God had once created the world and everything within it including human beings. When God created them, they were all perfect. “God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and the man became a living being.”(Ge2: 7) God called this first man Adam. God made Adam fall into deep sleep and took one of his ribs made into a woman and then brought her to Adam. When Adam saw the woman from a far, he named her Eve for she is the only first woman, whom God created out of his rib. They were the only perfect human beings that God had created in God’s perfect world. They were the crown of His creation. God love them very much. He blessed them and let them ruled over the whole earth. (Ge1: 1-31)

God made a home for them called the Garden of Eden. They were free to eat all the fruit from this garden except fruit from the tree of knowledge; if they eat, they will surely die. This was the only command that God required them to obey. And there is only one requirement for them to do is that they should take care of the garden. But Adam and Eve had broken God’s command. (Ge2: 8-15, 16-17)

Adam and Eve were the only two human beings to have walked with God on earth. There was no sin or wrong act in the world. So, there was no need to forgive of any false acts on the part of human being. During this time God and His creation had such a wonderful time fellowship together. People and all nature in this world were at peace with God. They all were in harmony communicated with each other. (Ge1-2)

However, Satan, whom God had created and thrown to earth because of rebellion against Him, had envied of human beings for their good relationship with God. So, Satan tempted Eve to eat the fruit of knowledge (from the middle of Eden), which God commanded Adam and Eve not to eat or even touch else they would be dying. Yet, Satan had finally succeeded his plan against God in breaking God relationship with human. Because of Adam and Eve’s disobedience to God, He threw them both out of Eden and never again let them enter the Garden. He put a curse on them both that they are surely dying and heading for hell. The curse also goes to all nature in the world. (And this sin has transferred to all human races in the world. And this sinful nature has been growing so big and only the Holy One of Human being can get victory over its power) He made Satan become the enemy of human being. But He promised to save them one day through the descendant of the woman (Eve). This means that God made plan to forgive human beings through their descendant. (Ge3: 15) And it did happen over two thousand years by now though Jesus Christ, Savior and Lord of human beings, who forgives all human sin by putting the sinful nature on the cross at Calvary. After Jesus Christ rose from the death, He announced to all Christian that He have gotten the victory over the power of death. He has been given the power to rule over all: Heaven, earth, and hell. (Lk2: 26-45; Mt1: 18-25, 228:18; Php2: 10-11)

We know that God had created everything including people in this world. He blessed them to multiply and let them govern His world. He gave them one command to live by and they broke it. Yet, God still love His people so much. He forgives them. So, He made a plan to save these people by sending His only Son, Jesus Christ to die for the sin of all human beings. God’s way of forgiveness is shown only through Jesus Christ, who can offer eternal life to all people in this world through repentant. He has the authority and the power to forgive people’s sin and to be the Lord of their life, helping them to live daily for God.

Jesus Christ has set good example of forgiveness for all people, especially, Christian to follow. Furthermore, He had taught about forgiveness and He demanded us to forgiving each other with His love. Let us study God’s words of forgiveness together.

There maybe many ways to look at God’s guideline for forgiving, but for the sake of this study, let’s pay attention to the following areas: God forgives people’s sin, God commands us to forgive others of their sin, God gives us Bible History of forgiving along with examples of people forgiving each others through each generation as an example that we can apply for our daily lives.

1. God forgives people’s sin

1.1. God forgives all people those who call on his name and turn away from their wicked ways (2Ch7: 14; Psa86: 5, Jer36: 3)

1.2. God forgives our sin through Jesus Christ (Lk5: 24; 23:34; Mk2: 10)

1.3. God teach us to forgive (Mt6: 12, 14, 15; 18:21, 35; Mk11: 25, 26; Lk6: 37, 11:4; 17:3-4)

1.4. Jesus Christ has the power to forgive (Mt9: 6; Mk2: 10)

2. God commands us to forgive others of their sin (Col3: 13,1Pe3: 9)

2.1. Christian – Forgive each other (Mt18: 21-35; Mk11: 25; Lk6: 27-37, Eph4: 32)

2.2. Christian – Forgive unbelievers (Mt5: 39-41; Mt7: 1-2; Lk6: 37,2Co2: 7)

2.3. Forgive enemy (animal, Ex23: 4-5; Pr25: 21-22; Mt5: 43-48; Ro12: 20)

3. God gives us Bible History of forgiving

3.1. Esau forgave Jacob (Ge33: 4, 11)

3.2. Joseph forgave his brothers (Ge45: 5-15, 50:19-21)

3.3. David forgave King Saul (1Sa24: 10-12; 26:9, 23; 2Sa1: 14-17)

3.4. Jesus forgave His persecutors (Lk23: 34)

3.5. Stephen forgave his murderers (Ac7: 60)

3.6. Story of the Lost Son from Luke 15:11-30

This son had asked his father a right to have everything that his father had kept for him and would be given to him at the right age and right time. But this son could not wait for the time; he wanted everything that would be belonging to him right now while he was under age. He thought that he was smart enough to handle his life. But he was not. He was young and immature. He did not know how to live his life and handle his property at all. So, after he had all the money, he went out and

gambling everyday until his money was gone. Now, he looked for a job, but there was no job other than the job of caring and feeding the pigs. After several days into laboring with less food to eat, he started to think about going back home and asked his father for forgiveness and planned to be his father’s servant. But, while he walked toward the house, his father saw him from afar and ran very fast to grasp and hug him and at the same time commanding his servant to bring forward the ring to put on his lost son’s finger. This is a wonderful story of forgiveness, which has set excellent example for all of us to follow for the sake of Jesus Christ as Paul once said. Can we do the same to forgive others of their wrong acts against us?

I would like to conclude this message of forgiveness with three points: first we need the power of forgiveness from God so that we can forgive others and ask them to forgive us of our false. Second, we need to repent and ask the Holy Spirit to purify and enlighten us of God’s words and apply them to our daily living lives. And finally, we need to build up friendship with our brethren and people in general. Let’s join hands in prayer for His strength to forgive others and us. May God richly bless you all.

4. Example of forgiveness from outside of the Bible:

Small group discussion

· Please share some of your experiences of forgiveness.

· Please share some of your experiences of difficulty to forgive others.

§ What kind of the things that it is hard for you to forgive?

§ Why is it so hard to forgive?

§ Some examples of prayers for forgiveness:

God please hears and forgives us

God please teaches us how to live our lives

God please blesses us

God please hears and forgive your people sin

God please hears and mercy to your people

God please forgives the sin of your people Israel (Moses’ prayer)

God please forgives my sin (Pharaoh asked Moses to pray for him)

(1Ki8: 30,34,36,39,50; 2Ch6: 21,25,27,30,39;Psa25: 18; 86:5;Dan9: 19,Exo10: 17; 32:32)

God will forgive and heal their land if His people humble themselves and pray and seek His face, turn away from their wicked way. (2Ch7: 14).

SUGGESTION

§ Please write down some of the things you want God to help you to forgive those people that you haven’t forgiven them yet. And ask them to forgive you if you have made them mad. And then pray to God about it for His forgiveness. (You may share this list of forgiveness with others as you wish.)

Unity in the Body of Christ/Enemies of Untiy

God is the Father of all people, who reconciled people to Himself through Jesus Christ dying on the cross for three days and rose again, and now sitting on the throne right beside God the Father in heaven with all the authority to rule over all in the world, heaven, and hell. God has made Jesus to be the head of all Christian on earth, who has the power to reconciled all people to Himself with the single plan and purpose to bring all Christian to God the Father in heaven at the end of time.

To ensure that His plan is working to completion, God sends the Holy Spirit to help all Christian to live and serve Him in harmony and according to His master plan of salvation through the blood of Jesus Christ. The word ‘Unity’ is the best word to help us see His will in saving us. He wants all of us Christian come to one Lord, one salvation, one spirit, and one baptism while living and serving Him peacefully among brothers and sisters on earth, ready to go home with the Lord Jesus Christ when He comes again.

Well! The tool of the Holy Spirit is the Holy Bible, which contains all God’s words to guide us in living and serving our Lord. There are many different ways to study and be benefited from the words of God. However, for now let us chew on the subject of Unity in the Body of Christ for this is the topic we have chosen to study on. There are three areas that we would study together: Access, Fellowship and communion.

God is the Head of Christianity: He united them through Jesus Christ.

1. All Christian should have access to God to get the power to build up the unity:

2. All Christian should have the fellowship among brethren in living and serving Him

together

3. All Christian should have the same communion in order to please God and enter His

home

1. All Christian should have access to God:

1.1. God is near to those who pray (Dt. 4:7)

1.2. God demands our pure heart (Ps24: 3-4)

1.3. God will give or bless those who are thirsty (Isa55: 3)

1.4. God asks all believers to live their lives as they have been called for (1Peter 1:17)

2. All Christian should fellowship together in brotherhood, in worship, in ministry, and in

purpose.

2.1 Brotherhood

2.1.1 Must love one another (Jn 3:34-35, 15:17, Heb13: 1,1Pe1: 22,1Co16: 19-20)

2.1.2 Must respect each other regardless of the differences (Ro14: 1-4,10,13-21)

2.1.3 Must help each other and helping the unbelievers (Gal6: 10,1Th4: 9-10)

2.1.4 Must be parts of Christ Body: (1Co1: 10, 5:30)

2.1.4.1 One Baptism (1Co12: 13)

2.1.4.2 One Salvation (Acts 4:12,13:47,16:17,28:28,Ro1: 16)

2.1.4.3 One Spirit (Eph2: 18,)

2.1.4.4 One Lord, Jesus Christ (Eph2: 14-21)

2.2 Worship

2.2.1 Have the fellowship with the Lord (Ps55: 13-14)

2.2.2 Have the communion of the Lord together (1Co10: 16-17)

2.2.3 Have the opportunity to sing and praise the Lord together (Eph5: 19,Col3: 16)

2.3 Purpose

2.3.1 Having the same goal or guideline (Ro15: 6-7)

2.3.1.1 Believe in the trinity of God: God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit is one God in three persons, who have one purpose is that to save human being from their sin through Jesus Christ, the Son of God - God the Father, who drew the plan for the salvation. God the Son, who activated the plan. And God the Holy Spirit, who examines the plan and helps explain those who serve or live according to the plan of salvation. (Ge3: 15,12:1-3,17:4-8,1Pe1: 2)

2.3.2 Having the same Lord and belief (1Co1: 10,Php1: 3-6,27-30)

2.3.3 Should live in peace with each other (1Pe3: 8-9,Col2: 2,Php2: 1-4)

2.4 Ministry

2.4.1 Be a servant of God with a humble heart (Mt20: 25-28,cf. Mk10: 42-45)

2.4.2 Be helping others to be strong (Lk22: 32, Act20: 34-35,Ro1: 12,15:1-7)

2.4.3 Encourage each other in faith (Gal6: 2,10; 1Th4: 18,5:11,14;Heb3: 13)

2.4.4 Serving the Lord together (Gal2: 9)

2.5 Examples: walking with God and He blessed them

2.5.1 Enoch walked with God and He took him to heaven (Ge5: 22-24)

2.5.2 Noah walked with God and He saved Noah’s family from flood (Ge6: 9-7:1-)

2.5.3 Israelites, when they obeyed Him, God lived among them (Ge29: 45)

2.5.4 Jesus Christ lived with the Apostles (1John1: 3,5-7)

3 All Christian should have the same communion in order to please God and enter His kingdom.

3.1 Communion with God

3.1.1 God lives with truth believers (2Co6: 16, 1Jn1: 3, Ps16: 7)

3.2 Communion with Jesus Christ

3.2.1 Jesus Christ lives with all truth believers (Jn14: 23,1Jn1: 3,Rev3: 20)

3.3 Communion with the Holy Spirit

3.3.1 The Holy Spirit lives within all truth believers (Jn14: 16-18; 2Co13: 14;Gal4: 6;Php2: 1-2)

3.4 Communion among all believers

3.4.1 Unity (Ps119: 63,133:1-3,Jn17: 20-21; 1Co10: 16-17, 12:12-13)

3.4.2 Commanded (Ro12: 15; 2Co6: 14-18;Eph4: 1-3; 5:11;Col3: 16; 1Th4: 18; 5:11,14;Heb3: 13;Jas5: 16)

The only enemy of Unity is that the devil uses its power to break us in regard to our differences, lack of the full knowledge of God, lack of love for one another, and most of all lack of complete love for God. (1Co13;Mt22: 37-39,Dt6: 5,Galatians 5:22-23) Because of this, it leads us to live under our sinful nature, is the tool that Satan use to draw us from God. Paul has described some of this sinful acts in Galatians 5:19-21.

Well! There is hope for all truth believer of Jesus Christ to get the victory over this issue. God the Father and God the Son have left with us the Bible, the Holy Spirit, and the Blood (cross) of Jesus Christ to help us walk in love with each other in unity. All we have to do is to surrender our differences to God and start learning to love and to forgive each other through the example of the cross, which Jesus has taken for us (We will study together about learning to forgive on Wednesday evening). If we can get through this issue, then I pray that we can start to learn more about God; so that, we can live our lives according to his plan of salvation for us and for the world.

This means that we start to love God, love our Christian Brethren, love people in the world and everything within it, that God has asked us to care for. So, ask you can see that this is a win for all Christian and a win for God. The kingdom of God will be growing bigger and better. The only one that loses is the devil and its kingdom. I pray that all leaders of God would see this and ask God to change their differences and allowing Him to guide each one to one plan with the same mind, spirit and salvation. Let’s join hands in prayer that this seminar would bring us to unification in the love of Christ. (Ps133).

Summary of the message

God is the Father of all people. He made Jesus Christ to be the Head of all Christian in the world, so that, He can save people to Himself through Jesus Christ. God had risen Jesus from the grave and let Jesus sit on the throne at His right side in heaven with all the authority to rule over all: 1. Heaven, 2. Earth 3. Hell. And only through Jesus Christ that God can forgive our sin.

God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are one God, the trinity of God. Three becomes one as God. And God has only one goal that is to save people in the world through Jesus Christ. This means that Jesus is in the business of uniting all people in the world to be one group; so that, He can bring them to the Father at the end of time. In regarding to His plan of unification, Jesus commands all Christian to live, serve, and fellowship together as brotherhood in one unique group under one Gospel, one Spirit, one Salvation, one Baptism, and one Lord, and that is Jesus Christ the Savior Lord.

Jesus’ commandment is not easy to live by if we depend on our strength alone for we are differences in shape, size, thought, knowledge, wisdom, talent, experience, lifestyle, and so on. So, God gives us the Holy Spirit to enable us to live in accordance with his plan, unification as one unique group called Christian, who access the power from God daily to live their lives in good fellowship and communion with God and among themselves. They also are friend to all people.

SMALL GROUP DISCUSSION

Describe some of the things that break the unity among Christian

__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

Describe some of the things that put Christian in Unity

__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________

Fill in the blank (Summary of the message)

God is the _____of all people. He made Jesus Christ to be the _______________ in the world, so that, He can save people to Himself through________. God had risen Jesus from the grave and let Jesus sit on the throne at His right side in heaven with all the authority to rule over all: 1. ______, 2. _________ 3. __________. And only through Jesus that God can _________our sin.

God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are one God, the ______ of God. Three becomes one as God. And God has only one ____ that is to save people in the world through Jesus Christ. This means that Jesus is in the business of _____ all people in the world to be one group; so that, He can bring them to the ______ at the end of time. In regarding to His plan of ______, Jesus ________ all Christian to live, serve, and fellowship together as brotherhood in one unique group under _________, _________, __________, ___________, and _________, and that is ____________ the Savior Lord.

Jesus’ _________is not easy to live by if we depend on our strength alone for we are differences in shape, size, thought, knowledge, wisdom, talent, experience, lifestyle, and so on. So, God gives us the ____________to enable us to live in accordance with his plan, _________as one unique group called ____________, who ______the power from God daily to live their lives in good _________and ___________ with God and among themselves. They also are friend to all people.

SMALL GROUP DISCUSSION

Describe some of the things that break the unity among Christian

__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________

Describe some of the things that put Christian in Unity

__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________

Kindly send any donations to: International Teams, Khath Ourng Fund, 411 West River Road, Elgin IL 60123-1570, Please make your checks payable to: International Teams, Khath Ourng Fund

Thank You for your support and prayers