Tag: Forgiveness

October 15, 2023 Trinity 19 The Sunday of Forgiveness

October 15, 2023 Trinity 19 The Sunday of Forgiveness

Sunday: Trinity 19 | Sermon Text: Matthew 9:1-8

Trinity 19
Matthew 9:1-8
October 15, 2023

“To the Heart and Soul of It”

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

In the book The Fellowship of the Ring, Frodo and company are brought to meet the great elf, Lady Galadriel. After some discussion, she spends some time staring at each one of them, gazing deep down into their hearts and souls and reading their inner selves to see if they are true to the quest. They talk afterward about how they felt naked before her piercing gaze.

Jesus is even better than Lady Galadriel as He doesn’t have to stare at people for a while to read their hearts and souls. He does it instantaneously. In this crowded house in Matthew 9, He stares into the heart of the paralyzed man and sees faith, into the hearts and souls of the paralytic’s friends and sees their faith, and He pierces into the hearts of the scribes and sees evil.

Jesus can see into the very heart and soul of everything. That includes you. At times we use this phrase, “Let’s get to the heart of it.” That’s what Jesus does and that’s our teaching we’re focusing on this morning. That the heart and soul of life, of your life also, is the forgiveness of sins. That’s what every one of you needs more than anything else in the world. You need forgiveness of your sins. You need it more than you need money, more than groceries, more than any you can buy anywhere. You need forgiveness of sins more than you need a laugh, more than you need time to yourself, more than you need “self-care”, more than you need exercise. Your kids need forgiveness of sins more than they need sports, more than they need friends, more than they need to be successful. Let’s get to the heart and soul of it! This is what you and I need to hear most of all and for sure on every Sunday, “Take heart, my child; your sins are forgiven.” You have paralyzing sin—Jesus has forgiveness.

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Trinity 4 The Sunday of Mercy and Removing the Log July 5, 2020

Trinity 4 The Sunday of Mercy and Removing the Log July 5, 2020

Sunday: Trinity 4 | Sermon Text: Luke 6:36-42

Trinity 4
Luke 6:36-42
July 5, 2020

Copyright 2013 Ian M. Welch. Paramentics.com. All Rights Reserved

“Don’t Judge—Live in Forgiveness”

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

“DO NOT JUDGE.” That’s what Jesus says. Right in our text today. Luke chapter 6, verse 37. Don’t judge. Now I know that those words are misused all the time. I know that. I know that people love to take those two words like they’re a baseball bat and club Christians over the head with them, “Don’t judge! Don’t judge! The Bible says so! Jesus says so! Don’t judge.” I know all that. I know that there’s a lot of different meanings for the English word “judge”. Different contexts and different understandings. Yes, and I will make sure to talk about all of that in a little bit here.

BUT, it doesn’t change His words. He means what He says, “Don’t judge.” He didn’t say, “Don’t judge,” and then clarify, “Well, I don’t really mean that you shouldn’t judge.” No, He means that you shouldn’t judge. And that means that you and I need to repent. Because we judge all the time. And I don’t mean we judge in the good kinds of judging. Again, I’ll talk about the different judgings in a minute. But first and foremost, you and I need to ask forgiveness because we’re judgmental in the worst way. Because we’ve judged other people, especially people close to us, with no mercy, no forgiveness, no love, and we’ve been total hypocrites about it.

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Trinity 22 November 17, 2019 The Sunday of the Unforgiving Servant

Trinity 22 November 17, 2019 The Sunday of the Unforgiving Servant

Sunday: Trinity 22 | Sermon Text: Matthew 18:21-35

Trinity 22
Matthew 18:21-35
November 17, 2019

Copyright 2013 by Ian M. Welch. All Rights Reserved. Paramentics.com.

What to do with ‘X’

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Peter asks Jesus the question, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him?” He asked it because Jesus was just talking before that about how to handle a brother who sins against you. So Peter then asks, “How many times do we have to do this?” What Peter is really getting at here is, “Lord, what do you do with someone that annoys you over and over and over again?”

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Trinity 22 October 23, 2016

Trinity 22 October 23, 2016

Sunday: Trinity 22 | Sermon Text: Matthew 18:21-35

Matthew 18:21-35
Trinity 22
October 23, 2016

“Debt Free”

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

You and I aren’t always gracious to others.  That’s what the Gospel reading today teaches.  It teaches us to be gracious to others.  To be forgiving.  But we’re not always good at that.  Instead of forgiving others when they hurt us, we often stew about it and get angry.  We tell others about it.  We hold grudges and think of ways to get revenge.  We think of all the reasons why they just don’t deserve to be forgiven in this case.  So I hope you will see that this Gospel is for you today.  And for me.  I need it too.  We all need help being gracious.  You can think of a person or two right now that you’re holding a grudge against instead of forgiving them.  We need help forgiving others.  And that’s what Jesus gives us.  And He does it by talking about money.  So we’re going to talk about money a bit.

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