyrdom of Paul for evil, but God meant it for the power of the gospel to go forth in this man's life. In every case, God's purposes prevail.

And God's purpose in your life will prevail as well. For we know that all things work together for good to those who love the Lord, to those who are called according to his purpose. So many live in a prison of betrayal and abuse and offense, and your wounds have broken your spirit and broken your heart, and it's time to move on. It's time to let it go.

Guest (Female): You're listening to PowerPoint with Jack Graham and the message Forgiveness Over Bitterness. We want to thank you for being a part of the mission of PowerPoint Ministries. Every day, through the support of friends like you, the message of Jesus Christ is reaching people across television, radio, and digital platforms around the world. So many people today are searching for answers, longing for peace, and looking for something to still hold on to, and your support helps point them in the one who offers all that and so much more: Jesus.

As our thanks for your gift this month, we'd love to send you Dr. Jack Graham's book, The Jesus Book, a powerful guide to help you move beyond simply knowing about Jesus to truly knowing him through his word. Text MAY to 59789 to give your gift and get your copy. Again, text MAY to 59789. July 4th, 2026, will be a day of great celebration for the 250th birthday of our great country. However, there has never been a more important time in our 250 years as a nation where we need God to move in power and heal our land. That's why I'm inviting you to join Dr. Graham in a prayer challenge for our nation. To join, simply text CRY to 59789. Again, text CRY to 59789. Pastor, what is your PowerPoint for today?

Jack Graham: Forgiveness is at the very core of the Christian life. Jesus died on the cross to forgive us, and he taught us even when we pray to forgive others as we have been forgiven. And so it is the lifestyle of the believer. It is the continual choice that we make to forgive, rather than to live in bitterness, rather than to live in the pain of the past. We choose to move on by forgiving those who have harmed us or hurt us and trusting God with the results. And if you're thinking, "Well, Pastor, you don't know how I've been hurt, you don't know what they did to me," I would say absolutely I do not. But I do know that God knows, and I do know that God will strengthen you and help you and enable you. God would never ask you to do something that you could not do in his power or strength. So if you need to forgive someone and it seems impossible, ask God to enable you because when you release bitterness and resentment, you're able to live life free, and that's the only way to live.

Guest (Female): And that is today's PowerPoint. Remember when you give a gift to PowerPoint, we'll send you Dr. Graham's book, The Jesus Book. Just text MAY to 59789. And join us again next time as Dr. Graham brings a message about how lust destroys, but love satisfies. That's next time on PowerPoint with Jack Graham. PowerPoint with Jack Graham is sponsored by PowerPoint Ministries.