Sermon Tone Analysis

Father forgive them for they know not what they do.

These words comes from Christ after he has been crucified and hung between two criminals.

The setting is picturesque.

Jesus is lead up Golgotha hill with a crowd behind him weeping and lamenting.

The words Jesus gives them are both prophetic and mind blowing.

Don’t weep for me but weep for yourselves and for your children.

WOW! Jesus knows he is marching towards his death but says weep for yourselves.

Jesus foretells of days that will come when people will day blessed are the barren and the childless.

Those must be some periless times when we would say such a thing.

Times like these when we see the literal decaying of society.

Times like these when the family is so broken we have fathers killing their children or children killing their parent.

Communities, churches, school and supermarkets being shot up.

Disrespect of our elders, neglect of our children.

I can’t turn on the news without seeing tragedy and chaos.

Now Jesus said something that tells us if you think its crazy now buckle your seat belt.

Jesus said if they do these things when the wood is green, what will happen when its dry.

If they did this a righteous man what will be done to the unrighteous.

Similar to what Peter said, 17 For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? 18 And

“If the righteous is scarcely saved,

what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?”

19 Therefore let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good .

(1 Pe 4:17–19).

Fathers we have to see from the words of Christ we must share the sufferings of Christ to this world and remind them to get right now!

Our message needs to be plan and simple.

Its going to get a lot worst unless we get a lot better.

Ignorance can lead to destruction and despair!

Ignorance can lead to chaos and needless pain and trouble.

Ignorance can lead to perpetual sadnesss.

So you may ask why do i say ignorance.

Well its the words of Jesus that he speaks from the cross.

34 And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

(Lk 23:34).

We normally hear about this verse at 7 last words services.

Yet today we need to know about the disease of ignorance.

We heard Hosea 4:6 in one version or another “My people perish for lack of knowledge” Go to the tat and read the whole verse!

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge;

because you have rejected knowledge,

I reject you from being a priest to me.

And since you have forgotten the law of your God,

I also will forget your children.

(Ho 4:6).

If that’s not enough read the following verse in Hosea 4

7  The more they increased,

the more they sinned against me;

I will change their glory into shame.

8  They feed on the sin of my people;

they are greedy for their iniquity.

9  And it shall be like people, like priest;

I will punish them for their ways

and repay them for their deeds.

10  They shall eat, but not be satisfied;

they shall play the whore, but not multiply,

because they have forsaken the LORD

to cherish 11 whoredom, wine, and new wine,

which take away the understanding.

Did you hear that?

They feed on sin, the Lord will punish them and all this takes away the understanding!

The symptoms of ignorance are all around us.

We have a new standard of righteousness in our society.

But we have to get back to God’s righteousness!

The message from Jesus as he marches to Calvary and then speaks from the cross s a reminder of what we need to do.

Forgiveness!

Jesus ask God to forgive us for we know not what we do.

Why forgiveness?

Forgiveness will move us from a state of hopeless to a space of hope, peace and prosperity.

Some of the stuff we do is because we are dealing with unforgiveness.

We have not forgiven our parents, our siblings, each other.

As a matter of fact we as a people have to forgive America on how we have been mistreated.

It is Juneteenth.

A lot of our behavior is generation curses of society mistreatment and our inability to recognize we have to forgive even America.

I was reading a post yesterday that reminded me we come from people who never gave up.

People who were stripped of their culture language and native land and placed on the bottom of a boat and laid side by side head to toe for a 4 to 6 month transatlantic voyage to come to a land where it was forbidden for us to learn to read or write.

our women and men were raped and our fore parents children were stripped form them and sold like cattle.

We were beaten and hung from trees that Billie Holiday described as Strange Fruit.

This holiday alone speaks of the atrocities we endured.

It was two years after the emancipation proclamation that those who fought in the civil war and the people of Texas finally learn of their freedom.

The cruelty did not stop there we went war for America and bravely forth on European soil only to return to America and be treated like second class citizens.

We are the victims of purposeful disinvestment, segregation and relining.

We have been experimented on, hosed, chased by dogs, beaten with clubs and even publicly lynched with knees on our neck for nearly 9 minutes.

We have been taught to not care for for our lives.

We have been taught self hate.

So we need to see what Jesus saw as valuable in asking God to forgive them for they know not what they are doing.

we For what?

So we can end our downward spiral acting out immaturely and without repentance.

I offer this on forgivessness:

1. God forgives us

2. We forgive others

3. Others forgive us

4. We forgive ourselves

1. God forgives us

Jesus didn’t avoid people who had done wrong; he said it was them who needed him.

If you can only understand that God has forgiven you.

While we were yet sinners Christ died for us!

He came for the sick (sinner)

Jesus said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick do.

I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”

Since God has forgiven us we have a responsibility.

1 John 1:7-9

But if we walk in the light as He is in the light,

we have fellowship with one another,