Offended? Look to the Bible

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man in it. Good to hear all the little ones running around in here. If that distracted you, it’s just because you’re old. Oh, praise God, I love kids. Teenagers. I’m trying to love. You know what? I love? Teenagers to? But I love those little ones, man, it’s so good to have them here.

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Good to see you at this this morning. Say to all those tuning in on Facebook to worship with us. Glad you could do that. I want to say to those of you visiting with us today, it’s good to have you. If this is your first time to wise County Cowboy Church, we’re happy to have you. Glad you chose to worship with us today.

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I do hope you watched a video or something before you came, because you might be in culture shock by the time you leave. Because I don’t hold anything back. I just say it the way it is. I mean, if you hadn’t learned something while ago right there at the last song, my wife was saying, there’s a spirit of hindrance here today.

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Something tender. And I’m like, I know, let’s pray, let’s pray. And then Melissa just turned around and kicked the devil right in the nose. Told the devil to kiss her asphalt driveway. Amen. Y’all get that a minute? Go home. It woke you up. Amen. We don’t pull punches around here. We just tell it like it is, and we preach Jesus like he is.

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We don’t make no, apologies for it. We’re not culturally, politically correct. We didn’t sign up for their subscription, so they can cancel at any time. Won’t bother us at all. Won’t bother us at all. Hey, I want before I preach this morning, and you can take your Bibles and open to Matthew 18, if you like.

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The gator. Come on up here, man. We had two weeks ago. It’s been nearly two weeks now. Last weekend, last weekend, we had our veterans Bible and bull riding camp and man, it was awesome. And Gator shared a little bit about that with you this past Sunday. So I told him this morning to be brief and share something with you.

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But what he’s got to share with you this morning is powerful, because one of the things that has come back this week are testimonies from those who attended, from those who we we did that ministry for. We tried to serve them. Our veterans and a number of them have sent back testimonies this week. And I want you to hear that, because I want you to hear the impact that Jesus made in their life.

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Okay? So God is here with me this morning. Y’all. Jeff told me to try to keep this under an hour, right? Yeah. All right. So I’m going to do my best. Guys, I got I got two people here originally when I was talking with Jeff about this, as you guys can imagine, we did this event last week from Wednesday, essentially all the way up to Sunday.

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And so this whole week, there’s been all kinds of testimonies coming in through, volunteers. It’s come through some of the veteran students that has come through various different organizations that got to witness and be a part of it. And so about every, I think Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, about every hour I was calling Pastor Jeff, like, you got to hear, this is awesome.

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And, he said, well, put it all together and, and, and, and share it on Sunday. So first one, I was going to give you guys one of the veterans, Garrett and I asked his permission to be able to share this, but his story touched my heart. Garrett said, not sure where to start, and hopefully it makes sense.

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Not just rambling on here, but this weekend changed me. It hit me hard. I was like most in the military. I believed in the man upstairs but didn’t walk or know his word. I didn’t grow up going to church or really embracing God other than knowing he existed. When I got out in 2022, I definitely spiraled downhill and tried to find the answer in the bottle.

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We left the military and he’s referring to him and his wife to come home, which is Michigan, and be closer to family to find out that wasn’t really what we thought it was, at all. Last October, we got involved with Kari and Earl Proctor, who owned pro Edge Arena, and they used that to spread the word through bull riding and reach a crowd that isn’t typically in church.

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Our churches up here are nothing like down there for sure. Even then, I started to hear the word, but I didn’t really buy in. When I saw y’all’s flier for the event, I thought, one, no way, I’ll get in, but why not try? And two free bull riding school. But the religion side might be kind of hokey pokey.

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He said. Man, I was wrong. After Jason’s study on day two, I broke and Rick followed me outside and I broke like I never did before. I started to see and believe because how the heck do you explain why you picked me from 1600 miles away to come down and be at the event? Other than it being God’s plan?

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Then I started to realize things that I thought were coincidental probably were something more than that. Not only did y’all show me and make me see, but you also made me believe. I had quite a talk with Jason Saturday and I don’t know where I’m going from here, but I’ve definitely begun my walk and I’m grateful to you guys for that.

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Everything was so heavy and hard, hit hard, but you guys did it in a way that didn’t make me feel like it was being crammed down my throat or forced upon me spiritually and physically. I don’t know the last time I’ve been at such a peace in general and around bulls, it got it got me over my mental block, and it made me fall in love with the word and the sport.

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Again. I’m not sure where to go next in this journey because I’ve found nothing up here like what you guys have going on down there. Between the family and connections. But I’m going to figure something out. My wife and I have already started building a plan to move back down there, like we’ve talked so many times before, but I’ve drug my feet, we will be back and we want to come to Decatur area because you guys have impacted me that much.

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I talked to my wife last night on her drive back and more and more I thought my eyes were open. He said, hey, I just wanted to let you know how grateful I am and the impact of what you guys had on me.

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Guys, in that when that one hit me super hard and I’m like, really, really excited. Mike Lee sitting here in the front row. Because when we did this in 2017, that was almost the exact same thing that happened to me. And Mike was our coach for the Warriors and Rodeo event in 2017. And, the overall experience of coming to this church to help me try to find a relationship, and I envision myself from back then in 2017.

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And what, Garrett’s going through a whole new idea, a whole new process and and inviting God into your heart and inviting Jesus a place to live within you. It’s just crazy. I just feel exactly the same as him. So I wanted to we’ve mentioned quite a few times, Jason segment and, the message that he shared that really impact a lot of people.

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So I asked Jason, Jason, will you come up here? I asked Jason to come and share a little bit with you guys. Just talking about from his perspective. And then I also asked, Joey came to church. I was going to share Joey’s testimony, but I’d like him to do it himself if, if you don’t mind.

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Joey. So.

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Thank you. Ma’am. Thank you guys very much for having me. Thank you to the entire congregation for involving me in the bull Run event. And more importantly, thank you, Gator, for stepping out on faith. You know, I thought back on your journey, and I imagine God spoke to Gator at some point, said, hey, I need you to serve some people and bring some people to me.

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Those people need to be veterans. Great. Not only do they need to be veterans, but they got to be bull riders, right? So that vice gets time pretty quick. And when I sat in that first meeting, to develop the program and the course and things of that sort, I thought the same hesitations in my mind, like, how many bull riders are we going to actually get here that are veterans and that love the Lord, or trying to seek a relationship with God?

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And, it was incredible to just get out of the way, let him work. Right. And a huge testament to you stepping out on faith, Pastor Jeff, supporting the whole entire mission. And obviously bring it on a team that that hope to add value. But as far as that second day goes, in the section that I spoke on, it’s a section I’ve done many times over with many different groups of people, and it’s a section that I teach on.

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It’s called Who Am I? And it’s about finding our identity and our mission and our goals in life. And so oftentimes for the warrior community, we misplace or mis invest our identity and things that our worldly standards we have jobs that are pretty darn cool. We have jobs that change the world tremendously. But when those seasons of life change and those jobs are taken from us, we become disoriented.

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And that disorientation is an incredible opportunity for the devil to start working and starting to plant a little doubt, and then to see those messages and then get to work on us. And before we know it, we’re way down a path that we don’t want to be so. Or that presentation is speaking on spiritual gifts and being quiet with the Lord and finding your way and kind of his mission on your heart here in this world.

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So I had put together, I don’t know what the list was, maybe two, two dozen spiritual gifts on a form. And as I’m developing the curriculum and the Bible study, I’m thinking, well, I’m not going to get through 24 different spiritual gifts, be able to articulate this to the greater good, to where it has some form of lasting impact.

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And God spoke to me and said, hey, why don’t you leave that part to me? I said, perfect, I’ll take a step back. You do your work. And so what we came up with was we gave our our bull riders 30 minutes. They had to stay on the property, but they needed to find a quiet place and they needed to get close to God.

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They could take their Bible. We did allow the cell phones, because finding spiritual gifts in the Bible kind of takes a little bit of work. So we gave them some resources to guide them. And it was 1105 when I cracked the gate. 1105 they had to be back at 1135. So we’re sitting here in a circle, and I had walked around to help some folks here in the building, not knowing what was going on outside in the slightest.

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And about 1135 rolls around, I look at my watch and bring a seat in the house is full, I said, all right, well, I’ll go out on the porch. They’re probably smoking and joke and having a good time. I walk out on that porch and I look to the right, and one of our bull riders was just sobbing in tears.

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And then I looked to the left. Same deal out in the parking lot. Jared’s waving milk. Hey, I need some help. I need some help. So okay, so I walk over to, hey, what’s going on? I’ve got as far as I could with this conversation. Can you help out? I said, sure, well, I continue to walk through the parking lot and you could see God moving and moving and moving.

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And the best way that I could describe it is that we rolled a spiritual grenade into this sucker and let it rip. We knew we want a God move right? Our people, the warrior community, as far as our work ethic and our pace of life goes, we’re pretty heavy on the accelerator and most of us don’t have any form of break.

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And because of that, we don’t get quiet and we don’t spend time in God’s Word and we don’t have those intimate interactions. So instead of me getting up here and blowing hot steam about spiritual gifts and the value of that, we try to create an opportunity where they can speak with the Lord and the Lord can speak with them.

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And it’s fair to say that some hearts were stirred and some growth took place. And I don’t think there was a dry eye in this sucker when it was all said and done. It was an absolute incredible blessing to be the vehicle and the mouthpiece of the opportunity. But again, it goes back to having that spiritual sensitivity and connecting.

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And although I had been tasked with teaching some form of spiritual gifts, God had bigger plans and I don’t have enough ego to stand in the way of that. So it was time to vacate that hole that God work. And I couldn’t have been more blessed for the whole entire opportunity for the weekend. And I can’t thank you enough for stepping out on faith and supporting all of us.

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And there are very few warrior community type events that have that sustained care of who they serve. And I can tell you right now, the culture of wise County, Cowboy Church and the Bull Run Ministry is 180 degrees different, all for the better. And I can’t wait to see what the future brings and excited about the opportunity. I can’t thank you enough.

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Hey Joey, can I get you? Guys, I’m going to let I’m going to let Joey give give his, testimony here about the event. And I hope you guys aren’t tired of hearing about this event, but we are riding this, this high for. This is going to take me forever. It was absolutely incredible. And, like, nothing I’ve seen, but I’m gonna let him give his testimony, and then, I got a side note to share about it.

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Thank you. Thank you. Well, I just, I, want to say, first off is, the Bible says there were two or more gathered, in his presence that he will be. But I want to say now is, look what the Lord has done. Come on now. Hey, let me tell you something. I came here, I, I wasn’t originally coming here.

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I was going to, the bull God to David Berry’s place to go, to go, practice on some bulls and stuff. This thing came up, we ended up coming here, which was a huge blessing. So when I got here, they say it took two days. I think everybody on the first minute, I started talking to Gator.

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I mean, I just, Brother. Closer, closer. Sorry. So I broke down the first minute I got here as soon as I started talking to Gator. But, like I said, I didn’t come here. I mean, I I’ve had some pretty decent accolades and the senior world of professional bull run, but, like I said, those are all worthy accolades.

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I didn’t come here looking for that. I, I came here trying to get closer to God because I was losing my family. So when I got here, like I said, that’s why I came. I came here because I was losing my family. I want to get closer to God. And plus, they had some bull run. So I was going to get to get on some bulls and climb my way back into this deal.

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Just a little back story real quick. I’m not going to go too crazy on it. July, June, June 20th, June 27th. I was, said number one in the world in the legends deal, 50 and over bull riding. I said number three in the world in the PBR. I turned my back on everything I left, I ghost, I ghosted everybody I’m talking about, I walked away, I didn’t want to have nothing to do, I walked away.

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I let bull run from that day to the time I got here was the first time I was back around the bull, back around some cowboys. I told my brother in law sitting right out there. He came with me today. I dragged his butt over here, but I told him, I said since June. So the day I came back and talked to him, we sat in the backyard and we had a good talk and I told him, I said, I’ve been going every day and at the gym, not knowing whether to pull the trigger, work out what to do.

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But it led me here and, now the devil’s under my feet. We’re talking about Jesus in my house. I had an anger issue, and like I said. But now I know that. I know that I know that God, God is real. I know Jesus came to bridge the gap so that I didn’t have to feel this way, and I could take it to somebody and he forgive me.

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And it doesn’t matter what anybody else says, but Jesus is the way, and I know I can take it to him and he’ll forgive me, and I can keep rolling on. And that next minute I can roll right back and be this and be the man that God intended me to be. You know, when I rode in here today, I saw, first person I saw right there, Ricky Bobby.

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I told Ricky Bobby, I said, hey, look what the Lord has done, buddy. And then I so I don’t know what you came to do. I don’t know what you come to do, but I come to clap my hands. I come to start my feet. Hey, I come to show you that it that they did. You can be whoever you want to be.

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It doesn’t matter about the accolades. But if you have Jesus in your heart, I can stand up here and be. I’m a 52 year old crazy man over Jesus now so I can stand up here and act crazy, but let you know that it’s Jesus. It’s Jesus in me that says, I don’t know what you come to do, but I come to stomp my feet.

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I come to clap my hands. I come to praise his name. I come here for Jesus. That’s it baby, I love Jesus and I, and I want to tell you something. I talked to Gator a couple times back there and I said Gator on the second day. I said, Gator. I said, man, I’ve got, I have a background in Christianity or whatever you want to call it.

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I’ve been to, when I was a young man, back in the 90s, I was, I was, I was blessed enough to take a group of kids because I was trying to follow Jesus, but I was one foot in, one foot out. You all know the story. We took him to Brownsville, to the revival. If you ain’t never heard nothing about the Brownsville revival.

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The first time I felt Jesus in my life, I talked to the other day, I said one of the second or third times. I felt him right there. I mean, he was talking right there. I said, Gator, I said, you know what the Bible says? Two more gathered and I started telling the same thing, look what the Lord has done.

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Look what the Lord has done. But that song is in my heart. I sing that song every morning. That’s my brother in law. He gets tired of it. I say, I don’t know what you come to do, but I came to praise the Lord. I come to clap my hands. I come to song my feet because I love Jesus and that’s who’s in me.

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That’s why I’m up here doing this. Not for me, but for Jesus. I love Jesus and I love this church. And I’m glad that whatever path, it led me right back here today, right here today, I thank this. I think Jesus is all Jesus baby. Thank you. Get.

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So. Right. I was I was going to show and I was going. Hang on Joey Joey Joey Joey I was going to share you a little bit of insight. So this bull riding clinic, we only had 17 spaces is the max capacity that we could hold. First, I think I share with you all the first four days it like it maxed out.

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I was like, this is crazy. Then we had, enrollments kept coming. We were up like 25, and I kept trying to figure it out. So like, it was Sunday before the event or Monday, Sunday or Monday, Joey reaches out on Facebook and he’s like, I’m going to get an entry in. And I was like, yeah, well, what are we going to do?

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Like I, I give him the max. I mean, there’s nobody else I can put in here right after your entry comes in, one of the other veterans called and he’s like, hey, I know it’s Tuesday before the event and I can’t make it. I’m gonna call Joey and just have a conversation with him. And then you were there.

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And then after the first time that we got to talk, it was clear God wanted you to be here. I hope that other veterans doing all right, but I’m so glad you came. My brother. I’m going to be under an hour. Okay. All right. Thank you guys for letting me share about this event. But I in my heart, it was, it’s this body.

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It’s this body of Christ that made this event possible. And so sharing these testimonies with y’all, I hope this brings light to you. I hope this gives pep in your step and and, guys, this wouldn’t be without y’all, right? And I really hope this that you’re encouraged with the impact that was made. There’s just so many.

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You know, three conversation points, three stories. But I can tell you there’s over 20 of them coming through of how this changed my life, how interacting with this body of church I didn’t feel judged, but now I feel closer to the kingdom. I feel closer in a relationship. I learned so much and a lot of them. A lot of people are saying, I don’t know where to go from here.

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My world has been turned upside down, right? And we’re still connecting, we’re still engaging, and we’re still helping them grow more further, closer to the kingdom of God. And so I just wanted to say thank you guys for allowing us to do that here. Thank you for volunteering and being a part of it. And, I hope you guys are, filled up with this just like we are.

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I know I am, so thank you.

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Amen. Well, some would say, let’s take a break, but I’m going to say Master gas. Amen. All right, y’all, take your Bibles to Matthew chapter 18. Isn’t that good? I told you, it’s going to be good time when you hear how God has used our church. Use this ministry, to reach others. It is. It’s amazing. If you get your Bibles, look at Matthew chapter 18, and I’m going to share as fast as I can this morning with you something that every one of us deal with and something that I can speak to you from experience.

00:21:52:09 – 00:22:23:15
She. Matter of fact, there are few things in this life that I would consider myself an expert on. There are few things in this life I would consider myself a professional on. But this subject I’m pretty sure I’m really close to being an expert expert expert, an expert on this issue, and that is being offended. Being offended. I don’t want to ask you to raise your hands, because I don’t want to see how many liars are in here today.

00:22:23:20 – 00:22:48:18
But if I were to say, how many of you have ever been offended, most everybody in here would raise their hand because offense is something that Satan will use to destroy you. He will use it not only to destroy you personally, but to destroy relationships that are meaningful to you. How many of you know you can’t buy relationships?

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Oh, I know theoretically you can buy a relationship, but as soon as the money runs out, so does the relationship that meaningful relationships, the ones we all value in our lives, the type of relationships that you want to live the rest of your life with, whether that be a spouse, whether it be friendships, whether that be someone in church, you, you meet, church, family.

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And by the way, I hope you get to know each other in church because we’re family. You say, well, I don’t like somebody in church. You might be out of luck because they could be your next door neighbor in heaven. You ever thought about that? The Bible says God’s building us mansions up there, and if you got somebody.

00:23:26:18 – 00:23:43:22
I’ve never understood this, by the way, and I’m not preaching yet. So start your clock. I’ve never understood why Christians couldn’t get along in on Earth, but they’re supposed to go to heaven and live forever together. And I’m thinking, I think the way the Lord gets, even with some folks, he’s going to make them next door neighbors.

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Somebody say Amen right there. And you, you don’t like one of your brothers or sisters in Christ? Well, you might better get over it, because, the Lord might just put you right next door to him, and you have to live eternity right next door to him. Wouldn’t that be something? So I’ve always wondered why we and I include myself in this get offended so easy and I want you this morning to go with me in the scriptures.

00:24:09:12 – 00:24:28:22
And let’s read what Jesus had to say about this, because he had a lot to say about it. And it’s very vital. It’s very important to us not only in our relationships, in our families, or in our church, but every relationship we have. And I’m going to share some points with you that I hope will help you. So, I normally don’t preach with notes.

00:24:28:22 – 00:24:50:00
I’m not a note preacher and normally just go too fast to even look down to read. But, I’ve got a few notes. I’m going to share with you this morning. And so if you take notes, this would be a good sermon to do that in, because what I have to say, I think will help you in Matthew 18, if you look with me at verse number 15, Jesus is speaking to his disciples.

00:24:50:00 – 00:25:20:15
He’s speaking to a group of people that are gathered around him, and he’s teaching a very, very powerful principle here. Have you ever wondered what would have made the disciples, the apostles, the ones we look back to, those original 12 or -1 Judas and you’ve got 11. What made those guys the the men that they were, what made them the church leaders?

00:25:20:15 – 00:25:46:01
They were. I can promise you, it came with some ups and downs, some rollercoaster moments in their lives. Imagine following Jesus himself, like in person, I follow Jesus, you follow Jesus. I have the Holy Spirit, but so far I haven’t got to meet him personally face to face. But one day the Bible tells me I will. But imagine being those 12 guys and you’re following him.

00:25:46:01 – 00:26:11:14
You’re you’re learning from him in person, and he’s he’s encouraging you. You’re seeing all these miracles. You’re really like, man, this ministry stuff is going to be great until he drops something like what he does on them in Matthew 18. And these are some of those words that I’m sure made them pause for a moment and go, ooh, that’s kind of tough.

00:26:11:17 – 00:26:36:03
So let’s read it, he says in verse number 15, he says, moreover, if your brother sins against you another way, you just put brother, sister, whichever he’s talking about, members of the family of God. Moreover, if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother.

00:26:36:05 – 00:26:57:06
Oh, how I want everybody in church today to get that verse. And I don’t mean to be mean, but I’m, you know me. I’m just going to stay out of the way. I’m thinking like, whatever’s coming through, you okay? It’s going to come out. It doesn’t say, go call the pastor and ask him to referee your spat. Amen.

00:26:57:08 – 00:27:20:27
Somebody say amen. Help me out this morning. It it don’t say, go tell somebody else in the church why you’re mad at this person in the church. No, no, no. The words of Jesus in red say if you got something against your brother. In other words, you. It’s your brother or your sister sins against you. Go tell them to their face, to them alone.

00:27:20:28 – 00:27:41:13
Go. Go talk to them. Be grown ups, be Christians. That’s what separates us from the world. How many of you have ever heard a gospel? I want to ask you, how many of us have ever been a gossip? Because I don’t want you to sin in church, but how many of you have ever heard of gossip? I don’t know about you, but I’d rather hear someone cuss than I had gossip.

00:27:41:16 – 00:28:02:25
At least someone cousin’s got enough courage to say it out loud, but a gossip normally would go say it behind your back and stab you in the back. And by the way, I don’t read about anybody cussing going to hell, but I do read about some gossipers going to hell. So I don’t know about you. I had rather if someone has something against me, just just come talk to me.

00:28:03:00 – 00:28:33:05
Tell me. But if, by the way, if it’s you and you got something against somebody else, please don’t come tell me until you’ve gone to them. There’s an order in this I’m going to show you. Jesus is talking about it. He says, number 16, verse 16. But if he will not hear you, in other words, if you go to someone and you got some problems and you go to the person that you have an issue with, they’ve sinned against you, they’ve offended you, they they’ve done something, said something that hurt you.

00:28:33:10 – 00:28:57:29
Go to that person. But if they when you go and you tell them what they’ve done and they won’t respond, he says, then this verse 16, go. If they will not hear you, take with you 1 or 2 more, that by the mouth of 2 or 3 witnesses every word may be established. Verse 17. And if he refuses to hear them, then tell it to the church.

00:28:57:29 – 00:29:25:09
That’s when you bring it to church leadership. But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him be like to you, a heathen and a tax collector. Paul said that where to mark and avoid those that caused division. In other words, if it can’t resolve it, it can’t be done. Then it’s time to separate fellowship. But, but listen until you have followed divine order and you have gone to the root that Scripture says, out of the very words of Jesus, I’ve got a problem with this person.

00:29:25:09 – 00:29:41:28
I’m going to talk to them in person. I’m not going to put it on Facebook. I’m not going to, you know, be a passive aggressive and make all my complaints on social media. So some how many of you know somebody does that? I’ve got some friends. I won’t say if they’re you or not, but I’ve got some friends on Facebook.

00:29:42:00 – 00:30:00:28
I watch and listen to Facebook regularly. I don’t watch Days of Our Lives and General Hospital and all the soap operas that used to come out. I don’t know if they come on anymore. I just read Facebook of church members. I don’t know about you and it’s just kind of interesting. You, you hear all kinds of stuff, you see all kinds of stuff.

00:30:01:03 – 00:30:28:26
Somebody gets mad at somebody and they just begin to post some little snips about em and they’re snip, snip, snip, come out a little yapping Chihuahua dog and the descriptive snip. And they never really go to that person. And what happens is offenses are festered in those people. And what happens is that a fence begins to grow and fester until the point it becomes anger and then anger into bitterness.

00:30:29:02 – 00:30:54:13
Bitterness takes a root and the Bible says, bitterness defiles many. In other words, have you ever met a bitter person? A bitter person is somebody you don’t want to be around. I had rather drink turpentine and spit on a fire than I had the alternative. Gonna say something else? I’d rather do that. Spit on the fire and then to listen or be around a bitter person.

00:30:54:15 – 00:31:19:19
Bitter people are miserable. And I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be miserable in life. But that’s what happens to any of us if we get offended and we don’t deal with it. And so I’m going to share a few more words with you from Jesus. Verse 18. He said, Earth, surely I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.

00:31:19:21 – 00:31:38:09
And again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by my father which is in heaven. For where 2 or 3 are gathered together in my name, I am there in the midst of them. Now let me tell you something. That’s a qualifying statement we often use.

00:31:38:09 – 00:32:01:26
Well, we’re you know, we often say, well, it was 2 or 3 gathered. Jesus is going to be there. Oh, whoa, whoa. Time out. Jesus won’t show up in your midst if you’ve got division in your midst. He doesn’t want anything to do with your hard, knuckle headed mess when you won’t forgive somebody. How do I know that?

00:32:01:26 – 00:32:24:17
Read the next verses, he says to Peter. Didn’t get a Bible, says. Then Peter said, verse 21, Peter came to him and said, Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me? And I forgive him? Up to seven times. Good question. Well, look, look, Lord, I’ve been dealing with these people in my life and they just continually offend me.

00:32:24:17 – 00:32:47:02
How many times am I supposed to forgive them if if it just keeps on here? In verse 22, Jesus said, I did not say unto you seven times, or up to seven times, but up to 70 times seven. Many of the words that that statement means infinity. In other words, you have got to forgive others who offend you.

00:32:47:05 – 00:33:05:29
How many’s I’ve ever heard a church hurt? I’ve heard a church hurt. I’m not sure I believe completely in it, though. I’ve been pastor in 22 years. I’ve got a lot of complaints I could make against church hurt, but I would have to be an equally balanced person to say, well, I got hurt at Walmart too. How many people you hear talk about Walmart hurt or Dollar General hurt?

00:33:06:01 – 00:33:28:06
Come on. I in other words, the point I’m trying to make to you this morning is we can walk around being a offended our entire lives, and all that does is cause you to be an angry, bitter type person that nobody wants to be around. And it affects everybody. As a matter of fact, let me go a little step further.

00:33:28:10 – 00:33:50:22
The reason it does is because it’s beyond things in the flesh. It’s in the spirit. It’s a spirit. The spirit of offense can really get on you and you’ll walk around always offended. And what will happen is it’ll destroy your relationships. How do I know this? Well, let me give you a few thoughts. If you’re taking notes, just write this down.

00:33:50:25 – 00:34:14:23
I want you to get this. First of all, you need to know what Satan’s agenda is concerning your life and every relationship you have. John ten 10/10 the thief come to steal, to kill and to destroy. Just, just just write that down. You want to know what Satan’s agenda for your wife is? It’s to steal, to kill and destroy, to steal, kill and destroy.

00:34:14:23 – 00:34:35:29
Somebody say that with me. To steal, to kill and destroy. So ask yourself every time, anything you have, anytime you have a thought, come across your mind. What is the agenda here? Is this my agenda? Is it Satan’s agenda? Or is this the Holy Spirit’s agenda? And I promise you, every time the Holy Spirit gives you an agenda, it will lead to life.

00:34:36:05 – 00:35:05:18
But every time the enemy gives you an agenda, it will lead to steal, to kill and destroy. How many of you know that offenses and anger and bitterness will destroy, will kill, will demolish the relationships you have? Most people don’t think about Satan’s agenda, but his agenda is destruction. Number two, his strategy is division. No matter what your relationship, his strategy is division.

00:35:05:18 – 00:35:33:20
And then thirdly, his tactic, his tactic is offenses. Just just a little bit of offense, just getting a little offended. As a matter of fact, I’m I’m I’m reminded that Jesus told us that there would be offenses that would come. He says, guys, beware. I’m telling you, many offenses will come in your life. But it’s not a matter of if offenses will come in your life.

00:35:33:23 – 00:35:58:14
It’s a matter of what you will do with those offenses when they come. And I’m going to give you a few strategies, a few thoughts and things to think on this morning. Number one, how do offenses come in our lives? How do we get offended? I’ve got a few thoughts I want to share with you. Number one, we often get offended by unreasonable expectations.

00:35:58:17 – 00:36:31:14
Unreasonable expectations. In other words, we have an unreasonable expectation of the people that are around us and especially the people we love. Let me give you a thought about this. The more intimate the relationship you have, the more probable it is that you can be easily offended in that relationship, because the more intimate your relationship is with someone, the more you get to know each other.

00:36:31:17 – 00:36:53:23
Oh, this is fixing. You get fun, y’all. Hang on a minute. I mean, y’all ready for fun? Imagine there’s a seat belt in your seat. I would highly recommend you put it on. Yeah, just imagine it, How many of you know that the more intimate relation of a relationship you have, the more likely it is that you have offense in that relationship.

00:36:53:23 – 00:37:11:28
And the reason be because the more intimate the relationship, the more you know the person. In other words, we all came to church this morning. Let’s just be honest here. I got my new boots on. I got a pair of jeans on that ain’t faded like we all see me. Most of my jeans are faded and got holes in them like I try to.

00:37:12:00 – 00:37:28:11
I tried to gussy up for Sunday. Don’t you? I try to look good. I mean, you can. You can paint an old barn and make it look good. And that’s what happened to me. I mean, I, I try to put my best on. I try to come in here with a smile and not tell you about my week, how cruddy it was or how rough it was.

00:37:28:11 – 00:37:45:10
But I’m sure my my week or your week was just as rough. And it’s been tough. But we come to church. Oh come on y’all smile. You with me. If you were hollering at each other before you got to the gate, one moment you drove to the gate. You said, honey, we’re at church. Just church now. We’re going to serve Jesus.

00:37:45:13 – 00:38:11:12
Come on. I’m talking to somebody this morning. And so the first thing that happens, the more intimate the relationship that we have, then the more likelihood there is for offense, because we get to know each other. Intimacy means to know and the words to know. Me now, Quinton knows me more than most any of y’all. And then this is my daughter, Emily, and she’s been with me on Earth for 19, almost 20 years.

00:38:11:12 – 00:38:38:06
So she knows me pretty well. Right? There’s my uncle. He’s known me before I got here. Okay. So he knows me pretty good. So they know me probably better than most of you in here, because they’re family and our relationship is intimate. Right? Like they know. They know that all the bad stuff and the good stuff, they know all the wrinkles and, you know, all the stuff in my life, and I do them too.

00:38:38:08 – 00:39:06:02
And so our relationship is more intimate, but there can be unreasonable expectations in a relationship where whether it be your marriage or whether it be just family or, or friends, somebody meaningful to you that you have a meaningful relationship with, you have this unreasonable expectation of them. And when I say unreasonable, I mean, like, look, they’re only human.

00:39:06:05 – 00:39:31:01
They’re only human. We forget that about each other in our world today, that we are all people. I can tell you, I’ve lived that magnifying glass on me, kind of. As a pastor. You know, I always hear people say, well, people hold you pastors to a higher standard. I’m like, yeah, but they put us on pedestals and I’m telling you, don’t put me on a pedestal, I fall off, I’m getting old.

00:39:31:04 – 00:39:59:25
It it hurts. Nobody wants to be put on a pedestal. Nobody. We’re all human. So I want to tell you, first of all, the best way that you can guard yourself from the enemy. Bringing offense into your life is just set aside unreasonable expectations of people. I have lived long enough and learned that I’m not going to set unreasonable expectations on people.

00:39:59:27 – 00:40:27:08
I’m going to give them room to be people. I’m not going to be disappointed if they fail me because I don’t care who the person is. There’s been only one perfect human being ever walked this earth, and you and I are not him. We’re not. And so whenever I look at any relationship that I have, or I look at any person, I have to remind myself there’s no reason to put an unreasonable expectation on them.

00:40:27:08 – 00:40:49:06
It’s just not going to happen because they’re human and they’re going to fall in and they’re going to end up disappointing me. So if you set yourself up with people like, you know what? I’m not going to expect to be disappointed. I’m not going to expect to be, offended by you. Instead, I’m going to love you.

00:40:49:08 – 00:41:11:16
How many you’ve ever heard that term? Well, you’re supposed to hate the sin and love the sinner. Yeah, I’ve heard that one. Well, let me just give you a better one. How about you hate your sin? I’ll hate my sin. And we love each other. That’s a little more humbling, isn’t it? So whenever I look at other people and I’m not talking about us as as brothers and sisters holding each other accountable because we’re supposed to.

00:41:11:23 – 00:41:42:03
But whenever things happen in your lives and in your relationships, don’t hold people to an unreasonable standard. Secondly, the reason for offenses comes because of unmet expectations, unmet expectations. You know, we in our relationships, we have expectations of someone. My mom, my wife and I are married, and so she has certain expectations of me. I have certain expectations.

00:41:42:09 – 00:42:21:08
This is my daughter. I have certain expectations of her and she the same with me as any of us do in in life. But I want you to understand this morning that just because someone doesn’t meet my expectation really doesn’t give me a right to be offended. Oh, I guess I could be, but the more I’m offended, the closer I’m getting over here to anger, and the more I let anger fester, the closer I’m getting over here to bitterness.

00:42:21:11 – 00:42:47:08
And then bitterness becomes not only something that spreads and defiles into everybody, but it also becomes like a prison to me. I’m going to use these wonderful people, actually, just so you know, I’m ashamed I couldn’t find you. Okay? I said, can I use you to? All right. I don’t know how many you got. They’re getting married Saturday.

00:42:47:08 – 00:43:09:14
Y’all give them a hand. So they’re about to be newlyweds. I have a couple more newlyweds back there in the background. Y’all give me a way back there. They’ve been married a six, eight weeks. You know, a couple of months. Dennis, his granddaughter, get married next week. Got some more people. And then Chuck checking out, saying, y’all here, Chuck in with more.

00:43:09:15 – 00:43:29:07
They may not be here. They’re just celebrating 54 years this week. Okay. So we got we got and then all of you in between some of y’all thinking about getting married, some of you may be newly married. Some y’all been married a while. Whatever. So I’m just going to use Shane and Ashley because I got to give them some marriage counseling on the spot right here to this morning.

00:43:29:07 – 00:43:54:02
Okay. So I’m going to give them some marriage counseling. And that’s for anybody else in here too, in case y’all need some. It’s free of charge today. All right. You got it. So when when a husband and wife are going to get married, that’s. Would you consider that a very intimate relationship, right. Like like that’s most probably the most intimate of relationships we have on Earth other than our relationship with Jesus.

00:43:54:05 – 00:44:26:08
That’s why Ephesians chapter four talks about the in Ephesians. Chapter five talks about the marriage relationship between a man and a woman, being that a picture of the relationship of the church with Jesus. So when people get married, I love this. And I think some of you who have been married a long time, in just a moment, there’s going to be a time where you can say Amen, okay, y’all can jump in right here any moment.

00:44:26:08 – 00:44:57:08
You. But when you get married, how many of you remember when you’re dating? You’ve heard this. Oh, it’s okay. Opposites attract. How many of y’all some of y’all in here thinking that right now, some of you young ladies back there, you got a boyfriend? You’re thinking opposites attract. Let me tell you, after marriage, opposites attract. All right, that’s point one.

00:44:57:11 – 00:45:30:09
Opposites attract. They’re not going to remain the same. Like what? What is necessary in a marriage relationship? It’s unity. The same is true in the church. The same is true in your friendships, even your work relationships. You got to have some. There’s your unity. And and I love what I heard. I was listening one day to Good Morning America and they had this couple who were, 105 and 104, I think, and they had been married 80 something years, like they got married as teenagers.

00:45:30:12 – 00:46:06:18
And they were asking these people on Good Morning America, like, what is the secret to such a long lasting, happy marriage? And they both, without hesitation said, forgiveness, forgiveness. See, we often have unmet expectations. And when someone gets married, they they have expectations of each other. You’ve heard me say it. Live a girl that told me one day I that when she’s a grown girl, because she’s getting married, she goes, man, I saw her about ten years after I married her and her husband.

00:46:06:18 – 00:46:23:05
I mean, I’m old enough. I’ve got some kids I’m fixing to marry that I married their parents 20 something almost 30 years ago. That’s how long I’ve been doing it. So it’s like, oh, wow, this is getting real. But I saw this couple. I’d married him about ten years before, and then ten years later, and it took ten years.

00:46:23:05 – 00:46:42:11
I mean, they were doing good for they came back for marriage counseling again. But they’re like he pastor, and she’s sitting in my office because she don’t understand, you know, ten years ago when I married him, I thought I was marrying the man of my dreams. But now I’ve realized ten years later, all I’ve married is a couch that burps, like.

00:46:42:11 – 00:47:10:07
Yeah. What do you think? But the truth is, we have unmet expectations. And when someone doesn’t meet those expectations, we have, we get angry, offended, and a little offense may not seem like much, but over time, we begin to add up. Let me give you a scenario. It’s not their scenario and neither am I speaking this over them.

00:47:10:07 – 00:47:36:17
But I’m just giving you a scenario. You understand? I told you, I’m pretty close to an expert on this. So a little couple gets married, they’re working, they’re struggling. This is just a scenario. This is hypothetical. So nobody take offense. Don’t get mad at me. But you got this couple. They get married. And man, they’re they’re starting off in life and they’re struggling like most young couples do when they start.

00:47:36:17 – 00:47:58:14
I mean, man, the bills are coming and they now have moved out of mom and dad’s house. Worst decision to ever made in my mom. And they’re having to pay, you know, all the bills. Now, can anybody relate to this? Y’all do y’all shake your head? Every man. I didn’t know there were so many bills in life. And then the kids come and both of them are working, trying to make ends meet.

00:47:58:17 – 00:48:23:10
And and they’re already stressed because of life. And she walks in one day. Not her, but she. And she’s got two shopping bags from the latest department store, and she’s got all this nice stuff. And she says, hey, honey, look, I got these shoes, I got these pants, I got this shirt, I got does this make me look big?

00:48:23:10 – 00:48:43:14
Don’t ever answer that. Guess, just does this look good? She’s got all this new stuff, and then she says, what a guess what? I went to that store. They were having a deal, and it was on help me ladies sale, and she really means it. She might have just gotten the deal of the century. Come on, ladies, help me.

00:48:43:14 – 00:49:03:24
Don’t leave me hanging. But he’s sitting there thinking I just opened the mail our electric bill is going to do. And we’re doing this. We don’t even see each other. And so rather than him hear how great these new shoes are and this new stuff is, he’s thinking, I’m working hard. You’re working hard. We’re barely making ends meet.

00:49:03:26 – 00:49:25:22
I see some couples laughing right now. I’m helping somebody. Somebody’s getting free, right? And we’re working. And what he hears is, I don’t care how hard you work. She didn’t say this. This is what he hears. And, money doesn’t really mean that much. Even though we’re struggling, it was a good day to go out and blow some money.

00:49:25:24 – 00:49:55:24
Now, did she say that? Absolutely not. Did she mean that? Absolutely not. She legitimately just got the deal of the century on the fanciest pair of shoes that was ever made in Taiwan? Okay, it’s been awesome. She’s got a new outfit, she’s is cool and she works for her money, but he hears something different. See that scenario? And by the way, that lady, that story could be reversed.

00:49:55:29 – 00:50:21:26
He comes in with some new four wheel drive parts for rich. Give me the pump. He. Man, there was a deal on these tires. I’m. Honey, I, I couldn’t pass it up. I was scrolling, you know, on Facebook or or marketplace. And I saw they were practically giving them away for $1,000. I know we’re over. All I know we only had 500 year, but man, what a deal.

00:50:21:29 – 00:50:48:02
And she her’s brand, he’s obviously good thing I got a relationship with y’all y’all you’d be shooting me about right now and she years. Oh no I don’t you blowing our money. You don’t care about how hard I’m working. You don’t care. And that wasn’t what he said at all. So you see how unmet and unrealistic expectations can cause an offense in our life.

00:50:48:05 – 00:51:14:04
And then there’s the last. There’s unmet expectations, unrealistic expectations, and then unexpressed expectations. In other words, when we don’t communicate what our expectations are, I told you, I’m an expert in this because I have in the line of schooling you. You are she by start shouting here in a minute. That’s where I can tell you I have failed often times as a husband.

00:51:14:14 – 00:51:44:21
The father, as a family member, as a pastor. And that. And what that does is it brings offense to others, not me. Not meaning to. And by the way, we should never want to purposely be offensive to those we love, never. But often times, and I’m talking to those of us who get offended because that’s the context of Scripture we’re talking about today.

00:51:44:24 – 00:52:14:20
We get offended and we hold on to that, and it begins to build a prison for us personally, while Satan’s destroying our meaningful and most valuable relationships around us. I’ve never married anybody. I have three weddings in the next 2 or 3 weeks. Right now, I’ve never married anybody. That said, we’re going to get married for ten years and then we’re going to go through a divorce.

00:52:14:23 – 00:52:36:06
We’re going to sit with a lawyer while he divides our assets. Nobody ever sets out to do that. I’ve never watched people make a friendship in church or at their job, or their neighbor who have a valuable relationship and go, we’re going to have a great relationship for five years. We’re going to blow each other’s face off. You’re dad.

00:52:36:08 – 00:53:05:10
It’s never anybody’s intention. But that’s how Satan steps in and he just does it. And all along he’s over there like a little clap and seal. He’s so happy. He’s destroyed everything meaningful and valuable in your life. And he’s laughing the whole time. So how do we not? And what do we do? How do we not get offended?

00:53:05:10 – 00:53:26:27
And how do we deal with offenses when they come? Because they’re going to come? Let’s just be honest. They were going to get offended. How how biblically should we deal with that? Well, one, you go to that person and you try to resolve it and you try to resolve it in love. And in order to do that, you’ve got to come to the table with a lot of forgiveness.

00:53:26:29 – 00:54:08:00
You just got to be willing to forgive each other. And then you’ve also you’ve got to come to the table and just say, you know what? It doesn’t matter. I’m going to evaluate this. And how big is this issue in the grand scheme of things? I mean, not really. How big is it? How many you’ve ever had an argument in your relationship, and then later 2 or 3 weeks down the road when you’re still not talking 5 or 6 years down the road, when you just won’t even respond to each other and you start thinking, I wonder what caused that fight to begin with?

00:54:08:02 – 00:54:45:05
I can’t even remember. And the reason? Because it really wasn’t that important in the grand scheme of things, and it sure wasn’t as valuable as your relationship was. But now on the other side, you can see Satan did destroy he. Listen to me. As a pastor of a church, having been a pastor of a church now for 2223 years, I can tell you I have watched this happen in churches, with families, with husbands and wives and families, mothers and fathers and their children and and then church members.

00:54:45:05 – 00:55:20:04
I’ve watched people just all great relationships. And then all of a sudden somebody gets offended and they’re gone up and go, all because of a little offense. And I’m closing right here. Now, I want you to get this. Can I tell you can I just tell you two things and I’m done that I think help me not hold on to an offense in my life when someone offends me, I just I just go at it like this.

00:55:20:04 – 00:55:47:17
Like I try to wake up and live my life because trust me, there are people every day who could offend me and just mess me up. And usually that offense starts in my own mind. Why? Because of unreasonable expectations of people. Because of unmet expectations and unexpressed expectations. So get this. I’m going to give you just two principles.

00:55:47:17 – 00:56:20:09
I wrote down this morning that the Lord was just showing me that I try to live by, and it helps me a lot. I’m not perfect. I haven’t mastered this, but it sure has helped me a lot. Are you ready for this? And you can write this down. Number one, I have learned as a pastor, as a husband, as a father, as a friend to serve because my way, my calling is to serve her.

00:56:20:11 – 00:56:45:19
My calling is to serve her. My calling is to serve you, by the way, yours is to serve the people you love to God. We’ve got to get over this idea in America that I came to be served. Jesus even said he didn’t come to be served, but he came to be a servant. But to serve without the need for appreciation.

00:56:45:22 – 00:57:12:01
What? Wait just a minute, pastor. Listen to me. As a pastor, to all of you, I appreciate you. I appreciate you being here. If you weren’t here, I just be preaching on Facebook. Just. I have to be honest with you. I have preached to stuffed animals when I first started preaching. Like I didn’t have a crowd yet sideline my kids, stuffed animals up in the house when everybody was gone and I preached.

00:57:12:05 – 00:57:34:12
I have some stuffed animals that are more sanctified. The most Christians I know. Man, they got saved. I baptized him dudes 3 or 4 times. Every time I preached. But you know what? I had to come to the place in my life that I’ve learned to serve without the need for appreciation. And let me just be real.

00:57:34:14 – 00:57:58:10
We all love to be appreciated. That’s one of the human affections. And and things we want is to that, that that that sense of being loved and appreciated by the people we value the most. But I’ve learned in my life just to serve without the need for appreciation of people, because my appreciation isn’t coming from people. I’m not looking for the applause of people.

00:57:58:16 – 00:58:19:19
I really mean it when I say I’m living for the applause of nail scarred hands. It’s you’re not going to welcome me to heaven one day and say, well done, thou good and faithful servant. Only he can do that. And so I’ve learned, if I can really focus on just serving him without the need for appreciation, it doesn’t hurt me.

00:58:19:19 – 00:58:42:02
It doesn’t offend me. When someone comes and says, me a great, great sermon pastor or many of the sorriest sermon you ever preach pastor. Or they don’t even say anything at all. I love I’m human. I love the same things you love. But to be honest with you, it doesn’t matter one bit to me. I’ve learned that I came to serve Jesus and Him alone.

00:58:42:06 – 00:59:01:19
I want to be faithful to please him because I got to be honest with you and you think this through in your own life, that some of the people that you have spent your life trying to get their approval are the same people that later, whenever you didn’t meet their standard, didn’t like you anymore, they kicked you to the curb.

00:59:01:22 – 00:59:26:11
They divorced you. They they threw you out. They don’t talk to you anymore. They unfriended you. They won’t even speak to you. And. And now you’re offended. They’re offended. I love you, I appreciate you, I hope you appreciate me, but I don’t need the appreciation because I’m going to show up. Same that time and same back channel next week.

00:59:26:11 – 00:59:57:20
And I’m going to do the same thing I’m doing this week because I came to serve him. Number two. This is going to be tough, but hang with me. I’ve learned that I’m going to serve you more. This this is hard. I want to serve him. I want to serve her. I want to serve her. I want to serve you without the need for an opinion and a word.

00:59:57:23 – 01:00:20:08
I don’t need an opinion. It. Yeah. As a pastor. Okay, I get it. I had an opinion and you got an opinion. But I learned a long time ago when it come to my relationship with my wife. It doesn’t matter my opinion. I’m supposed to serve her, even if my opinion isn’t valued. And by the way, it is okay.

01:00:20:10 – 01:00:54:23
I learned that I came to serve Jesus in ministry, and I don’t need an opinion. And my opinion doesn’t have to be valued. My opinion is simply his opinion. I want to please him. You see, whenever you when you look at other people and you’re not seeking their approval, you’re not constantly basing and building your acceptance by God on what other people say, but rather you understand that you’ve already been accepted and approved by God.

01:00:54:23 – 01:01:20:14
That’s why he chose you. That’s why he loves you. You don’t have to do anything you, but just be faithful to him. And so live your lives without offense cuz I’m not going to live offended. I’m not going to let the enemy come in and put those little offenses in me and just make me so mad that I can’t.

01:01:20:17 – 01:01:46:00
I can’t even serve joyfully. I can’t be married joyfully. I can’t be a joyful father. I can’t be a joyful pastor or sing with you in your relationships. I don’t know about you, but I’m 51 years old. Like I’m looking at the that hourglass thing has sped up like the sands going through it fast for some reason. How many of y’all really?

01:01:46:02 – 01:02:11:29
You know what I’m talking about? Some of y’all going. I have no idea what an hourglass is. It would be like the clock on your phone speeding up. Okay. Like, the older I get, the faster time’s getting, and I’m learning. There’s some things that used to be important that aren’t so important. And a whole lot more things in my life that have always been valuable, that even become more valuable to me.

01:02:12:01 – 01:02:38:29
And those are the things that I want to spend my life investing in, not not the trivial things. And the last thing I want to do is wake up tomorrow morning. I find it, I’m afraid I’m offended because he said she said they did or they didn’t do right or whatever, whatever, whatever. What a miserable way to live.

01:02:39:02 – 01:03:00:07
But when you meet a joyful person, that’s a person that you can’t offend them. You, you, no matter what you say to them or what you do, that really joyful people know the way. You do know the difference in happiness and joy. Happiness is based upon happenstance. In other words, as long as the happenings around me are good, I can be happy.

01:03:00:09 – 01:03:25:15
But boy, when everything goes wrong, well, I’m. I’m mad, I’m sour, I’m mad. But when you got joy. That’s based upon a relationship with the person Jesus Christ. And nobody can shake that foundation in you. No matter what happens, no matter what comes. Would you, by your heads in prayer with me?

01:03:25:18 – 01:03:38:13
We’ve heard some good testimonies this morning. All some things that God has done. Yeah, I don’t know about you, but I’m grateful.

01:03:38:16 – 01:04:10:05
This morning, my my message has been somewhat different to normal. But I hope it’s helped you and blessed you in some way. When you think about offenses. And how easy it is sometimes for us to be offended, it’s easy to say, well, I got a right to be offended. Okay, I’m with you. I’ve been there to.

01:04:10:08 – 01:04:35:29
But you not think that Jesus had a right to be offended the way people treated him on earth? Yeah, they had a right to be offended at the Roman soldiers who nailed him to the cross of the Jewish religious leaders who cried, crucify him! Or the disciples who forsook him.

01:04:36:02 – 01:04:48:09
Yet? While on the cross, listening to the jeers. Of the people.

01:04:48:12 – 01:05:09:03
That had so deeply hurt him. One of his last cries to heaven, to the father was. Father, forgive them. Forgive you. I don’t know what to do.

01:05:09:05 – 01:05:52:03
To be a follower of Jesus. You can’t live offended. You got to live forgiving. Forgiving. I’m going to pray and you will be done. But if there’s someone in your life today you need to forgive. I pray that God helps you do that. I realize that there’s some things and some people that can hurt and wound people by the things they say or the things they do, and sometimes those wounds can be carried on for a lifetime.

01:05:52:05 – 01:06:18:03
But I encourage you today you let go with the offense, give it to God, lay it at the feet of Jesus, say, Holy Spirit, take this from me. Let my heart be filled with love, kindness, gentleness, forgiveness, the fruits of the spirit, faithfulness.

01:06:18:05 – 01:06:46:22
Father, we love you in Jesus name. Thank you for your word today. Bless everybody that’s here, both in person. Those listening to us online. Help us all to walk out of here today with a resolve, by your grace and your help, to live our lives not offended, but rather forgiving. I pray for people all over this congregation that they might have a really meaningful relationship that strained right now what it may be.

01:06:46:22 – 01:07:09:10
Husbands and wives in here going through some things. There may be friends, family struggling through some some issues. And I pray, father, you just help each of us to have a tender heart toward each other that we could forgive and we could love, and we could extend grace and mercy to each other in Jesus name. I thank you for your kindness to us.

01:07:09:10 – 01:07:33:27
Thank you for your love. Thank you that even though we offended you with our sin, you were quick and willing to forgive us of our trespasses. Help us to live doing that to others. In Jesus name, Amen. Amen. Cody, come on up. Before we go, I want to share a couple quick things with your number one. We don’t normally.

01:07:34:00 – 01:07:49:05
I don’t know if some of y’all been to church where they pass offering plates. We don’t do that here. We’ve got a milk key. And right back there in the back on the table that’s got a cow had on it. And that’s for all reason. If you want to give an offering to the Lord, you can do so right there or here.

01:07:49:08 – 01:08:06:05
We don’t have both today. So scratch the next thing. But let me, let me share something with you that that we need desperate. I praise God for this. This is not a problem. This is a blessing. But if you go out there and look, our parking lot is full today and praise God for it. Praise God for it.

01:08:06:07 – 01:08:21:23
But, and I thank the Lord for the dry weather right now, but we’re going to need some rain and we’re going to get some rain. Winter’s coming. And if you were to walk out there right now and look where parked, if it were a rainy, cold, muddy day, we’d be pulling people out of the the mud here in a minute.

01:08:21:23 – 01:08:43:23
Okay, I have the opportunity. I have come to this giving us some gravel in the past has offered us two really big loads. Truckloads at cost. At cost? Not as much as we need. Just to get started, we need about $1,200. I’m sharing that with you. If God would need you to give today. That is an immediate need.

01:08:43:23 – 01:09:08:05
We have. Praise God is dry today, but winter’s coming and it’s going to be raining. And that’s a big need. We need to provide more parking. We need to put some more gravel. So if you want to give today and help toward that, it’d be greatly appreciated. And we’ll we’ll make some we’ll get that that more gravel and more parking available because I just don’t want to see us have anybody stuck in the mud just because you came to church.

01:09:08:05 – 01:09:29:17
Although we got some fuller drivers around here to get you out. We just prefer you not be stuck when you come to church. So if you can help us out, we love you. Appreciate you for that. Jason. Good to have you here today. Joey. Thank you for speaking back to your brother. Man, I don’t know about y’all, but I think I’m about to end up Dirty Dancing with Joey when y’all song I fixing to bust a move on y’all’s.

01:09:29:18 – 01:09:51:17
What? I don’t know. Okay. All right, Cody, pray us out. Pray God’s favor and blessing. Protection over everybody. Guys. Bull riding at 230. Bull riding team. We got a meeting right after church. As Jeff was talking to him about this anger and anxiety, and it’s been mentioned several times in the hindrances and, and things of the nature that’s going on.

01:09:51:17 – 01:10:09:18
I’m going to take you back to back to Adam and Eve when when Jesus took Adam to the garden and said, hey, this is for you, this is your garden. And he brought Eve into the garden and he said, you can do anything in this garden, but do not eat of this one tree. Do not eat of the fruit of the tree.

01:10:09:21 – 01:10:33:09
Just don’t even look at it. Stay as far away from that as you can. In that time they they didn’t talk, they didn’t speak. They could tell communicate with each other. They could look at one another and know exactly what they were thinking. No, exactly what they needed, exactly what they wanted. But as soon as Eve went and ate of that fruit, she gave birth to sin consciousness.

01:10:33:11 – 01:10:52:03
What that means is they realized that they were naked. They realized that they had worried that they had guilt, that they had anxiety, that they had anger, that they had bitterness, that they had all of this. And when Jesus came back to the garden and he’s looking for Adam, Eve, where y’all at in their hiding? And then Adam comes out in this little road, this little town.

01:10:52:04 – 01:11:16:05
He’s like, Adam, what are you doing? Adam says, well, I’m naked. He said, who told you you were naked? Who told you you were worried? Who told you you had anxiety? Who told you you had anger? Who told you you had victories? Who told you this? And then Eve comes out wearing all those garments. Eve? What happened? We ate of the fruit.

01:11:16:05 – 01:11:43:16
And that’s what birth sin conscious that we still deal with in today’s time, is a sin consciousness. And if you’re wondering why you haven’t been hearing from Jesus, why haven’t you hear from Jesus like he should be hearing from? It’s because we’re partnering more with our flesh than we are most inner man. And if we if we focus more on our fleshly desires, the fleshly things of the world, we will not hear God’s voice because spirit talks to spirit.

01:11:43:16 – 01:12:07:13
Spirit doesn’t talk to flesh. So if you’re having trouble hearing God’s Word, you’re having trouble hearing God’s voice start dialing into your inner man, your most inner man, and dying to the flesh. He says that to our flesh daily. Pick up your cross and walk daily through it. So if you’re struggling with that, birth more into your most inner man, and that’s how you can hear clearly from the Heavenly Father.

01:12:07:15 – 01:12:24:20
So, Father God, I come to you this morning just thankful for the word that Jeff gave. Lord, just thankful for the congregation that’s growing weekly. Father God, we thank you for the blessings that you put upon us. Father God, for the bowls that you’re blessing to sweat. Father God, we thank you for that, for the gravel that’s come in.

01:12:24:20 – 01:12:42:20
Father God, we thank you for that as well. I place angels that camp out around these houses daily. Father God, to lead and guide and direct them into the way of you, Father God, not into the way of the stray, not in the way of a bullet, but in the way of you. Father God, you lead and God and direct us all of your ways.

01:12:42:23 – 01:13:02:24
I place angels that camp out around us. I call hedge of Protection to protect us from the flaming darts. And in the world we live in where it’s always go, go, go go go. Rush, rush rush rush rush. I pray that our minds start to slow down just enough to hear your voice. We thank you. We love you for this.

01:13:02:24 – 01:13:08:06
It’s in Jesus name I pray. Amen.