Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?" Jesus answered, "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times [KJV Seventy times seven]. Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him. Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt. The servant fell on his knees before him. 'Be patient with me,' he begged, 'and I will pay back everything.' The servant's master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go. But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. He grabbed him and began to choke him. 'Pay back what you owe me!' he demanded. His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, 'Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.' But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. When the other servants saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed and went and told their master everything that had happened. Then the master called the servant in. 'You wicked servant,' he said, 'I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?' In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed. This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart."

Ease 82%, Level 5.7 [NLT]

Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Grace and Peace be with you Christ's Soldier!

In today's Bible story, Jesus tells another parable. It is about forgiveness. You see, God wants his children to be forgiving, one to another. Peter asked Jesus how many times should we forgive. He asked if seven times was enough. Jesus told him not seven, seven times seventy. That is a lot. In fact it means always and forever.

This teaching is important. Do you remember the Lord's prayer? It asks the father to forgive us. How often do we want his forgiveness? Well, we want it every time we sin. In the prayer we say, "forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors" Do you see how we ask to be forgiven every day we say this prayer? How is God asked to forgive us? In the same way we forgive others.

Now in the parable, there was a man who worked for the King. He owed the King a lot of money. The King forgave him his debt. Then the man went out and got everybody that owed him anything thrown into jail if they didn't pay him right away. He would not forgive anybody or give them more time to pay. When the king heard of this he was very mad. The King said the man should have been kind to others. So the king had the man thrown into jail too, until he paid his debt.

In this story the King is God. The man is you. We are told to forgive our neighbors just as God forgives us. Then God will be ready to forgive us. But if we never forgive anyone who is sorry, then God will not forgive us. He wants to be ready to forgive whenever we are asked, not just once, twice, or seven times, but whenever we are asked to forgive.

Farewell, and may God, the Father, and the Son and the Holy Ghost bless you, your family, and your friends!

Granddaddy

Ease 86%, Level 3.8

LESSON EXERCISES

* Can you name the people in this story, and tell about them?

* In you own words, what do you think this story is about?

* Draw a picture that tells the Gospel story. (You may copy or trace the one on the lesson if you wish.)

* Make up a story (parable) or share a true story that is like our lesson today.

* Sing a song about today's story DEAR LORD AND FATHER OF MANKIND

Songs for Children

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Notice: This is an open letter to my Grandson Nathan. It is under copyright protection: The Rev. Mark Carroll, MMVI

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