Southside Church • November 2, 2025
Speaker: Pastor Mike Mannes
Are you a good forgiver?
“You will receive when the Holy Spirit comes on you…”— Acts 1:8
Stephen’s last words before he died were:
“Lord, forgive them for this sin.”— Acts 7:60
They say rumination is the of mental health: unwanted, unregulated, negative emotion-based obsessive thinking produced by unforgiveness.
The person you have the hardest time forgiving — .
1. You Are Not .
Shame tries to convince you that you are the only one — that you’re in a special category of evil or repulsiveness that no one else can reach.
Shame convinces you that you are unique and alone.
Well, you may be unique, but you’re not
.
“Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked…”— Genesis 3:7
“So much of human history has been men and women sewing fig leaves together like crazy, trying to hide their shame.”
The antidote to shame is .
2. You Are Not .
Adam and Eve tried to cover themselves with fig leaves, and it didn’t work.
The average age for someone to be exposed to porn in Canada is .
After Adam and Eve ate the fruit, what was the one thing in the world that they determined was wrong and dirty? .
3. You Are Not .
When Adam and Eve hid, God came looking for them.
Two spotless had to die to cover Adam and Eve.
That moment pointed forward to Jesus, the spotless Lamb who died for our shame once and for all.
“Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”— John 1:29
But Jesus didn’t just cover our shame… He it away.
“Anyone who believes in Him will never be put to .”— Romans 10:11