Elevation with Steven Furtick - The Prison Of Offense

Episode Date: May 10, 2024

Offense is an event, but offended is a decision. Is there a way to live less offended? And can the prison of offense actually be escaped?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation Church, and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith. Hope it gives you perspective to see God is moving in your life.

Enjoy the message. And let's continue in this series, the other half. We believe great relationships still exist. We don't believe that every marriage has to be dysfunctional. Amen. We don't believe parents have to hate their kids. Kids, kids hate their parents. We believe that Christ offers us plenty of wisdom in the scripture about not only how to relate

to him, but how to relate to one another. We also believe that you can't worship Christ properly and treat people like crap. So sometimes you've got to get it right at this horizontal level before the vertical level. Last week when I left you, I taught you how to put down the magnifying glass, thank you worship team, and pick up a mirror because sometimes when you're looking to change stuff in other people, the place you need to start the most is in yourself because if you don't see yourself correctly, how in the world can you help anybody else with their own issues? just going to end up projecting your dysfunctions onto them, and then you'll be fixing things

that are really wrong with you, but trying to fix it on the platform of their life. And that won't be good. That won't help you stay married. It won't help you make friends. It won't help you raise your children or anything like that. So I want to continue along those same lines today and go back to the words of Jesus in the sermon on the Mount. I want to pick up in Matthew chapter 5, verse 21 through 26. And I know you're excited to study God's word today, and I'm excited to preach. I want to talk to you about the prison of offense. And I believe God is going to set some people free today from the prison of offense. And I ask that you pray for me as I speak that I might speak with accuracy in a way that

would liberate people. Jesus says, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, you shall not murder. This begins a series of six theological upgrades that Jesus Christ has come to reveal. He's taking some wisdom that was passed down and diluted from the law of Moses. And he is showing how his perfect wisdom is the fulfillment of what began in Moses. And he begins with this idea that long before something happens in our lives, it happened in our heart. I said long before something happens in your life, it happened in your heart.

And he says that there's this command you shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment. But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, Raqa, I don't even know what that means, but that sounds like a cush word. It's got that hard consonant in the middle. If you say that to your brother and sister, you are answer. to the court or the Sanhedron.

And anyone who says to a brother or sister, you fool, will be in danger of the fire of hell. That kind of scares me because I've said some worse things than Raqa. And you fool. And I don't want to go to hell. But watch this. He said, in the knowledge of this that what starts in the heart doesn't stay in the the heart, what starts as a thought and turns into a word, can actually create a living hell in your life. You know, you can turn your home into a living hell just by what you allow

to access your heart? You really can. You can turn a beautiful relationship into a garbage dump. In fact, when Jesus says that you'd be in danger of the fires of hell, he's not so much speaking of something abstract and theoretical. He's referring to Gahena, which The Jewish people would have been familiar with. It was like a place where they used to sacrifice humans. They would sacrifice their babies to the false God Molokin. They abandoned that practice, but they kept it as a garbage dump, and it said that the fires of Gahena never actually went out. And so there was always a smoldering fire in Gahena. And he's bringing up this place, and he's saying that anger within your heart, an unresolved conflict in your relationships, it can make your

heart a living hell. I hope you guys enjoyed the sermon last week. This one's going to be a little different this week, so I hope you're... But there's a reality to be examined here about the progression of offenses in our lives. Have you noticed that we live in an age of perpetual offense? Everybody is offended about everything all the time. No, I'm serious. I have to pray for 20 minutes before I post anything on Instagram or Facebook. Just to think about how can I possibly phrase this where I won't offend somebody? I remember a couple years ago that I put, and this is years ago, and I still remember it. I put something on Twitter that I thought was very clever because I was studying a sermon on

sanctification. And I was trying to find a way to preach about sanctification that wouldn't put the people to sleep. Because if I just stand up and say, I'm going to talk to you today about sanctification, I would lose a lot of my audience that isn't as spiritual as Brad. So I was trying to just put it in real terms, and God gave me this phrase. He said, you should live in your sermon. People don't need sermons that smell like a library.

They need sermons that smell like real life. And I was so impressed with that thought. I put it on Twitter. I said, sermons should smell less like a librarian, more like real life. And this lady tweeted me back. She was a librarian. She wanted me to know she was highly offended. She said, great, just what I needed.

My pastor taking shots at my chosen career and profession. How would you feel if you were a librarian? Well, lady, I didn't mean it like all that. Just offendable. Christians are the most offendable people on the planet, which is kind of ironic, considering that our whole religion revolves around a relationship with somebody that dropped every offense

that we had committed against him. That's kind of weird to me. I'm serious, man. You have to be really careful. People just get offended. I know I'm easily offended. God's working with me on this. He spoke to me a while back.

He said, the reason it's so hard for you to stay happy is because it's so easy for you to get offended. If you want to make it easier to stay happy, make it harder for you to get offended. So I'm working on this becoming unoffendable project. And I want to invite you in on it because Jesus says that this is a lot of you. offense. However, it started with your brother and sister. If you entertain it, it creates a living hell. It spirals out of control. Things can spin out of control so quick you don't even know what's happening. And the enemy's agenda in your life is destruction. Thief

comes to kill, steal, and destroy. That's John chapter 10, verse 10, note takers. And his agenda is destruction. Every good and perfect gift comes from above. God's giver, enemies, taker, He wants to destroy every good thing that God puts in your life. That's his agenda. His strategy is division. Jesus shared with us in Matthew 1225 that a house divided against itself can't stand. Abraham Lincoln didn't say that. Jesus said it.

Jesus said that if the enemy wants to destroy your house, the first thing he must do to destroy your house is to divide your house. Are there any newly married couples in church today? Newly married? Why are you clapping for them? I haven't proven anything yet. Is that pity applause? Newly married couples.

Just one more time. I see, I'm saying like maybe like you're newly married. How new? A year that counts. Would you come on the stage? Do you mind? I don't want to embarrass you in any way. Is your wife here?

She's not here? You got to sit down. And you would have been great too. Anybody here with your wife that's newly married and you guys actually made it to church together today? I'm just kidding. I'm sure she's serving any kiss. Would you do two years?

Two years? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, come on if you don't mind. Come on, let's get my hand. I'm not just going to preach about marriage coach, Dave, but I think if I use a marriage illustration apply to every relationship, keep clapping while they come. Come on, guys. You can clap. Hi, your name?

Stephanie. And Dan. Good to have you guys. I think I was going to stand up. Yeah, yeah, come on all the way off. That'll be great. Let me show you what the devil wants to do in your relationship, because God said that the two shall become one. This is exactly what the enemy wants.

So every battle you're going to fight, every argument about the dishes, really it's a, it's the enemy's agenda is destruction. And so his strategy is division. And the enemy, I don't know if you believe in the devil or not, but the enemy is definitely not going to be happy until he sees you like this. And what I just showed you, the Bible says that marriage is even a picture of Christ in the church. So what he wants to do to them, he wants to do to this whole church. And what he wants to do to them, he wants to do to you and your teenager, what he wants to to do them.

And so his agenda is destruction. He comes to kill, still and destroy. His strategy is division. And here's his tactic, and this is the part I want to preach about. And I appreciate you helping me, because you guys can help me preach this sermon today. His tactic is offense. Satan has an offensive strategy. Because if he walked up to you, I don't know how I forgot your name already.

Tell me one more time. Dan. Dan the man. Come on, it's Dan the man, everybody. If the devil were not subtle, Dan wouldn't stand for his schemes, but the enemy is very strategic. And Jesus is giving us, really in Matthew chapter 5, kind of a playbook of how the enemy wants to work in your relationship. And I know Dan's not going to let him, but he's going to try.

Now, he won't make an announcement, hey, I'm coming to kill and steal and destroy. You know, because right now you just spend all those money on the flowers and the dresses and all the groomsmen and all that stuff. And I know it's been a couple of years, and that's good because what you see in those first couple of years is you see that the enemy would usually start in a small way. Because if he announced I've come to divide. Dan the man wouldn't stand for that if the devil came in to divide. Come on, stick your chest out, Dan. Dan ain't having it. Dan ain't having it.

But if the enemy can just, what he'll do, he'll just use the littlest offense. And what Jesus is doing in Matthew chapter 5, he's showing us how to deal with the offense so we can keep the devil on defense. How many want to keep the devil on defense in your life and in your family? Come on, church. So you guys, if you sit back down, I'll bring back in a minute, but I don't want you to have up here the whole time. But just stay ready, okay?

All right, we're going to come back to here. Last week when I was preaching, I don't know if you remembered how many of you were here last week makes them know if the person next to you isn't making noise, touch them and say, you really missed it, you really missed it. I ended remember talking about you got this plank in your eye and you're so concerned about the little speck in my eye. Meanwhile while you're walking around, you big old plank, just whacking them all. the head, just causing distraction, division, and all this stuff.

It's the contrast between the small things and the big things. There are times that a big offense, I mean, there's not a week that goes by. Holly, would you agree that somebody doesn't call me for counsel that's going through a marriage situation, like a divorce, a separation? Buck is this true? It's not a week that goes by. It would be another pastor or maybe a situation in the church. I get to talking to them about what happened, and if you can go back far enough, you find

that every plank is made up of a lot of specs. And to me, that's the heart of Jesus' teaching. I really didn't read you the whole passage, because I want to break it down and show you how it happens. He said, it could be something as small as a word. Now, write this down. The closer the relationship, the greater the opportunity. And that goes both ways.

The closer the relationship, the greater the opportunity for intimacy. However, the closer the relationship, the greater the opportunity for offense. That's why nobody can make you really mad like somebody that you really love. Really. Nobody can hurt you like somebody that you've given your heart to. Nobody. And I've asked the question a lot of times of people, and really in my own mind, I've seen people that were so loyal to each other.

And if you would ask me 10 years ago, who is most likely to ever have kind of an enemy relationship or who's most likely to be a divorce or who's most likely to not be speaking to each other. And some of those very same people, just in the last year of my life, Ethan, I've watched some things happen that surprised me. Every time you see it, you ask the question, how did we get here? You see how big Dan was smiling over Stephanie? Now they're going to have a great marriage and all of that, and it's going to be awesome,

But you ask the question, how could somebody who had that same hope, that same smile, barely stand to be in the room with somebody two kids later? And it happens, and there's all kinds of ways that it happens. I know there's compatibility, and I know that it's not always something that you can fix, because it takes one to forgive, but it takes two to be reconciled. I guess I want you to know that my goal today isn't to so much do an autopsy of anybody's mistakes, but just to show you something that happens. It always happens one offense at a time. Yes, there are betrayals, and yes, there's adultery, and yes, there's abuse. I'm not really talking

about those big things so much today as I am what Jesus was talking about. He said, if you get something in your heart against your brother and sister and then you nurse it and rehearse it long enough, it will literally create a smoldering garbage dump of fire in the very very relationship that was once a garden of potential and love. How does this happen? It happens one offense at a time. How did we get here where we're smiling like everything is okay? But deep down in my heart, you know, when we come to church, man, nobody sees this stuff.

When we come to church, watch this. Jesus says in verse 23, he says, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift for. there in front of the altar and get it right with the person that it's not right with before you sing a song or pray a prayer to try to cover up the fact that your relationships are under attack. We were singing today in church this song, this beautiful worship song, man. You should have seen the people singing and people had their hands lifted.

Mercy is falling, falling. was coming out of some people's mouths, but if you could see what's going on in their heart. Jesus, it's possible for you to be doing something on an outward level and at an inward level. You're full of anger and resentment. Mercy is falling, falling, except on my husband. He's a jerk. If you could hear what was happening in the hearts of people, how do we get here? Jesus says it starts small, but one offense at a time, the devil wants to tear dense

heart from Stephanie's heart. You know, God takes the two and makes them one, the enemy takes the one and makes them two. How does he do it? One offense at a time. And God knows I need this message, man, because I'm not a perfect husband. I give 97 percent of the credit for the happiness that exists in my marriage to my wife. Three percent is me. I'm pretty proud of that three.

But if you put me in the wrong situation, I can get offended so quick, just like on Twitter. There was one woman that went off on me, and I still remember what she said. years later. You know, thousands of people have said nice things to me. But I'm quick to find the offense. We can train ourselves to find the offense and then just overreact, man. It starts off as rocka, you fool. Next thing you know, I'm in living hell. And watch how bad it gets. Jesus said it can get so bad if you don't deal with it. If you don't learn how to deal with this, Dan, if you don't deal with the little things, little foxes. He says, if you don't settle matters quickly, verse 25, with your adversary who is taking you to court.

Now, that confused me, because in verse 21, we were talking about your brother or sister, right? We're talking about somebody you're close to. In verse 25, we're talking about your adversary. I always assume these are two different people. What if it's not? What if the same person who you called brother and sister in 21 is the same person who will be your enemy in 25 if you don't learn how to deal with offense? It happens.

You ever thought about that? That the person who, he says, the person who doesn't deal with the offense, and it's interesting how he says it, if you don't settle matters quickly. That's so powerful. Settle matters quickly with your adversary who's taken you to court. Do what you can while you are still together on the way. Or your adversary may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer. And you may be thrown into prison.

Truly, I tell you, you'll knock it out until you paid the last penny, the prison of offense. And it all started with Rocca. It all started with a small offense. It all started in the parking lot. I was backing out, and this guy honking his horn at me in his pickup truck just a couple months ago. I took the boys to see that football movie, the Christian football movie. Okay. Wood-wood-lock. Woodlawn. We went to saw wood lawn. Made a deep impression on me.

We're leaving the movie. And this guy, he's hollering at me because his wife wants my parking spot. The problem with his wife wanting my parking spot is she has pulled up so close on my parking spot, I can't get out to give it to her. And now that's somehow my fault to this guy in the pickup truck. So he says to me or offers a course of action to me, hey, get out of her way. She's waiting on your spot. And I'm like, and then I figure out that this is his wife because I'm putting it all together. And I rolled down my window and I said something back to him.

It wasn't any profanity or anything like that, but it was a Raka type thing that I said. Something about his wife's driving skills or something like that. something insinuate, then he wants to get out of his truck and he's not bigger than me. So now I got to get out of my maxima because I got to because my boys are watching this and I need to be a good example that if a man gets out of his pickup truck and challenges you, it doesn't matter whether you have an elevation sticker on your car. You got to handle it. Why are you clapping for me?

I'm so bewildered. And I said, what are we going to do? Just a question. Just a question. It's just a question. And I don't know what happened next. I think, to this day, I still don't know, because his tone changed dramatically. I don't think he was intimidated by me.

I think he realized who I was. I think so, because it was right here in town. And so I think he put the sticker and the old thing together because all of a sudden he turned real spiritual. He was like, well, God bless you, man. We're just all trying to get where we're trying to go. And I was like, yeah, we are. And around this time, Graham comes out the car. He's eight.

He comes over and stands by me. And he said, you got your boys and I got my wife. I said, it's cool, man. We've got over here. He got back in the car. And I said, when Graham got in the car, I said, Graham, I said, what were you going to do? And Graham said, I was going to kick him in the shin if I had to. And Elijah, my older son, he speaks up and says, that.

A better question is, what were you going to do? I said, whatever needed to be done, son. And he said, well, think about it. Let's say you'll get in a fight in the parking lot of the movie theater. Not only are the news people going to put you on the news, but we might not even ever see you again. We're in the back of the car and maybe they leave us and then maybe you end up in prison and maybe we don't have a dad.

Did you think about that? And I said, that's right, son. I'm giving you an example without not to handle a situation. We went and ate some Mexican food. And here's why I told you that story. When you are in these moments, I'm talking about not with somebody in parking lot, talking about with somebody you love. You're not thinking through the fact that this is going to end up with me and you

and an attorney sitting down talking about dividing our assets. That's not how division happens. Because the enemy's agenda is destruction, his strategy is division, but his tactic is those little offenses. Come on, Dan and Stephanie, come back. I just, I need your help because bring up my garden. Come on, it's Dan and Stephanie, everybody. We're going to get them to 20.

We're going to get you to 20. I so appreciate you help. I'm going to send you guys to your favorite restaurant. What's your favorite restaurant, Stephanie? What's her favorite restaurant? I was going to say Bakerstale, but it's P.F. Chang's. I love it, too. So here's a garden. This represents the love of a relationship and all the potential of a relationship.

And this, of course, represents the offenses that are going to come into your relationship. Now, you don't have to be married to get a whole lot out of what I'm saying right now. This will apply to anybody in your life. who is important to you and show you exactly what the enemy will try to do. Like for instance, I don't know if Stephanie's a good cook or not. Oh, yeah. Yeah, good. And I was talking to my mom this morning.

No, my mom lives here in Charlotte, and she reminded me of this story. This is hilarious. It just shows how offenses can come. Because the question isn't, are offenses going to come into your relationship? That's not the question. They're going to come. They're going to come. The question is, what are you going to do with them?

That's what determines whether or not you keep a strong relationship with God, with others, with yourself. So my mom was telling me they were at my father's mom's house, so my grandmother, my dad's mom's house for Thanksgiving, and she made some stuffing. Do you know that? Yeah. And my grandmother made some stuffing. And the way I understood the story, my dad was sitting there eating his mom's stuffing.

And while he's eating the stuffing, he says, trying to give a compliment to his mom. He's like, mom, nobody makes stuffing like you. I mean, other people try to make stuffing, but nobody can make it like you. And my mom is thinking, while he's saying, nobody makes stuffing like you, my, my mom is thinking, My mom is thinking, and nobody is going to make stuffing for you except your mom, so you better invite your mom to be your cook if nobody makes stuffing like her. And my mom said, I didn't make that man stuffing on Thanksgiving for the next six years. And I said, can I tell the church that story? It's a good illustration.

She said, yes, as long as you clarify that I really do make better stuffing than your grandmother. I got you holding that because he says this stuff. He says these unintentional things because men are stupid. We just say stuff and we don't realize what we're saying. And we just say stuff. And maybe Dan hasn't done it yet. To me, he looks like an intelligent man. But he's going to say something and it will be unintentional in his mind.

He's just saying it. He's just saying something. He just says stuff. Or sometimes it's not what they say. It's what they don't do. It's an unmet expectation. That is the breeding ground of offenses and relationships. Unmet expectations.

And let me tell you the breeding ground of unmet expectations, unexpressed expectations. So you've got to learn how to talk to people. Otherwise, like, let's say growing up in Stephanie's house, birthdays were a big deal. But maybe at Dan's house, they didn't make a big deal about birthdays. Because, hey, what did you do? You didn't do anything on your birthday. You were just born. So maybe on birthdays at Dan's house, nobody celebrates the fact that you just came out.

into the world like it was some great achievement. But Stephanie wakes up and her mom used to make her pancakes on her birthday and her dad had a special song that he was saying I don't know I'm making this stuff up I never met Stephanie and Dan before I was making a scenario and so Dan wakes up on the birthday and he's going to take her out to P.F Chang's that night because that's her favorite place she said but now it's morning time and it's like seven and there's no pancakes and there's no special song and there's no thing and so now all of a sudden it's the first birthday they spend as a married couple and he wakes up and gives her a little kiss and goes to work and leaves her with enough fence. And you're like, well, that's stupid. She shouldn't get so offended over that. Well, you get offended over some stuff, too, some little things. And you hold it. And it won't just be you offending her. Let's say maybe, let's say you're working really hard. This used to happen in me and Holly's marriage. This is an example I did not ask for permission to share. When I discovered that her recreational preference for shopping. And yeah, yeah, so she said me too. So you come home on Saturday, Hollywood come home on Saturday, and she would be energized, and she would have bags all over her arms.

But to me, those bags didn't look like shopping bags. Those bags looked like grenades to be launched into our financial picture. Here I am trying to work. She's walking in with all these bags, looking at high. And then she has the nerve to say, don't worry, because I got it on. And this is what the devil wants, all right? Now Dan is trying to fall asleep on Saturday night. And again, I'm just making this up, but she handed you this offense.

She wasn't trying to offend you. She was just shopping. It was just her thing. But Dan is working. And doesn't she see how hard I'm working? And how does she expect us to get ahead financially? And like the last thing she needs is another pair of shoes. And the enemy's like, yeah, yeah, that's good, Dan.

That's good. She doesn't care about you. She doesn't respect you. She doesn't appreciate all that you're doing to provide for her. He's working against you. It's just a little offense. Meanwhile, Stephanie is still stuck on her birthday. It was four months ago.

She's still mad about the pancakes. Come here, Stephanie. And she's over here, and she's still nursing that thing about the birthday. And see, every time she thinks about it, it's a little deeper. She'll drive it down in there with every thought. and reliving it and thinking about what he said and what she did and what they didn't say, they didn't pay attention to me, and I'll appreciate me, and it drives it down deeper. And marriage is going to give you, because it's the most intimate relationship.

And the more intimate the relationship, the more infinite, the potential for offense. And so you're going to have like a million offenses, little offenses, And if you don't learn how to deal with them, because sometimes the thing that you liked about her when you were dating will drive you crazy now that you have to wake up with it every day. No offense to Stephanie, I'm sure she's wonderful. You're like, oh, why would you say that about her? It's true about everybody. Here's how the country breacher said it. He said, before marriage, opposites attract.

After marriage, opposites attack. Amen. That's how the country preacher said it. And so I know it's kind of heavy, that's how offenses are, but it's not all at once. It's just one at a time. So like, let's say that before marriage you liked her because she is mysterious and quiet, and that draws you to her. But then in marriage, it can go this way to where it was really attractive that she was

quiet and mysterious when you were dating her, but now in marriage she won't ever talk. And it's like, no, but yeah, but no. But just for example. And it's like, why won't you tell me what's on your mind? But that's why you liked her. And before you married him, he was the life of the party. And he walked in and he just talked and lit up the room. And now why won't he ever shut up?

Dan will not shut up. Shut up, Dan. And so what actually was part of building the foundation of the relationship, now it's offense, and it happens a million different ways. And the enemy gives you all kinds of opportunities. And you don't realize what's happening, because it's just one little conversation after another, you know? It's just dressing on Thanksgiving.

You know, big thing. It's just me trying to tell Holly how to drive, and her saying, well, then why don't you drive if you're such a good driver? And we have a lot of dysfunction in our relationship over what happens in the car, because I can't find my way places, and she can't drive. So she has a great sense of direction, but horrible driving skills. I'm a great driver with no sense of direction. So the other night, we're driving, coming from a movie, as a matter of fact, not the Christian

football movie, but we were coming back, and she almost got us kill. And I was mad because to me she wasn't paying attention. And we talked about that later, and she was like, well, you know, you know, she was just, you know, If you want to be in control of how the car works, there's a different seat you can sit in. That's the biggest problem you have. No, it's not the biggest problem we have. It's just the one I'm going to tell you about.

It's none of your business with the problem here. But see, offense by offense, if we don't learn what to do about this, the enemy would love just one conversation after another. You don't make a decision to walk away from a relationship that you love. You don't see them becoming your enemy in Matthew 5, 25. It's just one unacknowledged effort after another. And you start thinking, well, I'm the only one who ever takes out the trash around here. I guess I'll do it again, like always.

No, it's good. I got it. ...to get up with the kid again in the middle of the night. No, it's fine. I know. You gotta work. And now what started is just in small offense. Now what God joined together.

together, is separated because of offense. And now the crazy thing is, Jesus said, if you let it get to this point, if you live your relational life on the basis of, well, I'm not apologizing first. I apologize first last time. If you don't learn how to deal with these things, you find yourself in prison. It's not them that you imprison. It's you. Hey, Dan.

Why don't we talk anymore? Where did the love go? Dan, we haven't been to P.F. Chang's in three years, Dan. You built offense. The enemy's agenda is destruction, his strategy is division, and his tactic is offense. Thankfully, God has given us another way to deal with offense. If only we could find an example. of somebody who had every right to be offended, of somebody who had every right to hold it against

us, of somebody who had every right to stand in a distance, but opened his arms and said, this is the way of relationship. The Lord gave me a real specific word for somebody who needs reconciliation in your relationship. It's very simple what they have to do. If they're going to stay like they started, if we're going to get back to where we were, we're going to have to learn. Watch this. This is very profound.

This deep. You're going to miss it. This is what you're going to have to learn. You've got to learn to drop it. You've got to learn to drop it. And I don't mean suppress it. I don't mean you don't deal with things after they happen. But after you've had the conversation, Dan, I like pancakes on my birthday, then drop it.

Touch somebody say, drop it. I mean, the moment the offense, because you can't always control what's handed to you, but you can control what you do with this. So what are you going to do with the offense? Come on, Dan. You can't choose anybody else's actions. The enemy wants you to drive it down deep. He wants you to think about it and miss all the reasons that the person has worked their way into your life

and miss all the things they've done for you, and he wants to drive it. But God says, drop it. I believe that there are some things that we need to drop tonight. In fact, Jesus said this is so important that if you are in church at the altar offering a gift and a sacrifice, but the primary relationships in your life are dysfunctional and need reconciliation, you can't even properly connect with God unless you drop it. Do it again, Dan. Every time they do it, I want you to reinforce it.

One, two, three, drop them. What are you going to do when they don't acknowledge you, when they don't notice you? What are you going to do? What are you going to do when they are too busy to show you the love and affection, but you know that they're trying as hard as they can too? You've got to. I'm telling you, being married, being in a close relationship is about not how quickly you can get offended, but how quickly you can get over it.

And I want everyone to stand at every location because I want to pray for some people. Thank you guys. Would you give them some love? That was amazing. They're walking off hand in hand. I asked the Lord to help me in this message in a way he said, you need to pray for people for not what they're going to experience while they're in the church, but what's going to happen when they leave because you can offer a gift at the altar and feel pretty good about it,

but what's happening back at home can be a living hell. When I read those words of Jesus that he said, that when you don't deal with the offenses and when you don't drop the offenses, when you allow it to become resentment in your life, because hey, sometimes reconciliation isn't possible. I mean, sometimes the person is dead that you've held the offense again. Sometimes the person isn't willing. But release? Release is always available.

Release starts in your heart. Smead said that forgiveness is setting a prisoner free and finding out the prisoner was you. So I believe God wants to release some people today. you from some things you've been holding on to, some things that have been keeping you at a distance, some things that have been keeping you divided. And that in these closing moments of our time together today, there are some things by the power of the cross of Jesus Christ that God is going to bring to mind some offenses that you've been building in some very important relationships and that God is going to begin to demolish.

your excuses and break down your pride and your walls today, and that we're going to receive hundreds of testimonies from the word that went forth today of a process of reconciliation and healing that began between husbands and wives, between parents and children, between friends that haven't spoken. God says, drop it. Man, I feel the spirit of Snoop coming on me right now, And I want to say drop it like as hot. Come on. You got to drop it while you can. He said, do it while you're still on the way, or this won't end well with you.

Uncheck resentment leads to regret. Unbelievable regret. And you don't want that for your life. So with everyone standing today, I want to ask you a question. If God dropped the charges against you, what offense is there in the universe that you can't let go of? It's not just flowing to me. The forgiveness of God flows through me.

And because I'm forgiven, I can forgive. Before I pray, I'm not saying that you tolerate abuse. I'm not saying any of that. Here's what I'm saying. Offense is an event. is a decision. Again, offense is an event. They hurt me. Offense is an event. We need to work through this. But to live offended as a believer in Jesus Christ and to stay that way and to live in that place denies the very nature of the salvation that you claim to have received.

So we want to make some decisions today. If you feel comfortable, would you just lift your hands as a sign of release? Nobody's looking at you. Don't even worry about the crowd right now. Father, in this moment, we come before you, and we just release, release. First of all, we acknowledge our own part. Sometimes we are so quick to see the ways we've been offended and we miss the ways that we've offended.

So we open our hearts to you and we thank you for grace and we thank you for mercy and we lift our hands in your presence because we want to be free. We lift our hands in your presence because we don't want to withhold anything and we want to be right and so we offer our gift on the altar, but God we ask would you do a work in us? Some of us have some stuff happening back at home and in our hearts and in our relationships that is killing our joy and killing our peace. So we've come into your presence today not just to sing a song or to hear a sermon, but to be changed at our core to be changed. And we've got some things we need to drop. With your hands

still lifted in the air, I want you to ask God in your heart, is there anything I need to drop? Is there something I need to drop? Is it a decision I need to make in my heart to never bring it up again? Is it a conversation I need to have to work through it? What do I need to drop? Keep your hands lifted. You feel how the blood is flowing out of it. your fingers in your hands. That's what it feels like when you hold on to stuff, when you hold on to offenses, when you hold on to what happened years ago. But if you would drop it, drop it. Do you feel that? You feel that come all over your body when you finally decided to drop it? I declare that God is going to set some captives free today, that you are no longer going to be

divided, dying behind offenses, isolated behind offenses. And in the name of Jesus, I declare release to the prisoners. I pray that this message would stay with you, that it would haunt you, that you would see Dan and Stephanie dropping those planks on the stage until you come out from behind every offense that has kept you in prison. I want to pray before I walk off stage for people who need a right relationship with God. Would you bow your head and close your eyes again? Because there is someone here who doesn't have that relationship right.

When God calls your name and when He speaks to your heart, it's not a good thing to wait around. You want to get right now. You want to receive grace now. And with your heads bowed and eyes closed at every campus, I would love to be. lead you in a prayer to let you know that everything that needs to be done for you to be a child of God has already been done. Everything that needs to be done for you to be forgiven has already been done. There's nothing you need to earn.

There's nothing you need to do. God is the one who changes lives. The day if you'll reach out for His grace, you will receive it. So with your heads bowed and your eyes closed, we're going to pray as a church family out loud for those who are coming to God or coming back to God. Let's pray together, Church, Heavenly Father. I confess that I'm a sinner and I need a Savior. And today I declare that Jesus Christ is my Savior and my Lord.

I believe that Jesus Christ died to forgive my sin, rose to give me life. And right now, right now, I receive this new life. This is my new beginning. I am a follower of Christ. I will never be the same. With your heads bowed and eyes close on the count of three, if you just prayed that prayer, shoot your hand in the air. Don't be ashamed.

Let's celebrate. One, two, three. Shoot them up right now, right now, right now. God bless you, God bless you on every location. Come on church, come on church. Come on, celebrate these people. Celebrate these new beginnings. Thank you for joining us.

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