Sermon Tone Analysis

Forgive One Another

Today we bring you an part 14 of our series on Stronger together.

The Bible has a who lot to say about how we should be treating one another,

It almost like its important or something

Like God knowing the enemy came to steal kill and destroy, and God providing us the means for us to overcome the plans of the enemy

I want to recognize the awesome manifest presence of the Holy Spirit last week.

I needed that, I think you did too.

It caused me to realized one of the major changes we need to make in the our Sunday services.

we need intentional time to focus in on what the Lord is saying to each one of us as individuals.

Yes i recognize the need for us to come together corporately,

but we can’t forget the personal way God loves us all.

My intention is to shorten my messages, allowing more time for Holy Spirit ministry.

pray for me.

We’ll let’s get into our topic for today.

Forgive one another.

Jesus directly deals with this topic several times.

but let’s admit.

forgiveness is hard

it’s not easy to forgive.

but it’s what God expects of us.

imagine if someone came a did something bad to once.

what if they came back and did it again?

what about a 3rd time

It was considered to be trait of highly respected religious leaders to forgive someone up 7 times.

Peter thought he would impress Jesus by saying he could forgive someone 7 times

But Jesus confronted Peters way of thinking.

Not just 7 times, but 70 x 7

Now Jesus is not literally meaning 490 times, then no more forgiveness

When multiplication is used is intended metphorically

What Jesus is meaning here and what the disciples understood,

was infinity.

Jesus was actally saying you should forgive someone infinite times.

If we have issues with forgiving 1x 2x 3x

We have to get a very different view of forgiveness if we hope to forgive an infinite amout of time.

Jesus then goes on to tell a parable to drive home what He is saying

10,000 talents.

1 denarii was the average pay for 1 days work during this time

Even at min wage, thats $120 today

6000 denarii equals 1 talent

meaning if the man earned minimun wage, he owed 7.2 Billion dollars

his debt would take 60 million days of work to payoff = approx 165,000 years or over 2000 lifetimes

that’s quite a debt

The master had every right to collect what was owed him.

Although he could never recover the total amount owed he could still get something out of it

He was well within his right to claim everything of the servant to attempt to cut his losses.

I don’t think this servant was being honest with his Master

How many of us would have any hope of paying off a 7.2 billion dollar debt?

This servant owed a debt he could not pay.

I beleive the master in this story was aware of this fact

The Master had compassion and did what he could, to help the servant

the debt he could not pay was forgiven

He was now free and clear

He has his family should have lost everything and been forced into slavery for the rest of their days

but the compassion of the master changed all that.

His debt was gone and he still had his and his families freedom.

You would think this servant would be overjoyed by his good fortune.

but whats the first thing he does?

1 denarii was the average pay for a worker

at min wage thats $120

so 100 denarii would be the equivelent of $12,000 today

let’s recognize if your making min wage $12,000 is still a substantial sum

Even if you make an average wage $12,000 is still a substantial amount.

The servant had many options

he could have giving his fellow servant more time to repay the debt.

he could could have cancelled the debt like his debt was cancelled

but instead he choose to act in the most merciless way possible

Notice the we have the same scenario, but the roles are reversed

the servant who once begged for mercy, now has the opportunity to extended mercy to another

but that same servant when placed in the role of the master, was asked for mercy.

He refused to give it.

let’s agree he was tecnically within his rights to do so, but that wasn’t his best decision

Becuase the servant refused to show mercy in the same way that he received it.

The mercy he received was removed

and he faced the full consequences for the debt he owed.

He now again had a debt he could not pay.

All because he refused to forgive the debts owed to him.

After ending the Parable, Jesus drives home the point of the story

Because God has forgiven us, us forgiving others is no longer option.

but its an expectation

What does unforgiveness Cost us?

satan’s strategies

satan know if he can get you offended and then refuse to forgive, then God will not forgive you

and satan wins in your life

Hurt people, hurt people

influences people to hurt one another

convinces the offended to hold onto the offense and not forgive

uses the offended person to offend/hurt others

convinces the offended to hold onto the offense and not forgive

uses the offended person to offend/hurt others

etc. etc.

The key to break this demonic progression is to forgive.

Not only is it wrong in a spiritual sense to harbor unforgiveness, it's also hazardous to our physical health.

Hopkins university has done several studies on the effects of unforgiveness

these studies have found that the act of forgiveness can reap huge rewards for your health, lowering the risk of heart attack; improving cholesterol levels and sleep; and reducing pain, blood pressure, and levels of anxiety, depression and stress.

And research points to an increase in the forgiveness-health connection as you age.

unforgiveness gives the enemy access to do whatever he chooses in your body

we all know bitter old people,

I believe their bitterness always started with an offense.

that if they had learned to forgive, they would be in a very different place today.

So what is forgiveness?