John Bevere - The Bait of Satan (How to Move On from Past Pain and Mistreatment)
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Hey, I am so excited about what the Lord has 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. I really believe this is what the Holy Spirit wants me to speak to you this weekend. I don't want this to just be a message; I want to see your lives changed forever. How many of you believe that God can change your life forever in one service? Let me see your hands. Well, then 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 us slaves, and that would have been so much better than where we were, but You've called us sons and daughters of God in Christ Jesus. Today, I'm asking You, Lord God, that You would literally invade our sanctuaries all over the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul; that You would do what You love to do the most, and that is reveal Jesus in a way like we've never known Him before. As You do this, may we go from glory to glory, 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. For this, we give You all the glory, honor, praise, and thanksgiving. It's in Jesus' mighty, wonderful, majestic, holy, awesome, and 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 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. 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 zero in on tonight is found in verses 10, 11, 12, and 13 of Matthew 24.
So let's look at this. Jesus said, "And then many"—everybody say "many"—alright, the Greek word there for "many" literally means "the majority." I want you to think this through 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 might say, "John, where do you get that from?" Proverbs 18:19 says, "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 believed were against you and allow in those people 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.
2 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 for the pulling down of strongholds." Now what are those strongholds? He goes on to list them: "Casting down every imagination." 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? They 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? As a matter of fact, He doesn't just 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 develop deep reasoning and protective mechanisms in their thoughts that protect them. Their focus shifts from "give, give, give" to "protect, protect, protect."
Now that makes us a perfect candidate for betrayal. A lot of Christians do not understand what betrayal is. When they hear the word betrayal, they go to the extreme cases—Benedict Arnold, Judas. A betrayal is simply this: when I seek my benefit or my protection at the expense of one I have a relationship with. So if I'm offended, I'm hurt, and now my thoughts are about protecting myself, then 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 to 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 Amnon; therefore, he neither spoke good nor evil to him. The word hate in Greek literally means this: "loveless." It is a vacuum void of any kind of love. So there can be no emotions attached to it.
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. Then He says in verse 11, "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; 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, but 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. Wolves do something: they travel in packs and 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 18:1 says, "A brother who seeks his own desire rages against all wise judgment." Excuse me, let me say it again: "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?
Then He goes on to say in verse 10, "And he says, because lawlessness"—now this is all a progression—"because lawlessness will abound." 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, protect, and develop these thoughts that are contrary to the Word of God, you have now entered into lawless thinking. Because lawlessness will abound, the love—now look at this—the love of many will grow cold. How many of you believe lawlessness abounds in our society? Let me see your 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 as 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 abroad in a believer's heart when they are born again. That is the love that Jesus said the world cannot receive. It's the only word He uses: "And because lawlessness will abound, the agape of many will grow cold."
Then He confirms it by saying in verse 13, "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 hasn't even started the race. Jesus is clearly talking to believers.
Now in all my years of traveling, I have discovered something. In 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 lifted your heel against me."
What is David saying? He's saying, "I expect the world to treat me wrong." You see, our expectation on the world, let's say this is ground zero, our expectation on the world is zero. Our expectation on Christians is this high. Our expectation on our pastors 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 on the world. Good preaching, John. Amen. Thank you so much. Still with me?
Now, you can do something: you can put all offended Christians in two categories. Did you know that? Category number one: those who have been 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 have discerned inaccurately. I don't want to deal with that; I want to deal with category number one—those who have been genuinely mistreated.
Now, I want to ask you a question, and 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, 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 a spot right there. Seriously, 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 at the church?" and he said, "I'd love it," because I am so fed up with what's going on today.
The world and the church don't look much different to me today because the church is getting so easily offended today, just like the world gets so easily offended. I'm like, "We need help! We need the Word of God to set us free!" Amen? Listen, man, I was raised Catholic; don't make me nervous and go quiet on me.
Alright, 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 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 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 has never realized or 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 us. 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." 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 the big problem is? We've categorized sins in the church. We had the big ones: adultery, murder, witchcraft, stealing. Then we have what we call weaknesses: strife, unforgiveness, gossip. Do 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 about that.
But you know what I find interesting? You know what the seventh one on that list is that God says is an abomination? Those who sow discord among brothers. Gossip! So this is what I want to say: treat gossip the way you treat adultery, and you'll probably get free. But if you see it as a weakness... 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 for murder. Three times. You prayed every day in the Lord's Prayer: "Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive 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 hearts, 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 never found it hard to forgive people when I was growing up. Then when I got saved in 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 there was a man that I highly, highly, highly respected. He was probably more dear to me than my own father. He did some things to me over the course of a year that were devastating. It was so obvious; people were coming up to me 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 my life. I'm cool.
Well, 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 was the way I stayed. Now we go month after month after month, and do 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 by the day. It's kind of like the frog in the kettle but in reverse.
I remember during that time period, ministry became more of an occupation to me. I'm cynical, I'm a little jaded. You know what's really interesting? People were still getting saved; people were still getting healed. But I remember I kept getting colder and colder. I was becoming numb. One day, Lisa and I are driving down the highway, and we have this worship set on, and she's got tears pouring down her eyes, and she looks over at me, and I have 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 couldn't admit I was offended.
Finally, after months of this, I one day walked out, and I got so numb, so cynical. One day 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 was 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. He wanted to help me understand, "Son, you are offended."
I remember I just dropped my hands and said, "God, I don't know what to do. I have fasted; I've prayed; I have confessed; I have forgiven by faith; I don't know what else to do." I remember shortly after that, it was at the end of a fast, and I go to a funeral. This man is conducting the funeral, and I'm in the back because I got there a little late. About three-quarters of the way through the funeral, the wells broke open, and I cried for the first time in years. Tears are coming down, and I'm weeping. I said, "I forgive you! I forgive you! I forgive you!" I remember I left that funeral really quick because I didn't want anybody to see how red my eyes were.
I thought, "Okay, it's great; everything's good." I went home and told my wife, "It's over. I'm so glad." I remember I saw him two weeks later and thought, "How can he be so blessed? He did this to me; he did this to me; he did this to that person; he did this to that person." I remember leaving that place, driving home, thinking, "How can he be so blessed?" I was thinking about it; I talked about it over lunch. I thought about it all afternoon; I talked about it at dinner, went to bed thinking about it, took a shower thinking about it.
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 you're turned over to the tormentors. "Why am I still so tormented?" Well, there was a principle I didn't understand. Paul makes a statement in Acts 24:16; look at this principle. He said, "And herein do I exercise…" I need Acts 24:16. Yes! "And herein 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, "You're the body…" Oh yeah, you're perfect! Come on up here! Run up here! Run up here quickly! Come on, run! My time's going away! My time's going away! Okay, Jason, right? 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, right?
Now Jason, I could do this. (Taps him.) Yeah, yeah, yeah, okay. And if I do that, what am I going to do? I'm going to wound you. I'm going to wound you, alright?
Now listen to me carefully. 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; he's fine. But there are other offenses that wound us, and wounds don't heal overnight. If wounds aren't properly treated, they never heal. Are we still friends? Am I okay? Am I safe after service? Yes? Okay, thanks buddy; God bless.
Alright! Yeah, give him a hand!
So you know, like 30 years ago, I'm doing this conference in Hawaii, right? And it was the second and last day of the conference, and I decided to play tourist. I remember there was this rock wall that was 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 "pop!" and I went "ah!" 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. For the next six weeks, I'm in braces and crutches. I'm flying on airplanes in a wheelchair!
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, and he was about the size of Jason over here, okay? 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. He says this; he's a little cocky. He says to me, "Hey, hey, hey, I want you to look at everybody in this gym. Look around, look around, look at them." I'm on the mat going, "Okay, I'm looking." 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!" 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 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. His name…well, I don't want to say his name. Anyway, his wife got saved, his kids got saved; he's a total different story.
But anyway, he said, "John, you've got to come watch my videos," because we'd play basketball, and I'd drive into him. He was like 6'4", weighed 240 pounds, 4% body fat. I'd drive into him with the basketball, and I'd go flying back five feet. You know, we'd play hockey; he'd just skate over and touch me, and I'd go flying five feet. But anyway, so I'm watching his videos, and I thought it was all fake. 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 off the ropes right on top of him!"
I thought, "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 it: there are some people in the spirit that are like that WWF wrestler; they're like Jason because the Bible says, "Great peace have they who love Your Word, and nothing can offend them." That's Pastor Rob!
Okay, you got it. You got it. That's why I wanted him on my board, 'cause he's unoffendable. He's so solid in the Word of God. Are you with me?
Okay, so I remember I get on the plane, I fly to Indonesia. It was hilarious! I mean, my wife and my kids—my kids—they get off the plane with the luggage, and here comes the man of God in the wheelchair! And they get another physical therapist that works on my knee in Indonesia, and the physical therapist in Indonesia goes, "Mr. Baff, do 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 it. Yeah, man, 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 focused exercise; 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."
I said, "How do I exercise?" He said, "Read Matthew 5." I love it when the Lord does this. So I start in verse one, and there's nothing until I get to the 44th verse! "Lord, couldn't you have 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! He never said pray for your mother! 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 is the person that mistreats you. In another version, it says "abuses you."
So I got up from the table and said, "I've got to 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 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 Psalm 35." So I go to Psalm 35, have no idea what I'm going to read. Again, I get nothing that makes sense until I get to the 11th verse. 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 David said, "I sink in despair." Now look at this, look at it, 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 were my friend or my brother."
The Holy Spirit spoke to me and 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. I said, "Lord, I pray that he would know You the best a man can know You. I pray that he would please You the best a man can please You. I pray he walk as closely with You as a man can walk with You. I pray, Lord God, that You would bless his family that You protect his family, that Lord, You'd surround him with wise counselors and 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 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's so painful! I mean, when those guys are doing leg curls, it's like… and I knew it. And I thought: "This is exercise."
Remember what Paul said: "And herein do I exercise to keep myself free from offense with God and men." So I start praying everything! Well, you know what happened? After two weeks, it started getting a little more passionate. It started getting a little more passionate, and I started looking forward to praying for him for these things.
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 was like junk came out of me. I thought, "Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! I'm healed! I'm healed! I'm healed!" I remember I was so excited I went and told my wife.
A couple weeks later, I saw him again, and 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; 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?" The Lord said, "Yes." Now, you know when Jesus said, "If your brother sins against 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, and you did this, but I forgive you! Okay, 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! 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 forgiving the next generation—the next generation, right down to 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 because this is a nice gift. He just looked at me like this, his mouth's open, his eyes are like this. I took advantage of him right then and said, "Hey, I want to ask your forgiveness. That's why I came here today." He was like, "What?!"
I said, "I want to ask your forgiveness." I was like, "What are you talking about?" I said, "I've been really critical of you; I've been really judgmental of you, and I am so wrong." That's all I said. He goes, "No, you have not been critical of me." I said, "Yes, I have." Well, it opened him up; 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 of days later and said, "You know what? When I first met that man, he could do 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.' I said, 'That's immature love.' I said, 'Now I still see his faults, but I actually love him with the same intensity of when I first met him.'"
That's got to be the love of God, because the love of God covers a multitude of sins! Ends of my life ministry! Everything changed from that weekend forward! I've never been the same! Never!
Jesus makes the statement, and I'm closing it with this, in Luke 17:1. 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. The hunter would place the bait on the "skandalon," 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 captivity. I know this for certain because Paul makes the statement in 2 Timothy chapter 2 that those who are in opposition with one another, those who are offended with one another, are taken captive by 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 by 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 to bow your heads. Now, I want you to stay with me, campus. I want to carry this right into giving people an opportunity to forgive.
I don't need to labor this point. You know, with your heads bowed and your eyes closed, I want you to hear this. I was in a conference one night getting ready to speak. It was a jam-packed conference. Friday night before they had me up, they had a young man up—a 35-year-old construction worker with a beard; tears are coming down his eyes. He didn't look like the crying type; he looked like the guy that could break me in two 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 all my life, but my mother gave me away when I was six months old. I have held unforgiveness against her ever since." He said, "All my life, the presence of God—I watch people get touched by the presence of God—and he said I would miss it. 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 of weeks ago. 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 in 36 years. I 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 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."
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 on every campus, right here. Yes, just stand to your feet quickly. Quickly! People are standing 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 are worth the wait! Yes, sir! Yes, sir! Thank you! 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 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 these houses today! Yes, sir! Thank you! You are worth the wait!
Man, I'll tell you, it's happening right now! I want you to 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 not angry; He's not disgusted. 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 realize 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—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! Say, "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!