"THE OVERWHELMING NEED OF FORGIVENESS" (or "GOD'S BAILOUT PLAN")                   Matt. 18:10-22 (v.19), Matt. 6:9-15
Last week, President Barach Obama signed a economic stimulus package to begin the process of bailing banks, businesses, and people out of a financial crisis that seems to be worsening by the day!  But it is my job to remind you of the BIGGEST BAILOUT IN HUMAN HISTORY that occured 2000 years ago on a hill far away!!!  It was there on the cross that Jesus Christ the Son of God FORGAVE ALL MY SINFUL DEBTS!!!  This passage speaks along the same subject matter throughout, as it talks to us about a lack of patience and forgiveness-(The Little-ones(children), The Lost(sheep), our Loved ones(siblings).  We are warned not to HOLD THINGS AGAINST any class of people!  The other passage I chose for this message involves a conditional prayer that deals with FORGIVENESS based on how we forgive other people! FORGIVENESS is something that EVERYONE NEEDS but few are willing to give!
There's a Spanish story of a father and son who had become estranged. The son ran away, and the father set off to find him. He searched for months to no avail. Finally, in a last desperate effort to find him, 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. On Saturday, 800 Pacos showed up, looking for forgiveness and love from their fathers.  *The word "forgive" appears in 95 verses of the bible, and as a word is first mentioned in Genesis chapter 50 when relating to the desire of Joseph's brothers to be forgiven for what they had done to Joseph nearly 20 years before!
Karl Menninger, the famed psychiatrist, once said that if he could convince the patients in psychiatric hospitals that their sins were forgiven, 75 percent of them could walk out the next day! 
Matthew 6:12 And forgive us our debts, AS we forgive our debtors!!!  The most difficult part of this prayer is this part. When this prayer is understood correctly, it is a prayer for God to extend forgiveness to me to the same degree that I extend forgiveness to others....and THAT is a scary thought!  Let’s examine this truth just a little more deeply.   *WHAT IS THE BIBLE SAYING???...When I refuse to maintain fellowship with other believers in the family of God, it affects my own fellowship with God...."BUT preacher, you don't understand what he or she did to me"...IT DONT MATTER!  Because regardless of what anyone does to you in this life, it could never possibly rise to the same level of your guilt before the Lord, and HE FORGAVE YOU!  So, the lesson is clear: if I expect the Lord to forgive me when I cry out to Him, then I must be quick to forgive those who have wronged me. I am to forgive them to the same level that I have been forgiven! And, if I refuse to forgive my brethren, then I should not expect the Lord to forgive me...after all, He is very clear that my forgiveness before Him hinges on my willingness to forgive others!...that's not what Brian Eades said, it's what JESUS SAID!  Ephesians 4:32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. 
(1)---AQUIRING FORGIVENESS-1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
To make things seem more practical let me put it this way...When you have wronged someone, and you know it, you are to go to them, confessing your wrong and seek their forgiveness, Matt. 5:23. Some people never grow in the Lord and wonder why. The answer is as simple as this: you need to go to those you have offended and say “I am sorry.” Your fellowship with the family of God and with the heavenly Father will never be all it should be UNTIL you do this!  *True forgiveness is hard to ASK FOR, because it demands that people let go of something they value --not a piece of jewelry, but their pride!  More than you need to get forgiveness from others, YOU NEED FORGIVENESS FROM GOD!!!  *A Sunday School teacher had just concluded her lesson and wanted to make sure she had made her point. She said, "Can anyone tell me what you must do before you can obtain forgiveness of sin?" There was a short pause and then, from the back of the room, a small boy spoke up. "Sin," he said.

(2)---AWARDING FORGIVENESS--(70 x 7=490 times!-Matt.18:22)  Luke 17:3-5  Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him.  And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him.  And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith. 
*True forgiveness is hard to AWARD SOMEBODY that's wanting it, because it requires that a person forfeit their rights to get revenge on the offender!  *When a person has been hurt and offended they can wear wear the pain of that moment like a hunk of lead for years, letting it pull them down!  If you ever expect to get past it, you must forgive that person for what they said or did to you. This may involve you going to them and telling them why you are hurt. If the person repents, then all is well. Put it behind you and get over it. If you go to them and they refuse to acknowledge their wrongdoing, then you need to take them before the Lord, forgive them anyway and get past it. If you do not get past the hurts and the problems you have encountered in your past, they will destroy you! When you harbor resentment and hard feelings in your heart because of what someone else has said or done to or about you, then you are hurting no one but yourself. You need to get before the Lord and deal with this matter once and for all.  I have found that often when a person has offended me THEY DONT EVEN REALIZE IT, or it was an INNOCENT GESTURE THAT I TOOK IN THE WRONG WAY!  SOMETIMES IT'S MY OWN CHILDISHNESS that over-inflates the situation into more than what it is!!!  I can't control what people do to me...but I CAN control how I respond to it!
Never is a person more like Jesus than when they can forgive those who have offended them!  So, when I pray this simple prayer, I am saying, “Lord, help me to be more like you!”  Forgiving and being forgiven are more important than you and I can ever imagine. Notice the very first word of verse 12. It is the word “and.” This little word connects verse 12 to verse 11. Just as I am taught to pray for the things I need to sustain life day by day, I am also taught that I need forgiveness day by day. We are NEEDY people!  We  sin against the Lord and NEED forgiveness. There are times when I am offended by others. At those times, I need grace to forgive them and get passed the hurt.  
(3)-ACCEPTING FORGIVENESS-(Zacchaus did, and you could tell it!)...In the final analysis, praying for forgiveness is about releasing...it is about my releasing my sins into the hands of God’s grace, so that I can experience His forgiveness. It is about my releasing the resentment and hurt that others have brought into my life, so that my fellowship is not hindered with God or with my fellow man.  Psalms 66:18 If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me: 
Some people try to punish themselves for their sins. They do not stand on the promises of forgiveness and Christ' propitiation. "Many years ago, a father and his daughter were walking through the grass on the Canadian prairie. In the distance, they saw a prairie fire, and they realized that it would soon engulf them. The father knew there was only one way of escape: They would quickly begin a fire right where they were and burn a large patch of grass. When the huge fire drew near, they then would stand on the section that had already burned. When the flames did approach them, the girl was terrified but her father assured her, 'The flames can't get to us. We are standing where the fire has already been.'" One has said that past failures can be the Back Door to Success. Are there debts in your life that need to be cancelled out this evening? If so, bring them to Him and He will deal with them. Are there debts that need to be cleared up with others? If so, make it right, whatever it takes so that you fellowship with the Lord can be all it should be!  Or, has God forgiven you long ago...but you refuse to forgive yourself and move on?   *Thomas A. 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. That's true forgiveness. MAYBE SOMEONE DROPPED YOUR LIGHTBULB AND YOU HAVENT GIVEN THEM ANOTHER CHANCE!!!