Prayer 5a- Forgiveness Series

Forgiveness Mt 6:9-15 WBC 16/2/3pm (not preached, as others shared so much great stuff we ran out of time)

It was five days before Christmas when a stranger approached ten-year-old Christopher Carrier, claiming to be a friend of his father. "I want to buy him a gift, and I need your help," said the stranger. Eager to do something good for his dad, Chris climbed aboard a motor home parked up the street.

The driver took Chris to a remote field, claiming to be lost, and asked Chris to look at a map. Suddenly Chris felt a sharp pain in his back. The stranger had stabbed him with an ice pick. The man drove the wounded boy down a dirt road, shot him in the left temple, and left him for dead in the alligator-infested Florida Everglades.

Chris lay lifeless for six days until a driver found him. Chris miraculously survived his injuries, though he was blind in his left eye. Because he was unable to identify his attacker, police could not make an arrest. For a long time young Chris remained frightened, despite police protection. Finally at an invitation given after a church hayride, Chris trusted Jesus Christ as his Saviour. He recalls, "I was overwhelmed with emotion…because I knew I had never really accepted and personally met the Saviour." This turning point in Chris’s life came three years after the attack. At age 15, Chris shared his story for the first time. He eventually decided to pursue full-time ministry, helping others find the peace he had discovered in Christ.

In 1996 a detective told Chris over the phone that a man had confessed to the crime that had cost him his left eye. The man’s name was David McAllister. Chris made plans to visit the feeble and now blind man, living in a nursing home. The strong young man Chris remembered was now a broken, humbled 77-year-old.

Chris learned from the detective some of the background of what had happened years ago. McAllister had been hired by Chris’s father to work as a nurse for an ailing uncle. Chris’s dad had caught McAllister drinking on the job and had fired him. The senseless attack on Chris had been motivated by revenge.

As Chris now talked to the old man, at first McAllister denied knowing anything about the kidnapping. As Chris revealed more about himself, the old man softened and eventually apologized. Chris said, “I told him, ‘What you meant for evil, God has turned into a wonderful blessing.’” Chris told his attacker how God had allowed his wounds to become open doors to share the good news of Christ.

Chris went home and told his wife and kids about meeting the man who had tried to kill him. The entire family began almost daily visits to McAllister’s nursing home. During one Sunday afternoon visit, Chris popped the most important question he had yet asked McAllister: "Do you want to know the Lord?" McAllister said yes. Both men basked in forgiveness as McAllister gave his heart to Christ. A few days later McAllister died—peacefully—in his sleep.

Carrier says it is not a story of regret, but of redemption. “I saw the Lord give that man back his life, and so much more,” Chris said. “I can’t wait to see him again someday—in heaven.”

From a sermon by Paul Decker on Matthew 6:5-15THE LINES OF COMMUNICATION ARE OPEN, www.sermoncentral.com

There’s only one bit in ‘the Lord’s prayer’ that is repeated

- the lines fall into ‘doublets’

- = Hebrew parallelism (ie latter half of each bit illuminates the first

o your kingdom come …. Your will be done

o

But there’s only one bit that is completely repeated.

- in fact- it’s almost like a bracket closing off the WHOLE of the Lord’s prayer

o so it may not just emphasise one verse- rather emphasise the whole of the Lord’s prayer

o

o

It’s v12: as we forgive those that sin against us AND

- v14- For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins

Gosh! This is so hard for me to speak about,

- because I really don’t have that much to forgive

o fiancée unfaithful0- but soon got over and forgave

But maybe that’s good!

- I’m speaking from God’s authority, not my own

- Little is the same as large in God’s eyes… and can have far-reaching effect

C. Roy Angell once gave a somewhat whimsical example of this hard truth. He told about a farm boy who was angry at a neighbouring farmer who had hurt his feelings. The boy tried to think of some way he could get even. The plan he arrived upon was this: Early one morning he rode twenty miles on horseback to purchase a bag of seed--Johnson grass seed. After dark he sowed his neighbour’s riches t bottom land with Johnson grass. As you may know, Johnson grass has traditionally been a pest, and it is nearly indestructible. So the Johnson grass came up, and the neighbouring farmer fought Johnson grass until the day he died. The young man had his revenge. In the meantime, however, the young fellow grew up and fell in love with the farmer’s daughter. They were married, and when the farmer died he left the farm to his daughter. The young fellow who went to such great trouble! e to hurt his neighbour years before spent the rest of his life fighting Johnson grass too.