Freed to Forgive From the Heart

Sunday evening, we took a break from the Sermon on the Mount, jumping ahead a few chapters to hear Jesus explain what must motivate true forgiveness from the heart without limits: God’s immeasurable mercy toward us.

So for 45 minutes I shared the gospel and its implications with the students from the parable of the unforgiving servant. We saw the magnitude of our debt of sin against God—impossible to repay on our own—and how, for all who believe, God mercifully canceled this debt through Jesus’s death on the cross. This radical forgiveness from God must now motivate us to forgive others without limits, demonstrating that we truly grasp the depth of His mercy toward us. I encourage you to watch, listen, or read through this sermon, and take time this week to discuss with your students how the gospel shapes our hearts and transforms our responses when others sin against us.

The discussion guide with the outline and discussion questions can be downloaded here, and the slideshow with the images I used to illustrate the story here.

I was deeply impacted by Jesus’ story; it is my prayer that your students are too. This gospel message is something that we must rehearse, we must know, we must remember each and every day of our lives. It must affect everything that we do.

I’m excited to use this foundation to continue on into the Sermon on the Mount and Jesus’ teaching on loving our enemies. But first, we have a fellowship night in the park this Sunday. It’ll be 6 pm at Tumbleweed Park. It’s totally fine to come early.

What a privilege this is to share the truth of God’s Word and this glorious good news of His mercy with so many students. Please pray for them, for me, and for all in this ministry. Thank you for entrusting us to come alongside you and support you and help you in the evangelism and discipleship of your students.

Your servant for His glory,
-Jacob Hantla