How To...#4 - Forgive

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Grace Church holds a Meet & Greet for those who are newer to Grace Church on the 4th Sunday of each month. Our next Meet & Greet will be held today, October 27th, following the service in CJ's coffee shop. It is a great opportunity to meet the staff and leadership of Grace Church and learn a little more about the church. It also gives us an opportunity to learn a little about you! Contact Leslie Booher if you have any questions ([email protected]).

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CJ's coffee shop will be open on Wednesday nights 6:00-7:30 pm. This is a great time to invite others and "pull up a chair" to have conversations.

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An important message about communications from Grace Church...
Our church database, Breeze Church Management, has notified us of a new federal requirement regarding texts sent from Breeze.On October 23rd, any church member that has been texted in the last 30 days, will receive the following message: "Grace Church is verifying you want to receive reminders & alerts from Breeze ChMS. Reply YES to opt-in, STOP to cancel. Msg&data rates may apply."
Unless you reply YES to this message you will no longer receive messages from Breeze ChMS on behalf of Grace Church. This includes the Volunteer Reminders. Please contact the church office if you have any questions regarding this ([email protected]).

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Grace Church is looking for attenders with medical training who would be interested in joining the church medical team. If you are interested in learning more, contact Ryan Hickey ([email protected]).

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Monday, October 28th - Becky Wilson
Tuesday, October 29th - Karen Smith
Wednesday, October 30th - Katrina Joppie
Thursday, October 31st - Elaina Nowicke, Hudson Whitten
Friday, November 1st - Kevin Doyle, Elesha Smith
Saturday, November 2nd - Adam Simons

Cards

Our memory verse this month - 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

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16 Rejoice at all times.
17 Pray without ceasing.
18 Give thanks in every circumstance, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

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Our Fall series is entitled "How To". Each week a topic will be added to make a complete statement. These topics will be looked at from God's perspective. So far in this series we've covered How to be a Friend, How to Pray, and How to Deal with Difficult People.
Today we will tackle, How To Forgive.

Sin causes us to be in the place where we need to either ask for or receive forgiveness.
Sin is what we do when we are not fully satisfied with God.
Romans 3:23
1 John 1:9

Romans 3:23

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23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

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1 John 1:9

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9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

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What does it mean to confess?
True confession is naming sin specifically what God calls it (lust, hatred, envy, deceit, etc.).
When we confess our sins, God promises to forgive us.
Scripture says God is faithful and just. Those two words alone should keep us out of sin.
Do we realize what it cost God to forgive us our sins? Jesus had to die for us.
The next time we willfully choose to plan to sin, remember that we are going to sin against a faithful, righteous, loving God.

1 John 2:1

1 John 2:1

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1 My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate before the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.

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Scripture says "God is light and there is no darkness in Him at all." We also must walk in the light. This means obeying God's Word, spending time daily in His Word, discovering His will for our lives, and obeying what He says.
Obedience proves our love for Him.
There are three motives for obedience:
1. We HAVE to (a slave)
2. We NEED to (an employee)
3. We WANT to (a Christian)

John 14:15

John 14:15

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15 If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.

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So far we've looked at sin and confession; now we will look at forgiveness.
Forgiveness is not: a feeling, forgetting, or excusing.
When we confess our sin, God forgives us. Sometimes we still feel lousy because we have a harder time forgiving ourselves.
Forgiveness is a decision modeled after God's forgiveness of us; a decision not to hold an offense against the offender.

Ephesians 4:32

Ephesians 4:32

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32 Be kind and tenderhearted to one another, forgiving each other just as in Christ God forgave you.

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Forgiveness is hard! We cannot ultimately forgive in our own strength. Only God can give us the desire and ability to truly forgive others.

Philippians 2:13

Philippians 2:13

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13 For it is God who works in you to will and to act on behalf of His good purpose.

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Unforgiveness is the deliberate willful refusal to give up one's resentment and the right to get even based on the attitude that someone has to pay for the wrong.
Bad things happen in our lives when we refuse not to forgive:
- hinders your prayer life, your worship, your witness, affects your giving, blocks your spiritual growth, hinders the people around you
- cannot live in complete obedience to God when someone else controls our emotions
- when we refuse to forgive unless the other person asks for forgiveness we will be live in resentment and that will eat us up

Unforgiveness is the poison we drink hoping someone else will die!
We need to release the offense and the offender to God.

Colossians 3:13
Note: the Greek word that is translated (make allowance) means "to bear with," which literally means to put up with each other.

Colossians 3:13

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13 Bear with one another and forgive any complaint you may have against someone else. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.

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When faced with a hurt, we have a choice. We can hold on to it and be destroyed by resentment, or we can live in the freedom of forgiveness.
God wants us to respond to evil with good and bless those who have hurt us. He wants us to pray for their good.
We must have the mindset of Jesus. If we think like the world, we will live in the pain of the past. When we have the mind of Christ, we are free to forgive and bless them and move forward in life.

Here is a four part process for healthy, biblical forgiveness:

1. RECOGNIZE no one is perfect.
Romans 3:10
Ecclesiastes 7:20

Romans 3:10

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10 As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one.

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Ecclesiastes 7:20

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20 Surely there is no righteous man on earth who does good and never sins.

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2. RELINQUISH your right to get even.
Romans 12:19

Romans 12:19

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19 Do not avenge yourselves, beloved, but leave room for God’s wrath. For it is written: “Vengeance is Mine; I will repay, says the Lord.”

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3. RESPOND to the evil with good.
1 Corinthians 13:4-7

1 Corinthians 13:4-7

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4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
5 It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no account of wrongs.
6 Love takes no pleasure in evil, but rejoices in the truth.
7 It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

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4. REFOCUS on God's plan for your life.
Jeremiah 29:11

Jeremiah 29:11

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11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, to give you a future and a hope.

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Don't choose to sit one more day in your resentment. If you have been holding onto pain caused by someone else, it is time to go through these four steps and move on to the rest of your life that God created you to live.

If we confess our sins to God, He will forgive us.
Will you be willing to make some promises in return?

1. I promise I will not dwell on this incident.
2. I promise I will not bring up this incident and use it against you.
3. I promise I will not talk to others about this incident.
4. I promise I will not allow this incident to stand between us or hinder our relationship.

Grace Church Website

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link https://gc3.org/

Giving Link

<b>Giving at Grace Church</b> We don't talk a lot about giving tithes and offerings here at Grace but we share information periodically that will help you as you give to the Lord's work. If you are interested in a year end giving record for tax purposes: 1.  You must use a Grace Church giving envelope and your name must be written on it. Envelopes can be placed in the bins near the doors at the back of the auditorium. 2.  If you have an envelope pack now and there are left over envelopes, feel free to use what you have.  (The notation of 1st Sunday, 2nd Sunday, etc is for your benefit only and is not used by the church.) 3.  Envelope booklets are available in the Lobby at the Information Board whenever you need them. 4.  You are always able to access your giving record via Breeze.  If you need a link to set up your Breeze account click HERE. If you are currently giving through the Grace Church envelopes, financial statements will be emailed to you at the end of January. If you do not need giving records, but want to give to the Lord’s work at Grace: 1.  Tithes and offerings are collected in the bins near the doors at the back of the auditorium. 2.  Envelopes can be used but are not required. More information on giving can be found at the link below. As always, please contact the church office if you have questions ([email protected]).

link https://gc3.org/giving/

YouTube

link https://www.youtube.com/@GraceChurchMI

Breeze Church Management

At Grace we use a secure directory/giving service called Breeze Church Management.  Creating your personal account allows you to contact others in the church family, keep your contact information updated, and keep track of your giving if that is important to you, and/or create an online giving account. Use the link below to get started or to login if you already have an account.

link https://gc3.org/login/

CJ's Coffee Shop Pre-Order Link