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Show FORGIVE AND BE FORGIVEN ""For ifye forgive men their trespasses, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you. But ifyou forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses." (Matthew 6: 14-15) The sermon on the Mount uttered by Jesus might well be the longest and most complete sermon in The Bible. For Jesus, like Moses prepared the children of Israel to enter the land of promise flowing with milk and honey, wanted those who followed Him to know what would be expected of them as citizens in the kingdom of God. There is a lot for us to learn from the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus had just taught His disciples that to Page 1 -------- be benevolent one hand ought not know what the other was doing and that when they prayed they ought to start by acknowledging "Our Father which art in heaven." Then, He takes the opportunity in our text today to remind them that their prayers are conditional. "Ifyou forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But ifyou forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses." It seems to me that there are two major but very simple things for us to remember about forgiveness. First, forgive and be forgiven. What the Lord requires and expects of one is what He requires and expects of another. The road for one person is no different than Page2 the road for another person. What one of us must do, the other must do likewise. One writer has said in Jeremiah 50: 6 "My people hath been lost sheep: their shepherds hath caused them to go astray. They have turned them away on the mountains: they have gone from mountain to hill. They have forgotten their resting place. " Ezekiel 34: 6 put it more directly, ''My sheep wandered through all the mountains. And upon every high hill: Yea, my flock was scattered upon all the face of the earth, and none did search or seek after them. " In other words, "all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. " Everybody has done something they ought not to have done and they need forgiveness. We human must forgive Page 3 our fellow humans and then God will forgive us. Second, do not forgive and be not forgiven. He call of God is for us to do to others as we wants God to do to us. Treat other people the way we want to be treated by them and God. When we do wrong and want to be given another chance for a clean slate, we cannot expect one without cleaning the slate of others. In Acts 15, Paul took a bad tum and did a wrong thing. His friend and companion John Mark deserted him. Paul refused to give him a second chance. But thank god for Barnabas. He accepted John Mark as he was and took him with him as his companion on a mission to Cyrus. Maybe that why Paul found himself locked up so much or Page 4 beaten or in ship wreck. And maybe that why he wrote "Only Luke is with me. Take Mark and bring him with you, for he is profitable to me for the ministry. " (2 Timothy 4: 11) He had not forgiven John Mark and now found himself unforgiven. Do not forgive and you will not be forgiven. Forgive and you will be forgiven. Page 5 Pastor France Davis To: Subject: Garland Stinson RE: Lesson for Tuesday Dear Minister Stinson: Sorry for the delay in getting this material to you for the study tomorrow. If you do not have time to work it out, I will be ok. Pastor Davis "PENTECOST" - .::rlA tv e; JI lDf 1 ti Means "fiftieth" Fifty Days after the Passover. About the end of May The Feast of Weeks in Jewish litqrgy The Feast of Harvest Deuteronomy 16: 10; Leviticus 23: 15-16 Exodus 23: 16; Numbers 28 The Birthday of the Christian Church Acts 2 t J-/ 3 The Time that the Holy Spirit was poured out on the Church God's harvest of Jews and gentiles to Christian Faith Luke 24: 49; John 14: 25-26; John 15:26; Acts 1: 8 Three times in New Testament ====== Acts 2: 1; 20: 16; 1 Corinthians 16: 8 Thank you for this help. Pastor France Davis -----Original Message----From: Garland Stinson [mailto:garland stinson@yahoo.com ] Sent: Monday, May 15, 2017 4:29 AM To: France A. Davis Subject: Lesson for Tuesday can work on it this afternoon. Good bless -f ID~~ 2i/,-J'y l c:Jo h"' ?,l 3 7 ---31 G,w- tJ:Jj |
