August 24, 2014 WELCOME! WE'RE GLAD YOU'RE HERE We are a group of believers who simply try to follow the Bible as a guide for all we do. Everything done in our worship service is something for which we have a Bible basis. You are welcome to participate as much or as little as you wish. We will sing hymns together and we will observe the Lord's Supper or Communion together. We will also have an opportunity to give to the work of God in this area. This collection is for the members here, and if you are visiting you should not feel and pressure to give. Our lesson time will be divided into two groups. The young children will go to our classroom area in the basement where they will be taught the Bible at a level they can understand. The adults will stay in the auditorium for a lesson at an adult level. We do try to serve the community, and if you have some needs that we can help you with, mention it to one of the members. Thank you for worshipping with us.

TODAY'S LESSON

FORGIVENESS
John Clayton

The song "If I Have Wound Any Soul" was song both before and after this lesson, and was referred to many times during the lesson

In the space below, rate yourself on a scale from 1 to 10 on how you handle things that happen to you that tend to make people angry (1 = no feeling 10 = screaming, yelling, throwing).

1. ROAD RAGE — some one cuts you off, etc.
   
   .....1.....2.....3.....4.....5.....6.....7.....8.....9.....10
   
   
2. You hurt yourself.
   
   .....1.....2.....3.....4.....5.....6.....7.....8.....9.....10
   
   
3. You are cheated by your boss.
   
   .....1.....2.....3.....4.....5.....6.....7.....8.....9.....10
   
   
4. You are cursed at by someone you know.
   
   .....1.....2.....3.....4.....5.....6.....7.....8.....9.....10
   
   
5. You are cursed at by someone you do not now.
   
   .....1.....2.....3.....4.....5.....6.....7.....8.....9.....10
   
   
6. You are solicited by a drunk.
   
   .....1.....2.....3.....4.....5.....6.....7.....8.....9.....10
   
   
7. You are called by a telemarketer at a bad time.
   
   .....1.....2.....3.....4.....5.....6.....7.....8.....9.....10
   
   
8. Your kid or spouse lies to you.
   
   .....1.....2.....3.....4.....5.....6.....7.....8.....9.....10
   
   
9. The preacher gives a bad sermon.
   
   .....1.....2.....3.....4.....5.....6.....7.....8.....9.....10

Today's lesson is on forgiveness. It is not the first time that we have had a lesson on this subject, nor will it be the last. One of the major issues for most people in today's world is forgiveness — perhaps it is the most important issue. In reality, most of what we are discussing in today's lesson is not where the biggest struggle is. If we understand the nature of God, then we can understand that he has the capacity to forgive anything, something which we as humans have a hard time even understanding. How could Jesus be in the middle of being nailed to a cross and ask God to forgive those who were forcing nails through his body (Luke 23:34)? God is God and he has that ability.

Forgiving one another is also easy to understand and usually not too difficult for Christians to do. A good marriage is one in which quick and lasting forgiveness is exchanged over and over between husband and wife. Love makes forgiving easy, and with family that is more obvious, perhaps, than with brothers and sisters in Christ. The fact still remains that when we follow biblical instructions, we can forgive friends and brothers and sisters in Christ who wrong us.

The hardest forgiveness that all of adult Christians have is to forgive ourselves. Maybe I am unique in this area, but I think most of us remember bad decisions, a poor choice of words, going somewhere we should not have gone, being a part of something we should not have been a part of, and perhaps the most damaging — saying something that may have been true, but the way we said it and the spirit in which it was said caused massive pain, estrangement, division, destruction, and really served no purpose and did not need to be said. How I would like to be able to go back and change what I said, what I did, and/or how I treated people, and the memory of all that has given me many sleepless nights. This morning's lesson challenges you to look at your capacity to forgive. Be sure to look at forgiving yourself as you think on the points made in the lesson.

— John Clayton

Our sign by the street!

Sign saying from www.sayingsforchurchsigns.com

If I Have Wounded Any Soul

If I have wounded any soul today / If I have caused one foot to go astray, / If I have walked in my own willfull way, / Dear Lord, forgive.

If I have uttered idle words or vain, / If I have turned aside from want or pain, / Lest I myself shall suffer thro' the strain, / Dear Lord, forgive.

If I have been perverse or hard or cold, / If I have longed for shelter in Thy fold, / When Thou hast given me some fort to hold, / Dear Lord, forgive.

Forgive the sins I have confessed to Thee; / Forgive the secret sins I do not see; / O guide me, love me, and my keeper be, / In Jesus' Name. Amen

Song 320 from Praise for the Lord songbook, published by Praise Press, Nashville, TN, 1997