Title: I choose to forgive.

(Story)-How many would say you are competitive ?Open with story of me and one of my youth leaders in Florida holding grudge match football every week.

Intro

Today we begin a three week series on forgiveness. In this series we will explore forgiving others, forgiving God, and forgiving ourselves.

Today I want to begin with the power of forgiving others. Give context to the landscape of humanity when it comes to un-forgiveness.

*Un-forgiveness is a bitter root, that if allowed to flourish in our life will cause a lifetime of pain and suffering. It brings division, and causes the enemy to have a way into our life to cause damage.*

An author once said these famous words, “Un-forgiveness is like drinking poison yourself and waiting for the other person to die.”

In a culture that seeks revenge and hate, how do we as believers walk in forgiveness? How do you forgive someone who has hurt you so bad? Is forgiveness possible.

Scripture:

(Give context)

2 Corinthians 2:5-11 “If anyone has caused grief, he has not so much grieved me as he has grieved all of you to some extent—not to put it too severely. The punishment inflicted on him by the majority is sufficient. Now instead, you ought to forgive and comfort him, so that he will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. I urge you, therefore, to reaffirm your love for him. Another reason I wrote you was to see if you would stand the test and be obedient in everything. Anyone you forgive, I also forgive. And what I have forgiven—if there was anything to forgive—I have forgiven in the sight of Christ for your sake, in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes.”

Ephesians 4:31-32 “Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.”

Paul in his words to us give us a picture of how to forgive someone when they have wronged us.

*Pause* Choosing to forgive, does not mean choosing to forget and say what they person did was right, it just means, that you are no longer going to be bound by the nail of un-forgiveness.

Give personal history and stories about un-forgiveness and the power that forgiving has caused in my life. (Share stories of abuse, slander, wrongdoing against me and my family, and how the enemy has tried his best to cause roots of bitterness to separate me from Jesus and others.)

One and only point: Forgiveness isn’t pretending it didn’t happen. Forgiveness is deciding that it doesn’t hold you anymore.

So how do we do this?

1.) We bring light to the pain, and allow Jesus to bring healing.

-(Story) It took me 12 years to finally muster up the courage and strength to tell someone I had been abused. That was 12 years of hiding and allowing the hurt from someone else to fester in my heart.

-The Greek word for being made whole is the word SOZO. It means to be saved, healed, and delivered. This is the state Jesus longs for his followers to walk in, and it’s a journey.

3 John 1:2“Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well.

-Retell the story of Peter and Jesus in my own words.

2.) We acknowledge the pain and hurt, but do not allow it to shape our life.

-Retell the story of Jesus and Thomas in my own words. (Tell the revelation the Lord showed me about this scripture.)

-Acknowledging the nails of un-forgiveness, and saying “I know this pain is real, and it hurts” the enemy would want nothing more than to make you ashamed or even cover the pain.

3.) We walk forgiveness out the rest of our days in the here and now.

-Forgiveness requires action. It is best walked out.

2 Corinthians 2:5-11 “If anyone has caused grief, he has not so much grieved me as he has grieved all of you to some extent—not to put it too severely. The punishment inflicted on him by the majority is sufficient. Now instead, you ought to forgive and comfort him, so that he will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. I urge you, therefore, to reaffirm your love for him. Another reason I wrote you was to see if you would stand the test and be obedient in everything. Anyone you forgive, I also forgive. And what I have forgiven—if there was anything to forgive—I have forgiven in the sight of Christ for your sake, in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes.”

-(Story) After Dylan Roof shot and killed nine members of the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, in Charleston, South Carolina, one could expect their family members to respond with anger and hatred towards him. The New Yorker reported that in fact, the response was much different. “After the massacre, the family members of the slain men and women, in the throes of unimaginable grief, offered radical forgiveness to Roof. ‘You took something very precious away from me,’ one relative said, addressing Roof during a court hearing. ‘But I forgive you.’” (Article source: http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/charleston-and-america-one-year-later)

The family members of the “Charleston Nine” demonstrated such a radical forgiveness towards the killer of their loved ones that it still resonates, a year after the shooting. Such forgiveness is only possible by knowing that we’ve been forgiven by God and received abundant grace through him by Christ’s death and resurrection.

-Writing the letter to the person who abused me. How powerful and releasing it was, that I was no longer bound by the hurt, I could now walk in freedom.

-Can I also just say, this is something I actively work on in my life daily, and some days I don’t hit the mark. It might take you a year or tomorrow to forgive the person that hurt you. Pray and ask the Holy Spirit to give you strength.

what happens if they don’t respond? Love and release them. Explain.

Close:

At the back of the room on the black table, there is a paper that looks like this, this paper is a step by step on how to write a letter of forgiveness to the person who has hurt you. You may choose to send this, give it, or even burn the letter as a way of letting go.

Church, let us be a people who extend lavish forgiveness. May it be known, that Mount Joy is a people who live out SOZO.

Pray.