ForgivenessPodcastepisodeone

Forgiveness is not often talked about, but it is crucial to addressing the problems in our world and families. The scripture emphasizes the importance of forgiveness and warns against unwholesome talk. Christ's crucifixion and the forgiveness he showed despite his innocence demonstrate the power of forgiveness. Unforgiveness can lead to bondage and hinder our relationship with God. Forgiveness brings restoration, joy, and peace. Children observe our unforgiveness and it affects their perception of God. It is important to forgive even if the other person doesn't forgive us. God is waiting to take our burdens and give us a new heart through forgiveness. It is a powerful tool that can be used in marriages, families, and communities. Unforgiveness grieves the Holy Spirit and hinders our prayers. Forgiveness is a matter of the heart and brings freedom, power, and abundant life. Forgiveness is something that is not talked about a lot, you don't hear a lot about it in churches, you don't hear a lot about it in family settings, you definitely don't hear about it in the media. So I think it's something that every 10th program or so, we need to just really continue to talk about that because it definitely is the root of a lot of the problems that we have in our world today, and definitely in our families. So I think it's really good that we're dealing with that today. Amen. In the scripture Ephesians, the fourth chapter, Matthew, it says in the 29th verse, do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouth, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen, and do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God with whom you were sealed from the day of redemption. And in the 31st verse, it says, get rid of all bitterness, which is a byproduct of unforgiveness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice, but be kind and compassionate to one another. And then here we see this, Matt, forgiving each other, just as in Christ, God forgave you. Forgave us. That's very true. So God wants us to forgive each other, just as in Christ, God forgave you. Can you imagine what state we would be in if God didn't forgive us, if he held everything that we did against him, against us? Yeah. What God teaches us, what Christ teaches, has taught us on forgiveness, when you look at what he went through, and the suffering, the bitterness and hatred that those who crucified him had shown, and yet for him to be on the cross, knowing he was totally innocent of any wrongdoing. And see, that's another thing, when, you know, you think about forgiveness, you generally think that somebody was guilty, you know, of doing something, but here Christ is totally innocent of doing anything, did nothing but good, healing the sick, healing the lame so they could walk, open up the eyes of the blind that they might see, healing those who are deaf. I mean, how could you bring yourself to put someone through what they put him through based on all the good that he had done? I mean, it's almost mind-blowing to try to even think of what they did to him and all the good that he had done for people. What I'm saying is that when Christ, through his life, he really brought good and evil to a place that I don't think it had never been or never will be again, because you took all that was good and brought all that was evil against it, and good overcame evil through forgiveness and through the resurrection. So we can see that this forgiveness thing is really a very powerful tool that we have, and we can't just look at it as something that, you know, we do just because the Bible says it is a powerful tool, and we can use it in our marriages, we can use it in our family relationships, because you actually can see the power of good overcoming the power of evil. That's really awesome, Matt, and just going back to that scripture, just to show you how powerful it is, it says, and do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, so that shows you that when we don't exercise the power of forgiveness, we are grieving the Holy Spirit, and I mean, that says a whole lot right there. The whole plan of salvation is based upon forgiveness. Forgiveness, that's true. So when we don't forgive, that is basically an act of rebellion on our part. That's true. I mean, when we think about an awesome, big, powerful God, how, you know, he made a way, he set a plan out that we could be reconciled to him through forgiveness, and we can't forgive our brother, and we can't forgive our sister when they do something against us, and some of us, I mean, there are families that don't even talk to each other anymore because of not forgiving one another. They can go and have a family reunion, and auntie's not talking to mom, and grandchildren are not talking with cousins. That's true. And it's just a tool of the enemy, and he uses it not only in the home, in our families, in our neighborhoods, our communities, but he's also trying to use it in the church. Oh, he does use it in the church. He's not trying, he does it. That's very true. I think some of the biggest incidents of unforgiveness probably happen, you know, in the church setting when you have people right in the church who get up and lift their hands and sing and praise the Lord, and then walk, and knowing there's somebody right there in the body that they have a heart against, and they continue Sunday after Sunday after Sunday without making any attempt to reconcile and to, you know, express the Holy Spirit's direction of forgiveness, you know. And I think, Matt, what makes it even more sadder is our children are watching this. Yes, they are. And we wonder why our children are not being influenced more to accept the life of God. And it's because they know that we haven't forgiven, you know, because they hear us talking. Right. That's true. And they hear us talking against the pastor, they hear us talking against other saints. They know that, you know, our kids are not stupid, you know. They know exactly what's going on. And sometimes, I know, you and I, we talk and we look at the next generation and we grieve that they're not more into the things of God and more into worship. A lot of times, it's just because of what they see and what they do. That's true. That's true. Yeah, it's something that we have to really take seriously. You know, just talking about this is just bringing things to my mind, you know. Maybe there's somebody that I have a heart against that, you know, I haven't really totally forgiven. So, you're right. We have to really search our hearts, search ourselves, so that we can make sure we, you know, walk pure and upright. You know, what the scripture also talks about is God won't even listen to our prayers if we have an ought against. That's scary. I know it is scary if we have an ought against our brother. Yeah. And so, that just shows you the seriousness of it. It affects our lives in many aspects. That's very true. Many, many aspects. You're right. Our prayer life, our worship, you know, some of us, we come before God with what we think is a gift to Him, you know, in worship. And He's not even paying any attention to it because of all the junk and all the garbage that's in our hearts. So, that's something that we really need to bring before God and really search our hearts. It's a matter of the heart. Right. Basically. When we started out, we were talking about the destructive power of unforgiveness. And, you know, we really, I think, brought out some really good points of the impact that unforgiveness has. Let's talk a little bit about the power of forgiveness when we're moving into a positive fashion. What does forgiving someone, what does that do when you've been hurt, when you've allowed, you know, bad feelings just to creep in because of what someone has done to you? Robin, what does forgiving someone do spiritually, physically, mentally? Well, Matt, I know for sure it changes your heart and it changes your attitude toward that person. And it humbles you. It does humble you. Yes, it does. Yeah. It really does. It opens up, I think, the floodgates of everything that's beautiful, everything that's godly. It brings power into your life. It brings freedom into your life. We know, we talked earlier about how unforgiveness causes bondage and all that. So, forgiveness is everything that's the opposite. It brings, you know, restitution. It brings restoration. It brings joy and peace. And it's very, very powerful. And the enemy tries his best to keep us from that and keeps us from entering into that flow and that power and that abundant life of forgiveness. Right. I believe God... Maybe you might not accept my apology. Yeah, you know, we have to learn how to forgive regardless of the situation. Even when they don't forgive you, you know, like you were saying, we have to forgive them. I just want to just let the listeners know that God could take your burdens. He could take the load off of you. He could take those things that have totally just weighed you down and He can give you a heart made new. And He has an outstretched hand right now. And if you just come to Him and ask for forgiveness, He'll do that for you. God is such a merciful God and He's full of grace and He's just waiting. This is Robin and Matthew Anderson. And we want to thank you for listening to the New Generation Christian Family Podcast. Thank you. We give glory and honor to you. We give your name the praise. Lord, we know you are worthy of all of the songs we sing. Lord, we know you are worthy of all of the gifts we bring. When we lift our hearts unto you. Singing songs of praise that's so true, oh Lord. We give glory and honor to you. We give your name the praise. So with me now. When we lift our voices to you. Singing songs of praise that's so true, oh Lord. We give glory and honor to you. We give your name the praise. With every song I sing. We give your name the praise. With every gift we bring. We give your name the praise. There's none like you. We give your name the praise. Hallelujah. Thank you, Jesus. Lord, we praise your name. We praise your name. We praise your name. We praise your name. We praise your name. We praise your name. We praise your name. We praise your name. We praise your name. We praise your name. We praise your name. We praise your name. We praise your name. We praise your name. We praise your name. We praise your name. We praise your name. We praise your name. We praise your name. We praise your name. We praise your name. We praise your name. We praise your name. We praise your name. We praise your name. We praise your name. We praise your name. We praise your name. We praise your name. We praise your name. We praise your name. We praise your name. We praise your name. We praise your name. We praise your name. We praise your name. 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