ST.

THOMAS SUBURBAN
PASTORAL CHARGE
Sunday, November 14 , 2010
th

At Talbotville and Yarmouth

Centre United Churches
 CALL TO WORSHIP
Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord. Lord, hear
our voice! Let your ears be attentive to our call. If
you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, Lord, who
could stand? But there is forgiveness with you, so
that you may be revered. I wait for the Lord, my
soul waits, and in his word I hope; We wait for the
Lord. We hope in his word. My soul waits for the
Lord more than those who watch for the morning.
O people of God, hope in the Lord! For with the
Lord there is steadfast love, and with him is great
power to redeem. --Adapted from Psalm 130.
 HYMN
VU#315
Holy, Holy, Holy
Lord God Almighty
PRAYER
 HYMN
Hymn VU#959
The Lord’s
Prayer
Music
Ministry
Children’s
Time
The Offering of our
Tithes and Gifts
Prayer of
Dedication
 HYMN
Hymn VU#371
Open My Eyes
That I May See
 SCRIPTURE
READINGS
Matthew 6:5-13
"When you pray, you are not to
be like the hypocrites; for they
love to stand and pray in the
synagogues and on the street
corners so that they may be
seen by men Truly I say to you,
they have their reward in full.
Matthew 6:5
"But you, when you pray, go
into your inner room, close
your door and pray to your
Father who is in secret, and
your Father who sees what is
done in secret will reward you.
Matthew 6:6
"And when you are praying, do
not use meaningless repetition
as the Gentiles do, for they
suppose that they will be heard
for their many words. 8 "So do
not be like them; for your Father
knows what you need before you
ask Him.
Matthew 6:7-8
"Pray, then, in this way:
Our Father who is in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name. 10
'Your kingdom come Your will
be done, On earth as it is in
heaven.
Matthew 6:9
Give us this day our daily bread.
12 'And forgive us our debts, as
we also have forgiven our
debtors. 13 'And do not lead us
into temptation, but deliver us
from evil. For Yours is the
kingdom and the power and the
glory forever. Amen.’
Matthew 6:11-13
14 For if you forgive others for
their transgressions, your
heavenly Father will also
forgive you. 15"But if you do
not forgive others, then your
Father will not forgive your
transgressions. 
Matthew 6:14-15
The Parable of the Unmerciful Servant -
Matthew 18:21-35
Then Peter came to Jesus and
asked, “Lord, how many times
shall I forgive my brother or sister
who sins against me? Up to
seven times?” 22 Jesus
answered, “I tell you, not seven
times, but seventy-seven times.
23 “Therefore, the kingdom of
heaven is like a king who wanted
to settle accounts with his
servants. 24 As he began the
settlement, a man who owed him
ten thousand bags of gold was
brought to him. 
25 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. 26 “At this the servant fell
on his knees before him. ‘Be
patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and
I will pay back everything.’ 
28 “But when that servant went out,
he found one of his fellow servants
who owed him a hundred silver
coins. He grabbed him and began to
choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe
me!’ he demanded. 29 “His fellow
servant fell to his knees and begged
him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will
pay it back.’ 
30 “But he refused. Instead, he
went off and had the man thrown
into prison until he could pay the
debt. 31 When the other servants
saw what had happened, they
were outraged and went and told
their master everything that had
happened. 
32 “Then the master called the
servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’
he said, ‘I canceled all that debt
of yours because you begged me
to. 33 Shouldn’t you have had
mercy on your fellow servant just
as I had on you?’ 
34 In anger his master handed
him over to the jailers to be
tortured, until he should pay back
all he owed. 35 “This is how my
heavenly Father will treat each of
you unless you forgive your
brother or sister from your heart."
These two passage
point out the
absolute necessity
of forgiveness.
First we need to try
and understand
what forgiveness is
and what it is not.
Forgiveness is
bearing the
consequences of
other’s actions
without seeking to
“make them pay….”
In other words
forgiveness is not
seeking revenge.
Forgiveness is
leaving the deeds of
the past in the past….
Forgiveness is driving
bitterness towards
others for what they
have or we perceive
they have done towards
us out of our hearts.
Forgiveness is based on
our first being forgiven
by God.
Forgiveness is not a
restoration of a
relationship.
Many times people feel
that they must restore a
relationship in order to
have fully forgiven.
Forgiveness is the first step in
restoration of relationships but
a relationship is two sided and
unless the other person is
willing to be restored and
meet the conditions of
restoration (repentance and
transformation) forgiveness
will not force them to do so.
With that same thought in
mind forgiveness is not
allowing a person to endlessly
abuse us simply by saying
they are sorry.
An invited guest who steals
from your home may be
forgiven but never again
asked to visit your home until
they have truly changed their
ways.
Forgiveness is not meant to be a
cover for wrong actions. If
criminal activity is involved even
if we forgive there needs to be a
recognition of the wrong done
and consequences for the wrong
for the safety of others and the
hope of change in the offender.
In these cases forgiveness is
more about the motives of our
heart rather than a letting go of
consequences. The purpose of
the consequences is for good
and not for “payment” or
“revenge”.
It is important to know that God
does not just love us..... He loves
everyone. Here lies one reason
He desires to forgive and for us
to forgive.
Forgiveness
sets those God
loves free.
It is for freedom that Christ
has set us free. Stand firm,
then, and do not let
yourselves be burdened
again by a yoke of slavery.
Galatians 5:1
It sets us free in several ways.
My list may not be
comprehensive but it reflects my
personal journey into
forgiveness.
Forgiveness
Frees Others
John 20:23 "If you forgive the
sins of any, their sins have
been forgiven them; if you
retain the sins of any, they
have been retained.”
What an incredible power for
good or destruction we have
been given in forgiveness. We
can forgive or we can bind
them with unforgiveness and
send them into a prison. It is
in our power.
Perhaps the most powerful
story in the bible about the
power of forgiveness is the
prodigal son being welcomed
back to his home by a father
who has been daily looking
for him with forgiveness in his
heart.
Had his father turned him
away his life would have
never been restored.
Forgiveness makes a way for
others to make terrible
mistakes and yet come back
from them to be restored and
live in a positive way.
The Bible is full of stories of
people just like you and me,
who made a terrible mess of
their lives but because of the
forgiveness of God and others
turned their lives around to
become men and women of
honor.
Without forgiveness it would
have been impossible for
them to have done so.
Forgiveness
Sets Us Free
Matthew 18:32 “Then the master called
the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he
said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours
because you begged me to. 33 Shouldn’t
you have had mercy on your fellow
servant just as I had on you?’ 34 In anger
his master handed him over to the jailers
to be tortured, until he should pay back all
he owed. 35 “This is how my heavenly
Father will treat each of you unless you
forgive your brother or sister from your
heart."
We are placed in a
prison of torment
until we forgive as
we have been
forgiven.
C.S. Lewis once said
that forgiveness is more
about our hearts being
set free than it is about
the one who wronged
us.
How true this is. When
we refuse to forgive we
are tormented. We are
bound in fetters of pain,
bitterness and self-pity.
If we think about it for a
moment we will all
remember a time when
we saw the fruit of
unforgiveness either in
our own, or in other’s
lives.
Something dies inside
us when we will not put
the past behind us but
continually revisit in
bitterness the wrongs
done to us by others in
the past.
In a strange
entanglement of
bondage when we do
not forgive we often
become like and act in
similar ways as those
we do not forgive.
If we allow another to
capture us in
unforgiveness we are
not harmed once, we
are harmed over and
over again.
Like a cancer eating away
their insides, this person we
will not forgive’s deeds
grow larger and larger until
our whole life is lived in the
torment of daily reliving the
pain of the past.
Forgiveness sets of free of
the prison of torment.
It accepts, grieves and
releases the wrong and
consigns it to the past
where it should stay.
Forgiveness removes the
poison of bitterness from
the pain of loss.
Forgiveness
Sets God Free
The most important person
that forgiveness sets free is
God.
That may seem like a
wrong thing to say. God is
not bound by us..... or is
He? Read His Word to us
again
Matthew 6:14 For if you
forgive others for their
transgressions, your heavenly
Father will also forgive you.
15"But if you do not forgive
others, then your Father will
not forgive your
transgressions.
God keeps His Word. We
know He desires to forgive us.
Jesus died to purchase that
privilege for us. 
People say God loves you no
matter what you do and that is
true. But He still is true to His
Word.   
God does many things he
does not want to do but has to
because He has given His
Word.    
If we believe God we will also
believe what He says. It is
perfectly clear from these two
passages and others like
them, if we hold
unforgiveness in our hearts,
God will not forgive us.    
He forgave us and wants to
continue in that forgiveness.  
 
But we take away His
freedom to forgive us when
we will not forgive others.   
In spite of being born again,
being filled with the Holy Spirit,
knowing the Bible well and even
having a ministry if we do not
forgive everyone from our hearts
God is put in the terrible position
of having to discipline us by
calling to account sins we were
once forgiven of. 
In spite of being born again,
being filled with the Holy Spirit,
knowing the Bible well and even
having a ministry if we do not
forgive everyone from our hearts
God is put in the terrible position
of having to discipline us by
calling to account sins we were
once forgiven of. 
There is no other way of
interpreting the passage in
Matthew 18. The master forgave
it all but when the servant
refused to follow his example he
ended up throwing him into the
prison until he paid the former
debt that had been forgiven.
God is bound to do what He says
He must do if we do not forgive,
even though it is not his first
desire for us.....
If unforgiveness binds
God, forgiveness
frees Him to do what
He loves to do....
forgive us.
How can
we forgive?
I want to suggest
three practical ways
to help us to forgive
others.
The first way I found
to really set others
free from what they
have done to me is to
give the loss to God
as an offering.
The first way I found
was to allow myself to
grieve over the loss
by expressing my
feelings in prayer.
The second way I
found to really set
others free from what
they have done to me
is to give the loss to
God as an offering.
The third way, in those
situations where you feel it to
be outside of your ability to
forgive is to do what Corie Ten
Boom did with her sister’s
tormentor and allow God to
forgive through you.
PASTORAL
PRAYER
 HYMN
Hymn VU#672
Take Time To Be
Holy
 BENEDICTION
THREE-FOLD AMEN