When Offenses Come

My subject this evening is when offenses come I hope you came ready for a Bible study Amen The church is the body of Christ and what that means is while We often speak of the church as this building and I think we understand this and in one practical sense This is true by the definition of the English language or Perhaps the definition that a government would ascribe to this facility Really biblically the church is not a building It's the body of Christ And if you were to take the time to go through the scripture You would find out that it began with what the scripture calls the chief cornerstone That was Jesus Christ It was followed by the apostles and the prophets and the church even to this present day continues to be built and Constructed as our lives are built up in him And so this reminder is good for us tonight because the strength of the church cannot be measured

By the structure that we're sitting in tonight When we speak of the strength of new life fellowship, we are not talking about What what weight load these steel beams can hold the stability of concrete walls That's not what we speak of When we speak of the strength of the church, we are talking about the spiritual health And this means that at least in part we have to consider the health and the function of relationships within the church Paul prayed for the church in Philippi in chapter 1 of Philippians and he said it was his desire that they would be sincere and Without a fence until the day of Christ. I would submit that He prays this because as the apostle to that city He is well aware of the danger of that reality among them And so I say it's wise for us to pray the same we should

take time personally and corporately to pray that God would help us to remain sincere and without offense until he returns The desire of the Lord for any church and that includes our local church is this that we would love God We would love others and we would serve Now when we speak of sincerity this means that We have to recognize the sanctuary though it has very comfortable theater seating is not a theater This was not built for our entertainment and while our services do have a program There is a plan and there is an order our services really are not just programs to be executed While we do dress up as an act of honor towards the Lord and we do honor the Lord in our Presentation my suit and tie tonight is not a costume And while we practice and prepare and there are so many musicians and singers that put many hours in

To get ready for what happens here every weekend that worship set is not a performance The sincerity Beyond all of these things is the virtue to be desired Hearts that are humble and honest and hearts that are hungry for God something that that beyond the program and beyond the system And beyond the process a heart that just Sincerely wants God and a heart that wants the body So he said I'm praying that you'll be sincere in without a fence Evidently he recognizes the danger of these things among them If you have your Bible and you want to open it I'm gonna make my way to Luke 17 in a moment and I'll preach or teach tonight in an expository manner through the first Six verses of Luke 17 But before I get there I want to show you the danger of a fence in the life of a believer in

Luke 17 where we'll come in a moment Jesus is teaching on a fence in the context of relationships or The interaction between two parties which really is reflective of the health of the church But first I would submit consideration must be given to what a fence does to the individual Matthew chapter 11 and verse 2 The Bible said John heard well He was imprisoned the works of Christ and he sent two of his disciples and he said unto him Art thou he that should come or do we look for another? His question is this are you? Really the Messiah or should we look for another? Jesus answered and said unto them you go and show John again those things which you do he and here and see The blind receive their sight the lame walk and the lepers are cleansed and the deaf here The dead are raised and the poor have the gospel preached to them all of this is good

It is a fulfillment of the messianic prophecy of Isaiah 35 What he's telling John is you go tell John That the miracles that the Old Testament foretold But the Old Testament did not contain have now been fulfilled The word of the Lord has proved true You go tell John the signs speak for themselves the prophecy has been fulfilled. I am the Messiah now John has asked a theological question and to this point Jesus answers and speaks to the theological question in John's mind But verse 6 of Matthew 11 he continued and said blessed is he Who so ever shall not be offended in me? It seems an unusual statement. How do you jump from this rich theology of Old Testament? Prophecy fulfilled in the life of Christ. How do you go from that to this off-the-hook statement? About the blessing you get if you're not offended at God

evidently John did not say it, but Jesus knew all things and He knew somewhere in the mind in the heart of that prophet named John offense was growing and Perhaps that was really the reason for the question. I would submit to you tonight that offense changes how you see things Because let me remind you this is John His entire identity his purpose his life and his preaching was for the sole purpose of preparing for the coming of the Messiah This is John who stood in the waters of the Jordan River and Baptized Jesus to fulfill all righteousness This is John who's standing on the banks of the Jordan when the heavens open Here's the voice sees the sign if anybody should know who the Messiah is. It's you John But when John found himself in a situation He did not like and in a reality. He could not reconcile with his wants a

fence Start of growing in his heart in the things that he could see so clearly and the truth He was so convinced of just just moments before His mind is now clouded his perspective is Distorted his righteous judgment is gone and he's wondering if the Messiah that he knows and has touched and has baptized is in fact the Messiah How is it that those who have spoken in tongues? Can say people don't speak in tongues? I'll tell you how They got offended. I Made mention just a couple weeks ago about the man who prayed me through to the Holy Ghost him How he has drifted so far from this truth and I'll never forget the day on one of those Skype calls When he made this statement to me He said Dan I went from preaching every conference in the United Pentecostal Church I was making well over six figures a year and I came to this city to start a church and now I'm working to

Minimum wage jobs just to barely get by You know and as a young church planner myself it sounded like sacrifice and it sounded valiant and but the reality is is somewhere Beneath the surface Embedded in those words was an offense towards God and that offense Caused him to become clouded in his vision and what was so clear was not clear any longer Jesus was speaking of the last days and Matthew 24 and this is what he said many Would be offended and shall betray one another and shall hate one another See the pattern now offense turns to betrayal and Betrayal turns to hate These are the markers of the world in the last days of a life of a culture That is drifting from God in his void of his word But I say they cannot be the characteristics of our lives or this church

There is no place for offense There is no place for betrayal and there is no place for hate but if offense lives unchallenged soon Betrayal will be entertained and hate will show up And so it is Recognizing the danger of offense in the life of the individual Let us look at Luke 17 tonight to see what Jesus would say about offense between two parties as we consider the health of our church Some context if you were to go back and read Luke chapter 16 he has just concluded his teaching on the rich man and the bag or Lazarus If you were to go back, we won't read it tonight for the sake of time But I underlined these briefly just prior to service as I skimmed through it again He is in hell and he is crying out to God and he is saying I am

Tormented and he begins to ask the Lord. Would you please? Send a witness to my father's house. I have five brethren Send somebody to testify to them so they do not come to this place of torment He has been confronted with the reality that when you cross into eternity, there is no chance of coming back His eternal stay is sealed. It's settled in Jesus transitions from that very weighty subject of hell and Hopelessness and a voice of hell crying for a witness for their family From that weighty subject and says now let me talk to you about offense in the church perhaps It was because he understood the gravity of the subject and He knew this is not something that you approach Flippantly irreverently or carelessly and he wanted to set the tone and make sure their hearts were tender and their eyes were Open and they were ready to absorb the weighty word

He was about to bring and so transitioning from that eternal perspective and Luke 17 in verse 1 the Bible says He said unto his disciples It is impossible, but that offenses will come But woe unto him through whom they come Offenses will come It will not be any other way We do not invite this upon ourselves and nobody is going to glory in it. It's not pleasant when it happens The truth is tonight. We live in a fallen world. This life is broken Well, God is redeeming it through his salvation. It is still broken So it is offenses will come So what remains to be determined tonight is this? It's not if you will have the opportunity to be offended But what will your response be? When it happens So tonight I'm teaching when Offenses come It is impossible. He said that offenses will come

You'll not avoid this you cannot escape this Whether you want it or not whether intentional or not offenses will come But woe to him through whom they come You're going to encounter an opportunity to be offended in this life. That's just the unavoidable reality However, caution is to be given Awareness is to be awakened within you lest you be the individual through whom they come The directive here is that consideration is to be given there should be a sense of Carefulness and how we treat one another and how we live our lives less in our recklessness We become the avenue that offense gets into the church That Greek word for offend is Scandal on it's where we get the English word scandal and it originally referred to the part of a trap in which the bait would be laid The word quite literally meant that a trap would be set in somebody's way and

Something to entice them a bait would be laid upon that trap. It's not used only in context of your adversary But the majority of use is in your New Testament. This describes a work of the enemy Simply put the enemy has set a trap for your life He has set a trap for your family and he has set a trap for our church and one of his favorite Baits on that trap is offense If I can just get you Offended I don't have to get you to throw in the towel. I don't have to get you to forsake the truth I don't have to give you to reject this or deny this or give up on this yet All I've got to do is to get you fixated on what offends you that Is the trap and so Paul would tell Timothy and second Timothy to that they may recover

themselves out of the snare of the devil who are taken captive by him at his will They're taken captive by the devil according to his will, but Paul said that they may recover Themselves meaning there must be an action on the part of the one who is offended to reject the bait Reject the trap say I will not allow my life to be caught up in the bait of offense One translation says it like this that they may come to their senses and Escape from the snare of the devil Nobody in their right mind With a clear sense Would ever willingly walk into that trap But when you get offended You don't see things the way you need to see them Things don't look to you the way they really are Verse two he continues It were better for him that a millstone or hanged about his neck and he cast into the sea

Then that he should offend one of these little ones now I'm glad Jesus said that not me because those are strong words Jesus said it would be better For him to have a millstone tied to his neck Cast into the sea Then that he should offend one of these little ones. He's speaking to the one who a fence comes through Strong language, but this is what he's trying to convey There is serious spiritual harm when you harbor offense in your life It is no small matter when you are careless And you allow your conduct to be carried out without restraint In such a manner that you become the avenue of offense that causes somebody else to stumble He says it would be better for that person to die a tragic death and face God immediately Then to introduce offense into the life of a person or into the family of God and

Then have to stand before God After having done so Offense is a serious thing Little ones in this verse. I've heard it said it perhaps you have to is often used to speak of children I've seen verses like this used in reference to Sunday school and kids things and that's good But it's really not what Jesus is saying. He's not just talking about children He's speaking of people who are spiritually impressionable those who are young in the Lord and He's talking to his disciples and he's saying hey you have got to walk with an awareness that your life is impacting other people You you have to practice Wisdom in maturity and you have to have restraint in your life You have to recognize what you say and how you act and all that you do is an example It's it's influencing things and people and you must be aware

Lest you become the avenue for offense to get into the body It would be better for you to die a tragic death and Meet God right now Then be the one that becomes the door of offense into the church and have to stand before God and Explain why you did what you did and why you responded the way you did These are weighty words. I mean he he's gone from talking about a man in hell crying for mercy To talking about death and offense and then all of a sudden in verse number three. He says take heed to yourselves Literally be on guard Other places in your New Testament, it's actually translated beware That word beware if if you hear somebody shout beware Watch out. What are they saying? They're implying that there's imminent danger Don't delay This is too close for comfort this this is important

This is what Jesus is trying to tell them when you're talking about offense in the human heart And you're talking about offense between two parties and you're talking about offense in the family This is not a light matter. Don't don't be passive towards this take heed It's how urgent it is He's causing them to be awakened to the seriousness of the issue Then he says if thy brother Trespass against thee rebuke him if he repents forgive him There's a lot here First is this Now I was doing okay You know it was heavy. I was doing okay until you said if thy brother like Jesus often does He's gonna get right up in your business He's gonna make it real personal. In fact, if you go through the Gospels I Can't say all with certainty because I didn't take the time to look but I can tell you with certainty the

Overwhelming majority of the time that Jesus speaks on the subject of forgiveness He uses that title brother Why because offense rarely comes from those outside your own walls No one has the power to hurt you like those who should love you Nobody has the ability to hurt you like those that you love Those you thought you could trust but it turns out you couldn't Those that you entrusted the care of your life and to their hands and they did you wrong if thy brother Trespass against you. He brings it in to their family to their church to our church if my brother Trespass against me Now that's a big if but I would submit to you. It's a very likely if if you've been around people for any length of time whether Biological friendship family or friendship or the the spiritual family of God if you get around people

I promise you he told you the first verse there will be ample opportunity for you to be offended Even by your brother and if that happens rebuke him But if he repents forgive him Now there's a lot to consider here Jesus is specifically speaking to issues that are large enough to merit instruction He's speaking to issues that are significant enough that action must be taken for resolution to happen But the scripture does speak to what we could call minor issues And I think it would do us well to give thought and prayer and search the scripture to what is minor and what is major Because it is a mark of an immature person to let the minor become major and to make the major minor The Proverbs said this it's a glory to overlook an offense It's a beautiful thing if you are mature enough and wise enough and the spirit is working in you enough

That you have that love that can cover a multitude of sins that in your maturity as Empowered by the spirit you can just stand up like a grown-up man and a grown-up woman and say I'm not gonna make a big deal About that. I'm just gonna move on love God and love people. That's a glory That's a beautiful thing That should be what we strive for To overlook the offense don't dwell on it. Don't talk about it Don't make a big deal about it. Just give it to God love the Lord and love the body Overlook the offense. I say it would be good for us to develop a culture of overlooking offense But Jesus knows and that's why he's teaching on Luke 17 sometimes There's gonna be some things that happen that you can't overlook and so if He trespasses against you or if she trespasses against you

rebuke him and if he repents forgive him Now I Know when we use the word rebuke we kind of have this thought this perhaps overtly aggressive or very commanding tone or You know just very abrasive Kind of countenance or demeanor is what comes to mind and perhaps that is somewhat in order in certain moments But but there's a lot to consider here The first thing is this is that love has to be the governing power You can't you can't walk about your light lit if you do this I can tell you right now You have a miserable marriage and a miserable family and you're just a miserable old person if you walk around Keeping record of every little offense in your life You have to be one unhappy person We have opportunity to be offended every We can get offended at the airline offended at the mayor and offended at the snowplow driver

I fended at the person didn't go quick enough at the green light and the one around the red light and offended at my boss and offended at my brother and offended at this person and We have opportunity for offense everywhere And if you keep a record of those things you're gonna be one unhappy person That's why the Bible spoke to us of the fruit of the Spirit Paul said when the Spirit is working in you It's gonna make you long suffering The ability to suffer a long time without losing control of your temper or your attitude Paul said in Ephesians 4 that you are to bear one another in love that forbearance it This is what it means to endure one another Your personality may not may not connect with another personality They may rub you the wrong way or you don't like this and they don't like this

Well, guess what the Bible says you have to forbear them in love You have to endure them and they have to endure you why because if you don't you'll get offended And if you get offended the unity of the church is jeopardized and then the future and the promise and the prophecy and the Potential all of that can be lost by offense John you could lose your reward in heaven After being the one that paved the way for the Messiah But blessed is he who's not offended in me We endure one another. Do you know why we do that we do it for the unity of the church We do it to the glory of God for the building up of this body and his kingdom and so When love is the governing power, there's all kinds of little opportunities for offense, but love covers a multitude of sins

We don't dwell on it We don't gossip about it. I don't post about it on social media. We're not on the phone. We're not texting about it When love covers something It means it's hidden. It's buried now. I'm not talking about ignoring sin. That's not what the scripture speaks of It's talking about the handling of offense and forbearing one another and not allowing our Attitude and our spirit to get bent out of sorts over these daily offenses So when that love covers a multitude of sins It means that I now carry myself and live my life in a manner that does not expose the issue to other people or I have just become the one Through whom the offense now spreads First Peter 2 19 he's speaking to those who would suffer unjustly But he says if you keep your mind on God There is favor and blessing for you

So if you have been done wrong the question is is your mind on God or is your mind on man? You can replay That wrong in your mind over and over and over and over And you can talk about it again and again and again and again And you can point fingers at that person and lay blame at their feet again and again and again That is not having your mind on God And when you do that you fuel the fire of offense Instead you have to say yes, I did not deserve it. Yes, I did not like it There's so much that I wish could have been different But I choose to put my mind on God because I know there is favor and blessing when I do Now this is all just in the consideration of the rebuke because you got to get all this stuff straight before you try to have a conversation

To give rebuke simply means to give a strong warning. You're gonna go have a hard conversation You're gonna offer them something to think about you're gonna explain how you feel and yes It speaks to the action what you will literally do But I would say you can't you can't endeavor to to fulfill the action of rebuke without considering the attitude that you do it in a Directive to rebuke is not permission to be ungodly a Scriptural directive to address a matter is not permission to do it however you want to do it So here are just a couple considerations I would offer for you to ask yourself Before you go to confront a wrong Is my motive pure and My intention truly for reconciliation with the individual am I truly desiring to resolve it or Do I just want to vent my frustration so they know how I feel

Would I want to be spoken to by somebody else the way I intend to speak to them Leviticus 19 gave the law it said that you should not hate your brother in your heart But you should in any wise rebuke Which means there is an unwise way to rebuke And any wise rebuke do not suffer sin upon him You should not avenge nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you should love your neighbor as yourself What's he saying There's a time that you have to go to your brother There's a time that you have to have a conversation There's a time you have to make things right, but do not do it with hate in your heart Do not do it with a grudge against them I'm saying love has to be the governing power here You're not you're not getting even you're not making right. You're not seeking vindication. You're not the judge

Love has to be at work Because if it's not you can do the right thing and you can say the right words But all of it means nothing because you have the wrong heart when our heart is right and Our words are ready Then we come with the rebuke Perhaps not as you traditionally think of rebuke This is not a father Chastising his child. It's a brother or a sister in a spirit of meekness and treating another Embedded in in this it's not explicit But but embedded in this when he says if there's been a wrong done if if there's been an offense done against you If trespass has happened embedded in that instruction is this idea there should be an intolerance for wrong among us We don't live Tolerating what the scripture calls wrong That can be true in terms of false doctrine heresy

Jesus is really talking about behavior interpersonal relationships the strength of the church the unity of the body and so he's saying you can't You can't tolerate those things Relationships are to be healthy Listen if if you come to new life, and you sit where you sit to avoid somebody else The words talking to you tonight If if you walk in one door and walk one way to make sure you don't have to walk by somebody else The word is talking to you tonight If you see somebody walking your way, so you walk the other way what pastor says it's time to greet on Sunday morning The word is talking to you This is what Jesus is saying there has to be an intolerance among us for offense to live in the family If you compare Luke 17 with Matthew 18, it's much of the same

But there are subtle differences and here it is Luke is giving us the principle Matthew gives us the process and Matthew's account He says you go to that brother privately Delete the post stop texting don't make a phone call. You don't need another conversation with anybody else go To the individual privately and If they will not hear you go and get two or three witnesses Those are not just any witnesses you want those are not people with the bias towards you Those are neutral God-fearing trusted elders of the church and you bring them with you And if it cannot be resolved then the matter can go to the church corporately you won't talk about being a Bible church That's that's some strong Bible What do we do we won't post about it gossip about it text about it talk about it in all the while

Offenses growing and offenses distorting our perspective and robbing us of authority and we're keeping track Well, they did this and this happened they shouldn't have done that you are going to live a miserable life and miss out with God If you must confront if you must rebuke it has to be in love and Galatians 6 is your directive yee, which are spiritual if you're not spiritual you don't even have a place to speak If you're not spiritual get to the altar Repent and pray until you are spiritual and then you'll be ready for a conversation But he said you that are spiritual Restore one another in the spirit of meekness Considering thyself lest they'll also be tempted so when I'm coming to the brother. That's offended me I'm coming with the humility in my countenance and a humility in my tone because I know if not for the grace of God

And if not for spiritual authority and if not for healthy accountability I could end up in the same snare. They are the same devil that got them could get me So I can't walk up there high-minded and spiritually righteous thinking I've got it all together and something to tell them no Give us humility That's the defining tone of the conversation. That's why we clothe ourselves in humility. That's the uniform of the church It's not the life Academy crest. It's not the crest It's not the sign I'll tell you the real logo the real uniform of New Life Fellowship is humility It's the defining tone when you come to rebuke speak in a spirit of humility Speak by an attitude of humility and if you are hearing of a brother and you are hearing from a sister Receive it in an attitude of humility I promise you if you can find two people who have that mindset and are clothed in humility

It does not matter what the grievance is. It does not matter what the wrong is It does not matter what the trespass or the offense may have been you give me two people who choose to be humble Who will lay their pride down who will subdue their will for the sake of the unity of the church and for the glory of God That is a place Reconciliation will work that is a place restoration will thrive And so I just want to speak the truth. Yes me too, but he said speak the truth and love. I can't speak in an anger. I can't come Speak in the truth with the purpose of vindication in my heart He said let your words be spoken with grace season with salt Salt does it adds flavor to your food. It's a preservative He's saying let God work in you enough that when you speak

Your words will be readily received and they add preservation Let your words bring Preservation to the relationship let your words bring preservation to the individual I fear too often. We just lack control of our emotions and we're speaking without restraint We're not the peacemakers. He called us to be Yes, there are times you have to have a conversation. Yes, there are times that that that action must be taken But you have got to pray before you proceed because you have no business talking if you're not first spiritual first John 2 and 9 he said he Say if he is in the light and hate if his brother is in darkness even until now Hey that loveth his brother Bideth in the light and there is none occasion of stumbling in him to hate Can be active or passive We would use that word actively meaning if I say I hate something or hate someone

I'm speaking to my strong Dislike my strong emotion towards that thing or that individual maybe even my action that I have committed against it but to Jesus It's much deeper You study that word hate and it literally means to be void of love So it's not just active hate to God Hate is a passive thing Meaning if I am indifferent towards that individual If there's a void of love in my life toward them that's hate You think well, I didn't I didn't commit a crime against them. I I didn't slash their tires I didn't break their window. I didn't vandalize their home. I didn't post anything on Facebook I I didn't do anything like that, but if there is a void of love Jesus says that's hate a simple indifference towards any member of this family a lack of care towards anyone that God has placed in this body to

God is hate, but he said He that loveth his brother a Bideth in the light and there is none occasion of stumbling in him to love your brother removes every opportunity of the snare in your life To love is to be free of offense To love is to cover the fence cover the multitude of sin When I choose to love I remove myself From ever getting caught up in the snare of offense in my life and Jesus said if he repents Forgive him simply put Jesus offers you no other option than forgiveness Verse four If he trespass against these seven times in a day and seven times in a day turns again to these saying I repent Thou shalt forgive him. I repeat tonight. Jesus offers us no other option but forgiveness And forgiveness is a choice not a feeling And forgiveness is our duty

If there is more cause for offense if wrong is done again to me in reality My duty forgive again But many times the wrong is not done again in reality It's just relived again in our memory So that that that happened so many weeks months years ago, but it's still alive in your mind It's you regurgitate it you play it again over and over and you talk about it again and again And you revisit that internally and it fuels that offense It fires up that rage inside of you and every time that happens you only have one choice forgive We have no other choice It's what he said forgive And when you look at Jesus teaching in other places here in luke 17 He's talking about the necessity of forgiveness between two parties when they come to me I must forgive to not forgive is to disobey God

But mark 11 he's talking about prayer and he said when you stand praying forgive If you have ought against anybody Well, you know That's a tough one because the first one it was it was about two people but now he's talking about me and him So in the first instance he's speaking of dealing with the issue when the communication is between the two parties When it's me and you but now he says when you come talk to me You can't even talk to me if you have something in your heart Towards them So when you come pray if you have any ought if you have any offense if if there's any trespass if there's something you're carrying You must forgive In one instance the communication is between two parties and the other it is between the party and god but in both cases Forgiveness is necessary

I recognize tonight That it It may it may be so that we find ourselves in the unfortunate situation of of dealing with with major trauma In in extreme brokenness and it may be that one is unwilling to reconcile That's That's deeply unfortunate But one party's unwillingness to reconcile Does not dismiss you from your responsibility of forgiving And that's why jesus was teaching this same principle in the context of prayer You may not always be able to reconcile as he desires you to reconcile But if you have to live in that unfortunate reality You can't harbor that resentment in your heart forever You cannot carry that offense when you come into prayer one of the first things you're going to have to do is forgive And that word forgive it it literally means to remit a debt To to give to completely give Well, they owe me this and they owe me that and they shouldn't have done this and

I completely give it Unless you think that's a hard thing. Maybe we all need to remind ourselves of how god has forgiven us And it seems It seems like the apostles They thought this was a hard thing Because in verse five They said to the lord increase our faith You know, I love these kind of verses in the gospels because We like to kind of pull them out And use them in a topical sermon when we're preaching about faith and the supernatural and healing and miracles These are the verses that you know kind of people pull in times of prayer and dire need and that's good You know, bible works in all kinds of amazing ways But when you put the scripture in its context and you realize they were asking For more faith in the middle of a sermon on offense He gets working in the reality of their lives and

Contending for the unity of the family and the health of the church and being a forgiving individual And not harboring offense and they're like, man, I'm doing pretty good with that talking in tongue stuff worship fasting bible reading I'm pretty good spiritual disciplines down pat, but forgiving. Oh god. Give me more faith They recognized the struggle Thank god they acknowledged their need I'm fully aware the scripture speaks to us a hard thing tonight And can I submit to you a very very simple solution? Ask god For help Why why do we talk to everybody else? Why do we put our mind on brothers and sisters and family and friends? Why not just ask God For help They are literally asking for more faith In order that they might be more forgiving It's profound. I've never seen this before I mean more faith for a miracle absolutely

More faith for power and authority. Oh, yes. How many times have we prayed that? But more faith to be more forgiving Mm-hmm The principle is this My faith in god Is directly tied to my conduct in human relationships If I believe god to be loving and just And I trust him as able and willing to handle it as he should I will freely forgive I'll release it into his hands And I will do the beautiful thing Of overlooking the offense For the sake of my soul In the unity of the church Oh, but if you only knew what they did to me and if you only have you had any idea Ask for more faith Oh what they did and neither do 800 other people You need a place of prayer and you need to ask god Give me the faith that I need to forgive them the way that I should

I don't have it in myself. I My disposition my countenance is not right. I want to dwell on it. I want to think about it I want to talk about it. But oh god, if you'll give me the faith that I need to release it into your hands increase our faith And jesus said I know that this is the stuff with these are the verses we read when we're talking about miracles He's talking about offense If you had faith As a grain of mustard seed And you would say to this sick of mine tree be thou plucked up by the root and be planted in the sea it should obey you that sick of mine or mulberry tree Was a deep rooted tree Would live for hundreds of years Unlike many others that would grow around it it would survive and thrive century upon century

They were known for being a deep rooted tree And what jesus was saying Was I want to show you the power of your faith? To deal with deeply rooted and long lasting issues The faith of as a grain of a mustard seed the seed that that's so small if I was to pinch it between two fingers You could not see it What he's telling them is the power of your faith can not be measured quantitatively It's not the volume or the amount of your faith But the power of faith may only be understood qualitatively or by the quality of it And james said faith without works is dead Meaning if your faith does not produce action you don't have faith at all But if you have real faith if you have quality faith Then your faith will cause you to do something what he was telling them is you're asking me for more faith

And he responds to their question their desire for more and he says you don't need more You just need to use what you already have You don't need some supernatural impartation of faith in order to forgive them You just need to do the thing you already know to do you need to forgive Have the conversation reconcile love them shake their hand look them in the eye Give them a hug take them to dinner encourage them and support them. Just do what you already know to do You don't need some angel. You don't need a word from heaven. You don't need some divine impartation You already know what to do just do it and when you do it when you use what you already have You're going to discover that that was sufficient the power was in your obedience The power was in the quality and all of a sudden that deep rooted and long lasting issue

That's clouded your mind and corrupted your heart for only god knows how long Maybe it was passed down from one generation to another if you would just obey the scripture Gone Plucked up cast into the sea no more offense no more bitterness No more anger you could discover what it's like to live free and happy and joyful and peaceful And in harmony with god and one with another He was trying to tell them Stop dealing with the symptom deal with the issue pluck that thing up by the root It's a hard issue It's not a personality issue wasn't an issue Between two friends two family members two co-workers. Nope. I'll tell you what it was It was a hard issue Stand together with me. I come tonight with some unfortunate news Offense it's going to come Had a very pivotal moment in my life

I got a strong rebuke. I'm willing to walk out on the edge of the ship tonight and tell you It's probably a rebuke and stronger measure than anyone in this room has ever had and I went To that leader in humility And brokenness and I said I owe you an apology For the way I carried myself and my attitude towards that thing And when I came home from giving that apology My wife said you didn't deserve that that wasn't right You deserve better You don't have to take that I said no I am going to take it and I am going to submit And I apologized and from this moment forward We're never going to speak of it again Except in a moment like this when I use it as a point of illustration I can tell you before god I've not relived it in my mind. I've not talked about it again

I didn't carry that offense. I laid it at the foot of the crowd and acts 24 and 16 The bible said herein Do I exercise myself? To have always a conscience Void to offense toward god and toward men Exercise I strive I struggle. I work. It's not always easy, but I'm committed and I'm doing fighting and struggling and working To make sure that my conscience doesn't have offense toward god or anyone Because I could preach to you on a wednesday night and I can talk in tongues on thursday morning But if the fence lives in my heart It'll get me and it'll get my kids and it'll get my children's children It'll be passed on from generation to generation. So you know what I do. I've got to work. I've got to train I've got to struggle. I've got to fight. I've got to exercise myself

That my conscience could be clean toward everyone in my family every friend in my life and towards god himself Oh god lift up your hands to the lord He abashabahatotokoryabakisatanabah Father search us Search us Let your word wash us Wash our minds Wash our hearts Oh god deliver us From the unhealthy cycles of our own memory Things that play again and again Conversations that happen again and again. Let your word be the sort of Remnants in our life tonight Created me a clean heart Renewing me a right spirit God I want to be pure before you Give us love one for another Give us patience Oh lord give us The virtue we need to be a long suffering and forbearing people Give us the grace that our words might be seasoned with salt Ha yama kandoro bosayarara masita baha God let our marriages have unity

Let our homes have unity Let this church have unity God I pray against every offense I pray against every trap the enemy is setting I pray you would restore the clarity of mind and the right perspective of every saint of god Let us see as we must see and think because we must think to walk up rightly before you Clothe us in humility god Oh god, I want to have a Pure conscience before you I want to have a pure conscience toward every man and every woman It might be That you have to give some consideration and prayer To some minor offenses That you've been making a major thing And just let love And it could just be that there's a major thing That you've been ignoring And it might do you well Pick up the phone Say brother I'd like to take you to lunch tomorrow

Would you be willing to come over for dinner on Friday night and say I carried some things in my heart And I'm asking you To forgive me Because the strength of this family Is only as strong As the weakest relationship in the room Father I thank you for your word I pray your spirit would give us wisdom I pray the weight of your word would not lift quickly, but let it be a council In the days to come That it be a directive for the strength of our lives our families in this church I pray that we would be a a people Free of offends I pray we would be a church family That thrives on strong interpersonal relationships Where we love one another Serve one another If we have means to do good Let us do good If we have means to encourage and uplift

God let us encourage and uplift I pray the favor and the blessing that you said was available to those who would keep their mind on you Would settle upon our lives and our church We direct our thoughts towards you the meditation of our heart towards you That you would give us all that is needed To be the healthy people in church we need to be In order to see the will of god done in this city And we give you praise and glory and honor In jesus name Would you lift your hands and praise Come on, would you just open up your mouth let's offer him a thanksgiving Come on sometimes it comes like surgery But i've never met a person angry at a doctor For preserving their life Come on you heard a testimony on sunday of a man Whose life has been preserved

By doctors who were used by god would you just thank him for the scalpel of his word tonight? We love you jesus We thank you. We give you praise and glory and honor In jesus name we pray Amen, amen