Kopfbereich

James 4:1-12 and Romans 12:1-21

The currency of God’s Kingdom

If money makes the world go around what makes God’s Kingdom tick? In the world people at the top are those who are famous, beautiful, powerful, rich, influential. Much of these qualities are accompanied with pride. One reason we struggle to forgive is pride. We are important in our own eyes and so we get angry rather than forgive. The economy of God’s Kingdom is the opposite of the world’s, it’s not pride but humility that has currency with God.

I'm not arrogant. I'm just better than you

God opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble. James 4:6

Pride is your enemy, it destroys more than your life by spilling into the people who are closest to you. Let me help you walk in the humble steps of Christ so that you can forgive and be forgiven. the Rev

07 Forgive: It's Redemptive (Sunday's Message)

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Redeeming Memories

Unforgiveness is what you uncover when you look beneath the surface of anger. Every time you get annoyed, frustrated, resentful and angry you have the option of forgiving which pulls the plug on anger. I’ve found it amusing practicing forgiveness while driving my car. When I start to feel annoyed or angry at drivers who are ill mannered, I forgive them. Calm is restored. You can try this one at home, work, and with your friends.

Forgiveness redeems your Past, Present and Future

Can anything be done about things I’ve done which stubbornly force themselves into my thinking to be replayed in my mind? Stuff I’m angry that I did or didn’t stop when I had a chance. Some people have shared with me their innermost secrets and innermost struggles. In common with them all is a sense of being unable to forgive themselves for something that happened in their past. They can’t seem to forget their bad memory, so they carry it with them like an emotional injury which won’t heal. Bad memories hurt and sometimes they make us feel like we need to punish ourselves.

08 Forgive: It's Caring (Sunday's Message)

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Redeeming Memories

Forgive, Care and Grow

06 Forgive: It's Invincible (Sunday's Message)

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The stone that will kill your Goliath

I have a weakness with spiders. As a boy my nightmares would be filled with spiders, crawling everywhere and on me. Only in the last few years have I overcome my fear enough to catch or kill a huntsmen spider. Before then it was my wife’s job.

Forgiveness takes courage

We all have something in our lives which is like Goliath was to David, a huge dangerous problem/monster. David had faith in God and killed Goliath with a sling and a stone. I’d like to encourage you with the idea that forgiveness can be like the stone David used to kill his monster.

05 Forgive: It's Confronting (Sunday's Message)

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Sorry is not Ok

It is very common for us to say ‘sorry’ and to respond with ‘it’s ok.’ When in reality it is not ‘ok.’ It is not ‘ok’ for me to steal from you, to lie to you, to break your trust, to deliberately hurt you. We don’t realise the significant difference between saying sorry and asking for someone’s forgiveness.

What does sorry mean anyway?

I’m certain that there are lots of people who are sorry they are in jail but not because of what they did but rather because of the consequence of what landed them in jail. So when we say ‘sorry’ we might not even be apologising at all. Kids often are forced by adults to say ‘sorry’ but they often do so reluctantly and often with some sort of specific speech impediment.

04 Forgive: It's Purpose (Sunday's Message)

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2 Corinthians 5:12-21

Forgive

One of the things I hate about being a Pastor of a Church is that usually I am made to experience what I’m preaching. If I’m preaching on patience, then things go really wrong and get very frustrating. God has fun with me. Someone jokingly said I should preach on being wealthy, ha ha.

Forgiving leads to reconciliation

To get my own back I’ve been preaching a sermon series in an area which I’ve already started to work on. I’ve made a remarkable discovery. For a long time I’ve been working hard to overcome my tendency to get angry - with my kids, with my wife, with my Church and with my God. As the intoxicating fumes of anger began to clear I suddenly saw that a lot of my anger was fuelled by unforgiveness.

03 Forgive: It's impossible? (Sunday's Message)

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Psalm 103:1-14

The Mt Everest of forgiveness

No one has ever climbed Mount Everest without prior mountaineering experience. A lot of preparation, training and cost goes into attempting to mount her summit.

Forgiveness can be like climbing Mt Everest

It is the same with forgiveness. Perhaps you have deep wounds, been treated incredibly unjustly and had unspeakable evil committed against you. The idea of forgiving these things looks impossible, just like climbing Mt Everest.

02 Forgive: It's Expensive (Sunday's Message)

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2 Samuel 12:1-14

Becoming generous

There is no cheap way of becoming generous. A birthday gift that has not cost the giver either in effort, thought or expense is cheap. Gifts given to fulfil a social custom are cheap no matter what they actually cost. Real generosity costs.

Unforgiveness is like cholesterol

Interestingly, whenever real love is mentioned in the Bible it is often with reference to ‘giving.’ For example: “For God so loved the world that he gave is only begotten Son…” The gift God gave the world cost him personally. Had he given us the world or a star, it would have been no big deal since he can make such things out of thin air. However, he chose to rob heaven of its greatest treasure so that we might receive the most costly of gifts.

01 Forgive: It's Important (Sunday's Message)

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