Hi, I am Greg Mohr, from Charis Bible College in Woodland Park, Colorado. Welcome to God Today. I want to talk to you about living free from offense today. Philippians 1:9, the apostle Paul said, “I pray that your love may abound still more and more, in all knowledge and discernment, and that you may approve things that are excellent. You may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ.”
You know, I have pastored for more than 27 years and have seen a lot of people start in their walk with God and they get side-tracked, they get detoured, they get landmined because of offense. Jesus said, in Luke 17:1, “It is impossible that no offenses will come.” It is not possible that we will go through life and people won’t disappoint us; things won’t happen that are going to cause us some difficulty. There is a difference between the offense that comes and you becoming offended.
In Matthew 24, Jesus is describing the last days, and He said, “These last days many will become offended. They will betray one another. He begins to describe this downward spiral of offense, they’ll betray one another, hate one another, many false prophets will arise, deception, lawlessness, and cold love. When an offense comes, that is an event that happens to you. When you become offended, that’s a decision that you make as a result of that offense. It leads to a downward spiral and right in the middle, that Jesus described in Matthew 24, right in the middle of that list, He says, “Many false prophets rise.” The place that false prophets rise form is the place of becoming offended. Whenever someone disappoints you, doesn’t do something for you, be careful about becoming offended. When we become offended we’ve enrolled in the school of false prophets, and we learn their ways of hatred, and betrayal, and deception, and lawlessness, and cold love.
My heart for you today is that you expect nothing when it comes to man. Be thankful for everything. Forgive everyone including yourself. Finally, the reason why people stay offended is because they are valuing their pain and their loss greater than the cross. They’re valuing what people did to them more than what Jesus did for them. I want to encourage you today to move out of the place of offense and move into the place of freedom.
I want to pray for you and bless you today. Father, I bless each person watching today. Any offenses that have lodged in their hearts, would you free them as you have done for me. Help them to withdraw from the school of false prophets. Lord, help them to walk in the fullness of the freedom you have for them, by valuing the cross, what Jesus has done for you – more than your pain and loss and what people have done to you. In Jesus’ name. Amen. This is Greg Mohr, this has been God Today.