You see you've got to think about this; so do we miscommunicate? Yes, we do. I've got atrocious problems at times with that - ask Joy, ask my family, ask the staff. See, sometimes we miscommunicate, we fail to communicate. These are all part of living life, and they're areas where we need to grow and mature and develop skills; but they aren't necessarily offences. An offence, a Biblical offence, is where I actually set out to do something, that will trip up someone else; and I'll show you how this happens. You'll be quite surprised when you look at it; so a Biblical offence is when something is set up that deliberately stumbles; or I can choose to be stumbled. Now I want to show you how this works out. We're going to just highlight a few examples in the Bible of great offences; so there's some things that offend people. One thing that offends people, Christians particularly and also unbelievers, is the truth, the truth. Truth can deeply offend people, especially if the truth comes in the form of feedback or correction. Now let me ask you this question: How is it possible for you, to be a disciple or follower of Jesus, without correction? It's impossible; and don't think it all comes from Jesus. We actually need others to talk into our life, to help us see what we can't see. Don't just be so spiritual you think the Holy Ghost is going to tell you everything. We live in community, we live in relationships, and when you're in relationships, people get affected by our behaviour; and they talk with us, hopefully, about what we're doing that actually is creating blocks in the relationship.
So we see then that truth can affect us. We can be affected by the truth. You can't believe the numbers of people; and Ian could testify, Lyn will testify, George - any leader here will testify, of the numbers of people; when we try to speak truth into their heart, got highly offended, and felt rejected. They interpreted it as a rejection. Here's the thing. When someone speaks truth in your life, because they love you, and want you to grow; they're helping you get out of sin, not setting a trap to get you into sin. I'll say it again. When someone, or particularly a leader, a friend, or someone who loves you, and cares about you, speaks the truth to you; it's to help you get out of sin, not to stumble you into sin. Holding on to an offence will cause you then to stumble others. This is a major difficulty. This is a major challenge. A lot of people don't realise how difficult it is. People are often offended by unmet expectations. We have this expectation; I'm going to show you a few people in the Bible in a moment, and every one of these people were offended; and instead of choosing to deal with it well, they chose to actually become a stumbling stone, and caused huge problems to everyone, and themselves as well. It's an amazing thing.
So here's the thing: Unmet expectations; the truth, correction; or just disappointments in life, people letting us down, or failing in some way; all have the potential to stumble us, whether the person did it deliberately or not. Our response we choose; so if something has happened in your life that hurts you, at that very moment, you have the power to choose life or death; prison or promotion. You can be imprisoned by the things others do, because you harbour an offence against them; or you can grow in grace, and love, and the character of Christ; by reaching into God, and releasing into that situation the grace of God. Every time someone does not meet expectations, hurts, offends, betrays, lets you down, at that point you have a decision: prison or promotion; imprisoned with the offence, by judging or holding it in my heart; or I can be promoted by God, if I will release grace into it. I can operate in faith, and do it God's way; I can operate in unbelief, and do what I feel to do. We choose.
So every situation that happened to you last week, and the ones this coming week, where you got hurt, knocked, disappointed; it is a choice at that moment: to bring God and His grace into it; or to bring judgement, and leave God out of it. If we will bring God into the circumstances of life, you can only do that through relationship with the Holy Spirit. If we will relate to the Holy Spirit in such a way we seek His insight around situations in life, then we can start to change and we grow. Think about this. How many know that Jesus wants you to become like Him? How many understand that? Okay. Would you say He's a fairly forgiving person? So how do you become a forgiving person? Do a lot of worship in church? No. How do you become a forgiving person? You make choices in the face of offences. How do you become a gracious person? Is Jesus full of grace? How do you become gracious? By ministering grace, when you have every reason to react, and get angry and upset. It's a choice. It's always a choice; so what flows out of your life this week, when you go out and face all these little disappointments that come - it's a choice.