Pursue Peace
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The discretion of a man makes him slow to anger,
And his glory is to overlook a transgression.
Be slow to anger and quick to overlook wrong
:11
11
The discretion of a man makes him slow to anger,
And his glory is to overlook a transgression.
Be slow to anger and quick to overlook wrongs
Patience with Zach - insight into his past - words of affirmation lifts his head
Patience with Zach - insight into his past - words of affirmation lifts his head
Be slow to anger and quick to overlook wrongs
Fred Allen: “Most of us spend the first six days of each week sowing wild oats; then we go to church on Sunday and pray for a crop failure.”
Patience with Zach - insight into his past - words of affirmation lifts his head
Fred Allen: “Most of us spend the first six days of each week sowing wild oats; then we go to church on Sunday and pray for a crop failure.”
Pursue Peace with all people
Patience with Zach - insight into his past - words of affirmation lifts his head
CommunionCommunionPatience with Zach - insight into his past - words of affirmation lifts his head
Wild oats, what we are thinking, how we treat people
Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord: looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled;
Heb 12 14-15
Pursue Peace with all people
Pursue Peace with all peopleReagan & Gorbachev
Pursue Peace with all people
Pursue Peace with all people
pursue - follow to overtake; employ measures to obtain
Reagan & Gorbachev
“Looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God”
Drill Instructors watching and correcting every small failure to insure recruits are successful. Goal is graduate every one.
Bearing offense opposes grace
Grace - Undeserved favor and acceptance
We defeat the trap of offense by helping others to experience the grace of God - by offering undeserved forgiveness, loving unconditionally
Reagan & Hinckley - In 1982 would be assassin John Hinckley shot President Reagan. Reagan underwent surgery and recovered. His daughter Patti Davis said through the whole ordeal she saw God at work. In Angels Don’t Die she writes: “I give endless prayers of thanks for whatever angels circled my father, because a devastator bullet , which miraculously had not exploded was found a quarter of an inch from his heart. The following day my father said he knew his physical healing was directly dependent on his ability to forgive John Hinckley. By showing me that forgiveness is the key to everything, including physical health and healing, he gave me an example of Christ like thinking.
God’s will is for us to look for opportunities to offer grace and heal.
We help by living and sharing the Good News of the kingdom, God’s grace to the lost, to help them understand and receive the love of the Father
God’s will is for us to look for opportunities to offer grace and heal.
God’s will is for us to look for opportunities to offer grace and heal.
“Looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God”Help others to experience the grace of GodUndeserved favor and acceptance We help by living and sharing the Good News of the kingdom, God’s grace to the lost, to help them understand and receive the love of the FatherReagan & Hinckley - In 1982 would be assassin John Hinckley shot President Reagan. Reagan underwent surgery and recovered. His daughter Patti Davis said through the whole ordeal she saw God at work. In Angels Don’t Die she writes: “I give endless prayers of thanks for whatever angels circled my father, because a devastator bullet , which miraculously had not exploded was found a quarter of an inch from his heart. The following day my father said he knew his physical healing was directly dependent on his ability to forgive John Hinckley. By showing me that forgiveness is the key to everything, including physical health and healing, he gave me an example of Christ like thinking. God’s will is for us to look for opportunities to offer grace and heal.Welcome Mr President: Former US President Richard Nixon is infamous for his place at the center of the Watergate scandal. He disgraced both the office of the President of the United States and the United States itself in the eyes of the world. When Hubert Humphrey, a former US vice-president died, Nixon attended his funeral. Dignitaries came from all over the country and the world, yet Nixon was made to feel decidedly unwelcome. People turned their eyes away and conversations ran dry around him. Nixon could feel the ostracism being ladled out to him.Then Jimmy Carter, the serving US President, walked into the room. Carter was from a different political party to Nixon and well known for his honesty and integrity. As he moved to his seat President Carter noticed Nixon standing all alone. Carter immediately changed course, walked over to Nixon, held out his hand, and, smiling genuinely and broadly embraced Nixon and said “Welcome home, Mr President! Welcome home!”The incident was reported by Newsweek magazine, which wrote: “If there was a turning point in Nixon’s long ordeal in the wilderness, it was that moment and that gesture of love and compassion.”Carter gifted Nixon with love and compassion. Nixon certainly had done nothing to deserve it. It was an act of pure grace on Carter’s part. When the bible speaks of God’s blessing it speaks in exactly the same way. Blessing is never a reward for good behaviour. It’s a gift, a gift of pure, unadulterated grace.On the morning of Sunday, Nov 8, 1987, Irishman Gordon Wilson took his daughter Marie to a parade in the town of Enniskillen, Northern Ireland. As Wilson and his twenty yr old daughter stood beside a brick wall waiting for English soldiers and police to come marching by, a bomb planted by IRA terrorists exploded from behind, and the brick wall tumbled on them. The blast instantly killed half a dozen people and pinned Gordon and his daughter beneath several feet of bricks. Gordon’s shoulder and arm were injured. Unable to move, Gordon felt someone take hold of his hand. It was his daughter Marie. “Is that you Dad” she asked. “Yes, Marie” Gordon answered. He heard several people begin screaming. Are you all right? Gordon asked his daughter. Yes, she said. But then she too began to scream. As he held her hand, again and again he asked if she was alright, and each time she said yes. Finally Marie said “daddy, I love you very much.” Those were her last words. Four hours later she died in the hospital of severe spinal and brain injuries. Later that evening a BBC reporter requested permission to interview Gordon Wilson. After Wilson described what had happened, the reporter asked, “How do you feel about the guys who planted the bomb?” I bear them no ill will. Wilson replied. I bear them no grudge. Bitter talk is not going to bring Marie Wilson back to life. I shall pray tonight and every night that God will forgive them.” In the months that followed, many people asked Wilson, who later became a senator in the Republic of Ireland, how he could say such a thing, how he could forgive such a monstrous act. Wilson explained, “I was hurt. Hi had just lost my daughter. But I wasn’t angry. Marie’s last words to me, words of love, had put me on a plane of love. I received God’s grace, through the strength of His love for me, to forgive.” For years after this tragedy, Gordon Wilson continued to work for peace in N Ireland. Love, particularly agape, can do miracles. Just as Marie Wilson’s last words to her father lifted him onto the plane of love, so God’s love for us lifts us onto a whole different plane, enabling us to love others no matter how they treat us. Ask yourself this morning who did I offer undeserved forgiveness to this week?” What words or actions of undeserved encouragement did I offer?Is there someone undeserving that I can reach out to this coming week?Communion( NIV) This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.It is an interesting thing that Jesus Christ went around in his earthly ministry saying, “Your sins are forgiven.” We don’t think of it this way, but this is an extremely presumptuous statement -- one of the many radical things Jesus said in such a humble way. Perhaps you don’t think so; look at it this way:Suppose that I decide that you need a good punch in the nose. Being a man of action (and rather limited sense) I decide to carry out this plan, and I bop you in the face. You (being a superb Christian) now have the Christian privilege of granting me forgiveness. Let us suppose, however, that Satan arises and tempts you to petty vengeance, namely, you decide to bop me in the nose. The fight seems to be on, but (let us further suppose) that Graydon Jessup steps between us. He directs you to cease and desist, because, he says, “I have forgiven him.”Now, being the logical sort of person you are, and greatly given to debate as opposed to combat, you decide to reason with Graydon. “Hold on, preacher,” you say, “if I want to punch his lights out (in a decent Christian manner, of course), why, that’s my business. What right do you have to forgive him and let him off the hook?”You see the argument, of course. You have the right to forgive, because you’re the one I punched in the nose. I didn’t punch Graydon, so he doesn’t have the right to forgive me on your behalf. Right? To turn this into a principle, only the person who is offended has the privilege of forgiving.But hold on. In any such dispute, there are always at least two persons who are offended. In this instance you are one. The Lord God Almighty is the other, for he has ordained peace among his children. When I punch you in the nose, you bleed and He is pained. He who set the moral order of the universe is always offended when it is violated. And that doesn’t count how He feels about someone punching his children (how do you feel when someone hits your children?)Now you see why Jesus so enraged the Pharisees -- when he claimed to forgive sins, he claimed to be God. His entire purpose in coming to us was just that: to rescue us from our sins, to grant us salvation.Vengeance is cheap, and therefore is commonly sought and sold. Forgiveness, however, is costly; the more there is to forgive, the greater the pain of forgiving. Our forgiveness cost Jesus his life, at Calvary. As God, he had the authority to forgive. As man, the price had still to be paid. He paid what I owed, and forgave me without price.When you take the Lord’s Supper, then, remember that He who died came with the authority and the purpose of forgiveness. Our forgiveness.
For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
Pastor Rena and the austracised woman
Welcome Mr President: Former US President Richard Nixon is infamous for his place at the center of the Watergate scandal. He disgraced both the office of the President of the United States and the United States itself in the eyes of the world. When Hubert Humphrey, a former US vice-president died, Nixon attended his funeral. Dignitaries came from all over the country and the world, yet Nixon was made to feel decidedly unwelcome. People turned their eyes away and conversations ran dry around him. Nixon could feel the ostracism being ladled out to him.Then Jimmy Carter, the serving US President, walked into the room. Carter was from a different political party to Nixon and well known for his honesty and integrity. As he moved to his seat President Carter noticed Nixon standing all alone. Carter immediately changed course, walked over to Nixon, held out his hand, and, smiling genuinely and broadly embraced Nixon and said “Welcome home, Mr President! Welcome home!”The incident was reported by Newsweek magazine, which wrote: “If there was a turning point in Nixon’s long ordeal in the wilderness, it was that moment and that gesture of love and compassion.”Carter gifted Nixon with love and compassion. Nixon certainly had done nothing to deserve it. It was an act of pure grace on Carter’s part.
On the morning of Sunday, Nov 8, 1987, Irishman Gordon Wilson took his daughter Marie to a parade in the town of Enniskillen, Northern Ireland. As Wilson and his twenty yr old daughter stood beside a brick wall waiting for English soldiers and police to come marching by, a bomb planted by IRA terrorists exploded from behind, and the brick wall tumbled on them. The blast instantly killed half a dozen people and pinned Gordon and his daughter beneath several feet of bricks. Gordon’s shoulder and arm were injured. Unable to move, Gordon felt someone take hold of his hand. It was his daughter Marie. “Is that you Dad” she asked. “Yes, Marie” Gordon answered. He heard several people begin screaming. Are you all right? Gordon asked his daughter. Yes, she said. But then she too began to scream. As he held her hand, again and again he asked if she was alright, and each time she said yes. Finally Marie said “daddy, I love you very much.” Those were her last words. Four hours later she died in the hospital of severe spinal and brain injuries. Later that evening a BBC reporter requested permission to interview Gordon Wilson. After Wilson described what had happened, the reporter asked, “How do you feel about the guys who planted the bomb?” I bear them no ill will. Wilson replied. I bear them no grudge. Bitter talk is not going to bring Marie Wilson back to life. I shall pray tonight and every night that God will forgive them.” In the months that followed, many people asked Wilson, who later became a senator in the Republic of Ireland, how he could say such a thing, how he could forgive such a monstrous act. Wilson explained, “I was hurt. Hi had just lost my daughter. But I wasn’t angry. Marie’s last words to me, words of love, had put me on a plane of love. I received God’s grace, through the strength of His love for me, to forgive.” For years after this tragedy, Gordon Wilson continued to work for peace in N Ireland.
On the morning of Sunday, Nov 8, 1987, Irishman Gordon Wilson took his daughter Marie to a parade in the town of Enniskillen, Northern Ireland. As Wilson and his twenty yr old daughter stood beside a brick wall waiting for English soldiers and police to come marching by, a bomb planted by IRA terrorists exploded from behind, and the brick wall tumbled on them. The blast instantly killed half a dozen people and pinned Gordon and his daughter beneath several feet of bricks. Gordon’s shoulder and arm were injured. Unable to move, Gordon felt someone take hold of his hand. It was his daughter Marie. “Is that you Dad” she asked. “Yes, Marie” Gordon answered. He heard several people begin screaming. Are you all right? Gordon asked his daughter. Yes, she said. But then she too began to scream. As he held her hand, again and again he asked if she was alright, and each time she said yes. Finally Marie said “daddy, I love you very much.” Those were her last words. Four hours later she died in the hospital of severe spinal and brain injuries. Later that evening a BBC reporter requested permission to interview Gordon Wilson. After Wilson described what had happened, the reporter asked, “How do you feel about the guys who planted the bomb?” I bear them no ill will. Wilson replied. I bear them no grudge. Bitter talk is not going to bring Marie Wilson back to life. I shall pray tonight and every night that God will forgive them.” In the months that followed, many people asked Wilson, who later became a senator in the Republic of Ireland, how he could say such a thing, how he could forgive such a monstrous act. Wilson explained, “I was hurt. Hi had just lost my daughter. But I wasn’t angry. Marie’s last words to me, words of love, had put me on a plane of love. I received God’s grace, through the strength of His love for me, to forgive.” For years after this tragedy, Gordon Wilson continued to work for peace in N Ireland.
Blessing is never a reward for good behaviour. It’s a gift, a gift of pure, unadulterated grace.On the morning of Sunday, Nov 8, 1987, Irishman Gordon Wilson took his daughter Marie to a parade in the town of Enniskillen, Northern Ireland. As Wilson and his twenty yr old daughter stood beside a brick wall waiting for English soldiers and police to come marching by, a bomb planted by IRA terrorists exploded from behind, and the brick wall tumbled on them. The blast instantly killed half a dozen people and pinned Gordon and his daughter beneath several feet of bricks. Gordon’s shoulder and arm were injured. Unable to move, Gordon felt someone take hold of his hand. It was his daughter Marie. “Is that you Dad” she asked. “Yes, Marie” Gordon answered. He heard several people begin screaming. Are you all right? Gordon asked his daughter. Yes, she said. But then she too began to scream. As he held her hand, again and again he asked if she was alright, and each time she said yes. Finally Marie said “daddy, I love you very much.” Those were her last words. Four hours later she died in the hospital of severe spinal and brain injuries. Later that evening a BBC reporter requested permission to interview Gordon Wilson. After Wilson described what had happened, the reporter asked, “How do you feel about the guys who planted the bomb?” I bear them no ill will. Wilson replied. I bear them no grudge. Bitter talk is not going to bring Marie Wilson back to life. I shall pray tonight and every night that God will forgive them.” In the months that followed, many people asked Wilson, who later became a senator in the Republic of Ireland, how he could say such a thing, how he could forgive such a monstrous act. Wilson explained, “I was hurt. Hi had just lost my daughter. But I wasn’t angry. Marie’s last words to me, words of love, had put me on a plane of love. I received God’s grace, through the strength of His love for me, to forgive.” For years after this tragedy, Gordon Wilson continued to work for peace in N Ireland. Love, particularly agape, can do miracles. Just as Marie Wilson’s last words to her father lifted him onto the plane of love, so God’s love for us lifts us onto a whole different plane, enabling us to love others no matter how they treat us. Ask yourself this morning who did I offer undeserved forgiveness to this week?” What words or actions of undeserved encouragement did I offer?Is there someone undeserving that I can reach out to this coming week?Communion( NIV) This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.It is an interesting thing that Jesus Christ went around in his earthly ministry saying, “Your sins are forgiven.” We don’t think of it this way, but this is an extremely presumptuous statement -- one of the many radical things Jesus said in such a humble way. Perhaps you don’t think so; look at it this way:Suppose that I decide that you need a good punch in the nose. Being a man of action (and rather limited sense) I decide to carry out this plan, and I bop you in the face. You (being a superb Christian) now have the Christian privilege of granting me forgiveness. Let us suppose, however, that Satan arises and tempts you to petty vengeance, namely, you decide to bop me in the nose. The fight seems to be on, but (let us further suppose) that Graydon Jessup steps between us. He directs you to cease and desist, because, he says, “I have forgiven him.”Now, being the logical sort of person you are, and greatly given to debate as opposed to combat, you decide to reason with Graydon. “Hold on, preacher,” you say, “if I want to punch his lights out (in a decent Christian manner, of course), why, that’s my business. What right do you have to forgive him and let him off the hook?”You see the argument, of course. You have the right to forgive, because you’re the one I punched in the nose. I didn’t punch Graydon, so he doesn’t have the right to forgive me on your behalf. Right? To turn this into a principle, only the person who is offended has the privilege of forgiving.But hold on. In any such dispute, there are always at least two persons who are offended. In this instance you are one. The Lord God Almighty is the other, for he has ordained peace among his children. When I punch you in the nose, you bleed and He is pained. He who set the moral order of the universe is always offended when it is violated. And that doesn’t count how He feels about someone punching his children (how do you feel when someone hits your children?)Now you see why Jesus so enraged the Pharisees -- when he claimed to forgive sins, he claimed to be God. His entire purpose in coming to us was just that: to rescue us from our sins, to grant us salvation.Vengeance is cheap, and therefore is commonly sought and sold. Forgiveness, however, is costly; the more there is to forgive, the greater the pain of forgiving. Our forgiveness cost Jesus his life, at Calvary. As God, he had the authority to forgive. As man, the price had still to be paid. He paid what I owed, and forgave me without price.When you take the Lord’s Supper, then, remember that He who died came with the authority and the purpose of forgiveness. Our forgiveness.
Welcome Mr President: Former US President Richard Nixon is infamous for his place at the center of the Watergate scandal. He disgraced both the office of the President of the United States and the United States itself in the eyes of the world. When Hubert Humphrey, a former US vice-president died, Nixon attended his funeral. Dignitaries came from all over the country and the world, yet Nixon was made to feel decidedly unwelcome. People turned their eyes away and conversations ran dry around him. Nixon could feel the ostracism being ladled out to him.Then Jimmy Carter, the serving US President, walked into the room. Carter was from a different political party to Nixon and well known for his honesty and integrity. As he moved to his seat President Carter noticed Nixon standing all alone. Carter immediately changed course, walked over to Nixon, held out his hand, and, smiling genuinely and broadly embraced Nixon and said “Welcome home, Mr President! Welcome home!”The incident was reported by Newsweek magazine, which wrote: “If there was a turning point in Nixon’s long ordeal in the wilderness, it was that moment and that gesture of love and compassion.”Carter gifted Nixon with love and compassion. Nixon certainly had done nothing to deserve it. It was an act of pure grace on Carter’s part. When the bible speaks of God’s blessing it speaks in exactly the same way. Blessing is never a reward for good behaviour. It’s a gift, a gift of pure, unadulterated grace.On the morning of Sunday, Nov 8, 1987, Irishman Gordon Wilson took his daughter Marie to a parade in the town of Enniskillen, Northern Ireland. As Wilson and his twenty yr old daughter stood beside a brick wall waiting for English soldiers and police to come marching by, a bomb planted by IRA terrorists exploded from behind, and the brick wall tumbled on them. The blast instantly killed half a dozen people and pinned Gordon and his daughter beneath several feet of bricks. Gordon’s shoulder and arm were injured. Unable to move, Gordon felt someone take hold of his hand. It was his daughter Marie. “Is that you Dad” she asked. “Yes, Marie” Gordon answered. He heard several people begin screaming. Are you all right? Gordon asked his daughter. Yes, she said. But then she too began to scream. As he held her hand, again and again he asked if she was alright, and each time she said yes. Finally Marie said “daddy, I love you very much.” Those were her last words. Four hours later she died in the hospital of severe spinal and brain injuries. Later that evening a BBC reporter requested permission to interview Gordon Wilson. After Wilson described what had happened, the reporter asked, “How do you feel about the guys who planted the bomb?” I bear them no ill will. Wilson replied. I bear them no grudge. Bitter talk is not going to bring Marie Wilson back to life. I shall pray tonight and every night that God will forgive them.” In the months that followed, many people asked Wilson, who later became a senator in the Republic of Ireland, how he could say such a thing, how he could forgive such a monstrous act. Wilson explained, “I was hurt. Hi had just lost my daughter. But I wasn’t angry. Marie’s last words to me, words of love, had put me on a plane of love. I received God’s grace, through the strength of His love for me, to forgive.” For years after this tragedy, Gordon Wilson continued to work for peace in N Ireland. Love, particularly agape, can do miracles. Just as Marie Wilson’s last words to her father lifted him onto the plane of love, so God’s love for us lifts us onto a whole different plane, enabling us to love others no matter how they treat us. Ask yourself this morning who did I offer undeserved forgiveness to this week?” What words or actions of undeserved encouragement did I offer?Is there someone undeserving that I can reach out to this coming week?Communion( NIV) This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.It is an interesting thing that Jesus Christ went around in his earthly ministry saying, “Your sins are forgiven.” We don’t think of it this way, but this is an extremely presumptuous statement -- one of the many radical things Jesus said in such a humble way. Perhaps you don’t think so; look at it this way:Suppose that I decide that you need a good punch in the nose. Being a man of action (and rather limited sense) I decide to carry out this plan, and I bop you in the face. You (being a superb Christian) now have the Christian privilege of granting me forgiveness. Let us suppose, however, that Satan arises and tempts you to petty vengeance, namely, you decide to bop me in the nose. The fight seems to be on, but (let us further suppose) that Graydon Jessup steps between us. He directs you to cease and desist, because, he says, “I have forgiven him.”Now, being the logical sort of person you are, and greatly given to debate as opposed to combat, you decide to reason with Graydon. “Hold on, preacher,” you say, “if I want to punch his lights out (in a decent Christian manner, of course), why, that’s my business. What right do you have to forgive him and let him off the hook?”You see the argument, of course. You have the right to forgive, because you’re the one I punched in the nose. I didn’t punch Graydon, so he doesn’t have the right to forgive me on your behalf. Right? To turn this into a principle, only the person who is offended has the privilege of forgiving.But hold on. In any such dispute, there are always at least two persons who are offended. In this instance you are one. The Lord God Almighty is the other, for he has ordained peace among his children. When I punch you in the nose, you bleed and He is pained. He who set the moral order of the universe is always offended when it is violated. And that doesn’t count how He feels about someone punching his children (how do you feel when someone hits your children?)Now you see why Jesus so enraged the Pharisees -- when he claimed to forgive sins, he claimed to be God. His entire purpose in coming to us was just that: to rescue us from our sins, to grant us salvation.Vengeance is cheap, and therefore is commonly sought and sold. Forgiveness, however, is costly; the more there is to forgive, the greater the pain of forgiving. Our forgiveness cost Jesus his life, at Calvary. As God, he had the authority to forgive. As man, the price had still to be paid. He paid what I owed, and forgave me without price.When you take the Lord’s Supper, then, remember that He who died came with the authority and the purpose of forgiveness. Our forgiveness.
On the morning of Sunday, Nov 8, 1987, Irishman Gordon Wilson took his daughter Marie to a parade in the town of Enniskillen, Northern Ireland. As Wilson and his twenty yr old daughter stood beside a brick wall waiting for English soldiers and police to come marching by, a bomb planted by IRA terrorists exploded from behind, and the brick wall tumbled on them. The blast instantly killed half a dozen people and pinned Gordon and his daughter beneath several feet of bricks. Gordon’s shoulder and arm were injured. Unable to move, Gordon felt someone take hold of his hand. It was his daughter Marie. “Is that you Dad” she asked. “Yes, Marie” Gordon answered. He heard several people begin screaming. Are you all right? Gordon asked his daughter. Yes, she said. But then she too began to scream. As he held her hand, again and again he asked if she was alright, and each time she said yes. Finally Marie said “daddy, I love you very much.” Those were her last words. Four hours later she died in the hospital of severe spinal and brain injuries. Later that evening a BBC reporter requested permission to interview Gordon Wilson. After Wilson described what had happened, the reporter asked, “How do you feel about the guys who planted the bomb?” I bear them no ill will. Wilson replied. I bear them no grudge. Bitter talk is not going to bring Marie Wilson back to life. I shall pray tonight and every night that God will forgive them.” In the months that followed, many people asked Wilson, who later became a senator in the Republic of Ireland, how he could say such a thing, how he could forgive such a monstrous act. Wilson explained, “I was hurt. Hi had just lost my daughter. But I wasn’t angry. Marie’s last words to me, words of love, had put me on a plane of love. I received God’s grace, through the strength of His love for me, to forgive.” For years after this tragedy, Gordon Wilson continued to work for peace in N Ireland.
Love, particularly agape, can do miracles. Just as Marie Wilson’s last words to her father lifted him onto the plane of love, so God’s love for us lifts us onto a whole different plane, enabling us to love others no matter how they treat us.
Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?
You and I are to imitate Christ who is the perfect image of Father
Ask yourself this morning, did I let anyone fall short of God’s grace this week?
What words or actions of undeserved encouragement did I offer?
Did I offer undeserved forgiveness this week?”
(Pass Communion emblems)
Communion( NIV) This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.It is an interesting thing that Jesus Christ went around in his earthly ministry saying, “Your sins are forgiven.” We don’t think of it this way, but this is an extremely presumptuous statement -- one of the many radical things Jesus said in such a humble way. Perhaps you don’t think so; look at it this way:
Communion( NIV) This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.It is an interesting thing that Jesus Christ went around in his earthly ministry saying, “Your sins are forgiven.” We don’t think of it this way, but this is an extremely presumptuous statement -- one of the many radical things Jesus said in such a humble way. Perhaps you don’t think so; look at it this way:Suppose that I decide that you need a good punch in the nose. Being a man of action (and rather limited sense) I decide to carry out this plan, and I bop you in the face. You (being a superb Christian) now have the Christian privilege of granting me forgiveness. Let us suppose, however, that Satan arises and tempts you to petty vengeance, namely, you decide to bop me in the nose. The fight seems to be on, but (let us further suppose) that Graydon Jessup steps between us. He directs you to cease and desist, because, he says, “I have forgiven him.”
Suppose I am offended at Dave for beating me at golf, and decide that he needs a good punch in the nose. Being a man of action (and rather limited sense) I decide to carry out this plan, and I smak him in the face. Dave (being a superb Christian) now has the Christian privilege of granting me forgiveness, or picking up offense. Let us suppose that he becomes offended and Satan tempts him to petty vengeance, namely, he decides to smack me in the nose. The fight seems to be on, but (let us further suppose) that Kara (the highly trained Charis preacher) steps between us. She directs Dave to cease and desist, because, she says, “I have forgiven him.”
Now, being the logical sort of person Dave is, and given to debate as opposed to combat, Dave decides to reason with Kara. “Hold on, preacher,” Dave says, “if I want to punch his lights out in a decent Christian manner, that’s my business. What right do you have to forgive him and let him off the hook?”
Do you see the argument? Dave has the right to forgive, because he’s the one I punched in the nose. I didn’t punch Kara, so she doesn’t have the right to forgive me on your behalf. Right? To turn this into a principle, only the person who is offended has the privilege of forgiving.
To turn this into a principle, only the person who is offended has the privilege of forgiving.
But hold on. In any such dispute, there are always at least two persons who are offended. In this instance Dave is one. The Father is the other, for he has ordained peace among his children. When I punch Dave in the nose, Dave bled and Father was pained. The Father who set the moral order of the universe is always offended when it is violated. And that doesn’t count how He feels about someone punching his children (how do you feel when someone hits your children?) That is why Jesus enraged the Pharisees -- when he claimed to forgive sins, he claimed to be God. His entire purpose in coming to us was just that: to rescue us from our sins, to provide the benefits of the atonement; salvation, healing, deliverance & prosper us.
Vengeance is cheap, and therefore is commonly sought and given. Forgiveness, however, is costly; the more there is to forgive, the greater the pain of forgiving. Our forgiveness cost Jesus his life, at Calvary. As God, he had the authority to forgive. As man, the price had still to be paid. He paid what I owed, and forgave me without price.
When you take the Lord’s Supper, then, remember that He who died came with the authority and the purpose of giving forgiveness. Our forgiveness.
Pastor Rena - Tribal Woman austracised in black, due to her being barren. Rena received word that she had no womb. Tribe was offended that she was barren and considered her cursed. They were going to judge her and austricise her from contact, shelter, and relationships. Did not want Rena to pray for her. She did and the woman delivered her first baby 10 months later. Rena would not let their offense keep her from offering God’s grace to this woman. Their unforgiveness would have killed her.
Robert Monroe - Seeking forgiveness