Steven Furtick - The Prison of Offense
Let's continue in this series The Other Half. We believe great relationships still exist. We don't believe that every marriage has to be dysfunctional. We don't believe parents have to hate their kids and kids hate their parents. We believe Christ offers us plenty of wisdom in the Scripture about not only how to relate to him but how to relate to one another. We also believe you can't worship Christ properly and treat people like crap, so sometimes you have to get it right at this horizontal level before the vertical level. Last week I taught you how to put down the magnifying glass and pick up a mirror, because sometimes when you're looking to change something in other people the place you need to start the most is in yourself.
If you don't see yourself correctly, how in the world can you help anybody else with their own issues? You're just going to end up projecting your dysfunctions onto them. You'll be fixing things that are really wrong with you but trying to fix it on the platform of their life. That won't be good. That won't help you stay married. It won't help you make friends. It won't help you raise your children or anything like that. So I want to continue along those same lines today and go back to the words of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount. I want to pick up in Matthew, chapter 5, verses 21-26. I know you're excited to study God's Word today and I'm excited to preach. I want to talk to you about The Prison of Offense. I believe God is going to set some people free today from the prison of offense. I ask that you pray for me as I speak, that I might speak with accuracy in a way that would liberate people.
Jesus says, "You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'You shall not murder…'" This begins a series of six theological upgrades that Jesus Christ has come to reveal. He's taking some wisdom that was passed down and diluted from the law of Moses and he is showing how his perfect wisdom is the fulfillment of what began in Moses. He begins with this idea that long before something happens in our life it happened in our heart. He says, "There's this command, 'You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.' But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, 'Raca…'"
I don't even know what that means, but that sounds like a cussword. It has that hard consonant in the middle. If you say that to your brother and sister, you are answerable to the court, or the Sanhedrin. "And anyone who says to a brother or a sister, 'You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of hell". That kind of scares me, because I've said some worse things than "Raca" and "You fool". I don't want to go to hell. He said, in the knowledge of this, that what starts in the heart doesn't stay in the heart, what starts as a thought and turns into a word can actually create a living hell in your life. Do you know you can turn your home into a living hell just by what you allow to access your heart? You really can. You can turn a beautiful relationship into a garbage dump.
In fact, when Jesus says you'll be in danger of the fires of hell, he's not so much speaking of something abstract and theoretical. He's referring to gehenna, which the Jewish people would have been familiar with. It's a place where they used to sacrifice humans. They would sacrifice their babies to the false god Moloch. They abandoned that practice, but they kept it as a garbage dump. It's said that the fires of gehenna never actually went out, so there was always a smoldering fire in gehenna. He's bringing up this place and he's saying that anger within your heart and unresolved conflict in your relationships can make your heart a living hell. (I hope you guys enjoyed the sermon last week. This one is going to be a little different.) There's a reality to be examined here about the progression of offenses in our lives.
Have you noticed that we live in an age of perpetual offense? I mean, everybody is offended about everything all the time. No, I'm serious. I have to pray for 20 minutes before I post anything on Instagram or Facebook, just to think about, "How could I possibly phrase this where I won't offend somebody"? I remember a couple of years ago… This is years ago and I still remember it. I put something on Twitter that I thought was very clever. I was studying a sermon on sanctification, and I was trying to find a way to preach about sanctification that wouldn't put the people to sleep. If I just stood up and said, "I'm going to talk to you today about sanctification," I would lose a lot of my audience that isn't as spiritual as Brad. I was trying to just put it in real terms. God gave me this phrase. He said, "You should live in your sermon. People don't need sermons that smell like a library; they need sermons that smell like real life".
I was so impressed with that thought I put it on Twitter. I said, "Sermons should smell less like a library and more like real life". This lady tweeted me back. She was a librarian. She wanted me to know she was highly offended. She said, "Great, just what I needed: my pastor taking shots at my chosen career and profession. How would you feel if you were a librarian"? Well, lady, I didn't mean it like all that. Just offendable. Christians are the most offendable people on the planet, which is kind of ironic considering that our whole religion revolves around a relationship with somebody who dropped every offense we had committed against him. That's kind of weird to me. I'm serious, man. You have to be really careful. People just get offended. I know I'm easily offended. God is working with me on this. He spoke to me a while back. He said, "The reason it's so hard for you to stay happy is because it's so easy for you to get offended. If you want to make it easier to stay happy, make it harder for you to get offended".
So I'm working on this "becoming un-offendable" project. I want to invite you in on it, because Jesus says that this offense, however it started with your brother and sister, if you entertain it, it creates a living hell. It spirals out of control. Things can spin out of control so quickly you don't even know it's happening. The Enemy's agenda in your life is destruction. "The thief comes to kill, steal, and destroy". That's John 10:10, note takers. His agenda is destruction. "Every good and perfect gift comes from above". God is a giver. The Enemy is a taker. He wants to destroy every good thing God puts in your life. That's his agenda. His strategy is division. Jesus shared with us in Matthew 12:25 that a house divided against itself can't stand.
Abraham Lincoln didn't say that; Jesus said it. Jesus said that if the Enemy wants to destroy your house, the first thing he must do to destroy your house is to divide your house. Are there any newly married couples in church today? Why are you clapping for them? They haven't proven anything yet. Is that pity applause? Are you newly married? How new? A year. That counts. Would you come on the stage? Do you mind? I don't want to embarrass you in any way. Is your wife here? She's not here? You have to sit down. You would have been great too. Anybody here with your wife who's newly married and you guys actually made it to church together today? I'm just kidding. I'm sure she's serving in eKidz. Two years? Yeah, come on, if you don't mind. Let's give them a hand. This is brave. They have no idea what they're getting into. I'm not just going to preach about marriage today, but I figure if I use a marriage illustration I can apply it to every relationship. Stephanie and Dan, good to have you guys.
Let me show you what the Devil wants to do in your relationship. God said the two shall become one. This is exactly what the Enemy wants. Every battle you're going to fight, every argument about the dishes… The Enemy's agenda is destruction. His strategy is division. I don't know if you believe in the Devil or not, but the Enemy is not going to be happy until he sees you like this. What I just showed you… The Bible says marriage is even a picture of Christ and the church. What he wants to do to them he wants to do to this whole church. What he wants to do to them he wants to do to you and your teenager. His agenda is destruction. He comes to kill, steal, and destroy. His strategy is division, and here's his tactic. This is the part I want to preach about. His tactic is offense. Satan has an offensive strategy. If the Devil were not subtle, Dan wouldn't stand for his schemes, but the Enemy is very strategic.
Jesus is giving us in Matthew, chapter 5, kind of a playbook of how the Enemy wants to work in your relationship. I know Dan is not going to let him, but he's going to try. He won't make an announcement. "Hey, I'm coming to kill and steal and destroy". Right now you just spent all that money on the flowers and the dresses and all the groomsmen and all that stuff. I know it has been a couple of years, and that's good, because what you see in those first couple of years is that the Enemy will usually start in a small way. If he announced, "I've come to divide," Dan the man wouldn't stand for that. Come on, stick your chest out, Dan. What the Enemy will do is just use the littlest offense. What Jesus is doing in Matthew, chapter 5, is showing us how to deal with the offense so we can keep the Devil on defense. How many want to keep the Devil on defense in your life and in your family?
Come on, church! Last week when I was preaching, I ended talking about you have this plank in your eye and you're so concerned about the little speck in my eye. Meanwhile, you're walking around with your big old plank, just whacking them on the head, causing distraction, division, and all this stuff. It's the contrast between the small things and the big things. There are times that a big offense… There's not a week that goes by that somebody doesn't call me for counsel who's going through a marriage situation, like a divorce or a separation. There's not a week that goes by there won't be another pastor or maybe a situation in the church. I get to talking to them about what happened, and if you can go back far enough you find that every plank is made up of a lot of specks. To me, that's the heart of Jesus' teaching. I didn't read you the whole passage, because I want to break it down and show you how it happens. He said it could be something as small as a word.
The closer the relationship, the greater the opportunity. That goes both ways. The closer the relationship, the greater the opportunity for intimacy. However, the closer the relationship, the greater the opportunity for offense. That's why nobody can make you really mad like somebody you really love. Nobody can hurt you like somebody you've given your heart to. I've asked the question a lot of times of people and really in my own mind… I've seen people who were so loyal to each other and if you would have asked me 10 years ago, "Who is most likely to ever have an enemy relationship"? or "Who's most likely to have a divorce"? or "Who's most likely to not be speaking to each other…"? Some of those very same people… Just in the last year of my life, even, I've watched some things happen that surprised me. Every time you see it, you ask the question, "How did we get here"?
Did you see how big Dan was smiling over Stephanie? They're going to have a great marriage and all of that and it's going to be awesome, but you ask the question, "How could somebody who had that same hope, that same smile, barely stand to be in the room with somebody two kids later"? It happens and there are all kinds of ways it happens. I know there's compatibility and I know it's not always something you can fix. It takes one to forgive, but it takes two to be reconciled. I guess I want you to know that my goal today isn't so much to do an autopsy of anybody's mistakes but just to show you something that happens. It always happens one offense at a time. Yes, there are betrayals and, yes, there's adultery and, yes, there's abuse. I'm not talking about those big things so much today as I am what Jesus was talking about. He said if you get something in your heart against your brother or sister and then you nurse it and rehearse it long enough, it will literally create a smoldering garbage dump of fire in the very relationship that was once a garden of potential and love.
How does this happen? It happens one offense at a time. How did we get here, where we're smiling like everything is okay but deep down in my heart…? We come to church. Nobody sees this stuff when we come to church. Jesus says, "If you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar and get it right with the person it's not right with before you sing a song or pray a prayer to try to cover up the fact that your relationships are under attack". We were singing today in church this beautiful worship song. You should have seen the people singing it. People had their hands lifted. "Mercy is falling, falling"! That's what was coming out of some people's mouths, but if you could see what's going on in their heart… Jesus says it's possible for you to be doing something at an outward level and at an inward level you're full of anger and resentment. "Mercy is falling, falling…except on my husband. He's a jerk"!
If you could hear what was happening in the hearts of people… How do we get here? Jesus says it starts small, but one offense at a time… The Devil wants to tear Dan's heart from Stephanie's heart. God takes the two and makes them one. The Enemy takes the one and makes them two. How does he do it? One offense at a time. God knows I need this message, because I'm not a perfect husband. I give 97 percent of the credit for the happiness that exists in my marriage to my wife; 3 percent is me. I'm pretty proud of that 3 percent. If you put me in the wrong situation I can get offended so quickly, just like on Twitter. There was one woman who went off on me and I still remember what she said three years later. Thousands of people have said nice things to me, but I'm quick to find the offense. We can train ourselves to find the offense and then just overreact. It starts off as "Raca! You fool"! Next thing you know I'm in living hell.
Watch how bad it gets. Jesus said it can get so bad if you don't deal with it, if you don't learn how to deal with this, if you don't deal with the little things, the little foxes… He says if you don't settle matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court… That confused me, because in verse 21 we were talking about your brother or sister. We were talking about somebody you're close to. In verse 25 we're talking about your adversary. I always assumed these are two different people. What if it's not? What if the same person you called brother and sister in verse 21 is the same person who will be your enemy in verse 25 if you don't learn how to deal with offense? It happens. Have you ever thought about that? He says the person who doesn't deal with the offense… It's interesting how he says it.
"If you don't settle matters quickly". That's so powerful. "Settle matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court. Do what you can while you are still together on the way, or your adversary may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown into prison. Truly I tell you, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny". The prison of offense. It all started with "Raca," the small offense. It all started in the parking lot. I was backing out and this guy is honking his horn at me in his pickup truck. This was just a couple of months ago. I took the boys to see the Christian football movie Woodlawn. We're leaving the movie and this guy is hollering at me because his wife wants my parking spot. The problem with his wife wanting my parking spot is she is pulled up so close on my parking spot I can't get out to give it to her, and now that's somehow my fault to this guy in the pickup truck. He offers a course of action to me. "Hey, get out of her way. She's waiting on your spot".
Then I figure out that this is his wife, because I'm putting it all together. I rolled down my window and I said something back to him. It wasn't any profanity or anything like that, but it was a "Raca" type thing that I said, something about his wife's driving skills. You know, something like that, just something insinuating. Then he wants to get out of his truck, and he's not bigger than me, so now I have to get out of my Maxima. I have to, because my boys are watching this and I need to be a good example that if a man gets out of his pickup truck and challenges you, it doesn't matter whether you have an Elevation sticker on your car. You have to handle it. Why are you clapping for me? I'm so bewildered. I got out and I said, "What are we going to do"? It was just a question. I don't know what happened next. I think to this day… I still don't know, because his tone changed dramatically. I don't think he was intimidated by me. I think he realized who I was, because it was right here in town.
I think he put the sticker and the thing together, because all of a sudden he turned real spiritual. He was like, "Well, God bless you, man. We're just all trying to get where we're trying to go". I was like, "Yeah, we are". Around this time, Graham comes out of the car. He's 8. He comes over and stands by me. He said, "You have your boys and I have my wife". I said, "It's cool, man". He got back in the car. When Graham got in the car I said, "Graham, what were you going to do"? Graham said, "I was going to kick him in the shin if I had to". Elijah, my older son, speaks up and says, "Daddy, a better question is what were you going to do"? I said, "Whatever needed to be done, son. I hadn't thought that far about it". He said, "Well, think about it. Let's say you get in a fight in the parking lot of the movie theater. Not only are the news people going to put you on the news, but we might not even ever see you again. We're in the back of the car and maybe they leave us and then maybe you end up in prison and maybe we don't have a dad. Did you think about that"?
I said, "That's right, son. I'm giving you an example of how not to handle a situation". We went and ate some Mexican food. Here's why I told you that story. When you are in these moments (I'm not talking about with somebody in a parking lot; I'm talking about somebody you love), you're not thinking through the fact that this is going to end up with you and me and an attorney sitting down talking about dividing our assets. That's not how division happens. The Enemy's agenda is destruction. His strategy is division, but his tactic is those little offenses. It's Dan and Stephanie, everybody. Two years. We're going to get them to 20. Here's a garden. This represents the love of a relationship and all the potential of a relationship. This, of course, represents the offenses that are going to come into your relationship. You don't have to be married to get a whole lot out of what I'm saying right now. This will apply to anybody in your life who is important to you and show you exactly what the Enemy will try to do.
I was talking to my mom this morning. My mom lives here in Charlotte. She reminded me of this story. This is hilarious. It just shows how offenses can come. The question isn't, "Are offenses going to come into your relationship"? That's not the question. They're going to come. The question is, "What are you going to do with them"? That's what determines whether or not you keep a strong relationship with God, with others, with yourself. My mom was telling me they were at my dad's mom's house, my grandmother's, for Thanksgiving and my grandmother made some stuffing. The way I understood the story, my dad was sitting there eating his mom's stuffing, and while he's eating the stuffing he says, trying to give a compliment to his mom… He's like, "Mm! Mom, nobody make stuffing like you. Other people try to make stuffing, but nobody can make it like you".
While he's saying, "Nobody makes stuffing like you," my mom is thinking, "And nobody is going to make stuffing for you except your mom, so you'd better invite your mom to be your cook if nobody makes stuffing like her". My mom said, "I didn't make that man stuffing on Thanksgiving for the next six years". I said, "Can I tell the church that story? It's a good illustration". She said, "Yes, as long as you clarify that I really do make better stuffing than your grandmother". Now I have you holding that, because he says these unintentional things, because men are stupid and we just say stuff and we don't realize what we're saying. Maybe Dan hasn't done it yet. To me he looks like an intelligent man, but he's going to say something and it will be unintentional in his mind. He's just saying it. He's just saying something. He just says stuff. Or sometimes it's not what they say; it's what they don't do. It's an unmet expectation. That is the breeding ground of offenses in relationships: unmet expectations.
Let me tell you the breeding ground of unmet expectations: unexpressed expectations. You have to learn how to talk to people. Let's say growing up in Stephanie's house birthdays were a big deal, but maybe at Dan's house they didn't make a big deal about birthdays, because, hey, what did you do? You didn't do anything on your birthday. You were just born. So maybe on birthdays at Dan's house nobody celebrates the fact that you just came out into the world like it was some great achievement. But Stephanie wakes up, and her mom used to make her pancakes on her birthday and her dad had a special song he would sing. I don't know. I'm making this stuff up. I've never met Stephanie and Dan before. I was making a scenario. Dan wakes up on the birthday and he's going to take her out to P.F. Chang's that night, because that's her favorite place, but now it's morning time and it's like 7:00 and there are no pancakes and there's no special song and there's no thing.
So now all of a sudden it's the first birthday they've spent as a married couple, and he wakes up and gives her a little kiss and goes to work and leaves her with an offense. You're like, "Well, that's stupid. She shouldn't get so offended over that". Well, you get offended over some stuff too, some little things. It won't just be you offending her. Let's say you're working really hard. This used to happen in Holly's and my marriage. This is an example I did not ask for permission to share. When I discovered that her recreational preference was shopping… Holly would come home on Saturday and she would be energized and she would have bags all over her arms, but to me those bags didn't look like shopping bags; those bags looked like grenades to be launched into our financial picture. Here I am trying to work. She's walking in with all these bags. Then she has the nerve to say, "Don't worry, because I got it on sale". This is what the Devil wants.
Now Dan is trying to fall asleep on Saturday night… Again, I'm just making this up. She handed you this offense. She wasn't trying to offend you. She was just shopping. It was just her thing, but Dan is working. "Doesn't she see how hard I'm working? How does she expect us to get ahead financially? The last thing she needs is another pair of shoes". The Enemy is like, "Yeah, yeah. That's good, Dan. That's good. She doesn't care about you. She doesn't respect you. She doesn't appreciate all that you're doing to provide for her. She's working against you". It's just a little offense. Meanwhile, Stephanie is still stuck on her birthday. It was four months ago. She's still mad about the pancakes. She's over here and she's still nursing that thing about the birthday. Every time she thinks about it, it gets a little deeper. She'll drive it down in there with every thought and reliving it and thinking about what he said and what she did and what they didn't say. "They didn't pay attention to me. They don't appreciate me". It just drives it down deeper.
Marriage is going to give you, because it's the most intimate relationship, and the more intimate the relationship, the more infinite the potential for offense… You're going to have a million little offenses, and if you don't learn how to deal with them… Sometimes the thing you liked about her when you were dating will drive you crazy now that you have to wake up with it every day. No offense to Stephanie. I'm sure she's wonderful. You're like, "Oh, why would you say that about her"? It's true about everybody. Here's how a country preacher said it. He said, "Before marriage, opposites attract. After marriage, opposites attack. Amen".
That's how the country preacher said it. I know it's kind of heavy. That's how offenses are. But it's not all at once. It's just one at a time. Let's say before marriage you liked her because she is mysterious and quiet and that draws you to her, but then in marriage it can go this way, to where it was really attractive that she was quiet and mysterious when you were dating her, but now in marriage she won't ever talk. It's like, "Why won't you tell me what's on your mind"? But that's why you liked her. Before you married him, he was the life of the party. He walked in and he just talked and lit up the room. Now why won't he ever shut up? Dan will not shut up. Shut up, Dan! So what actually was part of building the foundation of the relationship is now offense. It happens a million different ways. The Enemy will give you all kinds of opportunities. You don't realize what's happening, because it's just one little conversation after another. It's just dressing on Thanksgiving.
It's not a big thing. It's just me trying to tell Holly how to drive and her saying, "Well then why don't you drive, if you're such a good driver"? We have a lot of dysfunction in our relationship over what happens in the car, because I can't find my way places and she can't drive. She has a great sense of direction but horrible driving skills. I'm a great driver with no sense of direction. The other night we're driving, coming from a movie, as a matter of fact (not the Christian football movie), and she almost got us killed. I was mad, because to me she wasn't paying attention. We talked about that later and she was like, "Well, if you want to be in control of how the car works, there's a different seat you can sit in". Shut up! Raca! "That's the biggest problem you have"? No, it's not the biggest problem we have; it's just the one I'm going to tell you about. It's none of your business what problems we have.
See, offense by offense, if we don't learn what to do about this, the Enemy would love just one conversation after another… You don't make a decision to walk away from a relationship you love. You don't see them becoming your enemy in Matthew 5:25. It's just one un-acknowledged effort after another. You start thinking, "Well, I'm the only one who ever takes out the trash around here. I guess I'll do it again, like always. No, it's good. I got it. I got it. It's not a problem. I would love to get up with the kid again in the middle of the night. No, it's fine. I know you have to work". What started as just a small offense, now what God joined together is separated because of offense. The crazy thing is Jesus said if you let it get to this point, if you live your relational life on the basis of, "Well, I'm not apologizing first. I apologized first last time…"
If you don't learn how to deal with these things, you find yourself in prison. It's not them you imprison; it's you. "Hey, Dan, why don't we talk anymore? Where did the love go? Dan, we haven't been to P.F. Chang's in three years". You built offense. The Enemy's agenda is destruction, his strategy is division, and his tactic is offense. Thankfully, God has given us another way to deal with offense. If only we could find an example of somebody who had every right to be offended, of somebody who had every right to hold it against us, of somebody who had every right to stand at a distance but opened his arms and said… This is the way of relationship. The Lord gave me a real specific word for somebody who needs reconciliation in your relationship. It's very simple what they have to do if they're going to stay like they started.
If we're going to get back to where we were, we're going to have to learn… This is very profound. This is deep. You're going to miss it. This is what you're going to have to learn. You have to learn to drop it. I don't mean suppress it. I don't mean you don't deal with things after they happen, but after you've had the conversation, "Dan, I like pancakes on my birthday," then drop it. The moment the offense… You can't always control what's handed to you, but you can control what you do with it. So what are you going to do with the offense? You can't choose anybody else's actions. The Enemy wants you to drive it down deep. He wants you to think about it and miss all the reasons the person has worked their way into your life and miss all the things they've done for you, but God says, "Drop it". I believe there are some things we need to drop tonight.
In fact, Jesus said this is so important that if you are in church at the altar offering a gift and a sacrifice but the primary relationships in your life are dysfunctional and need reconciliation, you can't even properly connect with God unless you drop it. What are you going to do when they don't acknowledge you, when they don't notice you? What are you going to do when they are too busy to show you the love and affection but you know they're trying as hard as they can? You have to drop it. I'm telling you, being married, being in a close relationship, is about not how quickly you can get offended but how quickly you can get over it. I want everyone to stand at every location, because I want to pray for some people. I asked the Lord to help me end this message. He said, "You need to pray for people not for what they're going to experience while they're in the church but what's going to happen when they leave".
You can offer a gift at the altar and feel pretty good about it, but what's happening back at home can be a living hell. When I read those words of Jesus, that when you don't deal with the offenses and don't drop the offenses, when you allow it to become resentment in your life… Sometimes reconciliation isn't possible. Sometimes the person you've held the offense against is dead. Sometimes the person isn't willing. Release is always available. Release starts in your heart. Smedes said forgiveness is setting a prisoner free and finding out the prisoner was you. I believe God wants to release some people today from some things you've been holding on to, some things that have been keeping you at a distance, some things that have been keeping you divided.
In these closing moments of our time together today, there are some things, by the power of the cross of Jesus Christ, that God is going to bring to mind, some offenses you've been building in some very important relationships. God is going to begin to demolish your excuses and break down your pride and your walls today and we're going to receive hundreds of testimonies from the word that went forth today of a process of reconciliation and healing that began between husbands and wives, between parents and children, between friends who haven't spoken. God says, "Drop it". I feel the spirit of Snoop coming on me right now. I want to say, "Drop it like it's hot". You have to drop it while you can. He said, "Do it while you're still on the way or this won't end well with you".
Unchecked resentment leads to regret, unbelievable regret, and you don't want that for your life. With everyone standing today, I want to ask you a question. If God dropped the charges against you, what offense is there in the universe you can't let go of? It's not just flowing to me. The forgiveness of God flows through me. Because I'm forgiven, I can forgive. I'm not saying that you tolerate abuse. I'm not saying any of that. Here's what I'm saying: offense is an event; offended is a decision. Offense is an event. "They hurt me". Offense is an event. We need to work through this. But to live offended as a believer in Jesus Christ and to stay that way and to live in that place denies the very nature of the salvation you claim to have received. So we want to make some decisions today. If you feel comfortable, would you lift your hands as a sign of release? Nobody is looking at you. Don't even worry about the crowd right now.
Father, in this moment we come before you and we just release. First of all, we acknowledge our own part. Sometimes we are so quick to see the ways we've been offended and we miss the ways we've offended, so we open our hearts to you and we thank you for grace and we thank you for mercy. We lift our hands in your presence, because we want to be free. We lift our hands in your presence, because we don't want to withhold anything. We want to be right, so we offer our gift on the altar, but, God, we ask would you do a work in us? Some of us have some stuff happening back at home and in our hearts and in our relationships that is killing our joy and killing our peace, so we've come into your presence today not just to sing a song or to hear a sermon but to be changed at our core. We have some things we need to drop.
With your hands still lifted in the air, I want you to ask God in your heart, "Is there anything I need to drop? Is there something I need to drop? Is it a decision I need to make in my heart to never bring it up again? Is it a conversation I need to have to work through it? What do I need to drop"? Keep your hands lifted. Do you feel how the blood is flowing out of your fingers and your hands? That's what it feels like when you hold on to stuff, when you hold on to offenses, when you hold on to what happened years ago, but if you would drop it… Do you feel that? Do you feel that come all over your body when you finally decided to drop it? I declare that God is going to set some captives free today. You are no longer going to be divided, dying behind offenses, isolated behind offenses.
In the name of Jesus, I declare release to the prisoners. I pray that this message would stay with you, that it would haunt you, that you would see Dan and Stephanie dropping those planks on the stage until you come out from behind every offense that has kept you in prison.
I want to pray before I walk off stage for people who need a right relationship with God. Would you bow your head and close your eyes again? There is someone here who doesn't have that relationship right. When God calls your name and speaks to your heart, it's not a good thing to wait around. You want to get right now. You want to receive grace now. With your heads bowed and eyes closed at every campus, I would love to lead you in a prayer to let you know that everything that needs to be done for you to be a child of God has already been done. Everything that needs to be done for you to be forgiven has already been done. There's nothing you need to earn. There's nothing you need to do. God is the one who changes lives. Today, if you'll reach out for his grace, you will receive it. So with your heads bowed and your eyes closed, we're going to pray as a church family out loud for those who are coming to God or coming back to God. Let's pray together, church:
Heavenly Father, I confess that I'm a sinner and I need a savior, and today I declare that Jesus Christ is my Savior and my Lord. I believe that Jesus Christ died to forgive my sin, rose to give me life, and right now I receive this new life. This is my new beginning. I am a follower of Christ. I will never be the same.
With your heads bowed and eyes closed, on the count of three, if you just prayed that prayer, shoot your hand in the air. Don't be ashamed. Let's celebrate. One, two, three! Shoot them up right now. God bless you. Come on, church, celebrate these people. Celebrate these new lives. Celebrate these new beginnings. Celebrate the mercy of God. How many are grateful for his mercy? Lift your hands!