ARE YOU HOLDING ONTO OFFENSE?
ARE YOU HOLDING ONTO OFFENSE?
Sunday, February 16, 2020, the Year of Our Lord
Pastor Carolyn Sissom
This week the Holy Spirit has been speaking to me about Christians who are carrying offense whether it be husband and wife; brothers and sisters; ministers offended with other ministers; denominations offended with other denominations; church members offended with each other; or being offended with sons of Belial (worthless, good for nothing, unprofitable, base fellow, wicked.)
I believe we are in the early stages of a season of “Harvest.” Baby Christians will need to be discipled by seasoned and mature Christians. If the “Church” is harboring offense for past wrongs, woundedness, rejection, trials, tribulations, and failures of our loved one and each other, then we will impart that offense to young Christians.
Pro 18:19 - A brother offended is harder to win than a strong city,
And contentions are like the bars of a castle.
Mat 24:10 - And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another.
In the Holy Writ, here are many different Hebrew and Greek words used for “offended” and “offense.” Today’s message is to those harboring an offense known and unknown against any.
G4624 (Skandalizo): to put a stumbling block or impediment in the way, upon which another may trip and fall… to offend
· to entice to sin
· to cause a person to begin to distrust and desert one whom he ought to trust and obey
· to cause to fall away
· to be offended in one, i.e. to see in another what I disapprove of and what hinders me from acknowledging his authority
· to cause one to judge unfavorably or unjustly of another
· since one who stumbles or whose foot gets entangled feels annoyed
· to cause one displeasure at a thing
· to make indignant
· to be displeased, indignant
If we are harboring offense against anyone, we are not able to minister the love of God and the righteousness and peace of His Kingdom to others. We will minister our anger and issues. We become the stumbling block to cause other people to stumble. Baby Christians will take on our offense.
We can ask how do we let go of offense? It will always be through obedience to God, His Word, and His way. We act in obedience because of our love for God, trust and faith in His acts, not ours or anyone else. When we make the decision to obey God, then He brings our emotions and feelings into alignment with His heart of love and forgiveness.
· Believe God
· Trust God
· Obey God
· Feelings and emotions come into alignment with God.
· Happiness, joy, peace and love replace anger, unforgiveness, and hatred (enmity).
As in everything in our walk with God, we make the choice. Do we choose the joy of a pain free life of obedience and peace or do we persist in our stubborn rebellion to accept God’s revealed will which, if we obey, will deliver us into His glory?
Many try to forgive over and over, but they have not given up their offense. Obedience is death to the indignation of the flesh to receive the Lord’s best in the realm of the Spirit.
Offense becomes enmity:
"Enmity" and its synonyms "hostility," "animosity," and "animus" all indicate deep-seated dislike or ill will. "Enmity" (which derives from an Anglo-French word meaning "enemy") suggests true hatred, either overt or concealed. "Hostility" implies strong, open enmity that shows itself in attacks or aggression
If we continue to retain offense in our marriages, families, churches, and government, we are living in the realm of the carnal mind i.e. carnal soul. When we permit enmity to enter our soul then true hatred either overt or concealed takes over our soul and we are no longer living in the realm of the Spirit. Satan tries to ensnare us (the Church) into this trap.
Rom 8:6 -11: For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. The carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So, then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man has not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwells in you.
Christian if you are offended, you are separating yourself from the blessings of the Kingdom. If you received Jesus Christ as your Savior, you are saved; but there is more. You can choose to be redeemed from the enmity of offense. Your offense can be a stumbling block to others, as well as block your blessings. It is not worth it to hold onto that grudge and offense. Offense can become a family curse handed down from one generation to the other.
When our souls are pure, we have unfeigned love for our spouses, family, friends, brethren and enemies. If a person has no power over me to hurt me or cause me pain, they have no power over my soul. I give that power to Christ alone.
1 Pe. 1:22: Seeing you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that you love one another with a pure heart fervently
Unfeigned mean genuine in feeling. sincere stresses absence of hypocrisy, feigning, or any falsifying embellishment or exaggeration. a sincere apology wholehearted suggests sincerity and earnest devotion without reservation or misgiving. sincere, wholehearted, heartfelt, hearty.
2Co 6:6-7: By pureness, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned. By the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armor of righteousness on the right and on the left.
Eph 2:1-3: And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.
I had a dream this week that two of my family members who have struggled with offense all their lives were dead and were raised from the dead. I believe the Spirit of God is moving and has moved in their lives to deliver both of them from the torment of offense. If this is so, then the Spirit of God is moving in His Body to deliver the whole Body from offense known and unknown.
Eph 2:4-8: But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,
Christian you have been saved and forgiven by grace. That same gift of God will give you the glorious grace to be delivered from the pain of offense and enmity through the power of the Blood of Christ.
Eph. 2:13-16: But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity.
The Blood of Christ that forgave each one of us has also broken down the wall of enmity between those who are offended with one another whether husband and wife, brother and sister, denominations, government leaders, church members, ministers and their doctrines. I don't care how right you are; you are wrong if you are carrying offense toward any.
Matthew 13: 18-23: Hear the parable of the sower. When any one hears the word of the kingdom, and understands it not, then comes the wicked one, and catches away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the way side. But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that hears the word, and with joy receives it; Yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while: for when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, by and by he is offended. He also that received seed among the thorns is he that hears the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful. But he that received seed into the good ground is he that hears the word, and understands it; which also bears fruit, and brings forth, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.
The disciples said to him, Master declare unto us the parable of the tares of the field.
- Mat 13:37 -43: Jesus answered and said to them: “He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the wicked one. The enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels. Therefore, as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age. The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!
Carolyn Sissom, Pastor
Eastgate Ministries Church
Scripture from K.J.V.