Below is a ermon from my home Chruch, the Chruch of christ, its one of three on the matter of forgiveness, and I shall post all thrre outlines for discusison. Its only an outline. Owens tends to present them loosley, oratign based on a loose sketch, btu here is the sermon. Tell me what thou thinkest?

-- ZAROVE (ZAROFF3@JUNO.COM), November 02, 2004

Answers

FORGIVING YOUR BROTHER By: Larry Owens Eph. 4:31-2 Christians can and must forgive others, because God, in Christ has forgiven them. I.FORGIVENESS IS UNLIMITED. Jesus forgives us freely of all our sins. Lu. 17:3,4 7 is the divine number - the number of times God forgives you. That is why we must forgive all our brothers’ offenses. We have the promise that if we confess our sins God will forgive. 1Jn. 1:9 We must forgive all those who seek our forgiveness, also. II.FORGIVENESS IS NECESSARY. To approach the Lord we must first seek peace with our brother. Mt. 5:23, 24 If we hate our brother, we walk in darkness. 1Jn. 3:10-15 We cannot say we love God and not forgive our brother. 1Jn. 4:20; 1Cor. 13:5,6 III. FORGIVENESS IS AN ACT OF THE WILL. You can forgive whether you feel like it or not. Ro. 5:8 Before creation, God willed a door for our forgiveness. Acts 2:23 "by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God." So, we must seek to make peace with our brother whether or not we feel like it. FORGIVENESS IS FORGETTING. That is how God forgives us. He. 8:12 When God forgives our sin is never brought up again. Ro. 8:1,2 When we forgive, we appropriate that payment to the offender. V.HOW CAN WE FORGIVE LIKE THIS? Realize we cannot do it by our own strength. Phil. 4:13 Refuse to dwell on the offense with our mind. 2Cor. 10:15 Never mention the offense again to anyone. Eph. 4:29 Remove all reminders of the offense, if possible. Seek reconciliation with your offender. Eph. 4:1-3 If we are to be forgiven we must be forgivers.

-- ZAROVE (ZAROFF3@JUNO.COM), November 02, 2004.

Zarove

the sermon omits to mention Purgatory.

-- Ian (ib@vertifgo.com), November 03, 2004.

Uhm... I dotn think that even all Catholi sermisn mention Pergetory. The semrmon omits HeaVEN AND hELL TOO!

Its abotu forgiveness, and is Chruch of Christ and doesnt even teach pergetory...

-- ZAROVE (ZAROFF3@JUNO.COM), November 03, 2004.

Yes Zarove, that sermon you posted is correct. Do any of his sermons teach on how God forgives us of our sins???

-- Kevin Walker (kevinlwalker572@cs.com), November 04, 2004.

yup... wait till part three...

-- ZAROVE (ZAROFF3@JUNO.COM), November 04, 2004.

If we are children of God, possessing the same humble loving nature as God, we'll seek to do as our Father does and forgive those who have wronged us - even before the person expresses repentance. If we cannot forgive, we cannot truly in our hearts have the feeling that God forgives us. If we are forgiven by God, we'll be forgiving to others.

If we can't be forgiving to others, then we are risking a loss of faith in Christ's forgiveness, if such an attitude persists. Losing faith in Christ's forgiveness will cause us to leave God's grace.

God has an attitude of forgiveness in Christ even before we repent and seek peace for our daily sins. Repentance doesn't change God's attitude toward us, it changes our attitude toward God so we can realize and reap all the benefits of a peaceful relationship.

Forgiveness actually opens the door so the person will be more likely to reconsider their actions in view of your merciful attitude and make amends. An antagonistic attitude makes it less likely a person will try and make amends.

Thankfully, God is not antagonistic against us for our sins, but has already paid for them all in Christ and willingly invites us to enjoy the blessings of peace by turning our heart to him.

-- Max Darity (arrowtouch@yahoo.com), November 17, 2004.

Zarove,

Is Larry Owens your preacher???

-- Kevin Walker (kevinlwalker572@cs.com), December 04, 2004.

Nope. dont knwo him. I got these off the net...

-- ZAROVE (ZAROFF3@JUNO.COM), December 04, 2004.