An ‘All age’ Youth Service. Preaching from Ricky Grosvenor. Service led by Dani Osoba.

Sermon Notes

Why does forgiveness become so difficult?

“Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.”
– Ephesians 4:32

Introduction

The Bible emphasizes forgiveness as a fundamental aspect of
Christian faith.

Both the Old and New Testament encourage believers to seek
forgiveness and extend it to others. In the New Testament, Jesus
Christ teaches the importance of forgiving others, as seen in the
Lord’s Prayer, where believers ask for forgiveness as they forgive
those who trespass against them. This highlights the expectation
for believers to show mercy to others, just as they have received
mercy from God. Forgiveness is central to the Biblical message,
promoting reconciliation, compassion, and the transformative
power of God’s grace.

What do we do when we don’t want to forgive somebody?
We know that forgiveness is not about saying that what the other
person did was okay. It may not have been okay and forgiving
someone may feel like letting them off the hook; but forgiveness is
not always about the other person, it’s about you.

When we decide to forgive there is a spiritual weight that is lifted
from us when we do this.

This does not mean that the relationship or friendship will then
need to be re-established but it’s about setting yourself free from
that weight of holding onto unforgiveness.

“Forgiveness”

Challenge

Where there is a chance of reconciliation then maybe you should
see if that is possible, if you feel that this is something God wants
you to pursue.

The reality is sometimes that we may have gone and said sorry
to somebody else even though we feel that we never actually did
anything wrong.

When we then go to that person to say we are sorry, and to seek
forgiveness, its quite hard that the person may say ‘yes this is
fine’ and accept the apology, but then does not acknowledge that
they had a part to play in this, but again, maybe its about your
journey and where God is taking you.