Forgive!

June 5, 2023 Monday Message:

Matthew 18:21-22 NLT: “Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, ‘Lord, how often should I forgive someone who sins against me? Seven times?’

‘No, not seven times,’ Jesus replied, ‘but seventy times seven!’”

As we pray the Lord’s prayer, we ask God to, “Forgive us our trespasses AS we forgive those who have trespassed against us.” Jesus taught us those words. Jesus and his Father are big on forgiveness! They have pardoned the egregious sins of those who repent, return and claim Jesus as their Savior. And we are told to do what Jesus did.

If you do the math, Jesus is advocating forgiveness 490 times, but let’s look into that. It’s too large a number to keep track of in our heads, and if we wrote it all down, we might start to think that we’re Mr. or Mrs. Wonderful because we’re so forgiving, and that opens up another set of problems. Think about it – when the ‘humble’ is not present, we could sin while offering forgiveness to others!

“Let go and let God!” When someone asks for forgiveness, we are to forgive and close the door on the matter. Our responsibility in this exchange has ended.

If we simply forgive our brothers and sisters, the rest is up to God!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship

Forgive Others!

For Sunday, January 29, 2023:

Matthew 6:12 NIV, Jesus continues teaching The Lord’s Prayer: “Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.”

Your Bible may read, “Forgive us our trespasses...,” “Forgive our sins...,” or “Forgive us for the wrong things we have done…” Sin is pictured as a debt owed, and we need to square things up!

God arranged to forgive mankind when we sinned. In fact, he was quite intentional about it. He sent his Son Jesus to be the sacrifice for the sins of the world. Those who put their faith, hope and trust in God’s Son can confess their sin and be adopted as a chid of God, a resident of God’s forever heavenly Kingdom. God gave us a second chance at hope!

There is a condition to God’s benevolence. It’s kind of like the Golden Rule. God stands ready to forgive us after the same manner in which we forgive others. “Do unto others as you would have God do unto you,” is the message. It sounds simple, but this is quite serious. If you insist on harboring resentment against a fellow, God may harbor resentment against you, and that can have eternal ramifications.

We’re praying for God to treat us as we have treated others, so treat them well!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship

Forgiveness!

For Friday, August 27, 2021

Matthew 6:12 KJ21, Jesus, teaching his disciples to pray, from what has come to be known as The Lord’s Prayer: “And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.”

Forgiving is huge with God. He sent his Son to forgive us for all our missteps, our sins, our trespasses. And he expects us to treat others with the same kindness he has shown.

In this verse, Jesus has kind of flipped it around. We’re supposed to show kindness, forgiveness and compassion for others, and we’re asking our Father to forgive us in the same manner that we have shown. The Bible says that we shouldn’t even attempt worship until we are reconciled with our brothers and sisters.

“Forgive us for the wrong things we have done, the way we forgive those who have done wrong things to us.”

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship, 3249 30th Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN 55406

On Forgiveness...

Oct. 22, 2018 Monday Message:

On Forgiveness…

Mankind is plagued with a sinful nature, and the Bible says that all have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory. But it also says that if you repent and return to the Lord, you will be forgiven.

Consider Saul of Tarsus – we know him as Saint Paul. Trained as a Pharisee, he formed a posse to capture the new Christians, bring them in chains to the Temple for trial, sometimes resulting in their execution. Saul wrote, “When the believers were put to death, I cast my vote against them.” He put to death many, many Christians. Simply put, he murdered God’s Children.

And yet God forgave him. God got Saul’s attention on the road to Damascus, and then sent him on a mission for Christ, to deliver the Good News to the Gentile nations. God saw through what Saul WAS, and focused on what he could BECOME if he was forgiven! Turns out that the “forgiven Saul” was far more useful for Kingdom-building.

Of course the lesson here is that if Saul could be forgiven for murdering God’s children, then we should likewise forgive all manner of sin against us. Jesus said that our sins will be forgiven AS WE FORGIVE others. Don’t hang onto anger, frustration, and resentments - just let God work it out. Don’t let someone who sins against you control how you feel today. Divorce yourself from the whole matter.

Let go and let God. Smile!

Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship meets next Sunday, Oct. 28, 2018, 3249 30^th Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN 55406, 10:30 AM. Pastor Michael Pilla continues teaching from Micah.