NW Valley Times

Dr. Noe Garcia, pastor of North Phoenix Church, addressed the audience at Monday’s Chapel, sharing personal anecdotes and insights on the topic of forgiveness. Garcia used humor to engage the students, referencing his children and their playful challenges to his pastoral authority.

Garcia recounted a conversation with his 6-year-old son who questioned his decision to restrict candy and Xbox privileges by saying, “That’s not very Christian of you.” This led to laughter from the audience as Garcia continued with another story where his son asked if pastors are supposed to forgive.

Reflecting on the concept of forgiveness, Garcia acknowledged its complexity. He shared that despite being easy to preach about, applying forgiveness is much harder. Drawing from his own life experiences, including abuse in his youth and contemplating suicide before turning to faith at age 18, Garcia emphasized how difficult it can be to forgive those who have caused deep pain.

“The deeper someone has cut you, the deeper somebody has hurt you, the much more difficulty of forgiveness there is to apply to that person,” he said. Garcia described himself as someone who is transparent and vulnerable but also easily hurt and slow to heal.

Garcia admitted that he initially dealt with those who hurt him by mentally and physically distancing himself from them. However, he realized this approach made him a "prisoner" to unforgiveness. Negative emotions would resurface whenever he thought about those individuals.

“I couldn’t comprehend how quickly I was supposed to forgive this person because there was this sense of injustice,” Garcia said. He added that while he wanted those who wronged him to face consequences for their actions, Jesus commands forgiveness through the spirit.

Garcia referred to Matthew 6:9-15 where Jesus teaches His disciples how to pray. He emphasized starting with acknowledging God rather than focusing on sin: “Don’t start with the sin... Start with the Savior.”

He explained that repeating the word “forgiven” helps release someone mentally, spiritually, and emotionally from their wrongdoing. Garcia admitted struggling with forgiving those who abused him until recently when he realized true freedom comes from forgiveness.

“That God was searching my heart and trying to bring freedom into my life,” Garcia said. “The reason why Jesus wants us to forgive is because forgiveness is all about freedom.”

In other Chapel news, University Pastor Dr. Tim Griffin announced an upcoming Passages trip for students to Washington D.C., scheduled for January 2-5 at a cost of $250 per student. The trip will include a visit to the Museum of the Bible.

Next Monday’s Chapel will feature Dave Donaldson of Canyon Hills Church and co-founder of CityServe. A Missions Fair will follow on the Promenade.

GCU News Senior Writer Mark Gonzales can be reached at [email protected]