TRUE MINISTRIES CHURCH

WEAPONS AGAINST OFFENSE

God is always trying to bring us into a deeper arena. There are things that hinder us from deeper
arenas. I want to talk about something the Spirit put on my heart. Everyone experiences this.
We have a teaching on this but this is something I want to expound on. This teaching is called
Weapons Against Offense. We need to learn what things cause us to hold offense. You need to
have weapons against everything!

ISAIAH 54:11-17
O you afflicted one, Tossed with tempest, and not comforted, Behold, I will lay your stones with
colorful gems, And lay your foundations with sapphires. I will make your pinnacles of rubies,
Your gates of crystal, And all your walls of precious stones. All your children shall be taught by
the LORD, And great shall be the peace of your children. In righteousness you shall be
established; You shall be far from oppression, for you shall not fear; And from terror, for it shall
not come near you. Indeed they shall surely assemble, but not because of Me. Whoever
assembles against you shall fall for your sake. “Behold, I have created the blacksmith Who
blows the coals in the fire, Who brings forth an instrument for his work; And I have created the
spoiler to destroy. No weapon formed against you shall prosper, And every tongue which rises
against you in judgment You shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD,
And their righteousness is from Me,” Says the LORD. Now this is powerful! He is saying, I
know you’re being afflicted—I know all of these things are happening—but this is my promise to
you! This is my promise to you! He is talking about deliverance and healing. And as you get in
position the offspring of your children are going to prosper. Some of us have children out there
right now. Let me tell you something. As you get in position and stay in position, everything is
going to fall into place. It is supernatural. There is nothing the devil can do about it. There is
nothing the devil can do about it but read’em and weep!! Now there is something important that
we must know because we are talking about weapons against offense—it says no weapon formed
against you shall prosper—but there are things that do prosper and that’s if you allow it. So
there is an area where we must be positioned so that these things do not offend us! Things of the
world and all kinds of stuff. The first thing we must get revelation of is that it says something
important—it says, This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord—What’s the heritage? That
you have been given divine authority. That is your inheritance! Automatic. We have a teaching
called The Power of Choice. You have been given an inheritance of authority! You’ve got it!!
It’s already there. It’s amazing how many people put their authority on the shelf and don’t even
use it. And they walk around in offense, and woe is me and this and that. They grumble and
complain and do all kinds of stuff and don’t use their authority. They are still focused on man
instead of what they don’t see—instead of the spiritual. The bible says no weapon formed
against you will prosper. It can’t prosper. They prosper when you retaliate in offense. What
happens? The powers of darkness—remember they are going to come against you. It says no
weapon formed against you will prosper. The only way a weapon formed against you will
prosper is if you retaliate in offense. So the first thing we must do is get a revelation that we
have authority. We have inherited it. It is a part of your inheritance, when you accepted Jesus
Christ as Lord and Savior. You have been given dominion and authority by the anointing of the
Holy Spirit. Most people don’t get it yet because they haven’t been baptized by the Holy Spirit.

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When you’ve been baptized in the Holy Spirit, that happens! Now if you have been baptized in
the Holy Spirit and you are not using your power and authority—shame on you! You had better
get it together and come out of you! We must get the revelation that we have inherited the
authority! Everyone say: I’m not going to let the devil push me around anymore!! I’m tired of
it and I don’t have to take it! I’m going to take back what he has taken from me. I’m going to
chase him! He doesn’t have to chase me! I am not going to allow any weapon formed against
me to prosper. I will not retaliate by offense! In Jesus’ name! Woo-Hoo!! Something is going
to happen now. They are all lined up with harpoons waiting for you now. Make sure your shield
of faith is on correctly. Don’t put it on your head! Make sure you have the belt of truth on or
your pants will fall down and you will trip. Now we talked about something Friday night and I
want to go to it for a second.

EPHESIANS 6:10-18
Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole
armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not
wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of
the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore
take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having
done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the
breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of
peace; above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery
darts of the wicked one. What quenches the fiery darts? The shield of faith! And take the
helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; praying always with
all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and
supplication for all the saints— So he’s talking about the full armor of God and I’m not going to
teach on that tonight. But what I am sharing with you is that he says three or four times here that
you must stand. You must stand! You are standing for truth, for righteousness—You are
standing for the character of Christ! And you are withstanding the devil’s garbage! In the area
of stand, there are three areas we stand against. And we talked about this. We stand against his
attacks. His temptations and his trials. You must stand against his attacks, temptations and
trials. In all three areas he will always try and cause offense. The majority of the time when we
go into our own trials, it is self imposed. Offense is one of the keys—one of the major keys of
every storm you are in. Offense is one of the major keys of storms. Many people get offended
on the simplest things. And it brings them right into a storm and they don’t even realize it. I’m
not going to teach on offense today. I want to talk about weapons against offense. There are the
three areas of standing—things that we are standing against. There are characteristics of
standing. There is an aggressive arena where you stand. There is a passive arena. And there is a
surrendered arena. In other words, when the enemy is attacking or temptation or when you are
going through trials, there is a time when you are aggressive. Aggressive doesn’t mean you go
after the person. It means you go after the devil. Too many people go at the person. They go
after the person and forget who is motivating that person. Aggressive means you go after the
devil!!—not the person! So when your spouse or your friend says something that’s offensive to
you, you don’t tell the person off. You walk away and go, You foul unclean spirit I BIND YOU
IN THE NAME OF JESUS! Because it’s not the person! It’s the devil using that person. There
are three areas of standing. You are aggressive and you are passive. In other words, you are
waiting for God’s timing. You bind the powers of darkness. You do what you have to do. It

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doesn’t mean that if you don’t see a result right away, you decide you better go talk to that
person. No. You wait for God’s timing. The worst thing you can do is try and correct someone
when the devil is hindering them. Because the devil will then cause you to put wood on the fire.
Three areas of standing. Aggressive when you attack the devil. Passive is when you are waiting
on God’s timing. Then there is the surrendered—that’s when you just roll it over to the Lord,
you forget and you walk away! You’ve got it Dad!! That one is yours!! I’m not even going to
touch that one. That’s yours. Thank you! And that’s that. You don’t go back to it. You don’t
go dig it up after it has been buried. Some people go and dig it up and get offended all over
again. So you are either waiting the storm, riding the storm or you are in the storm! In the storm
there is a lot of turbulence.

PSALM 149:1-9
The first revelation we have to have is that we have inherited authority and we are going to talk
just a little bit more about that. Praise the LORD! Sing to the LORD a new song, And His praise
in the assembly of saints. Let Israel rejoice in their Maker; Let the children of [True Ministries]
Zion be joyful in their King. Let them praise His name with the dance [it’s biblical—no excuses
not to dance]; Let them sing praises to Him with the timbrel and harp. For the LORD takes
pleasure in His people; He will beautify the humble with salvation. That brings humility. Do
you remember when you first came into church and everyone was dancing and you were amazed
thinking everyone else was weird but you still couldn’t help but move that foot. You were
thinking everyone else looked weird – forgetting what you looked like in the bars and nightclubs.
Let the saints be joyful in glory; Let them sing aloud on their beds. Let the high praises of God
be in their mouth, And a two-edged sword in their hand,-- As you praise and worship the Lord,
the anointing comes. You will never be able to pick up the sword of the Spirit without the
anointing. They are together. It’s the anointing that allows you to pick the sword up! Without
the anointing, it’s nothing but letter. That’s why worship is so important. To execute vengeance
on the nations, And punishments on the peoples; To bind their kings with chains, And their
nobles with fetters of iron. He’s talking about spiritual things here. Not physical. To execute on
them the written judgment— This honor have all His saints. That’s another promise of inherited
authority! Praise the LORD! To dance and praise and worship God is an arena of—a weapon.
As you are praising and worshiping God, he is binding the powers of darkness. He is working on
your behalf. He is ambushing your enemies. All kinds of stuff. This honor—that’s an
inheritance of authority. To what? Praise and worship the Lord! It’s an honor. People do not
use their inherited authority! Let me tell you something, when you are dancing and praising the
Lord, you begin to focus on binding the powers of darkness. When we start marching around
here—When you start putting prayer requests, and names of those you are interceding for or
whatever and you put them in the middle here and you dance around. Why? God sees that. He
knows what’s up. You don’t even have to speak it—Just write it and put it in there and just
dance around it. That’s it! Just dance around it and watch the hand of God move. That’s your
authority!! That’s an honor!

MATTHEW 5:6
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled. Filled with
what? Filled with the Lord! Filled with His Spirit. You must have a desire! You must thirst
and hunger! You must have a desire to want things right. You must have a desire to want things
right, even when you are wrong! There is only one right and that’s Him!

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What had we talked about—the weapons against offense—the first one? The revelation and
realization of your inherited authority! Thirst and hunger for righteousness. You must want to
do the right thing! People who are not spiritually satisfied are individuals that get offended
easily. If they are not spiritually satisfied, they are offended easily. Or they are not in full
position spiritually. They are still seeking fulfillment from the world as in material, money, or
their spouses, girlfriends, emotional attachments. You must stay filled with the Spirit!! It is
important! Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, will be what? FILLED! Never allow
anything of the world to bring you satisfaction compared to God. You have that choice. It’s a
wonderful thing—I love my wife, my daughter—I love everyone in here. I love to see the hand
of God move and everything. But let me tell you something, there isn’t anything better—
Nothing can compare to His presence. Nothing. When you are in that arena and that state of
wanting the right things, spiritually positioned (meaning full position as some people are only in
partial position) when offense comes—and it doesn’t mean that it won’t come. It will come. It
says offenses will come! It says you aren’t going to be able to pass up offense. It’s how you
respond to the offense. So we want to have weapons against offense. The first thing is to have
the revelation and understanding that you have inherited authority against offense. To have the
revelation and understanding that you have inherited authority. That means you have the power
to say no! To everything. The second thing we must get is that we must have the revelation and
understanding that we must maintain being filled with the Spirit knowing that offense waits
everywhere. We must be filled with the Spirit of God having the desire to do the right thing.

Again, I said that people who are not in full position are easily offended because they are not
spiritually satisfied. Only being filled with the Spirit of God allows you to be spiritually
satisfied. What happens is that they begin to look for satisfaction from the things of the world.
and when that doesn’t happen they are offended easy. Let me share with you something else.
Haughty expectations will bring offense to an individual very easily. Haughty expectations.
Well you should be this… and you should be that …. That’s a haughty expectation. In other
words, they are false or out of reach. You know when we were younger and whatnot and people
would come up to us and ask something like, Why aren’t you like your brother? Why aren’t you
like your sister? Why aren’t you like this or that—Putting expectations on an individual. And
because you didn’t fill their expectations, they got offended. Everyone is looking for the perfect
pastor, the perfect church, the perfect spouse, the perfect job. There is no such thing. So forget
it. If you have expectations to get there, forget it! Those are haughty expectations. And when
your expectations are not fulfilled, it causes offense! It causes offense!!! The enemy loves
offense! The bible says make no place for the enemy and one of the areas he uses is to try to get
people offended. So the second thing we want to do is stay filled with the Spirit and not allow
worldliness to be our satisfaction but only the presence of God!

PROVERBS 3:5-8
What’s the first word here? Trust. Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your
own understanding—Don’t lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge
Him, And He shall direct your paths. Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear [or reverence] the
LORD and depart from evil. It will be health to your flesh, And strength to your bones. Don’t
lean on your own understanding. When people lean on their own understanding, or their carnal
understanding, they begin to grumble and complain. One of the things that is always happening

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is that they are always asking why this and why that. Why didn’t this happen? Or why didn’t
this person do that? Or why didn’t—or why didn’t—or why didn’t. You know why? They lose
sight of God—they have no trust in the Lord. The Lord has the last say. They begin to lean on
their own understanding and they get offended. Why? Because they have expectations of
something else for someone else to do.

There are times when people call us and they are on the street and whatever. We talk with them
and they say they want to come into the discipleship house. We ask them if they are willing to
do whatever it takes and just sever yourself from everything and get a new life? They say, Yes!
Yes! We go pick them up and you know what they want? They say, Hey would you mind
bringing me over to this place so I can pick up my clothes? When you say no they get offended.
They just said they were willing to sever everything from their past—Most of the stuff that is in
whatever they want to pick up is usually accursed items anyway. Well now why wouldn’t you go
get my clothes!! Why wouldn’t you go get this? Why wouldn’t you go get that? That individual
is offended! And that begins to produce grumbling. Complaining. They just lost sight that they
called for help. And help has come! But they want to do things their way. They want it done
their way. We had a girl that came in and she began to do this list in preparation for deliverance
and we began to do soul ties. And she just refused to have anything involved in it. She said,
That’s my private life! I said, Praise God. Take it and go! You don’t want freedom. Boy did
she get offended saying she had been praying and God told her this and that. God didn’t tell her
anything. She couldn’t hear him if she begged. She was too bound up! Are you willing to do
whatever it takes to get free. That’s what it’s about! But I am telling you individuals get so
offended so easily. Why? Because they are still not willing to do whatever it takes. They still
want God to do it their way. Those are users of God! God can’t use them. It doesn’t matter
what happened in your past life. It doesn’t matter how much—I don’t care if you went to church
40 times a day. I don’t care if you were serving in a healing ministry. I don’t care what you
were doing then! What are you doing NOW! That’s the most important thing. People are
always reflecting on what they did and how they did it and whatever—FORGET IT! God does a
new thing! And you are either willing to get in the new move and new wave of the Holy Ghost
or you will stay in the old and grumble and complain and be offended in every thing you do.
You will still be waiting that full satisfaction of those expectations and it will never come. It will
never come.

So don’t lean on your own understanding. You must trust. So when you find yourself
grumbling and complaining, you know you are leaning on your own understanding. Grumbling
and complaining is a fruit of offense. I want it done my way …. Jesus said my way or the
highway, right? People in the discipleship house always threaten with, Well I’m leaving! I say,
Praise God! Let me pack you! Give me a break! People are here because they want to be here.
I don’t want anyone in the discipleship house or in this ministry that doesn’t want to be here!
Praise God. I don’t want them! They can go! Nobody forces anyone to do anything. Except for
God. He causes things to happen. People use offense as an excuse to get out of position. They
get offended. Even though it was really not an offense, they just utilized it as an excuse. You
will see someone two years later and they are still harboring that offense. Still using it as an
excuse when the bottom line was that they wanted to serve the devil. They did not want to do
the will of God.

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When I was in the drug world, there were some guys I was involved with and they were brothers.
One of them had an overdose and died. I saw his other brother and this was after I got saved—
about two years later. I saw him in a grocery store. I think he was buying beer. I went up to
him and said, Hey man how are you doing? And I went to shake his hand and he refused to
shake my hand. Because I left that world and he was offended. Now the enemy will try and
attack you in offense associated with someone who was offended! If the devil can get two
people offended, man he’s got it! When the Spirit is trying to correct someone or something to
that degree, and he’s using someone to correct someone, the person refuses the correction, then
the person trying to give the correction gets offended! You can’t allow that to happen! Don’t
get offended if no one is willing to receive. Hallelujah. That’s when you just surrender to God.
Do not be offended if they are not willing to receive. Look how many times the Lord sent
Jeremiah out. And he kept saying, Listen they are not going to listen to you anyway—but go tell
them! Did Jeremiah get offended? No! He obeyed God because he was not concerned about
man pleasing! He was concerned about pleasing God. Men pleasers are easy offenders. So you
must be careful not to be offended because someone else is offended. That could have been an
offense to me because he was not willing to receive. I was trying to give my condolences and
apologies. Sometimes when you are trying to make amends with someone and they reject your
amendment, don’t be offended. Roll it over to God. It’s not your problem. People also have a
hard time with unforgiveness. They have a hard time forgiving people. Man you don’t
understand—you offended me 14 years ago. You cheated me three cents out of that buck!
Easily offended because of the love of money. Where your love is directed is where you are
most offended. But if it’s directed towards God, there is no offense. It doesn’t mean you won’t
be offended. It means you won’t respond to the offense—If you are really in that place
spiritually positioned and filled.

2 THESSALONIANS 3:11
For we hear that there are some who walk among you in a disorderly manner, not working at
all, but are busybodies. Busybodies—Get your nose out of other people’s business!!
Busybodies—they will be in the living room but their nose stretches all the way into the dining
room! They want to know everybody’s business. The only reason they are trying to find out
about everyone’s business is so they can gossip!! They are seed carriers of offense. They are the
first ones there where something is going on. But when it’s time to do some labor, they are the
first ones gone. Then they stand before you and say, I believe the Lord is leading me to tell you
…. They involve God in their gossip ministry. AVOID GETTING INVOLVED. Do not get
involved in something you have no place or right to be involved. Busybodies are easily
offended. That spirit thrives off of it. It gets fed off of it. Avoid getting involved in things you
don’t need to. Why? We just read blessed are those who thirst and hunger for righteousness and
they will be filled. Do you want to be drained? Put your nose in someone else’s business. There
are people that want to counsel everybody. Always have a word for you. I’ve got a word for
them—get your nose out of everyone’s business. The bible says that everyone must work out
their own salvation. You don’t have to work out theirs. Let them work it out. There are times
when you have to get involved in something because God is telling you to. That is different. It
doesn’t mean you are looking for something to get involved in! Believe me I try to avoid every
kind of thing possible and when I have to get involved … I send David! Or I call the house
managers—or he does! You guys take care of it!! This foolishness. When it becomes a

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circumstance of life and death then I get involved. But when it is life and death of self—take
care of it. Unless I am told by the Lord.

1 PETER 4:12-17
People who are easily offended are a bunch of pouters. They pout! Verse 12, Beloved, do not
think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing
happened to you; but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when His
glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy. If you are reproached for the name
of Christ, blessed are you—but if you are reproached for your name, cursed are you. These are
martyrs. They are always suffering for everyone else’s stuff when God didn’t tell them to! For
the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. On their part He is blasphemed, but on your part
He is glorified. But let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or as a busybody
in other people’s matters. Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let
him glorify God in this matter. For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of
God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of
God? Now listen, we must avoid false suffering and false martyrism. There are people that are
going through stuff and thinking it is of God and it’s not. You know why they are suffering?
Because they have been offended. That’s their suffering. They have been offended but then they
turn it over and say they are suffering for the Lord. I have people actually call me and say that.
I am suffering for the Lord … Yes my husband is living with a woman and doing this and that …
Would you pray with me that God would pull him back and do the right thing. I ask how long
she has been married. She responds, I’ve been divorced three years now. Hello—You have
been divorced three years now and your husband is living with someone else. Well what’s it to
you now? Well I’m suffering for the reproach of Christ…. No, you are suffering because of
offense! Let that man go and let God have him! Let that woman go and let God have him. And
get on with the life of Christ. Forgive and let go!! Get that soul tie off of you! Yes. I was
offended at that church! I was suffering for God! They told me to sit down. Why? I had a word
from the Lord. And who told you to sit down. The pastor told me to sit down—I’m offended.
They missed God!! God doesn’t speak to that pastor? You don’t think you were in the flesh?
No … I had a message from the Lord. They were learning whale language. Granola! Nutty and
fruity!! They are still walking around in offense because they were offended in one church and
then they try and bring in to another church! And if they don’t get what they want there, they
will go to another church and another church until finally some granola pastor is going to agree
with them! And then that church is going to go POOF! And it will not fulfill the word of God
and do it’s purpose and function. People have this suffering self-martyrism—that they are
suffering for Jesus. When all they are doing is suffering for their self-imposed offenses. Avoid
that stuff! Avoid false sufferings.

1 PETER 5:6-8
Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time
[and not your own], casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you. Be sober, be vigilant;
because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may—offend!
Too many people are picking up other burdens! They go around picking up other people’s
burdens because they are busybodies! Or they believe that God is telling them to pick up that
burden—And they can’t cast their care upon Him. Listen, you are to cast your cares upon God!
When things aren’t happening the way you expect them, how you expect them and when you

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expect them, then you turn them over to God. You give it to the Lord!!!! You cast your cares!!
A care is nothing but a seed of fear. Why? Because you are afraid something won’t happen.
You are to cast your cares upon God. It’s his problem, not yours. If you are spiritually right and
in position—All my mistakes are His problems. Now don’t go around trying to make mistakes
to watch His hand move! Cast your conflict on the Lord because the devil is looking for
someone who is easily offended. Pride promotes strife and anger and division and the devil is
behind all of it. Individuals that are easily offended, most of the time are always prideful. They
are controlled by a controlling spirit. Because if they don’t get what they want now, they get
offended. I’ve dealt with many individuals who were given everything when they were children.
Spoiled brats. The parents had everything or if they didn’t have everything, they gave it to the
kids. The kids never learned full responsibilities. They never learned discipline. And those
children grew up being easily offended because everything was always given to them. They also
grew up expecting everything to be given to them. That’s why God says to train your children
up—with the Holy Ghost baseball bat. What you do with your children when they are young
will affect them when they get older. Children that were spoiled, always given everything and
never having to learn responsibility, never having been chastened—these are the ones that grow
up and become enemies of God. They become spoiled. They are easily offended and are always
looking for worldly fulfillment. You know we get people that come into the discipleship house
and we have to tell them to let mommy and daddy go! Quit relying on your family to support
your butt! You rely on God to do it! Sever yourself from those things! Let mom and dad go!
Get a life – in Christ! Then if mom or dad doesn’t show up or send a package—When I was in
jail that was happening all the time. People were looking for the package or the letter and if they
didn’t get it, they were offended. Then they blame everyone else as to why they were there.
They always lose sight as to what got them there. Well you know I was in the wrong place at the
wrong time. It wasn’t me! Cast your cares on the Lord because he loves you. He loves you.
Let him take care of it. Don’t go around having people cast there cares on you and don’t cast
your care on somebody else! Don’t cast your care on someone else. You either go get counsel,
you give it to the Lord—the bible says seek ye the kingdom of God and all these things will be
added to you. Don’t cast your stuff on someone else. Don’t grumble and complain because all
you are doing with that is planting corruptible seeds in that person because you didn’t get what
you wanted. So what you do is carry that cancer of offense, and that spirit that is hindering you
is now going to try and hinder as many people as he can. And you have to STAND against that
stuff! When you have a brother or sister that is grumbling and complaining about whatever it is
and it’s ridiculous because that person is just offended because things aren’t going their way—
Stand!!! And go, Shut up, in the name of Jesus!!! Rebuke that person! Don’t put your stuff on
someone else. You don’t need to go putting your dirty laundry in somebody else’s basket. Go
clean your own.

Jesus had his disciples following him and he began to explain to all of them and the Pharisees
that for them to have eternal life they had to eat his flesh and drink his blood. They thought they
were going to have a cookout with Jesus. They had carnal understanding. They thought, I’m not
eating your flesh and drinking your blood! That’s witchcraft! They got all offended. But he had
been explaining the whole time that he was going to have to suffer and die and so forth—and
some of them that were following finally turned away and didn’t follow him anymore because
they got offended. Jesus looked at his twelve disciples and asked if they were offended too. He
asked them if they wanted to go. They said, No. Where else are we going to get the words of

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life. But the others got offended because they did not understand the things of the Spirit. People
are still trying to play God. They are still trying to think what God ought to do and how he
should do it and when he should do it. That’s not a surrendered life. That’s a fight to maintain
your life. And you gave it already to God. When you accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and
Savior you said, I give you my life. Then don’t take it back!

2 TIMOTHY 2:1-5
You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things that you
have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to things to faithful men who will be
able to teach others also. You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.
No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life—Why? So he won’t be
offended. That he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier. And also if anyone competes
in athletics, he is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. According to what
rules? God’s rules. Listen, avoid competition. Competition will bring offense. There is no
competition as to who is more spiritual. People get jealous and compete with one another.
There is no competition in the Spirit. It’s not about age or time either. It’s about maturity. And
you will know that by fruit. There are some believers who are more mature at two years than
others who have been believers 40 years. It has nothing to do with time. Maturity is determined
by fruit. Decisions. An individual who is patient and willing to wait on God. An individual
who is totally surrendered to God—willing to do whatever it takes. An individual that is not
motivated by emotion, money or man. But by God. There is a difference. Avoid competition
and jealousy. You must compete according to Godly ways.

I am going to repeat these quickly.

1. Revelation that you have inherited authority.
2. Stay filled with the Spirit.
3. Don’t lean on your own understanding.
4. Avoid getting involved in something you have no right to – busybody
5. Avoid false suffering or martyrism.
6. Cast your conflicts on the Lord.
7. Avoid competition and jealousy.
8. Die. Dead men do not get offended!

These are weapons against offense. Did you ever try to offend a dead person? It doesn’t work
unless you raise them from the dead. And if he was just raised from the dead, he is very grateful!
Nothing is going to offend that person. I don’t care what you say! The eighth weapon is, Die!!

1 CORINTHIANS 15:36
Foolish one, what you sow is not made alive unless it dies. That’s why Jesus says to deny your
self, pick up your cross, and follow me!

1 CORINTHIANS 2:13-16
This is the ninth weapon (just like the nine gifts). Verse 13, These things we also speak, not in
words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual
things with spiritual. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for
they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But

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he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. For “who has
known the mind of the LORD that he may instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ. You
cannot lose focus. That’s important. You must set your mind on the things of the Spirit. It’s
important that you do not lose sight.

When something comes and happens to you—or offense is happening, always look in the mirror
and ask God what he is showing you about you. Not about the other person. When you stay in
that attitude, you are not losing focus. Once you begin to look at the person that’s offending you,
instead of yourself, you have lost focus. Why are you being offended? What button has just
been pushed in you? Dead person. Do not lose focus. That’s the ninth weapon. Don’t lose
focus. When offense comes, ask God to show you why you’re offended. Don’t tell him to show
you—and don’t pray for the other person, Oh Lord show them their offense! Show them their
wrongs! If you do you will be put on the rotisserie real quick. You had better start repenting
and asking the Lord if there was anything I did to cause that person to be offended –show me.
Don’t lose focus. Very important. And you ask for discernment. When you ask the Lord to
show you, you are asking him for discernment. Lord show me what I did that offended that
person. Because when you are being approached and someone is offending you, or they have
been offended by you, you need to find out why. And you don’t go to them. You go to the Lord.
Because if you go to them and try and resolve it right then and there, the majority of the time you
are carrying a bunch of firewood and you are just going to be putting wood on the fire. Amen?
Don’t try and figure it all out right then and there. Go to the Lord before you discuss things.
You say, Lord show me why I’m offended. And is there something I have done that has offended
this individual. If there is, you repent.

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