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Forgiveness Is A Virtue, Help Please!

C

Cary

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Hi everyone, I am writing a 4-6 minute speech to present to my church... the topic of the speech is "Forgiveness Is A Virtue"

Currently, I have bits and pieces of the speech together, but I'm having a lot of trouble to make everything sound like it flows... I have worked a long time on this, and I still cannot get everything in the correct order so that it sounds good... if anybody here can help me out it would be greatly appreciated.

Also, I should note, that I would like to write more about how we can accept God's forgiveness, but once again I'm having trouble figuring out where to place everything... the speech is below.

Thank you!!!'

--------------
There is a true Spanish story of a father and his son who had recently become estranged. As a result of this, the son ran away, and the father set off to find him. He searched for hours, which turned into days, then weeks, and finally months, but he never had any success. Finally, in a last desperate effort to find his son, the father put an ad in Madrid newspaper. The ad read: "Dear Paco, meet me in front of this newspaper office at noon on Saturday. All is forgiven. I love you. Your Father."

Several days passed as his father anxiously waited for Saturday to arrive. He wasn’t sure if his son would forgive him for the arguments that they had had. Finally, on Saturday, 800 Pacos showed up, looking for forgiveness and love from their fathers.



Is there somebody in your life who needs your forgiveness? Or, is it possible that you need somebody else’s forgiveness? Throughout the entire Bible, God continuously teaches us about forgiveness.

But, before we go any further, we must define the word "forgive" Webster’s dictionary defines the word as "to excuse [one] for a fault or an offense"

The Bible tells us the story of Joseph whose ten brothers first planned to kill him, and them because they lacked the fortitude to do that they sold him as a slave to traders who sold him to an Egyptian. Joseph then went from slavery to prison, and then to a place in Pharaoh’s court, and finally to being in second in charge of all Egypt, only below power to Pharaoh himself. When famine drives his brothers to Egypt, Joseph has his enemies in the palm of his hand. By society’s standards, Joseph had the right and the power to kill his brothers for their acts, but instead he tell them in Genesis 50:20, "You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives." he embraced his brothers and forgave them all for that they had done to him.

Dr. Charles Stanley, pastor of First Baptist Church in Atlanta, GA, says that forgiveness involves three elements:

1. An injury - A wrong is committed and pain, hurt, suffering or guilt is experienced.
2. A debt resulting from the injury. There is a consequence that is always detrimental and puts someone into a deficit state of some kind. Physical pain, mental anguish, guilt, and so on.
3. Finally, the third element is a cancellation of the debt.


One of the most famous things in the Bible is the Lord’s Prayer. The Lord’s Prayer is what Jesus used as a model for others to follow, showing them how to pray. In the middle of the prayer, there are two lines which say: "And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us." To me, that translates basically along the lines of something like: "Before I ask God to forgive my sins, I first need to forgive those around me who did something that possibly hurt me." In Matthew 7:2, Jesus says, "For in the same way as you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you." If you are not willing to forgive others, God is not willing to forgive you. Ephesians 4: 32 says "Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you."




Forgiveness is a two-way street. For forgiveness to be fully complete, the one being forgiven must accept the forgiveness from the one who offers it. In the same way, God has offered us his forgiveness, but we are not forgiven until we have accepted it.

When you forgive somebody, you must start all over from the beginning as though the event never even occurred. Thomas Edison was working on a crazy contraption called a "light bulb" and it took a whole team of men 24 straight hours to put just one together. The story goes that when Edison was finished with one light bulb, he gave it to a young boy helper, who nervously carried it up the stairs. Step by step he cautiously watched his hands, obviously frightened of dropping such a priceless piece of work. You’ve probably guessed what happened by now; the poor young fellow dropped the bulb at the top of the stairs. It took the entire team of men twenty-four more hours to make another bulb. Finally, tired and ready for a break, Edison was ready to have his bulb carried up the stairs. He gave it to the same young boy who dropped the first one.

Now, that is true forgiveness.

THE END… thinking of a way to have more of a punch to the end.
 
hey cary this look very interesting... This reminds me of some of the mini sermons that I write usually i put them on other forums to see what people think do you mind if I use this on another forum that I use? Also another idea for bible verses that might help go to the serach and type in forgiveness and commandments hopefully vinces thread on new testament commandments will turn up and from it you can get all the commandments on forgiveness.

the story is very good I think you have a gift here Ill try sections of it out on other forums and see what they say :D
 
Feel free to post it anywhere you like... it's all fine with me.

Thanks for your help, I really appreciate it!
 
Hi Cary, you did an awesome job, I really like it. The flow sounds great and using the Thomas Edison story for the end sounds like a captivating finish to me.
 
Thank you, zay, for your comments, I really appreciate it. I'm glad that it makes some sense. :)

goliwog, also thank you VERY much for all the help you've give. With your posts that you have done for me, it helped me and I think I know how I'm going to finally get everything to sound better. (better to me, at least!) you have been a tremendous help!
 
Well, I think I am finally done with all of the writing. When I read this, it's exactly 5 minutes on the dot. I changed the order of some of the paragraphs around in hopes that it will flow more smoothly. I also added a paragraph on how somebody can accept God's forgiveness... any final thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks!

There is a true Spanish story of a father and his son who had recently become estranged. As a result of this, the son ran away, and the father set off to find him. He searched for hours, which turned into days, then weeks, and finally months, but he never had any success. Finally, in a last desperate effort to find his son, the father put an ad in a Madrid newspaper. The ad read: “Dear Paco, meet me in front of this newspaper office at noon on Saturday. All is forgiven. I love you. Your Father.”

Several days passed as his father anxiously waited for Saturday to arrive. He wasn’t sure if his son would forgive him for the arguments that they had had. Finally, on Saturday, 800 Pacos showed up, looking for forgiveness and love from their fathers.

Webster’s dictionary defines the word “forgive” as “to excuse [one] for a fault or an offense” and throughout the entire Bible, God continuously shows us the definition of forgiveness
Look at the Biblical story of Joseph whose ten brothers first planned to kill him, and then because they lacked the fortitude to do that they sold him as a slave to traders who sold him to an Egyptian. Joseph then went from slavery to prison, and then to a place in Pharaoh’s court, and finally to being in second in charge of all Egypt, only below power to Pharaoh himself. When famine drives his brothers to Egypt, Joseph has his enemies in the palm of his hand. By society’s standards, Joseph had the right and the power to kill his brothers for their acts, but instead he tell them in Genesis 50:20, "You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives." He embraced his brothers and forgave them all for that they had done to him.

One of the most famous things in the Bible is the Lord’s Prayer. The Lord’s Prayer is what Jesus used as a model for others to follow, showing them how to pray. In the middle of the prayer, there are two lines which say: “And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.” To me, that translates basically along the lines of something like: “Before I ask God to forgive my sins, I first need to forgive those around me who did something that possibly hurt me.” In Matthew 6:15, Jesus says, “But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.” If you are not willing to forgive others, God is not willing to forgive you. Ephesians 4: 32 says “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.”
Dr. Charles Stanley, pastor of First Baptist Church in Atlanta, GA, says that forgiveness involves three elements:

1. An injury - A wrong is committed and pain, hurt, suffering or guilt is experienced.
2. A debt resulting from the injury. There is a consequence that is always detrimental and puts someone into a deficit state of some kind. Physical pain, mental anguish, guilt, and so on.
3. Finally, the third element is a cancellation of the debt.

Forgiveness is a two-way street. For forgiveness to be fully complete, the one being forgiven must accept the forgiveness from the one who offers it. In the same way, God has offered us his forgiveness, but we are not forgiven until we have accepted it. We can accept God’s forgiveness by first acknowledging that we are sinners. Romans 3:23 says, "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Next, we must realize that sin carries a price. Just as criminals must pay the price for their crimes they commit, sinners must pay the price for the sins they commit. Romans 6:23 says, "For the wages of sin is death” The good news, however, is that Christ has already paid the price for our sins. God has offered us forgiveness out of His love for us and offers it through grace The word grace means "undeserved favor." It means God is offering you something you could never provide for yourself: forgiveness of sins and eternal life. God's gift to you is free - all you have to do is accept the gift that he offers you and invite Jesus into your life.

Just like God goes, when you forgive somebody, you must start all over from the beginning as though the event never even occurred. Thomas Edison was working on a crazy contraption called a “light bulb” and it took a whole team of men 24 straight hours to put just one together. The story goes that when Edison was finished with one light bulb, he gave it to a young boy helper, who nervously carried it up the stairs. Step by step he cautiously watched his hands, obviously frightened of dropping such a priceless piece of work. You’ve probably guessed what happened by now; the poor young fellow dropped the bulb at the top of the stairs. It took the entire team of men twenty-four more hours to make another bulb. Finally, tired and ready for a break, Edison was ready to have his bulb carried up the stairs. He gave it to the same young boy who dropped the first one.

Now, that is true forgiveness.
 
You did a great job writing it Cary, I like it. It sounds like it has a great flow to me, and the additions are smooth and informative as well. It's always great to have scripture to back up what you're saying, and you've added some more solid scriptures and explanations to the ones you already had. Looks like you have all your bases covered and you gave great background info, so looks complete to me. Great job Cary. I hope the presentation of it goes well, and that it touches people's lives, I'm sure it will.
 
I loved the topic and beginning and ending stories to drive the point.
 
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