Accepting Forgiveness Series

Series: Christmas is For-Giving

Message: Christmas is For-Giving 3 “Accepting Forgiveness”

Topics: Forgiveness, Jesus, Church, Hurt, Pain, Receiving Forgiveness, David

Text: 2 Samuel 12:22-23, Matthew 1:21-22, 2 Corinthians 7:10

Date: January 22, 2011

Pastor: David McBeath

REVIEW/PREVIEW

It is January 22. Is anybody ready for us to take down our Christmas decorations and be thru talking about Christmas? I promise this is the last week for our sermon series Christmas is forgiving. We will get the decorations down this week. Why are we talking about Christmas 4 weeks after it is over? Because God gave us the most wonderful gift on Christmas morning: Jesus! And his gift, like the Energizer Bunny who keep going and going and going, keeps giving and giving and giving, in the form of forgiveness!

We started this series by learning how to forgive those who have hurt us. Last week we learned how to initiate and ask for forgiveness for the hurts we’ve caused others. And this week we are going talk about forgiving ourselves and moving on with our lives as we receive the forgiveness of God thru the gift of Jesus Christ.

INTRODUCTION: All Fun & Games ‘Till Someone Gets Hurt

Let me start my message with a saying we have all heard 1,000 times from our mom’s and dad’s at least 1,000 times. It is all fun and games until _______________? Yes, someone gets hurt! Or Someone pokes an eye out!

Lightning’s Mascot ThunderBug

Did you all hear about the Bruins vs. Lightning Hockey game on Monday Night? Sportsnet article reads, “It all fun and games until a bruins fan gets squirted with silly string. During Monday night’s Lightning game, the Bruins weren’t the only ones upset in Tampa. A large man sporting a Bruins Stanley Cup T-shirt gets hosed with silly string by Lightning mascot ThunderBug and immediately blows his lid. After chasing Thunder up the steps, tackling him and yelling all up in his plush, oversized grill, the fan is ejected from the Times Forum. Take a look at the picture!

Somebody should have taught that mascot that it’s all fun and games until _____ ____ somebody gets hurt, and he was about to get hurt if it wasn’t for security!

Red Couch Cushions & My Boys

Parents you know what I’m talking about. You’ve probably said it 1000 times yourself. We have! My boys are rambunctious to say the least. I don’t know how many times they have taken all the cushions of the sofa and loveseat in our back room pile them up then try to run and jump on them. It is a lot of fun for them. But they stack the cushions so high that they aren’t real stable. I tell them you better think about what you’re doing cause it’s all fun and games until__________. Do they listen? No! And you know what eventually happens. They jump, the cushions fall and they end up hitting the laminate floor with a thud, or the miss their landing, hit the side stack of cushions, bounce to the left banging their head on the coffee table.

Wrestling & My Boys

Here’s another example. My boys have just taken up the sport of wrestling. They aren’t going to meets or anything, but they spend every Tuesday and Thursday across the street at their school learning how to wrestle. I don’t know why we thought this would be a good idea. But we did and actually we love it because it gives them a chance burn off a ton of energy after school. They come home and they are tired! And that is good for mom and dad because bedtime is much easier. They go to sleep right away and are not up 20 times asking for a drink of water or telling us there is something scary in their closet. The boys love it ‘cause they get to fight each other (in a sense) and they don’t get in trouble!

However, there has been one surprising “side effect” (I guess you would say). But again, it probably shouldn’t have been surprising. You see, the want to practice their wrestling moves at home where there are no soft mats. They have a great time practicing at home. It’s all fun and games until one of them takes the other down too quickly and he gets hurt! ….And then you know what come next! The tears and the inevitable words and the inevitable words “Mom…...Dad…..he hurt me!” What do we say? Come on you knew what you were doing! It is all fun and games until ______________!

Boys Boxing Video

I was on you tube this week and I came across a video that I’m sure is prophetic of what I have in store when my boys get older take a look!