Carrying An Unoffended Heart (2)

An important facet of loving Jesus and walking with Him is always knowing the condition of our hearts. For in the core of beings is who we really are and shows the true health of our Christian life. This proverb tells us that we must guard our heart with all diligence. Many people spend hundreds and thousands of dollars on security systems for their homes in order to keep those people and things most treasured safe. But I have to ask the question of how many of us are monitoring and guarding our heart with all of our strength? How many of us are daily checking the quality of hearts and their spiritual health? This Scripture tells us that all of life flows from ours hearts, whether that stream is full of life and abundance or murky and toxic.

Today, I am going to speak about carrying an unoffended heart. For offense is a guaranteed way to rob you from the full pleasures of God and living free on the inside. As a shepherd in this house I want to see all of you walking in fullness and experiencing the deep love of Jesus but the poison of offense is a stumbling block that will keep that from happening.

So what is offense? Definition: Annoyance or resentment brought about by a perceived insult to or disregard for oneself or one's standards or principles.

In fact in John chapter 7, Jesus uses a metaphor to describe the Holy Spirit as a river of living water that flows from the heart. If the Holy Spirit is the river of living water that flows then offense in the human heart is the dam that cuts off the river and halts its current.

So what is offense? Definition: Annoyance or resentment brought about by a perceived insult to or disregard for oneself or one's standards or principles.

One of the primary foundations of the kingdom of God is that Jesus’ leadership is good. In other words, Jesus uses His power with perfect love and infallible wisdom. Understanding this foundational truth causes us to be filled with trust in and gratitude for His leadership. B. We are empowered to love Jesus to the measure that we have this trust and gratitude. Satan’s strategy to hinder us from loving Jesus is by accusing His leadership, so as to convince us that He is not loving or wise. We will be hindered to the measure we are offended at Him. Satan tells us we are being mistreated by God. The truth is that He treats us far better than we deserve. C. Many sincere believers have unperceived offense at Jesus’ leadership. The residual effect dulls their ability to love Him. This will be one of the major battlefronts in the end of the age. D. Jesus warned John the Baptist’s disciples to not be offended at His leadership in John’s life. Many are offended at Jesus both for what He does and what He does not do, or what He allows. 2 John had heard in prison about the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples 3 and said to Him, “Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?” 4 Jesus answered … “Go and tell John the things which you hear and see: 5 the blind see and the lame walk [; ]; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them. 6 And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me.” ()

Jesus offends our mind to reveal our heart to cause our hunger to grow and to bring our offenses with Him to the surface so that they can be healed and so we can love Him with all of our heart.

There is a special blessing in trusting Jesus’ leadership before we see the final outcome of a situation. This is the only time in history we can express this aspect of love to Jesus. 29 Jesus said to him, “Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” ()

C. Our confession is that Jesus’ loving leadership works all things for good in our life. Jesus overrules the evil that others plan against us (), as well as our own bad choices. 28 We know that all things work together for good to those who love God. () 4 He brought me to the banqueting house, and His banner over me was love. () E. Our true view of Jesus’ leadership comes to the surface in the context of difficulties and testing.

9 And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment, 10 that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ, NKJV

The Parable of the Persistent Widow

18 And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. 2 He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. 3 And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ 4 For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’” 6 And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says. 7 And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? 8 I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”

-13New King James Version (NKJV)

10 And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. 11 Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. 12 And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. 13 But he who endures to the end shall be saved.

-20New King James Version (NKJV)

19 Joseph said to them, “Do not be afraid, for am I in the place of God? 20 But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive.

-8New King James Version (NKJV)

6 Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture,

“Behold, I lay in Zion A chief cornerstone, elect, precious, And he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame.”[a]

7 Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to those who are disobedient,[b]

“The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone,”[c]

8 and

“A stone of stumbling And a rock of offense.”[d]

They stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they also were appointed.

New King James Version (NKJV)

12 Then His disciples came and said to Him, “Do You know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?”

13 But He answered and said, “Every plant which My heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted. 14 Let them alone. They are blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind leads the blind, both will fall into a ditch.”

Jesus showed that offenses will actually purge those who are not truly planted by His Father.

The Bible does not record that Jesus reacted to any of the men who left Him.

Many of us are changing out circumstances in order to get relief from the inward prison. Outward change can never move a heart of stone hardened by offense.

12 Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God. 13 But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called “Today,” so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. 14 For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end. NASB

1 When Jesus had finished instructing his twelve disciples, he went on from there to teach and preach in their cities.

2 Now when John heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ, he sent word by his disciples 3 and said to him, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” 4 And Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: 5 the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. 6 And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.” ESV

“A brother offended is harder to be won than a strong city,

And contentions are like the bars of a citadel.” NASB

1Then He said to the disciples, “It is impossible that no offenses should come, but woe to him through whom they do come! 2 It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones. 3 Take heed to yourselves. If your brother sins against you, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. 4 And if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times in a day returns to you, saying, ‘I repent,’ you shall forgive him.”

5 And the apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith.” NKJV

7 “Will any one of you who has a servant plowing or keeping sheep say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come at once and recline at table’? 8 Will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare supper for me, and dress properly, and serve me while I eat and drink, and afterward you will eat and drink’? 9 Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded? 10 So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’” ESV

:165King James Version (KJV)

165 Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them.

-17King James Version (KJV)

16 And these are they likewise which are sown on stony ground; who, when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with gladness;

17 And have no root in themselves, and so endure but for a time: afterward, when affliction or persecution ariseth for the word's sake, immediately they are offended.

-61New King James Version (NKJV)

Many Disciples Turn Away

60 Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, “This is a hard saying; who can understand it?”

61 When Jesus knew in Himself that His disciples complained about this, He said to them, “Does this offend you?

66 From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more.

67 Then Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you also want to go away?”

68 But Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69 Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

DENVER, CO STORY

I want to tell a story that I personally experienced related to offense towards God and how he delivered me and set me free from it.

The year was 2010 which was a tremendous year for me and my wife. We were both in what I call a prophetic whirlwind season where God was speaking to us in profound ways and releasing revelation to us about our calling and the ministry He had for us. We were working with Crisis Response International and enjoying wonderful Christian community. I had the opportunity to lead a team to Haiti after the horrible earthquake and saw revival break out and the power of God explode in deliverance, salvation, Spirit baptism, and miraculous healing. I was riding a wave of the glory after this and God continued to speak to Jennifer and I. We launched an international missions organization shortly after coming back from Haiti and were excited to dream with God. Through a series of incredible events and prophetic words we ended up in the continent of Africa that summer and walked out a dream the Lord gave me the previous year. We had the most amazing time of our lives traveling throughout the continent and receiving the Lord’s heart for the orphan and the poor. Jesus spoke to both of us about being parents to those who had none. This led to our first adoption of our two precious boys.

After being in the States for some time after all of this happened I started having health issues. I was consistently having heart palpitations and severe chest pains. Now mind you I was a collegiate athlete and had always been in great physical condition and was a young man in my 20s with no previous history of a heart condition. The doctors and specialists ran a bunch of tests on me and couldn’t find the cause of any of my ailments. So I went on in life with no answers and continued chest pains and problems with my heart.

Fast forward several months, I went to work in Denver, CO for several weeks. I was still having the heart conditions but was excited to have a change of scenery for a bit and see beautiful Colorado. Well little did I know but God set this whole trip in motion as a divine set up. I visited a church unfamiliar to me the first Sunday in Denver and got rocked by Holy Spirit during the message. I couldn’t even tell you what the message was about but God’s Spirit was moving on my heart so strongly and telling me that the reason I was having heart problems was that I was carrying an unrepentant offense in my heart towards God. I went forward at the end of service and kneeled at the front with eyes full of tears and realizing that my heart was full of offense towards God. I wasn’t offended at God because of something bad that happened to me but because of what He wasn’t giving me. The promises He had given my wife and I were not happening in the timing or way I thought they should. What God spoke to us in Africa I wanted to manifest immediately without delay and without difficulties. I was expecting God to bend towards my dream and ways when I wanted it and how I expected it. But I couldn’t force God’s hand or the promises so I hardened my heart and carried an offense towards Him. This spiritual problem manifested itself in a physical heart condition.

But oh for the mercy of Jesus! As I was weeping and crying out to God to forgive me for my offense towards Him and giving Him permission once again to lead my life the way he wanted to, I had one of the most amazing experiences of my life. A woman whom I have never met before or since laid her hand on my shoulder and started speaking to me about the freedom from offense that God was wanting to give me. After she finished I felt Jesus walk up behind me, reach His arm through my back into my heart and physically pull something out of my heart, which I knew to be the offense that I was repenting of. Instantly all of the physical chest pains and ailments vanished and I was filled with a joy unspeakable. This release and joy caused me to start boldly preaching to everyone within my path everywhere I went without hesitation. Later that week at a church-wide worship meeting I was overcome with such exuberant joy that I couldn’t stop laughing. It ended up spreading to the people next to me and then the surrounding aisles. Eventually it interrupted the worship team and swept throughout the entire room and ended with the whole room laughing so hard that the band couldn’t play their instruments anymore because they were laughing so hard. I am here to testify that I haven’t had one heart palpitation or chest pain since and have a heart set free from offense towards God.

Until the time that his word came to pass, The word of the Lord tested him. (NASB)