Scriptures: Matthew 18:15-27, John 19:30

Two-thousand years ago, God gave His greatest gift to the human race. He gave forgiveness. He did it through giving the ultimate For-Giver. His son, Jesus Christ, lived a perfect life, died a perfect death, and was raised from the dead so that our sins could be perfectly forgiven. Do you know what that means? That means we are now in a position to give to others who sin against us the greatest gift they could ever possibly receive from us--our forgiveness. In this message, Dr. Merritt teaches that once you take God’s offer of forgiveness and accept it, once you utter those words to God, “Forgive me”, then you are duty bound and obligated to say to others who do you wrong, “I forgive you.” Being a forgiving person is a tremendous message to share during the holiday season.

"The term for 'forgiveness' is not common in the New Testament. It appears only seventeen times, but interestingly it is a commercial term, a financial term that means 'to release a person from an obligation' or 'to cancel a debt.' It literally means 'to let go' or 'send away.' Forgiveness is when you recognize that somebody owes you big time for what they’ve done to you, but you cancel the debt, write it off and forget it." --Dr. Merritt

Keywords: sin, forgiveness, Savior, Christmas, December, holiday, forgiving, transgression, peacemaker, forgiver, bitterness, release, pride, sin, grudge, rights, giving, helping, restoration, relationships