Acts 17:27 That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us:

"Haply" means "perhaps," or "maybe."

Link to Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GbgmeYKq8M

How do you fix a broken tuba?

WITH A TUBA GLUE!

Acts 17:27 That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us:

How many thieves were executed with Jesus?

TWO

The hill where Jesus was crucified is called:
A: Calvary
B: Golgatha
C: The Place of the Skull
D: All of the above

THE ANSWER IS:
D: All of the above

WHO SAID IT:
"Let him come down from the cross right now, and we will believe in him!"
A: Religious Leaders
B: Jesus
C: HeroBrine

A: RELIGIOUS LEADERS

WHO SAID IT:
"We deserve to die for our crimes, but this man hasn’t done anything wrong."
A: The Disciples
B: The Repentant Thief
C: Hillary Clinton

B: The Repentant Thief

What did Jesus do for the thief on the cross?
A: He told him he was a sinner
B: He told him to be quiet
C: He forgave him

C: He forgave him

WHO SAID IT:
"Surely this man was innocent."
A: Mary
B: Roman Centurion
C: Mahershalalhashbaz

B: Roman Centurion

WHO SAID IT:
"I assure you today you will be with me in paradise."
A: King Herod
B: Mohammed
C: Jesus

C: Jesus

When Jesus was on the cross, what happened to the veil in the temple?

IT WAS TORN FROM TOP TO BOTTOM.

Who is our high priest?

Jesus is a high priest. Hebrews 14:14 calls Jesus a "great high priest."

Who is called "the Lamb of God?"

JESUS

We're going to learn about forgiveness today.

"Many years ago, a father and his daughter were walking through the grass on the Canadian prairie. Do you know what a prairie is?

A prairie is a big wild place where lots of grass grows. In the distance, they saw a prairie fire, and they realized that it would soon catch up to them, and it could burn up the father and his daughter. It was moving too fast for them to run away.

The father knew what to do: They would quickly start 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. This is called "backburning." Have you ever heard someone say, "fight fire with fire?" This is where that saying came from.

So, that is what they did. The father set the dry grass on fire, and when the grass around them was all burnt up, the father and his daughter stood on the warm crunchy ashes where the fire had been.

When the huge flames licked the edge of their burnt circle, the girl was terrified but her father promised her, "The flames can't get to us. The fire needs something to burn, and there is no dry grass here, only ash. We are safe because we are standing where the fire has already been."

God is our Father. He wants to keep us safe from the flames of hell. Hell is going to burn up sin. The Bible says that ". . . the cowards, unbelievers, vile, murderers, . . . immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars--their share will be in the lake that burns with fire." We deserve to be punished for our sins, but Jesus already took the punishment on the cross. It hurt. It was sad. But He made a safe place for us. When we walk with Jesus, we are safe from the fires of hell, because He has already taken the punishment. Just like the father burnt the field ahead of his daughter, Jesus made a way that we can escape hell when we walk with Him.

How can we get forgiveness? First, we need to make sure we've forgiven everybody who has sinned against us. The Bible says, "But if you do not forgive others, your Father will not forgive you your sins. " Matt. 6:15

What is a sin? Stealing, lying, punching, etc.

Getting your feelings hurt is not a sin. If your teacher tells you to get to work, and you get embarrassed, the teacher hasn't sinned against you.

Let's think of an example. What if there is a mean boy, named Ichabod, and Ichabod steals your favorite toy car. It's the one car that you love more than any other toy car in the world, and mean old Ichabod won't give it back.

Would you be mad? Probably. What should you do? First, tell a teacher, or Mom or Dad. Then, what does the Bible say we should do when somebody does something wrong to us?

Instead of getting hateful thoughts, mean thoughts, you could think like this: "Maybe the Ichabod made a mistake. Maybe Ichabod has a car just like this one and he though that it was his. Maybe Ichabod is innocent. Do you think that could have happened? That has happened to me before. I've accidentally taken something that belonged to someone else because I thought it was mine. Oops! It happens.

The Bible says, "Love bears up under everything; believes the best in all; there is no limit to her hope, and never will she fall." - I Cor 13:7 Instead of getting mad right away, we can believe the best about people.

Okay, now what if the teacher can't do anything, parents aren't there, and that bratty kid Ichabod says, "I found this car, and I'm going to keep it." Now you REALLY have to forgive him. So, let's think like this: "Compared to what Jesus had to forgive, this isn't so bad. Jesus forgave the soldiers who took his clothes, whipped him, kicked him, spit on him, and made fun of him. This kid hasn't whipped my back and made me bleed. This kid hasn't spit on me. This kid hasn't killed me. Jesus had to forgive a lot more than me; so I can forgive this kid for taking my toy car."

"Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do." Luke 23:34

Another thing you can do is think of how many people have been kind to you, and that might help you be kind to the person who has done wrong. The Bible says that it's easy to be nice to nice people. Anybody can do that! Even people who don't know Jesus are nice to the people who are nice to them. It's easy. What's hard is to be nice to mean people, but that is what makes Christians different. We do hard things. We must be kind to mean people.

When we are mean, is Jesus kind to us? Yes. When we throw a fit, does Jesus want to forgive us? Yes. How disappointed do you think Jesus would be if He forgave us, and then we turned around and said, "I'm not going to forgive somebody else!" That makes Him very sad. But if you forgive mean people, Jesus said you will have a great reward in heaven. Luke 6:35 says, ""Love your enemies! Do good to them . . . Then your reward from heaven will be very great, and you will truly be acting as children of the Most High, for he is kind to those who are unthankful and wicked."

Next, pray for the person who did wrong. Don't wish bad things for that mean old Ichabod! Pray good things him.

"Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who hurt you." Luke 6:28

It might be hard, but you can pray for that mean kid! You can say, "Lord, Ichabod made me really mad, but I want to be your child, so I pray for Ichabod. I pray that he would repent of his sins, be baptized, and receive your Holy Spirit into his heart so that he can go to heaven. I pray that you would keep him safe, that you would let him have what he wants for Christmas!"

If Jesus forgave, then you can, too! Don't come up with excuses why you can't forgive people.

Maybe you're telling yourself that you can't forgive because you've been hurt.

Jesus forgave when the soldiers whipped him and hurt him. We have to forgive, even though we've been hurt. Unforgiveness will make you bitter. Not forgiving will make you sad and mean. Forgive people! You can do it!

Here's another excuse people make to not forgive: "They didn't say sorry." Or, "They said sorry, but they're really NOT sorry."

The soldiers and the Jewish religious leaders never said sorry to Jesus, but He forgave them anyway. He forgave quickly! That was the first thing He said when he was nailed to the cross! THE FIRST THING! Before anybody asked Him to forgive them, He forgave. So, don't wait for an apology, forgive in your heart, so that when the person comes to you and DOES say sorry, you can say, "Don't worry, I already forgave you."

What if you're still mad?

Jesus could have easily been mad, but He forgave anyway.

Sometimes you can't help if you are angry, but you can still forgive. God will help you, and you will not be angry forever. God says, "Be angry, yet do not sin. Do not let the sun set while you are still angry." - Eph. 4:26

Sometimes anger can be like ripples. Let's say you have a calm attitude. You're peaceful, like somebody resting in a boat in a still lake. That's pretty peaceful, right? Then, all of a sudden, SPLASH! Somebody does something bad to you and it reverberates through your calm spirit like somebody just took a boulder and went SPLASH!. Your boat's rocking back and forth. WHOA! The waves are making you sick to your stomach.

The ripples are like anger. They keep rippling even after you have been hurt. Maybe you can't help being mad for a while. But what happens after a few minutes? Things settle down. Let things settle down. Just wait. Don't throw rocks at the other person, and make ripples to rock their boat. Don't grab the side of your boat and make make waves because you're mad! Just wait! Settle down.

Then Peter came to him and asked, “Lord, how often should I forgive someone who sins against me? Seven times?”

22 “No, not seven times,” Jesus replied, “but seventy times seven!

If they do it again, forgive like Jesus forgives you, and maybe they will see that Jesus' love and forgiveness is best, and they will stop sinning.

How many times has Jesus forgiven you? He's forgiven me a lot. He's forgiven me over and over and over! If we say we want to be like Jesus, we have to do what He does. He forgives over and over!

Link to Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsUpJnjpBzE