Post by brobob on Oct 11, 2006 11:35:12 GMT -5
I was going to begin some training on evangelism with our adults tonight during our prayer meeting/devotional time...but i'm feeling led to make a change and discuss forgiveness.
The tragedy that took place this past week in Lancaster County, PA really has me thinking about the need we all have to forgive and be forgiven.
Think about this:
* A group from the Amish community where this tragedy took place attended the funeral of the man who brought the pain and destruction into their lives and basically their homes.
* The Amish have been taken donations, mostly of food, but other needs also for the family of the man who shot their daughters.
* One Amish woman said, "We can tell people about Christ and actually show you in our walk that we forgive, not just say it, but in our walk of life. You know you have to live it, you can't just say it. "
* Another one of the Amish was asked, "How can you forgive something so horrible?" her response was, "When you have Christ in you, that is just what you do."
* While the mother of a 13 year old victim embalmed her daughter with the family near by witnessing this, their grandfather lovingly comforted them and said, "Forgive," he was instructing them... "forgive, as God forgives us..."
I don't know about you, but i get mad when someone takes a parking spot i was intending to use at Walmart...and it ruins my day. What is that compared to what these people have gone through?
I don't know enough about Amish/Mennonite theology to truly say if they believe in salvation by grace through faith alone...but i'm seeing them live out the life that i rarely don't see in those who are saved by grace through faith alone (myself included).
Now think about these:
Matthew 6:12 says, "Add forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors"
Mark 11:25, "And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses."
Ephesians 4:32, "And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you."
and finally, Luke 23:34, "Then said Jesus, 'Father forgiven them...'"
If i have offended on here in the past, i ask and beg for your forgiveness.
God forgives and has forgiven us through the death of His Only Begotten, the Amish have forgiven for what they have gone through...what in your life compares to this that you can't forgive?
The tragedy that took place this past week in Lancaster County, PA really has me thinking about the need we all have to forgive and be forgiven.
Think about this:
* A group from the Amish community where this tragedy took place attended the funeral of the man who brought the pain and destruction into their lives and basically their homes.
* The Amish have been taken donations, mostly of food, but other needs also for the family of the man who shot their daughters.
* One Amish woman said, "We can tell people about Christ and actually show you in our walk that we forgive, not just say it, but in our walk of life. You know you have to live it, you can't just say it. "
* Another one of the Amish was asked, "How can you forgive something so horrible?" her response was, "When you have Christ in you, that is just what you do."
* While the mother of a 13 year old victim embalmed her daughter with the family near by witnessing this, their grandfather lovingly comforted them and said, "Forgive," he was instructing them... "forgive, as God forgives us..."
I don't know about you, but i get mad when someone takes a parking spot i was intending to use at Walmart...and it ruins my day. What is that compared to what these people have gone through?
I don't know enough about Amish/Mennonite theology to truly say if they believe in salvation by grace through faith alone...but i'm seeing them live out the life that i rarely don't see in those who are saved by grace through faith alone (myself included).
Now think about these:
Matthew 6:12 says, "Add forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors"
Mark 11:25, "And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses."
Ephesians 4:32, "And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you."
and finally, Luke 23:34, "Then said Jesus, 'Father forgiven them...'"
If i have offended on here in the past, i ask and beg for your forgiveness.
God forgives and has forgiven us through the death of His Only Begotten, the Amish have forgiven for what they have gone through...what in your life compares to this that you can't forgive?