Pearls Of Offense
by Kevin Allen
March 22, 2026 · Centerpointe Apostolic Church (Murfreesboro, TN)
Kind: sermon
Scripture: John 16:1, Psalms 119:165, Matthew 11:1-6, Hebrews 12:15, Luke 17:1, Matthew 18:7, Romans 14:12-13, James 1:19-20, Colossians 3:12-13, Matthew 5:38-45, Matthew 13:45-46, Matthew 7:6

Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/kevin-allen--pearls-of-offense
Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page.
Free to copy and share with attribution.

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I want to talk about something that's sensitive today and I'm asking that you'd pray for me that I could deliver it right because it's a subject matter that has a way of polarizing but I feel like the Lord wants me to deliver it today. I want to go to John 16, read one verse of scripture, then Psalms 119 and read one verse of scripture and then Matthew 11 to read six verses of scripture. For today I want to talk about pearls of offense. Pearls of offense. John chapter 16 verse number one. These things I've spoken unto you that you should not be offended. Everybody say offended. >> Psalms 119 and 165. Great peace have they which love thy law and nothing shall offend them. There's that word again, offend. Matthew 11 verse one. It came to pass when Jesus finished commanding his 12 disciples that he departed from there to teach and to preach in their cities. And when John had heard in prison about the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples and said to him, "Are you the coming one, or do we look for another?" And Jesus answered and said to them, "Go and tell John these things which you hear and see. The blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear. The dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. And blessed is he who is not offended because of me.

Let's be honest today. Offense is universal. There's not a person dead or alive who's not been offended at some point in their life. Somebody has done something to you. They have called you something that you didn't deserve. They've criticized you in a way that was simply unfair. They've disrespected you in some manner. They've lied against you. But for some, this goes even deeper. You've been labeled. You've been stereotyped. You've been spoken about in ways that cause you to be less than human. And that little childhood phrase, sticks and stones may break my bones, but words never harm me. It just doesn't age very well, does it? Because words don't just hurt, they linger. They have a way of echoing in the background of our mind. They stick into the soul. And here's what really gets down to the nitty-gritty. Not all offenses hit the same. If a stranger offends you, that's one thing. But if it's someone you know, that sting goes a little bit deeper. But when it's someone you love, someone that you care deeply about, that's when it cuts the deepest. Because love gives people access, and access has the ability to make those wounds go down to the deepest places of who we are. Those are the offenses that don't just irritate, but they seemingly ignite things inside of us that we have a hard time extinguishing. They provoke reactions. They stir anger. They can fracture relationships. In fact, if not handled correctly, offense has the power to destroy everything in its path and in your life.

Scripture shows us clearly that Cain felt slighted and he turned into murdering his brother. Abselum carried the offense that he had for two years and it ended with bloodshed. Hmon's bruised ego led to a genocidal plot. Don't miss this unresolved offense. Doesn't stay small. it will grow down into the very soul of who you are. Everybody's on edge. Everybody's reacting. Everyone has a trigger. That seems to be the culture of the world in which we live in today that we have created a system and a way of managing offenses instead of dealing with them. We have sensitivity training and speech laws and social pressure and political correctness and all these things that are there in order to help us to manage the offense instead of doing the hard work of actually dealing with the problem and the reason why it's there. None of these things have actually solved the hard issues because you can regulate behavior but ladies and gentlemen, you cannot legislate the human heart. >> You cannot do it. there's a bigger issue because as we try to not be offended, we end up trying to resist it, but we end up reacting to it and we replay it over and over and over and over again and it causes there to be a much larger underlying issue. We're living in a time where people are not just getting offended, they stay offended. >> Doesn't take anything to set them off. slightest little inconvenience, things not going according to their plan, according to their schedule, and all of a sudden they act in ways that cause the rest of us to be surprised, as if all of a sudden we stepped on a landmine and it blew up and exploded in ways we had no way to know or even prepare for.

The fence, ladies and gentlemen, is a trap. If it's not dealt with, it doesn't just stay still. It has the ability to spread deep and go down at the very heart of who we are. Offense is a trap because it feels justified. But that's the bait. And if you take it, it doesn't just affect your feelings. It affects your calling and who it is that God designed you to be. And the enemy knows that. He knows that you have a future that was given to you from the day you drew your first breath. That God had a plan for your life, a kingdom purpose designed specifically for you. But if he can keep you offended, >> if he can keep you hurt, if he can keep you wounded, if he can keep you to take the bait, he knows you will never fully become what you were needed to be. As long as that offense is there, it grows quietly. But ladies and gentlemen, it destroys deeply. Bitterness does not explode. Instead, it takes root down. Hebrews 12:15, lest any root of bitterness spring up. So now we've got people who don't just have a moment of offense, but they build a lifetime of identity around it. The offended thing becomes who they are. Now listen to me. Today's message is for some specific people that are in the room. I feel wholeheartedly that I was going in a different direction. And I was going to talk about offense and I may preach the message cuz it's complete and it's really good.

I liked it a lot. As I've said before, I was really really happy with what I had put together and God said, you know, it's not bad, but it's not what I want. I was going to talk about not being offended by the apostolic doctrine, not being offended by the mighty God in Christ in Jesus name baptism. I like that stuff. That makes me happy. I mean, I can go on that one all day long. We can kick holes in the sheetrock and swing on the lights by that one. I can go down that route. I was feeling real good till about two hours ago and God said, "I don't like any of it." I'm like, "How do you not like it? It's your word." But he told me, "I'm reaching for somebody today. >> I'm reaching for somebody who has found that identity in an offense. And I want them to know that I hear them. And I want them to know that I love them. And I want them to know that I don't view them by what happened to them. That my love supersedes the offense. So I'm reaching for someone specific today. People that are struggling with offenses. Somewhere in your past or in your present, you've suffered an offense. Someone has said something or done something that has irritated you and hurt you or harmed you in some way, and you're struggling even now to move beyond it. When I just mentioned the word offense, you felt it.

You felt it. You felt it. Listen to me. That's God's spirit checking you right now. That he's speaking to you. He caused this pastor to change his message today. I feel it in the room. It's a constant wound. And no matter what you do, somehow it continues to reopen over and over again. So here at the onset of the message, I want you to know that I'm preaching to you, whoever you are. I'm preaching to you today that God has stepped in. There's a divine interruption taking place in this moment for the miraculous to happen. Let us not miss the troubling of the water in the room today. I'm reaching for somebody. My spirit is troubled today. I don't know who you are. I don't know who you are, but God loves you. Amen. >> And what has happened to you is not who you are. >> You are his beloved. >> He loves you today. Listen to me. Please be open to what God's trying to say. Yes, all of us will benefit from the word I'm going to preach, but someone here today, this message is going to speak to you in a different way. And I want you to know that God has sent his word to encourage you so that you can leave here changed. When I read the words that come straight out of the mouth of Jesus in Luke 17:1, he said to his disciples, it is impossible that no offense should come.

But woe unto him through whom they do come. While we should pay attention to every word that Jesus says here, he tells his disciples that it is impossible to not experience an offense. If you're living and breathing, if your heart is beating in your chest, offenses will come. It's a part of life. He says they will. A similar conversation is recorded in Matthew 18:7. Woe to the world because of the offense, for offenses must come. Everybody say must. >> Jesus redletter word says offenses must come. I don't like this. He's telling me that I will be offended at some point in my life and it must happen. Why? Why, God, do I have to be offended? Why is that a reality that has to take place and transpire in my life? I don't like that. I can't reason a why behind it with my human understanding, but I want you to know that it's true. Offense must come. Jesus knows not only that it will come, but it's needful. It's necessary. We are not to be the source of an offense. So, please don't misunderstand me. Some of you looked at that right now and you highlighted a verse and said, "I'm your man. If your fence has got to happen, I'm sign me up. I'm good at it. Got a whole list of people I've been wanting to hit up." Don't misunderstand me. Don't you take this out of context today. That's not what we're supposed to do.

Jesus notes that it will happen, but we're not to be the source. In fact, Paul addressed this point in Romans 14 verse number 12. So then each of us shall give an account of himself to God. Therefore, let us not judge one another anymore, but rather resolve this not to put a stumbling block or cause to fall in our brother's way. You and I must first endeavor to not be an offender. So, I'm sorry to pop your balloon, but that's not your calling from God. That's not your spiritual gifting. Make no mistake, in life, offenses will come, but it's not to come from us. We're not to be the source. You and I choose what we will do when offenses come. You and I have a choice. As I tell my daughters often, I can't control you, but you can control you. You can't control anybody else, but you can control you. You do have the obligation and responsibility for what you do yourself. You see, when you and I choose, when it comes in, how do we react when they come? When the offense comes in our life, what will I do? Just because it's thrown at you doesn't mean you have to catch it. >> Just because something's coming at you doesn't mean it has to get in you. >> Offenses are going to come. It's a part of life. They're necessary according to the word of God. If you'll give me a little bit of time, I hope to unpack this the right way.

But I want you to know that you don't have to catch it and you don't have to let it define you. You have a choice. When offenses come, you and I must be slow to take the offense. Good old brother James speaks about this in James chapter 1 19. Wherefore my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear. Means you need to hear. Slow to speak, slow to wrath. For the wrath of man workketh not the righteousness of God. Anytime that you and I want to snap back and retort quickly, there's a high likelihood that I'm just going to be returning offense for offense. So, I need to be quick to listen, but slow to speak, slow to wrath. I need to calm down. I need to give some perspective. I need to take a deep breath. How many of you would be willing to admit, and I have both hands in the air that I have responded inappropriately sometimes when offenses come? The rest of you need to put your hand up and come down because you lied. Yes. Yes. It's a part of being a human being that we feel like we have to. Some of you feel like, well, they said it, so I just said it back. No, you don't have to do that. I know it feels good in the moment, but how many of you have also realized how much regret comes with the returning of the offense?

>> Yes. Yes. Slow to wrath. When offenses come, you and I need to forgive the offender. The responsibility of forgiveness says squarely in our laps, I must choose if I will live in freedom through forgiveness or if I let it shackle me down by being someone who tends to hold on to the offense because that's what offense does. It shackles you. It chains you. It binds you. The responsibility of forgiveness is ours. Offense would love nothing more than to bring along friends. friends like anger and resentment and hurt and unforgiveness and hatred. You know, when the party starts, they show up immediately. We think of all the things that we could do and how we could repay them back for what they've done and how much further in our minds we often take those things. How many of you know exactly what I'm talking about just by driving across traffic this morning to get to church? Whatever it is that has the tendency to set you off. How many of you have that narrative that plays through your mind of all the things that you want to do to that person, they're far greater than what they have done to you? Why? Because offense never stays by itself. It brings all these other things to the party with them when they show up. That's why you and I have to make conscious decisions that I'm not going to allow that offense to define me. I'm not going to allow it to drag me down and become something I was never intended to be because it will always shape you and mold you and form you into something that you were never designed to be.

Colossians 3:12. Therefore, as the elect of God, holy beloved, put on tender mercies. Put on. You catch that word put on. It's a choice. >> Just like you can choose to be offended, you can also choose to not be offended. Put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering, bearing with one another and forgiving one another. If anyone has a complaint against another, even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. I know there are some of us here today that are still struggling with the wanting to get even. You and I love the Old Testament justice. The eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth. That's what we like, right? It's what we want in some respects, right? We want to we want the Old Testament justice when we're being the one that's been offended. But when we're the offender, we want grace of the New Testament. It's amazing how your memory works on which verse you pull up. Which version of God you want. When you're wrong, you want the Old Testament God. You want the wrath. You want to kill him. You want to wipe him out right now. Sodom and Gomorrah. But when it's you, you want pace. You want patience and you want grace and you want mercy in your life. Jesus in preaching the greatest message that was ever preached, we're going through it on Wednesday nights. We're talking about the biatitudes. He says this in that same chapter 5:38.

You have heard that it was said, "An eye for an eye and a tooth for tooth. But I tell you not to resist an evil person. Whoever slaps you on the right cheek, turn the other one also to him." We don't like those words. Don't act like you like those words. You don't like those words. Whoever slaps you in the right turn also. Verse 40. If anyone wants you to sue you, take away your tunic. Give him your cloak also. Whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him too. Give to him who ask and from him who wants to borrow from you. Do not turn away. You have heard it said verse 43, you should love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies and bless those who curse you. No one wants to do that. Do good to those that hate you. I don't want to do that, Jesus. and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you that you may be the sons of your father in heaven. For he makes the sun to rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the just and the unjust. Those are redlettered words. We don't like that. We want it. We won't rain only on the just, right? The just deserve it. The unjust don't deserve rain. And yet we'll sit there and we'll stew in our offense and we'll just we'll just park the car and we'll rest right there.

And Jesus says that's not who you're he wants you to be known for how you have capacity to love. He's clear. It is impossible for offenses not to come, even necessary for it to come. I'll get that in just a second. But we're to be slow to anger and quick to forgive and always to love. Because we already know the Bible says that love covers all sin. Love covers all wrong. Love covers all offenses. And if you're here today and you're dealing with some hurts and I know there's some hurts. I'm not going to ask you to raise your hand. I know there are hurt in this room. It is evident. It is palpitable from the beginning of my message that I can feel that it is here in this room. We're here dealing with some of these things, these offenses, these pathways that have laid out before us. And I'm here to tell you, you can remove the anger and the unforgiveness and the hate and replace it with forgiveness and love if you allow God to do a work in you. Now, this is a deep work. This isn't just, you know, us apostolics getting that goosebumps, little chill check. It's not what this is about. This is about doing some deep work of reflection on where you are. You can turn it over to Jesus today. You can turn it over. You can't I can't force you. Your neighbor can't force you.

We can pray for you. I can recommend it. But at the end of the day, you have to do this with God's help. So, I've said this. You may be saying, "Well, Pastor Kevin, how is the fence necessary? Why would you say that? How do I actually heal from these wounds that have happened to me in life? Well, I'm going to answer those two questions together as we move towards a towards where where I feel like God wants us to go today by using this example of something that God put in nature. I want I want to thank my good friend Jeremy White. He's going to be preaching for us here in about a month. He's doing our men's retreat and he's standing over that weekend. But we were talking this week about what we were going to be preaching about for the weekend. and he dropped this little thought in my mind and then I blame him for this message today. Once an offense comes and it happens in a variety of ways. We can be offended by something that happened to us physically. Someone physically harmed us. We can be offended by something that happened to us emotionally or socially or psychologically. These offenses are irritants that get under our skin and they get into our mind and they weigh on our nerves. These irritants are offenses. They just it's a part of life. It's impossible to live and not be frustrated and offended and irritated by something.

Amen. And if we're not handle them correctly, we'll find ourselves continually in pain or hurt. That irritant that's rubbing there that's there. Anybody know? Anybody ever had that? You ever you ever had that? Any runners in the room? It's okay. I'm not going to sign you up for something. Yeah. Anybody done any running? Maybe you're not a runner, but you've run. You ever notice when you get a pebble in your shoe? I mean, I'm talking about like a little pebble. Now, when you're running, it feels like there's a boulder in there. And then you finally stop and you untie your shoe and you pull it out and you see how many how many of you like me have been surprised by how small a piece of rock that is that caused you such a massive frustration. Yeah. Yeah. Doesn't take much, does it? But that repeated rubbing, that repeated grinding has a way of causing a sore spot that's there. Yeah. Just once it's not bad, but over and over and over again, all of a sudden, but that irritation settles in. That's what those offenses do to us. They come away and they just irritate. When I look at an oyster and they look at the pearl, an oyster is not something of great value on itself. I mean, no one looked at oyster said, "That's beautiful." Have you ever seen one up close? Yeah, some people eat them. I don't know who those people are.

I don't know why you do that. It's just a big booger is all it is. I didn't hang out with people that ate boogers in school and I struggle with people eat boogers as adults. I can't say booger anymore, man. My list of words I can't use from the pullpit is really growing. It's not something on itself that's great value. There's nothing to look at, right? You peel it open, there's nothing really inside there that's worth anything on the surface. But the oyster becomes something of worth because of the beauty and the value of a pearl that can be produced inside of it. You see, a pearl is formed inside the shell of an oyster as a natural defense mechanism against irritants. You heard me say that right. It develops as a natural defense mechanism against irritants. I want you to hang on to that for a second. It's a natural defense mechanism against irritants. Here's how the process occurs. An irritant gets inside the oyster shell and it lodges between the shell and the mantle, which is the soft tissue that produces the shell. As a defense mechanism to protect itself, the oyster starts secretreting a substance called nre, also known as mother of pearl, and it's an aggregate. The oyster continuously coats the irritant with lasers of ner. And over time, months, even years, these layers build up and harden to form a pearl. The resting pearl finds its shape and value in the way it's handled by or handles the irritant in its life.

If the irritant is maintained in the center of the defense process and not allowed to move, layers of smooth and round and it forms it into a round little pearl that everybody has the value over, which is considered the most valuable pearl, the round ones. But there's also irregular pearls that form by it moving around inside the shell that is there. In other words, a pearl will only form around an irritant. Now, some of you know why some people are named Pearl. No offense to anybody named Pearl in the room. Without an irritant, the oyster remains unproductive. Did you hear what I just said? Without an irritant, the oyster remains unproductive. The value comes from the irritant being dealt with through the defense mechanism that's built in to the oyster. Jesus says offenses must come. But once they're there, what do we do with them? Will it bring value into our life? The offense is necessary for us to begin the productive work of producing something beautiful and valuable from the inside of our lives. And the way we heal is by covering the ir irritant in layers of forgiveness and love that we see in the scriptures laid out for us. By not allowing it to move around and to continually irritate us, we put into a defense mechanism inside our life so that it stays put. Because if I can keep it centered there, it can become something of value. Instead of being identified by the irritant, I'm identified by what the irritant becomes both for the good and for the bad.

But if I can allow it to be something that becomes beautiful. Now please understand me. God never intends anybody to be harmed. And there's a lot of harm that takes place. And quite I'm quite sure in a room this size. There's many people that are in the room today that there have been some people who are sitting on this pews today listening to me that have had things done to them that they did not ask for nor did they ever deserve in their life. This is not a way for me to justify why someone sinned against you. But I will tell you this, if you take and turn those things back to God and not be someone who is identified by what has happened to you and allowed the victim label to be placed on you, but instead you coat that with love and forgiveness and faith in him, he will take the ashes of your life and turn it into something beautiful. There are many testimonies who sit on these pews here today in this room about what God had taken that what others would seemingly label as something that destroyed them and define them. They instead did as Joseph said, "What you determined to use as evil, God used for good. I didn't deserve what had happened to me. I didn't deserve to be lied on, cheated on, physically abused, misused, and thrown away as trash. But I turned that hurt and pain over to God.

And he gave me a defense mechanism. And he turned it into a beautiful pearl of great worth that now I have the ability to come alongside others who have been hurt in similar fashion in ways like I was and tell them, "Hey, you don't have to lose hope. That's not the end of life. It may not be what you wanted it to be, but I tell you that there's something good can come of it if you'll just trust God through the process. And over time, he will make something beautiful out of it. And you're now living an overcoming life. and you're breaking cycles and generational curses inside your family because you refused to give into the label. You refused to give into the hurt. You refused to give in the pain. You decided, you know, I'm not going to do that anymore. I'm not going to be the one that continues that chain inside my family, but I'm going to be a chain breaker. I'm going to stop allowing the offenses to define who we are. I'm going to be defined by the love and the mercy and the faithfulness of my God. And because of that, I can be an overcomer. culture says you deserve culture. Our culture, people are crazy in our world right now. >> I mean, there's nuts out there. But I'm here to tell you, God never wanted you to be defined by your offense. He wanted you to understand who you are according to how he views you.

I say this many times here. You are a child of the king. You're not discarded. You're not a cast away. You're not something that can be just thrown away. You're not wasted just because maybe maybe others have abused you. Maybe others have thrown you away. Maybe others have taken advantage of you. He doesn't view you any less. His love hasn't changed. Your value to him is not weighted on what others think about you or how you view yourself. There are some of you who struggle with your own selfworth because of your bad decisions and your mistakes and your failures and your shortcomings and how you have not been able to be consistently all that you needed to be. I want you to know he still loves you in spite of you. In spite of your failures, in spite of your faults, in spite of the mistakes that you've made, in spite of all the things that you have done wrong, he still loves you. You have value to him. When I look at what Jesus is talking about in the kingdom, he's comparing this. He said this in Matthew 13 verse 45. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls. Who when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it. Jesus said, "The kingdom is like a man searching for pearls." For pearls. How do you get a pearl? Through irritation.

The kingdom of heaven is like a man searching for great pearls. So you think all those things that have happened to you, that have offended you, that have hurt you, disqualifies you. And Jesus says, Kingdom of heaven is like a man searching for great pearls. What's he's searching for? the ones who have been broken, who have been offended, who have been hurt and mislabeled and misused and abused and cast away and thrown down and taken advantage of. He's looking for those because you know what? There's great value there. There's great value there. You think you've been disqualified. You think that there's no hope. There's no chance for you. That you've went too far. That God's love does doesn't cover what you had. That you're the exception to the rule. just because of how you view you. You think you've been disqualified. And I want you to know that's a pretty arrogant statement to make, that you're the unique one, that you're the one that God's love doesn't cover. That's wrong. That's a lie. There's nothing that you can do to be disqualified from his love. >> And here's the thing. He loves you just as much today as he's ever loved you. Regardless of where you are spiritually, regardless of the wrongs you've committed or the things that you've done or how you've mishandled situations in your life, he loves you just as much today as he's ever loved you. Matter of fact, he can't love you anymore and he can't love you any less.

That's different than us, right? We were always qualifying our love and if you're kind to me and good to me and you treat my family nice, then my love and my value of you and my eyes goes up. But not God. On your worst day, on the day of your greatest failure and mistake, he loved you just as much then as he loves you now. So, wherever you are right now, he loves you. Did you catch that? So, I'm reaching for you to tell you some of you have been sitting down in your offense far too long and you've been undervaluing the thing that's growing inside of you. It's a pearl of great price. I'm not justifying the wrong or the hurt or the shame or the reproach or any of those things. Those things are wrong. But what I love about God is he loves to take things that are cast away and make them beautiful again. And I don't know where you are, but maybe you walked in with just a sack of broken glass today. Bring the broken pieces of your life to him and watch what he will do. Because there is testimony after testimony in this room today of people who have found themselves broken and shattered by life's decisions and choices and circumstances and they stand today in this room a great witness to say that I am proof positive that God can take a mess of a life and make something beautiful out of it.

Oh, is there anybody who knows what I'm talking about? Is anybody willing to stand up as a testimony to what I'm talking about? Anybody in this room? Yes. Anybody in this room that you are a wreck. You are a train wreck. You have a story of brokenness and heartache and pain and failure and frustration. But God didn't give up on you. He found you at your lowest moment. And he came alongside you when you finally decided, "I refuse to be labeled by my offense. I'm not going to allow it to chain me and hold me back anymore." And said, "I'm going to give in. I'm going to forgive. I'm going to forgive. I'm going to let go. And that's those are hard words, but I promise you, if you'll start the process, he will walk into your life. He won't let you do it by yourself. He will help you all along the way, and you can become a person that's of great worth, a great pearl, a great price. Why? Because God loves you. >> So, get ready to close. You can be seated as ready to close. Did any musicians come? God places that kind of value on what is produced inside of you. Every time an offense comes, instead of bitterness, something in you heals and something in you forms. It may have started as an irritation or a pain or a wound or a hurt, but if handled right, it becomes something rare.

something beautiful, something the kingdom recognizes as value. I don't pretend to know everybody's story in this room. I know several of the stories that are here. I know the story of your mom. She had every reason to walk away. She had every reason to give up. I mean, if anybody had a list of reasons why that she could be offended and stay down in that, it's your mom. But Jeanie didn't. At some point, I'm not here to pick on you. But I felt God direct me to you. Let you know, don't hang on to those offenses. Don't Don't. There's been too high a price paid. How beautiful is your mom's story that God wrote it a new chapter could have been different but she reached a crossroads in her life and she said you know what I got too much to live for God for to allow this fence to keep me chained down anymore. Jeanie's story is not the only story in the room. There's so many beautiful stories in this place about what God has done. How that we didn't allow hurt, how we didn't allow a church hurt to keep me down. >> Right? That's a new popular thing. Church hurt. >> I'm here to tell you there's no perfect church because there's human beings involved. >> And I hate like everything that you guys were hurt. But that was not the will of God. Offenses come in life. It's a part of it.

And you can choose to be defined. You can choose to say, "You know what? I went to that church and that church hurt me, so therefore God's no good." Please don't do that. I've said this many times before and I'm not above doing it again. If you've been hurt in church, I'm sorry. As someone who is clergy, who's a pastor, I want you to know I'm sorry. I apologize for you being mishandled. Please don't hold that against God. Please don't hold that against God. But I promise you, if you will take that hurt and that offense to him, he can make something beautiful out. He can give you beautiful testimonies where you can come along and say, "Hey, you don't have to be defined by it. Instead, you can allow it to be something that'll help you overcome and somebody else overcome through it." Now, here's the great thing about this message today is I don't know how to end it. He got me started and didn't give me an ending. He does that sometimes. I was right here and that last song said and I was arguing with God and saying I don't want to do this today. This is baby dedication Sunday. We got beautiful babies being dedicated. We want to talk about offenses. How can you be offended with a baby? And he said, "No, there's somebody here today that has been bound far too long by the offense. and need them to know that I haven't given up on you.

So, I don't know who you are, and I'm not here to put anybody on the spot, but I want you to know I'm so thankful that God loves us enough that he's willing to halt whatever it takes. He's willing to stop in the middle of a crowd when someone touches the hem of his garment. He's willing to linger a little longer. He's willing to correct when he needs to. He's willing to reach out when you think he doesn't care to say, "I'm still here." So, whoever you are today, I'm going to pray in just a minute. And I want you to know this altar is open. And I believe this with everything that's in me, every fiber in me that there is a healing for the offended in the room today. that he will take what you have been going through, what you have been experiencing, what you have been suffering through. He will make it a pearl of great price. It will be used mightily for his kingdom. Offenses come. Jesus said this in Matthew 7. Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under feet and turn them again and render you. And I'm going to tell you, the world will tell you have the right to hang on to that offense. But don't you cast your pearl before swines. Don't you let them trample that. Don't you Don't you do that.

Don't you do it. Instead, bring it to him and watch God transform it into something beautiful for a kingdom purpose and his kingdom plan. Will you close your eyes right now with me? Jesus was obedient to you today. I don't know who you're reaching for, God. I don't know. But I pray right now that your spirit would bring them to a place, God, where they can be reconciled with you. Please do what you do best. Take the brokenness of our lives and make it beautiful. I pray that someone will have courage today to step out to push past the shame to find a place Lord where you can mend the brokenness in them today in Jesus name. Church it's prayer time. This altar's open. I would take advantage if this fits you in any way, shape, form or fashion. I would take advantage today of what God wants to do.