Life's Pitfalls And Discoveries- The Power Of Forgiveness

Life’s pitfalls and discoveries

The power of forgiveness

Introduction-

Today we begin a new series titled Life’s pitfalls and discoveries.

What I want us to look at is seeing things that cause us to get off track with our walk with God and discover things that can get us back on track, keep us from getting off track, and what it will take to stay on track.

If it goes well, each week we will look at one pitfall and end on a positive discovery.

We should be able to grab encouragement from each sermon.

It is not about what the person next to you needs to hear, but what you need to hear.

I hope each one of us can go deeper with our relationship with God and that you will want to go deeper.

This morning we talk about un-forgiveness and forgiveness. It will be our pitfall and our discovery. We will look on both sides of when we do not forgive and the discovery that is ours when we do forgive.

Matthew 18:21-35 read from Bible

Funny thing about forgiveness- we all want it but we all do not want to give it. When Peter approached Jesus and asked if seven times was enough times to forgive someone, He thought He was being generous. Seven is the amount of times that Jewish custom would tell you was enough times to forgive someone. He thought he would show Jesus how well he knew Jewish law. Jesus tripped him up by countering with 70x7. Jesus was really showing Peter that it is not the number of times, but that we have to forgive.

Jesus moves into a parable to show Peter what was expected. When we hear the parable we think the ungrateful man was a monster because he was forgiven so much and would not extend that forgiveness downstream to someone in his point of contact.

If the story was told today, it would be the same.

How many are not willing to forgive knowing how much that they have been forgiven?

How many want forgiveness but are not willing to extend forgiveness to someone else.

There are people today that cannot let anything go. If you do them wrong they never forget.

They live their whole lives looking under the microscope of other people faults and never looking what they themselves are doing to other people by their actions.

Hurting people hurt people- continually, everyday, on purpose and without mercy. Wanting, even demanding forgiveness but never giving any.

I will never forgive him/her! You don’t know what they did to me!

Being a true Christian and a true believer of Jesus Christ has never been about being better than anyone else. It is understanding what Christ did for us and being grateful.

Being a Christian has been about being different. We know what Christ did for us and we cannot live our lives with un-forgiveness knowing what Christ did for us.

Lives are like a dash-

They have a starting point and an ending point.

The dash is the time between the two points.

All of us know when we were born, but none of know when we will die.

What we do with that time is what we will stay before God and give an account for.

King David long before he was King David was living his dash. He was not born rich, was not from famous parents, but even as a teenager was making an impact and mark in life.

As a teenager, he was sent by his father to the battlefield to check on his older brothers. He was not going to fight, but to see if they were okay. While he was there, he saw injustice, saw a bully throwing his weight around and disrespecting his God, and no one believed God big enough to step in and defeat him. He, (David) was willing to get involved, step up to the plate, and right a wrong. (1 Sam 17)

The event, the battle of David and Goliath. We all heard the story of how he defeated the giant with a slingshot and a stone. Young David defeats Goliath the giant and Israel never forgot it.

Adult David years later is now King of Israel, living in a palace, the finest of everything, many wife’s, can have anything he wants, even things that he should not have. He can’t sleep one night (because his men were in battle and he was at the palace) and he looks out to see Bathsheba, the naked wife of his officer Uriah. In a split second decision, he calls for Bathsheba to the palace. He has an affair with her and dismisses her. He finds out later that she is pregnant with his baby. He tries to being his officer back from battle to sleep with his wife so he will think the baby is his. Uriah would not sleep with his wife because he would not enjoy his wife while his men were in battle. King David has to resort to deception. He orders Uriah out front of the battle and orders his men to pull back. Uriah is killed in battle.