THE BLESSINGS KEEP ROLLING IN
A DAY OF REMEMBRANCE
(THE LORD’S TABLE)
POWER OF FORGIVENESS
What must I do to follow God? Love others? Absolutely. Sell your possessions and give the money to the poor? Done. What about forgiving the person who wronged me? Hmm. Now, that’s a tough one. Are you sure I have to?
JESUS SAID SO, TWICE. The Lord’s Prayer implores God to “forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us” (Matthew 6:12). To make sure we get the point, Jesus told a story about a forgiven servant who refused to forgive others. His master was so incensed that he “sent the man to prison to be tortured.” And that, Jesus said, is “what my heavenly Father will do to you if you refuse to forgive your brothers and sisters from your heart” (18:34).
So why is it so hard to forgive? We struggle because forgiveness doesn’t seem fair, and it doesn’t seem right. After all they did, they shouldn’t be able to just apologize and have everything suddenly be okay. Forgiveness feels as if they’re “getting away with it.” It may seem that we are the ones being victimized again.
(NOW, THE REST OF THE STORY)
Psalm 130 offers help for any of us who struggle to forgive. First, it is true, we must offer forgiveness to those who wronged us, true reconciliation comes through forgiveness (and) repentance. We can see that the psalmist takes responsibility for his sin and has therefore prepared himself to be reconciled with God (vv.1-3).
FULL FORGIVENNESS CAN’T OCCUR WITHOUT FULL REPENTANCE (NO REPENTANCE-NO FORGIVENES).
Second, notice that it’s God Himself who set the example for us. We see in v.4, that God first “[offered] forgiveness”. We were at His mercy. But He chose to extend mercy and grace to us, though it came at a high cost—the death of His Son. Forgiveness rarely comes easily, but it may help to remember that it’s a sign of true love and grace.
FORGIVENESS = Forgiveness in my heart, that is released toward another, by and through repentance. read Psalm 130
God Whispers
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Video files of our worship services are available on the Internet. Last week’s viewings totaled 417 on God Tube TV and 297 on Sermon TV for a total of 714. We pray that you were blessed by last week’s message and look forward to hearing from you. To view this week's message click here for God Tube TV or here for Sermon TV.Continue to pray for us as we seek to serve the Lord here in Arizona.
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It is nice that we can drop in on your worship service at a distance. Interesting telling of David’s story from Samuel.
ReplyDeleteYep;
ReplyDeleteGood reminder
Love is forgiveness, forgiveness is love
We must all remember that.
A good word again.
ReplyDeleteThere can be no reconciliation without both repentance and forgiveness.
So many people think we have to forgive and let them beat us up again.
Never made sense to me...
Keep listening to the Lord. You are doing a good job.
I listened to your message "Power , Authority, and Submission " part 4 that you just sent out. It was great. Puts a better perspective on how God defines submission. It makes much more sense when you actually hear it in the context you put it in.
ReplyDelete