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  YOU HURT ME, NOW WHAT？
  by Shane Idleman
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Summary: This sermon addresses the issue of being offended by God and
others, highlighting the importance of humbling oneself, seeking
forgiveness, and removing bitterness and unforgiveness. It emphasizes
the need to embrace the gift of grace, use the hammer of humility, and
deal with personal offense to experience a deeper spiritual walk with
God. The sermon also touches on the significance of repentance, belief
in Jesus Christ, and the fruit of the Spirit as evidence of a genuine
relationship with God.

Topics: "Forgiveness", "Humility"
Scripture References: Proverbs 16:18, James 4:10, Ephesians 4:31, Galatians 5:22

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DESCRIPTION
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This sermon addresses the issue of being offended by God and others,
highlighting the importance of humbling oneself, seeking forgiveness,
and removing bitterness and unforgiveness. It emphasizes the need to
embrace the gift of grace, use the hammer of humility, and deal with
personal offense to experience a deeper spiritual walk with God. The
sermon also touches on the significance of repentance, belief in Jesus
Christ, and the fruit of the Spirit as evidence of a genuine
relationship with God.

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CONTENT
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We've all been hurt by people. Okay, there's 12 amens, 15 amens. And
some people handle it better than others.

And what happens though, is we often get knocked off course. And I've
been talking about God's will, pursuing God's will. We often get knocked
off course when pursuing God's will because of pain or hurt.

And so how the enemy works, I believe it's one of the greatest tricks,
not tricks, but one of the greatest deceptions he's ever devised in the
church is to have us hurt each other. And so, you're walking, you're
doing God's will. Man, I'm on fire for God.

I'm going to rend the heavens. I love the Lord. I want to start a
ministry.

And then you're hurt, offended. And now you go off course. And it
happens.

It happens to me often. But I can't not show up. We have to deal with
the hurt that we cause each other.

And we have to own it. We have to stop making excuses. And own that hurt
that we've caused others.

And maybe you're not at fault, but you don't want to hold on to that
bitterness and unforgiveness because it will rot in you. Try putting a
piece of old meat out in your garage this week. Watch what happens.

And that's what happens in the heart if we don't deal with these issues.
Of all the tricks of the enemy. Of all the things that knock us off
course.

Of all the things that cause division among Christians. Being hurt by
others is at the top of the list. The pain we cause each other is one of
the enemy's primary weapons.

And I don't know if you saw the sister come up and pray for me just
right before the service, which is perfect and profound. Because this is
a hard topic. This sermon's going to hurt people.

I'm talking about what I shouldn't be doing, but actually the sermon's
going to do it. Or not what I shouldn't be doing, but dealing with the
issue of offense and hurt. And just the boldness to speak what needs to
be said.

And that's what's difficult is because so many people, I'm going to get
to that in a minute. Again, here goes a rabbit trail. But what happens
is there's a conviction, and we don't want to work on that conviction,
so we shoot the messenger.

And what happens, I realize a couple of people have confirmed this with
me recently this week, friends of mine out of state, and said, you know,
you're a lightning rod. You are a wrecking ball for the church. Exactly
what we need.

Exactly what we need. But you're going to encounter a lot of pain
because people don't want to hear that. A preacher is not without honor,
except, the actual word is prophet, which is a hard voice to hear.

You're not without honor, Jesus said, except among your own people and
in your own community. And it's hard. I'm being transparent this
morning, it's a very hard calling.

Because I was a people pleaser growing up. Passive. No, I just want to
please everybody.

I was actually, believe it or not, I was a motivational speaker when I
first came back to the Lord. I would not want to offend anybody. I would
preach at events like this.

Not like this, but at events. And everyone would have to fill out a
card. Rate the speaker.

From 1 to 10. No, no, no, no. And you look at those, what do I have to
improve on? Here, that's out the window.

Because you don't ask for demographic studies and what people want to
hear. You go to God and find out what they need to hear. And that hurts,
that hurts, and that offends people.

And they don't like that. And so many people that are offended by my
sermons, but so many people are encouraged. And there's a lot of hurt in
there.

And even taking it to the Lord, realizing I don't speak perfectly for an
hour. Do my emotions come out? Absolutely. Anger, frustration, sure.

But also, sometimes there's a timidity. I don't want to say that. Such
and such is going to take that wrong.

I hope they're not watching. It's hard. It's very difficult.

And a lot of times, I've seen it. I mean, Pastor Abram just talked about
this. People, when they're convicted, they either, like the Puritan
said, the same sun that melts the wax hardens the clay.

So they either are convicted and say, Lord, thank You, and they change,
or they shoot the messenger. And that's why I want to just even thank,
there's a couple here from Alabama, right? Over here. Praise God.

Nice to meet you guys. And she said, you are convicting and changing me.
And that meant the world, because a lot of other people are saying the
opposite.

Why don't you shut up? Why are you talking about this? And I remember,
I've had to deal with this a few times. The first time, it just
completely threw me. And we were in Lancaster, probably two years old.

The church, I remember, I think it was my wife who told me. And said,
such and such isn't coming anymore because you didn't say hi to him in
the lobby. Like I intentionally avoided him and went the other way.

But that hurt that I didn't say hi to him in the foyer. Like I didn't
even know he was there. So you see how that plants those seeds.

Now usually, nine times out of ten, there's an underlying issue going
on. Of course, we know that. But my point is, we hurt people.

And the first part of application is, are you sure it's me or another
person, or is it conviction? I would say nine times out of ten, often
when a person doesn't like a certain topic, it's conviction. If you dig
deep enough, it's conviction. Without a shadow of a doubt.

We don't like to be challenged and convicted unless we're ready to
repent. Then we love it. And last time, two weeks ago, I mentioned that
ships are safest in the harbor, but they are not made for the harbor.

Did you know that's the safest spot for a ship? In this nice little
quiet harbor. The safest spot for me. Because I want to just live a
quiet life, cabin up in the mountains.

I don't know who abandoned cell phones. But I think I was born about 100
years too late. And so, that's what I want, but I'm not made for that.

I'm not designed for that. Same with many of you. God cuts us out in a
certain way, in a certain cloth.

And God says this is what I've created you to do. I won't do it
perfectly. I'll own it when I need to.

But it's going to ruffle feathers. That's what He's My calling. And
sometimes with you, the way God has designed you, and we end up hurting
people.

People hurt us. And I also mentioned physical storms involve pain, do
they not? When you're going through this pain. But a physical storm, I'm
sorry, a spiritual storm, or an emotional storm, look at how it
parallels with a physical storm.

You know, a tsunami, or all kinds of major cataclysmic events. They
actually bring nourishing rainfall to an area. But storms, pain, can
actually nourish our soul.

If we get the remedy from the right source, I mean, I look back on my
life and thank God for the broken roads. Thank God for the pain. Thank
God that drove me literally to the cross.

And so out of that despair, you can come out much stronger. Storms also
break up billions and billions of gallons, they say, of bacteria in the
ocean. And storms can break out the sin in us.

Do you know we often don't repent or fully come back to the Lord or get
rid of things until we go through a lot of pain? I wish that wasn't the
situation. But do you know how many, and we see them every week, there's
marriages, not every week, but often marriages that are restored at this
church. But it wasn't until they got to the edge, maybe divorce papers
were signed.

Why do you get to the edge before we wake up? That pain, that pain, that
pain draws us back to the Lord. It also deposits a very important
element that is known as nitrogen. And spiritual storms, storms about
pain deposit into our heart spiritual strength.

This is why pain is so important. You encounter pain in the gym, some of
you. You don't go home and cry and say, I'm not doing that again.

Because you understand the pain produces the results. And that's how
people get results. The muscle is under tension.

The muscle breaks down. Your body says, oh, I need to rebuild stronger
for the next time. And that's what pain does.

It can build us up spiritually. You have need of endurance so that when
you finish the race, you finish it well, Paul would say. A physical
storm also cleans the landscape.

And pain, storms lead us to clean our heart, lead us to repentance.
Unfortunately, we can't shape our character by praying for it. Have you
ever prayed any areas of your character where you have a deficit? Lord,
help me in this anger.

Lord, please help me with this anger. Well, guess what? Get ready to get
angry. Lord, I need more patience.

Get ready for that flat tire. We go through the school of hard knocks to
learn. So we can't shape our character by praying for it.

Forging our character comes directly from conflict. In the anvil, the
anvil that God uses is often other people. And do you know what an anvil
is? This big metal-heavy piece of metal.

We owned one when I was in construction. And you could do all kinds of
things with it, but it was primarily for whacking things. You just put
pieces of metal and you just hammer down on them.

You'd use an anvil to straighten or bend the metal. You just get the
hammers out and just hammer it down. And often, the anvil that God uses
is other people.

Ouch! All of this, I've been working on sermons all week. I've got
Wednesdays kind of ready. I want to encourage you to be here Wednesday.

I'm talking about God hears the cries of His children from David and
then next week, and kind of putting that together now. It's just full of
what God, I believe, wants to say to us. God uses other people to avoid
criticism.

You've heard this saying before. If you want to avoid criticism, here's
all you have to do. Say nothing.

Do nothing. Be nothing. And you will avoid criticism.

The more pain you can handle, the more responsibility God may give you.
And I just did a podcast. I've got a podcast now mainly for pastors.

We're quite shocked at how many pastors actually follow the ministry. We
hear from many different states in California, of course. But I did a
podcast for them about pain.

If you're not hurting, you're not leading. And God often won't give you
more if you're not ready for the pain. It's called the pain threshold.

And I look back, I would have fell apart 12 years ago when we started
the church. If I had this level of pain 12 years ago, I would have ran
home to mommy. And so He develops you and builds you through that pain.

You come out more wise, discerning, not perfect, caring, loving, because
you've been hurt. You can actually offer people a lot more grace because
you yourself have needed that grace. The need for endurance.

There's that key verse I wanted to share with you last week I didn't get
to. Isaiah 37.3 Listen to this. This is the day of distress and rebuke
and disgrace.

I mean, I feel like that with our nation right now. This is the day of
distress and rebuke and disgrace with what is going on. He said, it's as
if the children come to the moment of birth and there is no strength to
deliver them.

That's what discouragement does. God has birthed something inside of
you. God has put it down in your heart.

God has loaded you with the weapon of spiritual warfare. But now all
this pain and all this distraction, all this hurt, now you can't even
bring this dream that God has given you to birth. How would this apply
here? Well, how many times have I thought about quitting? Too many times
to number.

It's always over pain and hurt. And can you imagine, imagine if I would
have just quit seven, six, eight years ago, whatever. See, God says, I
want to do this.

Here comes the baby. Here comes the blessing. Here it comes.

But you have no strength to bring it to fruition. And the enemy will use
pain to sidetrack you and distract you and hurt you and harm you. Look
at all that God has done in your life and you're going to give up now?
Look at all that He has done in your life, in your marriage, with your
children, maybe your children are older.

All that He has done, where He's brought you, and you're going to give
up now because somebody hurt you? Somebody offended you? West Side is
unique, and I believe God, in my case, has called me for such a time as
this to ruffle feathers, to be a wrecking ball, so to speak, in the
church, to wake up the lukewarm church, to convict the prideful. And in
saying that, I'm not saying I'm humble and not prideful and I don't ever
become carnal. Of course, all those things are working in our heart
against us and we constantly have to remove those.

But because of that harder calling, you're going to hurt more people.
Does that make sense? You know, if I had my glasses and just quiet and
calm and demeanor and not upsetting, hey, that's pretty cool. It doesn't
upset anybody.

But when you ruffle those feathers, when you go deep and you challenge,
conviction takes place. Do you know what happened to the majority of the
prophets in the Old Testament? Were they liked? They were not liked
until after their death. The people say, get rid of these guys.

We want teachers who will tell us smooth things. Who will tell us what
we want to hear. Who will say, peace, peace.

The world's not falling apart. God loves your sin. You can sacrifice to
Molech and bow to Astaroth.

There's nothing wrong with you. We want those people. But those people
didn't create change.

And so, it's a hard calling because I have to find this balance of being
controversial and convicting, yet trying to find a lot of humility and
brokenness and balance that out. Remember two weeks ago when I said
demons are against you, the world hates you, carnal believers mock you,
and many friends and family ridicule you. But if God be for you, who can
be against you? And that's the strength we need to stand in.

In short, nothing can prevent God working in and through you. And it's a
process. I mean, over the 12 years of pastoring, 20 years probably of
speaking, it's been a process of hurting and building and repenting and
shaping.

Okay, Lord, if You've truly, the only thing, let me tell you, the only
thing that has ever kept me in the ministry and is going to keep me in
the ministry, God willing, the only thing, not the encouragement of
others, not whatever people think of it, God says I have called you to
do this. That is what keeps you going. And that's what's going to keep
you going, correct? Am I just preaching the Word? I've called you to do
this.

I've called you to succeed in this marriage. I've called you to raise
these children. I've called you to do this.

And the only way you're going to get through what you're going through
is to know God has put me here, God has got me, and God is going to see
me through. No matter, here comes the ridicule. No matter, here comes
the slander.

No matter, here comes the backbiting. Now, if you need to change,
change. Please, repent and humble yourself.

Because a lot of people, you know what pride does? Pride says, yeah, I'm
getting attacked by all these people. It's all them. No, you've got to
get the mirror out.

Remove the plank from your eye. Then you can go look at the speck in the
other person's eye. Romans 5.3-4 More than that, we rejoice in our
sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance.

Now, I have a feeling He's talking about persecution in the context
here, of course. But also pain and hurt. And endurance produces
character, and character produces hope.

And so here's all this potential. And God, I believe, is saying that
even to us in some of these areas. Here's all this potential.

Here's what God wants to do. This dream He put inside of you. This
calling.

This gifting. All of this, you went through the furnace of affliction,
all this growth, all this maturity, and here it comes to birth, but
there's no strength left. There's no endurance to bring it to fruition.

Let the dream die. And that's how the enemy works. Often, he'll stop us
and sidetrack us.

And so what I wanted to get to was in Genesis 25. I think we can put it
up there. And I was going to go through verse by verse and different
things, but God had other plans.

And when I say that, you need to know, I'm not thinking God speaks
directly to me and everything I transmit here is equal to Scripture. I'm
just saying, when I feel something deeply and it convicts me, and I
believe God wants me to share it, I've prayed about it, I've waited upon
it, and then it comes out in imperfection, not perfectly, that's what
I'm saying. I believe we need to change direction here and not go
through every single verse right now on this particular passage.

Even I told you that from the beginning. I think God is having me do
principle by principle, not necessarily verse by verse. So Jacob and
Esau grew up.

Esau became a skillful hunter, a man's man. That's why I like Esau. He
was a man of the open country, probably a fly fisherman.

Well, Jacob stayed at home. But of course, we know that Jacob was highly
favored. Later on, Jacob took advantage of Esau's appetite, the lust of
the flesh, and obtained his birthright.

Esau is starving. And Jacob says, nope, I'm not going to give you this
stew. Give me your birthright.

You've got to be pretty hungry. Or he didn't realize what he was giving
up. And what the birthright is, of course, Bible students know, it's
headship of the family, and it's a double portion from the Father.

He gave all of this up for his appetite. And that could have turned into
a whole sermon on how much do we give up for our pleasure, for our
appetites. The lust of the flesh.

How many bad decisions do we make because the flesh talked me into it?
Or talked you into it? That's how we get hooked again that the flesh is
pulling us in the wrong direction. And then we find in Genesis 26,
Isaac's servants dug in the valley. Have you ever done this? You're
working hard.

You're doing God's will. And they found a well of water. But the
herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with Isaac's herdsmen and said, this water
is ours.

So, I don't know if you've ever dug a well. I mean, I've never probably
went that deep. Depends how deep the water level was.

I used to find the water table here in Leona Valley with a drilling rig.
Sometimes it was 16 feet. Believe it or not, other times we would hit it
at 100 feet depending on what you would hit.

But you could dig down. You could find where there's actually water
percolating up into the dirt. You could look down.

And percolation tests, you could look down. Sometimes I would dig 6-7
feet and there's some water forming at the bottom. And so they worked
all hard.

They didn't have backhoes back then though. They had probably very hard
shovels. And so they find this well and here comes these people.

No, that's our water. So then they go and dig another well. Move to a
different location.

Okay, okay. What happens? No, this is our well again. And so it was a
good reminder to me that you can just be doing things for God and keep
getting beat up.

Keep getting discouraged. Anybody relate? Then they finally found the
right spot and they dug another well and they did not quarrel over it.
And there's even so many lessons here.

Erring on the side of grace. Being the better person. Taking the lower
road.

Okay, let me go find a different spot. Let me go find a different spot.
Let me go find a different spot.

And you being the peacemaker. That's why Paul said as much as it depends
upon you, be at peace with all men. Now that doesn't mean negotiate the
truth.

Peacemaker is not a capitulator. There's a big difference there. We
cannot be at peace with those spiritually who deny the doctrines of the
Christian faith.

And I would get invited to a lot of these interfaith things when I first
planted the church. Different religions would meet. It lets us all come
together.

I'm like, well, I'll have lunch with them and talk about what I believe.
I'm not going to come together as if we're all one. That's sending the
wrong message.

And I was never invited again. So I think they eventually got the point
on that. But see, I'm not being mean.

I'm not being a jerk and arrogant. I can't act like we're all worshiping
the same God and let me negotiate the cross just so I can get along.
Because true biblical unity, if you've been coming along and you've
heard me say this, true biblical unity is unity of the Spirit.

It's not just let's just get along. Democrats or Republicans, that's not
going to work. It's unity of the Spirit.

Unity of truth. Then we all rally around that. So if we remove the
truth, how can I be united with you? I can go to lunch.

I can share my testimony. I can try to win you over to Yahweh, Yeshua,
the Christian faith. And then of course, we see family dynamics.

Anybody have any family dynamics going on? Anybody have little ones at
home you think the devil can plant thoughts in their minds? So you've
got all hell breaking loose. Pastors' kids. It's so hard.

The first service, I saw the guy who lives across the street from me.
Both people on both sides of me listened to the sermon. The guy across
the street.

I'm like, I'm in this bubble. I can't go outside and yell at my kids.
You can.

How's it going? How's it going? It's actually, but it's kind of cool
because it keeps you in order there. You know, you're going to act a lot
different if you know believers are right next door to you. And people
watching you.

Everything you do. I love this one. 26, Genesis 26.

When Esau was 40 years old, he took two wives. I can tell you there's a
problem right there. How did these guys marry? I can't even handle one.

Man, and I wouldn't want one. I'm praising God. That's just so weird.

And actually, God didn't. He allowed it. He didn't command it.

You need to know that. Because the church down the street and others
will say, no, God, look, it's in the... No, He allowed it. From the
beginning, Jesus said the two shall become one.

It's always God's design. But God allows things, especially when people
say, look, did you know in the 1800s, even 1700s, that many churches
used the Bible to promote slavery and say it was right? But they forget,
no, God allowed it to happen. He didn't endorse it.

This is indentured servants and things like that. It's a whole different
concept. But just because something's in the Bible doesn't mean God
wants you to do everything.

I'm not going to take my son to Mount Moriah and sacrifice him. Hoping
that God brings a ram in the thicket. So you have to know your Bible.

But anyway, He took two wives. And look at this. I just had to give you
the exact rendering of Scripture.

They were a grief of mine to Isaac and Rebekah. They were a pain in
the... Yeah, the daughter-in-laws. Oh my goodness.

I think this is where the mother-in-law, father-in-law joke started. And
it says here they were a pain. They were a pain to them.

So you see all these dynamics taking place in Genesis 25-26 that I want
to talk to you about. Esau, Jacob, the working hard, the family
dynamics. And so you have to realize, here's the key.

At the core of offense is hurt, pain, and pride. At the core of being
offended. Have you ever been offended by someone? At the core of that,
it's hurt, it's pain, it's pride is what happens.

And we've got to get to the bottom of this. Here's what pride says. The
faults in others I can clearly see.

But praise God, there's none in me. You can borrow that one. So here's
where the rubber's going to meet the road.

We have to ask, is this really something I need to address? Is this
really something I need to address? Or am I mad because my pride has
been hurt? Or am I convicted? You have to ask that question. Because
often, even as Christians, our first response is to react, not respond.
What comes out? The flesh.

So the more filled you are with the spirit, the less you're going to
fight with other people and say the wrong things. That's just biblical.
That's Bible.

Because you're filled with love and joy and peace. And so when someone
offends you, you're like, brother, it's okay. I'm not easily angered.

So you can really gauge in your heart and my own heart when I'm not
filled with the Spirit. Because what comes out? When a vessel is struck,
my mom always told me at a young age, Shane, when a vessel is struck,
what's inside spills out. So when you're struck, that's what really
comes out.

But I look at things too, before I address it, what is the seriousness
of it? You know, is it a serious nature? Is it something? You know, this
is pretty significant. I need to address this. Or is it something like,
okay, I wish they would have chose a different color carpet.

And so much is coming to mind that I have in my notes, but I'm not going
to get to them. But even preference. Preference causes a lot of
division.

Is it even worth fighting about? You will not believe the battles when
we first moved up here over preference. It took me like two years to get
rid of the organ. You know an organ? And the old hymns? Wonderful if you
grew up in that age.

That's how you came to the Lord? Wonderful. But I don't know if we can
keep up the organ. It's not bad.

I'm just saying, and so, preference, right? Preference. And you guys see
those two banners in the back? Those big, huge banners? They were
everywhere. And I just try to take one down at a time because all hell
would break loose if we didn't keep those up there because somebody made
them.

And I agree, that's incredible. That's cool. But you've got to change.

And they don't like the changer. The person who's making the change. And
just the way, you know, and preference.

And why are you standing during worship? Why are you sitting? Why are
you wearing a suit and tie? Why aren't you wearing a suit and tie? Why
are they raising their hands? Why aren't they raising their hands? Why
do they do that? Why didn't they do that? Why doesn't Shane teach you
the whole Bible like Calvary Chuck Smith? I don't know. I'm not Calvary
Chapel. Why don't you do this? Why don't you? Preference, preference,
preference.

And then we can get offended because we don't have the preference you
prefer. And I appreciate it. That's why you've just got to let some
things go.

People come up and say, Shane, I used to go to churches like after the
first song, people get up and they greet each other and say hello. And
why don't we do that here? I'm like, I don't know. That's kind of, I
guess that works for some people.

But man, once this worship team starts, I don't want to stop it. I don't
know about you, but I don't want to sit down and stop it. When you're
seeing your spirit break out, okay, now let's just huddle and talk for a
while.

That's not, that doesn't work for us. I remember this was so challenging
when we first planted the church. People come up, Shane, we've got to
have announcements.

It's okay, so we have worship, right? Just powerful worship. Then we all
sit down and listen to 10 minutes of boring announcements. See, it
doesn't fit with what God's doing here.

Preference, preference. People start to tell me, okay, you need to
preach this way. You need to do this.

And this is why we need a board of elders to do this. And it was just
all these things of preference. Even now, one of the things I am
dreading, please pray, please pray, please pray today.

If we ever have to make the decision to replace the pews with chairs,
I'm just saying, I'm just saying, see? And you've noticed I've been
planting seeds for like seven months, just planting those seeds. I'm
waiting for the emails from the old timers. But we love the pews, we
want to keep the pews.

The problem is seats, we can see where your purse is sitting. We can fit
a lot more people, about 50, 60 more people with seats. So do we start a
third service or do we replace the pews with chairs? And if we replace
the pews with chairs, chairs can be removed.

You can have more events inside the sanctuary. Lots of different things.
Just be clear on this.

The church is divided, right, 50-50. So that's why we're not doing
anything right now. But see, should we really get upset about that?
Let's be honest.

No, no, we shouldn't. No, we shouldn't. Missy, I'm gonna have to tell
you to be quiet this service.

Now, in her mind, maybe so, because love the pews, grew up in the pews,
pews resemble more of a church feeling. I got that. But I don't know why
I have to use that example.

But should that really cause division? That's what I'm saying. When we
try to choose the wood, when we try to do these things, like I don't
know if that's a good idea. Why don't, what, what, what, what? Guys, can
we just have church? Preference, preference.

I love the emails. I would prefer if you would wear a suit and tie. I
would prefer that you use the King James only because you are leading
people astray with those godless versions.

I don't even get into that. But I've studied the Greek, the Hebrew.
There's a lot of debates on that.

Anyway, preference, preference, preference. People say that's not
preference. That's truth and things like that.

So understand, my point was, is this really something that needs to
cause division? Is this something that needs to divide us? Or are we
going to let people do what they do? So are you ready for this? I just
added it for this morning. Thank God they could make the screen. I don't
even know if I want to do this.

I even said don't put it in there yet. Let me pray about it. But I think
it's time.

The top 10 reasons my sermons offend Christians. The top 10 reasons my
sermons offend Christians over the years. Why am I talking about this?
Because it's very important.

I'll get to it in a minute. Now, I'm not talking about why sermons
offend unbelievers. I mean, that's obvious.

Jesus, the cross, the only way. I'm talking about believers. Why we get
offended.

And I'm not trying to be a jerk. I'm trying to help. And so here's the
things I have to deal with as my style of preaching in this type of
church.

And I can safely say, unless you're leading something, you guys maybe
know you're leading a large business. You know you hurt people every
day. Every single day that you breathe.

You run a business. You manage a business. Can you relate? I offend
people before I even get to the first service.

For example, I wrote down four today. For example, morning worship,
right? Doors open at six. We're here.

You guys should come and worship. Okay, well, the music's too loud. I go
and turn it down.

And then Pastor Abram comes out. Hey, God, turn that up. What's going
on? Oh, it's too loud.

I've talked to people they call in this community. That street is
getting too crowded. I can't even pull out of my driveway without people
almost hitting me.

Like, okay, let me see if I can upset some more people so we're not as
busy. But shouldn't they be happy that the gospel is going out? And so
the street's really crowded. And then the people riding horses got upset
because we used to park on both sides all the way up and down the
street.

And so we had to make an area so now horses can go in. And offending
people. And that's the pastor who offends us.

Or if I pray. This actually didn't happen today. I just thought of it.

If I'm going to pray, pray for healing. Lord, would you bring healing to
this lady? And Lord, please show her if there's anything in her life
that's actually causing this. Well, hold on a minute, Pastor.

There's nothing in my life causing this. Well, here we go. I'm going to
wear it on my sleeve.

Nobody knows this except a few people. Pastor Abram, my wife. I was
actually going to take today and next Sunday off and go ride on a
vacation.

I was hurt. I've had enough for a while. It builds up.

I shouldn't even be here. I shouldn't be there. Next Wednesday, I
shouldn't be there Sunday.

I said, I'm done. I'm done dealing with people. I poured out my heart.

And we get backstabbed. We get gossiped at. We get slandered.

And I spent time with God, and I said, I'm going to work my butt off
this week. I'm going to be here. I'm going to preach my heart out.

And the peace of God came upon me like I've never felt in a long time.
But you can see, right? You can see how that, and that's why that
comment from Alabama was so... I just got a letter from Pennsylvania
this morning. Just heard from somebody in Canada and Texas.

I'm being radically changed. But you can only get beat up so much as
well. So please, let me email Pastor Shane and encourage him.

Oh, I'm good. I'm good. I'm just like you.

You know, you've got five kids at home. All hell's breaking loose
sometimes. This isn't going well, and that's not going well, and anybody
ever have their plans messed up and not going according to what you
thought? And so it just hits you like a ton of bricks.

And then things get back to me what people said. I'm like, they're just
lying. They're lying about me, about the church, how we handle things,
and the pressure.

And here's the top ten things. Number one, when I talk about
entertainment or lifestyles or a person's toys, I call it the Las Vegas
Christian. Here comes email.

Are you saying I can't go to Las Vegas? I don't know. Take it to the
Lord. Here's what's funny.

People think I'm preaching to them and mentioning them in my sermon.
That's nothing but pride. There are thousands upon thousands who listen
to this nationally.

I'm speaking to a vast, vast group of people. And so for somebody to
take it personally, that's pride and conviction. Remember, she prayed
for me this morning to be bold, so I'm going to be there.

But think about why do you talk about movies? Why should Christians be
watching these movies? Watching vampires and the occult and witchcraft
and whore and demonic? Why are you filling your house with that? And
people get upset and offended. Lifestyles or toys. You know what I mean
by toys? You've got to have the biggest... I didn't look out front, so
don't anybody take this wrong.

But I'll pull up at the mall, and here's this truck taking up two
parking spots with 35-inch gumbo mutters, 6-inch lift, headers, exhaust.
That guy has a problem here. Just look at me.

Look at me. And so I challenge those things. And people don't like it.

Tell me I need to sell my truck. I'm just preaching. If God's putting
that on your heart, take it to God.

My Lord, people. Conviction. Do you know why the prophets were killed in
the Old Testament? Conviction.

They would say, shut your mouth, Isaiah, Jeremiah. They believe that
Manasseh sawed Isaiah in two. Arrogance.

Judgmental, pride-filled people. I don't just go after carnality. I go
after those who I'm in that camp too, right? We can become arrogant
because there's pride within us.

Pride comes up. Arrogance. Judgmental.

Pride-filled. And I preach against that, and the pride-filled person
doesn't want to hear it. And I say, you're just being judgmental.

I'm not being judgmental. I love the truth. No, it's like the pride just
drips off of you.

And they don't like that. When you challenge their pride, challenge
arrogance, challenge judgmentalism, they lash out. But you.

But this. But, but, but, but, but. Instead of saying, Lord, is it I?
Lord, is it I? I have to work on this judgmental, arrogant attitude.

And then often when we give marriage advice, the spouse that is
convicted doesn't want to hear it. This happens all the time. You guys,
everybody counsel those who are married? But you don't know my spouse.

And anytime, anytime I talk about like husbands, you're dropping the
ball. Men, you've got to lead by example. And you know what the guys
that are convicted will come up to me and say, I remember how, I
remember just happened to me a while back and other times, of course.

But the guy will come up and say, Shane, why are you always coming
against the guys? When are you going to start coming against the women?
When are you going to start preaching to the women? I'm tired of you
preaching to me. I'm not 12 years old. I know exactly what's going on.

It's called conviction. Conviction. We don't want to own it.

We don't want to look in the mirror. Marriage issues. Husband, lead by
example.

And don't say, wife, submit. She'll submit somebody. She'll follow
somebody who is following Christ.

Yeah, but you don't know my spouse. So we don't want to follow scripture
because I don't know your spouse. See, but the Bible doesn't lie.

But you need to also hear the opposite side. How many people, and I'll
just say his name, Jeff. I want to say his last name because some of you
might know him.

But he said, you know, I don't remember, I showed my wife a couple years
ago, he messaged us and goes, you know what, when I first went to a
church way out in Lancaster, he said, I heard your sermons and you were
just, man, what I watched, I just thought you were too hardcore. And
then he goes, now I come to realize, now that I follow the Spirit, I
came to realize I was running from the exact conviction I needed.
Because that's the whole point is to help.

And it often hurts before it helps. And so you have to decide, is the
sun, the same sun that melts the wax, it hardens the clay. Are you
becoming hard through the conviction of God's Word? Or are you softening
up through the conviction of God's Word? Anytime we give marriage
advice, well, pastor, you said this, but you don't know my spouse.

Here we go. Here we go. No, I don't know your spouse.

I just know what the Bible says. Is it, could it be that God is
convicting you? Could it be that God is convicting you? Yeah, but
anytime you want to say, yeah, but, it takes the Lord for a while. And
of course, you know, number four.

Anytime we talk about taking care of the body. And I just posted
something on Facebook. They lit me up.

People were even texting me. Did you read? Did you read? I don't read
comments. I do not read my comments.

It's been a long time. I'm just very healthy not to read comments. And
then people say, oh, then you're not open for feedback.

I'm open to feedback from those who love me and know me, not from
somebody sitting in Canada drinking a beer wanting to upset at what I
said. Yeah, I'm telling you, this has been a while. But anyway, I said,
of course, I'm talking about type 2 diabetes.

I say, hey, it might not be hereditary. It might be lifestyle changes.
And they're like, just stay in your lane.

Preach the gospel. Why are you talking about these things? I'm like, oh,
conviction maybe? Or taking care of this wonderful gift that God has
given you. Eating better.

Taking care of it. I'm telling you, I feel 10 times better. Even now, 30
pounds less from three months ago.

I feel much, much better. More energy. Better mood with my kids.

Isn't that good? And shouldn't I want to give that out to other people?
Now we're going to get really, really, really, really into some deep
water. This one has haunted me for quite a while. This one has, wow,
number five.

And it actually fits with number four. Now the funny thing is, I just
got an email yesterday. Or yeah, email.

Thank you so much for this topic. I mean, all the time. So people either
love number five or they hate number five.

And what I do, all I do with number five, just so you know, is I'm not
Mormon. I'm not saying, you know, because they can't. All right, can
they have coffee now? And so they can't.

Okay, well, my point is, here's actually a good example. If you want to
resolve a conflict with somebody if you're mad at them, don't have
coffee. Have chamomile tea.

Because when you have that, you're ready to go get them. And so I say,
if you struggle with anger, anxiety, depression, get off of this drug.
The number one drug in America.

Just wean yourself off. And so I'm trying to help people. I'll pray for
your anxiety, but if you're on 500 milligrams of caffeine, did you know
that's actually in the manual for mental disorders? Over 500 milligrams,
it causes mental disorders.

Are you aware of that? So see, I'm just trying to help, but people are
like, how dare you touch my black Christian crack. And now it's out
there. That is the church where you can't drink coffee.

Did you know I have some sometimes in the morning? Two, three, four
ounces, just a little bit. That's it. I'm just saying, if you have to
work, if you're snapping at your kids, you're not getting good sleep,
you can't lose weight, and you're always hungry.

Blood sugar levels, cortisol, and insulin, it all is tied into this very
destructive drug. That if you're going to do it, minimize it. I'm just,
I'm trying to help.

And so, I'm going to name some ministries you've probably heard of.
Pretty big ministries. The founders have emailed me.

Thank you so much for your article on that. I've stopped it, and I've
become a better person. I have the fruit of the Spirit now.

I have love and joy and peace and contentment. Why? Because caffeine
puts your body in a fight or flight. You want to beat the heck out of
someone.

That's great if you're running from a lion, but that's bad, bad news if
you're trying to resolve conflict and be gentle and loving. And I can't,
I'm just going to snap. So this one, I don't know why, and we used to
have coffee in the foyer, but after COVID, we just decided to keep it
out.

So it's not against, it's not some weird stuff. I'm just trying to help
people. So if you struggle with anger, you struggle with anxiety and
depression, and you want to just lash out at people, and you and your
spouse are, to just irritate the heck out of you, you might want to look
at what you're feeding.

Ask my wife, she can go, you've had coffee today, haven't you? Well, can
you tell why? What's going on? Where are the kids? Why are you doing
this? Why did you change? How do you know I had coffee today? If you're
convicted about these topics, and my stance has always been that
obviously the Bible allows a little bit moderation, but if it's
controlling, you have to have it. And I went to Christian events where
they said, just a glass of wine. Okay, that's a 32 ounce goblin.

That's not a glass of wine. Can we be real? Two hands, I just have one
glass. And they're feeling pretty good.

You've got these IPAs out there with 7-8%. You're feeling good. Don't
fool the man who used to, knows what he's talking about with alcohol,
okay? And so, those, and I know people, they're actually in this church,
some in leadership who might have one now and then.

You would never even know it. They love my messages on this topic. But
those who are convicted, don't.

Unless they want to change. I see it all the time. If you have to defend
yourself about something, you fill in the blank.

And then number seven, I often talk about this often, and all I say is,
don't run to the pills, run to the cross. Don't let that be your first
resort. Let it be your last resort.

And still, even in the prayer room, people email, why are you against
medication? I've never, ever, ever, ever in my life said that in a
sermon. Because I'm not. I would recommend serotonin uptake inhibitors
and correct the serotonin level if that's what you find is wrong.

I wouldn't recommend a high blood pressure medication or if you had to
take a Xanax for a week to really chill out. I've never, but be careful
because it's often the first resort. And people aren't looking what's
causing this.

See, so I talked to somebody, you need to get off 600 milligrams of
caffeine before you go get the Xanax. Oh no, I can't do that. I need the
little pill.

And then you open the insert, may cause drowsy, may cause suicidal
thoughts and depression, interior bleeding, and liver disease. I'm like,
well, this is the solution? And even in medication, yes, if you have to
take medication for diabetes, insulin, but what's causing it if you're
type 2? You can get off that medication in a couple months if you change
your diet and lifestyle. So see, why are you upset if I'm talking about
these things? Because it's conviction.

I remember I talked about, all I said in the article was the majority of
mass shooters they're finding are on psychotic drugs. Research it. And
you would not believe the email.

I have to take it. Okay, I guess you do. I'm not talking about you.

But see, where is this conviction coming from? And unless we're tender
and receptive, we're going to lash out at the messenger and shoot the
messenger and discredit the messenger because we don't like what we are
hearing. And then I would have to say up there with number five, number
eight is, that's a toughie. That is a toughie.

I'll tell you what, probably the biggest shock of my entire life in
pastoring is around, I don't know when that was, 2016 I guess. I didn't
realize that a five-letter word would upset so many people. Anybody know
what that word is? You say it.

I'm not saying it. You're saying it. My goodness.

I would actually meet with people. You just saying the word Trump
upsets. Okay, so I can't say, okay, no character, possibly lies, the
tweets, whatever, but at least he's putting the Supreme Court justices
in the overturned Roe v. Wade.

Hold on, hold on, hold on. At least he's asking Jack Graham, James
Robinson, Jim Garlow, Jack Hibbs, others for advice. At least he's
looking out for the nation of Israel.

At least he's protecting our borders. At least he's dealing the right
way with Fauci. He's putting the head of education.

See, hold on, don't clap because just this part is going to get more
emails. Is that not just the truth? You don't have to like. I don't
care.

But let's just speak the truth. The truth. Who's better for churches? A
Biden or a Trump? Who's better for the Johnson Amendment? For taxes? Do
you think Russia would be pulling the shenanigans with certain people in
office? Absolutely not.

So you have the security of the nation. You have the perversion of the
nation, the direction of the nation. No, He's not our Savior.

But my goodness, get somebody in there who's going to put people in
positions of leadership. Ben Carson, a Christian over urban housing and
development. Mike Pompeo, Secretary of State, strong Christian.

My God, people, have you lost your mind just because you hate those five
words? Five letters? It's unbelievable. Unbelievable. You can't talk
about politics in the pulpit.

You better believe I can, and I will not stop talking about politics in
the pulpits. There's a pastor of a large church. Well, it was large.

I don't know, over the hill. We're still trying to get together Eight
months ago, he said, you're hurting the Gospel by talking about
politics. So let's get together.

I want to hear what you're talking about. Well, he's avoiding this
conversation, obviously. Now I know people are saying, you want to beat
people up and Republican, Democrat, blah, blah, blah.

But guys, you're murdering children in the womb. California's getting
ready to pass it. We're at nine months.

You're allowing a transgender pervert to read to kindergartners at
libraries? In L.A. County? You're allowing a DA in L.A. County to let
out known criminals? And you want me to shut my mouth? You got another
thing coming. This is what things we need to talk about. This is why
Facebook shut me down.

They still don't let me do ads and the shadow banning. When we would go
live during COVID, 250,000, 300,000 views per message. Now everything's
shut down.

Just maybe three shares. Shut that guy up. Shut him down.

Don't let him talk about these things. Now what happens though is the
flip side. If you're mean-spirited and you're talking about these things
and you think the Republican Party, the Democrat Party is our Savior.

You think Biden is our Savior or Harris or Trump. Got it. I understand
it.

But we are a nation adrift. We are a nation that is... I'm surprised we
haven't collapsed yet. The fuel crisis, what you're leaving for your
children and your grandchildren makes a difference.

When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice. But when the
wicked, they groan. God says, I want the righteous to legislate my law
righteously.

Not perfectly, righteously. So if it took orange hair and mean tweets to
get people in office that are going to change the direction of our
country. Think about that.

Three Supreme Court justices that were appointed are changing the
direction of our nation. And why is it a certain political party can go
demonstrate at Kavanaugh's house and nobody say anything? That's a bunch
of crybabies and somebody needs to call it out. Why is all the
shenanigans okay? It's not okay.

We have become a limp-wristed, weak society with now no backbone. And
the pulpits need to be setting that course again. Alright, after we lose
5% of the members next week, Pastor Abram, you can take it from here in
August when I'm gone.

And then of course, my favorite one, number nine. About five years ago,
I still get emails from people or they'll tell me in person, which is
okay. And I understand what they're saying, so I try to find the balance
with all this.

But about five years ago, we started morning worship. And I would make
it a point like, hey, you guys got to be here. This is a time where we
seek the heart of God.

And me and Pastor Abram were just talking about this, I think, Saturday.
We rarely, if ever, have issues with people at morning worship. Huh?
Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding.

Hello? Why? Because it's a large group of people seeking the heart of
God, humbling themselves. And your marriage is falling apart. You're
addicted.

Get to this. No, no, no, I don't. And so, people say, stop mentioning
that.

It makes me feel I don't like that. You're pushing it too much. Is that
true or is it conviction? You fill in the blank.

And so, I have to live in this, like, okay, I want to promote it, but I
don't want people to feel bad. And so, that's a hard issue too as well.
And actually, it's not just morning worship.

Oh, actually, I changed it on yours. Heartfelt worship. I put morning
worship.

Heartfelt worship too. Number nine, when I talk about the deeper life...
Okay, let me just get real and honest with you. Most Christians in the
American church have not experienced the deeper life.

They have not experienced a mighty infilling of the Holy Spirit. They
have not experienced that joy unspeakable. That doesn't mean you don't
have challenges.

Doesn't mean you don't go through obstacles. Doesn't mean you feel like
quitting. But there's the Holy Spirit in you.

There's this passion. There's desire. You love heartfelt worship.

You can have the worship team just stay up there all service. You want
to go to prayer meetings. You want to have more of God.

You want to have more of church. And when I talk about those things, the
judgmental Jerry and legalistic Larry come out after me. Larry, you're
here, right? I mean you.

So you've got to watch. You've got to be careful. Larry's not.

He's been an incredible member and his wife. But people don't like to be
challenged in this area. My Christianity is comfortable.

How dare you throw ice in the swimming pool? And so when you stir that
pot, and you tell them to come out from among them, be separate. Here's
how you are going to be filled with the Holy Spirit. The deeper walk
with God.

And then they say, that worship is just brainwashing. No, it's brain
soaking. Soaking in the presence and power of God.

You better have some. Why is worship so long? Why'd they sing that song
for ten minutes? I watched a YouTube video from a heresy hunter that
said that's bad. You're just like Bethel.

When I talk about the fullness of the Holy Spirit, the unction of the
Holy Spirit, being filled with the Spirit, desperate for more of God, on
this altar, on my prayer meetings, worship mornings, coming to worship
morning, they don't like to hear about the deeper things of God. Why?
Because that's not very comfortable. That's not very comfortable.

Why do you talk about those things? The reason is they've never
experienced it and they don't want to be challenged. And you'll find
that when you go and you listen to very conservative churches, they're
straight as a gun barrel, right? But they're empty. They're missing the
Spirit's power.

And when you begin to challenge them about that, they get defensive. And
they call you weird or charismatic or whatever. They'll begin to call
you names and put you down.

The reason is they've never experienced a powerful move of God in their
life. And that's the big difference between churches that believe in the
gifts and the power of the Holy Spirit today and churches that don't.
There's that divide there as well.

Mocking and division because they've never really experienced God
working in a radical way. And when I thought, when I was thinking about
all of these things, what doctor, if you have a doctor, if your doctor
says, hey, everything's fine. I'll see you next year.

They would lose their license for malpractice if there's something wrong
with you. You have cancer, but they're going to tell you, no, I'll see
you next year. They'll lose their license.

Why are more pastors losing their ordination for not helping the people
in all these different areas? Number ten, that offends people the most
is this whole list. It's going to offend people the most. I just offend
a lot of people.

But again, the opposite is incredible. When people turn, what happens
with entertainment choices and lifestyle choices? And there's actually
people that I haven't seen in a while. All you have to do is look at
their Facebook thread.

And you can see the jet skis, the boats, the RVs, the this, the this,
the alcohol has drawn them away. And I'm not saying go relax. Of course.

But be careful that that's not replacing your time with God and having
you drift away. And when people turn from that and fully surrender to
God, the benefits are incredible. When people humble themselves and they
submit their pride, they get to this altar, the benefits are incredible.

When they submit, their marriages are restored. When they begin to fast
and seek the heart of God and begin to change their diet and remove
these things that are destructive, they begin to feel better and come up
with tears. Thank you so much.

I didn't know I could feel so much better. So see, there's fruit on the
flip side of all these. There's fruit here.

But it's so important. It's so important. And next week, unless people
really make me mad and I have to not come.

But I was just sharing that with you. Haven't you all been there? I'm
going to escape early. I'm going to tell the elders I'm taking off
early.

I'm done with this. And then the enemy almost won. But we're going to
talk about embracing the gift of grace.

What that looks like. And also using the hammer of humility. And really,
okay, now that we've been offended, now what? That's what we're going to
work on next Sunday.

We're going to get our hearts right. But I can give you a little bit now
because I won't see all of you next Sunday. But what you have to do is
humble yourself.

Humble yourself. But Shane, they hurt me. They're wrong.

Exactly. Humbling yourself and seeking forgiveness and restoration with
God doesn't mean they're right. All you do is remove the junk that's
growing in your own heart.

I don't like it any more than you do, but holding on to bitterness and
resentment. The person doesn't even know it, but I'm dying inside. I'm
being eaten up inside.

I don't want to see them. I don't want to go to church. Now it's
affecting me.

So the key is to repent of those things. And we would love to even pray
with you and for you in the prayer room this morning. If you're
struggling with unforgiveness, bitterness, you've been hurt.

And people say often, I don't go to church because the church hurt me.
Yeah, people hurt people. That's why we never say look to us for the
example.

Look to the cross. That's the example. We will hurt you.

And as always, I don't know where some of you are or some of you are
listening, but the concept of hell often comes up. And hell is a place
full of offended people. Offended by God.

Mad at God. You even hear famous atheists. It'll eventually come out
that they are mad at God.

How can you be mad at something you don't believe in? So atheism is
actually a reflection of a hardened heart against maybe things they've
experienced. Things that the church has done to them. Why did God take
my mom? Or why did God take my child? And they have this built-up
resentment and offense against God.

I'm actually doing a memorial Monday. I almost didn't, because I just
told you. I almost took two weeks off.

It's a lady who came up in her wheelchair. I know exactly where I was at
JetHawk Stadium two years ago. Eighty-five years old.

Repented and gave her heart to the Lord at 85 at the stadium. And so
it's just a quick burial actually outside of our area. And the family
asked, would you come? It would be an honor.

I said, absolutely. I'd love to be there Monday. But at 87, she died
just recently.

And she said, how many people live their whole life offended at God?
Hurt by God? Even Christians. Even Christians, maybe some of you are
hurt by God. I've had to deal with that.

Personal confection. Lord, hello. Look what I'm doing.

Don't you know who I am? Why am I going through this? So if that's you,
don't go to hell because you don't understand God. His ways are perfect.
His ways are high above our ways.

Our thoughts are not even His thoughts. He knows what is best. Repent
and believe today.

Repent and believe today. Believe it or not, I hear sermons often on the
radio. If you listen to our radio network, we have sermons on 91.9.
Those guys convict me sometimes.

I don't like what they're saying about things. So, is it because I don't
like what they're saying because of conviction? Conviction? And let me
just encourage you this morning. Take it to the Lord.

If anything I said today, you didn't like it, you have to ask the why.
You have to ask the why. Because I didn't come up here and say it in
arrogance.

That I can assure you. This has been a very hard week as far as putting
this together. I didn't want to do it.

I ignored it. I tried to get out of it. I'm not coming up here excited
about this.

And name one thing that is unbiblical. One thing that's unbiblical that
won't help people and lead to a deeper spiritual walk with the Lord.
Because often it's the little things.

Did you know that? It's the little things that begin to make the biggest
difference. So I'm going to talk about the different Scriptures and
things next week, but I'm going to close on this point. Did you know
that hell... Hell, another topic nobody talks about because it's
offensive.

Hell is full of people that are offended. Who are they offended at?
Correct? They're mad at God. They're offended at God.

You listen to any atheist, famous atheist, whoever, what do they say?
They hate God. They mock God. Hitchings.

And what's the other? Dockings. And it's painful to even hear them. And
I mean this in the most loving way I can say it, but they sound foolish
to me.

They seem very foolish and out of touch. Like all this just happened.
Some cosmic little micro atom just decided to explode and create all
this.

You've got to be kidding me. Where's your brain at? But they hate God.
How can you hate something that doesn't exist? See, there's an offense.

I'm offended. I'm offended that there's a God. I don't want to bow my
knee to the one true and living God.

I'm God. I'm the captain of my own ship. I will set my own course.

How dare this God tell me I can't do this and can't do that. Isn't that
what it boils down to? Nobody has a problem with God when it's God is
love. If you just say, hey man, I believe in God.

God is everywhere. God loves you. Oh, amen, man.

That's right. No problems. But when you start talking about, well,
there's a couple of problems.

What do you mean? You don't know Him. And you explain Jesus and the
cross and redemption and the only way, the only truth, the only life.
Nobody comes to the Father except through Him.

There's no other way. There's not the book of Mormon, the book of this,
this religion, Allah, Jehovah Witness, Gandhi, you fill in the blank.
Jesus is the only way.

You will upset people. You ever watch Ray Comfort? He spoke here a
couple of years ago and we talked for a little while. And man, those
guys get mad on the beach when he interviews them and talks to them and
shows them the law.

What a wonderful tool. Hey, here's what the law says. You've never
lusted? Well, yeah.

You've never stolen anything? Well, yeah. See, by your own omission,
you're a lying thief, adulterous at heart. Whoa! See, anger, they don't
like the moral law.

They are offended. They are offended. Offense keeps Christians from a
closer relationship with God too.

How long are we going to hold into personal offense? You've got to get
rid of that root of bitterness and unforgiveness and division. Humble
yourself before Almighty God. Stop thinking more highly of yourself than
you should.

So with that said, I don't know the audience out there listening or here
this morning, if you've never humbled yourself and removed your offense
towards God, remove it this morning. And say, God, I humble myself. When
I stand before You, I will not have anything of merit to show You.

I'm not a good person. I haven't lived a good life. I need Jesus Christ.

I need that redemption. I need the cross. And you cry out to God and you
let Him change you.

And instead of having this spirit of offense, you have this tremendous
peace and joy and longsuffering. And I'm concerned, my friends. I'm
concerned.

I know Christians, but there is zero fruit. Think about this. The
filling of the Holy Spirit is what? The fruit of the Spirit.

Love, joy, contentment, gentleness, kindness, patience, longsuffering,
self-control, depending on what version you read. But if there's no
fruit, like I'm not even talking about a little fruit, there's just no
love. They're mean.

They're bitter. They're angry. There's no gentleness and goodness.

And they're always divisive and always in attack mode. There's just no
fruit. You've got to wonder, do you really know the Savior? Because
here's how you know.

A believer will say they'll own it. Yeah, I need to work on love. I
don't have a loving heart right now.

I'm not that patient. I'm not that longsuffering. Jesus, help me.

The prideful unbeliever says, I'm good. I'm good. I got that.

No, I am good. I am a good person. I do love people.

You love people? How? Where? When? Self-examination, guys. We have to
examine our hearts. So let's do that during worship.

I'm going to have the worship team come up. We're going to close. And if
you're saying, thank God that's over, you need to hear this message.

And even if you've been maybe carnal or drifted or maybe baptized as an
infant, we're actually doing baptisms next Sunday. We've got somebody
driving in from another state to be baptized next Sunday to get their
heart right with the Lord. And so I want to encourage you, sign up for
that.

Let us know next door. One thing about this church is we're not perfect.
We're not perfect, but we want to work on reconciliation.

Division is destroying the church in America without a shadow of a
doubt. The isms, the fighting, the backbiting, the slander, the gossip.
Why aren't I elevated? We've got to humble ourselves before God.

And watch what He does with humility. I truly believe this. I don't have
Scripture to necessarily back it up, even though I do on the concept.

But I believe you can only go so far until God says, hold on. You've got
to deal with these issues. You've got to get fixed spiritually.

You've got to get fixed before you can move into this where I really
want you to be. Whether it's anointed worship or starting a ministry or
something in your family or in your workplace. You know God has more for
you, but is He resisting the proud and holding back? Because these
issues of the heart have to be dealt with.

I thank God I didn't pastor until 40. Can I be honest with you? A lot of
pain in my childhood. Broken home.

Angry father. Was hurt a lot. Growing up with speech impediment and
learning disabilities and overweight and just this mess.

Turning to alcohol at a young age. And God had to just, man, it was a
process. I want you to pastor, but you got to go through this pain.

He wants you to keep moving forward, but you might have to go through
some pain. You might have to humble yourself. Get rid of that smirk off
your face.

I don't like to say this stuff, but it's so important. Isn't it the
truth? Isn't it the truth? So if anybody's upset, I'm going to direct
you to Pastor Abram.

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Video: https://sermonindex2.b-cdn.net/WN4pTg-PcoM.mp4
Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/shane-idleman/you-hurt-me-now-what-WN4pTg/
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