John Bevere - Tips to Overcoming Offense
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All right, hey! It’s great to see you guys, and welcome to session one of The Bait of Satan. I’m so excited about this. You know, it’s an over-20-year-old message, and we’ve literally seen millions of people ministered to, with hundreds of thousands probably liberated from offense. For those of you who have never heard this message, this will probably be one of the greatest confrontations with truth that you’re ever going to experience.
Offense, the bait of Satan, is probably one of the most difficult obstacles to overcome. However, it can be overcome by the grace of God and through the love of God, and that’s what we’re going to dive into in these next six sessions. Your life is going to be transformed; there has been so much prayer and so much belief. We are telling you right now to get ready for the Holy Spirit to do a great work in your life.
Now, the disciples of Jesus—this is the best way to really open it up—are probably the most amazing, well, not probably; they saw the most incredible miracles that any generation has ever seen. Can you imagine them personally witnessing people being raised from the dead, totally blind eyes being opened, and people who had never walked in their lives suddenly jumping up and walking? I mean, storms that were life-threatening, that would even scare professional fishermen— they watched Him calm them in a moment. These are amazing miracles. Yet, it wasn’t these miracles that pushed them to the brink of doubt; it was actually what happened at the latter part of Jesus’s three-and-a-half-year ministry when He looked at His disciples and made this statement: «If your brother sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times in a day returns to you saying, 'I repent, ' you shall forgive him.»
Watch the disciples' response when He says that: «And the apostles said to the Lord, 'Increase our faith! '» It amazes me that it wasn’t the miracles of people being raised from the dead; it was the simple fact that Jesus said to forgive your brother when he sins against you multiple times that brought them to the brink of saying, «God, You’ve got to increase our faith.»
So, let’s talk about today. Could these words of Jesus be more important today than during the days of the apostles? I’m going to tell you right now that they are more applicable to today than even in the days of the apostles. Today is the time period when Jesus said it would be just before He returns. How many of you believe we’re living in that day right before the second coming of Christ? Jesus said we would recognize the season, but we wouldn’t know the day or the hour, correct?
So, Jesus told His disciples many things that would happen right before He returned. I want to zero in on Matthew chapter 24, around the 10th verse. Jesus says here, «And then many,» now the Greek word for «many» is the Greek word «police.» It means many, much of a number, quantity, or amount. Some of the dictionaries I examined say it means «mostly» or «majority.» So, Jesus immediately tells us that He’s talking about at least 51 percent of the people.
Now, I have traveled all over the world and preached on this, and I can tell you I have never once seen in any conference or church less than 50 percent of the people respond to being offended at the end of a message. Many of them didn’t realize they were offended until the Word of God exposed it. «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 can ultimately lead to hatred. You say, «John, where do you get that?» Well, Proverbs chapter 18, verse 19 says, «A brother offended is harder to win than a strong city.» In the days of Solomon, who wrote the Book of Proverbs, what did strong cities have around them? Walls. What were walls built for? Protection. They would keep out those people that you believed were against you and would permit people in that you believed were for you. This is exactly what happens to a man or a woman when they become offended; they begin to build walls.
Now, the New Testament doesn’t call them walls; the New Testament calls them strongholds. Second Corinthians chapter 10, verses 3, 4, and 5 says, «For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare…» Now, everybody please understand this—we are not in a playground; we are in a battleground, and it is good that we view life that way. «For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but are mighty in God for pulling down strongholds.» Everybody say «strongholds.»
What are those strongholds? He goes on to say, «Casting down arguments,» and a better rendition would be «imaginations» or «reasonings,» «and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.» These strongholds are set patterns of reasoning through which we process information.
Now, we are basically told by the Word of God to love one another, and the love of God always focuses on giving. A person who has been offended starts building reasoning processes deep within their soul that process all the information coming in. So now what happens is they start developing these reasoning processes to protect, protect, protect. Now the focus is no longer on giving; it’s now on protecting myself, and this happens deep in the soul.
What happens is this makes us perfect candidates for betrayal. Now, many Christians really don’t understand betrayal, and I should say many people, because they think of extreme cases. They think of Benedict Arnold or they think of Judas Iscariot. However, betrayal is simply this: betrayal is when I seek my benefit or my protection at the expense of my relationship with someone else. When your focus is to protect, protect, protect, that makes you a candidate for betrayal.
Now I’m going to protect myself at the expense of even those with whom I have a covenant relationship. Betrayal is the ultimate abandonment of a relationship. Let me tell you what happens in a betrayal. In a betrayal, the love of God in our heart begins to grow cold because why? Because we’re not giving. If you look, there are two «C’s» in Israel; there are two major cities: there’s the Sea of Galilee and there’s the Dead Sea. The Sea of Galilee receives waters freely from the north that originate up in the mountains near Caesarea Philippi, and it freely gives out to the south. It comes down the Jordan River to the south into the Dead Sea.
So the Sea of Galilee freely receives and freely gives. The Sea of Galilee is loaded with life, but the same living waters go down the Jordan River and enter into the northern part of the Dead Sea. But the Dead Sea only takes in; it doesn’t give out. Nothing can live in it; absolutely nothing can live there.
So an offended Christian hears the love of God coming in, but now the walls are built, and protection makes the love begin to dry cold. So now the focus becomes self, which makes you a perfect candidate for betrayal. As I said, betrayal is the ultimate abandonment of a relationship, and if it’s not dealt with, betrayal can even lead to hatred.
Now, a lot of Christians don’t understand hatred; they attach extreme emotional anger or frustration to hatred. You can have hatred and not have any emotions attached to it. If you look at Absalom, he hated his brother Amnon, and the Bible says he neither spoke good nor evil to him. If you look at what John the Apostle writes, he says, «Whoever hates his brother…"—he’s writing to Christians—is «a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.»
If you look at the word «hate» here, it is the Greek word «miseo,» and the literal definition of that is to «love less.» Now, I’m going to tell you what it really means: it’s a vacuum void of love. So in other words, when a person hates, it doesn’t necessarily mean they’re really angry. Somebody can be angry and still love and care about someone; it means they have no love at all left in their heart for that person.
Betrayal can lead to hatred, and as John says, «If you hate your brother, you’re a murderer, and don’t even think you’ve got eternal life abiding in you.» Then Jesus goes on to say in the very next verse, «Then—what does He mean by 'then'? After there’s massive offense, betrayals from the offense and even hatred resulting from the betrayals, then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many.»
Now, who are the many they are going to deceive? The many that are offended, which tells me something: an offended heart is the breeding ground for deception. Now, what does Jesus call false prophets in Matthew chapter 7, verse 15? He calls them «wolves in sheep’s clothing.» Now, notice He doesn’t say they are wolves in shepherd’s clothing, correct?
Everybody’s always looking for the false prophet behind the pulpit. I’ve got news for you: in 30 years of ministry and traveling all over the world, being in many, many churches, I have discovered there are more false prophets in the pews than there are in the pulpits.
Good preaching, John. Amen! Now, they’re wolves in sheep’s clothing. I personally love watching programs about animals; okay, the Discovery Channel is the bomb! My family actually got me, for my birthday, Planet Earth because I love animals. Right? I’ve discovered something about these predators, like wolves and hyenas. They travel in packs, and you know what the goal of the wolf pack is? To isolate the sheep from the herd.
And you know what sheep they usually try to isolate? The wounded sheep, the offended sheep. Because if they can isolate the sheep from the herd, the sheep is meat for their table. Proverbs 18, verse 1 says this: «A man who isolates himself seeks his own desire and rages against all wise judgment.»
Now, the scary thing is you can be a part of a big church; you can be a part of a big family. But the isolation occurs in the soul—the thought processes, the reasonings that have been set up, the set patterns of reasoning—that isolation occurs. When that does, you can still be a member of a big family or big church. Now you’re what? You’re the target of these wolves. Are you with me?
Then Jesus goes on to say, «And because lawlessness will abound…» Now, what is the word «lawlessness»? The word «lawlessness» is the Greek word «anomia,» which simply means this: not submitted to the authority of God; it just means not submitted to His Word.
All right, lawlessness is going to abound. What’s He talking about? The lawless thinking. You see, the thought processes that are contrary to the knowledge of God. You know, we set up these walls, these strongholds, once we’re hurt, and we think that they’re going to protect us, but they actually torment us. Why? Because they are contrary to the knowledge of God, as Paul said in 2 Corinthians chapter 10.
So, because lawlessness will abound—that’s the lawless thinking and lawless actions both that result from the offense—the love of many will grow cold. Now, I think we would all agree in today’s hour that lawlessness abounds in our society. I mean, there are a lot of tensions in our society that I could speak to right now. There’s lawlessness resulting from it, but you know what’s amazing to me? Jesus isn’t talking about society.
Now remember, He’s isolating the days right before He returns; He is actually talking about inside the church. Now you say, «John, now wait a minute, how do you know that He’s talking about inside the church?» Well, if you look at the word «love,» there is the Greek word «agape.» There are two major Greek words used for love; they are both translated «love» in the New Testament: «agape» and «phileo.»
Phileo is affectionate love; that is the love that even the world has. Agape is the love that lays down its life for its neighbor. It’s the love that loves even if it’s not returned. That is the love that Jesus said the world cannot receive; that is the love that the Bible says is shed abroad in our hearts in Romans chapter 5.
So, we know He’s not talking about the world because of the word that He uses. I’m going to tell you the second reason I know He’s not talking about the world: because look what He says in the very next verse: «But he who endures to the end shall be saved.» You don’t look at an unbeliever and say, «If you endure, you’re going to be saved.» You look at someone who has already started the race and say, «If you endure, you’re going to be saved.»
So, Jesus is saying in the last days there’s going to be massive offense. Wow, okay? And this massive offense is going to lead to betrayals. I mean, if you look at the bloodiest wars in our history, it happens with people that are close. So massive offense is going to occur, and I’m going to show you it’s mostly with people that are close to each other.
It’s going to lead to betrayals which even lead to hatred; deception is going to result from it because of the lawless thinking and the thoughts that are contrary to the knowledge of God. Many—the love of many—that’s the same Greek word «police"—is going to grow cold.
Now, the way He uses this word is it’s going to grow cold like the frog in the kettle in reverse. You know, you put the frog in the kettle and you turn on the heat, he’s not going to jump out. You put him in boiling water; he’s going to jump out if he can. This is the frog in the kettle scenario in reverse; it grows cold.
I’m going to tell you something: I walked through this, and I didn’t recognize the love of God in my heart growing cold. I saw the effects of it, and God was merciful and opened up my eyes. That’s why I’m so passionate about this message.
So, the person that can hurt you the deepest, as I just said, is the person that’s closest to you. David said it like this: «It is not an enemy who taunts me; I could bear that. It is not my foes who have so arrogantly insulted me; I could have hidden from them.» Yeah, we expect our enemies in the world to hurt us. But David said, «Instead, it is you, my equal, my companion, and close friend. What good fellowship we once enjoyed as we walked together in the house of God.»
The closer the relationship, the greater the potential offense. Why is that? Because our expectations are higher. See, if I look at an average Christian, they expect the world to mistreat them. They’re prepared for the world to mistreat them. Why? Because the world doesn’t have the love of God in it.
So our expectations on the world—let’s say this is Ground Zero, all right? This table, their expectations are zero, okay? But now our expectations on our Christian brothers and sisters are about here, and our expectations on our pastors are about here, and our expectations on our husbands or wives are about there, okay?
So now if the world does that much for us, they’ve been that much of a blessing because their expectation was zero. But if a Christian brother only does that, they’ve offended us by this much. When our pastor does that much, he’s offended me by this much. So why? No, no, what’s happening here? The potential of the offense now goes up when our spouse only does that.
Oh my goodness, massive offense! That’s why over 50 percent of marriages end up in divorce court because our expectations—we didn’t sign up to serve; we signed up to be served when we got married. But yet Jesus said, if you want to be a leader like me, remember the Bible says, «Husbands, love your wives as Christ loves the church.»
Jesus got down and became the base servant and washed His disciples' feet. He said, «I’ve left you an example. You call me Lord and King; I’m your leader, but I’m here among you as one who serves.» He took that place of the lowest servant in the house, the one who washed the people’s feet when they came off the street where you had the horse manure, the horse pee, all that other stuff because they didn’t have cars back then; they didn’t have Nike tennis shoes.
Jesus said, «I’m going to be the lowest servant in the house here, and I’m going to wash your feet.» He was illustrating to us that He’s the chief servant. So when you think about a husband, a husband signs up to be the chief servant of the family. If he’s the head of the home, it doesn’t change the dynamic of authority, but it radically changes the way it’s administered. You see what I’m saying?
All right, in Luke chapter 17, verse 1, Jesus says, «It is impossible.» Look at the word «impossible.» Now, if Jesus says, «impossible,» do you think, okay? It is impossible that no offenses should come. What’s He saying? He’s saying if you breathe air, you are going to have the opportunity to be offended. But what you do with the offense is going to determine your future.
You’re either going to become stronger, or you’re going to become bitter. Right? Now the Greek word for offense there is the Greek word «scandalon.» Scandalon is actually an ancient Greek word that was originally used to describe the bait stick or trigger of a trap that hunters would use to catch small animals and birds. The hunter would place the bait on the trigger, the scandalon, and the animal would take that bait, and the trap would close and either capture or kill the animal.
Thereby, an offense is the bait of Satan to pull you and me, the believer, into his captivity. That’s heavy. I want to show you what the Complete Word Study Dictionary says about this word scandalon. It always denotes an enticement to conduct which could ruin the person in question. Remember, the book of Hebrews says, «Looking carefully, lest any root of bitterness springs up, causing defilement.» Ruining—a person means ruining a person.
Do you see how dangerous offense is? The scary thing is most people that are offended don’t even realize they’re offended. Paul confirms this trap when he writes to Timothy. Look what he says to him: «A servant of the Lord must not quarrel, must not be in strife, but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility, correcting those who are in opposition, offended with one another.» You see this? «If God perhaps will grant them repentance so that they may acknowledge the truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare.» The word «snare» means trap. «Escape the trap of the devil, having been taken captive by the devil to do the devil’s will.»
You know the scary thing is you can still be a minister of the gospel. You can still serve on a ministry team. You can still be attending a home group every week and attending church every time the doors open, even witnessing to people, but you’re trapped; you’re captive of Satan.
Now you think you’re releasing rivers of living water when in reality you’re releasing rivers tainted with bitterness. I firmly believe that the enemy is going to raise up an army against the church to fight against us in these next several years. I believe because the greatest move of the Spirit of God on Earth that has ever been witnessed is about to happen. And I believe that army is going to be raised up.
And you know that army is not going to be propelled by merely the world; it’s going to be propelled by Christians who have been taken captive and are now unknowingly entrapped and releasing bitterness instead of propelling the glorious gospel of Jesus in a unified way as a family should.
The bait of Satan is a very serious issue; it’s not something to take lightly. As I said, it’s probably the greatest confrontation of truth that you’re going to encounter as a Christian, other than being saved. I’m so happy that you are part of this class as we journey together to become completely free from any kind of offense, to be completely free from the trap, from the bait that Satan lays for us.
See you in session two.
Hey guys, I’m sure God brought some people to mind as you were watching that lesson—maybe a friend, a parent, a boss, or someone close to you. What I encourage you to do is take some time to write each of those people a letter. Make it very personal; leave nothing unsaid. Get it all out! Don’t worry, I’m not going to ask you to send those letters; we will revisit them later on in this course. I also want to encourage you to download the course guide and go through all five steps to freedom before you begin the next video lesson. Enjoy!