…then this is a very dangerous prayer to pray! Because it literally is saying: “Father, to the degree that I forgive others, that is the degree to which I am asking you to forgive me.” Then in Mark 11:25, Jesus ties our forgiveness of others to the effectiveness of our prayers. Once again, Jesus shows the importance of forgiveness when…
This is the fourth week in our Overwhelmed sermon series. Today we discussed the challenge of unforgiveness and resentment. Brianna suggests that living out of a false identity can be perhaps the greatest source of our struggle to extend forgiveness to ourselves or to others. The way to freedom from our unforgiveness is to remember the truth of who we… Read More
Today Brianna explores the concept of forgiveness that is so central to the Kingdom. Is it a condition of God’s forgiveness of us? Or is his forgiveness unconditional no matter what? And if his love is unconditional, does that mean it doesn’t matter whether we forgive others or not?… Read More
In this sermon, Sandra Unger explores the practice of forgiveness and explains how it empowers us to live out the call to love others. We learn what forgiveness is and what it is not, while also being challenged to love others in ways that counter the primary ways of our culture. Read More
Greg calls us into the Jesus way of forgiveness, contrasting it with the way of bitterness. He does this by explaining the parable of the unforgiving servant, as he helps us to see the inherent destructive forces that control our lives when we choose unforgiveness toward those who do us harm. Read More
Jesus’ forgiveness can turn a life upside down. And that’s what Amanda experienced when she learned that forgiveness was for everyone—even her. Amanda grew up in Wisconsin, and had a very close relationship with her father, who was quadriplegic. Amanda was devastated after he passed away when she was 14. Amanda’s father had “nailed it into her head” that God… Read More
When Jesus prayed from the cross, “Father, forgive them …” he was expressing the radical love of the Father that extends forgiveness to all the world. While such an expression of forgiveness is far from typical, it contains the ability to heal, transform hearts and release people to forgive others. Read More
In this second sermon of the Christmas series, we examine God’s forgiving character, how God forgives us, what it means to forgive others and why this is important to our own well-being, and to forgiving ourselves. This core trait of God’s is ultimately fulfilled in the life of Jesus, as he shows us what God’s forgiving nature looks like. Read More
Greg Boyd calls our attention to the importance of forgiving one another. This practice plays a significant role in our call to live as God’s covenant community. We have received God’s “all-forgiven reality,” and now we are to emulate the love of Christ on the cross and extend this new reality to all. Read More
Forgiveness is always easier to talk about than to actually do. But without it we are alone and isolated, and can be consumed by hurt. Jesus taught about how we should forgive each other through parables: because we experience God’s great forgiveness, we share the same with others who have wronged us. And as a result, we learn how to… Read More
