August 23, 2025 • 49 mins
Have you ever stepped into a trap you never saw coming? We've all been there—that moment when someone's words or actions catch us off guard and suddenly we're nursing hurt feelings that grow into something much darker.
In "Caught in a Trap," we explore how offense functions as a spiritual snare in our lives. Just like a mousetrap that uses cheese to lure its prey, offense begins with something small that draws us in. A careless word, a perceived slight, someone not acknowledging us—these seemingly minor incidents can trigger a cascade of negative emotions that eventually ensnare us completely.
The Greek word for temptation—skandalon—is the same word used for "trap" or "snare." This is no coincidence. Jesus specifically warned that offense is a trap designed not just to hurt us but to separate us from our spiritual family. When we become offended, especially within the church, we don't just suffer silently. We talk about our hurt to others, spreading the offense like a contagion until entire relationships and communities are infected with bitterness.
The most dangerous aspect of offense is how justified it makes us feel. We believe we're the victims, when in reality, by nurturing our hurt feelings and spreading them to others, we become the ones causing harm. Unlike a mouse caught in a trap that cannot free itself, we have access to divine power through forgiveness that can break us free from this cycle. But it requires a deliberate choice to overlook wrongs and focus on what truly matters.
What offense are you carrying today? Is it worth the spiritual bondage it creates? Instead of rehearsing the hurt, what if you chose to release it through forgiveness? Your freedom—and the health of your spiritual relationships—depends on it. Listen now to discover how to recognize the traps of offense in your life and find the courage to choose forgiveness instead.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Lord, this message has been planted and watered and
, as it comes to harvest today,lord, I thank you for allowing
the hearts to hear it, the earsto hear it.
Lord, just allow us to absorbyour goodness today.
We thank and we praise you inthe mighty name of Jesus, and
the church says amen.
You can be seated.
Will the kids go back to classtoday?
(00:22):
Yes, dale's like yes, oh, he'sgoing back there.
That's why he said it.
That wasn't an excited yes,that was just a yes.
Well, nick, you'll appreciatethis, and I know that you're
probably the only person in theroom that will.
(00:42):
Okay, today's message is titledyou ready, caught in a Trap.
Now, why is that today'smessage title?
Come on, man, elvis, right.
Yesterday was August 16th.
It was the anniversary ofElvis's death.
I'm sure all of you mourned,I'm sure you took a moment and
(01:06):
just had to process that, butI've been toying with this
message for a while.
I was actually going to do itabout three weeks ago and, for
whatever reason, the Lord saidno, you're not.
We did something different.
But today we are going to dothis message and I am going to
do my best not to lose anyfingers.
Okay, uh-oh is a good word.
(01:27):
So I brought something with metoday because I feel like the
only way to really get throughthis message is to show it to
you, and so, again, I'm going totry not to lose a finger today.
So does anybody know what thisis?
Yeah, so somebody saw thesethis morning and said, uh-oh, do
we have mice?
No, we don't have mice, or atleast not that we know of.
Right, but these little trapsalways remind me of something in
(01:50):
our lives, and it's so funny,because how many of you have
ever used one of these traps?
Yeah, a lot of people don't usethese ones anymore.
We like the humane ones.
Right Now, some people call thesticky traps humane.
That seems awful.
Right, a little mouse getsstuck in a trap and just starves
to death over time.
That seems terrible.
This one is a pretty quick kill, right, margie, are you okay?
(02:17):
She's not okay.
She's not okay.
We're not going to killanything today, I promise.
Okay, we're not going to killanything today.
Somebody get.
Okay, we're not going to killanything today.
Somebody get rid of that bucketof mice.
I'm kidding, this device isdesigned for one thing and one
thing only, and that's to trapand to kill, right.
The idea behind this device isto trap whatever it is that you
(02:42):
want to catch in this littledevice, right, a mouse?
Well, it depends, because ifyou set it in the wrong place,
it could be your toe.
Right, it could be a.
Never mind.
I'm not going to go therebecause Margie's going to get
upset.
I think she's already crying.
I'm not sure this device isdesigned for one thing, and it's
(03:04):
to trap.
See, the mouse thinks that it'sgetting something good, but
really it is setting itself upfor destruction, amen.
So the mouse, when it sees thetrap, thinks, oh, there's
something good in there for me.
And when it looks at it, itassumes that something good is
about to come into its life.
Because they're foragers, theylike to scurry around and pick
up things off the floor.
(03:24):
The problem is is that when themouse actually gets to it, it's
trapped, Amen.
Do you know the one thing thattraps us every single day of our
lives Offense, offense.
(03:46):
How many of us have beenoffended before in our lives?
This side of the room has beensuper offended.
This side is like no, we'regood, we don't ever get offended
over here.
We become offended by thingsthat don't really matter.
We think that when somebodysays something to us and we hear
it.
It's making a difference in ourlives, but really what we're
doing is we're building up anoffense.
(04:09):
Amen.
How many of us have ever heardsomething and thought I can't
believe that person said that tome.
You think, you let it go.
And then two weeks later you'relike I really can't believe
they said that to me.
And then, four weeks later,you're like you know what, I'm
going to punch that person inthe face Right me.
(04:31):
And then, four weeks later,you're like you know what?
I'm going to punch that personin the face right.
And then you hear it again inyour head and it just keeps
replaying over and over againand you find yourself offended
and in dislike of that personamen, and you don't want to see
them, you don't want to talk tothem, you don't want to be
around them, and all because ofone thing that they said you've
allowed yourself to be offended.
The enemy uses the same strategyof catching us in that trap,
but he uses the offense as thebait.
(04:52):
Amen, or you can put cheese.
She says.
You can always put cheese inthere.
The cheese would catch me forsure.
I love cheese.
Mcdonald's Coke in there willget me every time, every time
Luke 17.1,.
It says one day Jesus says tohis disciples there will always
(05:14):
be temptations to sin, but whatsorrow awaits the person who
does the tempting?
Leave that up for me.
There will always betemptations to sin.
I want you to hear that therewill always be a temptation to
sin, amen.
That does not mean that youhave to sin, right, we can look
(05:34):
around the room all day long andfind temptations.
Right, if you're a smoker and Ioffer you a cigarette, that is
a temptation.
But the second half of that saysbut what sorrow awaits the
person who does the tempting?
So it is worse for me to temptyou, which is why I say that
when you come to my house, I'mnot going to offer you alcohol.
(05:56):
When you come to my house, I'mnot going to offer you
cigarettes.
I'm not going to offer yousomething that may trip you up.
Why would I do that to you?
I don't know your life.
I don't know your struggle,right?
Have you ever been to a partywhere somebody offers you
alcohol and you say no?
And they're like oh, you don'tdrink.
Yeah, I don't have to explainmyself.
Right, I don't have to explainmyself.
(06:19):
But they say those things andthen you hold onto it and
they're well, am I the weird onebecause I don't drink?
Am I the weird one because Idon't go to parties?
Am I the weird one because Idon't partake in these things?
You are not the weird one.
The enemy is trying to convinceyou that you are the weird one.
The enemy wants you to live forthe world, not live for Christ,
(06:40):
amen.
And so what he does is he trapsyou in that and you think about
it, and you think about it, andyou think about it until
eventually you find a way to beoffended by what that person
said to you or the way thatyou're living your life.
Or my favorite is the fact thatyour pastor tells you you
shouldn't do it Right, when yourpastor says, hey, that's
(07:01):
probably not a good idea, andyou're like well, who's he to
tell me?
Listen, I'm not telling youbecause I don't want you to have
fun.
I'm telling you because I'veprobably been there, done that
and screwed up right, most of ushave been around the block a
time or two.
We've seen the valleys, lotsand lots of them, and all we
wanna do is help you to stay orto achieve the mountaintop.
(07:26):
So the problem is, when we talkabout temptation, we don't
always look at the word the waythat it should be.
So I am not typically go backand figure out what the Greek
word was and how does that breakdown, but I did this time, so
just roll with me, okay.
The word temptation in Greek isskandalon.
It's a fun word skandalonS-K-A-N-D-A-L-O-N.
(07:47):
For those of you who needed toknow how to spell it.
The same word is used for trapor snare, and in that passage of
scripture, Jesus warned us thatan offense is a trap and
offense is a trap.
Now, I'm not talking aboutoffense like in your backyard,
for those of you who are stillconfused.
I'm talking about that feelingyou get when somebody says
(08:09):
something to you or somethinghappens in your life.
Listen, some of you are probablysitting in this building
offended today, right?
Probably about something thathappened in this building this
morning.
There are people who becomeoffended because somebody didn't
hold the door open for them.
Well, marcus held the door openfor everybody this morning.
There are people who becomeoffended because somebody didn't
hold the door open for them.
Well, marcus held the door openfor everybody this morning, but
when I came up, he walked away.
(08:30):
Right, that's offensive to me,because why would he do that?
Does he not like me?
Is there something wrong withme?
Does Marcus not want to hold?
Am I not worthy of having thedoor held?
There's probably somebody inhere thinking it this morning.
Well, pastor Michael walkedright by me and he didn't say
good morning, or I said goodmorning to him and he didn't
(08:53):
speak back.
That is the devil trying toconvince you that being in the
house of the Lord is the wrongplace to be, amen.
And he wants you to be offendedwith your brothers and sisters
in Christ.
Because where will you turnwhen you become offended by
those people?
To the world?
Now some people say no, I justgo to a different church.
(09:14):
No, you don't.
No, you don't.
You go to the other church fora week and you say I didn't
really feel at home there, andyou go to another church the
next week and you do that forabout a month until you just
stop going to church.
And he wins, and he wins.
There is victory in Jesus.
(09:36):
There is only loss andcondemnation in the name of
Satan.
But for some reason, we like tohold onto that offense and we
like to be upset with people, welike to be upset with ourselves
and we like to find ourselvesliving in the world.
See, the offense always lookssmall at first.
(09:57):
So if I were to bait one ofthese with cheese or peanut
butter you know, peanut butteris supposed to be the best I
don't know why they say thatpeanut butter is really, really
good.
It looks harmless to the mousebecause it's small.
It's food, it's something thathe likes, right?
So when I'm hanging out with myfriends and somebody says that
(10:18):
is the dumbest shirt I've everseen you wear Courtney said that
to me once.
Well, it was probably true, I'mkidding.
We hold on to those things, wethink about it all, and then we
don't wear the shirt anymore,right?
Does everybody else think thatshirt's stupid when I, when I,
(10:42):
did everybody else think thatman, I probably should have.
Man, I might have to get rid ofthat one, right?
Ladies, you got a closet full ofclothes you put on.
You think you don't look goodin because somebody has said
something to you about it, right?
What, vicki?
You got a closet full ofclothes.
You think you don't look goodin Sweaters?
I love all of your sweaters.
(11:02):
I love all of them.
Don't let these people try tooffend you.
Don't let them build up anoffense.
Vicki, your sweaters arebeautiful.
I like to joke about them, butthey're beautiful.
It always seems small.
A comment, a look, a post on howmany of you have ever seen an
(11:23):
ambiguous post that somebody hasmade online and you think it's
about you?
I know they're talking about me.
I know they're saying thatabout me.
Why wouldn't they just have acard?
They don't.
They ain't saying it about youand if they are, do you really
care?
Does it really matter?
Because that ambiguous socialmedia post doesn't change your
life.
Thank you, thank you.
(12:39):
How about that?
(13:35):
That's weird.
Did you give me a bum battery?
She gave me a bum battery thismorning.
I'm offended, wildly offended.
Are we in Proverbs 19.11?
Yes, proverbs 19.11 sayssensible people control their
(13:56):
temper.
They earn respect byoverlooking the wrongs.
Sensible people Today, I wantyou to be sensible people, right
?
I'm asking you, please besensible people.
When you become offended byMarcus not holding the door open
, go.
You know what.
He was probably busy.
You know what.
He probably needed to go.
Do something else.
(14:16):
He probably didn't need to.
He had something.
Listen, if you choose to beoffended, if you choose to be
offended.
You will be stuck in thatoffense and then, when the
spirit starts to move in thisplace, you won't be able to
receive it, because you'resitting here thinking about all
of the things that have happenedto you.
(14:37):
Listen, I stood in the soundbooth this morning and I was
like man.
I could come up with a hundredways to wreck this person's life
.
I'm in church, Vicki, don'tlook at me like that, don't
judge me like that.
Vicki, I'm being honest rightnow.
Okay, I'm pouring out my heartto you and I realized that I was
(14:57):
holding onto a fence, anoffense that they had created.
It's not, there's no doubt thatthey didn't do something wrong
to me, but why am I choosing tolive that way, especially when
I'm in a house of worship,especially when I am preparing
to receive a move of the HolySpirit?
Right, I choose that because Iallowed the enemy to convince me
that I had to focus on thatright now.
(15:18):
Listen, that never needs to bea central focus of my life.
Never, because it doesn'tmatter what that offense is.
What matters is how we overcomeit.
It says they earn respect byoverlooking wrong.
So, marcus, when you don't holdthe door for somebody, they
should be able to go.
You know what?
That's okay.
I still love him.
He's still a good guy and Iknow that if I asked him for
(15:43):
anything he would be there,right, the problem is is we
often think, well, he didn'thold the door open for me this
week and last week.
Whenever I went over and talkedto him, he didn't talk back, or
he gave me a one word answer,or he doesn't.
He doesn't whatever.
Right, we start building thatoffense little by little, by
little by little.
(16:03):
Listen, sometimes we can be mean, right.
Sometimes we can be mean asChristians.
Sometimes we can cut anotherChristian to the bone because we
know what their lives are like,right, we know our struggles,
we spend time with one anotherand we know that we're
struggling in certain areas ofour lives because we pray for
one another, right.
(16:23):
And so if you call me and say,pastor Michael, can you pray for
me?
I'm really having troublestopping smoking, and I'm like,
yeah, certainly I'll pray foryou.
And then I come to church onSunday morning and you say
something to me and I'm like,well, no, it's not as bad as
smoking cigarettes, right, itcreates an offense.
(16:47):
We as Christians can be mean.
We can use things.
It starts as a joke, Right?
See, we always think we'refunny, right?
My wife was mad at me thismorning, like when I left for
church, my wife was mad at me.
Mad at me.
Now, I couldn't remember why,until she told me why.
So apparently in the middle ofthe night I had gone to bed,
(17:09):
fallen asleep.
In the middle of the night, shecame to bed.
She got in bed and she was onher phone and it woke me up and
so I started picking on her,like smacking her phone out of
her hand, poking her in the face.
I thought it was funny.
She didn't think it was funny,right?
As Christians have we beenthere?
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We poke and poke, and poke andpoke, and then that person
doesn't talk to us anymore andwe can't figure out why.
It's because what we thoughtwas funny was not in fact funny.
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We have to learn how to treatpeople with the same respect
that we want to be treated with.
And that's the hardest part,because, listen, I don't want
you guys going around tellingpeople all about my life and the
stupid things I've done.
Listen, I do a lot of them andit wouldn't be hard for you to
do that.
But if I don't want you to doit to me, why would I do it to
you?
Why would I run out into thestreets?
And when somebody comes up andsays, hey, you know, you know
(18:12):
Marcus McVeigh.
Yeah, I know Marcus pretty well.
Oh, did you know he right?
And then I go back and Ashley,did you hear what Marcus did?
Did you yeah.
And then I go back and Ashley,did you hear what Marcus did?
Did you yeah.
And then I start tellingeverybody and guess what?
Eventually, marcus is gonnahear it and chances are he's
gonna hear it when we leastexpect it.
We're gonna be standing at thecoffee station talking about
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Marcus doing that thing that weknow about, that nobody else
knows about.
Marcus is gonna be like whotold them that?
How did they find out aboutthat?
And now Marcus doesn't trusthis church family.
That's not fair.
That's not fair.
We are creating an offense forabsolutely no reason.
We're creating an offense sothat we can have a fun time
talking about somebody.
Whoa.
That is the wrong place to bein the church, amen.
(18:57):
As a Christian, as a disciple,as a follower of Christ, we
should not, for any reason, bechoosing and trying and actively
seeking to disrupt the lives ofour brothers and sisters in
Christ ever.
What was that?
Was that Proverbs?
Okay, so I missed a point here.
I gotta get back.
The offense does not feed us.
(19:20):
So when we hear it and we think, oh, I can let that go, and
then we start to stew on it.
We're not being fed from that,we're being bound up from that.
Right, because now we're caught,we're locked up in this desire
to be justified.
Almost right, because whensomebody talks about you, you
feel like you have to defendyourself.
Have you ever felt like youneeded to defend yourself?
(19:42):
Listen, I was in a meeting onetime and I said I feel like
every time I speak I have todefend myself.
I don't want to feel that way.
I don't want to look at you andsay, oh well, I did that
because of this.
No, I shouldn't have to.
When God speaks into my lifeand he gives me purpose, I
should be able to move in thatpurpose without explanation and
(20:04):
you should be able to look atthat and say God's got it.
Even if you don't agree with it, you can pray about it.
Right, we don't have to tell.
Listen, as pastors me, pastorHolly, pastor Roger it is our
responsibility to tell you ifyou're wrong.
Okay, it is also yourresponsibility to not become
offended by said statements.
Right, it is our responsibilityto do it in love.
(20:26):
It is our responsibility toshare with you what the Holy
Spirit has discerned to us withlove.
There are some people who can'thear that.
They can't hear the love, theycan't take it, they can't run
with it.
Instead, they become offendedat the drop of a hat.
They become offended becausethey don't want direction in
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their life.
Right, they become offendedbecause they don't want to be
lifted up.
They want to stay complacent.
They want to sit right wherethey are.
Amen.
Today we're going to challengethat.
Each and every one of us aregoing to challenge that.
Each and every one of us aregoing to challenge that by being
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open-minded and ready forgrowth.
Now, when I say open-minded, Idon't mean we have to go out and
accept all of the things thatthe world is doing.
When I say open-minded, I saywe need to be able to look at
one another and say, hey, Imight not like what they do,
what, how they act, what theysay, but guess what?
I know right now that God ismoving in their life just the
same as he is moving in my life,and they may be a rung down on
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the ladder right now in theirspiritual growth, right?
Not every one of us is in thesame place with Christ today.
Some of us have been doing thisfor a lifetime.
Some of us have been doing thisfor four weeks, right?
Some of us have been doing thisfor four weeks, right?
Some of us have been doing itfor a lifetime and still don't
know what we're doing, right?
Some of us have been doing thisfor a long time.
We don't know how to read ourBible.
We don't know how to pray.
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We don't know how to have aconversation with another
Christian.
Some of us are uncomfortablewhen somebody says let me pray
for you, right, and if it's everthat way, listen you, right,
and if it's ever that way,listen.
I love it when people pray forme, but I don't I want you to
pray for me for a distance.
Okay, you know why?
Can I tell you why?
I don't know?
No, it's not that I don't wantthem to touch me, but that is
(22:16):
fair.
When I hear the things thatthey're saying, when I hear it,
when somebody says, lord, I praythat Pastor Michael continues
to grow into greater.
That sets an expectation that Ihave to meet.
And if I hear that expectationand I know I have to meet it I
try so hard to be everything foreverybody, amen.
And then what happens?
When I don't, I becomedisappointed in myself and then
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I find a way to become offendedby that word.
And when we're offended by it,listen, I'm going to tell you
guys something.
Maybe I shouldn't, I don't know, but I'm going to anyway.
Do you guys remember that therewas a word spoken over my wife
and I that we were going to haveanother baby?
You guys remember that?
And I laughed.
I was like that ain't evergoing to happen, never going to
(22:59):
happen.
And so I toyed with it.
Like maybe I'm gonna birthsomething new in the spirit,
maybe we're gonna do somethingin the church Like that can be
considered a spiritual child.
And then my wife and I we weretalking the other night and I'm
like maybe we should haveanother baby.
I'm like, god, you are good butyou are crazy.
Like I know you are good, butyou are crazy.
(23:19):
We got to the point to we werelooking up how much it would
cost Jesus, jesus.
But here's what I know I'llstart a fund.
I know that God is good in allthings and if that's what he
wants in our lives, he's goingto make that happen, right?
The problem is is when that wordwas spoken, my choice was to
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not receive it in what God washappen.
Right?
The problem is is when thatword was spoken, my choice was
to not receive it in what Godwas saying.
Right, I tried to put a spin onit.
Now, I don't know that we'reever going to have another baby,
right?
But I know that the thought wasthere, which means he was
moving, he was doing you guysrealize I have five kids, right?
Like six sounds crazy, right?
(24:03):
Well, at some point and this isthe conversation that I have
with my wife, this was the exactstatement After two, does it
really matter?
Because when you get to three,there are more children than
there are adults in the house,so you already have no control,
right?
And so I just keep praying thatGod would show us what it is
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that he was trying to tell us,and he hasn't given us anything
yet, and I'm thankful for thatright now, but I know that I
will do whatever he calls us todo.
The problem is is when peoplespeak a word into your life, you
have a choice to receive it orto rebuke it right.
And oftentimes when that wordis spoken into our lives whether
it's hands laid on us orwhether it's somebody saying,
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hey, the Lord asked me to sharewe rebuke it because if we don't
, then we have to make change inour lives.
And when we make change in ourlives it makes us grow, it
stretches us.
It's kind of like taffy, youknow what I mean.
And when we stretch we getbetter, we start to grow and we
learn new things.
But oftentimes we don't wannalearn new things, because with
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learning new things comes newresponsibilities, and new
responsibilities puts us in adifferent office, and that
different office is sometimesuncomfortable.
Amen, listen, I don't like theprophetic.
It scares me to death.
Pastor Holly lives in it.
She'll call me and she'll say Ihad this dream.
Can you help me interpret it?
I'm like I don't know how youlive in that head.
I love it.
(25:29):
I love that we have somebody sowilling to open themselves up
to that that we might hear fromthe Holy Spirit.
But when he does it to me, I'mlike Lord, I don't want this in
my life right now.
And then I say but here I am,lord, here I am, use me.
And when I allow him to use me,I have to discern what it is
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that he's saying so that I canshare it without creating that
offense.
Amen.
Because a lot of times, when theLord is speaking to us, he's
correcting us, he's makingchange in our lives and in the
lives of the people around us,and it becomes so quick and so
easy, so easy to just becomeoffended.
(26:16):
Now I brought another friendwith me.
These ones make me nervous.
Come here, marcus, this willbreak your finger, guaranteed.
This one will break your finger.
Now my question is whose fingerare we going to put in it this
morning, ashley?
(26:37):
Does that get you off work?
Yeah, see, the offenseoftentimes hurts more than just
you, amen.
Oftentimes, when you becomeoffended, it hurts more than
just you, because what happensis you're hurt.
How does it go Hurting?
People hurt people, right?
And so when you become offendedby something, then you start to
(26:58):
talk about the person whooffended you, to other people,
to your friends, to yourneighbors, to whomever, and then
we just continue to do thistime and time again until
eventually everybody hateseverybody, right?
I firmly believe.
I firmly believe that there aresome places that you go to work
and literally everybody hateseach other.
They don't know how to talk toeach other in a kind tone, or
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they will, and then when youleave the room, they'll tell
everybody else in the officethat you're in, how much they
hate that person.
Right?
It's bizarre to me that we livein that world because what
we've done is we've created thiscycle of hate and as Christians
, when we work in thoseenvironments, we should be able
to break that cycle.
I can't stand clutter.
I hate it when there's junklaying around, it drives me
(27:47):
bananas.
And rather than saying topeople who live like that,
that's disgusting, come on, likewhat are you that's nasty, why
are you doing that?
Listen, I'm not going to tell.
I know somebody that lives likethat.
I would never say that to them.
Do you know what I instead say?
I'm a really great organizerand I'm really motivated.
(28:09):
I would love to help you getorganized if you want that Right
?
Sometimes they hear you nasty,right, and they become offended
and then you break the stick.
I almost got my finger caughtin that one.
It was just a bit too close forcomfort.
(28:31):
The problem is is these bigtraps, when we set.
Them are super easy to set off.
They're still just as sensitiveas the other traps are right.
The challenge that we have isthat the offense that we set or
the trap that we set for some ofyou are walking around with
these bad boys in your pocket.
You know that, right, like you.
Just, I'm not going to put alive one in my pocket, I'm going
(28:52):
to put the already tripped one.
I'm not brave enough for that.
Put it in my back pocket.
Some of us be carrying thesethings around waiting for
somebody to set one off.
Right, you're carrying thisthing around and as soon as
somebody speaks to you, the trapgoes off.
Now the thing that happens isyou immediately look at that
(29:13):
person, you're upset with them,you're frustrated and the next
thing, you know, everybody ishearing about it.
There is nothing worse asdisciples, as followers of
Christ, as Christians, that wecan do than to continue our
offense into other people,because, see, what we do is then
we really build that fence.
Right, when I become offendedwith you, marcus, because you
(29:35):
didn't hold the door open for meand I tell everybody that I
come in contact with that Marcuswouldn't hold the door open for
me, you know, ashley told methat Marcus was talking about me
last week and now he won't holdthe door open for me.
That's not fair, right.
How can, as a Christian, howcould he treat me that way?
And now I'm telling Mike aboutit, now I'm telling Danny about
(29:57):
it, and now I'm telling Rogerabout it, and I'm telling Tyler
about it, and I'm telling Daveabout it, and now, pretty soon,
all of the guys in the churchare looking at Marcus like he's
some sort of evil genius becausehe won't hold the door open for
Pastor Michael.
Right, and he's creating this.
But Marcus didn't create theanimosity.
Who did Pastor Michael?
Because I'm the one who wasoffended, and so I created an
(30:20):
offense with everybody who waswilling to listen.
See when the trap got set off.
It wasn't just me who becamehurt, it was anybody with an
earshot that I could convincethat Marcus was doing something
wrong.
I want to be clear that anytimethat I've ever been offended, I
(30:44):
have done the exact same thingsthat the world would expect me
to do, right?
When I become offended or Ibecome hurt or I become upset by
something, I take the trap.
Hopefully I won't snap myfingers in this as we're doing
this.
I set it and I make sure thateverybody knows that I've been
(31:08):
offended, because I want you toknow just how upset I am with
whatever person did that.
Right?
Because I want you to be onyour guard so that whenever you
walk up to them and they saysomething to you, even if it's
kind that you find a way tobecome offended by it.
Right, it is my desire, when Iam offended, to make sure that
(31:28):
everybody else feels the exactsame way.
The world would want us tochoose offense over forgiveness.
The world wants us to chooseoffense over forgiveness.
Oftentimes, when people offendus, it offense over forgiveness.
Oftentimes, when people offendus, it catches us unaware.
Is that fair?
(31:48):
Like, I think Marcus and I aregood friends, but he won't hold
the door for me.
What the heck is going on?
Like I didn't do anything tohim, I didn't ask him to do
something that he wouldn't dofor other people, and so I
become wildly offended by it.
(32:11):
And as the quote unquote victim, I didn't see it coming.
Well, here's the problem.
I'm absorbing a victimmentality and I'm thinking that
I am the one being wrong.
So I'm going to tell everybodyelse that I have been wrong.
Now I am the one doing thewrong.
What good is that doing for anyof you?
Every time I tell you thatMarcus won't hold the door for
(32:31):
me, does it make you like Marcus?
Does it make you think, well,what if he doesn't hold the door
for me next week?
Right, you guys sleeping, wegood.
You guys just don't want to bemean to Marcus.
Here's the thing.
(32:52):
He's too big.
He scares me.
The enemy sets the trap where weleast expect it.
He sets the trap in our home,in our churches and in our
workplace.
But that's why Paul warned usto be alert in 1 Peter 5.8.
It says stay alert, watch outfor your great enemy, the devil.
He prowls around like a roaringlion looking for someone to
(33:14):
devour.
That offense is always prowling.
It is always looking to ensnareus in some way, some shape or
some form.
Let's go to Hebrews 12, 15.
(33:36):
Look after each other so thatnone of you fails to receive the
grace of God.
Watch out that no poisonousroot of bitterness grows up to
trouble you, corrupting manythat last line corrupting many.
It is our responsibility to lookout for one another.
So when I walk up to you and Isay can you believe Marcus
didn't hold the door for me.
It is your responsibility tosay I'm sure he didn't mean it.
(33:58):
I'm certain Marcus wasn't notholding the door for you because
he doesn't like you.
Marcus could not like me rightand he could have let that door
shut in my face because hedoesn't like me.
It is not your responsibilityto tell me yeah, he told me he
doesn't like you.
It is your responsibility tosay have you talked to him?
(34:18):
I can't imagine that Marcuswould have done something like
that on purpose.
He's always been so kind man.
I've asked Marcus to help mewith something and he jumps
right on.
I can't imagine that he didn'tlet you or didn't hold that door
open for you.
That is our responsibility,because we don't want any
poisonous root to grow up insideof the church family.
(34:40):
Amen.
Now here's the thing.
There are some people who willfind a ways to be offended
regardless of what you do forthem.
Those are the branches that youprune.
Right, because it tells us thatwe separate the wheat from the
chaff and we let it burn.
Right, we don't keep what isn'tusable.
I'm not trying to be mean.
(35:00):
I'm just saying that there aresome people who don't wanna be a
member of the church.
They don't want to be mean.
I'm just saying that there aresome people who don't want to be
a member of the church.
They don't want to be cared for, they don't want to be liked,
they don't care about the body.
They show up to sow discord.
There are people sitting inthis room who sometimes show up
(35:23):
to events to just sow discord,sitting in this room who
sometimes show up to events tojust sow discord, to just create
chaos in the lives of thosearound them.
It's true, I've seen it, I'vewatched it happen.
I've walked into the buildingand somebody says can you
believe that so-and-so did such?
You know what I usually say Notmy circus, not my monkeys.
(35:46):
I'm going to pray for thembecause that's all I can do.
I cannot change your mind.
I cannot change how you treatother people.
You need to find your centeringwith the Holy Spirit and say
Lord, I don't want to be thisway.
Right Now, there are somepeople who will send a text and
they were just like well,so-and-so did such and such, and
so I'm not doing.
Listen, don't be offended bywhat you didn't receive.
(36:07):
Listen, oh Lord.
Somebody said to me one timedon't focus on what you don't
have, focus on what you do have.
It's the dumbest statement I'veever heard.
That's the dumbest statement.
You took something away from me.
How would I not focus on that,right?
And then, when the realizationsets in that I didn't actually
lose anything, that I gainedfreedom, and letting go of that,
(36:30):
thank you Jesus.
Thank you, jesus, for therealization.
The problem is is, many times wedon't move into the realization
, right, we live in the offenseand we stay in the offense so
that we can constantly bebad-mouthing or talking about or
dealing with whatever it isthat's going on.
Don't call me and ask me foradvice if you don't want it,
(36:54):
because I'm going to give it toyou and it may offend you.
It is not that I am trying tooffend your flesh.
I'm trying to convict yourspirit, right, that's the goal.
The goal is that your spiritman will have abundant life and
that your flesh man will die.
To that, the challenge is yourspirit man has to be alive,
(37:15):
right, your spirit man has to bealive.
That means you have to bewilling to walk in the spirit,
to pray in the spirit.
You have to be willing to livein the spirit and not focus on
the world.
The Bible tells us that money.
The love of money is the rootof all evil, right?
The challenge is that we needmoney to survive, amen.
So we don't ever think thatwe've become obsessed with it,
(37:37):
that we love it so much until wedon't have it.
And then we realize veryquickly how much we really love
money.
Right, it's not that I love theluxuries of life.
I like having the ability to dowhatever I wanted whenever I
want it, right?
And so I become offended when Isee other people spending money
that I think I should have.
Is it true?
(37:59):
How many of us look around theroom and go so-and-so got a new
car.
Marcus and Jenny got a new car.
Of us look around the room andgo so-and-so got a new car.
Marcus and Jenny got a new carRight.
That's exciting.
It's not new.
It's new to them.
But you know what?
They've only had one car for solong.
I'm excited.
They got a second car Right Now.
I could be offended that God hadblessed them, because God
(38:21):
hasn't blessed me in that way.
But what would be the sense inthat?
What would be the sense in that?
I want to celebrate.
I don't want to be offended.
I will tell you that if I'moffended with a person that's on
me, that's my flesh just beingstupid.
But if I'm offended with Godbecause he didn't move in my
life, that's my problem.
(38:42):
I have to focus on why am Ioffended with God?
God didn't do anything but giveme all the good things in my
life.
All he's ever done was given megood things, and when he takes
something away from me, I haveto learn to be a little more
like Job.
I have to learn to celebratethat loss and still give him
glory in all things.
I might want to die, God, ifyou would, please just let me
(39:07):
die, and God is still going toprovide all of those good and
wonderful things in my life.
Manna from heaven, right Everytime I turn around, god is doing
something in my life that Idon't understand.
I've never once had him dosomething that has ended up bad.
I was thinking, you know, Idon't know how long it's been
when I lost my job.
(39:27):
I didn't know what to do withmyself for two whole weeks.
I was completely lost andconfused, and when I finally
realized I didn't have to carrymy phone everywhere, I didn't
have to worry what happenedafter five o'clock.
I didn't have the stress that Iwas carrying before.
Thank you, jesus.
(39:47):
It was a loss in some areas ofmy life, but I gained so much
more, so much more.
Do you know how present I'vebeen able to be with my family
in all of that?
Listen, loss is gain To losethings that are not important in
your life.
I was defined by what I did,not who God had called me to be
(40:10):
right.
When people looked at me, theysaw a busy man, always had his
phone, was always doingsomething, but I wasn't doing
God's work, I was doing theworld's work.
And when I finally said I don'thave to live that way anymore, I
was able to refocus.
And way anymore.
I was able to refocus andrecenter, I was offended.
I was offended because I didn'tunderstand, and then I started
(40:36):
to contemplate well, they lostthis and they lost that.
I gained this and I gained that.
And then I thought you know,lord, it's selfish of me to only
be concerned about myself.
My loss is mine to deal with.
Lord, I want you to bless themtoo.
(40:58):
I want you to bless themabundantly.
I want to see great success.
And I want to see it, lord,because I want everyone to know
just how good you are.
This isn't about how good I amor how good I was.
This is about how good you are,lord, because if you will do it
(41:18):
for me, you will do it foranyone, and I want to tell you
that if you are sitting in yourseat today thinking that God has
done something for somebodyelse that he has never done for
me, I need you to pray about itand I need you to ask God what
changes would you have in mylife today, lord, lord, how can
(41:39):
I overlook this offense?
How can I get past this?
Lord?
I don't wanna be in this trapany longer.
Lord, I want to be free and Iwant to be alive in you, not
just alive in the world.
Amen.
And so many of us are stillliving just in the world.
(42:01):
Forgiveness is the fastest wayout of the trap in the world.
Forgiveness is the fastest wayout of the trap.
A mouse cannot free itself.
Once caught in that trap,somebody else has to release it.
Amen.
We can't free ourselves fromthe offense either.
We need God's power to do that.
(42:24):
We need to be praying about theoffense.
Lord, what is it that you wouldhave me learn from this, god?
How can I better serve you inthis moment of my life, lord,
the frustration that I feel.
Use it for something good today.
Open my eyes, heal my heart,father, but instead we want
(42:45):
wanna live in it.
You ever sulked before?
Just sat and just like I ammiserable because God won't do.
Yes, yes, I still do that tothis day.
I drive to work every morningand I think, lord, I don't know
what you're trying to do to me.
God, I know that you provideall of these things so that I
(43:10):
might have an abundance of lifein you, but, god, I don't want
to do this.
You know this isn't me God.
And you know what he says.
Every morning he tells me thesame thing.
I'm not joking when I say this.
Every morning he tells me thesame thing I get on 36, just get
out of Gen 8.
And I'm not joking when I saythis.
Every morning he tells me thesame thing I get on 36, just get
out of Gen 8,.
And I'm like Lord, I don't wantto do this.
And you know what he says to meevery time Then slow down, then
(43:35):
slow down.
I don't want to.
When I get to work, I get mywork.
This is not a joke.
I get my work done in under twohours.
I got nothing else to do forthe other six hours of the day.
I stare at a computer screenfor six hours waiting on the
phone ring, hoping somebodyneeds something from me.
I'm not joking, it is what?
Yeah, yeah, can you guys juststart calling me and just give
(43:58):
me mundane tasks?
I don't really care what theyare at this point, but God keeps
saying slow down.
What do I do when I hurry?
What do we all do when we hurry?
Get a speeding ticket, some ofus one in a warning.
(44:20):
But yeah, it does happen.
We make mistakes, right, westart to hurry and we make
mistakes, and then we can'tunderstand why we're making so
many mistakes.
It's because we cannot focus onwhat God wants us to focus on.
We want to focus on the speedat which we finish.
Let me tell you that thisfleshly life that we are living
is not a sprint, it is amarathon.
We are going to run this untilJesus calls us home.
(44:41):
Pace is everything calls ushome.
Pace is everything when we movefrom this day to the next.
I should not be complaining toGod that I have to go to work.
I should be thanking God that Iget to go to work, that he has
blessed me with a place to goand earn money so that I might
(45:01):
care for my family.
So that I might care for myfamily, that sixth child, that's
going to come right.
I have to learn to focus onwhat God wants for me and not
what I want for me.
And every day he tells me slowdown.
And every day I argue with him.
Right, and I wrestle with whatdoes slow down mean, god?
What do you want me to slowdown on?
(45:23):
And he just keeps saying itslow down, well, what, what?
And he just keeps saying itslow down, well, what, what?
And he just keeps saying itover and over again.
And eventually I'm going tofigure it out, but until then
I'm going to suffer.
But there is no greater glorythan to suffer for the kingdom
(45:44):
of God.
Paul was imprisoned and stillsang praises.
Right, and listen.
I might be in prison, I mightfeel like I'm in prison to the
world right now, but I am notbeing beaten, I am not being
shot at, I am not.
My life is better than mostlives in this world.
Amen, my life is better thanmost other people's lives in
this world and I can, and I sayin this world, because if you go
(46:08):
outside of the United States,there is poverty everywhere,
there is war, there isdestruction, there is hate,
there is deceit.
We see it here, but we don'tsee it like other places do.
We are so focused on ourselvesthat we cannot focus on the
goodness that we have and theglory that God has given to us.
So, while I feel like I'mtrapped and I feel like I'm
(46:31):
caged and I can't get throughany of these things, I realized
very, very quickly, very quickly, that that is not where God
would have me be.
It's easy to hear, it's easy tothink.
It's hard to live, amen, it ishard to live.
So today I want to challenge youwith walking out of this place
(46:56):
in a complete state offorgiveness, a complete state of
forgiveness.
I need you right now.
Can you turn on the prayermusic for me, please?
I need you to, just for asecond, think about all of the
things that have been in yourlife in the past however long
you feel like you need to thinkabout and the things that have
offended you.
And as you're thinking aboutthose things that have offended
(47:19):
you, I want you to consider whatit looks like what life looks
like for you if you're notholding on to that offense, if
you're not carrying around thehate and the concern and the
worry about the things that havehappened in your life.
Because let me tell yousomething right now, god does
not want you to carry that withyou today.
He wants us in completeforgiveness.
(47:42):
Amen, father, I thank you forforgiveness that flows through
the body of Christ today.
Lord, father, that we may, asdisciples, as followers of
Christ, as Christians.
Lord, that we may forgive oneanother sitting in this room.
Lord, that we may have beenoffended today by something, but
(48:05):
, Lord, that trap is not beingtriggered.
We will not live in offense, wewill live in the glory of God.
Lord, move in our lives,inspect our hearts.
Lord, show us what it is thatyou would have us to see that we
(48:33):
should give up the strongholdsthat are being formed in our
lives.
Allow us to break free fromthem today.
Father God, the chains that havebound us for so long, those
chains are broken today, in themighty name of Jesus.
Chains that have bound us forso long, those chains are broken
today, in the mighty name ofJesus, we are set free.
We are alive in the spirittoday, father, I will not be
(49:01):
bound and I pray that the peoplesitting in this room will be
free from bondage.
Father, bless us as we leavethis place.
Give us discerning spirits aswe leave, as we move from this
place, that we may be able totalk to people and not become
offended.
Lord, father, I thank you and Ipraise you.
(49:21):
I give you all the honor andglory in the mighty name of
Jesus, and the church says amen,love you.
Lord, this message has been planted and watered and
, as it comes to harvest today,lord, I thank you for allowing
the hearts to hear it, the earsto hear it.
Lord, just allow us to absorbyour goodness today.
We thank and we praise you inthe mighty name of Jesus, and
the church says amen.
You can be seated.
Will the kids go back to classtoday?
(00:22):
Yes, dale's like yes, oh, he'sgoing back there.
That's why he said it.
That wasn't an excited yes,that was just a yes.
Well, nick, you'll appreciatethis, and I know that you're
probably the only person in theroom that will.
(00:42):
Okay, today's message is titledyou ready, caught in a Trap.
Now, why is that today'smessage title?
Come on, man, elvis, right.
Yesterday was August 16th.
It was the anniversary ofElvis's death.
I'm sure all of you mourned,I'm sure you took a moment and
(01:06):
just had to process that, butI've been toying with this
message for a while.
I was actually going to do itabout three weeks ago and, for
whatever reason, the Lord saidno, you're not.
We did something different.
But today we are going to dothis message and I am going to
do my best not to lose anyfingers.
Okay, uh-oh is a good word.
(01:27):
So I brought something with metoday because I feel like the
only way to really get throughthis message is to show it to
you, and so, again, I'm going totry not to lose a finger today.
So does anybody know what thisis?
Yeah, so somebody saw thesethis morning and said, uh-oh, do
we have mice?
No, we don't have mice, or atleast not that we know of.
Right, but these little trapsalways remind me of something in
(01:50):
our lives, and it's so funny,because how many of you have
ever used one of these traps?
Yeah, a lot of people don't usethese ones anymore.
We like the humane ones.
Right Now, some people call thesticky traps humane.
That seems awful.
Right, a little mouse getsstuck in a trap and just starves
to death over time.
That seems terrible.
This one is a pretty quick kill, right, margie, are you okay?
(02:17):
She's not okay.
She's not okay.
We're not going to killanything today, I promise.
Okay, we're not going to killanything today.
Somebody get.
Okay, we're not going to killanything today.
Somebody get rid of that bucketof mice.
I'm kidding, this device isdesigned for one thing and one
thing only, and that's to trapand to kill, right.
The idea behind this device isto trap whatever it is that you
(02:42):
want to catch in this littledevice, right, a mouse?
Well, it depends, because ifyou set it in the wrong place,
it could be your toe.
Right, it could be a.
Never mind.
I'm not going to go therebecause Margie's going to get
upset.
I think she's already crying.
I'm not sure this device isdesigned for one thing, and it's
(03:04):
to trap.
See, the mouse thinks that it'sgetting something good, but
really it is setting itself upfor destruction, amen.
So the mouse, when it sees thetrap, thinks, oh, there's
something good in there for me.
And when it looks at it, itassumes that something good is
about to come into its life.
Because they're foragers, theylike to scurry around and pick
up things off the floor.
(03:24):
The problem is is that when themouse actually gets to it, it's
trapped, Amen.
Do you know the one thing thattraps us every single day of our
lives Offense, offense.
(03:46):
How many of us have beenoffended before in our lives?
This side of the room has beensuper offended.
This side is like no, we'regood, we don't ever get offended
over here.
We become offended by thingsthat don't really matter.
We think that when somebodysays something to us and we hear
it.
It's making a difference in ourlives, but really what we're
doing is we're building up anoffense.
(04:09):
Amen.
How many of us have ever heardsomething and thought I can't
believe that person said that tome.
You think, you let it go.
And then two weeks later you'relike I really can't believe
they said that to me.
And then, four weeks later,you're like you know what, I'm
going to punch that person inthe face Right me.
(04:31):
And then, four weeks later,you're like you know what?
I'm going to punch that personin the face right.
And then you hear it again inyour head and it just keeps
replaying over and over againand you find yourself offended
and in dislike of that personamen, and you don't want to see
them, you don't want to talk tothem, you don't want to be
around them, and all because ofone thing that they said you've
allowed yourself to be offended.
The enemy uses the same strategyof catching us in that trap,
but he uses the offense as thebait.
(04:52):
Amen, or you can put cheese.
She says.
You can always put cheese inthere.
The cheese would catch me forsure.
I love cheese.
Mcdonald's Coke in there willget me every time, every time
Luke 17.1,.
It says one day Jesus says tohis disciples there will always
(05:14):
be temptations to sin, but whatsorrow awaits the person who
does the tempting?
Leave that up for me.
There will always betemptations to sin.
I want you to hear that therewill always be a temptation to
sin, amen.
That does not mean that youhave to sin, right, we can look
(05:34):
around the room all day long andfind temptations.
Right, if you're a smoker and Ioffer you a cigarette, that is
a temptation.
But the second half of that saysbut what sorrow awaits the
person who does the tempting?
So it is worse for me to temptyou, which is why I say that
when you come to my house, I'mnot going to offer you alcohol.
(05:56):
When you come to my house, I'mnot going to offer you
cigarettes.
I'm not going to offer yousomething that may trip you up.
Why would I do that to you?
I don't know your life.
I don't know your struggle,right?
Have you ever been to a partywhere somebody offers you
alcohol and you say no?
And they're like oh, you don'tdrink.
Yeah, I don't have to explainmyself.
Right, I don't have to explainmyself.
(06:19):
But they say those things andthen you hold onto it and
they're well, am I the weird onebecause I don't drink?
Am I the weird one because Idon't go to parties?
Am I the weird one because Idon't partake in these things?
You are not the weird one.
The enemy is trying to convinceyou that you are the weird one.
The enemy wants you to live forthe world, not live for Christ,
(06:40):
amen.
And so what he does is he trapsyou in that and you think about
it, and you think about it, andyou think about it until
eventually you find a way to beoffended by what that person
said to you or the way thatyou're living your life.
Or my favorite is the fact thatyour pastor tells you you
shouldn't do it Right, when yourpastor says, hey, that's
(07:01):
probably not a good idea, andyou're like well, who's he to
tell me?
Listen, I'm not telling youbecause I don't want you to have
fun.
I'm telling you because I'veprobably been there, done that
and screwed up right, most of ushave been around the block a
time or two.
We've seen the valleys, lotsand lots of them, and all we
wanna do is help you to stay orto achieve the mountaintop.
(07:26):
So the problem is, when we talkabout temptation, we don't
always look at the word the waythat it should be.
So I am not typically go backand figure out what the Greek
word was and how does that breakdown, but I did this time, so
just roll with me, okay.
The word temptation in Greek isskandalon.
It's a fun word skandalonS-K-A-N-D-A-L-O-N.
(07:47):
For those of you who needed toknow how to spell it.
The same word is used for trapor snare, and in that passage of
scripture, Jesus warned us thatan offense is a trap and
offense is a trap.
Now, I'm not talking aboutoffense like in your backyard,
for those of you who are stillconfused.
I'm talking about that feelingyou get when somebody says
(08:09):
something to you or somethinghappens in your life.
Listen, some of you are probablysitting in this building
offended today, right?
Probably about something thathappened in this building this
morning.
There are people who becomeoffended because somebody didn't
hold the door open for them.
Well, marcus held the door openfor everybody this morning.
There are people who becomeoffended because somebody didn't
hold the door open for them.
Well, marcus held the door openfor everybody this morning, but
when I came up, he walked away.
(08:30):
Right, that's offensive to me,because why would he do that?
Does he not like me?
Is there something wrong withme?
Does Marcus not want to hold?
Am I not worthy of having thedoor held?
There's probably somebody inhere thinking it this morning.
Well, pastor Michael walkedright by me and he didn't say
good morning, or I said goodmorning to him and he didn't
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speak back.
That is the devil trying toconvince you that being in the
house of the Lord is the wrongplace to be, amen.
And he wants you to be offendedwith your brothers and sisters
in Christ.
Because where will you turnwhen you become offended by
those people?
To the world?
Now some people say no, I justgo to a different church.
(09:14):
No, you don't.
No, you don't.
You go to the other church fora week and you say I didn't
really feel at home there, andyou go to another church the
next week and you do that forabout a month until you just
stop going to church.
And he wins, and he wins.
There is victory in Jesus.
(09:36):
There is only loss andcondemnation in the name of
Satan.
But for some reason, we like tohold onto that offense and we
like to be upset with people, welike to be upset with ourselves
and we like to find ourselvesliving in the world.
See, the offense always lookssmall at first.
(09:57):
So if I were to bait one ofthese with cheese or peanut
butter you know, peanut butteris supposed to be the best I
don't know why they say thatpeanut butter is really, really
good.
It looks harmless to the mousebecause it's small.
It's food, it's something thathe likes, right?
So when I'm hanging out with myfriends and somebody says that
(10:18):
is the dumbest shirt I've everseen you wear Courtney said that
to me once.
Well, it was probably true, I'mkidding.
We hold on to those things, wethink about it all, and then we
don't wear the shirt anymore,right?
Does everybody else think thatshirt's stupid when I, when I,
(10:42):
did everybody else think thatman, I probably should have.
Man, I might have to get rid ofthat one, right?
Ladies, you got a closet full ofclothes you put on.
You think you don't look goodin because somebody has said
something to you about it, right?
What, vicki?
You got a closet full ofclothes.
You think you don't look goodin Sweaters?
I love all of your sweaters.
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I love all of them.
Don't let these people try tooffend you.
Don't let them build up anoffense.
Vicki, your sweaters arebeautiful.
I like to joke about them, butthey're beautiful.
It always seems small.
A comment, a look, a post on howmany of you have ever seen an
(11:23):
ambiguous post that somebody hasmade online and you think it's
about you?
I know they're talking about me.
I know they're saying thatabout me.
Why wouldn't they just have acard?
They don't.
They ain't saying it about youand if they are, do you really
care?
Does it really matter?
Because that ambiguous socialmedia post doesn't change your
life.
Thank you, thank you.
(12:39):
How about that?
(13:35):
That's weird.
Did you give me a bum battery?
She gave me a bum battery thismorning.
I'm offended, wildly offended.
Are we in Proverbs 19.11?
Yes, proverbs 19.11 sayssensible people control their
(13:56):
temper.
They earn respect byoverlooking the wrongs.
Sensible people Today, I wantyou to be sensible people, right
?
I'm asking you, please besensible people.
When you become offended byMarcus not holding the door open
, go.
You know what.
He was probably busy.
You know what.
He probably needed to go.
Do something else.
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He probably didn't need to.
He had something.
Listen, if you choose to beoffended, if you choose to be
offended.
You will be stuck in thatoffense and then, when the
spirit starts to move in thisplace, you won't be able to
receive it, because you'resitting here thinking about all
of the things that have happenedto you.
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Listen, I stood in the soundbooth this morning and I was
like man.
I could come up with a hundredways to wreck this person's life
.
I'm in church, Vicki, don'tlook at me like that, don't
judge me like that.
Vicki, I'm being honest rightnow.
Okay, I'm pouring out my heartto you and I realized that I was
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holding onto a fence, anoffense that they had created.
It's not, there's no doubt thatthey didn't do something wrong
to me, but why am I choosing tolive that way, especially when
I'm in a house of worship,especially when I am preparing
to receive a move of the HolySpirit?
Right, I choose that because Iallowed the enemy to convince me
that I had to focus on thatright now.
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Listen, that never needs to bea central focus of my life.
Never, because it doesn'tmatter what that offense is.
What matters is how we overcomeit.
It says they earn respect byoverlooking wrong.
So, marcus, when you don't holdthe door for somebody, they
should be able to go.
You know what?
That's okay.
I still love him.
He's still a good guy and Iknow that if I asked him for
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anything he would be there,right, the problem is is we
often think, well, he didn'thold the door open for me this
week and last week.
Whenever I went over and talkedto him, he didn't talk back, or
he gave me a one word answer,or he doesn't.
He doesn't whatever.
Right, we start building thatoffense little by little, by
little by little.
(16:03):
Listen, sometimes we can be mean, right.
Sometimes we can be mean asChristians.
Sometimes we can cut anotherChristian to the bone because we
know what their lives are like,right, we know our struggles,
we spend time with one anotherand we know that we're
struggling in certain areas ofour lives because we pray for
one another, right.
(16:23):
And so if you call me and say,pastor Michael, can you pray for
me?
I'm really having troublestopping smoking, and I'm like,
yeah, certainly I'll pray foryou.
And then I come to church onSunday morning and you say
something to me and I'm like,well, no, it's not as bad as
smoking cigarettes, right, itcreates an offense.
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We as Christians can be mean.
We can use things.
It starts as a joke, Right?
See, we always think we'refunny, right?
My wife was mad at me thismorning, like when I left for
church, my wife was mad at me.
Mad at me.
Now, I couldn't remember why,until she told me why.
So apparently in the middle ofthe night I had gone to bed,
(17:09):
fallen asleep.
In the middle of the night, shecame to bed.
She got in bed and she was onher phone and it woke me up and
so I started picking on her,like smacking her phone out of
her hand, poking her in the face.
I thought it was funny.
She didn't think it was funny,right?
As Christians have we beenthere?
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We poke and poke, and poke andpoke, and then that person
doesn't talk to us anymore andwe can't figure out why.
It's because what we thoughtwas funny was not in fact funny.
(17:51):
We have to learn how to treatpeople with the same respect
that we want to be treated with.
And that's the hardest part,because, listen, I don't want
you guys going around tellingpeople all about my life and the
stupid things I've done.
Listen, I do a lot of them andit wouldn't be hard for you to
do that.
But if I don't want you to doit to me, why would I do it to
you?
Why would I run out into thestreets?
And when somebody comes up andsays, hey, you know, you know
(18:12):
Marcus McVeigh.
Yeah, I know Marcus pretty well.
Oh, did you know he right?
And then I go back and Ashley,did you hear what Marcus did?
Did you yeah.
And then I go back and Ashley,did you hear what Marcus did?
Did you yeah.
And then I start tellingeverybody and guess what?
Eventually, marcus is gonnahear it and chances are he's
gonna hear it when we leastexpect it.
We're gonna be standing at thecoffee station talking about
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Marcus doing that thing that weknow about, that nobody else
knows about.
Marcus is gonna be like whotold them that?
How did they find out aboutthat?
And now Marcus doesn't trusthis church family.
That's not fair.
That's not fair.
We are creating an offense forabsolutely no reason.
We're creating an offense sothat we can have a fun time
talking about somebody.
Whoa.
That is the wrong place to bein the church, amen.
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As a Christian, as a disciple,as a follower of Christ, we
should not, for any reason, bechoosing and trying and actively
seeking to disrupt the lives ofour brothers and sisters in
Christ ever.
What was that?
Was that Proverbs?
Okay, so I missed a point here.
I gotta get back.
The offense does not feed us.
(19:20):
So when we hear it and we think, oh, I can let that go, and
then we start to stew on it.
We're not being fed from that,we're being bound up from that.
Right, because now we're caught,we're locked up in this desire
to be justified.
Almost right, because whensomebody talks about you, you
feel like you have to defendyourself.
Have you ever felt like youneeded to defend yourself?
(19:42):
Listen, I was in a meeting onetime and I said I feel like
every time I speak I have todefend myself.
I don't want to feel that way.
I don't want to look at you andsay, oh well, I did that
because of this.
No, I shouldn't have to.
When God speaks into my lifeand he gives me purpose, I
should be able to move in thatpurpose without explanation and
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you should be able to look atthat and say God's got it.
Even if you don't agree with it, you can pray about it.
Right, we don't have to tell.
Listen, as pastors me, pastorHolly, pastor Roger it is our
responsibility to tell you ifyou're wrong.
Okay, it is also yourresponsibility to not become
offended by said statements.
Right, it is our responsibilityto do it in love.
(20:26):
It is our responsibility toshare with you what the Holy
Spirit has discerned to us withlove.
There are some people who can'thear that.
They can't hear the love, theycan't take it, they can't run
with it.
Instead, they become offendedat the drop of a hat.
They become offended becausethey don't want direction in
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their life.
Right, they become offendedbecause they don't want to be
lifted up.
They want to stay complacent.
They want to sit right wherethey are.
Amen.
Today we're going to challengethat.
Each and every one of us aregoing to challenge that.
Each and every one of us aregoing to challenge that by being
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open-minded and ready forgrowth.
Now, when I say open-minded, Idon't mean we have to go out and
accept all of the things thatthe world is doing.
When I say open-minded, I saywe need to be able to look at
one another and say, hey, Imight not like what they do,
what, how they act, what theysay, but guess what?
I know right now that God ismoving in their life just the
same as he is moving in my life,and they may be a rung down on
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the ladder right now in theirspiritual growth, right?
Not every one of us is in thesame place with Christ today.
Some of us have been doing thisfor a lifetime.
Some of us have been doing thisfor four weeks, right?
Some of us have been doing thisfor four weeks, right?
Some of us have been doing itfor a lifetime and still don't
know what we're doing, right?
Some of us have been doing thisfor a long time.
We don't know how to read ourBible.
We don't know how to pray.
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We don't know how to have aconversation with another
Christian.
Some of us are uncomfortablewhen somebody says let me pray
for you, right, and if it's everthat way, listen you, right,
and if it's ever that way,listen.
I love it when people pray forme, but I don't I want you to
pray for me for a distance.
Okay, you know why?
Can I tell you why?
I don't know?
No, it's not that I don't wantthem to touch me, but that is
(22:16):
fair.
When I hear the things thatthey're saying, when I hear it,
when somebody says, lord, I praythat Pastor Michael continues
to grow into greater.
That sets an expectation that Ihave to meet.
And if I hear that expectationand I know I have to meet it I
try so hard to be everything foreverybody, amen.
And then what happens?
When I don't, I becomedisappointed in myself and then
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I find a way to become offendedby that word.
And when we're offended by it,listen, I'm going to tell you
guys something.
Maybe I shouldn't, I don't know, but I'm going to anyway.
Do you guys remember that therewas a word spoken over my wife
and I that we were going to haveanother baby?
You guys remember that?
And I laughed.
I was like that ain't evergoing to happen, never going to
(22:59):
happen.
And so I toyed with it.
Like maybe I'm gonna birthsomething new in the spirit,
maybe we're gonna do somethingin the church Like that can be
considered a spiritual child.
And then my wife and I we weretalking the other night and I'm
like maybe we should haveanother baby.
I'm like, god, you are good butyou are crazy.
Like I know you are good, butyou are crazy.
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We got to the point to we werelooking up how much it would
cost Jesus, jesus.
But here's what I know I'llstart a fund.
I know that God is good in allthings and if that's what he
wants in our lives, he's goingto make that happen, right?
The problem is is when that wordwas spoken, my choice was to
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not receive it in what God washappen.
Right?
The problem is is when thatword was spoken, my choice was
to not receive it in what Godwas saying.
Right, I tried to put a spin onit.
Now, I don't know that we'reever going to have another baby,
right?
But I know that the thought wasthere, which means he was
moving, he was doing you guysrealize I have five kids, right?
Like six sounds crazy, right?
(24:03):
Well, at some point and this isthe conversation that I have
with my wife, this was the exactstatement After two, does it
really matter?
Because when you get to three,there are more children than
there are adults in the house,so you already have no control,
right?
And so I just keep praying thatGod would show us what it is
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that he was trying to tell us,and he hasn't given us anything
yet, and I'm thankful for thatright now, but I know that I
will do whatever he calls us todo.
The problem is is when peoplespeak a word into your life, you
have a choice to receive it orto rebuke it right.
And oftentimes when that wordis spoken into our lives whether
it's hands laid on us orwhether it's somebody saying,
(24:47):
hey, the Lord asked me to sharewe rebuke it because if we don't
, then we have to make change inour lives.
And when we make change in ourlives it makes us grow, it
stretches us.
It's kind of like taffy, youknow what I mean.
And when we stretch we getbetter, we start to grow and we
learn new things.
But oftentimes we don't wannalearn new things, because with
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learning new things comes newresponsibilities, and new
responsibilities puts us in adifferent office, and that
different office is sometimesuncomfortable.
Amen, listen, I don't like theprophetic.
It scares me to death.
Pastor Holly lives in it.
She'll call me and she'll say Ihad this dream.
Can you help me interpret it?
I'm like I don't know how youlive in that head.
I love it.
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I love that we have somebody sowilling to open themselves up
to that that we might hear fromthe Holy Spirit.
But when he does it to me, I'mlike Lord, I don't want this in
my life right now.
And then I say but here I am,lord, here I am, use me.
And when I allow him to use me,I have to discern what it is
(25:55):
that he's saying so that I canshare it without creating that
offense.
Amen.
Because a lot of times, when theLord is speaking to us, he's
correcting us, he's makingchange in our lives and in the
lives of the people around us,and it becomes so quick and so
easy, so easy to just becomeoffended.
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Now I brought another friendwith me.
These ones make me nervous.
Come here, marcus, this willbreak your finger, guaranteed.
This one will break your finger.
Now my question is whose fingerare we going to put in it this
morning, ashley?
(26:37):
Does that get you off work?
Yeah, see, the offenseoftentimes hurts more than just
you, amen.
Oftentimes, when you becomeoffended, it hurts more than
just you, because what happensis you're hurt.
How does it go Hurting?
People hurt people, right?
And so when you become offendedby something, then you start to
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talk about the person whooffended you, to other people,
to your friends, to yourneighbors, to whomever, and then
we just continue to do thistime and time again until
eventually everybody hateseverybody, right?
I firmly believe.
I firmly believe that there aresome places that you go to work
and literally everybody hateseach other.
They don't know how to talk toeach other in a kind tone, or
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they will, and then when youleave the room, they'll tell
everybody else in the officethat you're in, how much they
hate that person.
Right?
It's bizarre to me that we livein that world because what
we've done is we've created thiscycle of hate and as Christians
, when we work in thoseenvironments, we should be able
to break that cycle.
I can't stand clutter.
I hate it when there's junklaying around, it drives me
(27:47):
bananas.
And rather than saying topeople who live like that,
that's disgusting, come on, likewhat are you that's nasty, why
are you doing that?
Listen, I'm not going to tell.
I know somebody that lives likethat.
I would never say that to them.
Do you know what I instead say?
I'm a really great organizerand I'm really motivated.
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I would love to help you getorganized if you want that Right
?
Sometimes they hear you nasty,right, and they become offended
and then you break the stick.
I almost got my finger caughtin that one.
It was just a bit too close forcomfort.
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The problem is is these bigtraps, when we set.
Them are super easy to set off.
They're still just as sensitiveas the other traps are right.
The challenge that we have isthat the offense that we set or
the trap that we set for some ofyou are walking around with
these bad boys in your pocket.
You know that, right, like you.
Just, I'm not going to put alive one in my pocket, I'm going
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to put the already tripped one.
I'm not brave enough for that.
Put it in my back pocket.
Some of us be carrying thesethings around waiting for
somebody to set one off.
Right, you're carrying thisthing around and as soon as
somebody speaks to you, the trapgoes off.
Now the thing that happens isyou immediately look at that
(29:13):
person, you're upset with them,you're frustrated and the next
thing, you know, everybody ishearing about it.
There is nothing worse asdisciples, as followers of
Christ, as Christians, that wecan do than to continue our
offense into other people,because, see, what we do is then
we really build that fence.
Right, when I become offendedwith you, marcus, because you
(29:35):
didn't hold the door open for meand I tell everybody that I
come in contact with that Marcuswouldn't hold the door open for
me, you know, ashley told methat Marcus was talking about me
last week and now he won't holdthe door open for me.
That's not fair, right.
How can, as a Christian, howcould he treat me that way?
And now I'm telling Mike aboutit, now I'm telling Danny about
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it, and now I'm telling Rogerabout it, and I'm telling Tyler
about it, and I'm telling Daveabout it, and now, pretty soon,
all of the guys in the churchare looking at Marcus like he's
some sort of evil genius becausehe won't hold the door open for
Pastor Michael.
Right, and he's creating this.
But Marcus didn't create theanimosity.
Who did Pastor Michael?
Because I'm the one who wasoffended, and so I created an
(30:20):
offense with everybody who waswilling to listen.
See when the trap got set off.
It wasn't just me who becamehurt, it was anybody with an
earshot that I could convincethat Marcus was doing something
wrong.
I want to be clear that anytimethat I've ever been offended, I
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have done the exact same thingsthat the world would expect me
to do, right?
When I become offended or Ibecome hurt or I become upset by
something, I take the trap.
Hopefully I won't snap myfingers in this as we're doing
this.
I set it and I make sure thateverybody knows that I've been
(31:08):
offended, because I want you toknow just how upset I am with
whatever person did that.
Right?
Because I want you to be onyour guard so that whenever you
walk up to them and they saysomething to you, even if it's
kind that you find a way tobecome offended by it.
Right, it is my desire, when Iam offended, to make sure that
(31:28):
everybody else feels the exactsame way.
The world would want us tochoose offense over forgiveness.
The world wants us to chooseoffense over forgiveness.
Oftentimes, when people offendus, it offense over forgiveness.
Oftentimes, when people offendus, it catches us unaware.
Is that fair?
(31:48):
Like, I think Marcus and I aregood friends, but he won't hold
the door for me.
What the heck is going on?
Like I didn't do anything tohim, I didn't ask him to do
something that he wouldn't dofor other people, and so I
become wildly offended by it.
(32:11):
And as the quote unquote victim, I didn't see it coming.
Well, here's the problem.
I'm absorbing a victimmentality and I'm thinking that
I am the one being wrong.
So I'm going to tell everybodyelse that I have been wrong.
Now I am the one doing thewrong.
What good is that doing for anyof you?
Every time I tell you thatMarcus won't hold the door for
(32:31):
me, does it make you like Marcus?
Does it make you think, well,what if he doesn't hold the door
for me next week?
Right, you guys sleeping, wegood.
You guys just don't want to bemean to Marcus.
Here's the thing.
(32:52):
He's too big.
He scares me.
The enemy sets the trap where weleast expect it.
He sets the trap in our home,in our churches and in our
workplace.
But that's why Paul warned usto be alert in 1 Peter 5.8.
It says stay alert, watch outfor your great enemy, the devil.
He prowls around like a roaringlion looking for someone to
(33:14):
devour.
That offense is always prowling.
It is always looking to ensnareus in some way, some shape or
some form.
Let's go to Hebrews 12, 15.
(33:36):
Look after each other so thatnone of you fails to receive the
grace of God.
Watch out that no poisonousroot of bitterness grows up to
trouble you, corrupting manythat last line corrupting many.
It is our responsibility to lookout for one another.
So when I walk up to you and Isay can you believe Marcus
didn't hold the door for me.
It is your responsibility tosay I'm sure he didn't mean it.
(33:58):
I'm certain Marcus wasn't notholding the door for you because
he doesn't like you.
Marcus could not like me rightand he could have let that door
shut in my face because hedoesn't like me.
It is not your responsibilityto tell me yeah, he told me he
doesn't like you.
It is your responsibility tosay have you talked to him?
(34:18):
I can't imagine that Marcuswould have done something like
that on purpose.
He's always been so kind man.
I've asked Marcus to help mewith something and he jumps
right on.
I can't imagine that he didn'tlet you or didn't hold that door
open for you.
That is our responsibility,because we don't want any
poisonous root to grow up insideof the church family.
(34:40):
Amen.
Now here's the thing.
There are some people who willfind a ways to be offended
regardless of what you do forthem.
Those are the branches that youprune.
Right, because it tells us thatwe separate the wheat from the
chaff and we let it burn.
Right, we don't keep what isn'tusable.
I'm not trying to be mean.
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I'm just saying that there aresome people who don't wanna be a
member of the church.
They don't want to be mean.
I'm just saying that there aresome people who don't want to be
a member of the church.
They don't want to be cared for, they don't want to be liked,
they don't care about the body.
They show up to sow discord.
There are people sitting inthis room who sometimes show up
(35:23):
to events to just sow discord,sitting in this room who
sometimes show up to events tojust sow discord, to just create
chaos in the lives of thosearound them.
It's true, I've seen it, I'vewatched it happen.
I've walked into the buildingand somebody says can you
believe that so-and-so did such?
You know what I usually say Notmy circus, not my monkeys.
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I'm going to pray for thembecause that's all I can do.
I cannot change your mind.
I cannot change how you treatother people.
You need to find your centeringwith the Holy Spirit and say
Lord, I don't want to be thisway.
Right Now, there are somepeople who will send a text and
they were just like well,so-and-so did such and such, and
so I'm not doing.
Listen, don't be offended bywhat you didn't receive.
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Listen, oh Lord.
Somebody said to me one timedon't focus on what you don't
have, focus on what you do have.
It's the dumbest statement I'veever heard.
That's the dumbest statement.
You took something away from me.
How would I not focus on that,right?
And then, when the realizationsets in that I didn't actually
lose anything, that I gainedfreedom, and letting go of that,
(36:30):
thank you Jesus.
Thank you, jesus, for therealization.
The problem is is, many times wedon't move into the realization
, right, we live in the offenseand we stay in the offense so
that we can constantly bebad-mouthing or talking about or
dealing with whatever it isthat's going on.
Don't call me and ask me foradvice if you don't want it,
(36:54):
because I'm going to give it toyou and it may offend you.
It is not that I am trying tooffend your flesh.
I'm trying to convict yourspirit, right, that's the goal.
The goal is that your spiritman will have abundant life and
that your flesh man will die.
To that, the challenge is yourspirit man has to be alive,
(37:15):
right, your spirit man has to bealive.
That means you have to bewilling to walk in the spirit,
to pray in the spirit.
You have to be willing to livein the spirit and not focus on
the world.
The Bible tells us that money.
The love of money is the rootof all evil, right?
The challenge is that we needmoney to survive, amen.
So we don't ever think thatwe've become obsessed with it,
(37:37):
that we love it so much until wedon't have it.
And then we realize veryquickly how much we really love
money.
Right, it's not that I love theluxuries of life.
I like having the ability to dowhatever I wanted whenever I
want it, right?
And so I become offended when Isee other people spending money
that I think I should have.
Is it true?
(37:59):
How many of us look around theroom and go so-and-so got a new
car.
Marcus and Jenny got a new car.
Of us look around the room andgo so-and-so got a new car.
Marcus and Jenny got a new carRight.
That's exciting.
It's not new.
It's new to them.
But you know what?
They've only had one car for solong.
I'm excited.
They got a second car Right Now.
I could be offended that God hadblessed them, because God
(38:21):
hasn't blessed me in that way.
But what would be the sense inthat?
What would be the sense in that?
I want to celebrate.
I don't want to be offended.
I will tell you that if I'moffended with a person that's on
me, that's my flesh just beingstupid.
But if I'm offended with Godbecause he didn't move in my
life, that's my problem.
(38:42):
I have to focus on why am Ioffended with God?
God didn't do anything but giveme all the good things in my
life.
All he's ever done was given megood things, and when he takes
something away from me, I haveto learn to be a little more
like Job.
I have to learn to celebratethat loss and still give him
glory in all things.
I might want to die, God, ifyou would, please just let me
(39:07):
die, and God is still going toprovide all of those good and
wonderful things in my life.
Manna from heaven, right Everytime I turn around, god is doing
something in my life that Idon't understand.
I've never once had him dosomething that has ended up bad.
I was thinking, you know, Idon't know how long it's been
when I lost my job.
(39:27):
I didn't know what to do withmyself for two whole weeks.
I was completely lost andconfused, and when I finally
realized I didn't have to carrymy phone everywhere, I didn't
have to worry what happenedafter five o'clock.
I didn't have the stress that Iwas carrying before.
Thank you, jesus.
(39:47):
It was a loss in some areas ofmy life, but I gained so much
more, so much more.
Do you know how present I'vebeen able to be with my family
in all of that?
Listen, loss is gain To losethings that are not important in
your life.
I was defined by what I did,not who God had called me to be
(40:10):
right.
When people looked at me, theysaw a busy man, always had his
phone, was always doingsomething, but I wasn't doing
God's work, I was doing theworld's work.
And when I finally said I don'thave to live that way anymore, I
was able to refocus.
And way anymore.
I was able to refocus andrecenter, I was offended.
I was offended because I didn'tunderstand, and then I started
(40:36):
to contemplate well, they lostthis and they lost that.
I gained this and I gained that.
And then I thought you know,lord, it's selfish of me to only
be concerned about myself.
My loss is mine to deal with.
Lord, I want you to bless themtoo.
(40:58):
I want you to bless themabundantly.
I want to see great success.
And I want to see it, lord,because I want everyone to know
just how good you are.
This isn't about how good I amor how good I was.
This is about how good you are,lord, because if you will do it
(41:18):
for me, you will do it foranyone, and I want to tell you
that if you are sitting in yourseat today thinking that God has
done something for somebodyelse that he has never done for
me, I need you to pray about itand I need you to ask God what
changes would you have in mylife today, lord, lord, how can
(41:39):
I overlook this offense?
How can I get past this?
Lord?
I don't wanna be in this trapany longer.
Lord, I want to be free and Iwant to be alive in you, not
just alive in the world.
Amen.
And so many of us are stillliving just in the world.
(42:01):
Forgiveness is the fastest wayout of the trap in the world.
Forgiveness is the fastest wayout of the trap.
A mouse cannot free itself.
Once caught in that trap,somebody else has to release it.
Amen.
We can't free ourselves fromthe offense either.
We need God's power to do that.
(42:24):
We need to be praying about theoffense.
Lord, what is it that you wouldhave me learn from this, god?
How can I better serve you inthis moment of my life, lord,
the frustration that I feel.
Use it for something good today.
Open my eyes, heal my heart,father, but instead we want
(42:45):
wanna live in it.
You ever sulked before?
Just sat and just like I ammiserable because God won't do.
Yes, yes, I still do that tothis day.
I drive to work every morningand I think, lord, I don't know
what you're trying to do to me.
God, I know that you provideall of these things so that I
(43:10):
might have an abundance of lifein you, but, god, I don't want
to do this.
You know this isn't me God.
And you know what he says.
Every morning he tells me thesame thing.
I'm not joking when I say this.
Every morning he tells me thesame thing I get on 36, just get
out of Gen 8.
And I'm not joking when I saythis.
Every morning he tells me thesame thing I get on 36, just get
out of Gen 8,.
And I'm like Lord, I don't wantto do this.
And you know what he says to meevery time Then slow down, then
(43:35):
slow down.
I don't want to.
When I get to work, I get mywork.
This is not a joke.
I get my work done in under twohours.
I got nothing else to do forthe other six hours of the day.
I stare at a computer screenfor six hours waiting on the
phone ring, hoping somebodyneeds something from me.
I'm not joking, it is what?
Yeah, yeah, can you guys juststart calling me and just give
(43:58):
me mundane tasks?
I don't really care what theyare at this point, but God keeps
saying slow down.
What do I do when I hurry?
What do we all do when we hurry?
Get a speeding ticket, some ofus one in a warning.
(44:20):
But yeah, it does happen.
We make mistakes, right, westart to hurry and we make
mistakes, and then we can'tunderstand why we're making so
many mistakes.
It's because we cannot focus onwhat God wants us to focus on.
We want to focus on the speedat which we finish.
Let me tell you that thisfleshly life that we are living
is not a sprint, it is amarathon.
We are going to run this untilJesus calls us home.
(44:41):
Pace is everything calls ushome.
Pace is everything when we movefrom this day to the next.
I should not be complaining toGod that I have to go to work.
I should be thanking God that Iget to go to work, that he has
blessed me with a place to goand earn money so that I might
(45:01):
care for my family.
So that I might care for myfamily, that sixth child, that's
going to come right.
I have to learn to focus onwhat God wants for me and not
what I want for me.
And every day he tells me slowdown.
And every day I argue with him.
Right, and I wrestle with whatdoes slow down mean, god?
What do you want me to slowdown on?
(45:23):
And he just keeps saying itslow down, well, what, what?
And he just keeps saying itslow down, well, what, what?
And he just keeps saying itover and over again.
And eventually I'm going tofigure it out, but until then
I'm going to suffer.
But there is no greater glorythan to suffer for the kingdom
(45:44):
of God.
Paul was imprisoned and stillsang praises.
Right, and listen.
I might be in prison, I mightfeel like I'm in prison to the
world right now, but I am notbeing beaten, I am not being
shot at, I am not.
My life is better than mostlives in this world.
Amen, my life is better thanmost other people's lives in
this world and I can, and I sayin this world, because if you go
(46:08):
outside of the United States,there is poverty everywhere,
there is war, there isdestruction, there is hate,
there is deceit.
We see it here, but we don'tsee it like other places do.
We are so focused on ourselvesthat we cannot focus on the
goodness that we have and theglory that God has given to us.
So, while I feel like I'mtrapped and I feel like I'm
(46:31):
caged and I can't get throughany of these things, I realized
very, very quickly, very quickly, that that is not where God
would have me be.
It's easy to hear, it's easy tothink.
It's hard to live, amen, it ishard to live.
So today I want to challenge youwith walking out of this place
(46:56):
in a complete state offorgiveness, a complete state of
forgiveness.
I need you right now.
Can you turn on the prayermusic for me, please?
I need you to, just for asecond, think about all of the
things that have been in yourlife in the past however long
you feel like you need to thinkabout and the things that have
offended you.
And as you're thinking aboutthose things that have offended
(47:19):
you, I want you to consider whatit looks like what life looks
like for you if you're notholding on to that offense, if
you're not carrying around thehate and the concern and the
worry about the things that havehappened in your life.
Because let me tell yousomething right now, god does
not want you to carry that withyou today.
He wants us in completeforgiveness.
(47:42):
Amen, father, I thank you forforgiveness that flows through
the body of Christ today.
Lord, father, that we may, asdisciples, as followers of
Christ, as Christians.
Lord, that we may forgive oneanother sitting in this room.
Lord, that we may have beenoffended today by something, but
(48:05):
, Lord, that trap is not beingtriggered.
We will not live in offense, wewill live in the glory of God.
Lord, move in our lives,inspect our hearts.
Lord, show us what it is thatyou would have us to see that we
(48:33):
should give up the strongholdsthat are being formed in our
lives.
Allow us to break free fromthem today.
Father God, the chains that havebound us for so long, those
chains are broken today, in themighty name of Jesus.
Chains that have bound us forso long, those chains are broken
today, in the mighty name ofJesus, we are set free.
We are alive in the spirittoday, father, I will not be
(49:01):
bound and I pray that the peoplesitting in this room will be
free from bondage.
Father, bless us as we leavethis place.
Give us discerning spirits aswe leave, as we move from this
place, that we may be able totalk to people and not become
offended.
Lord, father, I thank you and Ipraise you.
(49:21):
I give you all the honor andglory in the mighty name of
Jesus, and the church says amen,love you.
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