DYSMAS CONDUIT
FREE FOOD
(Isa 55:1)
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2009
Question for the day: Why is forgiveness such a big deal?
What can we pray for YOU about today?
Good morning,
This is just a reminder that every day, while we are studying God’s Word to add to our website, someone from our ministry, Dysmas Conduit, is holding you up before the Lord in prayer. May He greatly bless you today as you pursue His will and He is glorified through you.
God’s blessings, our love,
George & Sidney Granger
Today’s Chapter in God’s Word
Acts 28
(The Message)
Listen at
http://www.audiotreasure.com/webindex.htm
1-2
Once everyone was accounted for and we realized we had all made it, we learned that we were on the
3-6
Paul pitched in and helped. He had gathered up a bundle of sticks, but when he put it on the fire, a venomous snake, roused from its torpor by the heat, struck his hand and held on. Seeing the snake hanging from Paul's hand like that, the natives jumped to the conclusion that he was a murderer getting his just deserts. Paul shook the snake off into the fire, none the worse for wear. They kept expecting him to drop dead, but when it was obvious he wasn't going to, they jumped to the conclusion that he was a god!
7-9
The head man in that part of the island was Publius. He took us into his home as his guests, drying us out and putting us up in fine style for the next three days. Publius's father was sick at the time, down with a high fever and dysentery. Paul went to the old man's room, and when he laid hands on him and prayed, the man was healed. Word of the healing got around fast, and soon everyone on the island who was sick came and got healed.
10-11
We spent a wonderful three months on
12-14
We put in at
14-16
And then we came to
17-20
Three days later, Paul called the Jewish leaders together for a meeting at his house. He said, "The Jews in
21-22
They said, "Nobody wrote warning us about you. And no one has shown up saying anything bad about you. But we would like very much to hear more. The only thing we know about this Christian sect is that nobody seems to have anything good to say about it."
23
They agreed on a time. When the day arrived, they came back to his home with a number of their friends. Paul talked to them all day, from morning to evening, explaining everything involved in the kingdom of God, and trying to persuade them all about Jesus by pointing out what Moses and the prophets had written about him.
24-27
Some of them were persuaded by what he said, but others refused to believe a word of it. When the unbelievers got cantankerous and started bickering with each other, Paul interrupted: "I have just one more thing to say to you. The Holy Spirit sure knew what he was talking about when he addressed our ancestors through Isaiah the prophet:
Go to this people and tell them this:
"You're going to listen with your ears,
but you won't hear a word;
You're going to stare with your eyes,
but you won't see a thing.
These people are blockheads!
They stick their fingers in their ears
so they won't have to listen;
They screw their eyes shut
so they won't have to look,
so they won't have to deal with me face-to-face
and let me heal them."
28
"You've had your chance. The non-Jewish outsiders are next on the list. And believe me, they're going to receive it with open arms!"
30-31
Paul lived for two years in his rented house. He welcomed everyone who came to visit. He urgently presented all matters of the
CURRENT PRAYER REQUESTS:
Please pray for Mike and Sandy Brommer as they spread the Lord’s Seed and witness to His glory while on the road today. Please pray also that the Lord will lead him to Kingdom-profitable loads to carry, and that He grants them safe passage today from
THANK YOU FOR PRAYING FOR PASTOR BOB ALLMANN
Please remain in prayer concerning his continued healing and that he is upheld by the Spirit, becoming physically strong as he returns to serving the Lord… what he loves to do!
Please continue to pray for Billy Hamburg, whose doctors found 5 tumors in his bladder. He had surgery June 29th and the biopsy results showed a cancerous condition. He will be undergoing chemo & radiation treatments and will need the Lord’s Hand to overcome his anxiety as well as the cancer.
Pastor Greg Finke
Luke 15:24, "So they began to celebrate."
The only thing harder than forgiving someone who has wronged us is not forgiving them and carrying all the anger, pain and bitterness around... sometimes for years.
The truth is...the more generously we forgive, the better we feel! As we begin to practice a lifestyle of forgiving people, each act of forgiveness flows more naturally. Why? The grace of God is replacing our human urge to hold the wrong against people. We have peace for turmoil, love for hate, mercy for vengeance, wholeness for hardness, joy and laughter for anger and resentment, and celebrating in the light for stewing in the darkness.
Two Sundays ago in worship, we heard about "how" to forgive. Click here if you would like to watch that August 30 message. Last Sunday, we heard about "why" to forgive. Click here to watch that message.
Why forgive?
In Luke 15:11-32, Jesus tells the story about a father and his two sons. You know the story. The younger son takes his share of the inheritance and squanders it in wild living. Finally, as he is feeding pigs, he comes to his senses. It's time to repent and go home. He knows he has burned his bridges with his family. He presumes they will hold all this against him. After all, he deserves it. They won't be able to forget his arrogance and wild living. He had blown it as a son, but maybe they would take him back as a hired hand.
However, while he is yet a long way off, his father sees him and runs to him. The younger son tries to get his speech out, but his father ignores him. He calls for his son's forgiveness and full restoration to the family! The father is not full of vengeance, he is full of forgiveness. His heart is not hard (as it should be?) but eager to cut their losses. What good would holding this against his son do anyway? They had lost so much time and love already!
No, it was time to forgive and celebrate! And so they began to celebrate, indeed! It was a party of forgiveness!
Of course there was still the older son. He wasn't so interested in forgiving and celebrating. He coddled his brother's wrong and seethed over it. He spat out the list of his brother's sins before the father. He was angry about the party of forgiveness and refused to go in.
And that is where Jesus ends the story. Notice Jesus ends the story without telling us how the story ends. What would happen? It is like a good old fashion cliff hanger.
The party is already underway. The younger son is already forgiven by the father, and the father is pleading with the older son to join them in the party of forgiveness. Will the older brother join the party and forgive his younger brother? Or will he stay outside stewing?
The story remains unresolved because it is, in fact, an invitation - an invitation to the Pharisees and all those who would choose hard hearts to join Him and His Father in the party of forgiveness instead.
Why forgive? Because joining the party of forgiveness is a lot more fun than unforgiveness!
So today we, too, are standing outside the party of forgiveness with the Father. He has given us His invitation to join in. He waits for us to decide. The invitation to forgive generously, as He has forgiven, is before us. His eyes twinkle with hope that we will join in. The invitation to forgive and begin to laugh and celebrate with Him is ours.
What will we do?
Ephesians 4:32, "Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you."
Be wise and be Church!
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