New Article Published

I have published my latest article on Examiner.com.  The article is a Bible study on love.  The main focus is on 1 John 4:8 and 16 and Romans 12:9-21.  Did you know that the word 'love' is mentioned 314 times in the Bible?  God would not have continued to repeat Himself if He did not think this subject important.  Since God is love (1 John 4:8) I would say that it is a VERY important subject.  Click on this blog title to be taken to the article and give it a read.  I think you will enjoy it.  I would also love to hear your comments.  I personally think that this is discussion worthy.

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Ideas, Ideas, Ideas!

I have finished my study on forgiveness.  To read all the articles visit my Examiner.com page (see the link below).  Now I am looking for new ideas.  I thought about studying and writing about the Fruits of the Spirit and/or the different kinds of prayer such as thankfulness, intercession, and supplication.  I would love to hear from my readers on what they would like to read next.  As always I am open to all suggestions and ideas.  If any of you know of any local (to my area) Bible studies I would love to hear about it.

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Forgiveness Part 2

This article is a continuation of my article on Forgiveness that was published on May 20, 2011.  To read the article, go to http://www.examiner.com/bible-study-in-winstonsalem/forgiveness.

In the first article we were looking at the parable in Matthew 18:21-35.  How does this parable relate to us?  Let’s break it down.  In our lives the king is God, we are the servant being forgiven, the debt is our sins, and the servant that was not forgiven is everyone else.  Just as the king felt mercy for the servant and forgave him his debt, God has done for us.  Just as God has forgiven us so we must forgive others. 

Ephesians 4:32 tell us to “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.  God also tells us in Matthew 6:12, 14-15 “And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.  For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.  But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.”  We must forgive each other because God tells us to. 

We must prepare ourselves to forgive by putting on the attitude of forgiveness.  How do we do this?  Wolf Salewski of Taylorsville, NC says, “If we have an attitude of forgiveness we have dealt with the problem within ourselves.  Until we do we are not ready to forgive.”  George Vedder, an elder at Taylorsville Bible Chapel, quoted Thomas Chalmers, “Unforgiveness is the poison we drink hoping another will die.”  Let’s think on that.  Do we really want the person asking our forgiveness to die?  Surely not!  Even worse, having an unforgiving spirit may very well cause us to slowly die spiritually.

During the discussion of this topic a great question was brought up.  Why do we not want to deal with forgiveness?  The general consensus was because it requires us to look within and we will then see our own shortcomings.  It is our human nature to want to think ourselves better than others.  Forgiveness requires humility which means we must step down off the pedestals we have put ourselves upon.

The main important conclusion we have come to here is this:  When we are asked for forgiveness our only option is to forgive.

Forgiveness

Everyone needs forgiveness. More importantly, everyone needs to know how to forgive. God is so loving and gracious that He shows us why it is so important and how we are to forgive others.

In Matthew 18:21-35 Jesus tells his followers a parable about a king and his servant that owes him a lot of money. The king demands payment from the servant and the servant begs for the kings patience and more time to pay the debt. The king felt compassion for the man and forgave him his debt. The servant then came upon a fellow servant that owed him money. He demanded payment of the debt and when the other servant begged for patience just as he had done with the king, the man refused and has the other servant put in jail. When the king heard of it he put the servant in jail until his debt was paid.

Taylorsville Bible Chapel (TBC) is presenting a Bible study on this section of scripture and the subject of forgiveness this Sunday, May 22, 2011. I encourage you to join them for this session. Their Sunday School service starts at 11 am. Sunday is also their Fellowship Dinner where the members bring a pot luck dish and enjoy fellowship while eating a delicious lunch. All are welcome! After the dinner the study will resume.

Read the scripture, Matthew 18:21-35, and join the members on Sunday. Some questions that will be considered are:

1. What is a parable?
2. What is God telling you in the parable?
3. Can you find other scripture references of ‘Forgiveness’?
4. How do they support the parable of Matthew 18?

I would like to extend a special thank you to Wolf Salewski, a valued member of TBC, for the handout concerning the Bible Study.

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