John Bevere - July 2005

Good morning.

Good morning.

Are you blessed this morning?

Amen.

So good to be back here.

I was here last June, and then uh your pastor's taking a little time away with the family.

I applaud you for uh doing that and just continue to come and be in the church and be a member of the church and support it.

God bless you, it's great.

Now, Pastor Robert last year asked me, he said, Man, when you come back, would you teach on the Bait of Satan?

I said, I'd be delighted to.

Because, you know, I wrote the book 11 years ago, but I've never felt more urgent about this message for the body of Christ than today, even more so than 11 years ago.

So it's really kind of a fun twist for me today because uh I just got done with my uh 12th manuscript Friday and sent it to Time Warner.

And so it's the longest book I've ever written.

It's called Driven by Eternity, which deals with the eternal.

And uh so it's it's fun to shift gears back and preach this most important message.

So I'd like you to open your Bibles with me because I want to get right into the Word of God.

We've got much to share today.

To uh Matthew, the 24th chapter, Matthew 24, and that's where we're gonna begin.

Now, while you're turning your Bibles there, let me ask you this.

How many of you believe that we are living in the last days, that Jesus is soon to return?

Honestly, put up your hands high.

Put them up high.

All right, that's good.

Uh Jesus said you'd know the season, and you'd have to be spiritually dense not to understand that it is the season of his return.

And so the apostles asked Jesus here, they say, hey, uh, what are going to be some of the things that are going to happen right before you come back?

And Jesus begins to list certain events and conditions that will exist just before he returns.

And so the days he's speaking about are the days we're living in, right?

And I want to focus in on this one particular situation, and that's verse 10.

Jesus said, and then many, now everybody in here say many.

Now the word many there in the Greek line means a vast, vast group.

And some of the Greek translations will actually tell you it means a majority, so over 50%.

And then many.

So we're talking about a massive, massive situation here.

And then many will be offended.

Everybody say offended.

Say it real loud, offended.

Alright?

Many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another.

Verse 11, then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many.

Everybody say many.

And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many, everybody say many, will grow cold, but he who endures to the end shall be saved.

Now look at verse 10 again.

And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another.

Now, this is a progression.

An offended person will eventually betray.

And a betrayal, if it is not dealt with, will ultimately lead to hatred.

You say, now, John, where do you get that from?

Proverbs 18, 19 says, A brother offended is harder to win than a strong city.

Now, what did strong cities in the days of Solomon who wrote the book of Proverbs have around them?

Everybody say it.

Walls.

Walls.

What were the walls built for?

Come on, everybody.

Protection.

They would keep out those people that you thought were against you and allow in those people you thought were for you.

This is exactly what happens to a person when they pick up an offense.

They begin to build walls.

Now, those walls are not physical, they're walls built in their minds, and the New Testament calls them strongholds.

2 Corinthians the 10th chapter, the third, fourth, and fifth verse says this: Though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh.

Everybody say, war.

This is not a playground, it's a battleground.

Can you say amen?

We do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not fleshly or carnal, but mighty in God to the pulling down of strongholds.

Now, what are those strongholds?

Some people think, oh, they're demons in the atmosphere.

No, Paul, listen.

He said, casting down every imagination in a better rendition is reasoning.

Point to your head and say reasoning.

And every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, point to your head and say, knowledge.

And bringing every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.

Thereby say thought.

Alright?

So Paul is talking about what?

He's talking about thought processes or reasonings that are contrary to the will of God.

Now, how many of you, or the word of God?

Now, how many of you know God's word is rooted in his nature?

And what is his nature?

His nature is love.

The Bible says he is love.

He doesn't have love, he is love.

That is an amazing revelation when you think about it, right?

Now, the love of God always seeks to give, give, give.

Follow me?

But an offended person is a person who begins to build thought processes, walls, to protect, protect, protect.

So the focus becomes inward, not outward.

Are you following me?

Now I've been hurt, I don't want to get hurt again.

I set up reasoning mechanisms, thought processes that will protect me from getting hurt again.

So they no longer have the listen, the willingness to turn the other cheek.

Now when Jesus tells us to turn the other cheek, he's not saying be a masochist.

He is literally saying this: You will take the risk of being hurt again because you are so compelled to love, to give, give, give.

Are you following me?

But the offended person is like, I want to protect, protect, protect.

Now, if push comes to shove, you will protect or benefit yourself at the expense of one you have a relationship with.

See, a lot of people don't understand the word betrayal.

When they hear, because he said many will be offended, will betray one another.

When they hear the word betrayal, you know who they think of?

They think of Judas or Benedict Arnold.

And that's the extreme case of a betrayal.

But what a true betrayal is this: a betrayal is when I seek my benefit or my protection at one I have a relationship with.

So if you're offended, your thought mechanisms now are protect.

So if push comes to shove, like I said, you will seek to protect yourself at the expense of one you have a relationship with.

And a betrayal is the ultimate abandonment of a relationship.

And if it's not dealt with, it will ultimately lead to one place: hatred.

And John says, you hate your brother, you're a murderer.

And don't even think you got eternal life abiding in you.

I don't care how many times you said Jesus Christ is Lord.

You following me?

Are you with me?

And a lot of people really misunderstand hatred.

Hatred means to love less, it means the absence of love.

A lot of people think hatred has to deal with anger towards somebody.

No, that's not, that's anger.

Are you following me?

Absalom hated his brother.

Therefore, the Bible says he spoke neither good nor evil to them.

He had love less.

Are you seeing this?

Good preaching.

Amen.

Now look at the next verse.

Verse 11.

He goes on to say, and because law, excuse me.

Then, verse 11, then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many.

Who are the many they're going to deceive?

The many that are offended.

So you know what this tells me?

An offended heart is the breeding ground of deception.

Now there's only one problem with deception, and that's this.

It's deceiving.

The person who's deceived believes all his heart, he's right when in reality he's wrong.

Are you following me?

Now, false prophets are called by Jesus what in the New Testament?

What does Jesus call false prophets?

Wolves in sheep's clothing, not shepherds' clothing.

Everybody's always looking for the false prophet behind the pulpit.

I got news for you.

I've learned in years of ministry.

There are more false prophets in the congregation in the pews rather than behind the pulpits, although they can be there.

Are you following me?

Now, what is the goal of the wolf?

The wolves' goal, they travel in packs, by the way, is to isolate the sheep from the herd.

There's protection for the sheep in the herd.

Are you getting this?

Now, the isolation that Proverbs talks about occurs in the soul.

So you can be a member of a huge church, be in a big family, but still be isolated, because of why?

The offenses occur here.

So that means you're meat for the enemy's table.

All he wants to do is get you isolated.

Good preaching.

Amen.

Now look at the next verse.

I'm helping you, I'm waking you up this morning.

All right, watch this now.

Verse 12.

And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.

Everybody say lawlessness.

The Greek word lawlessness is the Greek word anomia, which means you are law unto yourself.

It means you're no longer submitted completely unto the law of God, which is the love.

The royal law of God is to love, according to James.

You are now a law unto yourself because of your thought process and reasoning process, contrary to the will of God.

You're a law unto yourself.

And Jesus said, because lawlessness will abound, lawlessness results from offended people.

Are you seeing this?

It's your protection mechanism.

A lot of times offended people will not submit to authority because authority were the ones that hurt them.

You're a law unto yourself.

You set up the mechanism.

Jesus said, the love of many are going to grow cold.

Everybody say, many.

Now, how many of you would agree?

Listen to me carefully.

How many of you would agree that love, or excuse me, that lawlessness is running rampant in our society?

Put up your hands.

Come on, put them.

Alright, can I tell you this?

He's not talking about society.

He's talking about the church.

You say, how do you know that?

Do you see the word love?

The love of many will grow cold?

There are several words translated love in the New Testament, several Greek words.

One of the main Greek words that's translated love is phileo.

Phileo is the affectionate love.

That is the love where if you're nice to me, I'll be nice to you.

Gang members have that.

You understand what I'm talking about?

But the agape love is the love of God that Jesus shed is born, it said is shed abroad in a born-again believer's heart.

That is the love that Jesus says the world cannot receive.

Right?

The only ones who possess agape are those who have been genuinely born again.

The Greek word that he uses there is not phila, it's agape.

Because lawlessness will abound, the agape of many is going to grow cold.

He's talking about right inside the church, folks.

And that's why he says, but he who endures to the end shall be saved.

You do not say to a sinner, if you endure to the end, you'll be saved.

He hadn't started the race yet.

Okay?

You say that to a believer.

Are you following me?

Now, I have literally seen these words of Jesus fulfilled.

Because I have preached in conferences in large churches all over the world, in every continent.

And every conference I preach at, at least 50% of the people responding saying they're offended.

And most of them didn't even think they were until the Word of God exposed it right in the service.

I've literally seen these words fulfilled.

Now, of all these people that I've met that have been offended, I find there's two major categories of people that are offended in the church.

Category number one, those who have been genuinely mistreated.

Category number two, those who think they have been mistreated.

Now, I don't want to deal with category two.

Those are people that have inaccurate information or they have accurate information and have discerned incorrectly.

Don't want to deal with them.

I want to deal with the people who have been genuinely mistreated.

Now let me say this first of all.

You know who the person who can hurt you the most is?

Is the person who's closest to you.

That's right.

Maybe I'll say that again.

The person who can hurt you the most is the person who's closest to you.

David said it wasn't an enemy that reproached me.

Then I could have born that.

He said it was you, my brother, my equal.

We walked into the house of God.

We heard the word of God together.

You're the one who's lifted your heel against me.

Why is it that the person who's closest to us can hurt us the easiest?

It's because our expectations are higher on them.

See, we have expectations on our wives and our husbands that are about here.

And then we have expectations on our pastors that are about here.

We have expectations on our Christian friends that are about here.

So if somebody only does this much for you, they've offended you this much.

This is why many times when I run up against offended believers in the church, you know what they say to me?

They say, Well, you know the world treats me better than most Christians.

Want to know why?

Our expectation on the world is zero.

So when the world does that much for us, they've been that much of a blessing.

If our husband only did that much, he's been that much of an offense.

Good preaching.

Now you're getting it.

Now, what I usually hear people say is this.

Well, John, you just don't know what they did to me.

How many of you have ever heard that?

Let me see your hands.

Do I pray for the rest of you for lying right now?

How many of you have said that?

Don't raise your hand.

Okay.

You don't know what they did to me.

No, you don't know what you did to Jesus.

An offended person who refuses to forgive is a person that has forgotten what they've been forgiven of.

Let me say it again.

A person who refuses to forgive in the church is a person who's forgotten or never realized what they were forgiven of.

You're in Matthew 24.

Go over to Matthew 18.

Matthew the 18th chapter.

In Matthew 18, Peter comes up to Jesus in verse 21.

And we read here, Then Peter came to Jesus and said to him, Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him?

Up to seven times?

Now you've got to understand, Peter thinks he's being magnanimous here.

Okay?

Now the disciples are always rallying for who's going to be the greatest, right?

And Peter's two steps up on all of them.

Because he walked on the water and he said, You are the Christ, right?

So Peter says, I'm going to go up three strokes.

Alright?

Okay?

And so he says, alright.

He goes, he goes, he thinks just as big as he can think.

I mean, he stretches it and goes, Alright, Jesus.

And my brother sins me against me, does me wrong seven times, and I forgive him.

That's enough, right?

And Peter is expecting Jesus to go, Whoa, dude, you got it, man.

You got it.

You're blessed.

But Jesus doesn't say that.

Look at verse 22.

Look at this.

Then Jesus said to him, I do not say up to you up to seven times, but up to 70 times seven.

That's 490 times.

And in Luke's gospel, he says in a day.

Now, for you to sin against me 490 times in one day, you'd have to do it once every three minutes, provided you and I don't go to sleep.

Now, I don't know the best of them that can do that.

The best of sinners can't do that good.

You understand?

So what is Jesus saying?

He's saying your forgiveness is to be inexhaustible, just like your heavenly fathers.

And so he says, let me tell you a parable to make sure you get this.

And he tells a parable about a king who's got a kingdom.

Alright?

And he says, this certain king calls his servants to settle accounts, and one was brought to him owed him 10,000 talents.

Now, 10,000 talents, I'm not going to go through the whole thing, but that is equivalent today to five billion dollars U.S.

Okay?

So this servant owes this king five billion U.S.

Now, how many of you would call that an unpayable debt?

Can you put your hands up, please?

If you can't put your hand up, I'm sure Pastor Robert would like to talk to you about the building program.

Five billion dollars is unpayable debt, right?

So immediately we see Jesus comparing this king to God the Father.

Because how many of you know we were forgiven of the unpayable debt?

The Bible says Jesus took the handwriting of ordinance that was against us, the note was against us, and he blotted it out, wiped it out with this cross, right?

Preach myself happy again.

Are you getting this?

Right?

We were forgiven of the unpayable debt.

Glory be to God forevermore.

Hallelujah.

I have to just have a glory fit for a minute here.

Okay.

Alright.

So this fellow servant gets forgiven of this unpayable debt.

And he goes out and he finds a fellow servant who owes him a hundred denarii.

Now, a hundred denarii is simply this: a third of a year's salary.

Now, let's just assume you make$45,000 a year.

And somebody takes from you$15,000.

Is that one of those little offenses?

No.

I didn't hear you.

No, man.

I mean, one third of a year's salary?

Hey, thanks.

I got a real good listener over here.

I like him.

So Jesus is illustrating that this guy really did his fellow brother dirty.

I mean, this is a bad offense.

Okay?

But in comparison,$15,000 isn't a drop in the bucket compared to$5 billion.

Do you know what Jesus is saying?

The very worst thing you can do against me, the very worst, is like comparing$15,000 to$5 billion.

That's what you did to Jesus.

Good preaching.

So the king brings the servant to him and he says, You wicked servant.

And isn't it interesting?

He says, You wicked servant.

He doesn't say you wicked he, then wicked servant, because the guy's been forgiven of the debt.

He said, I forgave you all that debt.

Shouldn't you forgive your fellow servant just as I forgave you?

So he turns them over to the tormentors until he pays all that was due.

That's the five billion dollar debt.

And you know what?

This is the only parable in all the gospels that Jesus gives the interpretation without being asked.

He says, So my heavenly Father will do to each of you if you do not from your heart forgive your brother his trespasses.

I can show you three times more places in the New Testament that a person who refuses to forgive will not be forgiven than a person who murders people.

Jesus said, if you do not forgive, your heavenly Father will not forgive you.

In Mark's gospel, the 11th chapter, the 26th verse.

He says, He says in the Lord's Prayer, forgive us this day as we've forgiven those who sinned against us.

How would you like God to forgive you the way you've forgiven those who've hurt you?

Well, the realization is you will be forgiven the way you've forgiven.

That's what the Lord's Prayer is.

Sure is quietness, Methodist Church.

You still here?

Now, this is not a bunch of theory to me, okay?

Let me say this.

I went through a deep, deep, deep, deep wounding offense.

Before I got saved in my college fraternity, it was very easy for me to forgive.

I never had problems forgiving before I got saved.

After I got saved, it was even easier because now I had the love of God in my heart.

I had the word of God to stand upon.

It was so easy.

But there was a man I highly respected, I mean deeply loved and respected.

I looked at him like a father, and he did some things to me over a course of a year that devastated me.

And it climaxed with some things that were so obvious, and people start coming to me constantly saying, John, are you offended?

Are you hurt?

I go, no, no, no, I'm not offended, I'm not hurt.

Other people come and say, Are you gonna go to him?

I go, no, no, I'm not going to him, I'm going on the call of God in my life.

Now, the reason I would say that is because I was too proud to admit that I was offended.

For me to admit I was offended was for me to say I was weak, and I didn't want to say I was weak.

So I kept denying it.

Now, what happened was is the fire in me started growing colder and colder and colder.

The love of God started getting colder and colder and colder.

And you know what was really scary?

I was still preaching and still ministering to people, and people were still getting healed and saved.

But I'm getting colder and colder.

I remember my wife and I were driving down the road, we're listening to a worship tape.

I look over and tears are streaming down her face.

And she looks over at me, and I got this stone look on my face.

And she goes, John, are you okay?

I go, I'm I'm fine.

I'm just I'm meditating, okay?

You you worship, I'm meditating.

See, it was it was getting worse.

And I remember after months of this, five months, I walked out my back patio one day, and I simply looked up and I said, Look, Father, am I offended?

And I heard this on the inside of me.

Yes! He wanted me to know, you are offended.

See, this is why a lot of people don't get free, they can't admit it.

He said, You've got to admit before you can get free.

And so I said, Lord, I can't get out of this one, it's too big.

I said, I need help.

It was on the end of a four-day fast, and I go to a funeral that this man is conducting.

And I remember I was sitting in the very back of the church, and about three-fourths of the way through the funeral, tears started streaming on my face.

And I reached out my hand and I said, I forgive you.

I release you, I forgive you, I hold nothing against you, I forgive you.

And I wept for the rest of the funeral.

I left the building, I thought, it's done.

Everything's fine.

Two weeks later, I saw him again.

When I saw him, I went, How can he be so blessed?

He did this to me, he did that to me, he did this to me, he did that to somebody else, and he did this to somebody else.

So I remember going home and talking to my wife about it.

I thought about it all afternoon.

I talked about it at dinner that night.

I went to bed thinking about it.

I got up the next morning thinking about it.

I took a shower thinking about it, and all of a sudden I got scared.

I said, wait a minute.

I already cried and wept for Dave.

Why am I still tormented?

Now there's a principle I did not understand, and that's found in Acts 24.

Go over there with me quickly.

Acts 24.

Please.

Acts the 24th chapter.

And while you're doing that, do I have anybody in here that you go to the gym a lot and you can bench press over 225?

A guy in here, please raise your hand.

You can bench over to come on, you right there.

Yeah, run up here.

Run fast.

You demand.

Acts 24.

24.

What's your name, sir?

Ralph.

Stand right here, Ralph.

Acts 24.

I'm going to read Acts 24.

Listen to this.

Acts 24, verse 16.

Acts 24:16

Are you behaving?

Alright.

Verse 16 says, This being so, this is Paul speaking.

I myself always strive.

Now the King James says exercise.

Everybody say, exercise.

To have a conscience without offense toward God and man.

Now, look up at me.

Turn and face me.

I can walk Ralph, right?

I can walk up to Ralph and do this.

Did you like that?

Come on, be honest.

No.

No, thank you.

He's honest.

Okay?

Now, I hit him pretty good, but he's okay.

But now I could take this.

This nice stand right here.

And I could take this thing.

Whoa, I got him going out.

And let's say I hit him really hard with this.

What am I going to do?

Come on, what am I going to do?

Wound him, right?

Right?

Now listen.

I'm going to be nice, I promise.

Wounds.

Listen, don't heal overnight.

And if not properly treated, they never heal.

You see, there are some offenses that hit us.

We don't like it, but when it's over, it's like water off a duck's back.

We're okay.

There's other wounds that hit us, or other offenses that hit us, that wound us.

If we don't deal with those wounds, we'll never get healed.

Are you getting this?

You still love me?

I love you, man.

Thanks, brother.

See ya.

Seven years.

Ago, I was in Hawaii.

And this was back before I went in the gym.

And I go to climb a wall, and when I went to climb the wall, I hear this in my knee.

And I went, ah, and my wife's laughing at me, and I get down off the wall and I can't walk.

And I'm in a wheelchair traveling and embraced the next month.

Well, the next day I'm in this gym of this physical therapist, and uh the guy's not saved yet.

But anyway, he owns the gym and he's a physical therapist to the associate pastor's wife, and he's got me on the floor, making my knee really hurt.

The guy's twice as big as Ralph.

He's twice as big as Ralph.

I mean, he's massive.

And he's sitting there working on me, making me hurt, and he goes, You want to know why you injured your knee?

You know, most people wouldn't have injured their knee climbing that wall, but you did.

I said, All right, why did I get injured and most people wouldn't?

He said, Because you're out of shape.

You don't exercise.

I started thinking about it, wow, that's true.

There are certain believers, a lot of believers, they don't exercise.

They hardly read the word.

They may come here the message once a week.

They don't pray in the spirit, they're not strong in God, they're not pressing into the things of God, and they're weak.

And so when an offense hit them, it injures them easily.

You want to know why I had Ralph come up here?

Because if I would have hit 80% of you as hard as I hit him, you would have been carried off this platform.

I did that on purpose to illustrate how he in shape he is and what exercise does to protect him.

I remember my next door neighbor was a WWF wrestler, okay?

His wife got saved, his kids got saved, he's another story.

Pray for him.

But anyway.

And uh, you know, we were really close.

I mean, we actually moved houses together because we loved each other so much.

And one day he looks at me and he goes, John, please come over to my house.

I want to show you my videos.

I said, All right, I'll come to your house.

So I watched and I couldn't believe it.

I thought the stuff was all fake.

I saw him break a chair over his back.

I saw him take an acoustic guitar and bust it over his head.

Hello?

I saw a 400 man jump off that on top of him.

A sumo wrestler.

I saw them throw him off the rink eight feet and he bounced up like nothing happened.

I thought if they do that to most people, they'd be in traction.

Are you following me?

Are you with me?

So you know what?

There are people in the spirit that are like that WWF wrestler.

Boom! What does the Bible say?

Great peace of they that love your law, and nothing shall offend them.

Are you seeing this?

Because they offense-proof themselves.

You understand what I'm saying?

So I get on the plane and I fly to Indonesia, and another physical therapist is working on my knee in Indonesia.

And he says, Do you want to know how to get your knee healed?

I said, Yes, tell me how do I get my knee healed?

He said, Exercise.

Every day, exercise.

And I thought about those guys that injure their knees and ball.

What do they have them do?

Football?

They have them do those what?

Focused therapy, right?

Focused exercise to get their knees healed, right?

Right?

So I said, Lord, how do I exercise?

Because I know I'm dealing with, because God's showing me that I'm wounded.

I said, how do I exercise?

And the Lord spoke to me.

He said, Matthew 5.44.

And you know what Jesus says in Matthew 5.44?

I'll quote it.

He says, Pray for those who abuse you.

That means you've got to pray for me, Ralph.

Pray for those that abuse you, right?

Are you getting this?

You know, Jesus, go find anywhere in the gospels, Jesus said, pray for your husband or wife.

Go find anywhere he says, pray for your kids.

He doesn't.

Does that mean you're not supposed to?

No.

He just puts more emphasis on praying for those who abuse you.

So the Lord spoke to me and He said, I want you to pray for that man.

So this is the way I prayed.

I got up and I said, Lord, bless him in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Next day.

Oh, by the way, Jesus, uh, bless him.

Amen.

Next day.

Um, Lord, if you can, bless him.

Now, this is the way I'm praying for the guy for weeks, five weeks.

Now, when I got, that's like lifting a penny.

You understand what I'm saying?

When I got no better, but rather grew worse, I was on another fast.

And the Holy Spirit spoke to me.

He said, Read Psalm 35.

And I went over to Psalm 35, and this is a Psalm of David, and I get to the 11th verse because the Lord just, I mean, just like you heard my voice, I heard the Lord say, read Psalm 35.

And I go over there and I started reading.

I get to the 11th verse, and David says, Fierce witnesses have risen up against me.

They reward me for evil for my good.

I thought, whoa, that's me, man.

I did this guy good, and he's rewarded me evil for.

I said, Oh, God's about to bless me.

Then David continues, the next verse.

He says, But as for me, when they were sick, those people that rewarded him evil for good, my clothing was sackcloth.

I fasted and prayed for them like I would my mother or my brother.

And I went, oh.

And the Lord said, I want you to pray for that man what you want me to do in your life or basically your family.

And I remember getting up from the kitchen table.

I was alone in the house.

And I started praying.

I said, Father, in Jesus' name, I pray that you would draw this man close to your heart, that he would know Jesus the best a man could know him, that he would please you the best a man could please you.

I pray that you would reveal your heart to him.

I ask, Lord God, that he would walk in your wisdom and your counsel.

I ask, Lord, that you would surround him with your presence and cause the anointing of God upon his life to increase.

I pray that the circumference of his influence would increase, Lord, as he reaches the multitude you called him to reach.

And I ask that you would bring the finances in and for him to do it.

Protect his wife.

And I start praying like that for him.

Now let me tell you, it took everything I had.

You ever see a guy that the first he goes to his first physical therapy after an injury?

He's screaming.

He's lifting 20 pounds and screaming because it hurts.

You understand?

And that's the way I felt when I was praying.

I didn't want to see him blessed.

I did not want.

I'd be honest, I didn't want to see him blessed.

You understand what I'm saying?

It took everything in me to pray that way.

And so after I started praying that way a couple weeks, I start getting stronger and stronger and stronger.

And now I start getting excited.

I said, Lord, bless him in Jesus' name.

I'm drawn to your heart.

And I'm getting excited.

And after about four weeks of praying like this, one day I was out and I was deep in prayer, really deep in prayer.

And out of my spirit I cried, So and so, I love you.

And when I screamed that, I said, I love you, it's like junk came right out of my gut.

And I sat there that morning and I said, I'm healed.

I'm healed.

I'm healed.

I'm healed.

I was so excited.

Now two weeks later, I saw him again.

Another little on the inside of me.

I thought, now what?

Now, my wife is really prophetic, okay?

Between my wife and the Holy Spirit, I can't get away with anything.

Okay?

And that's really good, okay?

It's like my wife says, you never have to worry.

If he commits adultery, he'll be dead.

And so anyway.

And I say, Praise God.

Just let me repent first.

But no, I'll never do it.

I fear God and love God too much.

You understand what I'm saying?

Thank God for his grace.

So anyway, she puts her arm around me on the couch and she goes, honey, you need to go to him.

I said, Oh no, no, no, no.

No, no, I don't need to go to him.

I prayed, I've healed, I've exercised, it's done.

She said, Okay, okay.

So I went out and prayed.

I said, Lord, do I need to go see him?

He says, Yes.

Now, do you know when Jesus said, if your brother sins against you, go to him?

Can I show you the way most people interpret that scripture?

What's your name, brother?

David.

David, I just want you to know you did this and you did this and you did this and you did this, but I forgive you.

Right?

So what are they doing?

They're using that scripture as a license to come to you and vomit all over you and tell you how bad you've treated them.

So, okay?

Anytime anybody says to you, brother, I love you, but when the butt comes out, put up the umbrella, here comes the vomit.

You understand what I'm saying, okay?

That is not what Jesus had in mind when he said, go to your brother.

You know why he has that?

You know why he tells you go to your brother?

For the purpose of reconciliation.

Now there is a difference between forgiveness and reconciliation, and this is where most believers miss it.

They confuse the two.

Okay?

But now listen to me.

The best way to see it is look at look at Jesus.

Let me ask you a question.

I want a participation.

When did Jesus forgive you?

I didn't hear everybody.

What?

On the cross.

When he said Father, forgive them, they don't know what they're doing.

He wasn't just speaking to the soldiers and the Sanhedrin.

He was speaking to the next generation, the next generation, the next generation.

Right down to you and me, because our sins put him there.

Right?

So he forgave us before we ever said, I'm sorry.

That's right.

That's right.

I have so many believers come up to me and say, Well, I'll forgive him if he apologizes.

What if Jesus would have waited for you to apologize or forgive you?

You would have been in deep trouble.

Good preaching.

Amen.

I'll help you with that.

Are you following me?

He forgave you long before you said I was sorry.

But when were we reconciled?

When were we reconciled back to God?

When we said, Jesus, you were right, I was wrong, I'm sorry.

So when we repented.

And what led us to repentance?

Come on.

Romans chapter 2.

Romans 2 · chapter mention

The goodness and kindness of God, right?

Do you know what Jesus is saying?

Go to your brother and create an atmosphere of goodness that's going to want to make him say, I'm sorry.

When you go, you didn't need thing this.

He goes, excuse me.

So this is what I was led to do by my wife.

Okay?

I bought the guy a really, really, really nice gift.

I mean a gift I would like to have.

You understand what I'm talking about?

I wrap up this gift, I make an appointment, I go to his office and I give it to him.

He opens up and he goes, Whoa.

He just looks at me and he goes, Wow.

He's just speechless.

And this is the way I opened it up.

I said, Listen, I owe you an apology.

He said, What?

I said, I owe you an apology.

I said, I've been very critical of you and very judgmental.

And I am totally wrong.

He looked at me and says, No, no, you haven't been critical.

I said, Yes, I have.

I said, I know God's dealt with me.

Would you please forgive me?

Well, you know what happened?

He opened up and he shared his frustration.

And you know what happened as a result of that meeting?

We came together like this.

And we have been like this ever since.

Couple days later, I looked at my wife and I said, you know what?

When I first met him, he could do no wrong in my eyes, and I loved him for it.

That's immature love.

I said, then I saw his faults, and his faults were directed at me.

I didn't love him anymore.

I said, now I still see his faults, and I love him with the passion I loved him when I first met him.

I said, that's gotta be the love of God because the love of God covers the multitude of sins.

Amen.

My life, my whole ministry, everything has been revolutionized and never the same.

And I can go back and pinpoint it to that day when I apologize to him.

I've never been the same.

Luke 17, verse 1, Jesus said, it is impossible that offenses will not come.

Luke 17:1

Now let me put that in today's vernacular.

If you breathe air, you will have the opportunity to be offended.

But what you do with the offense will determine your future.

Either you become stronger or you become bitter.

I'll never forget I was getting ready to speak before a conference.

And this guy, the MC of the conference, had this man come up, and he was 35 years old, a little rugged, looked like a construction guy.

He's got a beard.

And the guy's crying.

My son, man, this guy didn't look like your typical crying type.

And he gets up and he says, All my life, he says, I've been saved almost my whole life.

He says, There's been a wall between me and God.

He said, I go into services.

People get touched by the presence of God.

I just sit there and feel like I'm on the outside looking in.

He said, I've tried to get into the presence of God in my prayer class.

I haven't been able to do it for 36 years.

He said, then somebody put in my hands the bait of Satan.

Now let me explain to you the bait of Satan.

You know when Jesus said it's impossible that offenses will not come?

The Greek word for offense is the Greek word scandalon.

Scandalon is an old Greek word that they also use 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 scandalon, the animal would take it, and the trap would close and either capture or kill.

Thereby, an offense is the bait of Satan to bring you, the believer, into his captivity.

Paul confirms this in 2 Timothy chapter 2, where he says, those that are in opposition, everybody say opposition, offended, are taken captive of Satan at Satan's will.

2 Timothy 2 · chapter mention

Scary thing is you can still go to church every Sunday, pay your tithes, serve in the church, even preach.

But you are captive of Satan at Satan's will.

Now instead of, listen, releasing living waters into people's lives, you release waters tainted with bitterness.

Only takes 3% arsenic in rat poisoning to kill a rat.

Only takes a little bit of poison, HCL to kill somebody in a glass of water.

Are you still here?

So this man said, My mother gave me away when I was 36 years old.

He said I held unforgiveness against her for 36 years.

He said, because I read the book, The Bait of Satan, somebody put it in his hands.

He said, I couldn't put the book down.

I read it from cover to cover.

And he said, I realized at the end of the book I held unforgiveness against my mom.

She gave me away when I was six months old.

He said, I called my mom.

I talked to her for the second time in 36 years.

He said, Mom, I've hated you for 36 years.

I've held unforgiveness against you for 36 years.

And I'm so sorry.

She starts weeping.

She said, I've hated myself for 36 years for giving you away.

Well, she forgave herself, he forgave her.

That's not where the story ends.

Now the man is bawling.

Tears are running off his beard onto his shirt.

And he said, now, after 36 solid years, the wall between God and me is gone.

He said, I have been crying like this for the past three weeks.

He said, every time I get into my prayer closet, every time I come into a service and the presence of God manifests, I'm crying like that.

Do you have the right to be offended?

Well, you got the right to go to hell if you want, but why be so stupid?

If you want to walk with God, if you want to be a true believer, no, you don't.

So don't take the debate.

Bow your heads.

Father, in Jesus' name, I preach what you've commanded me to preach, and I thank you now, Holy Spirit, for bringing healing into people's lives today.

In Jesus' name.

With your heads bowed and your eyes closed, you say, you know what, John?

I'm harboring an offense.

I didn't even realize it until the word of God exposed it.

While you preached, people were coming up or a person was coming up.

And I don't want to harbor it any longer.

I want to deal with it directly, right now.

If that's you, raise your hands up quickly.

All over this place.

Raise them up high.

Okay, I'm looking at 50% of the hands up.

Put them up high.

All of you that have your hands raised, stand to your feet immediately.

I'm going to have you pray right there at your seat.

But now let me tell you something.

Oh, wow.

Okay, I'm looking at 50% of the building standing, but there's still a good percentage that you're supposed to be standing and you're not.

You say, how do you know?

The Holy Spirit just told me.

I'm going to give you one more chance.

Somebody says, Well, I'll pray when I get home.

No, you don't understand.

The anointing's here now.

Okay, yes, sir.

Yes, ma'am.

Let me yes, ma'am.

I let me just tell you, yes, sir.

If you sense somebody coming up in your spirit, you need to stand.

Yes, ma'am.

Anyone else?

Yes, sir.

Yes, ma'am.

Yes, ma'am, yes, ma'am, yes, ma'am, yes, sir.

Yes, sir, yes, ma'am.

Okay, I'm looking at about 70% of the building standing up now.

Those of you that are standing to do something for me as a sign of surrendering your love and your will to God, lift up your hands to him.

Just lift them up.

And just pray this prayer.

I want you to forget about the guy on the platform, and I want you to focus on Jesus.

And I want you to pray this prayer with me.

Say it out loud, those of you that are standing.

Father in heaven.

Out loud, Father in heaven.

Thank you for speaking to me today through your servant.

I realize that I have sinned against you.

I've held unforgiveness.

I've harbored offense because of what was done to me.

And I justified my sin of unforgiveness by how badly I was treated.

But I realize today two wrongs don't make a right.

I have sinned by holding unforgiveness.

And I repent.

And I ask you to cleanse me with your royal blood.

Cleanse me, Jesus.

I choose this day to obey you.

And now, Lord, from my heart, I forgive.

I want you to say that person's name or person's names.

Whisper them right now.

Whisper.

If it's your mom, your dad.

I know some of you women in here have been very, very badly mistreated by men.

I want you to release them right now.

Let them go.

Release them.

Boy, there's a lot of tears right now.

That's all right.

That's the presence of God right there.

Now say this.

Say, Lord, I ask you to forgive them.

As Jesus asked you to forgive me from the cross.

I ask you to forgive them.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

Now give the Lord a praise.

Give him a praise.