[SPEAKER_00]: Today, we continue our weeklong focus on forgiveness by looking at the incredible gift of forgiveness we've been offered in Jesus.
[SPEAKER_00]: Every command God has given us, He has already supplied the grace to live in obedience to.
[SPEAKER_00]: Forgiveness is no different.
[SPEAKER_00]: May we find the grace to forgive as we rest in the forgiveness we've already been offered through our Savior.
[SPEAKER_00]: Welcome to the first 15 podcast.
[SPEAKER_00]: Our Scripture for today comes from Ephesians 4, verse 32, Scripture says, be kind to one another,
[SPEAKER_00]: Before we have the ability to live a lifestyle of forgiveness, we must discover the depth of forgiveness we have received in Jesus.
[SPEAKER_00]: God's love is the foundation for our own love.
[SPEAKER_00]: His forgiveness is the foundation for our own forgiveness.
[SPEAKER_00]: In order to love to greater depth, we must continuously reflect on the nature of our own sin and God's overwhelming mercy.
[SPEAKER_00]: In Luke 7, verses 44 through 47, Jesus reveals an important spiritual principle about forgiveness, sacrifice, and love.
[SPEAKER_00]: A sinful woman has just come and ministered to Jesus, cleaning his feet with her own tears, hair, and alabaster oimen.
[SPEAKER_00]: When Simon a Pharisee saw the incredible act of love, he judged the woman, and Jesus in his heart.
[SPEAKER_00]: Knowing Simon's thoughts, Jesus says to him, Do you see this woman?
[SPEAKER_00]: I entered your house.
[SPEAKER_00]: You gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair.
[SPEAKER_00]: You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in, she has not ceased to kiss my feet.
[SPEAKER_00]: You did not annoy my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment.
[SPEAKER_00]: Therefore, I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven for she loved much, but he who is forgiven little, loves little, he who is forgiven little, loves little, allows Jesus words to settle into your heart for a minute.
[SPEAKER_00]: God turns our greatest sins into His greatest triumphs.
[SPEAKER_00]: He takes our greatest transgressions, offers us mercy for them all, and transforms them into life-giving rivers of love and forgiveness.
[SPEAKER_00]: until you and I understand the depth to which we were enslaved to sin.
[SPEAKER_00]: We will never love to our greatest potential.
[SPEAKER_00]: Until we understand how vast the chasm was that separated us from God and compare it to our new position seated with Christ in the heavenly places.
[SPEAKER_00]: We will never forgive others to the depth God calls us to.
[SPEAKER_00]: While we were by nature, holy and worthy, God called us out from darkness and brought us into the light.
[SPEAKER_00]: While we were unable to pursue righteousness, God saved us, and gave us a new identity as his sons and daughters made righteous and pure.
[SPEAKER_00]: Before the forgiveness offered you through Christ, you had no access to true relationship with your Heavenly Father.
[SPEAKER_00]: You had no access to the fruit of the Spirit.
[SPEAKER_00]: You had no way to know and experience the depths of God's love.
[SPEAKER_00]: Your life was rooted in destruction with no way out.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yet God saw fit, to forgive every transgression you have ever committed and will commit.
[SPEAKER_00]: The Father so longed for your restoration to Him that He paid the highest price of Jesus' death.
[SPEAKER_00]: take time today to truly reflect on the depravity to which you once belonged, and on the new nature, portion, and depth of relationship available to you by the forgiveness of God.
[SPEAKER_00]: Allow the Lord to forgive any present failures that are robbing you of the abundant life Jesus died to give you.
[SPEAKER_00]: and allow the Spirit to fill you with compassion and mercy for others, that you might forgive them in response to the forgiveness you have received.
[UNKNOWN]: you
[SPEAKER_00]: Begin by meditating on your life before salvation and your life after salvation.
[SPEAKER_00]: Allow God's word to paint a picture of just how powerful and merciful God's forgiveness is.
[SPEAKER_00]: Isaiah 59 verses one through two says,
[SPEAKER_00]: But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.
[SPEAKER_00]: And next, what sin would the Lord have you confess today?
[SPEAKER_00]: Where do you need forgiveness?
[UNKNOWN]: Thank you.
[SPEAKER_00]: And last, ask the Holy Spirit to fill you with compassion for others today.
[SPEAKER_00]: Ask Him to make you quick to forgive in light of the forgiveness you've been shown.
[SPEAKER_00]: Ask Him to help you keep no record of wrongs so that you can love others with His love.
[SPEAKER_00]: Ephesians 4 verse 32 says, Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another,
[SPEAKER_00]: May Psalm 103 vs 10 through 14 fill you with love for your heavenly Father and compassion for others today.
[SPEAKER_00]: Scripture says, He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our inequities.
[SPEAKER_00]: For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him.
[SPEAKER_00]: As far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.
[SPEAKER_00]: As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.
[SPEAKER_00]: For he knows our frame, he remembers that we are dust.
[SPEAKER_00]: Thanks so much for listening to today's podcast on our forgiveness in Jesus.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm Josh with 1st of team.
[SPEAKER_00]: No matter what you've done, the heart of God is filled with just as much forgiveness for you today as it was the day Christ died for you.
[SPEAKER_00]: May you carry that truth forward with you today and may it produce compassion and grace within you for yourself and others around you.
[SPEAKER_00]: You