Silence Is Also A Language | Unoffendable Heart | Pastor Mike Signorelli
V1 Church
Silence Is Also A Language | The Unoffendable Heart Pt. 2 | Pastor Mike Signorelli
(upbeat music) The title of this message is silence is also a language. Psalm chapter 139 verse 23 and 24 says this, "Search me God and know my heart. Test me and my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me and lead me in the way everlasting. Silence is also a language. In a world that's obsessed with speaking, may the church shift into the wisdom of knowing when to speak and when to be quiet. We need to understand this. I'm gonna unpack this for you today. And these are fresh revelations the Lord's been speaking to me. Now let's go to the words of Jesus in the seventh chapter of the book of Matthew. And he is explaining something through a parable. And this is what he says in verse six. So this is Matthew chapter seven verse six. Do not, everybody say do not. The reason why I wanted you to repeat the phrase do not is that is a command. I have children when I say to my kids do not, it means don't do it. When, okay, I also have a dog. When I tell my dog do not do it, it's also a command. Now, none of them listen to me and I'm working on that. My dog found a popsicle yesterday that was chocolate. And he ate it all the way down to the popsicle stick. And I said, "Star, whatever happens you after this, "just know dogs don't go to heaven." (congregation laughing) I told you not to, you did it anyways. I'm thankful to report that he's still alive. Probably was imitation chocolate. But when we say do not, many of us, we filter that through the lens of do I agree or disagree? Do I see it from this perspective or not? And we read Jesus commands as suggestions. The reason why we don't operate in the highest realm of spiritual authority is because we are living a Christian life as Jesus suggestions, not his commands. And one of the most powerful experiences you can have in this next season of your life is to read the scriptures, particularly the gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and ask yourself, how many times did Jesus say do not? And can I actually discipline myself to fulfill those commands? And so I just wanted to stop there, let's go deeper. Do not give dogs what is sacred and do not throw pearls to pigs. Now, we're not talking about literal pigs and we're not talking about literal dogs, but rather people that because of the way they act, Jesus felt that it was necessary to compare them to pigs and dogs. So this is not my words, this is Jesus' words. And he's saying they're gonna be some people that because of the way they act, the best way you can think about them is that they're dogs and they're pigs. And he says, do not give those kinds of people what is sacred, do not throw your pearls to swine. How many of you have ever heard that? How many of you can quote to me the rest of that verse? Very few of you. It says, if you do, everybody say the word if. Like a good father, Jesus is giving us the conditions. Star, do not eat the chocolate. If you do, you go and die. Adam and Eve, don't eat of the knowledge of the tree of good and evil. If you do, surely you will die. There's a condition. There's a command and there's a condition. Are you all with me? So for the note takers, we must understand commands and conditions. This is legal language, commands and conditions. So he says, do not cast your pearls. Do not give what is sacred. Do not give what is sacred. So think about what's sacred. What is sacred? Anything that God owns that he gives to us is sacred. We must make wise choices about giving to others what he's given to us. The wisdom from God is sacred. But if you give wisdom from God to a pig or a dog, there is a consequence for that thing. And this is what unfortunately I'm learning the hard way over and over again. If you do, so there's the command. Now there's a condition. They may trample them under their feet. And then they turn and I love this image. And they tear you to pieces. So the consequence of giving pearls to swine or dogs isn't just that they trample what you've given them. It's that they tear you to pieces. And so I think some of us are assigned to a battle that God has assigned us to. But we have actually taken an assignment. He has not assigned us to. And the consequence of fighting the wrong battle is stepping out of the favor and provision and protection of God into another realm where you very well may be trampled by the same pigs you tried to help. So if the devil can't get you to stop fighting, he will try to get you to fight the wrong fight. And when you step out of the jurisdiction of your assignment, you end up coming out of the protection of God and then you enact consequences. And we are all guilty of this. Can I get it amen? And so it says they turn and they tear you to pieces. Silence is also a language. We need to determine who do we talk to and who do we not talk to in this next season. So it's not about the absence of conversations. It's about the direction of our talk. So talk to God and talk to the people that God has released you to talk to. But as they used to say loose lips sink ships. Do you know where that phrase loose lips sink ships come from? It's a military phrase that means that if you talk too much, you will end up giving an advantage strategically to your enemy that will know your plans. And some of you do not realize that you are giving away precious information that has caused Satan and demons that have an advantage over you because you wanted the comfort of a conversation instead of the comfort of the Holy Spirit and you went to the wrong person and loose lips sink ships. Another scripture says that our tongue is like a little rudder of the ship that actually determines its entire direction. And so don't blame anybody but yourself if your life is off course because your tongue is how you got there. But the good news is your tongue is also how you will get back on track because you get it into alignment. Okay, let's keep going. Silence is wisdom. You can write that down. Silence is wisdom. Proverbs chapter 17, verse 28. How many of you know the book of Proverbs is the book of wisdom? Even fools are thought wise if they keep silent and discerning if they hold their tongue. Even a fool. Some of you are not wise yet. You're on a journey of wisdom. Some of you come from families. If they're anything like mine that wisdom was not a value. And so really people are gossiping, they're complaining, they're negative, they're fault finding and they're conversations about people, right? And so when you've engaged in that your entire life and you talk about people. You know, it's successful people talk about ideas. They talk about vision. They talk about the future. Unsuccessful people talk about people. And so when you have that as a culture, you're a fool and the Bible talks about how even a fool will appear wise if they remain silent. And so, you know, some of you, you need to go through a silent season. You need to go through a silent season. Some of you are exhausted because you've explained yourself and the emotional expenditure of explaining yourself to other foolish people has actually made you believe that you're physically exhausted. But the root is not a physical exhaustion. It's an emotional expenditure. Let me rewind that back for you. Emotional expenditure produces physical exhaustion. Am I right? There are some people in some situations where within the first five minutes to hang it out with them, you're tired and you haven't done anything yet. Boring. There's some people, it's like every word out of their mouth is a complaint about their situation or somebody else. And within five minutes, you're emotional expenditure. They made a $1 million withdraw from a relationship they've only deposited $15 into. Some of you are like, did I just tune in to Dr. Phil today? Like what is going on? I used to say this, no deposit, no return. It's okay sometimes in a relationship to make a withdrawal. But there are people who are bouncing your emotional account all the time because they never invest in you but they're always making a withdrawal. They're takers. And so many of us are feeling physically exhausted from an emotional expenditure. And that's why the Bible says even fools are thought to be wise if they remain silent. Okay, let's continue to go deeper. Ecclesiastes chapter three, verse seven. And I know I'm not scream preaching but we gotta learn. Remember what I said, the Unoffendable Heart Series is gonna be us sitting at a family table and learning how to feast in the presence of our enemies. And it's gonna be trying to spiritually father our church in a way that we increase in our emotional quotient. Y'all remember that? It's like you spent 12 years in a public school system increasing your intelligence but never increasing your emotional quotient and we're deficient, we're lopsided. So we need to come up in the area of our emotions and I'm preaching to myself to be honest with you. I think it's when you're good with words, it's dangerous to use them in the wrong direction. Ecclesiastes chapter three, verse seven. The wisest man to ever live actually wrote this. There's a time to be silent and there's a time to speak. But I ask you the question, how much time are you silent and how much time do you speak? Because it'll reveal something. There's time to be silent and there's time to speak. There's some people that the more you're silent with them, the more they will reveal about them. There's some people that when you stop talking, they'll start talking and they'll reveal themselves. And some of you, you're reliant on discernment because you talk too much. But if you just stop talking, you wouldn't even need discernment because they would tell on themselves. So there's something about silence. There's something about the wisdom of silence. Silence is a preservation of energy. Silence is a preservation of time. Silence is a preservation of discernment. We're suddenly because you're silent. Hey, I don't even need to exercise discernment. Them talking is revealing everything I need. There's a power in silence. There's a power in silence. Even within your prayer life, when you talk, it's impossible to listen to God. And some of the most prophetic people you've ever met are those who are silent in prayer. When Jesus prayed for hours, how much of it was him talking and how much of it was him in silence. So there's something about the wisdom of silence that enables somebody else to talk. When humans talk, they reveal themselves. When God talks, he's revealing himself. And so when you're silent, you're listening. The Lord begins to speak. There's something about it. The wisdom of Ecclesiastes chapter three verse seven. But I wanna talk about the self-sabotage that happens when we're not silent. Because there is a self-sabotage that happens. When I think about this, it's very plain to see examples in scripture. But I wanna start with Ephesians chapter six, which needs to be a constant reminder to all of us. We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, powers and rulers at high places. And I'm gonna keep saying it, it never gets old because we oftentimes engage with what we can see. And so we've gotta repeatedly be reminded about what we can't see. And so Ephesians chapter six verse 12 says, "For our struggle." So all of us are struggling, but we often need a reminder that our struggle is not against flesh or blood. It's against rulers. Everybody say rulers. It's against authorities. Everybody say authorities. It's against the powers of the dark world and against spiritual forces of evil in heavenly realms. There's a lot there. We're gonna begin to talk about the demonic now. So I'm gonna shift from talking about you to talking about the implications of you engaging with the demonic. So what we see in Ephesians chapter six is designations of authority. We see a hierarchy and we see layers and levels. And so the reminder was given by the apostle in Ephesians six. We struggle not against flesh and blood, but against rulers. So who are these rulers? Because when I said the rulers, the term rulers, almost all of you thought about humans, but there are demons that are designated as rulers. Rulers have territories, right? I just met with the mayor of Portage, Indiana, had an incredible conversation. And he said, because of the way that you guys park your cars at the Indiana location, next fourth of July, would you be willing to help us park all the cars of 10,000 people? And if you do, we will put on every parking lot in the city that's designated for that event sponsored by V1 Church. And then we'll allow your parking team to hand brochures out for your church to all of the people. That's crazy. I had a meeting with the parking team before this service to tell them that story. And then I told them that when we get a building on Long Island and we're able to have a parking team again, we're going to combine them from coast to coast. And we're going to celebrate what God is doing. But let me just say this. Why do I even bring that up? Because there's an authority that the ruler of Portage has over that land. And because we have favor with the government, we are given unprecedented access to park the cars of Muslims, Hindus, atheists, agnostics. You get what I'm saying? And then it's going to say sponsored by V1 Church and then hand brochures out for our church. And that was his idea, not ours. So we understand the implications of a ruling being made by a ruler. Because when the mayor says we can do it, what? Okay, I'm going to go deep. When the mayor says that we can do it, we have the full backing of the authority, which is the police department behind the mayor, which will enforce what he said. So there is a threat of physical violence. There are people whose job is to carry out by force the ruling made by a ruler. Are y'all picking up on what I'm saying? So just like in Portage, it's like, no, I don't care what you think about this parking lot being designated, it's sponsored by V1 Church, but the mayor said so. So what happens is in the regions that you live, in the spiritual realm, there are rulers and those rulers enforce what has been designated for that territory by force. In matter of fact, we'll look at the word in English, enforce. What is it, what's the root, force? So there is a spiritual battle that's happening over your neighborhood, over your city, over your region and over this nation. And there are layers of concerted networks of demons that work together. And that's why you see different sin rampant in different regions of the US because it's indicative of the demonic ruler over that region. Are y'all with me? Are you still with me? And so what happens is we've got to understand this because God will actually call his people to go into a region to dethrone a ruler which changed the rulings, but the way that we do it is the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, but the violent take it by... (audience applauds) So the ruler of New Jersey has made a ruling about what happens in New Jersey, but we come in and render the skies. We rip apart the skies violently through prayer and intercession, and we take it by force. We don't ask for permission. We take it by... There's a ruler over Long Island that's made a ruling that's been enforced by demons. We don't ask for permission. We show up on Long Island and we take it by force. (audience applauds) There is a battle that's happening. And so we're using our words to fight people, but we've got rulers enforcing rulings and areas, and we're not doing anything to impact the heavenlies, and we're not getting results. But this church is gonna be different. This church is going to have schools everywhere we have a building. And I'm telling you, and we will take the mountain of education, and we will have schools where we have buildings come on, and we will not just be a church that exists within the realm of religion, but also we will continue to have movies, and we will infiltrate the entertainment industry, and we are an apostolic mission that is going to permeate culture and deal with the things in the heavenlies and dethrone principalities and powers, and I'm not wasting my words on humans. I'm gonna send them into the heavens to take out the enemy, and we will change the areas we live in. For far too long, we've had revival in the building, but not around the building. This is a message about reformation, and the way that you reform a society is it has to be entrepreneurs, saying my full-time ministry is my business, in the marketplace. It's gotta be ubiquitous, but we can't keep fighting other Christians and expect to dethrone rulers. So silence becomes an arsenal. Silence becomes a necessity. Silence becomes a tool that we use. Okay, I'm gonna keep going. Luke chapter eight, verse two. And also some women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out. So I just wanted, there's two instances in the gospels where Mary Magdalene's demons are referenced. Seven demons. Derek Prince's definition of a demon is a personality without a body. So I want you to think about this. A disembodied personality, that's what a demon is. So if their personality is orientated towards lust and perversion, that disembodied personality wants to come into a body and act out their personality. Does this make sense? You are a spirit with a personality in a body. Some would say a meat suit. You like that? Somebody said no, it's gross. But see what happens when we're naturally minded is we don't understand the things of the spirit. You're a personality in a body and your consciousness, which the Bible calls your spirit and your soul, is animating your physical body to carry out your personality. So if your spirit is depressed and downtrodden, your body responds to your spirit and your soul. And your body looks like this. When your body is experiencing joy of the Holy Spirit and being renewed, your soul's being renewed, your body will reflect your soul and your spirit. That's why when people get deliverance, you'll look at their face and their countenance almost immediately changes and they can see it. How many of you know what I'm talking about? And the demons came out because there's something that happens in the spiritual realm. But here's what I wanted to say about this. Mary Magdalene had how many demons when Jesus met her? So if a demon is a disembodied personality and seven of them that were in her body, that means that before deliverance, when you talk to Mary Magdalene, you are talking to eight people. Did you hear what I just said? Before you talk to Mary Magdalene or before she got delivered, when you talked to her, you were talking to eight people, you were talking to Mary and you were talking to seven other personalities. Some of you still are not aware of the fact that you are not talking to one person, you're talking to every person inside that person. And I'm not talking about the psychological, which is multiple personality disorder. I'm talking about the spiritual realm, which is people inhabited by demons. And some of you are trying to explain yourself to eight people and seven of them are demons. And so even if the human wants to understand you, they're being sabotaged by the seven demons trying to twist and pervert and distort everything you're saying. And some of you are like, why does it feel like I can never break through because they need deliverance? Is this helping anybody? And you don't even realize you're having a conversation in the comments section with demons. I mean, there was a report that just came out that showed that the government of Russia sent AI bots to flood social media platforms, to bias public discourse towards a different perspective. Some of you are having conversations with AI bots, demons and the least amount of your talk is happening to humans. And if this sounds crazy, read your Bible. Jesus talked to demons. Did you know that I went in recently to study for this sermon? And I wanted to see in the gospels, what percentage was actually devoted to telling stories about demons and how Jesus dealt with the demonic? Now, my boy Mark was the demon slayer because up to 20% of the entire book of Mark, up to 20%, that's one fifth of the entire book of Mark is devoted to showing you how Jesus dealt with the demonic and the other books are about 10 to 15%. So that means that we have to, no, that means that we're not gonna be demon obsessed in this church, just like it's not 100% about demons, but we cannot ignore the 20% of our interactions that we can be having with other people that could very well be demonic. And we need to increase our discernment to say are we dealing with this on a soulish realm? Are we dealing with this on a carnal realm? Are we dealing with this on a demonic realm or all of the above? Is this hoping anybody but me? Now, demons are personalities without bodies that desperately want a body. Now, why does a demon want a body? A demon wants a body because God set principles up that govern this world, the laws of nature. We're established by God. And so in order to really influence this world, you must have an earth suit. You must have a physical body in order to have full access to all of the principles and laws that govern our relationship to planet earth, right? And so demons want a body. And I'm gonna show you something. In Matthew chapter seven, this is crazy. It says, don't cast your pearls among swine lest they turn and trample you unless they tear you to pieces, right? Isn't it crazy to think about the fact that Jesus goes to cast a legion out of one man? What is legion? It's a Roman military division of numbers for thousands. So it seems to indicate that there were up to thousands of demons in one man that Jesus was praying for. And the demon said, hey, please put us in what? Pigs. Hmm. Put us in pigs. Then the pigs, what do they do? They stampede down the hill into the water, drowning the pigs, why? Because the death of the pig gave the demon legal access to come out and go find another human. Do y'all understand what I'm saying? There are legal rights that actually control and designate how things interact within the spiritual realm. This is why the word rulers and principalities and powers are used, just like the mayor of Portage has the right over that land and can determine how police enforce its usage. There are spirits that have rights as well. And so that's why the blood of Jesus is so important because when the blood of Jesus was spilled, it broke the curse, it nullified the legal rights because it was the penalty for sin. It satiated something in the courts of heaven, but then what happens is the legal right that's been established must be enforced. It's not enough just for it to be established, it has to be enforced. Somebody's saying forced. And so it's like, that's why we still have police officers. We have a law, but we know that people are not going to do what they're supposed to do. Some of y'all will, but most of you broke the speed limit on the way to church today. So we need laws, but we need those who enforce the laws. So this idea that God is just gonna sovereignly deal with demons dismisses the authority that he imputed to me and you to enforce what he won for us. That's why it says the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, but the violent take it by force. What does that mean? In my name, they'll cast out demons. With the badge that I gave them, they will enforce the ruling that happened in the courtroom of heaven. And so here's the thing. I don't expect everybody in New York City to follow the law, but I do expect the police to enforce the law. And some of you as Christians need to learn how to enforce the law in the spiritual realm and push back on some demons and say, you're not allowed in my house. There's a bloodline of the blood of Jesus Christ. Get up out of here. You're not allowed in my body. Get out of my body, you spirit of infirmity. I'm gonna enforce the ruling that was made on my behalf. Are some of you getting this? But the demons wanted to go into pics. I'm trying to help you understand this. Lucifer is not omnipresent. He was an angel. He is a created being that God punished. So he is reliant on a concerted network of demons under his authority that are conspiring to rob you, to steal from you, to kill you and to destroy your family. And so this is what's crazy. When I went back and I read all the accounts of Jesus casting demons out, the demons were asking Jesus questions. Why have you come? Why were they asking questions to get information, to give it to the ruler over them? Y'all, I'm just teaching deep. That's why I said you might want a triple dip today. So why are the demons asking questions? Because they're not omnipresent. They're not omniscient. They are connected. So when you're sitting at lunch and somebody's asking questions, you must discern. Who's asking this question to get this information to sabotage the plan of God? And you know what I love about Jesus? Jesus didn't have a conversation with the demons. Read the scriptures. He said be quiet and come out of them. Silence is a tool for the next season. You need to shut your mouth and shut the mouth of some demons. And when you open it, it's to do the will of the Father. I'm trying to help somebody out here. I've never understood these deliverance ministries obsessed with talking to demons. He said be quiet, come out. Why? Because Jesus said I'm not going to give the private information that I have between my father and I to a demon. And some of you think that you're having a fake counseling situation with somebody. Oh, it just helps me. They're my friend. But how many personalities are you talking to when you talk to them? There is no such thing as a one-on-one when they're demonized. But there's also no such thing as a one-on-one when you both have the Holy Spirit inside of you. Who's in that conversation? This is why I think speaking in tongues, one of the types of tongues is mysteries that we know not. Could it be an encrypted coded language to actually preserve the integrity of God's plans as they're being downloaded from storehouses of heaven into its people? And some of you are taking an encrypted, come on, an encrypted plan and you're putting it into English and sabotaging yourself. There are some things that need to remain between you and God. I feel like a general try to equip an army. Okay. I say it chapter 30, verse 15. In repentance and rest, everybody say rest, is your salvation. In repentance and rest is your salvation. We rest in what Christ already did. But then even our warfare is not by might nor by power, but by his spirit. So even our warfare is from a place of what he already conquered. So we're resting, we're resting in the midst of warring because we're just enforcing what he already conquered. I know I'm speaking in paradox, but that is the paradox of the gospel is that we're enforcing what was already conquered. We are not conquering, we're more than a conqueror because we're enforcing what was already conquered. Are y'all getting a revelation? In repentance and rest is your salvation. The rest of Isaiah 30, 15 says this. In quietness and trust is your strength. When you remain silent, it's one of the biggest evidences of who you trust in. Silence is evidence of trust. Silence is evidence of trust. I trust God will get the real truth out there. I don't have to say it. I trust that God is going to continue to advance his true people and deal with it. Silence is the evidence of trust. I'm resting in it. Psalm, chapter 62, verse one. Truly my soul finds rest in God and my salvation comes from him. Would you stand your feet? We're getting ready to pray this thing out. Proverbs, chapter 19, verse 11. Proverbs, chapter 19, verse 11 says this. A person's wisdom yields patience. It is to one's glory to overlook and offense. Everybody say overlook 'cause this is about the unoffendable heart. What will happen is when you see an offense and you start speaking, this is the tactic of the devil. You'll start speaking, speaking, speaking, but you don't know that you're talking to seven or eight of their demons at the same time. And then the more frustrated you get at them intentionally misunderstanding your explanation, you start to increase your intensity and then those demons say, look how defensive you're getting. Come on, you know I'm talking right now. It's getting real quiet up in here 'cause this is the playbook of the enemy. The more you increase your aggression because they're intentionally soliciting you and drawing you out, then they'll say, hey, look how defensive you are. It's a tactic of the enemy. So what is the solution to this tactic? I'll tell you the solution. Overlook it. But I love the word overlook it's such an intentional word in scripture. Overlook does not mean you don't see it. It means you choose not to focus on what you saw. Oh, I'm helping you today. It's, what does it say? It's to one's glory. It's to your glory to overlook and offense. Do you want glory to come upon your life? It's to your glory to overlook it. Overlook it doesn't mean you didn't see it. It means you saw it but you chose not to give it attention. You said, I'm not gonna feed it. I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna linger because what you feed grows but what you starve dies. Let's be the church that starves out accusation, starves out, come on shame, guilt, condemnation, that starves out gossip and guile, that starves out carnal thinking, that starves out emotional soulless realm stuff and let's feed the spirit. Let's feed the things of the spirit. Let's feed, come on, because what you feed grows and what you starve dies. Let us decrease physically but may we be a thousand times bigger on the inside than we are on the outside. Some of us need to increase our stature in the spiritual realm by growing the things of the spirit. This is my prayer for our church. We're gonna pray together. But I believe that our church is more than a church, it's a movement. It's very plain to see you don't do what we've done in the time you've done it as a church. I believe that what we are is the church. We're joining with many other churches in the regions that we have congregations but this church is mobilizing prophets. This church is mobilizing evangelists. We've got footage and testimonies. We don't even have the time to share it on a Sunday every week rolling. We have preachers preaching. We have apostles over regions that are working to unlock territories and the stories are so many every week. We don't even have time in this format to share it but that's what we are. But I believe that the destiny on our church and I just stood in the now arena in Chicago. I was there just last week and I want you to know we are not obsessed with just doing the next big thing. If it's not what God called us to do, it's the wrong assignment. Can I get an amen on that? But I do believe that when we are in Times Square and remember I established a relationship with Mayor Eric Adams and we're continuing that relationship when we stepped into Times Square, I believe the assignment was to rend the skies to dethrone rulers and principalities and powers here in New York and then Lou Engel came afterwards and Lou said I feel that God called me to move to New York City for a time and fast and contend for what's next in New York City but I believe that we had to tear through some barriers and boundaries first and God uniquely gave that assignment to V1 so that Lou Engel can come afterwards. Do you all understand what I'm saying? 'Cause I know that I went a little on the deep end and if you're a visitor, hopefully you like this. But I also, I said, Lord, why Chicago? You showed me Reinhardt Bonke. That's how we got the stadium as the Lord gave me a vision of Reinhardt Bonke and what we did with him years ago and then that was the only stadium that said yes across the entire country and we hit 'em all up that we could get their info and it was Chicago that opened and the Lord says what you did in New York City, it is time to render the skies October 26th in Chicago but the Lord said that there will also be another that comes after you just as Lou came after you in New York City, there will be another that comes after you in Chicago and how many of you know Chicago needs revival? But see, I believe the destiny of our church is to change culture. I don't believe our destiny is to hide in a building for 70 minutes once a week for the rest of our lives. I believe we come into this building. We are equipped, we are trained and then we are released and this church is not defined by its seating capacity. This church has always been defined by our sending capacity and the only reason why we do this is to send you out into the world to affect change because we are a movement. The hands and feet of Christ, whether we're distributing food, I got another thing to say. Just roll these services all into each other today. My wife has a tremendous burden to feed people physically and I'm thankful for her heart in that way. Many of you helped volunteer to distribute food here in the Northeast and alongside a Julian the team and we also have a pantry in Northwest Indiana where we distribute food as well. And I'm sitting in the mayor's office. This is just something else, Jules. I don't even know if I told you. And they said, hey, we have a question for you. Are the city of Portage, our actual food distribution center, you have to be 18 or older. But because you guys are a nonprofit because you're a church, teenagers can distribute food through your food pantry. Would it be okay if we took the team commission for the city of Portage and sent all of the teenagers that are part of that to your food pantry to distribute food? (audience applauding) And did you know that in New York City, our biggest volunteers are actually teenagers. At the New York City food distribution, it's not all the people who say I wanna be a preacher. It's not the adults. It's literally the teams who say, God, here am I. And so why do I say that? Because what we are a part of is bigger than any part we play. Did you hear what I just said? What you are a part of is bigger than any part you play. And we all come together and do our part. But I believe that we are a call to effect change within this nation. And I believe we are the answer. Because we have Jesus Christ, not Jesus on some statue or some wooden cross that the demons love to mock in ridicule because they thought there was their greatest triumph. But the resurrected Jesus through the person of the Holy Spirit in our midst every single time. So why do I say that? 'Cause we're about to pray right now. As we think about Proverbs chapter 19 verse 11, a person's wisdom yields patience. It's to one's glory to overlook and offense. Okay, I wanna pray for your eyes. Spiritual eyes. Overlook and offense. I even think there's a strategic wisdom in the spirit realm. To over, the word over, O-V-E-R means up. It's like to overlook, to get over a fence. It's like if you could look over the fence, if the fence is the physical realm, over the fence is the spiritual realm. To overlook an offense, to look so, when somebody is transmitting offense, if you can be the kind of Christian that says, I'm gonna overlook the offense. I'm gonna look over the fence into the spiritual realm. And then what you'll see is the person you're mad at is bounded demons in captivity and needs you to join in prayer. The person that you're upset with actually needs deliverance and freedom. And then you could see the real enemy, which is Satan and his demons, which by the way, one day is gonna be thrown into the lake of fire and done away with forevermore. But until that time comes, may we not die. On the wrong assignment, this is my benediction. What I'm doing right now is a benediction to our entire church. May we not sacrifice our divine purpose and use all the giftings that God gave us for the wrong assignment. May we not be the church where we have more casualties from friendly fire and more casualties for inappropriate conversations than we do bombarding the heavens through intercession. May we stay focused. May we overlook an offense to see in the spiritual realm what God is trying to do in our midst. May we as a church be united across race. May we be united across political party coming into a major election. Maybe we be united across secondary, doctrinal and theological issues that don't really matter in the scope of eternity. And may we say yes to living unoffendable. Lift your hands if you're with me on this. I want us to say this as a church and we're gonna go into a time of repentance. Just say this, say, Heavenly Father, I confess every sin of gossip and guile. Every time I focused on offense instead of overlooking an offense, I repent, wash me with your blood. I refuse to fight people. But today I choose to fight in the spirit, to intercede, to pray and to take the right assignment. In Jesus' mighty name, come on, somebody shout amen. Come on, He's taking us higher. Come on, He's taking us higher. Father, we thank you for promotion, promotion in the spirit, promotion in our finances, promotion in our regions, promotion in our lives, God, as we are faithful to do what you called us to do. Holy Spirit, take over. 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