The Vessel Project

Wow, what an evening last night. Since we had just wrapped up the book of Jude and had only two weeks before the end of our 2009 Bible Study schedule (we follow the visitation schedule which ends the week of Thanksgiving and resumes the first week of January), we had one week to discuss one topic.

Our topic was forgiveness.

What a broad topic, but it is one that I am sure was God ordered especially with the recent events in our church.

What did I learn last night? I learned that many times the problems others are going through could have been prevented if I had been on my knees, if I had fasted, and maybe if I had spoken up earlier. This is what God showed me to declare to the class with the vivid illustration of the recent events.

Do you know someone who has truly messed up? Someone who is misguided? Someone who has lost their way? Perhaps this person is only reacting out of fear.

If we are to become mature Christians, we need to see past the hurt in the offender, to the need. We have no choice in this. If we claim the name of Jesus, we are to do as He did, and what He did is recorded in Luke 23:34:

“Then said Jesus, ‘
Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.’
And they parted his raiment, and cast lots.”

We discussed several bible verses on Forgiveness and some very wise quotes:  Here is the list if you would like to read them.

Proverbs 20:22
Do not say, “I’ll pay you back for this wrong!” Wait for the LORD, and he will deliver you.
Micah 7:18-19
Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy. You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea.
Matthew 5:24
Leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.
Matthew 5:44-45
But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.
Matthew 6:9-15
This, then, is how you should pray: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
Matthew 18:21-35
Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?” Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.” “Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him. Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt. The servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go. “But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded. “His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.’ “But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. When the other servants saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed and went and told their master everything that had happened. “Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed. “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart.”
Matthew 26:28
This is my blood of the[a] covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.
Mark 2:5
When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”
Mark 11:25
And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.
Luke 6:35-38;42
But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. “Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.
Luke 7:47-48
Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little.” Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”
Luke 23:34
Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.
Luke 24:46-47
He told them, “This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
John 20:22-23
And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”
Acts 2:38
Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Acts 10:43
All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”
Acts 26:17-18
I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them 18to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’
Ephesians 1:7
In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace
Colossians 1:13
For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves,
Colossians 3:13
Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.
Hebrews 6:1-3
Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God, instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. And God permitting, we will do so.
Hebrews 10:16-23
This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds.”Then he adds: “Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.”And where these have been forgiven, there is no longer any sacrifice for sin. Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.
James 5:16
Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.
1 John 1:7
But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all[a] sin.
1 John 1:9-10
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.

Forgiveness Quotes

• Forgiveness is me giving up my right to hurt you for hurting me.
• Forgiveness is choosing to love. It is the first skill of self-giving love.
• The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.
• To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover the prisoner was you.
• Forgiveness means that you’ve decided not to let it keep festering inside even if it only comes up once in awhile.
• Forgiveness is giving up the possibility of a better past.
• Resentment is like a glass of poison that a man drinks; then he sits down and waits for his enemy to die.
• Know all and you will pardon all.–Thomas Kempis
• We are all full of weakness and errors; let us mutually pardon each other our follies.–Voltaire
• A mature Christian has capacity to absorb the offenses and weaknesses of others, not just demand they perform up to the code of ideals.–Stephen Crosby
• Anger makes you smaller, while forgiveness forces you to grow beyond what you were.–Cherie Carter-Scott
• He who cannot forgive breaks the bridge over which he himself must pass.–George Herbert
• A Christian will find it cheaper to pardon than to resent. Forgiveness saves the expense of anger, the cost of hatred, and the waste of spirit.–Hannah More
• I can forgive, but I cannot forget, is only another way of saying, I will not forgive. Forgiveness ought to be like a cancelled note–torn in two, and burned up, so that it never can be shown against one.– Henry Ward Beecher
• Forgiveness is a funny thing. It warms the heart and cools the sting.–William A. Ward
• You will know that forgiveness has begun when you recall those who hurt you and feel the power to wish them well.–Lewis B. Smedes
• What we forgive too freely doesn’t stay forgiven.–Mignon McLaughlin
• It is easier to forgive an enemy than to forgive a friend.–William Blake
• It is very easy to forgive others their mistakes; it takes more grit and gumption to forgive them for having witnessed your own.–Jessamyn West
• Wrongs are often forgiven, but contempt never is. Our pride remembers it forever.–Lord Chesterfield
• Forgiveness is accepting God’s sovereign use of people and situations to strip you of self importance, and humiliate your self love.–Martha Kilpatrick
• Without deep humility, true forgiveness is impossible…and will never happen.–Martha Kilpatrick
• Forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heal that has crushed it.–Mark Twain
• Never does the human soul appear so strong as when it foregoes revenge, and dares forgive an injury.–E. H. Chapin
• Am I not destroying my enemies when I make friends of them?– Abraham Lincoln
• There is no revenge so complete as forgiveness.– Josh Billings
• Humanity is never so beautiful as when praying for forgiveness, or else forgiving another.–Jean Paul Richter
• The glory of Christianity is to conquer by forgiveness.–William Blake
• Yes, this is what good is: to forgive evil. There is no other good.–Antonio Porchia
• A happy marriage is the union of two good forgivers.–Robert Quillen
• Forgiveness is the final form of love.–Reinhold Niebuhr
• One forgives to the degree that one loves.–Francois de La Rochefoucauld
• ‘Tis the most tender part of love, each other to forgive.–John Sheffield
• Never forget the three powerful resources you always have available to you: love, prayer, and forgiveness.–H. Jackson Brown
• We are all on a life long journey and the core of its meaning, the terrible demand of its centrality is forgiving and being forgiven. –Martha Kilpatrick
• Forgiveness is the giving, and so the receiving, of life.–George MacDonald
• When I become bitter or unforgiving toward others, I’m assuming that the sins of others are more serious than my sins against God.  The cross transforms my perspective.  Through the cross I realize that no sin committed against me will ever be as serious as the innumerable sins I’ve committed against God.  When we understand how much God has forgiven us, it’s not difficult to forgive others.–C.J. Mahaney
• We need not climb up into heaven to see whether our sins are forgiven:  let us look into our hearts, and see if we can forgive others.  If we can, we need not doubt but God as forgiven us.– Thomas Watson
• Forgiveness is not that stripe which says, “I will forgive, but not forget.” It is not to bury the hatchet with the handle sticking out of the ground, so you can grasp it the minute you want it.– D.L. Moody
• Christians are the most forgiven people in the world.  Therefore, we should be the most forgiving people in the world.–Ken Sande