Hello, thank you for joining me today for Give Him 15.

The title of our post today is, The Power of Forgiveness.

Yesterday I spoke with you about offenses and forgiveness.

The New Testament word translated as offense, an offense actually came from animal traps.

This word was the stick upon which a piece of raw meat was placed.

Isn't that interesting?

When an animal reached for the meat, the trap was sprung and they were captured.

It's very revealing that the word for offense basically means

to take the bait. This is also why it is called picking up an offense. Regarding forgiveness,

and yesterday's post, we mentioned that the New Testament word means to release.

A good translation of Luke 637 would be release, and you will be released.

When we release the person who has offended or wounded us, we can then be released from the

bruises and pain they caused.

Releasing them releases us. Yesterday I explained how to do that. Some of the difficulties,

how we can overcome those, things that hinder us from doing so. We also said yesterday that forgiveness is a choice,

a decision, not a feeling. My testimony, I want to share with you a story from my life. When I was

17 years old, my family went through a very difficult time. The board of directors of the church my father had planted, removed him,

and took the home where we were living. The house had been given to our family, but for tax

purposes, it was put in the church's name. We were left penniless and homeless. I didn't know at the time

that they'd removed my father because of immorality. Shortly thereafter, he divorced my mother and

married the other woman. Our family was devastated once again. Circumstances had gone from bad to

catastrophic. I became bitter at dad for his role in this and at the church that abandoned my family,

...