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Offence Is the Tool That Walks You Off Your Calling

Pastor Thamie Bhengu, 22 April 2025, 81 min

Playlist: Tuesday Morning Prayer Meeting

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Sermon outline

Christ has given believers the keys of the kingdom, so what we forbid and what we permit shapes our lives: in 2025 we must forbid prayerlessness, distraction and offence, and permit God first, a lifestyle of prayer and fasting, and the walk of love.

Main text

  • Matthew 16:15-19
  • Proverbs 3:1-6

Opening

He reads the Faith Chronicle on walking in the Spirit from Acts 6, where the seven were chosen to serve tables and look after the widows. The job looked menial, yet the qualification was being full of the Holy Spirit, because only by His power could they serve effectively. Walking in the Spirit is an advantage believers carry into their ordinary day.

  1. Full of the Holy Spirit to serve tables

    The criterion for the seven was not status but the Holy Spirit. Walking in the Spirit brings favour, wisdom and understanding into the day, so that when you speak people listen, because you are speaking from God's wisdom and not your own intellect. Ask the Holy Spirit each day for wisdom, understanding, knowledge, counsel and might, and you will find an ease instead of striving.

    “It is only the power of the Holy Spirit that they were qualified to serve effectively.”

    • Acts 6:1-6

  2. Who is Jesus to you, and the keys of the kingdom

    Every believer must answer Jesus' question for himself. On Peter's revelation that Jesus is the Messiah, Christ builds His church, and the powers of hell cannot conquer it, though a believer without wisdom and knowledge of his covenant rights can be made to live defeated. Jesus gives the keys: what you forbid on earth is forbidden in heaven, and what you permit is permitted, putting the responsibility in our hands. Through the fivefold ministry Christ is building His church to maturity, until we measure up to the full standard of Christ.

    “Every problem can be overcome if you're wiser than the problem.”

    • Matthew 16:15-19
    • Ephesians 4:11-13

  3. Forbid a prayerless life

    It may sound like a cliche, but prayer and putting God's word first are the foundation of the Christian faith. Keeping His commands in your heart brings long life, peace and prosperity, and prayer opens you to His wisdom and discernment. If you keep facing the same test over and over, it may be that your character has not yet grown through it.

    “When we're building on our prayer life, we are laying a strong foundation.”

    • Proverbs 3:1-2
    • Luke 18:1

  4. Forbid distraction

    Satan does not need you to sin; he only needs you off course, away from the word and from discipleship. Temptations are common to everyone, the same old tricks packaged differently, but God is faithful and provides a way of escape. Strip off every weight and the sin that so easily trips us up, and run the race with eyes on Jesus. Life does not just happen to you; you project it out of you. An obscure image inside, that you are a target and nobody likes you, draws matching situations and people, so changing churches will not help if you have not changed.

    “Whether you change churches, as long as you are not changed, you'll find yourself in the same old situation.”

    • 1 Corinthians 10:13
    • Hebrews 12:1-2
    • Proverbs 4:20-23

  5. Forbid offence

    No Christian is exempt from temptation or offence. Offence is one of Satan's tools for walking God's children away from their calling and their blessing, so prepare for it rather than be surprised. Satan asked to sift Peter like wheat, but Jesus prayed that his faith would not fail and told him, once restored, to strengthen his brothers. Those who overcome offence carry a responsibility to strengthen those still struggling with it. It is impossible that offences will not come.

    Illustration: Sifting wheat: shaking it through sieve after sieve to separate it from the stalk and the chaff. That is what Satan wants to do to your life.

    “Offense is one of Satan's tools, brothers and sisters, that he gets many of God's children to walk away from their calling.”

    • Luke 22:31-32
    • Luke 17:1

  6. What to permit in 2025

    First, permit God first: trust Him with all your heart, lean not on your own understanding, and He, not you, will make your paths straight, which makes success sure. Second, make prayer and fasting a lifestyle, not only how the year began, especially as members move into leading cell groups. Third, permit the walk of love, by which all will know we are His disciples; whoever claims to be in the light but hates a fellow believer is still in darkness.

    “It's not myself that's making my life straight. It's the Lord that's making my life straight.”

    • Proverbs 3:5-6
    • John 13:35
    • 1 John 2:9-10

Putting it into practice

  • Ask the Holy Spirit each morning for wisdom and understanding for the day
  • Guard your prayer life as the foundation of everything else
  • Recognise the familiar distractions and temptations for what they are
  • Prepare for offence before it comes, and once you overcome it, strengthen others
  • Make prayer, fasting and the walk of love a lifestyle, not an event

Closing

After the prayer points on the blood of Jesus, he encourages the church to keep declaring them at home, at work and on the road, then leads a confession of the God kind of love drawn from 1 Corinthians 13, ending with a commitment to be offence free and quick to forgive. He announces the special church meeting the next evening and the men's meeting on Friday.

Declarations to say aloud

  • Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, Lord, I thank you for the love of God that has been poured in my heart by the Holy Spirit. I keep and I treasure the word of God. The love of God for you, Father, has been perfected and completed in me, and love casts out all fear. I commit to walk in the God kind of love today. I endure long, I am patient, I am kind, I'm never envious, I never boil over with jealousy. I'm not a boastful person. I'm not a vainglorious person. I do not display myself haughtily. I'm not rude. I do not act unbecomingly. I do not insist on my own rights or my own ways, for I'm not a self-seeking or touchy or fretful or a resentful person. I do not take account of the evil that's been done to me, and I pay no attention today to the suffered wrong. I do not rejoice in injustice and unrighteousness, but I rejoice in truth in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Father, I bless those who have persecuted me. I walk in your love today. Everywhere that I go today, I sow seeds of love. I find favour, compassion, loving kindness towards people around me. I'll be offence free, I'll be quick to forgive, and quick to get back into your love. Holy Spirit, help me today in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth.

Worth remembering

  • “Every problem can be overcome if you're wiser than the problem.”
  • “Satan does not come with things that are uncommon to you, but he comes with stuff that is common to you.”
  • “People think that life just happens to them. No, you project life out of you.”
  • “Offence will come. So you prepare yourself.”
  • “It's the Lord that's making my life straight.”

Every scripture in this message

  • Acts 6:1-6
  • Proverbs 3:1-6
  • Matthew 16:15-19
  • Ephesians 4:11-13
  • Proverbs 3:1-2
  • Luke 18:1
  • 1 Corinthians 10:13
  • Hebrews 12:1-2
  • Proverbs 4:20-23
  • Luke 22:31-32
  • Luke 17:1
  • Proverbs 3:5-6
  • John 13:35
  • 1 John 2:9-10
  • Romans 5:5
  • 1 John 4:18
  • 1 Corinthians 13:4-7

In this message

Main text

  • Proverbs 3:1-6

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