“Community: Working Through Forgiveness” 
Rev. Blake Altman, Lead Pastor

God intends to change you by His Word. How is He at work in you to do that?  Read the following passages and consider these questions. 

READ

Matthew 6:9-15 (ESV)

9 Pray then like this: "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. 10 Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us this day our daily bread, 12 and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil." 14 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, 15 but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

QUESTIONS (20 minutes)

Main point: through living in community, there are three traps we can avoid, thus bringing hope.

Forgiveness from God's Perspective

1. Is God's forgiveness of sin conditional upon belief and repentance? Why/why not?

2. Verse 12 instructs us to forgive as God forgives. What's difficult about doing that?

Forgiveness from Our Perspective

1. When God forgives, the relationship is necessarily restored. But when one person forgives another person, sometimes the relationship isn't restored. Why is this the case?

2. Pastor Blake said that "therapeutic forgiveness is ceasing to feel bitter. Biblical forgiveness is a commitment to pardon the offender." How are these two different/similar?

3. Pastor Blake said that "the forgiving person always pays the price of forgiveness." Why is this the case?

4. We should always have a "posture toward forgiveness" (Col. 3:13). What does this posture look like? How is it cultivated?

5. Matt 5:23 instructs us that if "your brother has something against you...", go to him and seek restoration. Matt 18:15ff instructs us that "if your brother sins against you...", go to him and seek restoration. In the first, the offender is commanded to seek restoration. In the second, the offended is to seek restoration. Which is more difficult, when you are the offended or the offender? Why?

PRAYER (10-15 minutes) 

Personal Response: Consider getting each person to ask themselves, In what areas do I need to seek forgiveness as the offender? and In what areas do I need to give forgiveness as the offended? Leave silence for the Holy Spirit to work in each person’s heart. In light of what God may have shown them, people may share personal prayer requests. Close with prayer together.