How Will You Handle Offense by James Hughes

[Music] in the big name Wordsworth in the world and the world the same was in the beginning with God and said unto them go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved but he that believeth not shall be damned these signs shall follow them that believe in my name shall they cast out Devils they shall speak with new tongues they shall take up serpents and if they drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt them they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover you hidden corene creation [Music] what a beautiful name what a beautiful name [Music] [Music] what an incredible presence of the Lord is here this morning there's no place like God's presence there is a very gentle presence of God that's here he's here today because if he came in a bold manner you would be so afraid you wouldn't let him in he's created an incredible gentle presence here today and if you'll let all your walls down and not be afraid you can walk it way today with your lives totally changed that's what his desire was we come to his house often desiring his touch but we leave without it because we don't let him get close enough to touch but if you'll let your if you'll open the door to your heart today and let you this promise is I will come in and stuff with thee and you shall sup with me he's here today all you have to do is respond and I promise you that God can minister to every need of your life Luke chapter 17 verse 1 then said he under the disciples it is impossible but that offences will come but woe unto him through whom they come who are better for him that a millstone were hanging about his neck and he cast him to sea than that he should offend one of these little ones take heed to yourself if thy brother trespass against thee rebuke him and if he repent forgive him he trespassed against thee seven times in a day and seven times in a day turn again to thee saying I repent thou shalt forgive him the Apostle said unto the Lord increase our faith the Lord said he had faith as a grain of a mustard seed you might say unto the sycamore tree be thou plucked up by the root and weed are planted in the sea and it should obey you but which of you having a servant plowing or feeding cattle was set into him by and by when he has come from the field doing sitting down to meet he said I will not rather say unto Him make ready where will I may also suffer gird thyself and serve me till I have Drunken and afterward thou shalt eat and dream does he think that servant because he did the things that were commanded him I throw not so like why he when ye shall have done all these things which are commanded you say we are unprofitable servants we have done that which was our duty to do notice that last phrase we have done that which is our duty to do for a little while this morning I want to speak to you from the subject of how will you handle offense the Lord bless you may be seated before I begin today I I want to say what a great honor it is to be here I want to thank brother Stark for inviting me to come it has been a long journey I will reach a milestone in my life and just a matter of days that as a young person I would have never thought I would reach I heard preaching about the coming of the Lord that made me believe that I would never live to be old enough to read certain things in my life I happen to be in youth camp in 1967 when Israel took back Jerusalem and I remember every feature that preached made us to believe that by 1974 it would be over and I was convinced I would never live be married now I have six grandkids life often causes you to stop and think about things and so I have started that journey of remembering things God has done places I have been I stand in all of an incredible God that loves his people so unconditionally he doesn't love us because we perform he doesn't love us because we're good he doesn't love us because we produced good works He loves us because we're his children and his love is completely and totally unconditional God loves me today because he created me and as his child I had the privilege and access of coming into his house at any time and having needs met I know today that I probably will make some of your little uncomfortable with what I need to speak to you about today but I am so thankful that God has prepared an atmosphere of safety here that if you can perceive how safe videos and not be afraid God can help you walk into some of the most terrible conflicts of your life and walk away not controlled or manipulated by those events God is here today to heal hearts but he cannot do it unless you free him to their things God can do for us and there are things God cannot do for us God can bless my life and bring incredible blessings my way but there are things that God cannot do there are problems in my life God cannot solve for me I have to solve for myself I read in the word that Jesus says that if you bring your gift to the altar and there remember thy brother has all against you leave your gift at the altar and first be reconciled to thy brother Jesus said you are not permitted to come into my house if you know your brother has all against you if my brother has oughta gainst me that is an indication I am a predator I hurt somebody I injured somebody and if I know I have injured someone I am required by God to fix that problem before I'm permitted to worship we because we're Americans and we have all these rights and freedoms we've come to think that God ought to do it our way I'm here to tell you today that your rights as an American don't work at God's house God is not interested in your freedom of speech just because you go here where you want to go and do anything you want to do doesn't mean God approves God has a set of rules I call them house rules on how you enter his house and what you do when you're at his house there are things God will not tolerate God will not tolerate you loving somebody else more than him any man that loves not the world and doesn't love the father the love of the father is not in him if my love for my world is greater than my love for God God's just he's not going to have anything to do with there are things God expects out of your night there are duties these are not multiple choices that you pick and choose and you decide to do it if you want there are some things that if you don't do them then you take yourself away from and out from under his covering it's indicated by the Word of God that unforgiveness causes forgiven sins to reappear in Matthew chapter 18 Jesus addresses that issue and he talks about a man who has two servants one who owned ten thousand talents and other who owned 100 an area high and the one who had this incredible debt he asked him he brought him in and said pay me what you owe me and the man said I can't and so he said bind him and put him in prison the servant fell at his feet and begged and worshiped and said just give me some time and the master says to that servant you've been profitable to me I will forgive your debt I will erase it that debt will no longer be applied to your life you are forgiven that man went out and found a fellow servant who owed him a hundred and air.i and demanded payment of his death and because he could not pay it he put him in prison for $15 worth of debt his debt was at least eighty seven million dollars he was given forgiven this incredible amount of debt but someone who owned him so little he could not free when the master heard what he had done he said you go bring me that servant and they brought him back and the man who had just days our moments before said you you're a profitable servant pointed his finger at him and said you wicked an unprofitable servant i forgave you much you forgive so little buying him and put him in prison the debt that had been erased reappeared the death that had been totally forgiven now shows back up and Jesus went on to say and likewise shall your heavenly Father do unto you if you from your heart do not forgive your brother God can forgive you of every sin you have ever committed in life and God has absolutely no problem doing that matter of fact as I read that book I will address some of these things tonight there are some incredible things in there about God's forgiving us of the things we do and the things that God required priest to do to make sure that anybody who showed up to confess their sin would not walk away offended that high priest had to have his emotion and such check when someone confessed he could not act like he was offended by his words we heard a man confess of molesting a child he could not be offended when he heard a man confess a murder he could not be offended no matter what he confessed he could never allow his face to show any kind of emotion that would offend that one confessing God is never offended by your confession it doesn't matter what you confess him he is not offended by what you say but he is offended when you don't return the favor God is highly offended when he forgives you much and you can't turn people loose this passage of Scripture in Luke chapter 17 is an incredible passage what makes it more incredible is the story it follows if you just read Luke 17 you missed the entire setting that Luke 17 takes place in Luke 16 is about Lazarus and a Richmond and it tells the story of this beggar who everyday would be carried and late laid at the gate of this rich man's home and he would simply beg of this rich man just have your servants bring me those loaves of bread that you use as a napkin to clean your hands while you're eating just give me the scraps that you feed the dogs that's all I ask but the rich man was so so cold hearted and indifferent he would not even give him those pieces of bread that were going to be thrown away that were used to clean their hands as napkins and he died and he's carried away the Bible says Jesus says to Abraham's bosom and there he remains the rich man dies as well and winds up in hell one of our biggest problems in the church today is we don't believe in Hell anymore Jesus preached more about Hell than he did heaven hell is a real place you sure don't want to go there because in hell you will know and understand and perceive the presence of God because the psalmist said if I make my bed in hell thou art there the torment of Hell will be knowing the presence of God but not being able to touch it feeling what you feel but never being able to touch what you feel knowing God's am but not being every touch by God and the rich man inhale look up and saw Lazarus you will be able to see what you missed in Hell hell is a place you reward oh you will be tormented forever well acknowledged on that's where I could have been that's what I could have been and you will see everybody that makes it to the place called heaven you will see them there and desire to be but you can't go and that rich man said you just send somebody to warn my family I'm here I can't escape but I need you to go since somebody toward my family and Jesus said if they won't believe Moses and the prophets they would not believe somebody returning from hell nobody who's been to hell that could come back could ever convince anybody not to go there in order to me that's incredible why I don't know but anybody who's been there could never convince nobody else if he could return they wouldn't believe him so Jesus turns to those disciples he's just talking them he says it impossible but that offense will come that word offense is skandalon we get our word scandal from it it literally speaks of that the stick that's used in a trap to bait an animal to trap it it's facing things and people's lives and setting snares for people that when they come and you get the stick away they're trapped by whatever this isn't life it means to fin to wound intentionally Jesus prophesied to every one of us sitting here today that you permit you are going to be offended it is impossible but that offense will come it is totally unrealistic to think you're going to live like without any bumps it's totally unrealistic to believe that living for God it's some kind of paradise you get to go to and there's never another problem when you get the Holy Ghost you get a target painted on your back that probably wasn't there before because before you got it the devil knew he had you and you are no concern to him but the moment you get it you become his target you're gonna be offended what are you going to do in the fence how are you going to handle it now ass Americans think that that if somebody offends me I got a right I got right take care of this and I'm going to share some things with your next year moments that's going to ruffle your feathers you are not gonna like when I'm about to say I didn't like it when I read it and discovered what it said it it took me days to wrap my mind around what Jesus said to that group that they at the moment I discovered it I started out as a god how in the world could this be right my nature didn't like it at all maybe yours does now I'm one of those tasks or ten people that you do be wrong I got a record I got a memory like an elephant I can remind you of everything you ever did to me in life the date time place and all the details involved it doesn't seem fair to me that God is about to ask me to do what he's about to ask and the disciples had the same problem they started asking for faith just give us a little faith God and we we don't know that we handless and Jesus said he scorched them with his words he said if you just had faith as the grain of a mustard seed good say that tree go be paying to see it get up and walk to the seat and throw itself in what Jesus said you need absolutely no faith to do what I'm going to ask you to do it's not about faith don't even get faith involved it's not a faith issue it's a human issue oh god I need some help here God can say no this is not my problem because I don't act like this so God has never made a public spectacle out of anybody don't offend you God has never saved or embarrassed you or humiliated goddess has never set you up in front of somebody and made you so despicable that everybody in the crowd turn their back on your walked away and we're disgusted by who you are some of you sitting here today have done things that no brain this life even knows about you've done things that no one has a clue of what you've done but God does but God has never told somebody else about she goes down tattletale because I'm going to tell me about all your failures your mistakes the devil will tell everybody what you did God won't God will protect you God will love you God won't embarrass you oh he doesn't tolerate your mistakes but he loves you in spite of your mistakes and he knows all those mistakes God loves us unconditionally and God says to those twelve disciples he says don't be an offender don't set traps to bait people if you do it would be better that you never lived in life cause it'd be better you tied a millstone about your neck and they'd drown you in the sea and buried you and nobody even knew you existed did he says if thy brother trespass against thee what do you do rebuke him okay he didn't get forgiveness yet if thy brother trespass against thee were you doing rebuke him oh that's comforting and we literally do that somebody does you're wrong you'll go get in their face and you will tell them off you hurt me but I'm gonna tell you what I'm gonna do I am going to be the Christian here and I'm going to forgive you I quoted that scripture for years recently setting listening to a preacher preach I have a new Bible on my iPad and and it allows me to touch words and immediately see the Greek text and I don't know why I did it but I touched that word rebuke and it popped up the Greek text and when I read it I didn't hear another word that preacher said because I set there for the entire service being condemned by God because I haven't followed what he said to do what he said leave you killed the Greek word is epi Tomeo Fe is a preposition which means upon own act by before it speaks up position it means to cover over a cross or possibly against there is a preposition here that says you do these things over above around it implies how you do it you you and you you cover are you wrap somebody in it epi means you're in if you jump in the pool you're in the water so you surround them with the next word which is time a oh and that one hurts because it literally translates to estimate our fix the value of to honor to have honor in to reveal to ventilate to create the worth or value Jesus said when you get offended I'm going to give you enough to act like me and here's what I need you to do the moment that creditor hurts you it becomes your responsibility to convince him or her of how valuable they are to God boom so that's my American nature says I don't have to do that in countries that have freedom most of the clientele are close to being Germans countries without freedom those people whole lot more sensitive to other people because you have the right to tell people OFF it's caused us problems and we tried to reason with God that our behavior is acceptable and okay Jesus said when they offend you here's what you got to do you got to seize that moment as an opportunity to convince the person who's offending you that they are one of God's valuable creation and that God loves them as much as he loves me I told you I'd ruffle your feathers see there's nobody in this room even responding what I'm saying right now because it goes against nature and I had a real difficult time understanding what Jesus is saying and if you follow his other teachings it makes sense because he says if someone offends you or hurts you if you have an enemy what do you do hating no you love your enemies you pray for those who despitefully use you you you convince them for valuable I know it's difficult to try to tell rapist that he's valuable I know it's difficult to tell an adulterer he's valuable I know it's difficult to tell an adulteress she's valuable it's difficult to convince somebody that's evil are done evil acts that are valuable but Jesus says this is a duty folks this is not something that you decide you do or you don't do this decides the blessings of God in your life and decides the healing factors in your life it decides everything that comes to you from God he had to warn them about Hell before he could ever talk to them about forgiveness why because he's trying to point out to them that there is a sin worse than adultery there is a sin worst and rape there's a sin worse than it says there's a sin worse than any of these other acts that humans do that are evil the sin that's worse as being God's child and not acting like him you will go to hell as quickly listening you will go to hell as quickly for not validating and valuing offenders as you will for every other sin you could commit what Jesus is saying here folks that's what caused me such an issue I've struggled with this for almost four weeks now just trying to wrap my mind around what Jesus was saying and and in time I try to take it somewhere else God just focus me back on of what his word said it doesn't matter how much faith you think you need to have it doesn't require faith to do what he's asking it requires you turning them loose it requires you freeing them it requires you letting them go he says if he repents forgiving alpha saying now this particular word that's used here for repent repent often saying his forgiveness repent as legend oil it's the same word of acts 2:38 for repenting for sin it means he has a his mind changes he has a change of mine but his change of mind becomes wish you worship he changes his mind and then shortly after does it again and he changed his mind again and shortly after does again changes not again shortly after does again and changes not in shortly after does it again and he does it seven times in a row and on the seventh time he says I repent Jesus had forgiven it literally sends down shout we're heading is hard to swallow you have no you have no options here but but brother here's your understand the offense no you don't understand the prison you're about to walk into when you hold on to the need for revenge and I didn't understand why this was such an issue to God until I started reading the scripture and understanding what he's really saying if God is my father and it's his responsibility to keep my life safe if I don't do this I prohibit him from becoming my father I'm watching these six little kids grow up around my house and I can tell you from observing these six little innocent children of the age of ten five little females one little male that your greatest need in life is not food water clothing or shelter your greatest need life is to get even with all those people that hurt you you are born with that nature you are born where they get back spirit nobody has to teach it to you there's no instructions necessary it is in you it doesn't matter if adults handle problems they're going to retaliate when they get an opportunity regardless of punishment or what they have seen others be punished by they have stood and watched their mazi stimulate nerve endings and put them in timeout and the moment given the opportunity when mosey is not looking they retaliate every time without exception it's in your nature that it's so ingrained in us that pardon me the moment I am offended the first thing I think I need to do is somebody's got pay for this somebody hurt me hey this is not fair for what they've done them this I can't they can't get by with this somebody has to pay God says son if I treated you like you want me to treat these people you've been hell right now if I want to get even with you because you keep failing and you keep doing the same thing you've been hill son you'd even beg me to send somebody to your family and tell your family don't do this but somebody returning from hell couldn't convince humans to change their behavior for that serious somebody returning from hell could never convince you to give up that need for revenge you don't choose to do it and you got to choose to say God I free you to become my father and I put my life in your hands I turn them loose God show me something in their life that's valuable show me something about them that I can pour out to them and prove to them how valuable they are to you so that they can discover your present and they can discover your loveliness and they can discover who you are my nature says hold on my nature says good even my nature says it's not fair I hurt I have pain and God would remind me do you state your behavior does it cause me pain you think that that that when you do things that offend me that I don't hurt by your offense but when you come to me I I don't let my emotions show that I'm disgusted with you or what you've done or who you've hurt when you come to me I control my appearance so you're not offended by my presence your behavior revolts me at time but but but it doesn't keep me away to that church of laodicea he said you make me sick I want to puke but even in all of my disgust I stand at the door and knock we call ourselves Christian which means Christ's light then we better act like him because he's not going to let us share that name and use that name without having his characteristics then every characteristic he had better shorten my life and I better learn how to be gentle with people and I better learn how to be kind to people and I better learn how to check myself so when someone offends me that my nature in my flesh doesn't sure and all of a sudden begin an attack that destroys lives or hurts finds what are you gonna do in the fence it's going to happen people are going to offend you people are going to walk on your life divorce you you're going to be damaged my abandonment rejection that you think you're unlovable that that nobody could love you and people are going to tell you you're stupid or dumb or you're worthless and you can't do anything right and you're mistaken and you'll live your life feeling that if you don't turn that junk loose the junk will dominate the rest of your life and you will never be anything greater than the trash you are entertaining in your mind that's why it's a duty because the only freedom you'll ever give is when you say God take your blood go there last book Elijah races to never judge this from this out and the moment you do that you have become free and you'll walk in a Liberty you never experienced in your life and there is no Liberty that ever happens until you can walk into that arena of forgiveness and you can say God I race to see and never judge them it doesn't matter if they do it again and 30 minutes from now I will tie some more blood because your blood makes things whiter than snow and you give me the right to bind it on earth and abide it in heaven by applying blood from across to somebody else's life when you're buried in Baptism he applies blood to your life and when you rise out of that water having been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb he gives you privilege to go back to the blood and now apply to everybody that you come in contact with in life that offends you or hurt you or wounds you and you can become like him and step into his arena and truly become a child of God who has the nature of his father and you stepped into that arena and you become like him God take your blood go to his Lamb's Book of Life he raised his sin ever judged him for his act you say they're dead oh that's okay doesn't matter judgment hadn't taken place yet has it it doesn't matter how there they are or how long they have been dead judgment happens in the future and today you can set somebody free to never be judged for what they did to you even if they're dead see nothing can ever control you in life it doesn't matter if it's past present or future nothing can wreck your life if you don't let it what offended are you look for their diamond or their beauty or you look at the wound and the hurt and you're going to be consumed by the pain and you use the pain to drive a wedge between you and them by the way notice this is brother this family it's not neighbor not strangers tell my husband why see unconventional needs bill will go to help you need a family go to hell now it's what you do to each other in that house is what's going to wreck your life it's the things you say to one another things you do to one another the way you treat one of those are things that are going to send you to hell that's what you have to forgive this is God's house this is the next place you get offended you show up here and it's so amazing to me to travel penny calls and to look at people you know I stroke some unit on where you're first standing up like I can't put a static electric you got your handle that Vanderbilt generator and all the negative charges then taking out your life and every hair standing at him you've been hurt and you think it's okay live in it and regardless of what anybody says it's okay for you to stay there it's okay if you live there I read a statistic not long ago that shocked me in the statistic said that that they believe and can prove that 85% of all disease is the product of unforgiveness do you understand what I'm saying you understand when you don't turn things loose and you don't let it go you're not only affecting your spirit you're affecting your body because the moment you step into that arena your body begins to fight against what it knows it should be doing heart attack Shula blood pressure issue Sherwood Collider shows up all kinds of disease show up it's all the product of unforgiveness oh he hurt me he said some hurt my feelings well have you ever said anything hurt anybody else's feelings as your little tongue has it ever scorched anybody that you come around what I've been offended it doesn't matter if you don't start asking God at the moment of offense for a revelation about that person to let you see how valuable they are to heal I'm a pastor we cry from Touhou district two days ago when an a young man that came to his church because his behavior was offensive somebody there decided took her to take it all themselves to let that young man know that that he was a real Queen the pastor said how can they not understand that a soul is its name the Eternity is at stake and their ideas and desires and give them the right [Music] the fire of the mill and and it just ruins of birth by hugest as words of encouragement of a words of blessing the changes in life and transforms in my books at WestEd art of peace you can create peace the moment your opinion is not showing initially other than the perpetrator involved Roger you know dragon projectors and you know if you understood how about the origin would we say anything to me don't use your passive-aggressive behavior not knowing what I'm saying even you're not reminding him or her of any of their failure section [Music] everybody on Capitol Hill [Music] when I that forgives you have accepted the prize and yet all the questions like all the stood by rocks Oh [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] they will never be used [Music] a huge that you hold the accountable you will not let me [Music] I want to thank you for loving me enough the books were open that you wouldn't condone behaviour that will keep me out of hell the dead were judged out of those things thank you for loving me enough according to their conviction I see gave up the dead which were in your touch my life as if it's up the dead which would let me see those things in a minute it's not like you and death and he'll were casted you could have caught 10,000 exist a second to have removed you all of us not some written in the Book of Luke good heavens destroyed every man that day at Calvary you could have destroyed the world but instead you chose to suffer and die to show us how to pray for enemies and to love those who despitefully use us to pray blessings and the people who don't even ask for them to pray forgiveness to people who had not asked for forgiveness thank you for setting an example for me to live my life by and I want to thank you today for the incredible freedom that comes when I stepped into your world and I start acting like unique you see I start living like you and I started letting your nature because I nature and I stay in your presence long enough that I take on your glory and I become a reflection of you and when people look at me they don't see me they

Channel: The Faith Once Delivered To The Saints

Views: 1,578

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: Satan (Deity), Christianity (Religion), Monotheism (Religion), Oneness Pentecostalism (Religion), Pentecostalism (Religion), God (Deity), Jesus Christ (Deity), Holy Ghost (Deity), Holy Spirit (Deity), Religion (TV Genre), Religion (Literary Genre), The Bible (Religious Text), New Testament (Religious Text), Old Testament (Religious Text), End Times (Idea), believers baptism (religious practice), christian theology (field of study)

Id: GOpVhB3rMm0

Length: 51min 50sec (3110 seconds)

Published: Mon Sep 02 2019