Today we continued in our new series called, “FU” or “Forgiveness University.” Online classes are now in session and we are ready to learn about forgiveness. In the second week of this series, Pastor Michael spoke about the power of offense. If you feel like there are offenses that are standing between you and your purpose, this message is for you!
y’all ready y’all ready y’all ready all
right
let’s go i’m going right in okay so i
need everybody to get this
um most people would ask why is it
important to forgive
most people will ask why is it that big
big of a deal to forgive let me give you
point number one
because i’ve gotten this in the dms and
a lot of people that are watching and i
y’all are watching from everywhere type
in the chat where you’re watching from
because i’ve seen people there’s
mississippi in the building
we got minnesota in the building hold on
we got montana in the building all the
m’s i don’t know
okay come on all in the chats it’s just
a bunch of fu’s that’s crazy
but the reason why this is important is
because write this point down
forgiveness is fundamental to our faith
forgiveness is fundamental
to our faith just say it one more time
with me forgiveness
is what fundamental to our
faith now the reason i had to bring this
very basic
point to you is because a lot of people
don’t appreciate fundamentals
like anytime you talk about something
that’s a fundamental
the literal word means something that is
a core
or primary rule a principle something
which everything
else is based on so so let me let me
help you understand
that the coldest person on the
basketball court that can dribble
between the
legs and do all this other stuff and
fade away and all that other stuff
all of the extra comes from a
fundamental
and there’s many people in the church
that want all the extra
we want the signs the miracles and the
wonders we want to be able to manage a
bunch
we want to be an example and a leader
and god says but you ain’t got no
fundamentals
and the thing about fundamentals that
everybody has to understand
is that when the pressure is on when
there’s when there’s the game on the
line
when you forget all the fancy stuff the
thing that you rely on and you go back
to is the fundamentals
and the reason why 2020 has been
whipping some of y’all’s tail
is because there was no fundamentals
there to begin with you would post your
scripture
but there was nothing that it was
written on your heart it was
post uh y’all don’t hear me it was
posted and you may got a tattoo of it
but you don’t even know what your own
tattoo says
[Music]
because there was no fundamentals
and when i come into this this life with
christ
there are some things that are
fundamental prayer
is fundamental worship is fun to
fundamental generosity is fundamental
you cannot talk about how much you love
god but you never give anything
you never give time you never give your
talent you never give your treasure
god’s saying for god so loved the world
that he did what
gay it is fundamental
and the other thing that’s fundamental
that the church is shining on many times
because the pastors
are walking in the same level of
unforgiveness as the people that they
lead
is forgiveness somebody say forgiveness
is fundamental to our faith
let me give a practical example can you
bring that real quick um ever since i
was two years old
i’ve been playing drums okay and um i
started out very young
playing drums my mom and dad are sitting
right here and they got me my first drum
set when i was how
a year and a half old is what my mama
said i don’t even know if i could really
talk for real at a year and a half but
she said i asked for a drum set
and i have pictures and proof that i
used to play drums well from the time i
was two to the time i was 12
i got pretty good naturally okay so like
i would sit down and i had a nap that
had a gift that was given to me and when
i got 12 i like hit the ceiling
and i remember going and asking um our
minister of music my dad actually did
the minister of music
at the church i attended at the time
david smith shout out to everybody who
used to go to higher d
what up and um and and he said you need
to go take
lessons from this guy named arthur
thompson
and i went to arthur thompson downtown
on denver and we went down into this
dungeon
and he had all of these drums and all of
this stuff and i was like oh
my goodness i’m about to show this man
what i can do
and he sat me down and he listened to me
play
and he was like you’re really good he
said for the next
six months we’re gonna work on the
fundamentals and at that time at 12
years old i didn’t really have a grasp
of what the word fundamentals mean i
thought it meant fun
because i heard fun the mentals we gonna
work on the fun
of playing drums like literally i didn’t
know what it meant and and he was like
so
um i said so what do i need to do he
said um we’re taking the drum set away
from you
we’re not gonna let you do all of the
licks and all of the things and have all
of these things to hit
he said i’m gonna give you the snare and
so he gave me the snare
and i was like cool i can rock the snare
if you is this a challenge
because if it’s the challenge to see how
much i can do with the snare boy i’m
about to tear
the snare up and then he put a pillow
on top of the snare and he said you will
not hit a drum
for the next six months we need to work
on the fundamentals
and i was like what are you talking
about he said you need to do these
things called rudiments
and if you’ve ever seen drumline or any
of those movies that’s the thing they
always are practicing
he was like yeah i’m going to teach you
how to do a double stroke roll and i was
like cool i can do a double stroke roll
and he was like you’re going to go right
right left left right right left left i
was like is that it
this the fundamentals and he i was like
easy
like i just i i was so prideful
because i had done so much before but i
didn’t have the fundamentals
and he said that’s where you start but
he said now i want you to speed it up
and he put a metronome on and
he started making me go and what i
realized at this point when i was doing
the fundamentals
that there was no bounce from the drum
anymore
the reason he put me on the pillow is
because every one of these strokes had
to be me
every one of these i felt him like why
is my wrist burning right now
why is this he said because what you’ve
been doing
is trying to get it to sound
good on things that enhance what you’re
doing but when you take it to the bare
minimum
what does it look like what does it
sound like and i bring that to your
faith right now
if you strip away the lights if you
strip away your favorite worship
song if you strip away your small group
what does your walk with god
sound like does it have any ability to
last
does it have any endurance is it even
and he began to say until you get the
fundamentals
and then he started switching it up he
said we’re going to do a paradiddle
i said apparel what he said apparently
he said right left right right
left right left left right left i said
okay
and then he said keep going
five minutes nothing
but the pillow and fundamentals
six months of fundamentals then he put
me on the drum set
and he said play and i said play what i
ain’t been on a drum set so long i don’t
even remember how to play
and that’s what we feel like a lot of
times when god trains us in a different
environment
and then he gives us an opportunity or
tells us somewhere to be it’s like i
don’t even know how to do this
and as soon as i sat on the drums
and i begin to play it was like the
whole
drum set opened up to me in a brand new
way
because what i did in private on a
pillow when everything was stripped away
it then began to give me tools to be
able to do what was in my head it came
out in my hands
and i begin to move and i’m sitting
there like oh my god
oh my god and i’m doing stuff i’ve never
done and he said see
he said everything that’s fancy
comes from fundamentals
and i just came to tell somebody the
reason why we got to understand
forgiveness
the reason that we have to have a
passion and a burden
to work on our offenses because this
is a fundamental premise of our faith
and god says everything that’s fancy
everything that the world will see
everything that people will know you for
it will come from everybody say
fundamentals
and forgiveness is the fundamental
of our faith the thing that i had to
realize about fundamentals and i’m going
somewhere with this i need you to stay
with me class this is week two
you made it back so you’re ones that are
gonna ace this class and some of y’all
gonna be the valedictorian do i got any
valedictorians
in the building right now come on here
we go the thing i learned about
fundamentals check this out
fundamentals are never natural
you you don’t naturally do the
fundamentals
fundamentals are write this down they’re
practiced
they’re corrected and then they are
perfected
any fundamental of your life when i was
on that pillow
it was practiced and then he would come
over and be like lift your arm up right
there you need to be using your finger
somewhere
it was corrected and then it was
perfected
i don’t know why in church we act like
you get saved and then everything’s
perfected
i’m sorry for everybody who’s had an
experience
that it was like you got saved today now
speak in tongues tomorrow
now preach your message on the next day
and do this and start
no that’s not real there are some
core fundamentals that we may be working
on for the next three years
i know nobody wants to hear this because
in our culture we want everything to be
sped up
we want to be this overnight sensation
and god says if you want to last you
need the fundamentals
and fundamentals are practiced
they’re corrected and then they are
perfected
and when it comes to this thing of
forgiveness i want to let you know why
we’re doing 10 weeks and
just by the end of this series some of
y’all are just going to decide to start
practicing
because it’s been 25 years of offense
it’s been 10 10 days that you haven’t
talked to your spouse in a loving way
it’s been so long since you’ve even
thought about going back to that high
school you don’t even go back to your
10-year reunion because you don’t want
to see that coach
who told you that you would never be
able to amount to something and still
that same
offense is now affecting your heart with
unforgiveness today
and what i’m telling you is i’m not
asking you to change today or tomorrow
by the grace of the holy spirit i pray
you get a miracle i pray that he speeds
up things
i pray that there’s a breakthrough that
happens for you but i want to let
everybody know
that it’s going to have to take a
journey to forgiveness you’re okay
you’re okay to have to walk this thing
out
because the fundamentals if forgiveness
is a fundamental of our faith
fundamentals are what practiced
corrected and then perfected god’s gonna
have to correct some of the way we
forgive people
y’all ever forgave somebody on the
surface but you ain’t really forget him
come on like we’ll make a whole
instagram post
about how some friendships they come and
they go but some friendships last
forever
and this is a friendship that’ll last
forever you was just talking about them
yesterday
and god’s like no no no before you make
a public post let it be a private
promise he might have to come in
and correct it but i promise you if you
stay on this journey of forgiveness
it will be something that will become
perfected in you somebody say perfect me
lord
come on somebody say perfect me lord
that’s why at transformation church it
is one of our values
that we are never enamored with
perfection
it is all about what progression
because once we learn the fundamentals
once i learned how to do the basic
things
i was able to go to other levels that
were capped for me
and this is the year that god’s saying
you want to be able to go to that level
i need you to learn the fundamentals you
you want to be able to lead millions
i need you to be able to get the
fundamentals and and so
i i need everybody to understand that
that our feelings make us forfeit the
fundamentals sometimes
how we feel about it can i tell you that
there were tons of days
that i punched kicked cussed in the
pillow i was practicing on
ah this is not cool
all my other friends get to post where
they travel
all the people in my family are married
like
and god’s saying but i have you in a
season of fundamentals
and sometimes our feelings make us
forfeit
what we really need but god is saying
will you just commit
to forgiveness and that’s why
forgiveness is the goal
but i want us to get an understanding
and the understandings might take a
minute for us to get
and that’s why if forgiveness is the end
thing that we want to get to
i got to dial it all the way back in
this class
to the very beginning because write this
down i said it last week but it’s worth
mentioning again
offense is the gateway
to unforgiveness i had a whole another
message ready to go didn’t know charles
and the holy spirit said mike they
didn’t understand the offense thing
fully
they didn’t really get how offense is
creating a prison of unforgiveness for
them
and if they don’t learn how to deal with
the offense at the moment
they will wind up in a place in a space
that they never thought was possible for
them to get in
and god says we need to understand that
if unforgiveness is the place we don’t
want to be
we have to start with the offense
because offense is either picked up or
put on
but i went deeper than that this week
and i said god could you
show me why it’s so hard because i’m
scrolling on facebook and
instagram and somebody finds out that
the president has corona
and somebody’s comment is like that’s
what he get what
as a believer now i can understand
people in the world like i
i don’t agree with everything that he
does and there’s a lot of stuff that is
very questionable
but somebody falls sick and you say
that’s what they get
sound like a curse to me and i think my
bible says blessing and cursing
are coming out of this same tongue that
unstableness
at the moment i’m like what is going on
well i can be offended by so many little
things
and this is what the holy spirit told me
and if you don’t hear anything else i
say today
you need to get this because there’s a
parallel that is happening
in the world and in the church that
there should be a difference but it’s
looking a little bit like the same
like there’s there’s this lukewarm like
i can believe god but i can cuss you out
and f you up and doing i’m like where is
all of this coming from
and the holy spirit told me michael
offense
is the currency of our culture but
forgiveness is the currency of the
kingdom
oh that’s good the currency of our
culture
is offense that’s why we can cancel
somebody after one mistake
that’s why if they if they do the wrong
thing or wear fur and i’m for peta and
all this like
we be canceling people for all kind of
stuff like like and god says but michael
don’t be surprised
offense is the currency of our culture
it’s how people make money do y’all know
people will see something
and they look for the controversial
thing so that they can
promote that instead of all the good
that happens
because offense and guess who buys it
us we’re the one that clicks on the
things that we shouldn’t really want to
watch
but they got the most views so what are
we teaching people to do do more of that
be more offensive go go a little more
lewd
show a little more chest go a little
deeper try it and what we do is we
become offended
and god says that’s going to continue to
happen
but for everybody who calls me king we
have a kingdom
and the currency of the kingdom of god
is forgiveness
and this is not a new situation look at
john 18 36
jesus is talking to the disciples this
is him speaking this is read in your
bible
it says jesus jesus answered my kingdom
is not an earthly kingdom what i’m doing
don’t look nothing like what’s happening
on tmz
don’t have nothing to do with what’s
happening on the shade room
like my kingdom is not an earthly
kingdom
matter of fact if it were my followers
my goons my gangsters would have f
all up and they would have fought you to
keep me from being
handed over to the jewish leaders he was
saying if we was like y’all
if we responded how cultural response
it would be riots in the street i hear
no give you buck
no just imagine all the disciples coming
out like
you hear what i’m saying but the reason
that jesus said our response is not the
same
is because we don’t belong to your
kingdom
and somebody needs to hear me say this
very distinctly because what you want
you
want what everybody wants is they want
heavenly um rewards with earthly
responses
they want heavenly rewards with earthly
responses and jesus says that’s not
that’s not how it works he said but my
kingdom again
is not of this world
and that’s why we have to understand
that forgiveness and offense
we have to learn about these two things
so that they are not so easily swaying
how we live our life because y’all know
that no matter what we deal with
internally
we still have an enemy and the enemy the
devil satan whatever you want to call
him
he has an agenda for your life let me
help you understand this
and i heard pastor stephen say it and
and i’ve tweaked it a little bit and i
want you to see it
he said the enemy’s agenda is
destruction
write this down i’m giving you the cheat
code to being able to defeat
the enemy the enemy’s agenda
is destruction john 10 10 says that he
comes to do nothing like he don’t have
another assignment but to steal kill and
destroy
he wants to destroy our families destroy
our purpose
destroy our faith our hope that is his
agenda
but his strategy is division
now i need you to hear me say this
because every
team that faces each other has the
agenda of winning
okay so like if i’m i’m playing
basketball against another team
everybody wants to win that’s the agenda
but the difference between
winners and losers are strategy
and what you try to do about your
opponent is learn their strategy
and many people do not know the strategy
of the enemy for your life and i’ma tell
you today
his strategy is division
all the way back to the garden remember
we never see the devil
until it’s adam and eve
when adam was just there where the devil
but at the moment unity came into
the picture that’s why he’s fighting
your marriage so hard
that’s why he’s fighting you and your
children so hard that’s why he’s
fighting you and your business partner
so hard
because where there is unity the bible
says there’s a commanded blessing
so what would be the enemy’s strategy to
win
let me divide them let me make that
husband become more in love with video
games than his wife
let me let that wife come more in love
with their kids
than the husband of the children
let me let me divide the church by
making them democrat and republican
oh y’all didn’t think i was going to
talk about it
let me go ahead and let me go ahead and
divide the bride
of christ by making it black church and
white church
and hispanic church and asian church
yeah yeah
let’s let them feel good because it’s
all of them but i’m winning in the
background cause my strategy was
deficient and that’s why at
transformation church
i don’t care where you come from the
staff the team
everybody white black i don’t even know
no other colors
red green tall short big
i don’t care where you are at if you
breathe
and you’re god’s creation you are called
to be a part of this
because even if we do not like the same
music
and even if we don’t vote the same and
even if
i like fried chicken with hot sauce and
you
like pumpkin pie instead of sweet potato
pie all i’m telling you
is that god said that we are family and
if we
fight for unity y’all better help me
right now if we fight for unity
then we defeat the strategy
of the enemy so if
the agenda is destruction and the
strategy
is division there’s a tactic
see this is the difference between
people who just like to play
and people who ball is life
like like everybody as gender is to win
and people have a strategy
to be able to stop the best player but
then there’s tactics
what i do in every interaction to be
able to throw them off their game
what are the what are the things that i
always make happen
and the enemy’s tactic is offense
so i’m trying to give you the whole
playbook
his agenda destruction
his strategy is what division
but his tactic is what offense
and and i know many of us would be like
well dang if people wouldn’t just
offend me then i wouldn’t be offended
pastor might
but in this in this world like you don’t
get to live without people
even the disciples were talking about
this because they were in an age kind of
like we’re living in right now matthew
24
verse 10 he said this jesus and then
shall many be what offended
like people going to be offended when i
post this message
i don’t even understand like i can get
up on sunday morning and say
everybody is loved and jesus is good and
i’m sending everybody a hundred dollars
and on youtube at during the week
there’ll be 30 lunatics that are like
thumbs down
thumbs down who are you and why do you
put thumbs down on good things this is
good news
but they’re like i love you thumbs down
because it may have been the jacket that
i wore
it offended somebody it may have been
why would you spend all of this money on
led screens and there’s homeless people
out there and
they will make up a reason to be
offended you don’t even know what we did
for the homeless community this week
but if you don’t know you’ll make up a
reason to be offended
and that’s why jesus is telling us let
me give you a cheat see
a lot of people going to be offended he
said but i need you to understand why
it’s important that you don’t be
offended as my disciple
because offense leads to something look
it says many will be offended
and then they shall betray so offense
turns into betrayal
and once they betray one another they
shall start
hating one another so my little offense
turns into me betraying somebody that
which becomes
hate in my heart watch this and then it
says
because you’re offended and you’ve
portrayed what you thought or the love
that you have or your christian faith
and then you start to hate a group of
people or hate a person that hurts you
or anything then you start listening to
false prophets so because
anybody who’s offended wants to have
agreement
so you start listening to people who
aren’t saying god’s word with you
they’re false prophesying over you it’s
okay to be mad at them
they deserve blah blah blah and that’s
why it’s very careful
you got to be very careful not to just
listen to people who have large
platforms
because people who are offended around
the same thing are the people who gave
them that big platform
if your platform is not centered on the
word of god you better be careful
what you’re listening to and who you’re
listening to but you can be in an
offense thinking you’re right and it’s
all false
but that’s what happens offense turns
into betrayal
betrayal turns into hate hate turns into
listening to false prophets that rise up
and then you shall deceive many
so the the constant faith being built in
the wrong thing
lands you in deception and now i’m
deceived now i’m going around telling
other people it’s all good to be like
this
now i’m making statements like this is
just the way i am take it or let me
don’t your bible say to love everybody
we start taking pieces without the
principles
we start taking pieces without the
principles
and it says and because iniquity the
inward heart posture
shall abound this is the problem this is
the devastation
of offense it ends up in the love of
many
waxing cold
it’s the heart when your heart grows
cold
then you stop caring about everybody
an offense is the thing that leads you
to a cold heart alexa cue
ice box by omarion
some of y’all too young for that but he
says there’s an
ice box where my heart used to be
literally for many people
that’s what happened because of offense
you no longer
have a heart of compassion a heart of
joy
a heart of love it’s because you let
offense
turn into deception which then which
then
um made you go and listen to false
prophets and all of these things hate in
your heart
and now your heart is cold
and the reason why this is a problem i
told you i’ma teach you today
the reason why this is the problem is
because jesus says
look at this in john 13 35 this is
again going back to the plan agenda and
tactic of the enemy
he said by this this is jesus talking
everyone will know you’re my disciples
if you what love one another
the enemy’s whole plan is to offend you
to the point where you have a hard heart
that you will no longer love because
it’s the only proof that we actually
know him
so when you go around telling people
ethnic you don’t mean forgiveness
university
when you mean that and it’s in your
heart and you no longer care about
people and you throw people away and
there’s no mercy for anybody
and all of that other stuff the enemy is
sitting back
with all of his demons and imp saying
yes
we got him we put
our plan into place and we
got them to be divided we got
them to be distracted we got
them to to actually fall for the offense
and now we win let me
show you a real picture of this see
offense
starts very very small
offense starts with with one thing
bring me an offense real quick not that
just just just bring me uh a piece of an
offense please
like like an offense it
it’s one of those things that you forgot
my birthday
and this is what it is but
you’ve known me too long you you you
actually know how much my birthday means
to me
so no i’m gonna go ahead
and i’m gonna dig into that one and it’s
all good
cause i still got i got space to roam
and be used by god and be able to walk
around in my purpose
and come to church and hallelujah glory
to god
and and some of you guys are in
marriages right now
and and the offense has come
because you ain’t talk to me right and
your tone was wrong
and we’re offended but it’s okay because
we can still
act like we love each other and still be
married
and still be able to jump in and out of
having good
days and bad days
so what we do is we learn to live
with the offense
but the thing about it is then other
things happen because i work at a job
where i’m the only black person there
and they say little racist remarks all
the time
talking about oh you like watermelon
don’t you
oh y’all gonna act like this ain’t real
stuff that’s happening
don’t you play basketball you’re tall
and black huh
okay my white people like do they really
do that
you pastored that big old church over
there wow you must know some really good
people
huh yeah don’t you ever come to this
really nice church
i’m offended now what happens
if they’re in a state where they’ve been
offended so they offend others
and now i’m offended by what they said
now this multi-ethnic multi-generational
church all i want to put on the outside
of the building is black my lives matter
because now my offense uh see your
offense does not
take into consideration your authority
or your platform
so when you get offended you bring your
whole self
to everything that you are this is why
as believers we gotta watch what we let
offend us
yes it hurt yes it sucked
yes it’s frustrating but if you do not
check the offense at the door what you
begin to do
is build a barrier to your purpose
see and some of it started when we were
young
some of it started when we were older
but then what ends up happening
is remember i said last week a fence
is either picked up these are all picked
up offenses
or offense is either put on
yeah and there are many people right now
that are walking in pain and frustration
where the offense was put on them my
daddy left me
my brothers and sisters didn’t treat me
right
everybody in my family keeps leaving me
out
and for some reason
i had some offenses that i picked up
and i thought i could function with
these but then there was some offenses
that were put on
there’s some things that i didn’t know
was gonna happen
there was a molestation that happened
when i went to my cousin’s house
that i didn’t even know was gonna be i
just wanted to watch cartoons
now it feels like the walls are closing
in on me
it feels like the offenses that i picked
up
now have company with the fences that
were put on
but you still feel good cause you can
fake it you can get out of it once in a
while
you can act like it’s okay i can’t love
nobody over here
and i can’t trust nobody over here but
as long as i got a little access
and that’s what happens then i get a
friend
who they said they would never tell
anybody what we did that night in vegas
they know what it says
what happens in vegas stays in vegas and
that fool gonna tell everything that we
did at the mirage hotel
and i ended up losing the girl that i
thought was gonna be my wife because
you gonna go ahead and tell her and i’m
offended now he’s offended over the
truth
i gotta stop and pause right here cause
some of us are offended over things
that we should have been caught for
we’re offended over our
offense we’re offended over us doing
something wrong to somebody they found
out and then we want to blame the person
who accidentally like what are you
talking deception
let me go back to the scripture it says
that many shall be offended then they
shall betray one another
then they will hate one another then
they’ll start listening to false
prophets and false prophets come
through music too
your favorite rapper r b singer rock
star country singer pop star
may be your false prophet
it may be the images in the idea that
agree with your offense
and so faith comes by hearing and
hearing
the word of god if you want good faith
but hearing whatever you want to hear
if you want your faith to grow in that
and then it says then many will be
deceived
and so i’m only now cause this friend
told the freaking truth on me nephew
now i’m only gonna align myself with
people who do the same type of stuff
come on and so now
i’m offended because my kids
they don’t check on me how they was
supposed to
and i’m a mom i did everything for them
and i’ma walk in this offense
and that church i was at last time
who didn’t use my gifting and talent
the pastor talked about he want us to be
in our purpose but my purpose
is the praise and worship leader and
they didn’t use my song
or even listen to it i’m offended
and so at the next church i go to i’m
gonna make them
find out who i am
i’m so offended that i’m going to this
next church i ain’t gonna give
i ain’t gonna sow i ain’t gonna do
nothing but sit and i’m gonna make them
prove to me that i should be a part of
their church
oh you don’t think we don’t get emails
like that
but it ain’t us it’s the offense
and slowly but surely the offense
is starting to build a prison of
unforgiveness
i’ma say it one more time because this
is the picture of many of our lives
and you’re going to target and looking
cute and shopping on etsy
and you’re you’re you’re flossing in
front of your boys and you making it
happen at soccer practice
and you’re doing all these great things
while god
sees you like this everybody else sees
you doing everything that you can do
but he knows there’s levels that he
can’t take you to
because of the offense that you’ll try
to bring with you
and then there’s an offense that happens
that we didn’t see coming like the
offense
i don’t know for me like 2020
has been really offensive can i get some
hands in the chat of anybody who’s been
super offended in 2020 come on
by coronavirus that is offensive
by all the racial injustice that is
offensive or on the other side
being saying that you have white
privilege that is offensive
all of these things from the political
party to to the people who are dying to
what color people are wearing and these
movements that are happening
and the job loss i am offended
i cannot stand 20 20. why did 2020
happen to me and what ends up happening
it’s 2020 has barbed wire around it
and it may not be 20 20 for you it can
be whatever you want it to be for you
like but what you don’t understand is
is that now the situations in my life
have only left a little space
for me to be used by god
it’s only left a little space for me to
actually pray
and hear from god a little space to get
a song
from heaven just a little space
ah because everything else
has kept me
trapped in the prison of unforgiveness
and now you gonna tell me
that i need to pray for the president
you you must be crazy
you oh no no no my fence failed
see cause some offenses you work hard to
keep up
oh no no no no no i’m not letting that
go
i remember what they did to me
and now the space i feel the presence of
god
the space for me to be used by god
is getting smaller and smaller
and what ends up happening is that we
cry out
if you can use anything lord you can use
me
he said could you take down some of the
offense so it’d be easier for me to use
you
i can’t even take you into a white board
room because as soon as you walk
in there and see that everybody’s white
your offense will keep you from the
purpose i sent you in there for
ah i’m just saying i don’t know what
your offense is
but i promise you it’s keeping you from
your purpose
and then the offense comes
because i did make a mistake and i did
watch the pornography i did it
but i never forgave myself
and now probably one of the worst
offenses that you can make
is making offense against yourself and
you offend
that’s why sexual immorality y’all know
what the bible says about that it’s the
only
sin that offends you like the reason why
you can’t just netflix and chill
and sleep with anybody is because you
can get out of climaxing
and have some more offense
was it worth another board
was it was it was it worth being further
out of destiny and purpose
and now this is what most of the church
looks like
we look like wilson from home
improvement
y’all remember that show we look like
wilson
trying to do the will of god trapped
in the prison of unforgiveness
and so what ends up happening in this
moment is god send somebody into my life
to love hey charles
i need to mentor you god sent you here
so that
so that you can i can mentor you
hey but only stay that close because the
last dude i mentored
they left me and i’m still offended
over what they did so hopefully we can
hug like this
hopefully i can be transparent like this
hopefully you get what you need
because i’m still locked up in the
prison of offense and now i’m gonna send
you to your next assignment and
unprepared
because i wasn’t able to let
go of the offense of somebody who wasn’t
even you
[Music]
but god however you want to use me
whatever you want to do with me lord and
people aren’t able to even see the real
you because of who
and how you’re offended
and then god sends somebody in my life
he sends somebody in my life pastor
tommy
he he sent somebody in my life that’s
supposed to be a father figure
because i grew up without my daddy
and so then when they try to correct me
no y’all both come up here
mentor i need to be mentored and
fathered
and the problem is they only can get a
piece of me
hopefully yeah you just got cut past the
tommy
is that yeah that’s i get lethal
sometimes
when when people don’t i don’t have
grace for people that much anymore
because i’m offended still
and so when people don’t do what they
say then i’m i’m just very harsh with
them
i i’m uh i’m sorry for the barbed wire
and the caution tape
hopefully we can live a pure
relationship and have a pure
relationship
but i’m still very offended and some of
the offense
i created and others of the fence was
put on me
but i’m still trapped
and then amberly god sends somebody
that i’m supposed to hire god i’m
leading this
huge organization i need some people of
diversity and ethnicity
because because god it’s not about what
we do on sunday mornings
it’s about what’s in the back room and
in the boardroom and so if we’re
actually going to be a multi-ethnic
church
we gotta we gotta have people there so
god just send the right people
george floyd happens and on the same day
i’m interviewing you for an executive
team member position
so when god answers your prayer but
you’re offended
i need to talk to somebody what happens
when he sends the right thing but
because of my offense
i now think it’s the wrong package
and i want to be able to forgive white
people amberly and i want to be able to
hire you
but i just don’t know i don’t know and
if i let my offense
oh snap it’s cutting up my clothes
it just cut my finger are you telling me
that the very walls
that i put up to defend myself
[Laughter]
can end up harming me are you
telling me that i what served me at
in one season can now damage me in
another i’m preaching right now
are you telling me the offense that i
hold on to from my family and my big
mama and my cousin
that that offense can now become the
prison
that hinders my purpose
my prayer for you is that no longer
will we be trapped in the prison of
offense
i speak by the power of the holy spirit
that through this series
the grace of god is about to come to
your life
and piece by piece you’re about to start
tearing out the offense and piece by
piece
you’re going to say i forgive you dad
and i forgive you co-worker
and i forgive you person that cut me off
because you
need freedom
from all unforgiveness
somebody i feel is so strong that
something’s beginning to well up on the
inside of you
because you thought you were gonna be
forced to live in this prison for the
rest of your life
but baby i came to tell you that there
is grace for you
that there is grace for everything
you’ve walked through there’s grace for
everything that’s been put on you
and that you’ve picked up somebody’s
about to get free in this
place i feel the presence of god that my
offenses
will no longer be my prison
if you believe it say somebody say i’m
getting free somebody say i’m getting
free
somebody say i’m getting free
that’s why we can’t be offended that’s
why we kind of lay down and cast down
our offenses
the crazy thing about it though is
even though everybody started shouting
and everybody started rejoicing after
today
you can go right back into this prison
and start picking up more offenses
i’m just trying to tell you this is why
it is a fundamental
of the faith because even if all of
these go away
they can all come back one post one lie
one misunderstanding and i’m picking up
another offense
and today god is saying i needed them to
see
the prison of offense has to be
something that’s watched this words a
lot of church people don’t like to say
managed
you have to ask the holy spirit to help
you
manage your offenses
because they will keep you trapped
in places that god never
wants you to be can i give you a couple
of scriptures on offenses
proverbs 18 19 it says a brother
offended everybody say offended
is more ye unyielding than a strong
city and quarreling is like the
bars of a castle
when you get a fence between the people
that you’re supposed to love it says
it’s fortified it becomes what i just
um displayed for you a prison it is
stronger than walls around
a city it is unyielding that’s why
people die
and they’re at the burial
of the open casket talking about how
much they forgive and they want and they
had
decades deal with the offense
that’s why i’m begging you to walk in
forgiveness
it’s not for the person outside of this
it’s for you that’s trapped inside of
this
and god says i want to tell you to go to
the nations
but offense a
fence has been created by your
offense or offense
and today i’m asking you could you put
your fence under construction
that’s what the rest of this series is
going to be my offense
my offense is under construction i’m
pulling up stuff
and i’m laying it down how can i do that
pastor mike
because there was a man 2 000 years ago
[Music]
that took every offense
and he put it on a cross
[Music]
and because i would offend him and you
would offend him i never offend god read
the bible all have sinned and fallen
short of the glory
some people have walked in alternate
sexual lifestyles
other people have cheated on their wives
in their heart but not with their hands
other people have told little white lies
which there is no such thing
but god took all of the offense of
humanity
and he said i’m gonna go ahead and put
all their offense on me
huh
and the offense of racism
and the offense of political
lies and the offense
of a family member i’m gonna take every
one of them
and i’ma die
on the same tree that makes fences
i’m gonna die on the same wood i just
want them to have
a reference all the time that every
offense you could build
i died on the same thing so that you
could walk free from offense
and today what christ did for us
and how he dropped the offense
that we made he’s asking you
to just do the same thing he did for you
drop the offense
and i know that’s hard
i know that’s going to hurt for a long
time
and you don’t know how you’re going to
do it that’s why i’m here
through the power of the holy spirit and
in god’s word
we’re going to figure out how to let go
of offenses
and walk in forgiveness because i need
you to write this point down
offense builds the prison
of unforgiveness
and i just see hundreds of thousands of
people right now
you’re trying to move around in a
contraption like this
and god is saying give it to me well how
do i do that pastor mike
we got to go back to the fundamentals
we got to get in the word of god
well how many times am i supposed to
forgive this is one thing that you got
to understand
when jesus said 70 times 7
it wasn’t about keeping score it was
about losing count
[Music]
he said um yeah forgive like 70 times
seven how much is that like hold on
was that my 332nd time forgiven or my
300 he’s like i want you to lose count
i want you to get in such a habit or
afford to become a
fundamental that when the pressure of
life is on
when everything is on the line you go
back to forgiveness
i don’t even know how i got in this oh
but i’m gonna forgive
they don’t deserve but it’s a
fundamental
cause i’ve experienced it i’m gonna give
it away
so you got to get in the word of god
look what proverbs 19 11 says i’mma
leave you with this
good sense makes one slow to anger
and it is his glory to overlook
an offense what
you’re walking in glory
when you let an offense go
god show us your glory he says show me
your glory
show us your glory god he said i’m
asking you the same thing
if you would overlook them forgetting
about you
you messing up that one time you not
being the father you were supposed to be
but now you’re trying to be
if you would let go of that offense
that’s why we got to put our offense
under construction why pastor mike
my last point because every one of these
things that i’ve built
offense is always changed
from the inside out
i can’t tear these down from the outside
in i gotta do it
from the inside
out now there’s more room to roam
now there’s room to have
change oh but this is where community
comes in
see i’ve built offenses i need my
community i need community
to come in and what i say is hey i i did
the wrong thing
but i need to i need you to help me roll
this out of my life
hey i really thought i was going gonna
be able to hold this stuff
but i need y’all to get this stuff and
help me
i need to confess to you emily i need to
confess to you yeah i almost tripped
over my offenses
because i almost wanted to put it back
up again but i need to confess to you
that i do talk about white people but i
don’t want to anymore
i need to confess to you charles that
the last person that hurt me
no longer is in my life so i’m not going
to hold you responsible for what they
did
and what ends up happening
is now we get in a space where we can
really say
[Music]
if you can use anything lord
anything you want to do i’m
available i have nothing keeping me in
no more
it did hurt it did define a moment of my
life but no longer
will i stay in this place
of having built the fence of offense
the prison of unforgiveness will no
longer keep me in
i’m gonna walk in my purpose
if that’s you right now all over the
world i feel the presence of god moving
right now
somebody needs to say god i’m available
to you or that just needs to be your
desire right now
lord i’m a favorable i want to be
available you’re going to have to help
me
tear down the fence of offense you’re
going to have to help me get out
of this prison of unforgiveness but god
it’s what i desire i want
to be available to you
[Music]
lord i’m available
to you
somebody needs to make this your prayer
send my
will i give to you
i’ll do what you say
do use me lord
to show someone the way
and enable me to say
i don’t want to stay like this guy said
my storage
is empty and i
am available
to you right now all over the world
if that’s your prayer that you know that
you are
in a prison of offense right now whether
it be with people you’re in the room
with
people that you haven’t seen in decades
or people you’re going to go to work
with tomorrow or people that you even
birthed
out of yourself if there’s offense and
you want prayer you want god to
start that thing in your heart right now
that allows you to begin to lay down the
fences i want you to lift your hands
yeah
right now in your home in your car
watching on rebroadcast lift your hands
right now
i’m about to pray that god will begin a
deep work in your heart
father in the name of jesus come on
lifted hands all over this world
i declare and i believe that you are
giving us the ability
to lay down the offenses holy spirit
the offenses hurt these things have
defined us for years
father god but today i’m asking by your
holy spirit
that you would begin to tear down the
walls
that we picked up and the walls that
were put on us
in the name of jesus i declare that the
finished work of jesus christ on the
cross
gives us all the ability to let it go
and god i’m asking you not that we would
be able to forgive yet
but father you’d give us the desire
for some of us father god we haven’t
even had the desire and today
that seed was planted and i served
notice on the enemy
that you will not be able to steal the
seed
that went in today that forgiveness will
be the fruit
of this seed god we come to you
saying that we want to be available
there’s people listening right now
that you’ve never given your life to
christ
you’ve never received forgiveness
so it’s very hard for you to forgive
somebody else
today i want to give you the opportunity
to make the greatest decision
of your entire life i want you
to be able to give your life fully to
jesus christ
well pastor mike you don’t know what
i’ve done you don’t know how i’ve done
it
and god said i know i know what you’ve
done
i was there when you did it and he said
that i
have taken and paid released you of that
debt
and today all you have to do is receive
it
so all over the world it’s the one
greatest decision i ever made
it’s the thing that took me from a
manipulator a liar
somebody who was addicted to pornography
and it turned me not into a perfect man
but a
progressing man and today god’s saying
i’m giving you the same
opportunity you don’t got to clean up
and change everything he said that’s
what i’m for i’m the great physician
if you’ll give me your heart i’ll help
you change your habits
and today god wants to give you
the gift that he paid for so long ago
and that’s the gift of salvation if
you’re saying pastor i want to be
included in this prayer
because the bible says all you have to
do is confess with your mouth and
believe in your heart
and you’re safe then we start the
journey but your eternity is secure
but now we’re going to walk out your
your earthly life
in a way that literally gives him glory
today if you’re saying pastor add me
into that prayer i want to give jesus
christ
my life i don’t just want him to be
savior i want him to be lord
i want you to pray this prayer with me
and for transformation church y’all
already know
nobody prays alone all over the world in
england
in australia in north tulsa in
mississippi
in minnesota in new york and dallas
there’s people
all over the world that’s about to agree
with you in prayer so i want all of us
to say this prayer together
for the benefit of those that are coming
to christ everybody say lord
today i give you everything
my offenses my hurt
and my pain you can have it all
i believe that you lived
and you died just for me
and today i give you my whole life
change me renew me
transform me i’m yours
in jesus name amen
if you just prayed that prayer oh
let me help you if you just prayed that
prayer the bible tells us that all of
heaven
is turning up right now and everybody in
this room is turning up right now and
everybody around the world
is giving god praise for just one
person that came to christ we want to
help you walk this out
if you prayed that prayer i’m telling
you i’m so excited for you
because everything in your life has an
opportunity to transform what i want you
to do
is i want you to text the number that’s
on the screen right now and when you
text that we’re going to give you some
information
and we’re going to help you walk this
out because this is a journey
what i’m asking you to do is come back
next week because everybody else here is
going to come back next week
because next week i’m going to give you
practical steps on forgiveness like how
do i do it
and today i just feel a fence is
beginning to be laid down all over the
world
i’m so proud of you and transformation
nation
you have officially made it through week
two
of forgiveness university go and give
yourself
a hand clap many of you will need to go
back and study this for extra credit
many of you these last two sermons all
they were to do was to till
the ground of your cold heart
see if anything is going to change in
you you have to be moldable you have to
be pliable
and so i had to do these first two weeks
so we could get you to next week
share this with everybody you know i’m
praying for you
i believe in you no matter what happens
this week
we are loved we are called we are chosen
and god is for us so who can be against
us i love you
we’re praying for you go out and live a
transformed life
i love you thank you so much for
watching this message
if this has impacted you in any way i’m
asking you to do a couple of things
first thing join transformation nation
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listen we want you to pray about it see
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you and your best days
are right in front of you this week go
out and live a transformed life we’ll
see you next week