Offenses Will Come | Senior Pastor Kenneth Carpenter

now i want to tell you in prefacing from my bible lesson i won't tell you pepal story okay everybody's got a story about their grandchildren you all know that beckham that boy loves to play ball he loves to play ball i think he gets it from his mama don't you gets it from his daddy and he's been playing a little t-ball and man he's been doing so good he'll he'll he'll knock the daylights out of that ball he's got they got a little team brother hammond got a little he's on a little team here in the town and um well brother ben and sister angela's little boy [name redacted] is about the same age he plays on a team here in town different team from what beckham plays on and so they played each other the other night beckham come home and somebody said [name redacted] gotten [name redacted] got beckham out now i don't know about you when i was that age and somebody got me out what was i going to do get them out so i was kind of saying you know i you know what beckham the next time you play and he stopped he said no papa he said you know what we're gonna do he said i didn't talk to daddy he said you know what we're gonna do he said next year [name redacted]'s getting on our team i think that's a neat way to look at if that have your bibles and stand with me tonight oh for the heart of a child i think i hear the lord say except you become as a little child right except you become as a little child turn with me in your bible tonight to luke chapter 17 verse number one i'm going to teach on a subject for the next little bit that is relevant to all of us every person in this room has encountered what i am going to preach on tonight and uh if you have not encountered this yet one of two things i will tell you if you've not encountered this yet you've not been in the church very long and that is being an offense an offense all of us tonight come on now all of us as a matter of fact jesus says in luke 17 verse number 1 then said he unto the disciples it is impossible but that offenses will come but woe unto him through whom they come it were better for him that a millstone was hanged about his neck and he was cast into the sea than that he should offend one of these little ones take heed to yourselves if thy brother trespassed against thee rebuke him and if he repent forgive him and if he trespass against these seven times in a day and seven times in a day turn again to thee saying i repent thou shalt forgive him put your bibles down and pray with me father i come before you tonight lord god we live in a world and in a place that offenses will come lord help us all tonight god on how we handle god how we handle the offenses god that come our way lord speak to me tonight speak to me from your word god i don't have the answers but lord your word does lord let your word touch us tonight let your word build us tonight let your word heal us tonight let your word direct us tonight in jesus wonderful name we pray amen and amen you may be seated jesus said in verse 1 it is impossible but that offenses will come it is impossible to avoid offenses it is impossible to avoid offenses i began a few days ago i began a few days ago studying because i was still lingering from sunday morning's message about only god can forgive sins only god chooses the method and i begin to study how that we need if we're made in the image and the likeness of god and only god can forgive sins and we're made in the image and the likeness of god that we need to make sure that we are producing in our lives an attribute of being a forgiving person ready to forgive and i come across this it is impossible that offenses will come and i did a little word search i did a little research into the word offense offense i did a little research in the word the origin of the word because if jesus says that it's impossible but that offenses will come if he's saying it's not if they come it's when they come if something is coming my way would you not like to know a little bit about what jesus says is coming your way it's impossible to to get around it so i did a word search research on the word offense and i discovered that it comes from a word which means to spring forward and back it comes from a word that means to spring forward and back to slam to to close on something to trap to set a trap to trap and to set a trap now it begins to take on a little bit different meaning jesus says on your journey through life there are going to be traps along the way they're going to be traps along the way not if there's a trap there's going to be a trap how many is interested in making heaven your home that means interested in walking on streets of gold do i have anybody that's interested on hearing these words well done my good and faithful sir anybody interested in that well then then you got to understand that on this journey that we're on not it not might not maybe there will be traps along the way now i studied that to spring forth and back and it's talking about the trigger because every trap every trap has a trigger every trap has a a trigger that you hit it i could date myself uh uh uh uh a little later in life we got sophisticated and called it a mouse trap but when we was growing up when kathy and i were growing up we didn't have mice we had rats i mean we had them we had some so i'm not exaggerating they carry they carry the trap off they get they get in and carry the trap off you know and go buy bigger traps for them but you know on that mouse trap there's a little trigger it's a little metal thing you you take the you take the big the big piece of metal and you bend it back and you take a little trigger and you put the trigger over on a little flat piece of metal and then what do you do you put some cheese on top of that and you got to learn how to do it very delicately unless you yeah so there's a little trigger and so on the way to heaven jesus says there's going to be some traps that are going to be said and as you come upon this trap you come up on this trap and you find yourself pushing the lever or maybe going around now as i kept studying this word out and the different ways that it was used throughout the old and new testament again springing forward and back slamming to closing on trapping and then i came upon that it was used in some settings to cause someone to slip to cause someone to stumble so the trap has got a trigger but it's greatly used in the way of causing you to slip and stumble and so when they use this word offense in the when paul used it jesus used it when they used this word in the bible it had the meaning of your walk with god of slipping because remember our journey we want our journey to take us to heaven we want to walk on streets of gold we want to hear him say well done good and faithful servant we walk with the lord so on this journey we have to be careful of coming upon a situation that causes us to slip and to stumble see when we start talking about offense we go immediately to what was done to us when we should be concerned with what it did to us we're concerned what was done what was done to us but we need to be concerned with how did i react after that after i got offended did i still walk with god after i got offended did i still keep my prayer life up after i got offended did i still walk in the fervency that i should walk with in god because if the answer to that is no i got out of the choir no i started sitting in a different place no i started doing things to let everybody around know that i'm offended then i've got news for you you're slipping and you're stumbling because you always react one of two ways to an offense it will either build your faith or it will destroy your faith that's what the offense is all about and i'll read you a verse of scripture in a moment but you hear me the trap is set for one purpose and that is either to build your faith or to destroy your faith let's look at it in first peter chapter two verse number one verse number six first peter chapter two verse number six wherefore also it is contained in the scripture behold i lay in zion that's the church a chief corner stone elect precious and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded unto you therefore which believe now hang on this now unto you therefore which believe unto you which believe he is precious but unto them which are disobedient the stone which the builders disallowed the same has be has been the same is made the head of the corner please keep this in mind you've got two reactions to jesus because the offense once again the offense is all about jesus it's all about your relationship with jesus because you're not going to get to heaven without having a relationship with jesus those that are turned away from heaven there's not a particular sin that is mentioned he doesn't say depart from me you thief depart from me you liar he simply says these words depart from me i never knew you so in order to get into heaven there's got to be a relationship so if there is a trap that is set that trap is either to build my faith or to destroy my faith and the it's not about the church it's not about the position sometimes we make positions in church our god we start worshiping they did in the old testament we do it now we start worshiping our position we get more tore up that our position may not be there then we do we're out of fellowship with god am i making sense tonight where four verse seven wherefore unto unto you therefore which believe that's where i want to be he is precious but unto them which be disobedient i don't want to be in that crowd the stone which the builders disallowed which is jesus the same is made the head of the corner now watch this and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense even to them which stumble at the word being disobedient were unto their they also they were appointed look at that god has laid in the church a precious stone a chief cornerstone you build your life on jesus you build your life on him you believe in him you trust in him he's your everything he's your all in all you love him you sing his name you build your life on him but if you don't believe you don't build your life on him but the rock does not become neutral if you believe on him you build on him but if you don't believe on him you stumble and it becomes a rock of offense it becomes a trap unbelief in jesus is a trap it is a trap what is the purpose of an offense now please just take this to heart why did jesus allow traps in our way why didn't he just simply say it's a freeway all the way in why is there traps a trap is an attempt to take our faith to take our faith it's all about taking our faith i believe that we're becoming more sure that we're living in the last day i think if you could i think if there's ever been a time that the church is absolutely sure the lord's coming it's the day and the culture that we're living in now i want to read you a scripture about the end of time this scripture is found in luke chapter 18 and verse number 8. luke chapter 18 and verse number 8. jesus said i tell you that he will avenge them speedily in other words he will answer prayer nevertheless when the son of man cometh shall he find faith on the earth you know what he's looking for when he comes again our faith now there'll be a lot of manifestations of our faith but at the core of everything we do is the bedrock of our faith in god and traps along the way are designed to take our faith away traps along the way are designed to cause us to believe that what we have put our trust in is really not working for us i've heard i've had people say to me that faith business don't work for me we just indicted god for being a respecter of persons if you would believe that god could work then you've got to believe that god can work for everybody but the key is do you have faith the key is what did your offense do to you what kind of poison has that offense steal as a slow as a slow needle a slow iv that offense that you've hung up you nurse that iv of offense drips into you look with me again because i'm telling you as we approach heaven's door as we approach the last days of the church as we approach the end the opportunities to get offended are going to increase the later the hour gets in the church the more opportunities are going to be along our way to trip us up because the devil knows that once that trumpet sounds it's over we're in hallelujah he knows that but until that happens he is setting every trap that he can along the way and it is the offense it is the offense that will either poison your soul and rob your faith or it's the offense that will cause you to say in the darkness of your night in the darkness of your night it is the offense it'll cause you we sang about it tonight i don't know if you caught it i will praise him in my valley i will praise him i will praise him my praise will be the loudest the darker it gets i will praise him in my valley you see that's the time and an offense that you've got to build your life when you can't see your hand in front of your face and everything doesn't look like what you thought it ought to look like it's them that you have to say god i know you're still there i know you're still with me god i know you're still gonna bless me god i know that i know that i'm gonna make it god as a matter of fact i want you to listen to some of the things jesus will do matthew chapter 13 verse number 41 look at listen what jesus will do in the last days matthew 13 41 the son of man shall send forth his angels and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend and them which do iniquity so he's gathering up because wrath is coming upon them then in matthew chapter 24 and verse number 10 jesus again states and then shall many be offended and shall betray one another and shall hate one another you know where hatred comes from an offense that we did not respond to properly because god's will is not for us to hate anyone that's right that's true matthew chapter 26 verse number 31 jesus christ our lord matthew chapter 26 and verse number 31 jesus christ our lord then saith jesus unto them all ye shall be offended because of me this night for it is written i will smite the shepherd and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad as a matter of fact jesus was fulfilling old testament prophecy write this down the old testament the old testament prophet zechariah in zechariah chapter 13 verse number 7 the old testament prophet said awake o sword against my shepherd and against the man that is my fellow saith the lord of hosts smite the shepherd and the sheep shall be scattered and i will turn my hand upon the little ones so when jesus says to them that night before he goes to the cross because follow me now who can't follow jesus when he's turning water into wine who can't follow jesus when he can take a few loaves and a few fish and feed him multitude who can't follow jesus when he's commanding devils to come out and devils come out whimpering like dogs that have been beat who can't follow jesus when he can go toe-to-toe with the most educated pharisees and send them off in confusion who can't follow jesus when they're tearing the roof off to get to him who can't follow jesus when he's walking on the water who can't follow jesus when everything about your surroundings he can take care of can i tell you we can all follow that jesus we can all follow that jesus that answers our christmas list we can all follow jesus that answers our prayers but what about when the things turn and jesus doesn't look like anything that i've seen for the last three and a half years can you follow him then can you follow him then oh i know you can follow him i know you can follow him when you're getting that check in the mail i know you can follow him getting all this stimulus money oh i know god is good i could really get off on that but i won't all right i got two we got two checks right now they have that are going back government they're so on top of everything my mother our mother's been dead since january she's already received matter of fact my mother has not carried the carpenter name since my dad died in 1977. good old uncle sam sent my mama a check for 1400 of the day ruby carpenter all right and then sent her another 1400 check for her name hedrick all right you see i'm getting off and i said we're going to get off on that all right but can we serve god when we don't have gasoline to get to church would there be anybody willing to walk to church i know we can get in our fancy cars and push the button and get down here but how about if something would happen and maybe covet and some of the crazy things we're seeing might shake us up would you be willing to walk to church oh it might mean on sunday morning you've got to start out at seven o'clock but coming together as a church does it mean enough that if you had to get up and pack you a lunch to get to the house of god does it mean that to you does it mean enough to you when krogers their shelves are clean and there's no meat in the deli section there's no meat back there and you're having to count the numbers slices of bologna you're going to eat and count the eggs that you're gonna gonna gonna fry for breakfast so oh brooke i don't know about that i don't know either but are we willing to follow it he's still good if every gas station in this town is dry for the next year and we park our cars god is still good i know brother knuckles i know we can serve god when we had stage four cancer and we had a prayer line and the next time we went back to the doctor he said i'm dropping you down to stage two i know we can serve god there but can we serve god when we've been diagnosed with stage two and we go back to the doctor and he says you're at stage 5. here's where the trap comes in jesus said jesus said i didn't quote this old testament zechariah scripture when i was turning water into wine because nobody's leaving me then i didn't quote that when i just walked across the sea of galilee because nobody's leaving me then i didn't quote that when i told the wind to stop blowing and the waves to lay down because everybody's following me then but i'm about to go into a nighttime i'm about to go into some darkness you're about to see me like you've never seen me but you've never seen me arrested you've never seen my hands tied you've never seen me dragged off to court you've never seen my back beaten you've never seen man in control of me but i'm going to be i'm going to allow myself to be put in a situation it's a trap it's a trap don't lose your faith in me i will arise again on the third day don't lose your faith in me i don't care how many jobs you get laid off on i don't care what happens to you don't lose your faith in god he says matthew 26 31 then said jesus unto them all ye shall be offended because of me this night for is written i will smite the shepherd and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad oh we got some simon peters in the house tonight because when jesus used that word when jesus used that word all it was an old simon peter standing there guess what he said lord not me these other birds might leave you but not me and jesus said peter i say unto you before the crows in the morning you're going to deny me not once not twice but you're going to deny me three times which well you know what i really believe peter believed what he was saying but he didn't know what was in him you see we got to live for god we don't know what's in our heart we got to make up in our mind right now we got to decide right now regardless of what comes in our life regardless of what comes or what doesn't come i am going to love jesus christ i may have to walk in this auditorium and it be the most painful thing that i ever do i may have to walk in this auditorium minus a wife minus family members but if that dark day dawns on me my wife nor my family is my god they're not going to be the ones who say well done good and faithful it is the lord jesus christ god i love you god i praise you god i magnify you god i glorify you god i don't understand your ways but i trust your ways i know that there's going to be an answer to the prayer god's gonna mama hear me tonight god hears you pray over your backslidden boy mama hear me tonight god hears you pray over that backslidden girl don't allow what you see in that boy or that girl to cause you to lose faith in jesus christ keep on praying if you believed it before it happened for god's sake believe it after it's happened believe john the baptist john the baptist what a man can i tell you a little bit about him jesus said there wasn't a greater man more of women than john man what a preacher what a preacher man he wasn't afraid of anybody he'd tell everybody to repent he didn't matter who you were if you were a king prince or a pauper he'd tell you just like it was and man he had conviction because multitudes came to be baptized by john but you see john had to enter into a time in of his life when he had to live what he preached some of you that have bailed out i'm going to serve god it doesn't matter i'm going to tell you you get ready you're going to have to you're going to have to walk that sermon one day it's easy to blab it it's a whole nother thing to walk it see all of us you see if downsizing means i go to heaven downsize me and john in god's uh young people in god's plan for john's life sure he was going to have a mountain peak of success but god designed that john would enter a time when he had to live what he preached i must decrease that he might increase he had to live it and he lived it in a prison he lived it in a prison and the bible says in matthew chapter 11 follow this closely in matthew 11 verse number 1 and it came to pass when jesus had made an end of commanding his 12 disciples he departed thence to teach and to preach in their cities now when john had heard in the prison where's john at he's not on the river banks brother tyler baptizing he's not this fire-breathing evangelist that everybody wants to hear now when john had heard in the prison the works of christ he sent two of his disciples and said unto him art thou he that should come or do we look for another wait a minute john have you forgot i forgot have you forgot being on the shore and jesus come walking down and you made the mold proclamation could you help me folks behold the lamb of god which taketh away the sin of the world wait a minute john what are you doing asking such a question such as are you him or should we look for another you know why jesus looks totally different from the baptizing shore than the prison it's not the baptizing shore that we have an issue with it's when we're in prison we're restricted we don't have any moves you know that's a con sometimes and i know i have to i have to i i have to walk this i have walk this sometimes some of the best places to be in is when you don't have any options but him because it seems like if we have any other options open that's where we put our faith at but what about when god says i'm going to take all the options off the table i'm going to lay you flat of the your back and i'm going to let them say there's no hope for you you just better get used to the way life is right now it's then and there we either look up at him and say you're still the lamb that takes away the sin of the world you're still that lamb that takes away the sin you're still that one that i introduced years ago can i tell everybody tonight don't allow aids to rob you of your faith in god you may not have the spring of your teenage years but he's still the god of your youth camp he's still the god of the time that you laid flat of your back and you talk in other tongues and you know what it doesn't even need to be old age i want to tell some of the young people tonight that have laid flat of your back over at mars healed and talked in other tongues and got up and felt a call of god inside of your heart i want you to know don't you let kovitt take that away from us don't you let covet rob you he's still the god of the 2019 strong tower camp meetings he's still that same god he sends these disciples matthew chapter 11. verse number two verse number three john said art thou he that should come or do we look for another he sent two of his servants that right there alone brother erickson will preach if you find yourself restricted try to take some more folks with you you're going to need them that's right woe is a loner you don't want to be alone that's one that's another trick that's another trap uh i debated on telling this little silly thing you can just you just say he's a warp just just tonight go home say he's just you know he's just been in this so long but i was coming for morning prayer this week i had some bibles in my hands i was coming down brother cooper about right where you're at i was coming down had some bibles in my hand and i kind of stumbled just for a moment i kind of stumbled and when i stumbled i hid up against the pew but about where you're all at alicia right right there and when i did i hit that pew just right with my hand and it just peeled a big old layer of my skin back and man i bled i got to bleeding like not like nobody yeah i went over the daycare i believe sister sharp found me a band-aid and i got all banded bandaged up and then i got to explaining my cut to my wife i said a pew did this a pew did this i fell against the pew and then i got to thinking we better really work the end of time don't let the pew hurt you don't let the pew hurt you i really lathered you up saying how good we were i had an ulterior motive we are good but you will get hurt here you you will you will well i'm looking for the perfect church please don't come here please don't come here and i wonder how people would feel when they're telling me they're checking our church out if i would say to them like brother acres said well we're checking you out too brother acres told me one time a family moved into his area and came and said we're going to kind of visit and check your church out and see if it's kind of what we want and everything and and he said well that's okay said we're going to be checking you out too and they got offended it's all right to check the church out you're going to get hurt here you're going to get hurt somebody is going to hurt you here and it it may be it may be me i may because the bible does talk about those who get offended at the word right there's a good chance i'm the biggest defense in this house tonight because there are those who get offended at the word and jesus said as as the last days come as the last days come that we will be persecuted because of the word i mean when when when we're having to meet and put things in our bylaws that say we only perform weddings of members here at the church because the liberal movement the liberal movement is going to try to put it in your face we're two men and you will marry us or we're two women and you will perform in that place you will and we have to put things in that will protect us legally from lawsuits and the longer god allows this world to go the more offensive this book is going to be and maybe it's going to get to the place to where we're either going to have to stand up and say i do believe it i do believe what that book says well if you you you believe what that book says you you believe what that book says i know of a person i i know you're sitting here now and i promise you i'll be very vague with my story i won't call your name so don't don't don't think oh god he's going to call me but i do know someone that's unemployed right now in this building that they used a lot of different excuses for why they let them go but at the end of the day it's this right here you can sit on your lunch break and you can listen to every kind of hell music you want to and nobody will say nobody will say one thing to you but you sit down on your lunch break and turn your bible reading program on and it's not long you're in the hr department and somebody's done filed a complaint it's all right to listen to songs that talk about rape and girls and all that it's all right to listen to music that that calls girls all kinds of vile names but don't let a man sit down that's got a little bible program on his phone and he's reading his bible through in a year and somebody says you know that's offensive cut that off right now this is really where the love of many is going to wax coal if we don't understand this is a trap it is a trap to cause these young minds and all of us to believe that the world's got the answer and the church is outdated the world is cutting edge and you ought to get out here it's not free out there they're not free out there they're dying by the scores out there drug addiction it is a trap to get by yourself it is a trap to get a loan it is a trap you will get hurt but don't allow that hurt to cause you to ostracize yourself from the church don't allow that hurt to cause you to cut yourself off from people you need you've got a prison coming sir you've got a prison coming ma'am and you better keep two disciples with you you better keep some praying people with you because in that dark damp cell your your faith is going to be rattled and you're going to need somebody to go to jesus for you you're gonna need somebody would you please pray for me would you please pray for me john says and i want to end this i want to end this tonight verse number three when john had heard in prison the works of christ he sent two of his disciples and said unto him art thou he that should come this is what they said are you the one that should come or do we look for another john wants to know jesus are you him or do we look for another jesus answer please just follow this very closely verse 4 jesus answered and said unto them go and show john again those things which you do hear and see the blind receive their sight the lame walk the lepers are cleansed the death here the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached unto them jesus just reiterated isaiah's prophecy of the miracle works of jesus christ the messiah but verse 6 was added by jesus and blessed is he whosoever shall not be offended in me john doesn't need another dead man raised john doesn't need another deaf ear unstopped what john needs right now is to realize you're in a trap and it doesn't look the way that you think it ought to look but just keep believing that outside of this prison wall there's mighty works from god that are going on church don't get offended don't get in the trap if you're in the trap tonight would you stand with me if you're in the trap tonight would you just lift up your hands and begin to praise god would you begin to say god you filled me with the holy ghost many years ago god i was baptized in your name lord i have been healed i have had a way made where there seems to be no way i look back over my life god and i could not have orchestrated this life that i have god you have been better than good to me and now i find myself in the prison but i want you to know that i love you jesus i love you just the same today as i did when i first begin to walk with you i love you and i praise you come on come on tonight it'll help get any offense out of you if you'll praise him and worship him and magnify him tonight think back about how good god's been to you think back about when he made that way think back about how he's kept his hand upon you think back about how he you you raised your family to believe this you you bought into being faithful to the house of god think back about that tonight oh come on lift up your voice right now come on lift up get your voice louder than your offense right now hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah this trap will not kill me this trap will will process me this trap will not take my faith this trap will develop my faith this trap will not squeeze the life out of me this trap will reveal that all i need is jesus all i need is you lord all i need is you almighty god oh praise him just another moment would you please oh just another moment would you please would you please praise him for just another moment oh how unfair life is come on single mama come on single mother that's raising those children life doesn't seem to be fair but begin to praise him right now begin to praise him right now begin to praise him right now oh come on young child come on young child oh life has not been fair to you you don't know who your mother or your father is but don't allow that to starve you out of your faith god knows who you are and god has a plan for you god knows who you are oh yes lord oh i wish i just wish tonight this could help somebody i i just wish tonight this helps somebody i just wish i just pray tonight as pray let's pray tonight can i tell you right now that god is able to take what you see is unfair tonight and cause it to work you out and cause it causes it to turn out for your good you hear me seems to be unfair that you don't know who your mom and dad is and the girl besides you and the boy in front of you do seems to be unfair that you're here without your husband and there's women here that have their husbands with seems to be unfair it does but you hear me tonight it is the unfair things in your life that if you'll put them in the hands of god just very quickly it was a man in the bible that went out to battle and he cheated on his wife he cheated on his wife with a harlot he bought this woman for a good for a night's pleasure but a few months later that harlot came back to him and said i'm pregnant with your child so he did the right thing and he took this boy the boy's name was jephthah he took jephthah into his family he's got a wife and he's got brothers so now jephthah's got some half-brothers but he's referred to by the half-brothers as the son of the harlot i don't know what it would feel like to be raised in a house to where you got brother and then you got a son of a harlot i don't know what it'd feel like to wear a stigma like that son of a harlot well i've got eight boys well really i got nine i got one son of a harlot but when he got of age the brothers kicked him out he said you're not living here with us you're going to mess up our daddy's inheritance and they kicked out the son of the harlot the boy had to learn how to fight with his hands and kill with his hands he had to learn how to fight with his hands he learned warfare and that young boy that son of a harlot turned into a mighty captain and a warrior war broke out in israel and his brother said hey we need you to come and fight for us it's amazing what we want to throw out one year you might not be getting deliverance over something you're battling with because god wants to make something out of you with that the stigma that you're wearing tonight what you would like for everybody listen there's some stigmas god wants you to develop something that years later the very ones that throwed you out are gonna say we need you to come back we need you here we need you to do this the very thing that you think's not fair in your life keep it in god's hands and it'll be the very thing that will make you desirable to someone one day to where they're going to say come back god bless you all thank you i hope this message bless somebody tonight god bless you dismiss in jesus name