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Speaker 1: Life Audio. For more resources to help you in your

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Speaker 1: walk with Christ, please visit us at Bible Studyheadquarters dot com.

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Speaker 1: You're listening to daily devotions with Pastor John. I'm John Stangey,

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Speaker 1: and today's devotion is inspired by Colossians chapter three, verse thirteen,

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Speaker 1: which says, bearing with one another, and if one has

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Speaker 1: a complaint against another, forgiving each other. As the Lord

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Speaker 1: has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. This is

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Speaker 1: an easy verse to read, but a difficult verse to

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Speaker 1: put into practice. What do we usually do when we

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Speaker 1: have a complaint against someone else? Most often we vent

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Speaker 1: it to a friend we trust who is likely to

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Speaker 1: agree with us. We keep building our case against the

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Speaker 1: person who has offended us, and we stoke a fire

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Speaker 1: of bitterness against them in our souls. And as that

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Speaker 1: bitter root takes hold, it eventually becomes hatred. And as

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Speaker 1: Jesus warned us and his Sermon on the Mount, hatred

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Speaker 1: has the same root as murder. Clearly, this isn't what

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Speaker 1: our Lord desires for his family. Rather, the Lord invites

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Speaker 1: us to acknowledge the value of his forgiveness toward us

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Speaker 1: by teaching us to forgive others as well. When we

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Speaker 1: fail to forgive, we hurt others and we hurt ourselves.

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Speaker 1: We can become sour and unpleasant to be around, and

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Speaker 1: we effectively forget all that Jesus has accomplished on our behalf.

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Speaker 1: But when we forgive others as Christ has forgiven us,

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Speaker 1: our lives become a visible testimony of the truth, power,

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Speaker 1: and defectiveness of the Gospel. This is the kind of

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Speaker 1: life Christ has called us unto. Let's pray. Lord, we

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Speaker 1: thank you for your word, and we thank you for

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Speaker 1: the privilege that it is to be able to look

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Speaker 1: at a portion of it together today. And Lord, in

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Speaker 1: this portion of your word you speak about forgiveness, you

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Speaker 1: reveal to us that as we have been forgiven by You,

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Speaker 1: so too should we forgive others. But Father, we admit

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Speaker 1: that that's a very difficult thing for us to do.

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Speaker 1: At times. Lord, there are people in our lives who

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Speaker 1: have offended us in the deepest ways possible. There are

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Speaker 1: people who have hurt us as individuals, people who have

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Speaker 1: hurt our families, people who have tried to destroy our reputations,

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Speaker 1: and even the thought of them at times makes us

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Speaker 1: cringe or feel upset. But Lord, when you told us

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Speaker 1: to forgive. You weren't just telling us to forgive when

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Speaker 1: it was easy to do so. And we see that

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Speaker 1: by your example. When you came to this earth, your

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Speaker 1: word tells us we were living as your enemies. We

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Speaker 1: were taking our lives in a direction that was offensive

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Speaker 1: to you in every way. But yet while we were

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Speaker 1: distant from you, you still suffered on our behalf. You

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Speaker 1: extended your offer of forgiveness toward us and gave us

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Speaker 1: the opportunity and the ability to respond. Father, we're grateful

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Speaker 1: that our sin was atoned for through the sacrificial work

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Speaker 1: of your son, Jesus Christ. And we're grateful that as

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Speaker 1: we trust in your son, that our sin is no

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Speaker 1: longer being held against us. So, Father, since you're no

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Speaker 1: longer holding our sin against us, we pray that we

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Speaker 1: would practice that same trait by forgiving the offenses that

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Speaker 1: have been committed against us by others. We pray that

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Speaker 1: we wouldn't hold on to them any longer. We'd let

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Speaker 1: those offenses go, that we wouldn't let the lack of

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Speaker 1: forgiveness turn into bitterness and hatred and even murder in

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Speaker 1: our hearts. So Lord, we pray that you would do

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Speaker 1: your work within us, help us to see others like

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Speaker 1: you see them, help us to love others like you

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Speaker 1: love them. And help us to forgive as you've forgiven us.

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Speaker 1: Thank you for this counsel from your word, and thank

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Speaker 1: you for your presence with us today. We pray this

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Speaker 1: all in Jesus' name. Amen,