Today @ The Gathering we continued our series, “Angry in America,” with the message entitled “What to Do When Angry People Come After You.”

Too many of us think that Christianity is just about being right with God; about forgiveness of sin, and about going to heaven when we die. We have a very narrow, one-dimensional view.

The truth is you can be truly right with God and wrong with the people around you all at the same time. Interacting with people, loving people, and extending yourself to people is all an integral part, or should we say, the fruit of a relationship with God. In that process you’re going to confront a lot of angry people. And sometimes their anger, when it gets taken out on you, has nothing to do with you, but revolves around broken relationships and wounds they’ve had in the past.

So, during this talk, we dealt with how to get good at letting people off the hook, or how to get good at extending forgiveness to those around you. It’s one of the core teachings of Jesus. As a matter of fact, Jesus said that if you refuse to forgive your brothers, your heavenly Father would refuse to forgive you. That makes it pretty serious business.

We dealt with the two facts about forgiving, the three rewards of forgiving, the three signs that you’re stuck in victim mode, which were really eye-opening; and finally, the mechanics of forgiving.

It’s one thing to want to forgive. It’s another thing to know how to do it, or the mechanics. In this talk we learned the six practical steps you can take if you’re ready to forgive and move toward healing and health both in your relationships with others and your relationship with God.