Michael Todd - Offense Under-Construction (How to Overcome Offense)
Y’all ready? Y’all ready? Y’all ready? All right, let’s go. I’m diving right in. Okay, so I need everybody to get this. Most people ask why it is important to forgive. Most people will wonder why it’s such a big deal to forgive. Let me give you point number one because I’ve received this in the DMs. A lot of people who are watching right now are from everywhere. Type in the chat where you’re watching from! I’ve seen Mississippi in the building, Minnesota in the building, hold on, we even got Montana in the building—all the M’s.
I don’t know, but come on, all in the chats! It’s just a bunch of «FU’s"—that’s crazy. But the reason why this is important is because, write this point down: forgiveness is fundamental to our faith. Forgiveness is fundamental to our faith. Now say it one more time with me: forgiveness is what? Fundamental to our faith. The reason I had to bring up this very basic point is that many people do not appreciate fundamentals. Whenever you talk about something fundamental, the literal word means something core or primary—a rule or principle on which everything else is based.
So, let me help you understand this: the coldest person on the basketball court who can dribble between their legs and do all this other stuff and fade away— all of those extras come from fundamentals. There are many people in the church who want all the extras. We want the signs, the miracles, and the wonders. We want to manage a bunch of tasks; we want to be examples and leaders. Yet, God says, «But you don’t have the fundamentals.» The thing about fundamentals everyone has to understand is that when the pressure is on, when the game is on the line, and you forget all the fancy stuff, the thing you rely on and return to is the fundamentals.
The reason why 2020 has been whipping some of y’all’s tails is that there were no fundamentals in place to begin with. You would post your scripture, but there was nothing written on your heart. It was posted—you all don’t hear me. It was posted, and you may have a tattoo of it, but you don’t even know what your own tattoo says because there were no fundamentals. When I come into this life with Christ, there are some things that are fundamental: prayer is fundamental, worship is fundamental, and generosity is fundamental. You cannot talk about how much you love God if you never give anything—your time, your talent, your treasure. God says, «For God so loved the world that He did what? Gave!» It is fundamental.
Another thing that’s often overlooked in the church because pastors are walking in the same level of unforgiveness as the people they lead is forgiveness. Somebody say, «Forgiveness is fundamental to our faith!» Let me give you a practical example. Can you bring that real quick? Ever since I was two years old, I’ve been playing drums. I started out very young, with my mom and dad sitting right here; they got me my first drum set when I was a year and a half old, according to my mom. I don’t even know if I could really talk at a year and a half, but she said I asked for a drum set, and I have pictures and proof that I used to play drums. From age two to twelve, I got pretty good naturally. I would sit down; I had a gift that was given to me. When I turned twelve, I hit a ceiling. I remember asking our Minister of Music—my dad was actually the Minister of Music at the church I attended at the time, David Smith—shoutout to everybody who used to go to Higher D! What up? He told me, «You need to take lessons from this guy named Arthur Thompson.»
I went to Arthur Thompson downtown in Denver. We went down into this dungeon, and he had all these drums and equipment. I was like, «Oh my goodness, I’m about to show this man what I can do!» He sat me down, listened to me play, and said, «You’re really good! For the next six months, we’re going to work on the fundamentals.» At that time, at twelve years old, I didn’t really understand the word «fundamentals.» I thought it meant fun because I heard «fun the mentals.» We’re going to work on the fun of playing drums. Literally, I didn’t know what it meant. He said, «We’re taking the drum set away from you. We’re not going to let you do all the licks and fancy things.» He told me, «I’m going to give you the snare.» I was like, «Cool, I can rock the snare. If this is a challenge to see what I can do with it, boy I’m about to tear it up!» Then he put a pillow on top of the snare and said, «You will not hit a drum for the next six months. We need to work on the fundamentals.»
I was like, «What are you talking about? I need to do these things called rudiments.» If you’ve ever seen «Drumline» or any of those movies, that’s the thing they always practice. He said, «I’m going to teach you how to do a double-stroke roll.» I was like, «Cool, I can do that!» He told me, «You’re going to go right-right, left-left, right-right, left-left.» I was like, «Is that it? This is the fundamentals?» I thought it was easy. I was so prideful because I had done so much before, but I didn’t have the fundamentals. He said, «That’s where you start.» Then he told me to speed it up and put a metronome on. I realized that there was no bounce from the drum anymore. The reason he put me on the pillow was that every one of those strokes had to come from me.
I felt like, «Why is my wrist burning right now?» He said, «Because what you’ve been doing is trying to get it to sound good on things that enhance what you’re doing. But when you take it to the bare minimum, what does it look like? What does it sound like?» I bring this to your faith right now: if you strip away the lights, strip away your favorite worship song, strip away your small group—what does your walk with God sound like? Does it have any ability to last? Does it have any endurance? He began to say, «Until you get the fundamentals…» Then he started switching it up and said, «We’re going to do a paradiddle.» I was like, «A what?» He said, «Right-left, right-right, left-right, left-left.» I said, «Okay,» and he told me to keep going for five minutes—nothing but the pillow and fundamentals for six months. Then he put me on the drum set and said, «Play.» I said, «Play what? I haven’t been on a drum set for so long I don’t even remember how to play!»
That’s what we feel like a lot of times when God trains us in a different environment. Then He gives us an opportunity or tells us to go somewhere, and we feel like, «I don’t even know how to do this!» As soon as I sat on the drums and began to play, it was like the whole drum set opened up to me in a brand new way because what I did in private on the pillow, when everything was stripped away, gave me tools to do what was in my head; it came out in my hands. I was sitting there like, «Oh my God, oh my God!» I was doing stuff I had never done. He said, «See, everything fancy comes from fundamentals.» I just came to tell somebody the reason we need to understand forgiveness is that it is a fundamental premise of our faith. God says everything fancy, everything the world will see, everything people will know you for comes from—everybody say it—fundamentals!
Forgiveness is a fundamental of our faith. The thing I had to realize about fundamentals, and I’m going somewhere with this, is that I need you to stay with me. Class, this is week two—you made it back! You’re the ones who will ace this class, and some of you will be the valedictorians. Do I have any valedictorians in the building right now? Come on! Here we go. The thing I learned about fundamentals—check this out—is that fundamentals are never natural. You don’t naturally do the fundamentals. Fundamentals are, write this down: they are practiced, corrected, and then perfected. Any fundamental in your life—when I was on that pillow, it was practiced. He would come over and say, «Lift your arm up right there. You need to be using your finger somewhere.» It was corrected and then perfected.
I don’t know why in church we act like you get saved, and everything is then perfected. I’m sorry for everybody who has had an experience that was like, «You got saved today, now speak in tongues tomorrow, now preach your message the next day, and do this and start.» No, that’s not real! There are core fundamentals that we may be working on for the next three years. I know nobody wants to hear this because in our culture, we want everything to be sped up. We want to be this overnight sensation, and God says if you want to last, you need the fundamentals. Fundamentals are practiced, corrected, and then perfected. When it comes to this issue of forgiveness, I want you to know why we are doing ten weeks on it. By the end of this series, some of you are just going to decide to start practicing because it’s been 25 years of offense. It’s been ten days since you’ve talked to your spouse lovingly. It’s been so long since you even thought about going back to that high school reunion that you don’t even attend your 10-year reunion because you don’t want to see that coach who told you you would never amount to anything.
Still, that same offense is now affecting your heart with unforgiveness today. I’m telling you that I’m not asking you to change today or tomorrow. By the grace of the Holy Spirit, I pray you get a miracle. I pray that He speeds up things for you. I pray that there’s a breakthrough for you, but I want everyone to know that it’s going to take a journey to forgiveness. You’re okay to walk this thing out because if forgiveness is fundamental to our faith, fundamentals are what? Practiced, corrected, and then perfected. God’s going to have to correct some of the ways we forgive people. Have you ever forgiven somebody on the surface but not really forgotten them? Come on! We’ll make a whole Instagram post about how some friendships come and go, but some friendships last forever. This is a friendship that will last forever, and you were just talking about them yesterday. God’s like, «No, no, no! Before you make a public post, let it be a private promise.» He might have to come in and correct it.
But I promise you, if you stay on this journey of forgiveness, it will become perfected in you. Somebody say, «Perfect me, Lord!» Come on, somebody say, «Perfect me, Lord!» That’s why at Transformation Church, it is one of our values that we are never enamored with perfection; it’s all about progression. Once we learn the fundamentals, once I learned how to do the basic things, I was able to reach other levels that were capped for me. This is the year that God’s saying, «If you want to go to that level, you need to learn the fundamentals.» Sometimes our feelings make us forfeit the fundamentals. Can I tell you that there were tons of days I punched, kicked, and cussed into the pillow I was practicing on? «Ah, this is not cool! All my other friends get to post where they travel. All the people in my family are married!»
God’s saying, «But I have you in a season of fundamentals.» Sometimes, our feelings make us forfeit what we really need, but God is asking, «Will you just commit to forgiveness?» That’s why forgiveness is the goal. I want us to gain understanding. This understanding might take a minute for us to grasp. If forgiveness is the end result we want to achieve, I have to dial it all the way back to the very beginning in this class. Write this down: I mentioned it last week, but it’s worth reiterating. Again, offense is the gateway to unforgiveness. I had a whole other message ready to go, but then I realized that Charles and the Holy Spirit were telling me, «Mike, they didn’t fully understand the whole offense issue. They didn’t completely grasp how offense creates a prison of unforgiveness for them. If they don’t learn how to deal with the offense in the moment, they will end up in a place they never thought was possible.»
God says we need to understand that if unforgiveness is a place we don’t want to be, we must start with the offense because offense is either picked up or put on. But I went deeper than that this week and said, «God, could you show me why it’s so hard?» I found myself scrolling on Facebook and Instagram when someone found out that the president has corona. One comment was, «That’s what he gets.» As a believer, I can understand people in the world. I don’t agree with everything he does, and there are many questionable things, but when someone falls sick and you say, «That’s what they get,» it sounds like a curse to me. My Bible says blessings and curses come from the same tongue. In that moment, I was like, «What is going on?»
I can be offended by so many little things, and this is what the Holy Spirit told me. If you don’t hear anything else I say today, you need to understand this because there’s a parallel happening in the world and in the church that should be different, but it looks a little too similar. There’s this lukewarm attitude: «I can believe God, but I can cuss you out.» I’m like, «Where is all of this coming from?» The Holy Spirit told me, «Michael, offense is the currency of our culture, but forgiveness is the currency of the kingdom.» Oh, that’s good! The currency of our culture is offense; that’s why we can cancel someone after one mistake. If they do the wrong thing or wear fur while I’m for PETA, we cancel people for all sorts of things.
God said, «Michael, don’t be surprised. Offense is the currency of our culture. It’s how people make money!» Do you all know that people see something controversial and promote that instead of the good that happens? Offense sells, and guess who buys it? We do! We’re the ones clicking on things we shouldn’t want to watch, but they have the most views. So what are we teaching people to do? Do more of that! Be more offensive. Go a little more lewd, show a little more skin, try it. What we do is become offended, and God says that’s going to continue happening. But for everyone who calls me King, we have a kingdom, and the currency of the kingdom of God is forgiveness.
This isn’t a new situation. Look at John 18:36. Jesus is talking to the disciples. He says, «My kingdom is not an earthly kingdom.» What I’m doing doesn’t look anything like what’s happening on TMZ or the Shade Room. My kingdom is not of this world. As a matter of fact, if it were, my followers, my goons, my gangsters would have fought to keep me from being handed over to the Jewish leaders. He was saying, «If we were like you, if we responded culturally, there would be riots in the streets!» Just imagine all the disciples coming out saying, «Do you hear what I’m saying?» But the reason Jesus said our response is not the same is that we don’t belong to your kingdom. Someone needs to hear me say this distinctly: what you want is what everybody wants: heavenly rewards with earthly responses. Jesus says, «That’s not how it works!» He said, «My kingdom is not of this world,» and that’s why we must understand forgiveness and offense. We need to learn about these two things so they don’t easily sway how we live our lives because no matter what we deal with internally, we still have an enemy.
The enemy—the devil, Satan, whatever you want to call him—has an agenda for your life. Let me help you understand this. I heard Pastor Stephen say it, and I’ve tweaked it a bit. I want you to see it. He said, «The enemy’s agenda is destruction.» Write this down: I’m giving you the cheat code to defeating the enemy. The enemy’s agenda is destruction. John 10:10 says he comes to do nothing but to steal, kill, and destroy. He wants to destroy our families, our purpose, our faith, and our hope. That is his agenda, but his strategy is division. Now, I need you to hear me on this because every team facing one another has the agenda of winning. If I’m playing basketball against another team, everyone wants to win; that’s the agenda. But the difference between winners and losers is strategy. What you try to do against your opponent is learn their strategy. Many people do not know the enemy’s strategy for your life, and I’m going to tell you today: his strategy is division.
All the way back in the garden, we never see the devil until Adam and Eve are there. When unity comes into the picture, that’s when the fight begins. That’s why he’s fighting your marriage so hard, why he’s fighting you and your children, and why he’s fighting you and your business partner. Where there is unity, the Bible says there’s a commanded blessing, so what would be the enemy’s strategy to win? Let me divide them. Let me make that husband fall more in love with video games than his wife. Let me make that wife love the children more than her husband. Let me divide the church by making them Democrats and Republicans. Oh, you didn’t think I was going to talk about it? Let me go ahead and divide the Bride of Christ by making it black church, white church, Hispanic church, and Asian church. Yeah, let them feel good about themselves, but I’m winning in the background because my strategy is division.
That’s why at Transformation Church, I don’t care where you come from. The staff, the team, everyone—white, black; I don’t even know any other colors: red, green, tall, short, big. I don’t care who you are. If you breathe and you are God’s creation, you are called to be a part of this. Even if we don’t like the same music, we don’t vote the same, and even if I like fried chicken with hot sauce and you like pumpkin pie instead of sweet potato pie, all I’m saying is that God says we are family. If we fight for unity—y’all better help me right now—if we fight for unity, then we defeat the strategy of the enemy.
So if the agenda is destruction, the strategy is division, there’s a tactic. This is the difference between people who just like to play and those who live for the game. Everyone’s agenda is to win, and people have strategies to stop the best player. But then there are tactics: what I do in every interaction to throw them off their game. The enemy’s tactic is offense. I’m trying to give you the whole playbook: his agenda is destruction, his strategy is division, but his tactic is offense. I know many of us would say, «Well, dang! If people wouldn’t offend me, then I wouldn’t be offended, Pastor Mike!» But in this world, you don’t get to live without people. Even the disciples were talking about this because they lived in an age kind of like we’re living in right now.
Matthew 24:10 says, «Then many will be offended.» People are going to be offended when I post this message. I don’t even understand it! I can get up on Sunday morning and say, «Everybody is loved, Jesus is good, and I’m sending everybody a hundred dollars,» and on YouTube during the week, there’ll be 30 critics giving thumbs down. Who are you, and why do you put thumbs down on good things? This is good news! But they’ll say, «I love you; thumbs down,» because it may have been the jacket I wore that offended somebody. Or it could be, «Why would you spend all this money on LED screens when there are homeless people outside?» They will make up reasons to be offended. You don’t even know what we did for the homeless community this week, but if you don’t know, you’ll create a reason to be offended.
That’s why Jesus tells us to pay attention. He says, «Many will be offended.» I need you to understand why it’s important not to be offended as my disciple because offense leads somewhere. It says many will be offended, and then they will betray. So offense turns into betrayal. Once they betray one another, they will start hating one another. My little offense turns into me betraying someone, which becomes hate in my heart. Then it says because you’re offended and you’ve betrayed those you loved or your Christian faith, you will start to hate a group of people or a person who hurt you. Then you start listening to false prophets because anyone who’s offended wants to find agreement. You begin listening to people who aren’t speaking God’s word to you; they’re false prophesying over you. They’ll say, «It’s okay to be mad at them; they deserve it!» That’s why you need to be very careful about who you’re listening to.
You can be in offense thinking you’re right, but it’s all false. That’s what happens: offense turns into betrayal, betrayal turns into hate, hate turns into listening to false prophets, and then you shall deceive many. The constant faith built on the wrong thing lands you in deception. Now I’m deceived, going around telling others it’s all good to be this way. Now I’m making statements like, «This is just the way I am; take it or leave it!» Doesn’t your Bible say to love everybody? We start taking pieces without the principles. And it says, «Because iniquity, the inward heart posture, shall abound.» This is the problem: the devastation of offense ends up with the love of many waxing cold. When your heart grows cold, you stop caring about everybody.
Offense is the thing that leads to a cold heart. Alexa, cue «Ice Box» by Omarion! Some of y’all might be too young for that, but he says, «There’s an ice box where my heart used to be.» Literally, for many people, that’s what happens because of offense; you no longer have a heart of compassion, a heart of joy, a heart of love. It’s because you let offense turn into deception, which then made you listen to false prophets, and now there’s hate in your heart. Now your heart is cold.
And the reason why this is a problem—I told you I’m going to teach you today—the reason it’s a problem is because Jesus says this in John 13:35. This is again going back to the plan, agenda, and tactic of the enemy: «By this, everyone will know you’re my disciples if you love one another.» The enemy’s whole plan is to offend you to the point where you have a hard heart and will no longer love because it’s the only proof that we actually know Him. So when you go around telling people, «You don’t mean forgiveness,» that’s in your heart. You no longer care about people, and you throw people away. If there’s no mercy for anybody, the enemy is sitting back with all his demons and imps saying, «Yes! We got them! We put our plan into place, and we’ve divided them! We distracted them! We got them to actually fall for the offense, and now we win!»
Let me show you a real picture of this. See, offense starts very, very small. It starts with one thing. «You forgot my birthday.» And this is what it is: you’ve known me too long; you know how much my birthday means to me. So I’m going to dig into that. It’s all good because I still have space to roam and be used. By God, I am able to walk in my purpose, come to church, and say hallelujah—glory to God! Some of you are in marriages right now, and offense has arisen because you haven’t talked to me correctly, and your tone was off. We’re feeling offended, but it’s okay because we can still act like we love each other, stay married, and navigate good days and bad days.
So what we do is learn to live with the offense. The problem is that other issues arise because I work at a job where I’m the only Black person present. They frequently make little racist remarks, saying things like, «Oh, you like watermelon, don’t you?» or, «You’re tall and Black, so you must play basketball.» Okay, my white friends, do they really say that? «You pastor that big church over there; wow, you must know some really good people, huh? Don’t you ever come to this lovely church?» Now I’m offended. What happens if they’re in a state of offense, and they end up offending others, leading me to feel offended by their comments? In this multi-ethnic, multi-generational church, all I want to put outside the building is, «Black Lives Matter!»
Your offense doesn’t consider your authority or platform. So when you get offended, you bring your whole self to every situation. This is why, as believers, we must watch what we allow to offend us. Yes, it hurts, yes, it’s frustrating, but if you do not check the offense at the door, you start to build a barrier to your purpose. Some of this started when we were kids, some when we were older, but remember when I said last week that offenses are either picked up or put on us? Many people are currently suffering pain and frustration because of offenses put on them. «My dad left me,» «My siblings didn’t treat me right,» «Everyone in my family keeps excluding me.»
For some reason, I picked up offenses that I thought I could handle, but there were also offenses placed on me—like that molestation that occurred at my cousin’s house when I was just trying to watch cartoons. Now, it feels as though the walls are closing in on me. The offenses I picked up now have company with the offenses that were put on me, and I still seem okay because I can fake it. I can step out of it now and then and act like everything is fine, but I can’t love or trust anyone over here. As long as I have a little access, that’s what happens. Then I get a friend who said they would never tell anybody what we did that night in Vegas. We all know the saying, «What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.» But that fool is going to spill everything we did at the Mirage Hotel, and I ended up losing the girl I thought would be my wife because he spilled the beans.
Now I’m offended, and he’s offended over the truth. I need to pause here because some of us are offended by things we should have been caught for; we’re offended about our offenses, and we’re offended because we did something wrong, and then they found out. We want to blame the person who inadvertently exposed us. What are you talking about, deception? Let me refer back to the scripture: many shall be offended, then they will betray one another, and hate one another. Then they will start listening to false prophets, and false prophets come through music too. Your favorite rapper, R&B singer, rock star, country singer, or pop star may be your false prophet. It could be images and ideas that align with your offense. Faith comes by hearing—the Word of God brings good faith—but if you listen to anything else, your faith might grow in that direction. It goes on to say that many will be deceived.
Now, because this friend told the truth about me, I will only align myself with people who engage in similar behavior. Now I’m offended because my kids don’t check on me like they should. As a mom, I did everything for them, and now I’m walking in this offense. At that last church, they didn’t use my gifts and talents. The pastor talked about wanting us to be in our purpose, but my purpose is as a praise and worship leader, and they didn’t even listen to my song. I’m offended! So at the next church I go to, I’m going to make them discover who I am. I’m so offended that now, at this next church, I won’t give; I won’t sow; I won’t do anything but sit there, making them prove to me that I should be a part of their church.
Oh, you don’t think we get emails like that? But it’s not really us; it’s the offense. Slowly but surely, the offense starts to build a prison of unforgiveness. I’ll say it again because this is a picture of many of our lives. You’re going to Target, looking cute, shopping on Etsy, flossing in front of your friends, making it happen at soccer practice, and doing all these great things while God sees you like this. Everybody else sees you doing everything you can do, but He knows there are levels He can’t take you to because of the offense you’re trying to carry with you. Then there are offenses that happen unexpectedly. For me, 2020 has been incredibly offensive.
Can I get some hands in the chat from anyone who has felt super offended in 2020? By COVID-19? That is offensive! By all the racial injustice? That’s offensive! On the other hand, being told you have white privilege? That’s offensive too! All these things from the political realm to the suffering of people, and the color of their skin, to the movements happening and job losses? I’m offended! I can’t stand 2020. Why did it happen to me? What ends up happening is that 2020 has barbed wire around it. It may not be 2020 for you; it could be anything you want it to be. But what you don’t understand is that these situations have left me with a little space to be used by God. They’ve only left a narrow space for me to actually pray, hear from God, and receive a song from Heaven—just a little space! Everything else has kept me trapped in a prison of unforgiveness. And now you’re going to ask me to pray for the president? You must be crazy! Oh no, my offense has prevailed. Some offenses are hard to let go of. «Oh no, no, I’m not letting that go! I remember what they did to me.»
Now the space for God’s presence in my life is getting smaller and smaller. What happens is that we cry out, «If you can use anything, Lord, you can use me"—but He says, «Could you take down some of the offense so it’d be easier for me to use you? I can’t even bring you into a white boardroom because as soon as you walk in and see everyone is white, your offense will keep you from the purpose I sent you there for.» I’m just saying, I don’t know what your offense is, but I promise you it’s keeping you from your purpose. Then the offense comes because I did make a mistake. Yes, I watched pornography; I did it, but I never forgave myself. One of the worst offenses you can commit is against yourself.
That’s why sexual immorality—y’all know what the Bible says about that—is unique. It’s the only sin that offends you. The reason you can’t just «Netflix and chill» and sleep with anyone is that you can end up not just climaxing but also incurring more offense. Was it worth another bout leaving you further from your destiny and purpose? This is what most of the church looks like; we resemble Wilson from *Home Improvement*. Remember that show? We look like Wilson trying to do the will of God trapped in the prison of unforgiveness. In this moment, God sends someone into my life to love. «Hey Charles, I need to mentor you.» God sent you here for that purpose, but only stay this close because the last person I mentored left me, and I’m still offended by what they did. So hopefully, we can have a hug like this. I hope I can be transparent; I hope you get what you need because I’m still locked up in the prison of offense.
Now I’m going to send you to your next assignment unprepared because I couldn’t let go of the offense from someone who wasn’t even you. But God, however you want to use me, whatever you want to do with me, Lord. However, people aren’t able to see the real you because of who and how you’re offended. Then God sends someone else into my life. He sends someone who is supposed to be a father figure, since I grew up without my dad. When they attempt to correct me, I feel challenged. Y’all both come up here to mentor me! I need guidance and fathering, but they can only get a piece of me. «Hopefully, we can have a pure relationship,» I might say, but I’m still very offended. Some of the offense I created, and some were put on me, but I’m still trapped. Then Amberly comes along.
God sends me someone I’m supposed to hire. I’m leading this huge organization and need diverse individuals that reflect our community because being a multi-ethnic church isn’t just what we do on Sunday mornings; it’s about what occurs in the boardroom and behind the scenes. So, «God, send me the right people.» Then George Floyd’s incident happens, and on the same day, I’m interviewing you for an executive position. So when God answers your prayer but you’re offended, I need to talk about how it feels when He sends the right thing, yet because of my offense, I now perceive it as the wrong package. I want to forgive white people, Amberly, and I want to hire you, but I’m not sure.
If I let my offense—oh snap, that cut my clothes; it just sliced my finger! Are you saying the very walls I built to protect myself can end up harming me? Are you saying what once served me can now damage me in another season? I’m preaching right now! Are you telling me the offense I hold onto from my family and my big mama and my cousin can become the prison that hinders my purpose? My prayer for you is that we will no longer be trapped in the prison of offense. I speak, by the power of the Holy Spirit, that through this series, the grace of God is about to enter your life, and piece by piece, you will start to eliminate the offense. Piece by piece, you will say, «I forgive you, Dad,» «I forgive you, co-worker,» and «I forgive you, person that cut me off.» Because you need liberation from all unforgiveness! I feel something rising up within you because you believed you would be condemned to live in this prison for the rest of your life. But I came to tell you that there is grace for you—grace for everything you’ve experienced, grace for everything imposed on you, and grace for what you’ve picked up.
Someone is about to be set free in this place! I feel the presence of God saying my offenses will no longer be my prison. If you believe this, say, «I’m getting free!» Say it again: «I’m getting free!» One more time: «I’m getting free!» That’s why we can’t be offended—that’s why we should lay down and cast away our offenses. The strange thing is that even though everyone may shout and rejoice today, after this, you can return to this prison and begin picking up more offenses. I’m just trying to tell you this is why it is a fundamental aspect of faith. Even if all of these offenses go away, they can come right back—one post, one lie, one misunderstanding.
I’m picking up another offense, and today God is saying I need you to see that the prison of offense has to be something that’s watched. This word is something a lot of church people don’t like to say: managed. You have to ask the Holy Spirit to help you manage your offenses because they will keep you trapped in places that God never wants you to be. Can I give you a couple of scriptures on offenses? Proverbs 18:19 says, «A brother offended, everybody say offended, is more unyielding than a strong city, and quarreling is like the bars of a castle.»
When you get an offense between the people you’re supposed to love, it’s fortified; it becomes what I just displayed for you: a prison. It is stronger than the walls around a city, and it is unyielding. That’s why people die, and at the burial of the open casket, they talk about how much they forgive, yet they have decades of dealing with the offense. That’s why I’m begging you to walk in forgiveness. It’s not for the person outside of this; it’s for you that’s trapped inside of it. God says, «I want to tell you to go to the nations,» but offense has been created by your offense. Today I’m asking you: could you put your offense under construction? That’s what the rest of this series is going to be: «My offense is under construction.»
I’m pulling up stuff and laying it down. How can I do that, Pastor Mike? Because there was a man 2,000 years ago who took every offense and put it on a cross. I would offend Him, and you would offend Him; we all offend God. Read the Bible: all have sinned and fallen short of the glory. Some people have walked in alternate sexual lifestyles; other people have cheated on their wives in their hearts but not with their hands. Others have told little white lies, which there is no such thing as, but God took all the offenses of humanity and said, «I’m going to go ahead and put all their offenses on Me.» The offense of racism, the offense of political lies, and the offense of a family member: I’m going to take every one of them, and I’m going to die on the same tree that creates fences. I want them to have a reference all the time that every offense they could build, I died on the same thing so that they could walk free from offense.
Today, what Christ did for us—how He dropped the offenses against us—He’s asking you to do the same thing: drop the offense. I know that’s hard; I know it’s going to hurt for a long time, and you don’t know how you’re going to do it. That’s why I’m here. Through the power of the Holy Spirit and in God’s Word, we’re going to figure out how to let go of offenses and walk in forgiveness. You need to write this point down: offense builds the prison of unforgiveness. I see hundreds of thousands of people right now trying to move around in a contraption like this, and God is saying, «Give it to Me.» How do I do that, Pastor Mike? We’ve got to go back to the fundamentals; we’ve got to get into the Word of God.
How many times am I supposed to forgive? This is one thing you’ve got to understand: when Jesus said 70 times 7, it wasn’t about keeping score; it was about losing count. He said, «Forgive like 70 times seven.» How much is that? «Hold on, was that my 332nd time forgiving or my 300th?» He wants you to lose count; He wants you to get in such a habit or afford it to become fundamental that when the pressure of life is on—when everything is on the line—you go back to forgiveness. «I don’t even know how I got in this. Oh, but I’m going to forgive. They don’t deserve it, but it’s fundamental because I’ve experienced it, so I’m going to give it away.» You’ve got to get into the Word of God.
Look what Proverbs 19:11 says: «Good sense makes one slow to anger, and it is his glory to overlook an offense.» When you let an offense go, you are walking in glory. God, show us your glory. He says, «Show me your glory; show us your glory, God.» He is asking you the same thing: if you would overlook your offense, forgetting about that one time you messed up, not being the father you were supposed to be but now trying to be. If you could let go of that offense, that’s why we have to put our offense under construction. My last point is because every one of these things I’ve built—offense must always change from the inside out. I can’t tear these down from the outside in; I’ve got to do it from the inside out.
Now there’s more room to roam. Now there’s room for change! Oh, but this is where community comes in. See, I’ve built offenses; I need my community. I need my community to come in. What I say is, «Hey, I did the wrong thing, but I need you to help me roll this out of my life. I really thought I would be able to hold this stuff, but I need y’all to take this stuff and help me.» I need to confess to you, Emily, I need to confess to you: yeah, I almost tripped over my offenses because I almost wanted to put it back up again. But I need to confess to you that I do talk about white people, but I don’t want to anymore. I need to confess to you, Charles, that the last person that hurt me is no longer in my life, so I’m not going to hold you responsible for what they did.
What ends up happening is we find ourselves in a space where we can really say, «If you can use anything, Lord, anything you want to do, I’m available. I have nothing keeping me in anymore. It did hurt; it did define a moment of my life, but no longer will I stay in this place of offense. The prison of unforgiveness will no longer keep me in. I’m going to walk in my purpose.» If that’s you right now all over the world, I feel the presence of God moving right now. Somebody needs to say, «God, I’m available to You.» That just needs to be your desire right now: «Lord, I’m available. I want to be available. You’re going to have to help me tear down the fence of offense. You’re going to have to help me get out of this prison of unforgiveness, but God, it’s what I desire. I want to be available to You.» Lord, I’m available to You. Somebody needs to make this your prayer: «My will I give to You. I’ll do what You say do. Use me, Lord, to show someone the way and enable me to say I don’t want to stay like this.» God said, «My storage is empty, and I am available to You.»
Right now, all over the world, if that’s your prayer—that you know you are in a prison of offense right now, whether it’s with people you’re in the room with, people you haven’t seen in decades, people you’re going to work with tomorrow, or people you even birthed out of yourself—if there’s offense, and you want prayer, if you want God to start that work in your heart right now that allows you to begin to lay down the fences, I want you to lift your hands. Yes, right now—in your home, in your car, watching on rebroadcast—lift your hands right now. I’m about to pray that God will begin a deep work in your heart.
Father, in the name of Jesus, come on, hands lifted all over this world. I declare and believe You are giving us the ability to lay down the offenses. Holy Spirit, the offenses have hurt us; these things have defined us for years. Father God, today I’m asking by Your Holy Spirit that You would begin to tear down the walls we picked up and the walls that were put on us. In the name of Jesus, I declare that the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross gives us the ability to let it go. God, I’m asking You that we would be able to forgive. Father, You’d give us the desire. For some of us, Father God, we haven’t even had the desire, and today that seed was planted. I serve notice on the enemy that he will not be able to steal the seed that went in today, that forgiveness will be the fruit of this seed. God, we come to You saying we want to be available.
There are people listening right now that you’ve never given your life to Christ; you’ve never received forgiveness, so it’s very hard for you to forgive somebody else. Today, I want to give you the opportunity to make the greatest decision of your entire life. I want you to be able to give your life fully to Jesus Christ. «Well, Pastor Mike, you don’t know what I’ve done, you don’t know how I’ve done it.» And God said, «I know. I saw what you did. I was there when you did it.» He said, «I have taken and paid, released you of that debt. Today, all you have to do is receive it.»
So all over the world, it’s the one greatest decision I ever made; it’s the thing that took me from a manipulator, a liar, and someone addicted to pornography, and it turned me into not a perfect man, but a progressing man. Today, God is saying, «I’m giving you the same opportunity. You don’t have to clean up and change everything.» He said, «That’s what I’m for; I’m the great physician. If you’ll give Me your heart, I’ll help you change your habits.» God wants to give you the gift that He paid for so long ago, and that’s the gift of salvation. If you’re saying, «Pastor, I want to be included in this prayer,» because the Bible says all you have to do is confess with your mouth and believe in your heart, and you’re saved, then we start the journey, but your eternity is secure.
Now we’re going to walk out your earthly life in a way that gives Him glory. Today, if you’re saying, «Pastor, add me into that prayer. I want to give Jesus Christ my life. I don’t just want Him to be Savior; I want Him to be Lord,» I want you to pray this prayer with me. For Transformation Church, you all already know: nobody prays alone. All over the world, in England, in Australia, in North Tulsa, in Mississippi, in Minnesota, in New York and Dallas, there are people all over ready to agree with you in prayer. So I want all of us to say this prayer together for the benefit of those coming to Christ. Everybody say:
Lord, today I give You everything—my offenses, my hurt, and my pain. You can have it all. I believe that You lived and You died just for me. And today, I give You my whole life. Change me, renew me, transform me. I’m Yours. In Jesus' name, Amen.