The Holy Spirit empowers us to live in the kind of community that we see in Acts 2. Listen as Pastor Kevin shares how one thing can create a chasm that destroys that kind of community.

Scriptures Referenced

Psalm 119:165; Proverbs 18:19a; Matthew 7:15-16, 5:44; 24:4-14; Acts 24:16

Key Insights

• The world divides. The Gospel unites.
• Sometimes you are wrong.
• Who is right is always less important than what is right.
• When we hold on to an offense, we let go of God.
• Our first go-to is to pray.
• Love holds no record of wrongs.

https://springhouse.captivate.fm/episode/conflict-and-offense-in-gods-kingdom

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Gathering Times

• Sundays, 9:00 AM
• Sundays, 11:00 AM
• Thursdays, 6:00 PM

Contact Info

Springhouse Church
14119 Old Nashville Highway
Smyrna TN 37167

615-459-3421

CCLI License 2070006

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(upbeat music)

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Man, God is good, is He not?

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Man, He's so faithful, He's so faithful.

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As I shared before earlier,

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we have been camping in Acts chapter two

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and looking at the model of the early church.

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And I didn't, Pastor Jonathan,

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do just an outstanding job last week

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presenting the Word to us

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and kind of encapsulating everything within that passage

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and I was so grateful for the Word.

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You know, one of the greatest criticisms of the church,

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and when I say the church, I mean capital C,

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the church at large.

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One of the greatest criticisms of the church

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is this notion of hypocrisy.

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Have you ever heard that?

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I don't go to church

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because there's a bunch of hypocrites there.

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And when somebody comes to me and says,

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I don't go to church

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because there's a bunch of hypocrites there,

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I just answer them and guess we have room for one more.

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And...

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(congregation laughing)

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Because we are people and we are human

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and we mess up.

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And some of us are messed up from the floor up,

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some more than others, okay?

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But boy, we are on this journey together

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and every one of us have in common that we need a Savior.

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We need Jesus Christ.

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We need the blood of Jesus Christ,

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which is sufficient to cleanse us from all sin

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and all unrighteousness.

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We need His blood.

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But it goes beyond that.

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It's not that His blood isn't sufficient,

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but it goes beyond that.

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He has given us a precious gift

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that we don't talk a whole lot about.

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And that is the precious gift of His Holy Spirit,

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the Holy Spirit of God.

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We have access to the Holy Spirit

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and over the next several weeks,

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we are going to be unpackaging

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and looking at the person of the Holy Spirit.

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And I'm excited about the journey that we're going to go on.

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But as I was praying about where we were supposed to go,

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initially I felt this was a little bit out of place,

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but the Lord just really showed me

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that it was exactly where it needed to be.

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Have you ever read scripture?

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Sometimes when I read the story of like Jonah and the whale,

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do you ever like hear that story

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or Daniel in the lion's den

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or the three guys who go into the fire?

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You hear that story or somebody's portraying it

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and in your mind, it's like automatically,

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it goes to animation.

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Like it goes to like, it's like, I know I believe this,

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but it seems so surreal that it's like,

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it almost lends itself to like a fictional slant.

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You know, it's like, yeah,

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I guess he really did live in the belly of a whale

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for three days.

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You know, I do believe that, but boy,

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it's just like, I see it as a cartoon in my mind.

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In this section of scripture we've been studying,

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some of you may be looking at it

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as we're presenting week by week.

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And it's like, man, that is such a wonderful concept,

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a really great idea that we would all come into the place

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and hold hands and sing Kumbaya

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and just be together and happy

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and smile at each other all the time.

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And we would just be great and perfect

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and everybody's in sweet harmony.

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But here's the reality.

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They were people just like you and me.

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And anytime there is more than one person involved,

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there's bound to at some point be conflict.

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There's bound to at some point be an opportunity

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for an offense to be taken up.

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Have you been offended this morning?

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Before you got here?

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By your spouse or your kids?

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I offend my wife with my breath every single day.

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There are opportunities for offense

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that surround us all over the place.

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And today we're gonna talk about offense

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and we're gonna talk about conflict resolution.

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Because why is this important?

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You're like, man, we've been talking about,

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man, this early church

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and we've been talking about them being devoted

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to themselves and having all these things in common.

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They wanted to see God's face,

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but we're not going to remove the humanism

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from the scripture.

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They were human.

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Why do we know that they had conflict?

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Because Paul just wrote a whole bunch of letters

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telling churches, this is how you're supposed to act.

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This is what you're supposed to do.

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So it tells us there was conflict.

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There were sometimes division.

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There were things that got off kilter.

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I'm sure there was somebody in there saying,

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I don't wanna sell my possession.

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I don't wanna sell my new toy.

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There are probably these things that happened,

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but guess what?

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Because of unity,

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they were able to write in the scripture

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that they were devoted to one another

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and devoted to the purposes of God.

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You can have unity and still have conflict

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and chance for offense as long as you are handling it

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the way the scripture tells us to.

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So we're gonna look at a scripture today.

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Now, as we look at the scripture,

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it's very important to me that you understand

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that the group that we were talking about

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for the last several weeks,

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they already know this information

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that we're about to read.

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Jesus is speaking in this passage

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and they know this information

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because he is talking to his disciples.

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He is alive, he's on the earth.

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This is before he ascended to heaven,

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before the death, burial, and resurrection.

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He is speaking to his disciples

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and he's talking about the end times.

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He's talking about the time that we're living in.

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Do you guys ever wonder if we're close to the end times?

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Do you ever wonder, man, what is that gonna look like?

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He's talking about the end times here.

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And so we can actually pick up in this scripture

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and actually relate and perhaps empathize

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with some of the disciples' questions

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and their thoughts.

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So we're gonna stand together

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and read from Matthew chapter 24.

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And I would like you to read like you love me.

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That better not be silent, here we go.

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Now as he sat on the Mount of Olives,

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the disciples came to him privately saying,

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tell us when these,

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and what will be the sign of your coming

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and the end of the age.

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And Jesus answered and said to them,

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take heed that no one deceives you,

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for many will come in my name saying,

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I am the Christ and will deceive many.

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And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars.

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See that you are not troubled,

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for all these things must come to pass,

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but the end is not yet.

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For nation will rise against nation

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and kingdom against kingdom.

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And there will be famines, pestilences,

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and earthquakes in various places.

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All these are the beginning of sorrows.

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Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you.

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And you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake.

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Praise the Lord.

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And then many will be offended,

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will betray one another and will hate one another.

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Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many.

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And because lawlessness will abound,

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the love of many will grow cold.

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Are you encouraged this morning?

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Let's pray.

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Father, thank you for your word.

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I thank you that your word renders truth, hard truth,

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real truth, encouraging truth.

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We get the whole picture when it comes to you, God.

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I pray that you would encourage our hearts

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and speak to us this morning in Jesus' name.

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Amen.

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You may be seated.

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Guys, we live in such a polarizing culture,

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polarizing society.

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I can say something under my breath.

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I can look at you a certain way.

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I can suggest something and you be totally offended

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and sever our relationship just like that.

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We are super sensitive

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because we've been brought in a culture

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that says it's my way or the highway.

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It's all about me.

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It's what my view is.

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It's how I feel.

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And really, I don't give any margin for your opinion

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'cause it doesn't matter.

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That's what we've been taught.

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I mean, we can't even get our soft drinks correct.

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You know what I mean?

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Who prefers Coke over Pepsi?

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Pepsi over Coke.

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Okay.

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Let's see if we can cause some division today.

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McDonald's over Burger King.

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Who's got McDonald's?

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Who's got Burger King?

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Who's got option three?

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UPS or FedEx?

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UPS, FedEx.

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Okay.

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Dunkin' or Starbucks?

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Dunkin'?

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Starbucks.

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All right, lots of division in the room.

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DC?

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Marvel.

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I'm gonna have to open the alders again, Pastor Barbie.

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Right now with this one, Apple or Android?

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Apple?

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Android.

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We're gonna dismiss those.

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No, I'm not gonna say.

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Tennessee?

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Alabama.

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(congregation shouting)

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Don't you dare answer.

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Don't you dare answer.

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Here's my point.

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The world divides, the gospel unites.

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The good news of Jesus Christ unites

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as the world is out to just completely divide you

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and isolate you from anything that's good to pull you away.

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The world divides, the gospel and its purpose is to unite.

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So why do we as Christians still contend

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with this thing called offense?

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Boy, we have offense.

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Now, if you're familiar with the bait of Satan,

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I'm gonna be drawing a little bit from that course.

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So don't be alarmed if I'm using some of that.

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That's intentional.

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But has anybody in here been offended in your life?

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Raise your hand if you've been offended.

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Raise your hand if you're a liar.

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No.

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You've been offended.

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You have been offended.

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And if I ask the better question,

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how many of you have offended someone else?

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Every hand probably should go up as well.

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Because everyone has stepped in that way.

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Sometimes intentionally,

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but most of the time unintentionally.

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Acts chapter two, I want us to realize

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that the people that we're reading about are human.

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They're in a community.

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And anytime we're in a community,

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there's bound to be an opportunity for conflict

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and for offense to be taken.

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Now I'm gonna give you this morning right now,

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I need everybody to pay attention off your cell phones.

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Everybody ready?

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I'm gonna give you a piece of revelation right now

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that's gonna change your life.

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Okay, are you ready for it?

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If you're ready church, say yeah.

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This is gonna change your life.

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This somebody's getting free today, okay?

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Sometimes you are wrong.

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That was for somebody this morning.

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Plural, that was for somebodies.

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And the Lord has this tendency

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to send the most annoying people in your life

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to tell you this truth.

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And to remind you about this truth.

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But sometimes you are wrong.

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And anytime somebody is walking around

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with a posture that they are always right,

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then they are only about themselves

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and they are dealing with pride.

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Because all of us at some point or another are wrong.

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And we don't like to be wrong.

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Does it feel good to be wrong?

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No, it doesn't feel good to be wrong.

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We walk around trying to be right.

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But it is okay, it is okay that sometimes you are wrong

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when you admit, hey, I was wrong, I messed up.

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So sometimes it's harder not just to be wrong,

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but to actually admit the truth that I was wrong.

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That takes courage.

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It takes loving the other person.

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And for many of us, it takes the power of the Holy Spirit.

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Because we are conditioned as people to be very selfish

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as opposed to selfless.

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And we put ourselves in the center.

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And if we're in the center of our world,

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then we're always right.

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But guys, the Lord doesn't want you

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to be the center of your world.

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He wants to be in the center.

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And the biggest conflict that we ever had

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on the face of this planet was a conflict with our creator.

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And it was that we opposed him because of our sin.

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That automatically puts us in a category of being wrong.

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And he's right.

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And so selfishness and pride.

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I was on a, come on up here, Phil.

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I was on a car ride with Philip yesterday.

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And he just, we were talking a little bit

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about this message today.

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And he brought up a quote by St. Francis of Assisi.

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And I just want him to share this quote with you.

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It's a short one, but I wanted him to come up and share it.

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Because it has everything to do with how we handle conflict.

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Would you just share that?

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- Yeah, first off, anybody?

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- I need a microphone.

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Okay, here we go.

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- Yeah.

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- Anybody feel like this message is for them?

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Yeah, that's definitely me.

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Well, it's one thing that has gotten me

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through some difficult conversations in the past.

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Whenever I have needed to approach someone,

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I know that I've done it wrongly so many times in the past,

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going up to someone and trying to make sure

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that they heard my perspective

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before actually understanding what they were going through

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or how they were receiving something.

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So I was talking with Pastor Kevin yesterday

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and a quote came to mind that I used to really live by.

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And I try to still to this day,

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especially with my team at work.

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But the quote is, "Seek to understand, not to be understood."

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And I feel like that's really powerful

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'cause whenever you go into a courageous conversation

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with someone that you presumably love,

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it's very easy to represent your own perspective

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so forcibly a lot of times

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and really not take the time to understand

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what that person might be going through,

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how they might be processing the circumstance

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of the conversation that you're looking to have with them

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or anything else.

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So that's kind of a quote that's really helped shape

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the way that I try to go into courageous conversation.

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- So it's seek to-- - Understand.

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- Seek to understand, not to be understood.

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Would you say that?

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Seek to-- - Understand.

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- Not to be understood.

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Here's the thing, guys.

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Who is right is less important than what is right.

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Who is right is less important than what is right, okay?

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When we make it about us,

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when we put the who before the what,

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we create a big mess, create a big mess.

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Sometimes we have to understand with humility

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that being wrong doesn't knock us down the ladder

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a few notches.

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We were just wrong and that's okay, that happens.

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So where do we go to find what's right?

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Where in the world do we go to find what's right?

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Any guesses?

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The word of God, go figure.

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He has given us his word.

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We go to the word of God as the authority in our life

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and it gives us truth, it gives us the answers.

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The word of God, Psalm 119 says this,

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"Great peace have they which love your word

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"and nothing shall offend them."

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Nothing, I'm going through a circumstance right now

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over the last several months that I have every opportunity

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to pick up an offense.

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But I have great peace.

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God, why do I have great peace?

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I know his word, I know his truth.

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I know that he is sovereign, I know that he is good

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no matter what the outcome of my situation.

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How do I know that?

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'Cause I'm just so great and I'm perfect.

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No, it's because his word says it

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and I believe what his word says.

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I have to remind myself daily of this truth.

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It's not something that's just natural.

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My natural inclination is wanna punch people in the face.

Speaker: 00:15:08

Anybody else?

Speaker: 00:15:11

My natural inclination is a lot of different things

Speaker: 00:15:15

but I have to combat it daily by picking up my cross

Speaker: 00:15:18

and following what I believe this word of God to say.

Speaker: 00:15:21

So do you know the word of God?

Speaker: 00:15:24

What advice do I give as a pastor when people come to me,

Speaker: 00:15:27

hey, Kevin, so and so said this, did this, whatever.

Speaker: 00:15:29

What's my advice?

Speaker: 00:15:31

I don't tell them to go run,

Speaker: 00:15:32

well, what I first tell them to do is go put it on Facebook

Speaker: 00:15:34

'cause you know you gotta put it on Facebook

Speaker: 00:15:36

for everybody to see, right?

Speaker: 00:15:38

Then go gossip about the person

Speaker: 00:15:39

and then after that, no, go to the word to seek truth.

Speaker: 00:15:44

And it's not just go to the word to seek truth

Speaker: 00:15:47

about that person, go to the word to seek truth

Speaker: 00:15:50

about yourself, about how you're supposed to respond,

Speaker: 00:15:54

about reminding yourself about what Jesus Christ did

Speaker: 00:15:56

for you on the cross and why your offense toward them

Speaker: 00:16:00

or the way that you picked up offense should be lessened

Speaker: 00:16:04

because of what Jesus did for you.

Speaker: 00:16:06

It's a reminder, it's a reminder.

Speaker: 00:16:08

But there's wisdom in a multitude of counselors.

Speaker: 00:16:11

You know what we do as Christians?

Speaker: 00:16:13

We pull people in that are gonna counsel us

Speaker: 00:16:16

that agree with our side of the story.

Speaker: 00:16:18

We pull people in and sometimes it's disguised

Speaker: 00:16:21

in the altar space as I need prayer,

Speaker: 00:16:23

so and so said this and did this and they did this

Speaker: 00:16:26

and da, da, da, da, da, da, would you,

Speaker: 00:16:27

let's pray for them right now.

Speaker: 00:16:29

And I come to convey information rather than in truth

Speaker: 00:16:33

ask the Holy Spirit to come and infuse the situation.

Speaker: 00:16:36

We need to be looking for God's face

Speaker: 00:16:39

in all of our circumstances, especially our relational ones.

Speaker: 00:16:42

God, where are you in this?

Speaker: 00:16:44

God, where are you in this?

Speaker: 00:16:45

I wanna see your face because if I see your face,

Speaker: 00:16:48

then I'm gonna see them the way you see them.

Speaker: 00:16:50

Not the way I wanna see them,

Speaker: 00:16:52

not the way I feel about the situation right now,

Speaker: 00:16:54

not the way that it's been painted,

Speaker: 00:16:57

even with the scars and what's coming at me.

Speaker: 00:16:58

God, I want to be able to see them the way that you see them.

Speaker: 00:17:02

We need to see God's face in our situations

Speaker: 00:17:05

and we have to stop trying to fix it on our own.

Speaker: 00:17:08

We need to invite the Lord into our circumstances

Speaker: 00:17:11

and into our conflicts.

Speaker: 00:17:13

And so we're gonna work through

Speaker: 00:17:14

this bottom portion of Matthew.

Speaker: 00:17:17

And we're gonna look at this real quick

Speaker: 00:17:18

and I'm gonna ask Cole Burkett to come up here.

Speaker: 00:17:21

And if you'll grab this, come back here, come up quickly.

Speaker: 00:17:24

Actually, I'll grab this while you're coming up.

Speaker: 00:17:26

It is so easy for us to pick up a fence.

Speaker: 00:17:30

How many, give Cole a round of applause.

Speaker: 00:17:32

(congregation applauding)

Speaker: 00:17:35

Now, Cole is a musician.

Speaker: 00:17:41

This says, this says, offense.

Speaker: 00:17:46

You get it?

Speaker: 00:17:48

Okay.

Speaker: 00:17:50

Cole is a musician, but more importantly,

Speaker: 00:17:54

Cole's my friend, okay?

Speaker: 00:17:55

So come here, Cole.

Speaker: 00:17:56

Last week, I want you to stand right here, buddy.

Speaker: 00:18:00

Last week, Pastor Jonathan gave a definition of fellowship.

Speaker: 00:18:03

And he talked about fellowship being deeper than a friend,

Speaker: 00:18:06

deeper than friendship, closer to family,

Speaker: 00:18:09

but even beyond that.

Speaker: 00:18:10

And so the most important word in that definition

Speaker: 00:18:12

of fellowship was the word intimacy,

Speaker: 00:18:14

which is a word that we totally obliterate

Speaker: 00:18:17

and don't really understand.

Speaker: 00:18:18

But the posture of intimacy looks like this.

Speaker: 00:18:22

Go this way.

Speaker: 00:18:24

The posture of intimacy looks like this.

Speaker: 00:18:27

It's close.

Speaker: 00:18:28

There's a bond.

Speaker: 00:18:30

There is closeness, a bond.

Speaker: 00:18:34

There's a truth.

Speaker: 00:18:36

There's, what are you doing?

Speaker: 00:18:37

(congregation laughing)

Speaker: 00:18:40

There's comfort.

Speaker: 00:18:42

There's love.

Speaker: 00:18:43

There's trust, okay?

Speaker: 00:18:44

All of those vulnerability.

Speaker: 00:18:45

This is the posture of intimacy.

Speaker: 00:18:47

This is what we are supposed to be with fellow believers.

Speaker: 00:18:51

We're supposed to be an intimate connection, okay?

Speaker: 00:18:53

That's what God's desire for us is.

Speaker: 00:18:56

But something happens along the way.

Speaker: 00:18:57

Now, I said Cole was a musician, okay?

Speaker: 00:18:59

I'm just gonna use some bogus examples here, okay?

Speaker: 00:19:01

Cole's a musician.

Speaker: 00:19:02

He plays a show downtown and I don't show up.

Speaker: 00:19:05

So Cole makes up in his mind,

Speaker: 00:19:08

Kevin must not care about me

Speaker: 00:19:10

because he didn't come to the show.

Speaker: 00:19:13

Do you know there's a difference

Speaker: 00:19:14

between perception and reality?

Speaker: 00:19:16

So his perception is I didn't come to the show

Speaker: 00:19:20

because I don't care about him.

Speaker: 00:19:22

The reality was my kids were sick and I had to stay home.

Speaker: 00:19:25

But he didn't say anything to me about it.

Speaker: 00:19:27

He just kind of holds on to that.

Speaker: 00:19:29

Cole wants to come and he's a musician.

Speaker: 00:19:33

He wants to come and play worship at Springhouse.

Speaker: 00:19:38

He wants to come and be on the stage and lead worship.

Speaker: 00:19:42

And Pastor Jonathan never talks to him,

Speaker: 00:19:45

never says anything to him about it.

Speaker: 00:19:47

So his perception is, man, I'm really a nobody.

Speaker: 00:19:51

Nobody wants to use me.

Speaker: 00:19:52

I guess my talents are worthless to the kingdom,

Speaker: 00:19:55

are worthless to the church.

Speaker: 00:19:56

But the reality was is that Pastor Jonathan is over here

Speaker: 00:20:00

praying and seeking for somebody to come to him and say,

Speaker: 00:20:02

hey, I would like to maybe join the worship team.

Speaker: 00:20:05

And he doesn't know that Cole's has a desire

Speaker: 00:20:08

because Cole's not said anything about it.

Speaker: 00:20:10

So now he's got a perception that nobody sees him,

Speaker: 00:20:12

nobody hears him.

Speaker: 00:20:13

Pastor Justin takes Cole to lunch

Speaker: 00:20:20

and Cole sits there and they have a great meal together.

Speaker: 00:20:22

And Pastor Justin didn't pay for Cole's meal

Speaker: 00:20:24

'cause he's got 45 kids.

Speaker: 00:20:27

That's the reality.

Speaker: 00:20:31

The perception is Pastor Justin doesn't see me

Speaker: 00:20:35

or care about me that I'm a poor musician that needs money.

Speaker: 00:20:38

So Cole has all of these situations going on

Speaker: 00:20:44

and has had none of which he has said anything

Speaker: 00:20:46

to the person about.

Speaker: 00:20:48

And so what happens is is we're supposed to be in this,

Speaker: 00:20:51

we're gonna use the example of me, okay, earlier.

Speaker: 00:20:53

He and I are in this intimate position, okay?

Speaker: 00:20:57

We're close.

Speaker: 00:20:57

We are walking life together and we're close.

Speaker: 00:21:00

Every time we see each other, we have a close bond.

Speaker: 00:21:03

But, but because I didn't go to his show,

Speaker: 00:21:07

he has made up in his mind

Speaker: 00:21:08

that I do not value his musicianship.

Speaker: 00:21:12

And his mind has started to spiral into,

Speaker: 00:21:14

Kevin must just not care about my life at all.

Speaker: 00:21:17

And he must not care about my wife or my family.

Speaker: 00:21:19

And it has just gotten bigger.

Speaker: 00:21:20

And what he's done is he's picked up this offense.

Speaker: 00:21:24

Go ahead, pick this up.

Speaker: 00:21:26

Literally pick it up, okay?

Speaker: 00:21:28

And I want you to come toward me and face me.

Speaker: 00:21:30

So this is what happens, okay?

Speaker: 00:21:32

Now our relationship has a barrier between it.

Speaker: 00:21:37

So here I go, not yet.

Speaker: 00:21:38

(congregation laughing)

Speaker: 00:21:40

Okay?

Speaker: 00:21:40

So now when we're supposed to be an intimate connection,

Speaker: 00:21:44

it's awkward.

Speaker: 00:21:45

And it's awkward because I can tell something is off.

Speaker: 00:21:49

Something is not quite right here.

Speaker: 00:21:51

He's not reciprocating the relationship the way he used to.

Speaker: 00:21:55

He has stopped communicating the way

Speaker: 00:21:57

that I'm used to him communicating.

Speaker: 00:21:59

He has stopped showing up to things

Speaker: 00:22:01

that he normally shows up to.

Speaker: 00:22:02

Something is clearly off.

Speaker: 00:22:04

And even so much so that I might be cognizant enough

Speaker: 00:22:07

to go, Cole, hey, something's off, something's wrong.

Speaker: 00:22:10

And he just smiles, smile at them.

Speaker: 00:22:12

(congregation laughing)

Speaker: 00:22:14

And he says, no, everything's fine.

Speaker: 00:22:16

Everything's great.

Speaker: 00:22:17

So many of us, that is a lie.

Speaker: 00:22:21

So many of us will lie

Speaker: 00:22:23

instead of go to the middle of the relationship.

Speaker: 00:22:26

Let me tell you something.

Speaker: 00:22:28

When you say you love someone,

Speaker: 00:22:30

when you say you love someone,

Speaker: 00:22:32

there is nothing on the table that you can't talk about.

Speaker: 00:22:35

There should be an open pathway to say,

Speaker: 00:22:37

even if it seems dumb,

Speaker: 00:22:39

even if it seems like you just are like,

Speaker: 00:22:42

man, I know this is crazy.

Speaker: 00:22:44

You should be able to communicate.

Speaker: 00:22:45

That is immature love whenever you can't,

Speaker: 00:22:49

when you can't converse like that.

Speaker: 00:22:50

And so we've got a boundary between us right now

Speaker: 00:22:53

and it's kind of crazy and it's creating this chasm.

Speaker: 00:22:55

So that's what the scripture says

Speaker: 00:22:56

is that it says that many will be offended.

Speaker: 00:22:59

Many will be offended.

Speaker: 00:23:00

What does he say next?

Speaker: 00:23:01

He says, then, I'm sorry, let me say this.

Speaker: 00:23:04

One offended is more unyielding than a strong city.

Speaker: 00:23:07

Back in the day, they used to build walls around cities.

Speaker: 00:23:11

Why did they do that?

Speaker: 00:23:12

For protection.

Speaker: 00:23:13

What is offense birthed out of?

Speaker: 00:23:16

It's birthed out of a hurt.

Speaker: 00:23:17

I don't want to be hurt again.

Speaker: 00:23:20

So I'm going to build a wall between you and me

Speaker: 00:23:22

so I don't get hurt again.

Speaker: 00:23:24

But here is the lie of the enemy.

Speaker: 00:23:26

When we build that wall,

Speaker: 00:23:27

we're actually hurting ourselves worse

Speaker: 00:23:29

than if we would address the situation.

Speaker: 00:23:31

We're hurting ourselves worse

Speaker: 00:23:33

than whether we address the situation.

Speaker: 00:23:36

And here's the real crux.

Speaker: 00:23:39

When we hold onto an offense, we let go of God.

Speaker: 00:23:42

We have no ability to hold onto God

Speaker: 00:23:44

because we're holding onto the offense.

Speaker: 00:23:46

So the next thing that Jesus says here

Speaker: 00:23:48

is that they will betray one another, okay?

Speaker: 00:23:50

So here we've been an intimate connection.

Speaker: 00:23:52

Now it's awkward.

Speaker: 00:23:54

There's this thing going on in this space.

Speaker: 00:23:56

And now things are happening in cold spirit in his mind

Speaker: 00:23:59

that are not healthy.

Speaker: 00:24:00

And guess what?

Speaker: 00:24:01

He's got this offense.

Speaker: 00:24:02

He's let go of God.

Speaker: 00:24:03

So his natural, supernatural, heavenly affirmation

Speaker: 00:24:07

they should be getting from the word he's not getting.

Speaker: 00:24:09

And so what he does is he betrays.

Speaker: 00:24:11

And betrayal looks like this.

Speaker: 00:24:12

I want you to turn and face them.

Speaker: 00:24:14

This is what betrayal looks like.

Speaker: 00:24:16

It is taking the offense here in the perception

Speaker: 00:24:19

and showing all of you everything from his perspective.

Speaker: 00:24:24

Because if he will think to Chelsea his perspective,

Speaker: 00:24:27

then Chelsea will go, oh, you poor thing, Cole,

Speaker: 00:24:29

we're gonna round a bunch of people

Speaker: 00:24:30

to come see your show next time

Speaker: 00:24:31

because we wanna make sure you feel good.

Speaker: 00:24:33

How dare Kevin not do that?

Speaker: 00:24:34

Kevin isn't doing anything with his life.

Speaker: 00:24:36

He should be at your show.

Speaker: 00:24:37

All of these things.

Speaker: 00:24:38

And so he starts to paint this perception

Speaker: 00:24:40

to everybody as betrayal.

Speaker: 00:24:43

Why is the betrayal there?

Speaker: 00:24:45

Because he needs affirmation from people

Speaker: 00:24:47

because he's not getting it from the source.

Speaker: 00:24:48

He's gotta get it from somewhere.

Speaker: 00:24:50

And so we begin to feed into the lie.

Speaker: 00:24:52

Now, he's not gonna go to somebody like Pastor Barbie

Speaker: 00:24:56

with this because Pastor Barbie's actually gonna say,

Speaker: 00:24:57

uh-uh, that doesn't sound like Kevin.

Speaker: 00:24:59

Let's go right now and turn around and, right?

Speaker: 00:25:02

Why do I know that about Pastor Barbie?

Speaker: 00:25:04

Because she loves me.

Speaker: 00:25:06

Because she loves me.

Speaker: 00:25:08

Oh, that we would have people

Speaker: 00:25:09

when somebody comes to you and says something

Speaker: 00:25:12

that seems off from the character

Speaker: 00:25:13

that you know that person to be.

Speaker: 00:25:15

Instead of buying right into what they're saying,

Speaker: 00:25:17

you say, wait a second,

Speaker: 00:25:18

that does not sound like that person I know.

Speaker: 00:25:21

Let's go and figure out what's going on.

Speaker: 00:25:23

Or at the least, at the least, yikes,

Speaker: 00:25:27

that doesn't seem like they stepped

Speaker: 00:25:29

in the right direction there.

Speaker: 00:25:30

Let's go right now and talk to them

Speaker: 00:25:32

because I know them well enough that they will own it

Speaker: 00:25:34

and they will apologize and we can walk in forgiveness.

Speaker: 00:25:38

Guys, this has to be a place where gossip goes to die.

Speaker: 00:25:42

This has to be a place where we are authentic enough

Speaker: 00:25:46

with one another that we protect one another through love,

Speaker: 00:25:49

through the lens of love.

Speaker: 00:25:50

So, Cole is coming at you and he's gonna find the people,

Speaker: 00:25:53

he's not finding the people who love me

Speaker: 00:25:55

and want to support and lift my arms up.

Speaker: 00:25:57

He's finding people that are going to,

Speaker: 00:25:59

he's finding the weak ones.

Speaker: 00:26:00

The ones who will come and say,

Speaker: 00:26:03

yeah, let me just feed into this.

Speaker: 00:26:05

The ones who think they're strong, but they're really weak.

Speaker: 00:26:09

Then what happens?

Speaker: 00:26:12

Goes from being offended to betrayal to hatred.

Speaker: 00:26:18

To hatred, this is what hatred looks like

Speaker: 00:26:20

when you set this fence down over here

Speaker: 00:26:23

and once you get in the middle.

Speaker: 00:26:24

Hatred is a trap.

Speaker: 00:26:28

It's a trap of isolation.

Speaker: 00:26:31

It's a trap that says, I am untouchable.

Speaker: 00:26:36

Nobody can speak into my life.

Speaker: 00:26:40

Nobody can help me.

Speaker: 00:26:43

And another word that we would call this

Speaker: 00:26:45

instead of these walls being able to be a stronghold.

Speaker: 00:26:47

I got a stronghold going on in my life.

Speaker: 00:26:50

And it's got me and I'm not connecting to the Lord.

Speaker: 00:26:53

I'm not able to get past what's going on.

Speaker: 00:26:55

I am walking in hatred right now.

Speaker: 00:26:58

It's what Jesus says is gonna happen.

Speaker: 00:27:00

A fence leads to betrayal, leads to hate.

Speaker: 00:27:03

But then what it says, then it says more.

Speaker: 00:27:05

What does it say?

Speaker: 00:27:06

It's what I should have said.

Speaker: 00:27:08

Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many.

Speaker: 00:27:11

Why is this person so susceptible to false truth,

Speaker: 00:27:15

false doctrine?

Speaker: 00:27:16

Because they're not holding on to the word

Speaker: 00:27:18

or holding on to the Lord.

Speaker: 00:27:19

So now they're wide open for whatever the enemy

Speaker: 00:27:22

wants to throw their way.

Speaker: 00:27:23

Whatever comes their way, he's buying into truth

Speaker: 00:27:26

that is not truth because he doesn't know the truth.

Speaker: 00:27:29

He's not connected to the Holy Spirit, to God.

Speaker: 00:27:32

He's just wide open target for anything that comes his way.

Speaker: 00:27:35

Jesus talks about false prophets in Matthew seven.

Speaker: 00:27:38

He says this, "Beware of false prophets

Speaker: 00:27:41

"who come to you dressed as sheep,

Speaker: 00:27:43

"but inwardly are ravenous wolves."

Speaker: 00:27:45

Do you notice there that he doesn't say

Speaker: 00:27:47

that the ones that are dressed, I'm sorry,

Speaker: 00:27:51

the false prophets are dressed like sheep?

Speaker: 00:27:53

He doesn't say the false prophets are dressed like shepherds.

Speaker: 00:27:57

See, when we read that, we think automatically,

Speaker: 00:27:58

well, a pastor is gonna lead us astray.

Speaker: 00:28:00

A prophet is gonna lead us, no.

Speaker: 00:28:02

He's talking about the sheep.

Speaker: 00:28:04

He's talking about you all because guess what?

Speaker: 00:28:06

Here's the thing, he's isolated.

Speaker: 00:28:08

We can't mind our business enough

Speaker: 00:28:10

to not come up to the fence and say,

Speaker: 00:28:11

hey, what's going on?

Speaker: 00:28:13

How's it going?

Speaker: 00:28:14

Tell me what's up here, what's going on?

Speaker: 00:28:17

And so the sheep start speaking into the life

Speaker: 00:28:20

of the person who's isolated, not the truth,

Speaker: 00:28:23

but false things, aiding the isolation

Speaker: 00:28:27

on the outside of the fence, on the outside of the fence.

Speaker: 00:28:31

And here's what actually happens.

Speaker: 00:28:32

I'm just gonna be real real tonight, today.

Speaker: 00:28:34

Once they do this to you, make you feel good,

Speaker: 00:28:37

they're going over here and they're talking bad about you.

Speaker: 00:28:40

Am I saying the truth?

Speaker: 00:28:45

And then they're talking bad about that person.

Speaker: 00:28:47

If somebody has the audacity to come

Speaker: 00:28:50

and just spew a bunch of gossip to you,

Speaker: 00:28:52

I promise you they're talking about you as well.

Speaker: 00:28:54

Aren't you glad you came this morning?

Speaker: 00:28:58

(congregation laughing)

Speaker: 00:29:01

And the reason I say that is because he says this

Speaker: 00:29:03

and because of lawlessness.

Speaker: 00:29:06

The vices that happen in here,

Speaker: 00:29:08

the sin that happens in this place,

Speaker: 00:29:10

'cause you gotta do something to sober yourself up

Speaker: 00:29:12

to feel good.

Speaker: 00:29:13

The lawlessness will abound

Speaker: 00:29:15

and the love of many will grow cold.

Speaker: 00:29:18

It will grow cold.

Speaker: 00:29:21

So, are we like people without hope

Speaker: 00:29:26

when we're in this situation?

Speaker: 00:29:27

Are we a people that once you get here, you are stuck?

Speaker: 00:29:31

You are never stuck when it comes to the Lord.

Speaker: 00:29:35

You can always have a pathway to be unstuck

Speaker: 00:29:38

when it comes to the Lord.

Speaker: 00:29:40

And we learn over in Acts chapter 24, a pathway,

Speaker: 00:29:43

it says this, "And herein do I exercise myself

Speaker: 00:29:47

to have always a conscious void to offense toward God

Speaker: 00:29:52

and toward mine."

Speaker: 00:29:53

The important word in this is exercise.

Speaker: 00:29:55

Now, I have started to work out over the last several months

Speaker: 00:29:58

and I don't really like it.

Speaker: 00:29:59

I like to see the results, but I don't like the process.

Speaker: 00:30:07

I don't like the process.

Speaker: 00:30:08

This week, I was in super pain

Speaker: 00:30:11

over at Justin's house in my legs.

Speaker: 00:30:13

And he's like, "Let's do lunges

Speaker: 00:30:15

all the way up and down the freaking pathway,"

Speaker: 00:30:17

whatever it is.

Speaker: 00:30:19

It hurt, it didn't feel good.

Speaker: 00:30:21

But I'm subjecting myself to the pain

Speaker: 00:30:24

because I know the result I'm gonna be pleased with.

Speaker: 00:30:27

And so in this passage, it says,

Speaker: 00:30:30

herein do I exercise myself.

Speaker: 00:30:32

So here's what you do.

Speaker: 00:30:34

If you find yourself in a place,

Speaker: 00:30:36

maybe this morning the Lord has identified

Speaker: 00:30:37

somebody you've been holding offense against,

Speaker: 00:30:39

you've got a conflict with, you're in isolation,

Speaker: 00:30:41

maybe you can go as far as say, I hate them.

Speaker: 00:30:43

Maybe, maybe, maybe you didn't realize

Speaker: 00:30:46

you hated them until now

Speaker: 00:30:48

because you've convinced yourself that it's okay.

Speaker: 00:30:52

You've numbed yourself,

Speaker: 00:30:53

but the reality is that you're isolated from everyone else

Speaker: 00:30:56

and you've changed your behavior.

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So what do you do?

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The first thing that we want to do is this.

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This is not what we're supposed to do.

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This is the first thing we want to do

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because we know, we know here,

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okay, I'm supposed to go to that person.

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I'm supposed to tell them what I feel like they've done wrong

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and forgive them, right?

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So we know that, but we don't do it.

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First of all, it's too late.

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That ship has sailed

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'cause you have built a whole thing over here

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that makes no sense against them.

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But what we do is we carry this.

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So go and pick that offense up and you bring it back to me.

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Now I'm all of a sudden,

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Cole's coming up to me

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and he puts this offense right in my face.

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And he says, look what you did.

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Look how you hurt me.

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Look what this did to me.

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Look how this felt.

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And then he puts it down and he says, but I forgive you.

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And I'm just supposed to be okay.

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Oh, okay.

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And we're supposed to go back to, no,

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that's not how it works.

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That's not how it works.

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Stay right there.

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When someone mistreats you,

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when someone mistreat, when you feel,

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even if you have assumed they have mistreated you,

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there is instruction in the Word

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of what you're supposed to do.

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It says this, pray for the one who mistreats you.

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Pray for the one.

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Pray for them, what?

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God, do you not know what they did?

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God bless them, God bless them, whatever.

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Right, that's our prayer.

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God, whatever, just touch their life, whatever.

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Let them breathe tomorrow.

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Hope they put on some shoes when they go outside, whatever.

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And we start praying these meaningless prayers.

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Why?

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Because we want them to know.

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We want them to feel our pain.

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We want them to hurt like we hurt.

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But aren't you glad that the Savior of the world

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didn't make you hurt the way He hurt before forgiving you?

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Because here's the thing, guys,

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God does not just dispense love.

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The Word tells us that God is love.

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And He lives inside you, and I hate to tell you this,

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no, I love to tell you this,

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love holds no record of wrongs.

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No record is not some record.

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It's not the record that wasn't tarnished.

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It wasn't the record that, well,

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but this situation is an exception.

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Love holds no record of wrong.

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What that means is, is when you wake up the next day,

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it's as if nothing ever happened.

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And even more so, your relationship is deeper the next day

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than before whatever happened happened.

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Love holds no record of wrong.

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And how are we able to live there and why?

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How do we know that that's how we're supposed to live

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for one another?

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It's because this is what forgiveness looks like.

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Jesus sacrificed His life saying, forgive them, God,

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they have no idea what they are doing, what they have done.

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And so the correct posture is, Cole, go on back.

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The correct posture is, I'm over here,

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and Cole needs to start with forgiveness.

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He needs to forgive me.

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And I didn't really even do anything.

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Remember the scenario?

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But he's got to do forgiveness.

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Do you know that forgiveness is really for you?

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When you forgive someone, it's liberating you.

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So he starts with a position of forgiveness,

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but you don't do that by coming with the offense

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and shoving it in the person's face.

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You take that offense and you give it to the Lord.

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So I want you to take that

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and I want you to give it to the Lord, just lay it down.

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And so now he's in a posture

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because he's no longer holding onto the offense.

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Now he has something that he can actually hold onto.

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He can have something.

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And before he even tries to come over in my vicinity,

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God needs to remind Cole about who he is.

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God needs to do some heart surgery in Cole.

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God needs to tell Cole some truths about God's character.

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He needs to fuel Cole.

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Because guys, that's where the source comes from.

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Cole wasn't getting any of that from me.

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I was enjoying the source with him.

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Your source is not the people next to you.

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Your source is God.

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Your source is the Lord.

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And so he goes and he starts to get filled up.

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And as he's on that process, he is now forgiven.

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In his heart, he has forgiven me for what he assumed I did.

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But guys, let me tell you something.

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There's another part of it.

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And the next part is reconciliation.

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Forgiveness and reconciliation are two different things.

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So he is now forgiven

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and now he needs to start walking the process

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of reconciliation.

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And what that looks like is coming to me,

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coming to the one that presumably offended him

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and humbly apologizing,

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saying, man, I've created distance

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and would you please forgive me?

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I don't want this chasm between us.

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I miss the intimate connection we had.

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Notice he's not saying anything about me

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not going to the show.

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Why?

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Because the Lord's already fixed that idea in his head.

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Because it wasn't in keeping with my character.

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But let's say he does say that.

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Let's say in the context he's like,

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just he kind of, he happens to say,

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hey, listen, you know, it started with the fact

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that you didn't go to my show and that kind of hurt me.

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And I could say, dude, I'm so sorry that hurt you, man.

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I was, my Ruby was throwing up

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and all of a sudden Ruby's throwing up.

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It locks everything in his mind

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that he's just spent a whole year

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severing our relationship off of a non-truth.

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Off of a perception that was not true.

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Because we brought and introduced truth

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in the reality into the situation.

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And so now there's reconciliation.

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When we are reconciled to Christ,

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guess what we have to do?

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It's not just he dies on the cross

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and we're reconciled to Christ.

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He dies on the cross and we have to repent.

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We have to turn from our, there is a step there.

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We have to repent from our sin.

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There's a step here.

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There's a change that has to happen,

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an interchange in this reconciliation

Speaker: 00:36:56

so that we can get back to this posture.

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And let me tell you guys something.

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Anytime I've gone through this process with someone,

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I am closer today with them than I ever have been before.

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Because it takes vulnerability, it takes transparency.

Speaker: 00:37:10

And you wanna talk about true grit and intimacy.

Speaker: 00:37:13

That is whenever you can bear all

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and you can flesh out life together with someone.

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Because the next time I don't show up to Cole's show

Speaker: 00:37:20

or there's a different example.

Speaker: 00:37:21

Cole has learned the hard way.

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And he has now seen what my character,

Speaker: 00:37:26

not that I'm perfect, I'll probably mess up.

Speaker: 00:37:27

The next time I may really, really offend him.

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I may actually really say something.

Speaker: 00:37:31

Hey man, I don't really like that white shirt.

Speaker: 00:37:33

But guess what?

Speaker: 00:37:34

We're close enough to that.

Speaker: 00:37:35

If friends say, whoa, whoa, whoa, come here.

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Man, I know you don't like my white shirt,

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but man, the way you said that really kind of hurt me.

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And because I love Cole, I can react two ways.

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I can love him or I can react out of my flesh.

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Because it's a two way street.

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I can say, man, you're so dumb.

Speaker: 00:37:50

Get over the whole shirt thing.

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Why?

Speaker: 00:37:54

Why do we act like that?

Speaker: 00:37:55

Because we don't like to be wrong.

Speaker: 00:37:56

I cannot control how Cole feels.

Speaker: 00:38:01

But what I can do is ask him to forgive me

Speaker: 00:38:04

because he has perceived I've wronged him.

Speaker: 00:38:06

Man, Kevin, you said you didn't like my shirt.

Speaker: 00:38:10

That kind of hurt me.

Speaker: 00:38:11

Man, I am so sorry.

Speaker: 00:38:12

I did not mean, will you please forgive me?

Speaker: 00:38:14

I appreciate it.

Speaker: 00:38:15

I don't have to then say, oh, I love your shirt.

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'Cause that's a lie.

Speaker: 00:38:17

I didn't like his shirt.

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(congregation laughing)

Speaker: 00:38:19

Right?

Speaker: 00:38:20

It's not about lying so you can soothe it over.

Speaker: 00:38:24

I can be real.

Speaker: 00:38:25

His accusation was,

Speaker: 00:38:27

I didn't like the way that you conveyed that.

Speaker: 00:38:28

Maybe I need to shut my mouth

Speaker: 00:38:29

and stop telling him how I feel about his shirts.

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Because nothing that comes out of my mouth,

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everything that comes out of my mouth should be uplifting.

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Then now what the scripture says,

Speaker: 00:38:38

let nothing unwholesome come out of your mouth.

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Right?

Speaker: 00:38:42

Is that not?

Speaker: 00:38:42

So that's not uplifting.

Speaker: 00:38:43

What if I would have come up to him and said,

Speaker: 00:38:45

man, Cole, let me tell you something.

Speaker: 00:38:47

I appreciate how much you love me.

Speaker: 00:38:49

I appreciate the way that you so, so in musically

Speaker: 00:38:52

behind closed doors and you're writing songs, man.

Speaker: 00:38:54

I'm building my friend up.

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I'm talking about the things that I really do enjoy

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and I really do see in him.

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And that deepens our connection of intimacy.

Speaker: 00:39:05

Amen?

Speaker: 00:39:06

Amen.

Speaker: 00:39:07

Thank you.

Speaker: 00:39:08

Give Cole a hand.

Speaker: 00:39:08

(congregation applauding)

Speaker: 00:39:12

Guys, this is important.

Speaker: 00:39:15

This is important because over the next several weeks,

Speaker: 00:39:18

we're going to lean into the Holy Spirit of God.

Speaker: 00:39:22

The Holy Spirit is real.

Speaker: 00:39:24

He is alive today.

Speaker: 00:39:27

He is active in your life.

Speaker: 00:39:28

He wants to be an active part of your life.

Speaker: 00:39:31

But here's what's gonna happen

Speaker: 00:39:33

when we start getting into this.

Speaker: 00:39:35

You're gonna start to recognize offenses

Speaker: 00:39:37

that you did not know that you had.

Speaker: 00:39:38

You're gonna start to recognize places of potential conflict

Speaker: 00:39:44

that you didn't know were there

Speaker: 00:39:46

because the Holy Spirit wants there to be nothing

Speaker: 00:39:48

that stops you from your relationship

Speaker: 00:39:50

and connection with God Almighty.

Speaker: 00:39:52

And so he's going to illuminate.

Speaker: 00:39:55

I don't like turning on lights in my house sometimes

Speaker: 00:39:57

because I see all the crap everywhere.

Speaker: 00:39:59

If I can just turn the lights off,

Speaker: 00:40:00

I don't have to deal with it.

Speaker: 00:40:01

Anybody else?

Speaker: 00:40:02

Throw them in the closet, close the door.

Speaker: 00:40:04

The Holy Spirit has a big magnifying glass and flashlight,

Speaker: 00:40:08

not so that you can stand condemned.

Speaker: 00:40:10

You don't have to be condemned because of that right there.

Speaker: 00:40:13

But he poses a big flashlight on it because he says,

Speaker: 00:40:16

there's something so much better for you.

Speaker: 00:40:19

There's something so much you are missing out

Speaker: 00:40:21

on a relationship that is gonna bless your socks off.

Speaker: 00:40:25

Let's clean this up and you don't have to do it alone.

Speaker: 00:40:30

Let's be a church who purposes to lay down offenses,

Speaker: 00:40:35

who purposes to handle conflict the biblical way,

Speaker: 00:40:40

who believes in the truth of what God's word says

Speaker: 00:40:43

more so than the chatter around us about other people.

Speaker: 00:40:46

Let us let Springhouse be a place

Speaker: 00:40:49

where gossip goes to die, where we walk in authenticity,

Speaker: 00:40:53

and where we love Jesus in a real way.

Speaker: 00:40:57

Because at the end of that Acts 2 passage,

Speaker: 00:40:59

it says numbers were added to them every single day.

Speaker: 00:41:03

Every single day.

Speaker: 00:41:04

And you know what happens?

Speaker: 00:41:05

Those people come inside and they're bringing

Speaker: 00:41:08

all of this stuff that we just talked about from the outside

Speaker: 00:41:10

and they're gonna come in here and be introduced

Speaker: 00:41:13

to a new way of doing things.

Speaker: 00:41:16

A kingdom way with a king who knows how to bring unity

Speaker: 00:41:21

to every situation, to bring healing to every situation,

Speaker: 00:41:26

and knows how to bring reconciliation

Speaker: 00:41:28

in a way that the world has no clue.

Speaker: 00:41:31

Would you guys stand with me this morning

Speaker: 00:41:33

with the worship team come back?

Speaker: 00:41:35

Here's what we're gonna do

Speaker: 00:41:37

with those who will pray come forward.

Speaker: 00:41:45

Today was not a goosebump word, okay?

Speaker: 00:41:50

But it's a liberating word.

Speaker: 00:41:52

In a group this size, what, there's 250 people here,

Speaker: 00:41:57

300 people, hey, listen.

Speaker: 00:41:58

There are people who are holding onto offenses here.

Speaker: 00:42:02

There are people who are in the middle of conflict.

Speaker: 00:42:06

There are people who have not stepped

Speaker: 00:42:08

into the territory of forgiveness.

Speaker: 00:42:10

And it's tough and it's hard.

Speaker: 00:42:12

Remember I talked about exercise?

Speaker: 00:42:14

I don't necessarily expect it could happen.

Speaker: 00:42:17

Not necessarily expect if you come forward today

Speaker: 00:42:19

and you start to confess it that all of a sudden

Speaker: 00:42:21

you walk out of here and everything is just great.

Speaker: 00:42:22

There's some work to do.

Speaker: 00:42:24

But the first step is the recognition that you are trapped.

Speaker: 00:42:28

Just the acknowledgement.

Speaker: 00:42:31

And you can't do anything about it.

Speaker: 00:42:33

Some of you tried to do something about it

Speaker: 00:42:34

and it led you to a bottle

Speaker: 00:42:35

or it led you to an unhealthy relationship.

Speaker: 00:42:37

It led you to vices.

Speaker: 00:42:38

No, God Almighty wants to meet you

Speaker: 00:42:40

right in the middle of the trap

Speaker: 00:42:42

and He wants to liberate you today.

Speaker: 00:42:44

And the first step is just the acknowledgement.

Speaker: 00:42:47

Come to one of these brothers or sisters and just say,

Speaker: 00:42:49

hey, you don't have to get the details if you don't want.

Speaker: 00:42:51

Just say I'm trapped and I need out.

Speaker: 00:42:54

And they will pray for the Holy Spirit

Speaker: 00:42:57

to come and give you the strength and power

Speaker: 00:42:59

to start walking out these steps.

Speaker: 00:43:02

Maybe you've been the one who has offered the offense

Speaker: 00:43:07

and you realize that.

Speaker: 00:43:08

And you need to go to the person and you need to apologize.

Speaker: 00:43:12

You need to make things right,

Speaker: 00:43:13

but you don't know how to do that.

Speaker: 00:43:14

Maybe there's been a lot of time

Speaker: 00:43:16

in between point A and point B

Speaker: 00:43:17

and you're just like, I don't know.

Speaker: 00:43:18

I'm telling you, guys, it's not happenstance

Speaker: 00:43:21

that you're here today.

Speaker: 00:43:22

What I'm talking about,

Speaker: 00:43:24

there's so much we can talk about here at church.

Speaker: 00:43:26

So many, we can talk about sin, all these things.

Speaker: 00:43:29

But when we get to the places of reconciliation,

Speaker: 00:43:31

I believe that is the very heartbeat of God.

Speaker: 00:43:33

We are talking about real important things.

Speaker: 00:43:36

The third group that might need to come,

Speaker: 00:43:38

and guys, this is me.

Speaker: 00:43:39

God, search my heart.

Speaker: 00:43:42

I don't know.

Speaker: 00:43:43

I don't want to walk in offense.

Speaker: 00:43:45

Maybe I've offended somebody that I love

Speaker: 00:43:47

and I want to make that right.

Speaker: 00:43:49

God, maybe you need to tell me

Speaker: 00:43:50

and I've been blind and numb

Speaker: 00:43:51

and I'm seeing this person all the time

Speaker: 00:43:53

and they're reading all over them, but I don't know.

Speaker: 00:43:55

God, would you search my heart

Speaker: 00:43:57

because I don't want there to be any aughts

Speaker: 00:43:59

with any of my brothers or sisters.

Speaker: 00:44:01

Maybe that's you today

Speaker: 00:44:02

and I would invite you to come as a step of faith.

Speaker: 00:44:05

Say, Lord, I wanna be more like you.

Speaker: 00:44:07

I want to see your face in my situation

Speaker: 00:44:10

and in my relationships.

Speaker: 00:44:12

So would you come this morning

Speaker: 00:44:13

and allow the Holy Spirit of God to minister to your heart

Speaker: 00:44:15

and to reconcile things this morning.

Speaker: 00:44:17

Let's worship.