You stopped forgiving. But it did not stop spreading.

Happy Hump Day, Mars Hill Family,

he air in your house is still heavy.

But before we get into it — if you were with us Sunday, you know what the room felt like.

The energy in that building was different. The monthly in-person service brought people out, and if you were there — you felt it. Wall to wall. Energy in the room that you cannot manufacture on a screen. People were present. Fully present. And if you were watching online, I need you to know: you missed something. Not in a guilt-trip way. In a “you really needed to be in that room” way. We are going to do it again. Mark your calendar. You want to be there next time.

Now — back to the house.

Last week we restored the power in the Prayer Closet. That was Week 1.

But most people walked out of that message and kept right on moving past a room they already knew about.

The Relationship Room.

This week at Mars Hill, we went in.

We did not soften it. We did not call it a process or give it a timeline. We called it what it is.

Unforgiveness is not a wound you are managing. For most of us, it became a verdict. An organized case file. A settled judgment we return to whenever we need to confirm what we already decided about that person.

And the contamination from that room has been seeping into every other space in your life for longer than you want to admit.

This week’s email has the sermon recap, this week’s one assignment, and a resource that goes deeper.

Sermon Recap: How To Stop Waiting For An Apology That’s Never Coming

HOW TO STOP WAITING FOR AN APOLOGY THAT’S NEVER COMING

Matthew 5:23-24; Ephesians 4:31-32; Hebrews 12:15 (NLT)

The Big Idea: The house gets contaminated when unforgiveness stays stored. We clear the Relationship Room so the Owner can come home to peace.

This week’s three takeaways:

⓵ Unforgiveness does not feel like a sin. It feels like a survival strategy. You are not bitter. You are boundaried. You are smart. That narrative is the most dangerous thing in the Relationship Room because it sounds completely reasonable while the contamination spreads.

⓶ Jesus stopped a man in the middle of his highest act of worship and said: go deal with that person first, then come back. The sequence God built into His own worship system is relationship before altar. Most people have reversed that order their entire lives.

⓷ Release does not require two people. It only requires one decision. You do not need the other person’s participation to close the case. You need willingness. Start there: God, make me willing.

This Week’s Practice:

Pick the Relationship Room. Set a timer for 15 minutes. Ask: Who am I still holding a verdict over? Write the name. Choose release. Take one next step.

Featured Content

SUBSTACK: THE NEXT LEVEL HAS A WEIGHT LIMIT

If Sunday’s message stirred something, this article goes deeper.

The next level you are asking God for has requirements and one of them is releasing what you are still carrying.

​Read this before you do the 15-minute assignment this week.

​READ ON SUBSTACK​

🗓️ Announcements

Service Info

This Sunday we are online only. Join us live at 10:30 AM CST.

Watch on YouTube @ClarenceStowersTV or Facebook Live: Mars Hill Chicago.

Can’t make it live? The replay goes up same day.

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Mars Hill Baptist Church
PO Box 6159
River Forest, IL 60305

The contamination does not have to stay.

You were not asked to feel it first. You were asked to decide first.

This week, make the decision.

Walking with you,

Pastor Clarence E. Stowers, Jr.

P.S. Here is what I have seen over and over with high-capacity people: the offense they are still holding is never the one they talk about. It is the one they organized. The one they have built a whole management system around.

That is the one that is still leaking.

Two questions for you this week:

What name surfaces when you ask: who am I still holding a verdict over? And how long have you been organizing that case file instead of handing it over?

You do not have to answer publicly. But if you want to, hit reply. Tell me what room the contamination has leaked into most. I read every response. This is a conversation, not a broadcast.

Hit reply. Let’s talk about it.