you know as long as we live we're going to have to guard our hearts from taking
in offense you know all all through our life people are gonna hurt us unfair
things are gonna happen we'll be disappointed people may say
something that's not true see these are all the types of offense
that we can't allow to take residency in our heart see we can't allow those
things to become part of our lives I have seen people who have gone through a
difficult divorce they have been hurt I've seen people who have been cheated
and it was real but the difference is those people never let that situation go
they always brought that situation back into their life and you know these types
of offenses they don't do us any good you see they only bring heartache
resentment bitterness unforgiveness see that's what a fence does when it gets
into our heart it produces in our life that's why we have to make sure that we
don't allow what happens to us to get in us you see I believe that God wants us
to understand that we are secure in him you know we talk about identity we talk
about what we identify with you see if you identify with your job and your job
goes away then your identity has gone away if you identify with a person and
they make you important if that person happens to leave or that person happens
to disappoint you or say something to hurt you guess what your identity has
been crushed you see we are to identify with Jesus Christ we are to find our
security in him we have to know that he is for us and
he's not against us he's the one that's gonna take care of us when we identify
with the wrong thing and the wrong thing happens to us then guess what we feel
wrong that's an offense that's an offense and I want to encourage us all
if you've ever been hurt if you've ever been left if you've ever been cheated if
you've ever been lied on they're real and it hurts but can I encourage every
one of us today let it go let it go don't get stuck in that offense don't
hold on to it don't let it be a part of your identity listen people can't define
your life unless you allow them to you see when you hold on to those situations
and those events you know what you're doing you're allowing those situations
those unfair things to continue to hurt you you might not be able to change the
situation that happened the person what they said yeah
they said it but you know what if you hold on to it then the hurt continues
let it go get good at letting it go in fact what I want to say to us today is
we're gonna have to get good at forgiving and covering their offenses
all right véra fences so let's look at it this way
today the offense is not yours unless you take it the offense originated from
them so you can either take that offense or you can drop that offense and you can
say no know what I'm gonna forgive them I'm gonna cover this offense listen to
what it says in proverbs 17:9 it says he who covers and forgives and offense
seeks love you see it's an offense didn't say it wasn't gonna come it is an
offense what are you gonna do with it the choice is ours we can seek to go
after love and say ah forgiveness is powerful and God's love
is more than enough even when I don't feel like I can love God has got more
love than I could ever use up or we can seek the offense we can talk about it
tell our friends about it dwell on it get frustrated lose sleep
coddle it snuggle it this is my offense
you see that's how you draw that in that's how you make it become a part of
who you are and your identity but what we have to do is we have to do this we
have to push that offense away from us we have to say no it's not my offense to
take I'm God's I've got the power in my life through the Spirit of God to
forgive and I can do that because you know what I Know Who I am in Christ and
I know that God's gonna help me do this ever since I can remember my family's
been in the jewelry business and I've always learned about precious metals and
and gemstones where they came from but the story of the pearl is very
fascinating most of you know that a pearl comes from an oyster and you see
that Easter goes through a tremendous process to create and form that pearl
funny thing is is that Ulster is not trying to create a pearl what that I
stir is doing is trying to protect itself from the irritants the particles
the they splinter like things that tries to make its way into its shell from the
ocean waters get into its shell and try to embed itself in the tiny maliska of
the oyster so the oyster has something called nacre it's a substance that comes
naturally to the oyster when an invader comes in that it secretes and it pushes
that irritant away from it so it pushes and works to secrete the nacre to keep
distance between what's trying to harm it and as a result of it working and
secreting and covering it with nacre it forms a precious and beautiful pearl you
know offenses in our life or a lot like that irritant in the life of an oyster
words come actions come they're irritants they can become offences see
we have got to push those out of our heart and into the hands of God see God
has given us a way to insulate ourselves to put distance between what wants to
harvest and it's the fact that we can decide what we do with it we can either
push it and release the hurts release the wrongs or we can bring them into our
life and I just want to encourage every one of us to get good at pushing out
pushing out what would try to harm us now the Bible says this it says that we
are to forgive those who have wronged us we are to forgive those who persecute us
we are to forgive and pray for those people you see one way to do it is to
pray one way to insulate yourself from that irritant that offense that's trying
to embed itself in your heart is to pray and every time you pray and you declare
god I forgive that person in the name of Jesus you know what you're doing you're
secreting the nacre of God's love around that offense every time you release that
wrong into God's hands you're secreting more of the nacre of
love around that offense you see we've got to keep that distance between that
offense and our heart we cannot hold on to a fence because God wants to get all
these good things to us and if we're holding on to the wrong we can't make
room for the right we can't make room for what God wants to do in our heart so
we shoes love we must choose what we're
gonna do with that offense listen to what it says in Luke 6 for it says a
good man brings forth good things out of the good treasure stored up in his heart
see that is saying that God wants you to store up the good treasure in your heart
he's saying don't give offense valuable space because it's bitterness its
resentment its pollutants it is things that will pollute your life and nobody
wants those things because the truth is what is in our heart will come out into
our life and many times the things that we have started in our heart burst so
we've got to guard our heart that is what I'm saying today especially in
these times when people can say what they want whenever they want about what
they want and it doesn't even have to be true what makes it true is this if it
has power over you you see it doesn't have to be true but if you give that
power over you it might as well be truth so listen I encourage every one of us
I'll be aware of what's trying to get itself in your heart push out that
offense and cover it with the nacre of God's love and I believe and I declare
that you will see pearls of wisdom pearls of freedom and pearls of
abundance being formed in your life and God will give you everything that you
desire amen amen he's an awesome God your partnership makes this ministry
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