Nothing Shall Offend Them

The speaker begins by expressing gratitude and praying for God's guidance. They discuss the issue of offense and how it can steal our peace. Offense disguises itself in various ways, such as feeling entitled or justified anger. The speaker asks for opinions on how offense disguises itself, and participants mention thoughts, judgment, and complex emotions. Offense can lead to a superiority or inferiority complex. The discussion highlights the importance of recognizing offense and its impact on our peace. Lord, we thank you again on this Friday. Mighty God, just after Thanksgiving in America, God, we're just so grateful. And God, for your word that just speaks to our hearts directly, God, send forth a mirror of your words tonight, God, to shine forth that which we will see, God, what even others see in us. So God, we thank you for the powerful words of encouragement you've been giving us, the instructions, and God, even tonight, we cry out, God, for the fullness of your words to come to us, Lord, and to enlighten us, give us light within ourselves tonight, Lord, that we may be prepared on our own behalf, and even, Lord, how to minister to others that have been offended. Lord, when we have been offended, God, just help us to understand your word speaks to us on this behalf in Jesus' name. Amen, amen. So I've noticed a few years back in America, I don't know about Nigeria, I don't think people ever get offended in Nigeria, am I right? We do, we do. Oh, you actually do, okay. Yeah, we do. Yeah. But in America, I noticed some five to eight years ago, there was a pandemic, is the only word I could think of, of people who were offended in so many different ways. We will look tonight, but the word of God says all the different, can you imagine all the different ways we can be offended, and what does it mean? You know, I didn't actually, couldn't identify that feeling inside of myself until I just really began to study some years ago about this word, and I came to understand that negative feelings that I had were actually feelings of offense, and what causes offense, and what does the word of God say about it? And I hope and pray tonight that the light of God's word will shine on us. First of all, in Psalm 119, one of the last verses, and one of the longest, or the longest chapter in the Bible, so I say that so we can remember where to find this verse, and I'm sure you know this verse. Brother Kasandu, are you reading tonight? Psalm 119, verse 165. Yes, daddy. Okay, are you in a good place to read, then? Oh yes, I can read. Awesome. Psalm 119, verse 165. Great peace have there which love thy law, and nothing shall offend them. Great peace, great peace, great peace. Not just peace, but great peace, huh? Those which love thy law, and nothing shall by any means offend them. That's really something. So it seems to me that there is a realm in God where we can walk in peace, and second, it seems to me there is a tactic of the enemy in the flesh that would cause us to lose this peace, and one of the ways that I know in my life and others, I've seen people totally lose their peace over being offended. Brother Emmanuel, welcome. Brother Zebedee, we see you're there. Welcome, I'm glad to have you, and take a minute and say hello. Good evening, and thank you very much. Hey, so happy you can come in tonight. Yeah, I'm happy to join today. I've been busy for the past week. Thank God I'm here today. Yeah, we've been missing you on Friday nights, so glad that you were able tonight. By God's grace, Emmanuel, welcome. Good evening, sir. Yes. Can you hear me? Yes, Brother Emmanuel, welcome. How are you? All well with you. Good evening, everyone. Good evening, Pastor Phil. Is it well with you? All right. So great, great peace, and so we were saying that there is something that can steal our peace, and one of the thieves, one of the robbers that often comes disguised, well, let's have some fun. If offense is a thief and a robber, we know that he steals, and one of the things that he steals is our peace, but he comes in disguised, and we don't often just say, you know, I am totally offended, and that's why I'm upset. It comes in disguise. I'm just curious what you think is the disguise, how offense comes in. How does offense disguise itself? Anybody have any thoughts? Don't wait for the next guy. Unmute and see. What do you think? Cassandra, you may start, and then I'll go to Emmanuel second. Let's see, what ideas do we have? How does offense disguise itself? That's just an easy question. That's just an easy question. It's okay. Not an easy question, but I'm looking at myself, and I'm also looking at scriptures. One of the ways offense disguises itself is a feeling of entitlement. If we feel that at least we deserve something, and we don't have it, so you don't notice that you're offended already. If you feel that way, it's a justified anger, sadness, or annoyance. Yes. So, it's an annoyance. It's an annoyance. It's justified. Justified anger or annoyance. Because we deserve something better or different. Yes. Okay, Emmanuel, you're next. And then, Brother Zembede, you'll be after that. Go ahead. I think one of the ways offense disguises itself is through thoughts, certain thoughts in our hearts that we allow to remain. The Bible says, casting down imaginations. So, if we allow certain thoughts that relate to, well, I shouldn't have been treated this way. Well, this is going on in my life. That is going on in my life. Or you allow thoughts that the devil tries to break into your heart to make you feel way down, feel offended. I think that is one of the ways that offense disguises itself, coming in with the way of thoughts, wrong thoughts that open you up to feeling offended or having offense in your thoughts. Christo. I think you are definitely on track, Emmanuel. That's good. Can you work on that a little more in your own mind and come back later? What kind of thoughts come to you? You gave a couple examples. One, you gave, I should not have been treated this way. And that's an excellent stealer, thief for being offended. And second, the circumstances I am going through. But chew on that a little deeper and then come back to us. Brother Zebedee, how do offenses disguise themselves? Well, Brother Kisindu has that into my mind. When offense disguises itself, when you have a sense of entitlement that is not given to you. So, Brother Kisindu has that in my mind. Okay, so what are the feelings that you have when you feel like you're entitled to something, but you don't get it? What feelings, what words do you use to describe the feelings that happen? Brother Zebedee, anything else to add to that? Well, one word, reverence. I'm not a good English person, but you know, well, you feel what is due is not given, you feel disrespected, you feel looked down upon. And so that will create offense. It's like a boss in an office, if his subject is not giving him the needed respect or the needed recognition, he can also get offended. And that can cease the boss' peace unnecessarily. So I think that is what I can say, reverence. All right, so like, I have worked here for 15 years. I've worked here longer than anyone else. And I have not noticed I've been overlooked. Yeah, I understand you. You said it well. You're feeling disrespected or looked down on as an inferior, and that leads to a sense of being offended. All right, fellow favor, can you add? Going last is a little difficult. Well, I think the comments we've had so far, they are all connected, they are all tied together. And I believe that as long as we can keep offended, and then it's, I feel as though the offense is justified, if I judge, we judge, or we feel that we maybe without seeing, we have a better insight, seeing at the moral justification, or that we're trying to correct something, or trying to make a correction, but it's actually judging, we're actually judging, actually saying, oh no, I should have been treated like this, that we're pointing fingers, we're finding fault. Well, we think that that fault finding, it's actually something that it's our way of spotting something that's not right. So I think what we judge unduly, it's offense trying to, it's offense creeping in, but at the same time, we're trying to justify, as I think, that's one way I think that we justify offense, by judging, and judging unhealthily too. So you're tying the word judging into this word offense. And I think it's accurate to tie the word judging, because we're continually weighing and deciding whether something is just or unjust, fair or unfair, are we being justly treated, are we being prejudiced against, or are we being looked down on, or not being recognized? We're continually discerning and judging, and there's a healthy purpose for that. God would have us to understand things, and to discern things, but at what point does this judging turn to offense? Go ahead, if you favor, and just continue on your thoughts. At what point is this judging correct, and when does it turn into an offense? Because it's really a key, this is really a key to offense. It turns into offense when it creates a complex law. In yourself? Yes. What would that complex be? When it creates a complex, complex. Complex, okay. Yes, or impurity complex, that would be an offense. Okay, I don't understand the word complex, or how you're using it. Can you further break it down so I could understand it? So, just like my brother Emmanuel said, when it turns into a superiority complex, when I'm judging and the superiority complex is created, I go like, well, they're not doing it correctly. They don't even know what they're doing. Like, I'm judging, I'm criticizing, I'm finding fault, and behind all of that judging, and criticizing, and false finding, there's this thought that, well, I could even do better than that. They don't even know who they have here. I could do way better than what they're doing. I'm above all of this. I'm better than all of these people here. And that is offense. And it's a superiority complex being created. Pride, ego, all of them. Then at the same time also, a superiority complex will be created when I go like, well, they don't even recognize me. They don't even treat me right. Well, that's how everybody does. Nobody seems to recognize me, and recognize my worth, and my value. They're all mistreating me. They don't seem to have respect for me. And that inferiority complex sets in. And then my quiet, my closet, I'm feeling dull. I'm feeling depressed. I'm feeling abandoned. And all of that feeling can come up, and walk out, or walk up at a friend's displeasure. Ah, good. Yeah, and all of the negative emotions that come with that favor, that's a lot of negativity that can quickly come in once we are offended. It seems like there's an open door to all manner of negative thoughts, and feelings, and reactions, and words that come to us. You know, as Brother Zebedee was saying, well, anything to add to this that you're thinking about now, Cassandra? Sorry, Emmanuel. Emmanuel, if you have a strong thought, why don't you text it, and we'll be able to make sure we hear what you have to say. Text it on the Zoom, and we'll pick it up. So here we, I think we're beginning to dig into some of the ways that offense sneaks in, and it has another disguise. You know, an eagle is a nice covering. And, you know, we often feel justified, so this offense easily offends us, and deceives us, because we think we are correct. We think we're right. We think they're wrong. We think we've been mistreated, ill-treated, or not treated at all. We think that they've spoken incorrectly of us. And so it's cloaked in pride and ego, as you were saying, Faber. It cloaks itself as righteousness, and as indignation, rather than simply what it is you got offended. You got your feelings hurt, because you were disappointed in the way you were treated. You were expecting something else. So let's take a look at the word of God. Now that we've dug into some of the, made it real where the rubber meets the road in our lives. Jesus had to face that even with disciples in the sixth chapter of John. All right, Cassandra, we're in the sixth chapter of John. Right near the end of the chapter, Jesus had just finished saying that unless you eat of my flesh and drink of my blood, you can have no part in me. And people got very upset. They began to leave. And at the end of the chapter, from 66, 69, 66 to 69. Brother Cassandra, John 6, 66 to 69. Okay. John 6, 66 to 69. From that time, many of his disciples went back and walked no more with him. Then said Jesus unto the twelve, we ye are to go away? Then Simon Peter answered them, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life, and we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the son of the living God. Amen. And if you read it in King James, I'll just read in one version, I can't place which one it is at this very moment. He says, are you also going to be offended? So verse 66, in some versions, just says they were, the people were offended in him. And Jesus said, are you also going to draw back? So the effect, the effect of being offended is to cause you to lose your way, cause you to stop moving forward, cause you to be ineffective, and get busy fighting with people and fighting in your own head rather than moving forward. Clearly, the effect of offense. Have you seen anybody affected by offense? Have you been, at times you realize that you were offended, and so therefore you stop moving forward, you begin to fight in your own mind with other people or even just your own thoughts, just a mess of thoughts in your own self. This is the effect of offense. Offense will cause you to fight enemies that are not even there. They will cause you to have enemies of those who did not mean to be an enemy. They will divide people. And then, once offended, and you believe you're correct, oh, the words that come out of your mouth to damage other people. The words that come out of your mouth. Yeah, I see you, Emmanuel, you've seen them. People offended, yeah, to fight imaginary enemies, is correct. And actually, it's demonic. There's a demonic component or influence in serious offense. And that demonic influence causes you to offend other people, to offend and hurt other people because you've been hurt and offended. And it turns you from loving people, serving people. Have you ever seen the deacon that just stopped serving? Have you ever seen the adult class teacher, the children's leader, the musicians? All musicians are famous for this. A musician just doesn't ever come back. Why? Because they were offended. Well, you didn't treat them the way that they felt like. They deserved such an open door. They feel like they are correct. They judge, that musician judges, that you did not treat them well, you did not respect them well, and you meant it purposely to hurt them. This is the deception of offense. I told you, you don't want to look at this. It's not pretty. But if we're going to look at it, how many people can you help? And once you learn the devices and the tricks of offense, it saves you a lot of trouble. Great peace have they which love thy law and nothing shall offend them. So it's thoughts and feelings and perceptions and judgments which are outside of the law of God which causes us to be offended. Think about it. It's the way we think, which is different from the way Jesus taught us, the way the word of God teaches us. This is what causes us to be offended. Did anybody in the scripture ever tell you that you're supposed to be treated nicely at all times? Did anywhere in the scriptures can you find that your life is supposed to go just simply smoothly? And you expect that. No, you don't get that from the word of God. You get it from your own thinking and even religious messages that are not helpful to us and people. We get it from feeling and thinking that we're somewhere up higher and our reputation is so important. Does the word of God teach that? Our reputation is so important. We should be noticed. We should be honored. Hmm. Or does it tell us that we should be of no reputation? Make yourself of no reputation like Jesus. Oh Lord, help us. It's our own ego and our own pride often, which causes us to be offended. You know, if there's a dead body in the street and you kick that dead person, what kind of a response will you get? Will they be offended? Will they be angry? No. If truly we have allowed Jesus to live in us and we have died to the works of the flesh, will we respond as such? No. It's our flesh which responds at the screaming of the enemy in our ears. Oh, they shouldn't have treated you like that. You're above that. What does humility say? What does humility say at that moment? It tells us about how the Lord made himself of no reputation, made himself of no reputation. Yeah. Okay. As I was saying, there's a song, probably some of us who have listened to that. Well, anyways. Anyways, humility teaches that we take off the coat of our clothes who we are. They call us to be a servant of all and not Lord over all. And often we are offended because we're not treated the way we think we should be. But what does the word of God say? Humble yourself under the hand of almighty God and in due time, in his time, he'll exalt us. And in our timing, like, and we should have been exalted a long time ago. How come they're still disrespecting us? It comes down to that of no reputation. What is the exact scripture on that favor? Philippians, the third chapter, is it? Can you find it and let us know? I appreciate it. So Jesus asked his disciples, are you going to be offended also? Many were offended at this word. It's not surprising. Even the word of God, even the word of God can offend. Did you know that? Yes, sir. Ever see people offended when you speak the truth? I feel a little offended today myself. This word is pretty strong. How about Mark? Cassandra, Mark, the fourth chapter, verse 17. Go ahead, favor. So I have Philippians two. Go ahead, favor. Tell us your reference and maybe even just read that verse. Philippians chapter two, five through eight. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, what did not rob him of the form of God, but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant who was made in the likeness of man. And being found in Asher, Nazimah, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death given the test of the cross. And became obedient unto death given the test of the cross. Wow, favor. A lot of words about reputation and humbled himself, became a servant. The opposite of offenses. Any great peace have they which love thy law and nothing shall offend them. Jesus could have been offended at the treatment of the scribes and the Pharisees, his own people, the Romans. Rejected of men. Despised and rejected of men. A man of sorrows from who we hid our face. Go ahead, brother Cassander now. Mark 4, 17. Mark 4, that's 17. Okay, Mark 4, verse 17 says, and have no root in themselves and so endure but for a little time. But for a time. Afterward, when affliction or persecution arises, for the worst sake, immediately they are offended. Go ahead, brother Cassander. You want to comment on it and tell us what is he talking about? Oh yeah, I was also going to share scripture that has helped me recently. Sometimes I've had to pray in that manner, as I comment. In Mark, the Bible is talking about what can lead to offense. When the word of God we believe and profess is tried by afflictions, that we will begin to face hardship, triumph, we can get offended because maybe we're expecting something different, a different treatment. There are two ways that offense can come. Either when you feel you are getting what you did not deserve, or what you deserve, you are not getting it. Yeah, yeah, that's true. Yes, any of those ways. So, he. Sorry, Cassander, I think we lost you for a moment. Go ahead. Oh, he was on the roll too and we lost him for a moment. When the network returns him to us, we'll continue. Brother Cassander, you're welcome to speak up any time, to let no one, we can hear you. And I'd like to share a definition then of this word offended. And the word, which I probably cannot pronounce correctly, it sounds, looks to me like scandalizo, scandalizo. Scandalizo. And the definition Thayer uses is to put a stumbling block or impediment in the way upon which another may trip and fall, or metaphorically, simply to offend. One definition is to entice someone to sin, to cause a person to begin to distrust and desert someone who he ought to trust and obey. So, it's correct to trust and obey, and yet they begin to distrust and disobey because they've been offended, to cause to fall away. And we see that in some of these scriptures, it says to fall away, or to fall back, to be offended. It uses both definitions. All right, to cause one to judge unfavorably or unjustly of someone else. I'll post these in the notes. If you're having trouble keeping up, I will post my notes. Since one who stumbles or whose foot gets entangled and they feel annoyed, hey, we found that in our definitions, didn't we? To cause someone displeasure about something, to make someone indignant, all right? To be offended means to be displeased and indignant. Indignant is wrath with a justifiable cause. Wrath with a supposedly justifiable cause. I'm angry because something was not done right. I'm indignant. I am correct, and this is incorrect. This is wrong. What has been done is wrong. They've treated me wrong. So it's a mixture with this sense of I am right and often I am deceived. Often I am deceived. And it's a feeling that comes up inside that rises up, rises up with anger and offense and indignation and displeasure. Hi, Kasandu. Ah, Kasandu, welcome back. Good evening, daddy. Yeah, go ahead, Kasandu. Yeah, my daughter got suddenly exhausted. Oh, okay. Go ahead with where you were. You were going to offer your analysis of Mark chapter four and then you were gonna share a different scripture that has helped you. Go ahead, Kasandu. Okay, so the scripture I shared was Psalm 22, verse six, where the Psalmist there said, but I am a worm and no man, a reproach of men and despised of the people. So, and I say that that scripture helps me not to get offended because by the time I begin to look to myself as a worm, I'm not a man, I know I'm undeserving of anything. It's, what I call it, a sort of self-abasement. I approach God differently without offense because I discovered that like recently, I was very much offended. Oh, it was so tough for me. So when I went to church that day, it was supposed to be a happy day but the person who preached was a worshiper but I was angry. People were even turning their face. God was not pleased, but that's what offense can do. And that was only possible because I thought myself to be something. I said, no, my life is not supposed to be this way. So at other times, that scripture have helped me. I've prayed and said, Lord, I'm not even a man, I'm a worm. That's the truth, I'm a worm. So whatever I'm getting, it's not because I deserve it. A man deserves some treatment, but I'm a worm. So, and that makes me, because I discovered that what happens is the way we view ourselves, the way we see ourselves results in our response to things. Yes. If I'm insulted, it only gets to me because I think I'm something. Yes. Yes. If I'm offended, like sometimes, you saw recently I had to pray concerning that my immediate younger brother and I told God that I don't want to prove anything again. So part of why I've been offended by all that he had done was that I tried to prove that I'm his elder brother and I want to put him in line. So I tried to prove something, I can do something, I have power. I'm the older, I'm this and that. So I told the Lord, I don't want to prove anything again. Just help me. I just want to obey you. I just want to please you. So that my prayer changed. Later I discovered that I was not to prove anything. I'm nobody, I should prove to be nobody. They push to prove to be something, it's a problem. So the Bible says here in Mark where we first read, it said, when afflictions and persecution arise for the worst sake, immediately they are offended. When things turn out differently. Yes. I had to write down the scripture we read at first because I've never seen it before. And even if I've seen it, I've never seen the light in it. It says, great peace have bear, put the light in your world and they will not be offended. So I discovered just like you said, offense comes because we swallow and take in thoughts that are outside of God's words. Right. Yes, because whenever I go back to scripture, for example, in my hardship, when I look at the life of Jacob, I'm encouraged. I see somebody in scripture that had pictures of trouble in life. When I look at my family, I look at Jacob again. I say, oh, he was a family man that really suffers. Had trouble upon trouble. His life was a testimony of deliverance from trouble. That's why scripture will use the term Jacob's trouble or may the God of Jacob defend you. So outside of scripture, I will get offended. But if I stay with the word of God, I know that what is happening to me, Bible says, it is no strange trial. It is no strange thing. Yes, I'm not the only one. Not unusual. Yes, it's not unusual. Jacob has gone ahead of me. Job has gone ahead of me. Jesus himself has gone ahead of me. And many others even today, hey, they have gone ahead of me. So I'm not the only one. I'm not the first person it's happening to. I have brothers, I have fathers, I have uncles. I have those who have gone ahead of me. So that's why it's very important. I am a woman, not a man. So I approach God differently when I take that stance. Thank you. Amen. Thank you. And thank you for your comments on the chat as well. I appreciate the chat because it helps us for those who have no network or the network is poor, it helps us. So this is so helpful. And Brother Cassandra as well, if we take the place of a servant, I'm simply doing the will of my father. It makes us like Jesus was, a man of no reputation, simply a servant. And my purpose is to do the will of him who sent me. So if I'm ministering to my younger brother, it's not to prove any reputation on myself. It's not to prove to my family or to myself or there's no contention in it. It's out of love. And I noticed that offense kills love. Offense kills love. It separates people. And it causes us to say horrible things to other people, which really they don't deserve. But just because we're offended. You know, if I'm offended, it's not my brother's fault. Did anybody hear that? If I'm offended, it's really not my brother's fault, my sister's fault. Is it my brother's fault when I've been offended? What do you think, brother's deputy? So another cause, another thing which offense causes us, it causes us to shrink back. Hebrews 10, 39, which we referred to last week or the week before, talking of those, we are not of those, Hebrews 10, 39. But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed. But of those who have faith and preserve their souls. This offense will cause you to sit back, to lick your wounds, to be self-focused rather than to be a servant. It can cause you to stop serving. It can cause our love for somebody to grow cold. And we shrink back from what? Obeying through faith. Oh, faith is so necessary working with people. When somebody is afraid, they react often aggressively. If we meet equal aggression, we're gonna damage them more. But if we recognize, no, they're afraid. How can I minister to them as a servant of God? We'll find we hit the mark and we're able to reach past that which could offend us. As they spoke, it was pretty aggressive. But when we recognize and don't take it personally and personally become offended, that just sets aside. You know, in a football game, they're playing football and someone gets injured. They're taken off the field and they're set on the side. When we become offended and injured by what someone has done or said, we end up on the sideline, not actively in medicine. In ministry, how many thousands of ministers are on the sidelines today because of offense, caused them to shrink back and they're in danger of being destroyed because of offense. Oh, Paul says in Hebrews, we're not among those who shrink back unto destruction. But of those through faith, preserve our souls. There must come faith to be active together with love when we're ministering to people because they will react strange ways. And it's only faith that can see past their actions and their words, hallelujah. Thank you, Lord. You know, Galatians says we're not, we have perfect confidence and we don't shrink back in shame from his presence and from his coming. There's a whole nother aspect of offense. If there's somebody else who would like to share on this part of the subject, I welcome you. Unmute now and contribute, you're welcome. All right, seeing no one. Let's go to a second point about offenses. You know, God gave us a conscience. And when our conscience is clear, the scripture says that our conscience is not offended. Now, this is a pure and healthy definition of conscience being offended. Remember, offense has to do with the judging that something is being done incorrectly against ourselves. But there's also several verses that talk about our conscience being clear with no offense. And when our conscience feels offended, it means our conscience is witnessing to us that we've done something against our renewed anointed conscience. So within yourself, you have a conscience and we discern other people's actions towards us and towards each other. But also, this conscience discerns and will begin to holler and yell and scream at us when we have done things and try to justify it and make excuse. We even find scripture verses to explain away our actions. But inside of ourselves, there is a conscience which has been offended. Let's read a few verses and see what the word of God might say about this conscience, hallelujah. Philippians, first chapter, and I see in verse 10 something that I noticed this morning early. Philippians 1, verse 10. Philippians 1, verse 10, right? Yes, that's correct. Philippians 1, verse 10 says, that ye may approve things that are excellent, that ye may be sincere and without offense to the day of Christ. Wow. So it uses this word approve, that ye may approve. What do you approve of? Approve means to give your consent and your agreement. You put your stamp saying this is good, this is correct. And he says, may you approve things that are excellent, not things that are questionable. Not questionable things, but excellent things that your conscience would approve of. And second, that you would be sincere. And the word sincere in this context, the actual Greek definition means, are you ready? Without wax, W-A-X. Without wax. You may have heard this before, but the word sincere was used to stamp approval on a sculpture that an artist was making. Because some sculptures were not that good. And oops, I broke a finger off. Oh no, the nose doesn't look right. Let me fill it in with some wax and it'll look perfect. Okay, that ear, oh, it's no problem. I'll put it back on with wax. And so that would be insincere. And so when an artist did not use these methods, it was called sincere. Sin means without and sere means wax, without wax. And so we may look good as a statue that has plenty of wax band-aids to repair. But once we get out in the sun, like that intense testing, that which is not real, solid, original stone shows up. The wax begins to get soft and melt. And look, you bought an insincere statue. But if you had a sincere one, which means pure, certified, the integrity was excellent, let us be sincere. Not band-aids, but true holiness, honesty, Christ-likeness. And without offense, now this word offense has a different Greek word than the first one. The first word was scandalizo. And I will post these notes for you to see. Scandalizo meant on the first definition, but this one, I don't think I can pronounce it well, but I will try, aproskopos, aproskopos. How exactly to say it, I don't know, I'm not Greek. Aproskopos. And it means, like a smooth road, nothing which strikes against it or stumbles. Nothing which leads into sin. It also means blameless. It means without offense and not troubled by shame of sin. Not troubled by a sense of shame because of sin. And Paul is writing to Philippi that they should be sincere and without shame because of sins that they have not confessed and they have continued in. Oh, that they should be free of that. They should be sincere, not just a patched up, band-aid, wax-filled person, but someone who approves of the things which are excellent. So this is the second meaning of this word offense. And it goes to speak to us that our own conscience enlightened by the Holy Spirit can speak to us. Do you know that sin causes pain? Sin causes emotional pain, spiritual pain. It causes you to be disturbed inside and your conscience is bearing witness for you or against you. And so when we go to the altar and our conscience is bearing witness against us, how we treated a brother, how we treated a sister, we should leave our offering there and go and make it right first. And it's this conscience that can be offended. Now our reasoning mind can excuse us but our conscience will never excuse you. And unless it's been damaged, your conscience, especially with a Holy Spirit enlightened believer who has hidden God's word in their heart, your conscience can become very accurate even when your mind can reason that you are correct but your conscience will speak otherwise. So there are a number of scriptures that talk about how Paul desired to live his life free of guilt and shame and doubt within his own conscience, to live in the realm of excellence instead of in the realm of gray areas, amen. Oh, let's go for excellence. So this is often you'll see in the New Testament especially this sense of the meaning of the word to be without offense. In this case, it does not mean that you're not offended by people or you're not offending anyone. It's talking about your sense and your conscience. And so that's what the definition brings out. It's nice to sometimes look in the Strong's Concordance how it defines each word when it comes from the Greek and they have a number, perhaps you've studied it that way. It's not difficult if you have a phone app, an app on your phone, which does not require internet. I have one, I like it very much. It's called eSword, the letter E and the word sword. And I think both Apple and Android have this and there are many excellent references, tools, reference tools that will use definitions. Much of what I help to teach, I get understanding from these tools and it's very helpful to me. eSword is an excellent app and it's not very large. So if you're ever at an internet cafe, you have some internet, download it and then download some of the translations and some of the study tools, the dictionaries and some of those things. In good internet, it can take you 45 minutes to accomplish everything and so it might be a little costly but in the end, you'll really appreciate this app called eSword, praise the Lord. Thank you, Lord. Any questions or any comments at this point? I would be very happy to hear. Favorite, go ahead, my brother. I'd say it's a very deep teaching and it's quite timely, I believe, because it touches on our own individual experiences. It's wonderful. My question is, there are times that the Lord may believe in us by allowing our peace, by taking our peace away, taking our peace, as he leads us by his peace as well. Sometimes when we lose our peace, we can tell, okay, the Lord is not in this and when we have full peace, we say, okay, the Lord is in this. All right, well, at that point, maybe you're in an environment and you're losing your peace. You check within you, deep inside of you, you check your conscience and I like it. I like that you check your conscience, your heart is clear, you're not self-seeking anything, but you're knowing deep inside that you're losing your peace. Maybe it's time for you to move away from that environment, you want to leave that association or that friendship and all of that. Is it, at that point, is it you judging or is it also that Lord's creed that you define, it shouldn't be like you offended. Amen, that's a good question because it expands on our understanding of how God speaks within us and how he moves. Yes, sir. And yeah, so losing your peace, one of the reasons can be offense and the way we're thinking and we're outside of the law and the will of God. I remember once I liked a young girl and a very admirable person. There was nothing wrong with my admiration, but I was outside of the will of God. So my reasoning said every reason why this is good. I had done nothing to sin. I was correct in every way I had spoken and acted. However, pursuing this person was outside of God's will. And so in the times when I pursued that direction, I became a mess inside and the Lord's hand was against me and I had no peace. I had not offended my conscience as I'd done nothing wrong, except to pursue something the Lord was not blessing. I was going in the wrong direction. He had other plans for me. He actually spoke two words to me. He spoke these two words from the King James Version. I had to go find them in a concord back in the day we didn't have Google to help us. Two words, inordinate affection. You can look it up in the King James and you'll find it. And inordinate means against the law or the will of God. So this affection was in God's will for my life, very simply put, but God dropped into my heart those two words, inordinate affection. I had to find it. I had to figure it out. I had to find a definition. And once I figured it out, I had to bring myself to be willing to let go of my desired direction and humble myself and submit to God's direction. And when I did, peace returned. Yeah. So yes, being offended can definitely steal our peace and so can a lot of other things. But as we grow in the Lord, as you said, Favre, God uses this peace as an umpire or a director as a roadmap direction. There's much to know in growing up in God. And peace is one of those things to learn, to be sensitive, that guidance inside. Did that help, Favre? Yes, sir, it did. Okay. Any other comment or question from you? Okay, Reverend. Yes, my brother. Yes, yes. You know, this is a very, very powerful topic. I'm so grateful. One thing about offense is that it's subtle. You may not know that you have it. And it's important to point this out. And unfortunately, when you're offended, maybe against a brother, the brother may not know. Yes, he may not know that you have anything against him. That's the problem. And normally offense sometimes comes, we'll have offense against those who we expected much from. True. You didn't, yes. Those we expected, you know, you might not be offended at the attitude of certain Christians, but there are those you may be offended because you expected so much from them. And you didn't take into play the frailty of man, how that man can fail. And we get offended. And it's important after a topic like this that one will turn to the Lord and say, Lord, shut my heart. So if there may be locked in within, in my heart, some offenses, which I do not yet know. I've been offended before, so I know what it means. I was serving then as a Christian leader and I felt where these people were supposed to come and visit me. I felt neglected at that time. Right. My spiritual gifts were so much in play then. And somehow I felt that I should have been treated better. I don't know how, but I know what it feels like to be offended. Yes, yes. And on two occasions, two particular occasions that I can point to, and I can tell you that offense cut short your spiritual growth. I was a shadow of myself. It made me react angrily. It made me read meaning. It made me take notes of every little thing. I could take notes of every little, all the things I don't used to notice, I began noticing them. I could tell someone hurt me. It was easy to hurt me. It was also for me, it was easy for me to be hurt. It was also easy for me to spot hurts. Those were things that originally I was not doing. So that was a terrible offense. And unfortunately, these people never knew they offended me. I was the one carrying the whole body of offense. And I think offense stops us from walking in love. Yes. It also stops us from reaching out and getting the blessings of God. If I'm offended, when I come before God to worship, I don't get the full blessings that is typical of one who is standing in the presence of God. The Bible said, in his presence is fullness of joy. As I right hand of God forevermore. Yes. But those things are not available to the offended one. But the Bible says concerning, it says, with joy will you draw from the wells of salvation. Yes. It says with offense. If I'm offended, I'll be cut off from that supply. That's what happens. And that's what happened. I feel, I say it soberly anyway, but John the Baptist, he was offended. Jesus, at least should have visited him as a cousin. Let's not talk about ministry, but as a relative. Sure. It was proper. Jesus even thought that we visit those in prison, but we don't have mention in scripture that Jesus ever visited. So he said, look, you guys should go check this man. Are we sure? Oh yeah. He is the one. John was offended and you can say his offense was justifiable. But Jesus said something interesting. Jesus said, which we can learn from. What Jesus said was that, go and tell John, the blind see the lame walk. And he goes on to say, blessed are those who are not offended in me. And the lesson the Lord pointed my attention to from there is that it is possible that God may be doing things for others and not for you. Those miracles you hear for they are real and they don't come to you. Don't be offended when that happens. It does not mean God is not real. If you are blind and you don't see, God is still God. He's still God. Yeah. Jesus had power to take someone out of prison, but that John was not released from prison. He didn't stop him from being Jesus. Yes. He said, go and tell John, these things happen. Blessed are they who are not offended in me. And whenever I look at that, I think the first person who caught my attention to that topic was Pastor Fefer Alonwoku when he was sharing with me a family experience. Yeah, that was the first time I had that future came to light. I had used it in my own experience as a serving prison leader. I had talked about offense, but the weight of it was shown when Pastor Fefer shared with me their family experience. So if God is doing something for others, don't be offended if it has not reached you at all, or if it does not come to you at all. It does not make God less God. It does not take away his faith or his God-ship from him. It does not make Jesus not to be real. And all over the world and among Christians, it is also a very core reason why people draw back from the faith. Many people who turned their backs on God were offended, maybe as a result of tragedy in the family or some other bad happening. And they say, well, God does not exist. So it's something we must be careful about so that we don't turn against the Lord. They say, see that none among you has an evil heart that turns away from the Lord. So one way to guide against offense is we must always have God's presence with an open heart. Then in his presence, we can see clearly, because if I'm offended, I don't see clearly. I'm seeing different. I can even build castles in my imagination. I'll just say, Pastor Fefer does not really like me. Pastor Fefer is doing this. Pastor Fefer is not calling me. And that may not be true. Pastor Fefer may not have time to call me, but I wouldn't know that. So friends, we have to gather all those misgivings and grievances, and I build something. I build a mountain out of heaps out of offenses. So it's very simple. It's something that we must check. I mean, this topic is very, very important. I'm so blessed about this. Yes. Amen. Let's just launch, amen. Thank you for that excellent contribution, brother. You know, before we run out of time, let's touch one more topic. What to do when we are offended by a brother or sister? What to do when we are offended? Matthew chapter 18, verse 15 to 17. Brother Casanova, if you have that. Matthew 18, verse 15 to 17. Matthew 18, 15 or 16? 15. Okay. 16 to 17, it says. One five, one five, one five. Moreover, if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone. If he shall not hear thee, thou has, if he shall hear thee, sorry, thou has been thy brother. But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses, every word may be established. And if he shall neglect to hear thee, tell it unto the church. But if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as a hidden man and a publican. Amen. The whole thing about offense is to disable you, put you on the sideline and divide you. To disable and to divide. And as you said earlier, Brother Casanova, when you were offended, your spiritual growth went to zero because you were going through that. How to deal with offenses? You know, in the book of Psalms, David expresses something. And I'm looking for the reference. It's just really key. He said, if it had been an enemy that reproached me, then I could have borne it. But neither was it someone that hated me, that raised himself up against me, and I would have hit myself. But it was you, a man, my equal, my guide, my acquaintance. We took sweet counsel together. We walked unto the house of God in company. It was you that reproached me. It was a friend, not an enemy. Our deepest wounds can be caused by those closest to us. And this Psalm 55, verse 12, if you're taking notes, if it was an enemy, we could have dealt with it differently. But because it was someone close, it affects us so deeply. We have to realize that's one of the reasons things affect us so deeply. It's because it is a brother. And we do love them. And now this offense has done such damage, and they have done such, and they may have reproached us. They may have disrespected us. They may have done things incorrect. And dealing with offense, you actually do not excuse everyone. You do not, we take it. We take it as an understanding of the truth. You know, what you did was incorrect. It wasn't good, it was hurtful. It was damaging. I was tempted to be offended. But rather, I prayed for you, and I've come to you, and I want to tell you what happened. I want to, I don't want to lose my brother or my sister over this. So the word of God is always about restoration. Amen. Reconciliation and restoration. When there is a separation, I think Jesus said, it's impossible that offenses will not happen. Basically, Jesus is saying, you know, there's gonna be offenses, but how are you gonna deal with it? How are you gonna seek to restore and reconcile? The word reconcile means bring back into the right relationship. Restore, where it's damaged, it's healed. So can it be healed and brought back into a proper where you gain your brother? You almost lost your brother, but you went and talked to him about his fault. That which he did and how it affected you without judging, but expressing yourself. What happened and how it affected you, and seek to be restored. The other one in Matthew five says, if you bring your gift to the altar, and there you remember that you've done something and your brother has something against you. So both ways it's expressed. Matthew 5, 23 to 25, expresses it the other way around. And the last verse of this is Romans 12, verse 18. If it be possible, as much as life in you, live peaceably with all men. There just comes a time when you've done everything you could do. Leave it with the Lord. If it's possible, see even the scriptures admit there's times no matter what you do, this person just needs a little more time in the oven for God to deal with them before they are ready. That is a lot of balance here. So we started with offense, but we really have to remember it's about relationship. And it's about keeping ourself clear from offense. And having done all that is within us, as much as life in you, Romans 12, 18, live peaceably, peaceably with all men, brethren and others. Amen. Robert, can we continue? Can you still treat this topic matric, please? I will try. I will try. If the Lord, meaning if the Lord permits, we can. Yeah, it's a broad subject. And if I do that, then I'm requesting the rest of you to consider these things and actually to bring some meat, bring some meat to the potluck next week. Okay, sir. Okay, sir.