Sermon :“Forgiveness Pt 1-Tools of God”
Pastor Kim Wenzel
Forgiveness Part 1 - Tools from God
What seeds are you sowing?
Disclaimer: Life is not all pain and betrayal
John 16:33 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
Colossians 3: 12-14
12 Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 13 Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14 And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
Tools God Gives Us:
Tools - used and misused
God Tools help us Process the hurt, wounding and betrayal
-like meat for your family.
Man’s Tools: Alcohol, drugs, painkillers, escapism, self-destruction, violence, revenge etc.
“But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven" Matthew 6:20
“Don’t mortgage future generation.” I chewed on the concept for days. I resisted the magnetic pull of wanting to know how other people might be setting up future generations to pay a huge price for the heart-purchases the current generation is making—pride, greed, excess, self-absorption.
Instead, I asked Jesus to do what David asked in Psalm 139. I said, “Examine me and see if there is any ungodly way in me.” If I live beyond my means, I’m creating a habit in my children and grandchildren, mortgaging their futures. If I speak unkindly about others, I’m mortgaging their future relationships. They’ll either have to fight off the pattern I established, or they’ll repeat it. If I let disappointment become resentment, or allow an offense to take root in me, I’m mortgaging their souls’ health. If I treat alone time with the Lord as an insignificant or a joyless duty, I’m mortgaging their spiritual futures. If I say, “The check’s in the mail,” and it isn’t, I’m mortgaging the integrity of future generation. Jesus told us that the seeds we plant today bear fruit long into the future, that those who invest in the spiritual futures of their children and grandchildren---laying up treasures that count in heaven---leave a legacy, not a mortgage
Today's Verse
Malachi 4:1-2
"Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and the day that is coming will set them on fire," says the Lord Almighty. "Not a root or a branch will be left to them. But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its rays. And you will go out and frolic like well-fed calves."
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