Hope Community Church
A casual, topical bible study to help "fill up your tank" in the middle of the week. Come as you are and dig deeper into the Word!
• Hope's Coffee Café - coffee/tea bar in the foyer from 6:30-6:55 PM
• Child Care (ages 6wks-5yrs) & Kids "Mid-Week Mania" (grades K-5th) provided
Lesson 4:
The Importance of Forgiveness
Paul was asking Philemon to forgive someone very close to him.
Scenarios like this make doing so harder because we've:
1) Trusted them.
2) Invested in them.
3) Exposed ourselves to them.
Why forgive anyway?
1. Our spiritual growth depends on it.
A. At that time Philemon had a solid testimony.
Philemon 1:7 NKJV
Why forgive anyway?
1. Our spiritual growth depends on it.
A. At that time Philemon had a solid testimony.
B. Like his, our reputation is always a moving target.
Philemon 1:21 NKJV
Why forgive anyway?
2. It reveals the condition of our heart.
Philemon 1:7, 12, 20 NKJV
Why forgive anyway?
2. It reveals the condition of our heart.
A. Compassion is not a detached emotion.
B. Compassion addresses the human experience of being moved by and toward someone else.
» The verbal form of this word was used by Jesus in two of the most profound parables in the New Testament.
• The Good Samaritan (Love for outsiders.)
Luke 10:30-37 NKJV
Why forgive anyway?
2. It reveals the condition of our heart.
A. Compassion is not a detached emotion.
B. Compassion addresses the human experience of being moved by and toward someone else.
» The verbal form of this word was used by Jesus in two of the most profound parables in the New Testament.
• The Good Samaritan (Love for outsiders.)
• The Prodigal Son (Love for insiders.)
Luke 15:11-32 NKJV
Why forgive anyway?
3. Because hurt people... hurt people.
Philemon 1:18-19 NKJV
Why forgive anyway?
3. Because hurt people... hurt people.
A. Paul was willing to put himself on the line to minimize the fallout.
B. A failure to forgive always makes matters worse, never better.
Ephesians 4:31 NKJV
Why forgive anyway?
4. It makes us more like Jesus.
Philemon 1:25 NKJV
Why forgive anyway?
4. It makes us more like Jesus.
A. We find the moral courage to forgive by focusing on Christ, not the offender.
B. We forgive by faith out of a desire to be obedient to Christ.
Ephesians 4:32 NKJV
In Conclusion:
“True Christ likeness comes at the point where it is hard not to respond as He would.”
—Dallas Willard (The Spirit of Disciplines)