July 28 - Aug 3, 2019

Take about 45 minutes during your missional community gathering to discuss what God is teaching you and how he is leading you in light of the weekend sermon.

Connecting:

1. Have you experienced any new freedoms since the sermon series Traveling Light started?
2. Had you heard of a revenge obituary before Wes’ sermon? What are some of the ways you have seen people get revenge around the death of another individual?
3. Why do you think people feel the need to get revenge even after someone has passed?

Application: Forgiveness is not about a rule; it’s about a relationship.

1. Read Matthew 18:21-22. What are some things you personally have an easy time forgiving and some you have a hard time forgiving?
2. Did you notice anything about the condition of your heart when you refused to forgive?
3. How would you explain the baggage of forgiveness and what kind of damage can it cause?
4. Why do you think the human heart reverts to wanting a rule to follow when it comes to forgiveness? Ex: Peter asking 7 times verses just 3.
5. Why doesn’t focusing on a legalistic way of forgiveness lighten the baggage of forgiveness?

Application: A servant who is forgiven much but refuses to forgive a little is a servant who isn’t forgiven at all.

1. Read Matthew 18:23-35. What is a biblical definition of forgiveness? What is forgiveness in the text of Matthew 18?
2. What are some reasons we don’t like to cancel other people’s debts?
3. How does our perspective on where we stand before God impact our perspective on where we stand before others?
4. If we are saved by grace and not by works (Ephesians 2:8-9) how is it that you can say, “if you don’t forgive others you are not forgiven?”
5. How would you counsel someone who is mourning after being sinned against? How would you counsel them if they are refusing to forgive?