Kingdom Culture
A Countercultural Guide To Kingdom Living
Leo Burge
Part of Kingdom Culture—A Countercultural Guide To Kingdom Living
May 14, 2023

Welcome to church!!

We are so excited you’re joining us for worship. Whether you’re here with us in person, or tuning in online, we believe that God has a word for you today. If this is your first time visiting, or maybe you’ve been coming for a while but haven’t taken a next step to let us know, we can’t encourage you enough to fill out Connect Card at the first time guest tent at the church entrance, or go to the Next Steps tab at the bottom of the screen in the Life Church app and fill a digital Connect Card in the Connet section. As always, never hesitate to let us know if there’s any specific way we can be praying for you!


“Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.”

Matthew 5:7 NIV


Unforgiveness will destroy the work of God in me.


1. Remind ourselves how merciful God is to us everyday.


“This, then, is how you should pray: “‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name 10 your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us today our daily bread. 12 And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’

Matthew 6:9-13 NIV


But God’s mercy is so abundant, and his love for us is so great, that while we were spiritually dead in our disobedience he brought us to life with Christ. It is by God’s grace that you have been saved.

Ephesians 2:4-5 GNT


The forgiven forgive.


For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.

Matthew 6:14-15 NIV


And the servant fell down before him and begged for a little more time. ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it back,’ he pleaded. But his creditor wouldn’t wait. He had the man arrested and put in prison until the debt could be paid in full. 31 “When some of the other servants saw this, they were very upset. They went to the king and told him everything that had happened. 32 Then the king called in the man he had forgiven and said, ‘You evil servant! I forgave you that tremendous debt because you pleaded with me. 33 Shouldn’t you have mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had mercy on you?’ 34 Then the angry king sent the man to prison to be tortured until he had paid his entire debt. 35 “That’s what my heavenly Father will do to you if you refuse to forgive your brothers and sisters from your heart.”

Matthew 18:29-35 NLT


So you must show mercy to others, or God will not show mercy to you when he judges you. But the person who shows mercy can stand without fear at the judgment.

James 2:13 NCV


I would rather stand before God having loved too much than having judged too harshly.


And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.

Micah 6:8 NIV


“To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable because God has forgiven the inexcusable in me.”

C.S. Lewis


1. We are called to show mercy to those who make mistakes.


So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.

2 Corinthians 5:16-19 (NIV)


2. To those who let us down.


“In the shadow of my hurt, “forgiveness feels like a decision to reward my enemy. “But in the shadow of the cross, “forgiveness is merely a gift “from one undeserving soul to another.”

Unknown


Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.

Colossians 3:12-13 NIV


Holding a grudge doesn’t make you strong. It makes you bitter. Forgiving doesn’t make you weak. It sets you free.


3. To ourselves.


I am drowning in the flood of my sins, they are a burden too heavy to bear. Because I have been foolish, I’m utterly worn out and crushed, my heart is Troubled.

Psalm 38:4-8 (NIV)


Disappointment is the gap between expectation and reality


Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief. The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst.

1 Timothy 1:13-15 NIV