Study Notes

I.      Mark 11:25-Forgive if you have ought against any; If you have ANYTHING against ANYONE you need to forgive

A.    Anything opens it up quite a bit and that would mean “small” stuff and “big” stuff

1.      The stuff that happened may be small, but the unforgiveness/offense is BIG

2.      There’s no such thing as small unforgiveness or small “taking offense”

B.     Anyone means people who know and don’t know, people you come into contact with and those you don’t

1.      You might have ought against somebody that has no idea they did anything to offend you

C.    Anything AGAINST anybody-Psalm 130:3-4

1.      Does anybody have any marks against their record in your mind?

2.      You can’t do stuff for them in love because there’s marks against their record (You can’t give to them, you can’t be kind to them, you can’t be patient with them because they have marks against their record)

II.     Mark 11:25-“If you HAVE” To have it you had to take it; If you HAVE anything against anyone it’s because you TOOK IT or took offense

A.    You didn’t have to TAKE offense, you could have GAVE forgiveness

1.      Have-To have, to hold; To own, to possess; To lay hold of, to adhere or cling to, to hold one’s self to a thing, to be closely joined

2.      If someone offended you and you HAVE something against them it’s because you TOOK offense

3.      “I took offense to that,” is the perfect way of saying it because YOU TOOK IT and you didn’t have to

B.     Forgiveness is in play anytime anybody does anything that you don’t like, because when they did the thing you don’t like you either gave forgiveness or took offense; Whenever you didn’t give forgiveness you took offense

1.      When somebody does something you don’t like are you going to hold it against them or are you going to let it go?

III.   Mark 11:25-“Forgive if YOU” not “Forgive if THEY”

A.    The time to forgive is not just when somebody does you wrong, but if YOU have anything against anybody it’s time to forgive

1.      Forgiveness is in play if you have anything against anybody, not just if somebody has done you wrong

2.      We’ve thought forgiveness was only relevant when someone purposely did something to me with the intent to harm me, but not so; forgiveness is relevant and in play anytime you have opportunity to have anything against anybody

3.      “Forgive if somebody has done me wrong,” takes the relevancy and applicability away from forgiveness because being in a situation where people have done you wrong might not be applicable and relevant everyday

4.      “Forgive if you have anything against anybody,” makes it relevant and applicable nearly every second of your life because you are constantly having opportunities to have stuff against people

5.      We’ve thought, “forgive if somebody has done me wrong,” but truth says, “forgive if I have ought against anybody”

B.     The focus is on you and how you have responded not on them and what they have done

1.      It doesn’t say if anybody has done you wrong forgive them; it says if you have anything thing against anybody then forgive

2.      When ascertaining if you need to forgive don’t search what people have done, but search your heart for how you have responded to what people have done and if you have anything against anybody it’s time to forgive

a.    Forgiveness has more to do with you and your response than it does what people have done to you and if you took offense have ought against them, then you need to forgive

3.      Not what did they do, but how did I respond-That will tell me if I need to forgive

4.      IF YOU-So you need to forgive if YOU have done something, NOT if THEY have done something; Something YOU did would put YOU in a position where YOU need to forgive; What would you have done that would put you in a position where you need to forgive? If took offense and have ought (anything against anybody) then you need to forgive

a.    If you have opportunity to have something against somebody you need forgive

b.    Giving forgiveness will keep you from taking offense

C.    Just because you’re forgiving a person doesn’t mean that person has done anything wrong

1.      “Forgive if you,” means they might not have done anything wrong, but maybe you have something against them for what they have done and if you do you need to forgive, you need to let it go

2.      Forgiveness doesn’t condemn what a person has done, but rather it says I’m not going allow what you have done, right or wrong, to cause me to have something against you

IV.   Forgive if you have ought against any-Let go of the stuff you took and are holding onto

A.    What people like to do is pretend they don’t have anything against anybody because they know they are not supposed to, but to experience the power of forgiveness in your life you are going to have to be honest with the Lord and honest with yourself about the offenses you have taken

1.      You can’t and won’t let go of something if you’re pretending like you don’t have it

2.      Don’t pretend! It bothered you, it made you mad admit it and then let it go

B.     The enemy likes you to be unaware of unforgiveness in your heart and life

1.      All the little things that we take offense to and don’t forgive that we forgot about are seeds of offense and unforgiveness working in us

a.    The enemy likes to get that unforgiveness and offense working in you and just keep it there so that when you get ready to release faith in God to overcome there’s nothing there to energize your faith and make your faith work

2.      Just because you forgot you had something doesn’t mean you didn’t have it

a.    EX: It could be a small thing like the lady in the drive through that was taking forever; you took offense and didn’t give forgiveness so you have ought against her and you may have forgot about it, but that doesn’t mean that you don’t have it; there’s been a lot of stuff that people had, but forgot they had it

V.    The enemy will keeping bring that offense to your mind endeavoring to get you to TAKE IT because he wants to destroy your faith

A.    I’m not taking that offense that you’re trying to get me to take

1.      I REFUSE TO TAKE OFFENSE – but you can’t stop there; Too many times people of stopped there, but you don’t overcome offense by just refusing to take it, you overcome offense by giving forgiveness

2.      I GIVE FORGIVENESS – this is how you overcome offense

a.    Your defense against offense is to refuse to take offense; your offense to overcome offense is to give forgiveness

b.    Giving forgiveness puts you on the offensive in this attack against your love walk

B.     The enemy wants you to fellowship and commune with the thing they have done

1.      Forgiveness-Separation, Of any kind of separation of one thing from another by which the union or fellowship of the two is destroyed

2.      To not commune with the wrong, with the ought you’ll have to be forgiving all the time-Colossians 3:13