Pastor Brad DeLong - Forgiveness

you know i know oftentimes we've had different expectations between a sunday and a wednesday service wednesdays typically are a little more geared towards bible study but i thank the lord that he's the same god on sunday that he is on wednesday and when he steps in the room you just can't help but do what you've already done and staying and lift your hands and start lifting up that whole i i looked out in the vestibule through the door i could see by the chambers out in the vestibule with his hands raised worship it can't be contained in here you start to sing about this great god why don't we worship him again just because he's worthy we love you we praise you jesus we exalt that name oh hallelujah to the name that's above every other name we worship you lord praise you jesus

amen amen amen you can be seated tonight so thankful for this wonderful presence of god that's here and thankful to be in the house of the lord again on a wednesday night to be here with you all again thankful and i appreciate the faithfulness your faithfulness to these midweek services which i believe truly edify the body as we dive into the word of the lord together i've said this about prayer meetings in really any meeting that we come to gather together as a church family i don't think i've ever walked away though specifically from a wednesday night service in fact i know i have it walked away from one of these services or a prayer meeting or a move of god and thought you know that was just a waste of my time but these wednesday nights are well spent the time we have together in the house of the lord is well spent it is not in vain and i always leave feeling refreshed and strengthened by the word of god and by the presence of god in this atmosphere and especially during this season of the year when things start to pick up and the holiday season causes us to be busier than ever it is a good thing to stop for an hour or so every wednesday and just worship alongside the people of god in his church and i'll say speaking of the season we're going to be entering my lesson tonight and what i want to speak on has been inspired by the time of giving in thanksgiving we're going to be entering here shortly i love this time of year myself and i'm excited about all the thanksgiving that's going to happen all the giving of our time and our gifts and our worship ourselves that we'll be participating in but i also had another type of giving in mind one that the lord's really impressed upon my heart and one that i want to discuss for the next few moments you have to excuse the word play but tonight i want to focus in on forgiving and the giving of grace and mercy that we ought to give freely forgiveness and this may not be your typical holiday lesson or pre-holiday lesson but i did think that during this season of giving and thanksgiving that we're about to enter probably one of the most important things we could give right now if we haven't already is forgiveness it's vitally important to god which we'll see in a moment it's important for us during this season and really any season in which we find ourselves

so tonight we're going to discuss forgiveness there's a song by matthew west many of you probably heard it his title is actually the same as our title tonight it's called forgiveness and whether or not you like the song its lyrics are pretty compelling and i want to discuss these lyrics for just a moment tonight when i say discuss i actually want to discuss a little bit so uh what that means is and i explain this to our students so i'm not patronizing anyone but that means i'll ask a question and you can feel uh you can feel free to give a response discussion is usually between one or two or one in the congregation of people in this case so don't feel pressure some of you are already getting uncomfortable you're like what is happening right here who is this guy coming in with all his outlet youth group tricks and techniques come on we're gonna have a little discussion okay so

in the first verse it says forgiveness it's the hardest thing to give away it's the last thing on your mind today it always goes to those who don't deserve easy softball question how many of you would agree that forgiveness typically goes to those who don't deserve it so you're like i don't know i i it's supposed to be a rhetorical question but typically it does okay we'll spell this out all right that was easy you did it first question in second question worth 20 points question the second verse says even when the jury and the judge say you've got a right to hold a grudge it's the whisper in your ear saying set it free i want to ask some bold person how does forgiveness set free in your mind there are no wrong answers here like except if it's just way wrong okay but how does forgiveness set someone free anyone want to throw something out i'm sorry to the camera operator let me get back over here anyone frees you from condemnation very good very good anyone else forever okay he's been reading my notes he said holding a grudge is like drinking poison and expecting another person to feel it that's very good holy ghost anyone else anyone else how does forgiveness set someone free we got someone yes yeah very good so when you're withholding forgiveness he said it's like a weight on you i'm i mean we've probably all experienced that at some point or another and when you let that go it's like that weight is released this is a little more rhetorical but i want you to think about it we i said how does forgiveness set free now i want to ask you who does forgiveness set free okay who bachmann's got two fingers up both people both parties us this is the bridge that says it'll clear the bitterness away it can even set a prisoner free there is no end to what its power can do so let it go and be amazed by what you see through eyes of grace the prisoner that it really freezes you the prisoner that it really freezes you

the chorus of that song says a line that was interesting to me and by the way we won't have much more discussion maybe not any so you're you all did it you can breathe so he didn't call on me yes okay we're all right but this is what the chorus says it says help me now to do the impossible forgiveness the truth is many things about living for jesus simply are not natural to us in fact some things seem to go against about every inclination we have forgiveness i believe is one of those things it's not natural but it's necessary in our christian walk it may seem impossible at times it may feel unnatural but it's also not even optional it's necessary it's commanded it's mandated it's not even up for a debate in the scriptures forgiveness may be the last thing you want to give away according to with matthew west but it's absolutely critical in the life of a believer and a child of god mark 11 jesus is just instructing his disciples he's talking about prayer this is what he says in verse 25 and i don't have time but man he says and when you stand praying when you pray forgive and every time you pray forgive and when you pray you also need to forgive you have ought against any that your father also which is in heaven may forgive your trespasses but if you don't forgive neither will your father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses colossians 3 and 13 says forbear one another forgive one another if any man has a quarrel against any even as christ forgave you so also should you ephesians 4 and 32 he says and be kind one to another tenderhearted forgiving one another even as god in christ forgave you matthew 6. you can write some of these down verse 15 but if you don't forgive men their trespasses neither will your father forgive your trespasses in luke 6 37 says the same forgive and you will be forgiven they all use very strong terms especially this next verse in

matthew 18 and 21 this is actually where jesus uses some hyperbole to essentially let peter know that there is never an excuse not to forgive peter comes to him he says lord how often shall my brother sin against me and i forgive him up to seven times jesus said to him i don't say to you up to seven times but seventy times seven you kind of get a glimpse here in the mindset of of peter especially with his guesstimate how often he should forgive i can see him essentially asking in inflections matter but lord how many times am i supposed to forgive this guy are you saying i i have to

forgive him seven times seems like that's kind of peter's threshold in his max now if he does it eight times we're done you know like we're going to have an all-out brawl at that point eight times is the limit and then uh jesus kind of bursts his bubble when i say kinda i mean he really burst his bubble he's no more like 70 times seven pete not seven and again he's using hyperbole so he doesn't appear to be saying that even 490 times is the absolute limit in other words you ought to forgive them as many times as he would forgive you which is obviously not the easiest thing to do it's simply unnatural for us to forgive someone after they cut you off in traffic once much less twice much less 490 times can you imagine you'd be out of your car by then i give up you know some of you know what i'm talking about lord help us it's a scriptural mandate and command though repeated over and over and over again we're called to forgive which simply means to cancel a debt we cancel the debt that someone owes us by their offense or their transgression we completely cancel the debt someone owes us through their conscious or even their subconscious transgression what that means by definition is i cannot say i've forgiven someone if i still call for their debt to be repaid or their so-called pound of flesh to be paid off if if i go back and i cut them off in retribution and say i forgive you that's not forgiveness if i retain or harbor offenses and i attempt to collect on their debt or if i just hope that they get pulled over by a police officer down the road that is not forgiveness there is any portion of the debt i still require to be repaid it's not been fully canceled forgiveness has not truly been offered what this looks like in our setting in our context is something like this i'll forgive you but i'll let it go this time but i'll let it slide here now but when i put stipulations on the canceling of their debt i've actually replaced their debt with more debt now if i'm talking to one of my little ones and said don't you do that again that's one there are consequences to their action absolutely but my forgiveness is total essentially what i'm saying when i say that is i'll forgive them but they have to earn my forgiveness that's not forgiveness and i know that that's tough that's not natural but i also thank god that this is the standard of forgiveness that jesus set for the rest of us in the word of god and it's also the standard that jesus displayed when he completely canceled our debt on calvary in fact colossians 2 says that there was an entire list of ordinances against us and yet he nailed those to the cross he canceled that debt completely and meanwhile some of us i'm talking to myself we've got a whole list of offenses that we're ready to collect on we've got an itemized list of everything that's been done against us that needs to be repaid in order for us to finally forgive thank god though that he nailed my list and your list to the cross thank god he nailed mine to the cross it's probably longer than any of yours but he canceled that debt and did it in a way that everyone else could see that it was canceled i am free from my debt so i have no other choice but to embrace his forgiveness and forgive others in the process we learn this lesson directly from the parable of the unmerciful servant matthew 18 immediately after jesus gave the command to forgive 70 times 70 he talks about this parable you can follow along i'm going to read this passage here matthew 18 verse 23

therefore the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants and when he began to settle accounts one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents but as he wasn't able to pay his master command that he'd be sold with his wife and children all that he had and that payment be made the sermon therefore fell down before me said master have patience with me i will pay you all and the master of that servant was moved with compassion released him forgave him the debt all of it forgiveness but that servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii and he laid hands on him took him by the throat it says this man wasn't playing around i never noticed that before but he just walked up and was like give it to me and the guy's like whoa whoa whoa took him by the throat give me my money he said pay me what you owe so his fellow servant fell down on his feet and he begged him saying have patience with me i'll pay you on he would not but went and threw him into the prison until he should pay the debt i'm going to hold this over him he's going to have to pay it all so when his fellow servants all had been done they were very grieved they came and told their master all that had been done his fellow servants knew he'd been forgiven that'll preach in and of itself they knew this man's death has been canceled and they saw him acting in a way that someone who's dead has been cancelled shouldn't act but his master after he called him he said to him you wicked servant i forgave you all that debt because you begged me should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant just as i had pity on you his master was angry and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due him so my heavenly father also will do to you if each of you from his heart does not forgive his brother his trespasses what a pointed scripture now jesus is still using hyperbole in this parable as he did many times to prove a point but he was not using hyperbole when he said that when he wrapped up this parable by saying you better forgive your brother like i've forgiven you and to further put this parable in perspective you also have to realize that the worth of 10 000 talents would have been astronomical in that day especially compared to those 100 denarii all the experts have varying conclusions but it's most likely that the ten thousand talents represented well over a billion dollars in that day and age some said it was as much as eleven billion or as low as two billion dollars the estimates i read for a hundred denarii were anywhere from eleven thousand dollars to thirty five thousand you get the point the servant representing us was forgiven an enormous debt he would never have been able to repay that debt ever he was then called to forgive a debt much smaller in scope in size and that doesn't mean there wasn't a debt to be paid there was a debt there was a transgression there was a wound there was an offense if you will but that offense was so trivial in light of the debt that was cancelled by the king and likewise we sinful humanity have a tremendous need for forgiveness i know i haven't i think we readily agree we all have a tremendous need for the for the grace and the mercy of god but when jesus forgives us that forgiveness is total the master set the man free and forgave all his debts he didn't say uh you know what you can go free but you're gonna have to come back someday and repay it you can i'm gonna hold this over your head as some kind of collateral he didn't do any he he sent him away and forgave all of it it was completely unreasonable

which is the point jesus was making it didn't make sense for the king to forgive billions in debt but thank god he did it anyway because we've been forgiven so completely jesus requires the same forgiveness from us towards others who've wronged us it just paints a clear picture of our responsibility to forgive especially when we remember that even if we have to forgive someone for several things for the same thing over and over again 490 plus times in a day man i wish i could say i would do that someone walked up and kicked me twice in the shin where the rubber meets the road or more egregious than that they're doing this over and over and over and over again and i'm just supposed to i forgive you i'll talk about i get some other consequences there yeah there's caveats but there's no caveat to the forgiveness cancel the debt get rid of it all that forgiveness is still ongoing tonight the forgiveness that god gives to us and he's calling for us to forgive others and i just i want to make sure i'm in the right room i believe i am but i want to ask you by show of hands this is just to help us all tonight how have you made a mistake how many how many of you will probably make a mistake in the future so we can all agree that we're imperfect beings prone to making mistakes and that being the case somewhere along the line either you or someone near you is going to make a mistake and they're going to hurt you and you're you're going to hurt them at some point maybe even multiple times and when that happens we have to remember our responsibility to forgive just as we've been forgiven ourselves we also need to remember that if we're faithful to forgive others of the instances in which they've wronged us we can be confident jesus will forgive us from our mistakes and our trespasses and on the other end if we withhold that forgiveness we are at risk of him withholding forgiveness from us as well he says it we're not just at risk it's a guarantee from the word and tonight i recognize i'm speaking with seasoned saints of god many of whom have practiced forgiveness for decades but the fact remains that hurts and offenses will come jesus promised as much especially in this day and age they're coming we're going to be offended we're going to be persecuted and offended by others and it only takes one offense one wound one social media post one text message one uh one uh ill-mannered comet only takes one wound to get festered by bitterness and unforgiveness for the entire being to be overcome and eventually infected so for some this i'm hoping will help with ongoing offenses an ongoing hurts one that you're currently caring for others i'm hoping it will help when those offenses and hurts come your way as they inevitably will either way truth remains that forgiveness matters to jesus jesus is serious about forgiveness in addition to the parable we ready he spent a good portion of the sermon on the mount on the subject he talked about it frequently in the gospels he didn't just talk about it

instead we often see his forgiveness on display in those very same gospels we see it with the woman caught in the act of adultery according to law she should have been stoned jesus offers forgiveness we see it at zacchaeus house we see it when jesus took his final breath on the cross we see it and how jesus dealt with peter after the resurrection

we can learn a few things from each of these scenarios first of all we learn that there was a very clear offense just like the offenses many of us have endured jesus endured very real wounds and hurts so the command to forgive does not negate the fact that the offense was real these are real hurts and offenses this wasn't just things that were invented are blown out our proportion this wasn't just family drama or or drama in general this wasn't just another misguided post on social media there was a real offense and hurt especially when you consider that this is the same jesus who was betrayed in hand to be killed by his own friend there was a debt to be paid well certainly there was a debt to be paid and each biblical scenario i mentioned in others the offender owed something to jesus retribution could have been expected certainly would have been appropriate most importantly though we see that jesus offered forgiveness in the face of the offense and even the betrayal if you think about it if anyone had the right to demand the debt be repaid it's jesus if anyone had it instead we find no excuses from him for not extending grace even in the worst of scenario we never find the example in the gospels where jesus ever said no i'm not going to forgive this time even on the cross when his accusers were mocking him and sneering at him refused to offer an apology jesus still said lord father forgive them they don't know what they're doing even after the thief on the cross mocked him at his lowest point jesus offered forgiveness the very moment the thief repented let's pause here and say the very moment he repented let me think about it let me mull it over let me stew on this for a little while no he offered forgiveness our sole recourse then when when we be wrong is to simply forgive there's no exceptions we just forgive no strings attached no plan b no contingencies or contractual loopholes there's no escape clauses we forgive you look back at ephesians 4 32 it says and be kind one to another tender hearted forgiving one another even as god and christ forgave you again forgiving someone does not mean that what they did was okay just like what we did to him was not okay but it means that we're releasing that offense so we're no longer bound by unforgiveness and i use that word bound intentionally because many times we think that when someone's wronged us we can hold that offense over their head they just owe us a debt right the unintended side effect is that when we don't forgive and we don't do what we're commanded to do we're the ones bound by it have you been ate up by something happened at work or happened in the house and you're like i hope they i hope they feel this when you see them later they're laughing they don't have a care in the world they're the ones that hurt me why am i up over this unforgiveness we've all seen this firsthand we've we've seen and witnessed it tear individuals apart for years we've witnessed entire families and communities separating over one matter of unforgiveness this is why brother raymond woodward he said this at apc a couple years ago he said the three most powerful words we could live by in pentecost and then he began to sing let it go i started laughing let it go forgiveness is a spiritual decision to let go of the debt and the offense and our right to retribution

it's a decision in which we place the issue in jesus hands and we hand over the hurt and the pain for him to heal we place the hurt in the hands of the righteous judge the only one wise enough to rightly judge our actions and the actions of others against us and truly i thank god today that it's not my responsibility to do his job instead it's my responsibility to forgive to cancel the debt to let it go let it go easier said than done but it's what happens

when i was a teenager a youth group was headed to a youth event out of town before we left i found out that one of my friends said something about me behind my back i was just ate me up youth group drama statue of limitations is out on this so i can talk about it i found out that i mean i was so upset you'd have thought man you thought they kicked me in the shin ten times you know i remember i was sitting in a church service planning what i was going to say to this person i know i'm not the only one i wanted i was missing a move of god because i was so mad this is what bitterness and unforgiveness does that person was over there enjoying the service had hands lifted i was the one caught up in the drama i remember right in the middle of that worship set everyone else lift their hands on this the lord spoke to me and said give it to me i said no like a child you know i remember him reminding me that i don't have the right for revenge i don't have the right to hold a debt it's my responsibility to forgive i'll let him handle that

i remember relenting in that service and i forgave that person and the presence and the power of god came on on me and felt the peace of god and felt and i as i considered this today i just felt like there might be someone in the room and probably there is someone in the room has been in the presence of god of late but you feel stale and dry and disconnected and right now you're doing a little bit of searching and realizing that more than likely there's some unforgiveness in your heart in your life and you can't you can't disobey god's commandments and walk in covenant in communion with him like you should when you're obeying his commandments so there might be some some things festering in you and the moment you let that go and you obey god god is going to honor that and he's going to help you tonight thankfully i'm fully reconciled with that person i don't even remember what was said i haven't nothing against them and i'll say what they said at the time i felt like it hurt as a teenager it was legitimate but god healed that wound when i decided to forgive it was nothing that they did i never even talked to him about it just had to forgive god help me i find it interesting that the word give is included in the word forgiveness the fact is we call it forgiveness what we're really doing is we're giving grace in the same way god did to us grace clearly defined as the free and unmerited favor of god when i forgive that person what am i actually doing for them i'm offering grace and i'm giving it freely i'm not making excuses for them i'm i'm not making excuses for the wrong doing neither am i passing judgment on them instead i'm just giving them unmerited mercy and grace i'm offering unmerited favor and the term unmerited just means unearned even though someone doesn't have a right to the favor or the forgiveness i give it anyway i'm offering a window to salvation i'm demonstrating the love of christ so i can somehow connect someone to jesus i'm offering unmerited favor and grace whether they deserve it or not because i've been offered the same grace even though i did not deserve it this is the essence of forgiveness i'm giving grace and before i get into a couple of practical steps on forgiveness i'm drawn to clothes here just a moment i want to remind you of the alternate or the alternative rather to forgiveness the product of unforgiveness it's called bitterness but they ever said this earlier it's rightly been said bitterness is the poison that you swallow hoping it kills someone else

bitterness simply put is poison and it's a direct result of unforgiveness someone that may be here tonight that might be harboring an offense from the past may have already told themselves you know i'm not bitter though that's extreme i'm just hurt i'm just wounded i i'm scarred by this i wouldn't say that i'm bitter and that may be the case i believe we uh that bitterness doesn't just develop overnight there is a root of bitterness but uh that may be the case but i encourage you ask yourself these questions anytime you become offended anytime that offense starts to get a little infected ask yourself how often do you think about the offense do you get angry when the person's name is brought up or when they walk into the room is there a slant against them in your mind do you intentionally find ways to avoid interacting with that person do you get jealous or irritated when the person experiences success or blessings do you ever think about getting even with that person do you have the conversations with them in your mind laying out all your arguments have you allowed bitterness a foothold in your life whether you have or not we're still called to forgive how do we do that typically it starts with a conversation with god mark said when you pray forgive jesus himself included right in the middle of the lord's prayer he said forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who've trespassed against us so many times the process of forgiveness begins in prayer when we get alone with god and ask him to help us and get real with him about the pain in the womb that we've experienced this often entails just being emotionally open and vulnerable with god and telling him exactly what happened exactly how it made you feel and it happens when we allow him to begin to work on our heart and begin to heal us from that pain we do this as many times as necessary until we feel like we've released that debt and canceled it completely in the presence of god or even in the presence of that individual if the lord leads you to do that just like anything forgiveness involves a choice along with prayer it's not an emotion it's an action

to forgive is a verb requires a definite choice it's also more than just reciting the phrase i forgive you how have you did that with your siblings like i forgive you i forgive you i want to be honest when i did that i didn't really forgive him you may not have been able to tell it has to have a change of heart a deliberate choice to release them of all debt give up your right to retain that debt you don't bring it back up you've released that debt and you don't make them earn that forgiveness i think it's important to note the bible does not stipulate that someone has to apologize before you forgive them what happens if they were somehow you would never see them again will you carry that forever even more likely what if they have no idea that they wronged you do you carry that offense until they miraculously find out that they offended you forgiveness does not have to be earned it doesn't even have to follow an apology it's just offered freely now i will say trust must be earned but i also will say that we don't have to wait until we trust someone again in order to forgive that person because you might be waiting a long time so whether they've earned it or not whether they deserve it or not whether they've apologized or not we offer forgiveness we let it go we cancel the debt we terminate the list of ordinances that we have against them and we forgive and just one more thing for those in the room who feel like you cannot forgive the person who's wronged you which is obviously a dangerous place to be in

i'd like to suggest that start to pray for that person that hurt you matthew 5 and 43 says you've had it heard it's that it was said you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy but i say love your enemies bless those who curse you do good to those who hate you and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you who spitefully use you pray for them pray for those you owe it that owe you a debt rather because of their great sin and transgression against you pray until you until you're reconciled pray until you can pray that they have better blessings than you pray until you want god's peace and grace and forgiveness in your lives and if you have to talk to them go to them yourself this is in bible school during our pastoral care and counseling class dr gary erickson he told us a significant stat that he noticed and recorded in pastoral ministry he said in his experience up to 90 percent of all conflicts are resolved when one party simply goes to the other up to 90 this is why the bible tells us matthew 18 go directly to that person who hurt you with the intent to be reconciled with this is the biblical model and mandate and for that reason alone it works it's difficult to follow as is forgiveness but this is the right approach

with all of that in mind tonight i encourage you to do what has to be done in order to forgive those who have wronged you those who have trespassed against you again knowing the great debt that you and i have been freed from ourselves and the responsibility we have to forgive others who've trespassed against us so let it go forgive cancel the debt offer grace and mercy

why don't we stand together i said it a couple times earlier but forgiveness is important to god that means it ought to be important to us as well which i believe it is is it in his address to his disciples on the manner in which they were to pray for giving those who have wronged them was a central part of that prayer not only that but matthew 6 he follows up that prayer immediately by saying this

for if you forgive men their trespasses your heavenly father will forgive you but if you don't forgive men their trespasses neither will your father forgive your trespasses forgiveness matters to god and no one exemplified this more than he did and continues to do to this day tonight i wasn't trying to make light of any offenses that you and i have endured they do hurt they are damaging this is not an easy thing to live out and not only that but they seem like they're more and more prevalent than they've ever been especially in this current climate as it becomes more and more anti-biblical and anti-christian even still if jesus could endure the cross the betrayal of his friends the crown of thorns forced onto his brow the lashes he didn't deserve the endless mocking that he did not earn the sting of sin that he did not commit you and i can find the strength the love the grace to forgive others just as we've been forgiven do they deserve it by the world's standards maybe not but i'll be the first to say i don't deserve his grace by any standards which is why i have the responsibility to forgive tonight i've witnessed it before i feel the holy ghost in this room because when someone decides to do this especially someone who's been bound up by unforgiveness and bitterness it truly does set them free i'm believing someone's going to be set free tonight begin a process of healing and i'm also believing that someone may be headed for a fence and headed for hurt and god's going to help you to overcome that and his word will help you and come to your mind

i like us all first of all just a prayer prayer of repentance that god would help us and forgive us and then i'd like us to pray that god would help us to forgive any others whether we have an offense right now on our hearts or minds and one that would come would you pray with me both those prayers lord i thank you for your grace and your mercy which i i confess tonight lord i don't deserve and tonight i'm asking lord for your forgiveness and that you would renew a right spirit within me lord i thank you that i can access your grace and i do access it tonight i repent before you of any wrongdoing if i've harbored anything lord against a brother or a sister if i've said anything if there's any spot if there's any blemish if there's anything that's not pleasing to you in my life i repent of those things lord any thought or action or deed or misdeed i ask for your forgiveness that you would cleanse me and renew me as i repent and turn away and i ask also lord that you would help me to exhibit the same kind of forgiveness that i would exhibit grace and mercy and love on all of those around me the people who don't agree with me on social media lord or on the news the people lord in my family or the people in my community who have wronged me maybe even someone in the church lord who has hurt me in the past i pray you'd help me and help someone in the room tonight to let some things go and begin the process of forgiveness and begin the process of healing in your presence that there would be a freedom that comes with that forgiveness we pray all these things and we thank you for your grace and mercy can we do that together before we conclude tonight thank the lord for his forgiveness which is so thorough and so complete thank you jesus for your grace and mercy that i have yet to earn nor will i ever earn i worship you and thank you for the debt that you cancelled on my behalf thank you jesus for your help thank you lord amen amen

typically the people who can hurt us the most are people that are closest to us whether that's a church family member or even a immediate family member with that in mind i know that for some as you enter this holiday season you may need to practice some of this when you get around the thanksgiving table and they start talking about politics and you don't agree with a word they say don't get bound up by that but offer the same grace and forgiveness and we'll leave it to god the rest this is a great season of giving and forgiving tops that list