Seeking God's Deliverance

Matthew 18:23-35 gives us a picture of a man that owes the king ten thousand talents (well over $100,000). When he could not repay it, the king demanded that his wife and kids be sold until the debt was repaid! The servant fell to his knees and begged for patience so he could repay the debt and the king compassionately removed the debt from him. Did you catch that last part? The man asked only for some more time to pay off the debt, but instead, the king cancelled the debt altogether!

That same servant, after leaving the meeting with the king, went out and found one of his servants who owed him 3 months worth of wages, maybe $15,000. As he choked the man, he should have thought back to earlier that day when he asked the king for mercy on a much larger debt. Instead of showing the same type of mercy that had been extended to him, he uttered the most remarkably arrogant and ungrateful words...…."Pay what you owe!"

How insane that the one who had just received mercy upon mercy for a large debt, now offers none for a much smaller one!

So it is with mercy and forgiveness, is it not? We have been forgiven greatly from God and He has, through the blood of Christ, taken our punishment for sin from us. We should be the most humble, merciful, forgiving people on the planet, right? We should live lives in constant gratitude to the One that has forgiven us much. But do we?

As we continue our journey through the book of Philippians, we will be focusing on Philippians 2:1-4. Below is the question I hope to answer as we begin chapter 2...…

If we truly believe that Jesus has the power to rescue us and sustain us through the darkest seasons of life, then what should be the correct Christian response to the saving power of the Gospel? What's the virtue that should be the foundational, defining virtue of a Christian's life?

Join us this Sunday as we talk humility!

Also, don't forget that this Sunday is our 2nd Concert of Prayer from 6:00pm to 7:00pm in the Fireside Room.

The focus will be "Seeking God's Deliverance". During this time of prayer, we will remember the goodness of God, rejoice in His greatness and seek his deliverance. Please join us and let's see what can happen when God's Spirit invades the hearts of His people.

See you Sunday.

Pastor Dougft