Live Unoffendable - John Bevere

well river valley church i love that all of our campuses are watching this here because we have john bevere with us here this weekend and for those of you that don't know i met him at a conference years ago and just walked up and said is there any chance you could preach at our church he didn't know me from anyone else and just he said well i don't know i'm booked up he called a couple weeks later said i have an opening a cancellation i have an opening just it never happens i said well take it it doesn't matter what day it is we'll take it from that day he preached at our church we have become friends we consider he and his wife to be some of the closest friends that becca and i have in ministry we love their kids they love our kids uh we go to their uh events every year i it's not uncommon for me to be texting and praying and going back and forth with john on different theological things and asking his insight and discernment on things for our church and uh i'm just thrilled that he is here with us this weekend preaching the word and at all of our campuses and at apple valley especially can we welcome john bevere as he comes and preaches this weekend at river valley church we love you your family your i love family so much and so honored to be here i love you goody hello everybody my goodness everybody stay standing uncle john's here okay everybody knows uncle john's got to pray before he preaches everybody stay standing hey i just want to say that i am so excited about being here i absolutely love this church you're like my family in the north that's what i like to call you and um you know pastor rob and pastor becca are two of the most dear people to lisa and i and one thing he did not mention is he is part of our international board and let me tell you i want to thank you so much for allowing him to serve on our board because when i saw years ago how wise this man is i mean things happen when you're out around rob ketterling how many of you know that i mean just the thing about the 500 missionaries in egypt just paying for the guy's grave i mean you guys know the story right just things happen he has the gift of faith and i love that about him i i just really believe that that is something very significant to really impact people's lives and he has used it so well you need to thank god you have such amazing leaders and pastor rob and pastor becca it's it's so good to be here with all of you everybody in the campuses shakobe maple grove we got city we got mini minitrista or whatever it is i could keep going going i'm trying i'm trying i'm trying but anyway uh you guys know i hope you know my heart i just love you all so very very much but pastor rob and bastard becca were just with us two weeks ago we did our 12th annual messenger cup over 4 million dollars came in to build the kingdom of god and ace i am just so in awe of the of the size of of what you did and and i want to emphasize this is not a john and lisa thing this is not a messenger thing this is a kingdom of god thing it takes all of us together pastor robin cap becca caught that vision and i'm telling you because of this literally tens of millions of people's our lives are going to be saved transformed impacted we we saw 20 vehicles going into nations like madagascar and miramar and all these different nations around the world that need transportation to get the discipleship resources i just want to tell you what you have done now we have given over 50 million physical resources to pastors and leaders into um let me let me get this right i want to make sure it's right in 228 nations of the world and 118 languages let me tell you in 31 length 34 languages 34 languages we and i say we are the only provider of discipleship resource materials in those languages and that reaches a potential of a half a billion people in 71 languages 71 languages we we all of us together we are the leading provider of discipleship resource materials that's a billion point five a billion and a half people that are now being impacted with the kingdom of god we're doing what jesus said together right we're going into all the world and making disciples of all nations and i love doing it with my brothers and sisters from minnesota amen i love it hallelujah hey i just want to share with you a lot of you we've been walking together for years and years i want to share with you how that the family's doing great we just had our sixth grandchild all right a couple weeks ago let me show you a picture we just had alec got married so all four of our sons are now married where are they oh there they are they're up here guys so there there that was just taken a couple months ago and you can see our grandchildren right there now the little little one over there in jessica's arms she was born last year her name is scarlet now look at those eyes she's looking right into the depths of your soul do you see that okay and then this is azariah he was just born a couple weeks ago and finally somebody looks italian and our family i told lisa i said gosh if you only had more italian blood in you all our kids would look so italian right y'all y'all she would love that if she was here you know she got her italian citizenship last year she is now officially she's got a italian passport yikes i better be careful anyway hey i am so excited about what the lord's put in my heart to share with you this weekend it's actually a message that i wrote a book on almost 30 years ago and i feel that today it is more of a prophetic word for right now than it was 30 years ago and i really believe this is what the holy spirit wants me to speak to you this weekend so i don't i don't want this to just be a message i want to see your life change forever how many of you believe that god can change your life forever in one service let me see yours well then put up the other hand put up the other hand because the bible says you don't have because you don't ask amen so heavenly father we thank you so very much first and foremost for the privilege of being your children you could have made the slaves and that would have been so much better than where we were but you called us sons and daughters of god in christ jesus tonight today i'm asking you lord god that you would literally invade our sanctuaries all over the cities of minneapolis and saint paul that you would do what you love to do the most and that has revealed jesus in a way like we've never ever known him before and as you do this may we go from glory to glory and from strength to strength and from faith to faith for i decree this very day your kingdom has come your will shall be done on this earth as it is in heaven and for this we give you all the glory and the honor and the praise and the thanksgiving and it's in jesus mighty wonderful majestic holy awesome magnificent name we pray and everybody that agrees shouts come on give him praise in advance for what he's going to do amen amen you can be seated i'm going to open up tonight with uh a question that the disciples asked jesus in matthew chapter 24. they were at the temple and they said lord look at these beautiful buildings what are going to be some of the things that are going to happen right before you come back how many of you believe jesus is soon to return let me see your hands and so what they're asking him is actually relevant to our day because i believe we are so close to the second coming of jesus one of the signs that jesus points out that i want to really zero in on tonight is found in verse 10 11 12 and 13 of matthew 24 so let's look at this jesus said and then many everybody say many all right the greek word there are many literally means majority i want you to think this through okay as we read this and then many will be offended everybody say offended will betray one another and will hate one another now this is a progression an offended person will eventually betray and if a betrayal is not dealt with it will ultimately lead to hatred you say john where do you get that from proverbs chapter 18 verse 19 says this a brother or sister offended is harder to win than a strong city now in the days of solomon who wrote the book of proverbs what did strong cities have around them walls what were the walls built for protection those walls would keep out those people that you believe were against you and allow in those people that you believed were for you well this is exactly what an offended person does they begin to build walls now they're not physical walls they're actually walls that are developed in our soul the new testament doesn't call them walls the new testament calls them strongholds second corinthians chapter 10 verses 3 4 and 5 says for though we walk in the flesh we do not war according to the flesh how many of you know we are in a battleground not a playground he goes on to say for the weapons of our warfare are not fleshly or carnal but they are mighty in god to the pulling down of strongholds now what are those strongholds he goes on to list them casting down every imagination now a better rendition of that would be reasoning casting down every reasoning everybody point your finger to your head and say reasoning and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of god point your finger to your head and say knowledge and bringing every thought say thought and bringing every thought captive to the obedience of christ so what are these strongholds or walls there are thought processes or reasonings that we develop deep within our soul that are contrary to the word of god now how many of you know god's nature is to love matter of fact he doesn't have love he is love he's the very essence of it and the love of god always seeks to give to give to give somebody who has been hurt now says i don't want to get hurt again so they begin to build deep reasonings protection mechanisms in their thoughts that protect them so their focus shifts from give give give to protect protect protect now that makes us a perfect candidate for betrayal now a lot of christians do not understand what betrayal is when they hear the word betrayal they go to the extreme case benedict arnold judas a betrayal is simply this when i seek my benefit or my protection at the expense of when i have a relationship with so if i'm offended i'm hurt and now my thoughts are protect if push comes to shove i will protect myself even at the expense of somebody i have a relationship with a betrayal is an ultimate abandonment of a relationship and if it is not dealt with it will ultimately lead into hatred now a lot of people don't understand hatred they associate hatred with anger harsh feelings no there can be no anger at all the bible says that absalom hated ammon therefore he neither spoke good nor evil to him the word hate in the greek literally means this loveless it is a vacuum void of any kind of love so there can be no emotions attached to it so what jesus is saying in these last days is that the majority are going to be offended the offenses are going to lead to betrayals and the betrayals are going to lead to hatred and then he says in verse 11 he said and then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many everybody say many who are the many that these false prophets are going to deceive the many that are offended now that tells me something right there that jesus is showing us that an offended heart is the breeding ground of deception now there's only one problem with deception and that is this it's deceiving the person who is deceived believes with all their heart they're right when in reality they're wrong that's scary now jesus calls these false prophets wolves in sheep's clothing notice he does not call them wolves in shepherd's clothing everybody is always looking for the false prophet behind the pulpit in 40 years of ministry i've found there are more wolves in the seats than there are in the pulpits and wolves do something they travel in packs and they have a goal and that is to isolate the sheep from the herd if they can isolate the sheep from the herd the sheep is meat for their table well proverbs 18 verse 1 says a brother who seeks his own desire rages against all wise judgment or excuse me let me say it again proverbs 18 1 says a brother who isolates himself seeks his own desire and rages against all wise judgment so in other words you can be a part of a big family a big church but the isolation occurs right here in the soul are you getting this and then he goes on to say in verse 10 and he says because lawlessness now this is all a progression because lawlessness will abound now what does the word lawless mean lawless is the greek word anomia which simply means this you're a law unto yourself in other words you are not fully submitted to the authority of god's word boy it's quiet in this presbyterian church right now when you enter into an offense and you seek to protect and you begin to develop these thoughts that are contrary to the word of god you have now entered into lawless thinking and because lawlessness will abound the love now look at this the love of many will grow cold now how many of you believe lawlessness abounds in our society let me see your show of hands without a doubt however this is what's really scary jesus isn't talking about society he's talking about the church how do you know that john because the greek word that he uses there for love is the greek word agape now there are four greek words translated love there's eros there's storge there's phileo and there's agape three of them the world has and the church has but there is one love called agape it is the love of god it is the love that is shed about broad in a believer's heart when they are born again that is the love that jesus said the world cannot receive it jesus doesn't use the other three words he uses agape he says and because lawlessness will abound the agape of many are going to grow cold and then he confirms it by saying in verse 11 or verse 13 excuse me and because but he who endures to the end shall be saved now you don't look at an unbeliever and say man if you endure the race you're going to be saved he hadn't even started the race jesus is clearly talking to believers now in all my years of traveling i have discovered something and ministering on this the person that can hurt you the deepest is the person that is closest to you why is that you know david said it like this it wasn't an enemy that reproached me i could bear that but it was you my brother my equal my companion we went to the house of god together we heard the word of god together you're the one that's lifted your heel against me what is david saying he said i expect the world to treat me wrong but you see our expectation on the world let's say this is ground zero our expectation in the world is zero our expectation on christians are this high our expectation on our pastor is about this high our expectation on our spouse is about this high so if the world does that much for us they've been that much of a blessing if christians only do that much for us they've offended me by that much if my pastor's only done that much he's offended me by that much so we set ourselves up for an offense by our expectations you ever heard somebody say well the world treats me better than most christians it's because your expectations are zero in the world good preaching john amen thank you so much still with me now if you if you you can do something you can do this you could put all offended christians in two categories did you know that category number one those who have been genuinely genuinely mistreated category number two those who think they've been mistreated now i'm not dealing with category number two category number two has inaccurate information or they have accurate information and they have discerned inaccurately i don't want to deal with that i'm going to deal with category number one those who've been genuinely mistreated now i want to ask you a question i want you to think this through if you've been genuinely mistreated do you have the right to be offended yes you have the right to do anything you have the right to go to hell and burn in a lake of fire and be eaten by worms forever and god will protect your right if that's what you want to do so yes you have the right to be offended but if you want to walk in the presence of god if you want to walk in the blessing of god you do not have the right to be offended that's a good place to clap the rest of you missed the spot right there seriously i i'm telling you i'm so passionate about this right now because i'm so fed up with seeing people being taken down in life because of offense i'm mad at it i'm not mad at any of you i'm mad at offense i'm really mad at it that's why i actually called pastor robinson can i come and preach it at the church and he said i'd love it because i am so fed up with what's going on today because the world and the church don't look any much different to me today because the church is getting so easily offended today just like the world gets so easily offended and i'm like we need help we need the word of god to set us free amen [Applause] listen man i was raised catholic don't make me nervous and go quiet on me okay all right so anyway where was i okay do you have the right to be offended no not if you want to walk with god oh wait a minute john you just don't know what they did to me oh come on how many of you have ever heard somebody say that you just don't know what they did to me let me see a show of hands come on do i pray for the rest of you for lying later now you just don't know what they did to me now how many of you have ever said that don't put your hands up you know what i say to that person when they say that to me you don't know what they did to me i said no you don't know what you did to jesus an offended christian is a person that has forgotten what they've been forgiven of do i need to say it again an offended believer is someone who had never even realized or had has forgotten what they have been forgiven of what we need to realize is that when adam sinned against god god the father could have looked at god the son and said you know what they chose the devil over us they committed high treason against let them all go to hell and burn with the devil forever let's go over and create another universe and create somebody who really loves us and he would have been perfectly just because you know what our just reward was every single one of us was to burn in a lake of fire forever and ever and ever that's what we deserved you know what you know what the big problem is we've categorized sins in the church we have the big ones adultery murder witchcraft uh uh stealing then we have what we call weaknesses strife unforgiveness gossip gossip you know what proverbs 6 says these six things the lord hates and the seventh is an abomination do you know adultery is not in that list i am not justifying adultery the bible says you practice it you'll not inherit the kingdom of god i'm not talking but but you know what i find interesting you know what the seventh one on that list is that god says an abomination those are so discord among brothers gossip this is what i want to say treat gossip the way you treat adultery you'll probably get free but if you see it as a weakness oh it's getting quieter in here treat unforgiveness the way you treat murder and you'll probably be free you know what's amazing i can show you three times more scriptures in the gospels of jesus saying that a person that refuses to forgive will not inherit the kingdom of god than i can of murder three times you prayed every day in the lord's prayer forgive us for our trespasses the way we've forgiven those who have trespassed against us do you want god to forgive you the way you've forgiven those people that have hurt you well the truth is that's the way you will be forgiven because god has placed his love in our heart and we have the ability to forgive just like jesus did when he hung on the cross and said forgive them they don't know what they're doing isn't that good news i'm preaching myself happy right now pastor rob i'm so excited right now i can hardly stand it listen this is not a bunch of theory for me okay i um i never found it hard to forgive people when i was growing up and then when i got saved my college fraternity when i was 19 years old at purdue university i found it quite easy because the love of god had been shed abroad in my heart until until there was a man that i highly highly highly highly respected he was probably more dear to me than well he he was closer to me and my own father my own natural father and he did some things to me over a course of a year that were devastating it was so obvious people were coming up to me after after a year and going are you okay i said yeah i'm fine are you going to go to him no i'm not going to go to him i'm going on with the call of god in life my life i'm i'm cool well let me let me tell you the truth i was too proud to admit that i was offended because i saw being offended as a sign of weakness so that's the way i stayed and now we go month after month after month and you know what's happening month after month after month the love of god the fire of god in my heart is getting colder and colder and colder by the day it's kind of like the frog in the kettle but in reverse and i remember in that time period ministry became more of an occupation to me i'm cynical i'm a little jaded and you know what's really interesting is people were still getting saved people were still getting healed but i remember i kept getting colder and colder i was becoming numb i remember one day lisa and i are driving down the highway and we got this worship set on and she's got tears pouring down her eyes and she looks over me and i got that stone cold look that i'd had on my face for months she goes john what's wrong i said nothing i'm meditating you worship i'm meditating it's cool i mean it was horrible i was so proud i could admit i was offended finally after months and months and months of this i one day i walked out i got so numb so so cynical one day i walked out my back patio and i looked up and i said lord am i offended and i heard this on the inside of me yes no i'm not kidding it's the loudest i have ever heard the voice of god in my life to this day because god my father wanted me free and i couldn't get free until i could admit it and he wanted to help me understand son you are offended and i remember i just dropped my hands i said god i don't know what to do i i have fasted i've prayed i have confessed i have forgiven by faith i don't know what else to do i remember i shortly after that it was at the end of a fast and i go to a funeral and this man is conducting the funeral and i'm in the back because i got there a little bit late and i remember about three fourths of the way through the funeral the wells broke open and i mean i cried for the first time in years and tears are coming down and i'm weeping and i said i forgive you i forgive you i forgive you i forgive you i forgive you and i remember i left i left that funeral really quick because i didn't want anybody to see how red my eyes were and i thought okay it's great everything's good went home told my wife i said it's over i'm so glad i remember i saw him two weeks later i thought how can he be so blessed he did this to me he did this to me he did this to me he did this to that person he did this to that person and i remember leaving that place driving home thinking how can he be so blessed how can he and i was thinking about it i talked about it over at lunch i thought about it all afternoon talked about it at dinner went to bed thinking about it got up the next morning thinking about took a shower thinking about then i got scared i thought oh wait a minute i wept two weeks ago why am i still so tormented see the bible says that you're turned over to the tormentors why am i still so tormented well there was a principle i didn't understand paul makes in acts 24 16. look at this principle he said and herein do i exercise i need acts 24 16. yes and here and do i exercise everybody shout exercise myself to have always a conscience void of offense toward god and toward men where's jason jason's going to help me where are you at jason somebody said or the body oh yeah you're perfect come on up here run up here run up here really quick come on run my time's going away my time's going away okay you jason right would you would you stand there now i can walk up to jason and do that did you like that jason thank you for being honest but you're okay but now jason i could do this yeah okay yeah yeah yeah okay and if i do that what am i gonna do i'm gonna wound you i'm gonna wound you all right now listen to me carefully turn it face me there's some offenses that hit us we don't like it but when it's over it's like water off a duck's back he's fine but there's other in fences that wound us and wounds don't heal overnight and if wounds aren't properly treated they never heal are we still friends am i okay am i safe after service yes okay okay thanks buddy god bless all right [Music] yeah give him a hand so you know uh like 30 years ago i'm doing this conference in hawaii right and it was the second last day of the conference and i decided to play tourists and i remember i they there was this rock wall was a great made out of rocks and i wanted to get a picture so i went to climb the rock wall and when i put all my weight on my right leg my knee goes and i went right now my wife and the assistant pastor are laughing at me in the car and when i jump down she goes he can't walk so they rush out of the car they grab me and they walk me back to the car and for the next six weeks i'm in braces and crutches i'm flying on airplanes in a wheelchair right so the next day in hawaii the assistant pastor's wife had a physical therapist that had been working on her his name was alex he owned his own gym he was about the size of jason over here okay and he's got me in the middle of his gym on a mat and he's really working on my knee and really making it hurt and he says this he's kind of a cocky guy he says to me says hey hey hey i want you to look at everybody in this gym look around look around look at him i'm on the mat going okay i'm looking at him he goes none of them would have gotten injured climbing that wall yesterday but you did i said okay wise guy why did i get injured and none of them would he said because you're out of shape you don't exercise and i started thinking about it there are christians they're not praying in the spirit they're not praying the word of god they're not reading the word of god and you know what they're out of shape in their spirit and you want to know why i picked wanna know why i picked jason because if i would have hit some of you as hard as i hit him you would have been in the hospital cause i'm strong okay but he is in shape you know my next door neighbor was a wwf wrestler's knee well i don't want to say his name anyway uh his wife got saved his kids got saved he's a total different story but anyway um he said john you got to come watch my videos because we'd play basketball and i drive into him he's like six foot four away 240 pounds four percent body pack and i drive into him with a basketball and i go flying back five feet you know we'd play hockey he just skate over and touch me and i'd go flying five feet but anyway so i'm i'm watching his videos and i thought it was all fake and then i'm like oh my gosh somebody took a guitar and busted it over his head somebody took a chair and broke it over his back this 400 pound sumo wrestler jumped up off the ropes right on top of him i don't know if that happened to anybody in this building we'd be in the hospital right not him he just kept getting up and wrestling and i thought about there's some people in the spirit that are like that wwf wrestler they're like jason because the bible says great peace of them who love your word and nothing can offend them that's pastor rob okay you got it you got it that's why i want him on my board because he's unoffendable he's so solid in the word of god are you with me that's the way all of us should be just like jesus are you with me okay and so so i remember i i get on the plane i fly to indonesia it was a little it was hilarious i mean my wife and my kids all my kids they get off the plane with the luggage and here comes the man of god in the wheelchair and uh they get another physical therapist that works on on my knee in indonesia and the physical therapy therapist in indonesia goes mr bevere you want to know how to get your knee healed i said yes yes yes he said exercise every day exercise and then i started thinking about yeah man when when soccer players or football players blow out their knee what do they have to do physical therapy right physical therapy you follow me it's focus exercise to get that knee back to where it was before it got injured right so the lord spoke to me he said son that's what you need to do exercise i said how do i exercise he said read matthew 5. i love it when the lord does this so i start in verse 1 and there's nothing until i get to the 44th verse lord couldn't even told me verse 44. but anyway jesus said but i tell you pray for anyone who mistreats you now what's amazing to me is in the gospels jesus never once says pray for your mother you can laugh it's okay you won't get hurt you never said pray for your mother are you are you telling me not to pray for my mom no never pray for your mom every day okay but i think it's interesting the only person he really points out that you're supposed to pray for the person that mistreats you and another version says abuses you so i got it from the table i said i gotta exercise lord bless him in jesus name next day oh by the way yeah lord bless him in jesus name next day if you can bless him now i did that for about five weeks and that's like lifting a petty penny on a leg curl machine okay so i got no better no better and so finally i'm on another three day fast and the holy spirit said read read psalm 35 so go to psalm 35 have no idea what i'm gonna read again i get nothing makes sense until i get to 11th first the 11th verse says watch this evil people pay me back evil for good i said that's me i did him good he paid me back evil and he said and david said i sink in despair now look at this look at keep going but when they were sick i dressed in mourning i deprived myself of food i prayed my head bowed low as if he was my friend or my brother the holy spirit spoke to me he said you pray for that man what you want me to do in your life or your family i got up from the table that day and everything i wanted from god i started praying for him he said lord i pray that he would know you the best the man can know you i pray that he please you the best of man can please you i praise he walk as closely with you as a man can walk with you i pray lord god that you would bless his family did you protect his family that lord you'd surround him with wise counselors that you would bring finances for his ministry from unexpected quarters everything everything i wanted i started praying for him can i tell you something it was so painful you ever hear somebody say pray what feels good oh that's ridiculous pray truth you pray truth okay let me tell you something anybody i've ever gone through physical therapy i did with my shoulder look i don't hit girls but i wanted to hit my physical therapist and she was a female it is so painful i mean when those guys are doing those like currently it's like ha ha and i knew it and i thought this is exercise remember what paul said in here and do i exercise to keep myself free from offense with god man so i start praying everything well you know what happened after two weeks and started getting a little more passionate start getting a little more passionate i started getting i started getting more passion i started looking forward to praying for him for these things right what's happening i'm getting healed and after about five weeks i remember one day i'm out in this deserted place and i screamed this guy's name out and i said so and so i love you and when i said i love you it's like junk came out of me i thought whoa whoa i'm healed i'm healed i'm healed i remember i was so excited i went to my wife a couple weeks later i saw him again another little ant inside i thought now what my wife who is so prophetic i can't get away with anything with her okay and i like it she sits me down and she goes honey you need to go to him i said i jumped off the couch i said no no no i don't need to go to him everything's good i'm healed she said okay so i go out and pray i said lord do i need to go to him lord said yes now you know when jesus said if your brother sends you go to him can i show you the way most people take that what's your name john come here john john i just want you to know you did this and you did this and you did this but i forgive you yeah that's good now what are they doing they're using that scripture to vomit all over you to tell you how badly you treated me but i forgive you oh yeah right that's not what jesus had in his mind why did jesus say go to your brother reconciliation reconciliation it's a big difference between forgiveness and reconciliation this is where most people get hung up they lump the two together they're different how do we understand the difference look at the cross when jesus hung on the cross what did he say father forgive them they don't know what they're doing he wasn't just forgiving the soldiers the sanhedrin he was forgiven the next generation the next generation the next thing right now you and me because my sins put him there he forgave me before i ever said i'm sorry do you know how many christians look at me and say do you know how many times i've had this happen i'll forgive them when they apologize what if jesus would have waited for you to apologize before he forgave you but when were we reconciled back to him when we repented and said i'm sorry you were right i was wrong please forgive me and what led us to repentance the goodness and kindness of god so this is what the lord led me to do through my wife i bought this guy a gift and i'm talking a real gift not a christmas re-gift okay and i made an appointment i brought the gift to him he opened it up and i'll never forget it it's because this is a nice gift he just looked at me like this his mouth's open his eyes are like this and i took advantage right then i said hey i i want to ask your forgiveness that's why i came here today he's like what i want to ask your forgiveness he's like what are you talking about i said i've been really critical of you i've been really judgmental of you and i'm so wrong that's all i said he goes no you have not been critical i said yes i have well it opened him up and he shared with me and you know after an hour we came together like this and we have been like this ever since i looked at my wife a couple days later i said you know what when i first met that man he could do no no wrong in my eyes and i said i loved him i said that's immature love i said then i saw his faults his faults were directed at me i didn't love him anymore that's immature love i said now i still see his fault but i actually love him with the insane same intensity of when i first met him that's got to be the love of god because the love of god covers the multitude of sins my life ministry everything change from that weekend forward i've never been the same never jesus makes the statement and i'm closing it with this luke 17 verse 1 he said it is impossible that offenses will not come what is jesus saying if you breathe air you will have the opportunity to be offended what you do with the offense will determine your future either you become stronger or you become bitter but you'll never be the same the greek word that he uses there for offenses in luke 17 1 is actually an ancient greek word that was originally used to describe the bait stick of a trap that hunters would use to catch small animals and birds in the hunter would place the bait on the scandal on the animal would take it and it would capture him or kill him thereby an offense is the bait of satan to pull you the believer into his captivity i know this for certain because paul makes the statement in second timothy chapter 2 that those who are in opposition with one another those who are offended with one another are taken captive of satan to do satan's will look at that a man i really respect saw the armies of hell that are going to march against the church in the final days and he said as the army got closer in the vision he noticed the demons were riding not on horses they were riding on the backs of offended christians they believed they were doing god's will but in reality they were offended and they were taken captive of satan to do satan's will even though they were believers do you have the right to be offended you have the right to do anything but if you want to walk with god you do not have the right to be offended in every campus i want everybody here i want you to bow your heads now i want you to stay with me campuses because i wanna i wanna i wanna carry this right into giving people an opportunity to forgive i don't need to labor this point you know with your heads bound your eyes closed i want you to hear this i was in a conference one night getting ready to speak it was jammed out conference friday night before they had me up they had a young they had a man young man up 35 years he was 36 years old and he was a construction worker he had a beard and tears her tears are coming down his eyes he didn't look like the crying type he looked like the guy that could break me in too if he wanted to and i thought this is interesting he does not look like the crying type why is he crying he said i've been a christian 30 all my life i've see he said i've been a christian he said but my mother gave me away when i was six months old he said i have held unforgiveness against her ever since and he said all my life the presence of god i've watched people get touched by the presence of god and he said i would miss it he said i have never felt the presence of god in 36 years even though i've been a believer he said then somebody gave me the book the bait of satan a couple weeks ago he said i read the entire book in two days and i realized i held unforgiveness against my mother i called her and talked to her for the second time second time in 36 years said mom i've held unforgiveness against you for giving me away 36 years ago she started crying she said i've hated myself for 36 years for giving you away she forgave herself he forgave her and this is where the story gets good now the tears are dropping off his beard onto his shirt and he said now the wall between me and god is gone he said i've been crying like this in every service since every time i pray since again do you have the right to be offended yeah you have the right to do anything but if you want to walk with god you do not have the right so if you're here tonight and you'd say john i didn't even realize i was offended until you started sharing and i i realized that two wrongs don't make a right what was done to me was wrong but my sin of offense is not justified because i was done wrong and i'm willing to take responsibility right now and repent of my sin of offense if that's you i want you to stand to your feet right now in every campus right here yes just stand your feet quickly quickly people are standing up all over this building this is beautiful probably 40 of the building is standing to its feet i'm going to give you a few more minutes please don't think about the person sitting next to you right now it's time to just look deep in your own heart just stand up quickly if that's you i want to pray with you yes ma'am you are worth the wait yes sir you're worth the wait yes sir thank you yes sir yes sir yes ma'am thank you there's more that are standing anyone else yes please don't let pride keep you from getting free yes ma'am yes ma'am yes sir the way pride kept me from getting free for so many months yes sir yes ma'am i'm so proud of this church you love truth yes ma'am thank you for standing yes sir thank you for standing more people are standing i'm i'm still going to wait just a minute i know what's happening in every campus i'm telling you there's going to be such freedom in this in these houses today yes sir thank you you were worth the wait man i'll tell you it's happening right now i want you to just lift up your hands in the air all of you just lift up your hands this is a safe place this is a safe environment this is an outward sign of what you're doing inside you're saying lord i'm submitting to your truth because i know you know what's best for me i want you to say this i want you to close your eyes everybody close your eyes with your hands in the air if you could see the face of jesus right now he's ain't he's not angry he's not disgusted he's he's actually matter of fact i see him he's got a huge smile on his face and his eyes are dancing with joy his presence is here he's already here i want you to speak to him and say dear jesus dear heavenly father say it out loud dear heavenly father please forgive me i've sinned against you i was hurt i was done wrong and i realized tonight two wrongs don't make a right so i repent of my sin of unforgiveness i ask you to cleanse me with the blood of jesus and now father from my heart i choose to forgive i want you to whisper their names if it's your mom your dad an ex a pastor i want you to whisper them right now say i forgive you in the presence of god i forgive you that's it his presence is here i say father say it out loud father lay not the sin to their charge say it out loud lay not the sin to their charge the way jesus forgave me from the cross i now forgive them they owe me nothing thank you father in jesus name amen i want to say this my time is up we have a free app and on that app we have the course called the bait of satan and the book the beta satan is out in the lobby we have the course on the app i'm going to put up a qr code you can get the app and you can download it and it costs nothing it's free and it's in 118 languages so enjoy i love you guys

Channel: River Valley Church

Views: 192,093

Keywords: River Valley Church

Id: oNCy1Bt3-8Y

Length: 47min 17sec (2837 seconds)

Published: Mon Aug 22 2022