No Offense #3 | Forgiveness | November 20, 2022

NO OFFENSE #3 | Forgiveness | November 20, 2022
Bob Schwahn | Lead Pastor

“Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, ‘Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?’ Jesus answered, ‘I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.’ Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold was brought to him. Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt. At this the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go. But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins. He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded. His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it back.’ But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened. Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed. This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.” Matthew 18:21-35 (NIV)

1) Command to forgive
2) Cost of unforgiveness
3) Capacity to forgive

Read Hebrews 12:14-15 (NIV)

1) IDENTIFY WHO owes you a debt
2) IDENTIFY the debt
3) DECIDE TO CANCEL the debt
4) Pray a BLESSING over the debtor

Reflection Questions:
1) Why do you think Jesus places such an emphasis on our forgiving others their debts against us?

2) What makes extending forgiveness challenging for you? What prevents you from extending forgiveness from your heart?

3) What are the consequences/costs to holding on to unforgiveness and bitterness in our lives (physically, emotionally, relationally, spiritually)? How have you experienced these consequences/costs personally?

4) Is there someone in your life today who you need to forgive?

5) Why is it important/necessary to identify the specific “debt” that someone owes you?

6) Why is the good news of the gospel (Christ’s death on the cross to pay our death penalty for our sin) the source of power to give us the capacity to forgive the sin of others
against us?

7) What should you do if you don’t “feel” like you have forgiven someone? Is forgiveness dependent on our feelings? Why or why not? How can we know if we have truly forgiven someone?

8) How does praying a blessing over those who have wronged us help us experience the fruit and freedom of forgiveness? How might this be a litmus test of our heart toward someone?

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Notes Page: https://journeyweb.net/sermons/notes/2022.11.20.pdf