Forgiveness Costs
June 30, 2009 Blogs No Comments
Maybe you’re familiar with some of these phrases: “Just forgive and forget.” “Let it go.” “Don’t worry about it.” They are some of the most frustrating words of advice I have ever heard. I am not some on and off switch…and on top of it, forgiveness just doesn’t work like that, I can’t just forget something or make the pain immediately disappear when I am wronged. Medical research says we ought to forgive because it lowers blood pressure, strengthens our immune system, and can alleviate back pain, stomach problems, and headaches. Sounds great, but you can’t just make yourself be forgiving, something must happen. A lot of times I’m asked, “Why Can’t God just forgive us for our sin out of his love?” The reason is forgiveness costs something. Consider the story of Corrie Ten Boom.
This is a special sermon about Acts 29, the church planting network that The Resolved Church is a part of. It is a topical sermon on the missional theme of Acts 1:8 & 28:28-31 which call for the continual mission of Jesus church in planting churches. This sermon looks at the history of The Resolved Church, the Acts 29 Network Vision, Values and Doctrine, and how The Resolved Church intends to plant churches and fullfill the Acts 29 mission. This sermon was originally preached by Pastor Duane Smets on June 28th, 2009 at The Resolved Church in San Diego, CA.
Jesus called me to plant The Resolved Church over four years ago here in the city of San Diego. I truly see myself as a missionary to this city just as much as if I was a missionary sent overseas to an unreached people group half way across the world. Since we started this church we have been dependent on the outside financial support of several people who partner with us as their missionaries. I send out a newsletter every two months for them. It dawned on me this month that people of The Resolved Church might enjoy reading these newsletters and may want to send them to some of their friends and family who may want to partner financially with our church as well. The attached link is to our June 2009 Newsletter. Please feel free to read it, download it and send it to whomever you like.
Sheep and shepherds are pretty foreign to our urban context here in San Diego. As far as I know there are none, too much steel and concrete instead of grazing pastures. The simple fact about sheep is that they are shepherded in order to shear their wool, extract their milk and ultimately be slaughtered. Is that why the Bible calls Christians sheep? And if so how is that good news?
This is part of our summer Psalms series in 2009, where we are preaching through some of Pastor Duane’s favorites Psalms. This week is an exegetical sermon on Psalm 23 and is about how The LORD is My Shepherd. This sermon looks at God, the great I AM, provides for us, protects us, and promises us eternity with him. This sermon was originally preached June 21st, 2009 at The Resolved Church in San Diego, CA.
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