Luke 17: 1-5: Then said he unto the disciples, It is impossible, but that offenses will come: but woe unto him, through whom they come! 2 It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea than that he should offend one of these little ones.3 Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him4 And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him.5, And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith.
• Jesus said its impossible to avoid the temptation to be offended
• An Offense is a bait (a deceptive trap)that the devil places before our face.
o For example a verbal offense where words betray or offend
o The person’s reaction to the words is the key
o If the offense is taken to heart and not released in forgiveness
o Then the offense starts to take root and affect a person’s life
o We MUST forgive those that sin against us
BEFORE JESUS WE MAY HAVE BEEN OFFENDED OR WE OFFENDED A PERSON, A GROUP OF PEOPLE, AN ORGANIZATION ETC.
o Sometimes we did not know we offended anyone
o Sometimes we did know but didn’t care
o And if we were offended we sought to get even
BUT THE OFFENSES WE MOST REMEMBER ARE THE ONES THAT AFFECTED US
• The offense or offenses may have been a close relative -and often is
• The ones we open up and give our hearts to
• The people that are close to us hurt us the most- unfortunately
o We would always be thinking about what they did to us
o “How dare they say or do that to us”
The more we thought about the offense, the more pain we felt.
Then the more outraged we got.
Then we felt the need to get them back
We may have even recruited others for our dirty deeds
The Devil had a hold of us, and we didn’t know it
What about those offenses that we did to others on purpose?
• Did we go back to apologize?
• Did we apologize to anybody before we were saved?
o Or did we say, “They will come to me,” “I did nothing.”
o They OWE ME and apology.
o It was all their fault, and they deserved it.
WE MAY HAVE CARRIED SOME OF THESE OFFENSES, HURTS AND PAINS OVER INTO CHRISTIANITY
The Lord wants to change the way we handled offenses in our lives before he found us
Question:
• Do we still handle offenses the same way we did before we were Christians
WE MUST SEEK TO HAVE THE HEART OF JESUS AND OBEY HIS WORD:
As we read in Luke 17:3-4: 3 Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him 4 And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him.
• Yes, this is a learning a growing process
• The first thing we want to do is reject the one that comes to us.
• And start telling them off about what they did to us.
• Remember: Forgiveness is for your heart
o To keep you on track with the Lord
o Keep your heart from getting hard
• Repentance: is what has to happen. Ask the Lord to forgive us for a hard heart towards anyone.
• Let the healing process start with you.
o Don’t wait on them to come to you
o Go to whoever, if you are led of the Lord
o Spend time in prayer
o Always make sure it’s the Lord
Forgive as you have been forgiven!
Give your heart to Jesus today by saying this prayer:
Dear Lord Jesus,
Thank you for dying on the cross for my sin. Please forgive me. Come into my life. I receive You as my Lord and Savior. Please, help me to live for you the rest of this life. Fill me with your Holy Spirit. In the name of Jesus, I pray.
Amen.