Welcome to the In Touch podcast with Charles Stanley for Wednesday, May 21st.

You've probably heard the story of the prodigal son.

Today, you'll see the Father as a picture of our forgiving Heavenly Father.

I want to show somebody you how to begin to enjoy your Christian life for the first time.

You've been saved a long time, but somehow you've just not really been able to feel and to sense and to experience the joy of it.

Did you know that unforgiveness is a form of bondage?

That if you have an unforgiving spirit toward anyone, you put yourself in bondage.

Likewise, if you sense someone else has an unforgiving spirit toward you, and you don't respond to that properly, again, you place yourself in bondage.

But the worst form of bondage relating to unforgiveness is the form of bondage that comes as

a result of feeling, of thinking, or perceiving that God has not forgiven me or that God will not

forgive me. Because along with the bondage comes

a feeling, a sense of an awareness of rejection and condemnation from God. Not that he does

express those emotions, but that's what we feel. But all through the Bible, the Bible says that

God is a forgiving God.

When God identified himself and addressed Moses on one occasion, he said, I'm going to pass by.

And he said to him, Moses, he said, I'm a God of forgiveness and loving kindness.

Nehemiah, talking about God, said he's a God of forgiveness. The psalmist says that God is

ready to forgive. Daniel says that forgiveness belongs to God. All through the scriptures, he is

pictured as a forgiving God. But the most graphic picture, the most graphic demonstration,

illustration of the spirit of forgiveness on God's part

is to be found in Luke chapter 15. And that's the title of this message, Our Forgiving Father.

And I want you to see how God perceives your sin, how God responds to your sin. And my friend, until you understand the truth about forgiveness,

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