• Introduction
  
• Recap from last week
  
  • God’s forgiveness is our model (Isa 43:25, Jer 31:34, Micah 7:19, Ps 103:12)
    
  • It is a promise
    
  • Never bring it back up: to them, yourself, or others
    
  • What Jesus says about forgiveness (Luke 17:3-10)
    
    • Hard to practice
      
    • When someone sins against you go to them – rebuke
      
      • If they repent – forgive them
        
      • Continue to forgive as long as they repent
        
    • Love covers a multitude of sins (1 Pet 4:8)
      
  • The purpose of forgiveness is reconciliation
    
  • Forgiveness is conditional – it is based upon repentance
    
• What about unbelievers
  
  • Unbelievers are self-centered and not God centered – they cannot love God they way they should or others
    
  • Can an unbeliever repent?
    
  • What is biblical repentance?
    
    • It is not a feeling – regret is a feeling
      
    • It is a turning (in thoughts and ways) from sin towards God (Biblical truth and holiness)
      
    • Two kinds of sorrow (2 Cor 7:10)
      
      • Sorrow that comes from God and leads to repentance and leads away from sin
        
      • Worldly sorrow that lacks repentance
        
      • Use an example of before I was saved and after I was saved (cheating on taxes)
        
    • With an unbeliever it may not be possible to repent
      
      • Does not have the Holy Spirit
        
      • Cannot understand the Bible (1 Cor 2:14)
        
  • Told to live peaceably as long as it is possible (Rom 12:18)
    
    • We may not be able to live peaceably
      
    • It takes two to get along – may not with unbelievers but should be able to with Christians
      
  • What we need to do
    
    • Be obedient to God and His Word – peacemakers
      
    • Attitude of forgiveness: tell God of our willingness to forgive and have all bitterness and resentment removed
      
    • Go to that person a tell them and try to work it out
      
    • Modified method of church discipline (go to them, take another, and tell it to the courts)
      
    • As we are pleasing to God – He might cause peace between us (Prov 16:7)
      
    • Examples:
      
• When you are the one who offended
  
  • When we sin against another we sin against God (Ps 51:4)
    
    • We need to repent
      
    • To not reconcile is a sin hinders our relation with God (Ps 66:18)
      
  • Go to them immediately, repent, ask forgiveness (Matt 5:23-26)
    
    • Go first (v. 24)
      
    • Go quickly (v. 25)
      
    • Don’t let the sun go down on your wrath (Eph 4:26)
      
  • Exception: when the sin is only in your mind
    
  • Examples:
    
    • When you have offended
      
    • When you have sinned but it is only in your mind
      
• Conclusion
  
  • Goal of forgiveness
    
    • Reconciliation
      
    • So we don’t harbor bitterness and resentment
      
  • When someone has sinned against us – gently rebuke
    
  • If they are an unbeliever – we need to be obedient to God – try to be peacemakers – attitude of forgiveness – go to them
    
  • When we are the one who offended
    
  • Questions
    
    • Are you harboring those bad feelings?
      
    • Are there believers you need to go to and gently rebuke?
      
    • Do you have unbelievers in your life that have sinned against you?
      
    • Are there people you have sinned against?
      
      • If you aren’t sure ask God
        
      • Be willing to go to those people and ask forgiveness
        

Examples:

You have an oral agreement for someone to paint a part of your house for $350. After the job is done the painter tries to get you to pay $500. You confront the painter: (1) he adjusts the price and everything is ok, (2) he does not and you tell him that you have a witness and will have to take him to court – he then apologizes

You can look for an opportunity to share the Gospel with them

Someone at work is spreading false rumors about you

1. You do what is right and not gossip about them
   
2. You go them and confront them
   
3. They apologize – you thank them
   
4. They deny it
   
   1. You must continue to do the right thing by God and His Word
      
   2. You may have to go get others involved
      
5. You have an attitude of forgiveness
   
6. Trust that as you are pleasing to God that your enemies will be at peace with you
   
7. Try to use it as an opportunity to share the Gospel
   

You and another person are being considered for a new position in the company. Because of your desire for the position you embellish upon your abilities and say some negative things about the other person that is not true. After you do this, God convicts you that this was wrong. (1) Repent and ask God’s forgiveness, (2) go to your boss and tell the truth and ask their forgiveness, and (3) go to the other person and tell the truth and ask their forgiveness. You can try to use this as an opportunity to share the Gospel.

• Introduction
  
• Recap from last week
  
  • God’s forgiveness is our model (Isa 43:25, Jer 31:34, Micah 7:19, Ps 103:12)
    
  • It is a promise
    
  • Never bring it back up: to them, yourself, or others
    
  • What Jesus says about forgiveness (Luke 17:3-10)
    
    • Hard to practice
      
    • When someone sins against you go to them – rebuke
      
      • If they repent – forgive them
        
      • Continue to forgive as long as they repent
        
    • Love covers a multitude of sins (1 Pet 4:8)
      
• The purpose of forgiveness is reconciliation
  
  • We are told to do it
    
  • If we don’t it will hinder our relationship with God (Matt 6:12, 14-15)
    
• Forgiveness is conditional
  
  • God’s forgiveness is based upon repentance and faith (Luke 24:47; Acts 17:30)
    
    • The apostles went forth to preach repentance
      
  • When the one who has offended cannot forgive (they are not around, they are dead, etc.) you need to talk to God and express your desire to forgive the other person and rid your heart of all the bitterness and resentment towards them
    
  • You are not obligated to forgive an unrepentant sinner
    
    • You are obligated to try to bring them to repentance
      
    • All the while you entertain a genuine hope and willingness to forgive
      
    • You have the desire to be reconciled to the other one
      
  • Example of Church Discipline
    
    • You go to that person – if they repent you forgive (promise not to bring it up)
      
    • You take someone else (you bring it up again) – if they repent you forgive
      
    • You bring it before the church (you bring it up again) – if they repent you forgive
      
    • It is all about reconciliation
      
• How to keep the promise of forgiveness
  
  • You have made the promise to not bring this up again
    
    • There are consequences to sin though
      
    • You may need to bring it up to help not to hurt (example of a child)
      
  • If you bring it up again to hurt them
    
    • You must realize that you broke your promise and now you must seek forgiveness
      
      • From the person
        
      • From God
        
    • If you are having trouble not thinking about it
      
      • You must plan not to sin (Rom 13:14)
        
      • Use Phil 4:8 as your filter – make a list of things to think about
• Questions
  
  • Do you have people in your life that you need to rebuke?
    
  • Do you have people in your life that you have not forgiven?
    
    • Remember how many times Jesus forgives you
      
    • To not forgive is a sin against God – you need to repent
      
  • Do you have a hard time keeping your promise of forgiveness – make a Phil 4:8 list
    
  • We are commanded to forgive and if we don’t we hinder our relationship with God
    
• Our relationship with God is based upon repentance and forgiveness
  
• Conclusion
  

Next week: we will look at when we are the one who offends and how we deal with unbelievers

• Introduction
  
• Read Philemon
  
  • Describe who these people were:
    
    • Philemon (affectionate) – church in his house – Paul led to the Lord
      
    • Apphia – wife
      
    • Archippus – son
      
    • Onesimus (useful) – slave – Paul led to the Lord
      
  • They were in Colossae – would have been the people the book of Colossians was written to
    
  • Paul was in Rome in prison
    
  • Onesimus was a runaway – believed that he stole something from Philemon – he could have been put to death – was very useful to Paul
    
  • Paul wanted to make sure to do the right thing
    
    • He sent Onesimus back to his master
      
    • He wanted Philemon to forgive Onesimus
      
• Have you ever had anyone do anything against you? How have you dealt with it?
  
• Have you ever done anything against someone else?
  
• What does it mean to forgive?
  
• Are you required to forgive?
  
  • What is the occasion that you forgive someone?
    
  • How many times do you forgive?
    
  • Can you get away with not forgiving?
    
• What happens if you don’t forgive?
  
• Our model for forgiveness (this is key) (Isa 43:25, Jer 31:34, Micah 7:19, Ps 103:12)
  
  • Forgiveness is a promise
    
  • God doesn’t remember our sins
    
    • God is omniscient and knows everything
      
    • He chooses to not remember – he doesn’t forget
      
    • He promises to never bring them back up again
      
  • When we forgive this is what is supposed to look like
    
    • When we forgive we are making a promise to never bring back up again (to the person, to ourselves, or to others)
      
• What does Jesus say about forgiveness (Luke 17:3-10)
  
  • Be on guard – hard to swallow – hard to practice (Lu 17:3)
    
  • What happens when someone sins against you
    
    • Whine about it – feel sorry – invite others to join in the pity party
      
    • Get furious – let others know how mad you are
      
    • Go around and let others know about it (church, office, family, neighborhood, friends, etc.)
      
  • What does Jesus tell us to do? – Rebuke them (Luke 17:3)
    
    • Two words for rebuke
      
      • To prosecute a case against another so he is convicted of the crime
        
      • To rebuke with caution
        
        • You go to them with the facts as you see them
          
        • You present the facts
          
        • Then you wait to see if there is an explanation
          
        • Then if your brother or sister repents forgive them – describe what that means
          
    • Shouldn’t they come to me?
      
    • Why should I have to go?
      
      • We are told to
        
      • They may not even know they did anything
        
  • How many times do you forgive? (Luke 17:4)
    
  • Apostles response – increase our faith (Luke 17:5)
    
  • Jesus says it is not a faith issue (Luke 17:6)
    
  • This is an obedience issue – describe (Luke 17:7-10)
    
  • The promise of forgiveness
    
    • Can you make a promise whether you feel like it or not
      
    • Can you keep a promise whether you feel like it or not
      
    • What three fold promise you make when you forgive
      
  • Refusal to forgive is a decision for vengeance
    
• Do you go to someone over everything they do to offend you – love covers sin (1 Pet 4:8)
  
• Questions
  
• Do you have people in your life that you need to rebuke?
  
• Do you have people in your life that you have not forgiven?
  
  • Remember how many times Jesus forgives you
    
  • To not forgive is a sin against God – you need to repent
    
• Conclusion

Today I did something new.  I went to the YMCA and ran on a treadmill.  There were some really nice things about that.  I was able to control my speed very well.  Just a little adjustment and my speed was changed.  It is much harder for me to know what my speed is outdoors.  I can figure it out after a little while but this was instantaneous.  Very nice!

On the other hand though, it was very boring looking at the same thing for a the whole run.  I ran 4.25 miles and walked about .75 mile.

Overall it was a very good run and I feel great now.  The machine told me I burned about 650 calories.  Great!  It is my and Linda’s birthday today and we went out to the Seafood Buffet at the Rio.  That 650 calories that I burned probably paid for my dessert tonight.

While Linda and I were on our way down to the Rio tonight we were talking about when we met.  It was December 12th, 1986 and we were going to get together the next day on our birthday.  That morning I went out surfing and it was a great day with great friends and great waves.  I thought, “what a great birthday present!”  Then (without going into all the really cool detail) I came off this one wave with my board flying into the air.  When I came up out of the water my board smacked me in the face across my nose, chipping a bone, almost making my pass out, splitting my face open, and giving my one big black eye.  Wow – this great day has come to a quick halt.  So, I never went out that night and didn’t meet up with Linda.  It wasn’t until about 5 months later did we begin dating.

Now my thought was this.  When I turned 19, I could surf all day, but I couldn’t run 4.25 miles.  Today I am 41 and I can’t surf all day, but I ran 4.25 miles.  So, I am feeling pretty good about the run today!

This morning I made it out for another run, although a short one – I made it.

I got up at 4:45, Kevin came over, and we were out the door by about 5:00.  It wasn’t as cold as it was two days ago when we ran.  I think it was about 42 degrees, not bad.  We ran 2 miles and it felt great.  Actually by the time we stopped I was just getting warmed up and could have went further.  Maybe it was the pasta last night.

When the alarm went off at 4:45 I had this thought, “you have gotta be kidding me!”  Thanks again Kevin for coming over.  If it wasn’t for knowing that you were going to be there, I would have certainly hit that snooze button.

I used to be pretty consistent with running.  It was always the same thing: I’d wake up and make an excuse of why I should not go running and then I’d go anyway.  After the run I’d always feel great (never during the run).  I would increase my mileage towards 20 miles per week, get injured, stop for a short time, and then start back again.

Somewhere about six-nine months ago I went running and was affected badly with allergies.  I felt sick for a few days and thought, “I can’t run when it is so windy.”  Then when I’d wake up I’d have a better excuse to not run and so I started giving in to the desire to not run.  I have really gotten out of the routine in a bad way.  Now it is hard to convince myself to actually run.

I realize that I really need to get back to running, for many reasons.  So, I am really going to try to get over the excuses and stick with it.  I remember how good I used to feel all the time when I was running.

This morning I was up at 4:45 and prepared to run.  Kevin Stewart got to my house at about 5:00 and we ran a short distance (1.25 miles).  It was about 40 degrees with the wind blowing a little bit and dark.  Thanks Kevin for the accountability and motivation – you really helped me today!

I’ll see if I can overcome my desire to not run tomorrow.

I made it through the first couple week of the training plan with no problems.  Then I got got pretty sick, not from running just something going around.  That knocked me out for a week and a half.  Once I was better I began back to running but was not sure if I could recover the time I lost.  Shortly after that I went out of town for a few days which further threw my running off.  At that point I was pretty confident that I would not be able to get back to the training to run the half marathon by March 15th and so I really slacked off with my running.

I have been running a little bit but need the training motivation to push myself.  Since then I have not ran over 4 miles at one time.  I have only been running between 3 and 4 miles at a time.  I need to find another half marathon in the next couple months to train for.

I have begun the training program for running a half-marathon on March 15th.  It is a very aggressive plan, since I really wasn’t running that much when I began.

On Saturday I finished the first week and was very surprised at how it went.  The plan called for: Mon – 2.0 miles @ 12:00 min/mi pace, Wed – 5.0 miles (tempo run) 1.0 mile @ 12:00 min/mi pace warm up – 3.0 miles @ 10:00 min/mi pace – 1.0 mile @ 12:00 min/mi pace cool down, and Sat – 6.0 miles @ 12:00 min/mile pace.  I didn’t know if I would be able to make it because I have never run for 72 minutes, but I did it without much trouble.  On Saturday’s run at the end I ran another 1/4 mile @ 8:00 min/mi pace and then a 1/4 mile @ 12:00 min/mi pace, for a total of 6.5 miles and 77 minutes.  I felt great!

If I can continue with this running plan I’ll be able to run the half-marathon in March.  The important thing is to not get injured.  If I can make it through the first four weeks of the training I will sign up for the half-marathon.  There is another great bonus to this race, Linda is training for the 5K portion.  She is doing great and will be able to run it by then!

I am currently trying to train for a half marathon with some of my friends at the end of the year.  I appreciate my friends for joining me because it motivates me to train even though I don’t feel like it.

My wife received an email from a friend of ours, Beverly.  She sent the information for a local half marathon and 5K run on March 15th.  She suggested that I could run the half and Linda the 5K.  Well 10 weeks was not my plan for running a half marathon.  I believe that Linda could be ready for the 5K but me and the half?  So, I thought about it.  I laid in bed that night and thought, “could I actually do it?”

The next morning I checked out Runner’s World for a training plan for 10 weeks.  The first weeks long run is a scheduled 6 miler and 13 miles for the week.  I am only running 3-4 miles right now and 9-10 miles per week.  So, I figure that if I can follow the training plan for 4-5 weeks without injury then I would register for the half marathon on March 15th.  My first step would be to run 5 miles this weekend.  Suprisingly, I was able to run it without much problem.

One of my goals for 2008 is to run 2 half marathons.  If I can run this half then I’ll only have one more to reach that goal.  I may not be able to make this one so soon, because I may get injured trying to train too fast.  I’ll keep you posted.

 Thanks for the challenge Beverly.

I have been wanting to start a new small group study on Tuesday nights.  I am going to use the book 30 Days to Understanding the Bible by Max Anders.  I am going to adapt the material into an eight-week study.  My idea is to find new people to have this study with, preferably not church people.  I believe that God is at work in the hearts of people around me.  I just need to go and find where God is at work and join Him there.  I believe if I can find people that God wants to make disciple makers out of, a good place to start with them is teaching them about the Bible.

In the past I have done a lot of door knocking.  The approaches I have used have widely varied.  My goal was to always share the Gospel with them and I believed that is what I needed to do.  Today I tried something new.  My approach was to try to find people to build a relationship with through this study.  My focus is not necessarily to share the Gospel.  If there is an opportunity I will jump at it but my main focus is to build a relationship thought this study.  In the past I would go through a neighborhood and whoever answered the door I would talk to and whoever didn’t I would never talk to because I wasn’t coming back.  There are so many neighborhoods in Las Vegas that I figured why should I continue to spend time in one area.  I believe that I have been to over 15,000 homes in Las Vegas over the past few years.

As I went out today I only spent about 1 1/2 hours with my son.  When I knocked on the door I introduced myself as a neighbor having a neighborhood study in a couple weeks and I’d like to invite them to join us.  I told them the nature of the study and that I am a Pastor.  The response was completely different than I have ever experienced.  Some told me they were not interested but they really appreciated me being there.  I’d always tell them to keep my number because I am just down the street and they may need to talk to a Pastor sometime in the future.  Other seemed interested and they would let me know.  Then there were others who were not home.  I recorded all the information and then annotated it in Google Maps (take a look).  I plan on going back to these homes over the next couple weeks until I have saturated my neighborhood (240 homes).

I am expecting God to do some great things through this.  I don’t know what to expect but am hoping for at least three families to come.  Then I’d like to duplicate this same thing in other parts of the city.  I’d love to have these same studies going on all over the city during the week.  I’ll let you know how this goes.

Please pray for me over the next couple weeks.  Thanks.