Last week I was sharing with you on
bitterness and if you're if you're in for
the first time today And and you didn't
get in on last week's Maybe I should
share a little bit a little bit with
you about why it is so important that
you not become bitter You know the Bible
tells us that we're not to give ground
to Satan Ephesians 4 27 neither give place
to the devil don't give him legal ground
if you do You can become a very
tormented person you can become a prisoner in
your own little world And no matter what
you do or who you are or what
you act like or how much you have
You can still be a prisoner because of
the prison that you put around Yourself because
of your failure to forgive I'm going to
share with you in the next few weeks
more in this area of bitterness We just
got started last week about how devastating it
can be in our lives and remember I
shared that little poem about Madden got Madame
Gunnion Who spent ten years of her life
in French prisons from from 1695 to 1705
and and and I?
Read you this little poem that she wrote
Tremendous little poem and maybe ought to start
off with it again today a little poem
about how she was free She was really
free In her spirit because she knew that
God was big enough to get her out
if you wanted her out and so she
was content to stay there in that cage
in that prison because God had allowed it
have you got to that point to where
your God is so big and so Mighty
that you can do what the scripture says
that you can Speak to yourselves in psalms
and hymns and spiritual songs you can sing
and make melody in your heart to the
Lord and you can Give thanks always for
all thing all things under God and the
Father in the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ Because you know your God is that
big in all things to give?
Thanks, there's the test in the circumstance when
it comes into our life are we thankful?
Heavenly Father It is humanly impossible for us
to give.
Thanks For many of the situations that we
go into and I pray that today you
would open up our hearts Holy Spirit that
our minds would be enlightened to see how
devastating This area of bitterness can be in
our lives and those around us.
I ask that you would bless your word
in Jesus name Amen, I might start off
again with this little poem For those of
you that were not listening last week, maybe
you just tuned in maybe you're just traveling
down the highway Flying through the air or
just happen to be visiting in the area
and that you've never heard this program before
we're geared for revival and Many of us
do not even know what revival is I
have never really been in the type of
revival that I'm looking got for God to
do and awakening I've been in a small
revival where we saw the Spirit of God
come on the scene and much confession of
sin and God dealing with hearts in a
deep Way and it went on for months
and it's continued and God is continuing to
do something in this area of the country
but we have yet to see a Revival
like we've heard about where the Spirit of
God changes in whole area and whole country
We're looking for that.
But because of that We want to share
the cross and how at Calvary Jesus died
and shed his blood for our sins To
to set us free from the power of
sin the penalty of sin But many of
us have not understand understood the power of
the resurrection of Christ to free us from
from the daily distractions of life And this
is why we are on the air to
help you learn to fly on eagles wings
to abide in Jesus as Jesus said abide
in me He said I am the vine
you the branches he that abideth in me
and I in him the same bringeth forth
much for Forth much fruit for without me
you can do nothing You might take a
note on that.
What can you do without Jesus or you
say?
Well, I can do a lot of things
without Jesus.
Well, Jesus says without him you can't do
anything Nothing of any success nothing of any
profit Without me you can do nothing and
surely, you know One of the most devastating
things today in in Christianity is the barrenness
of busyness We can become so busy and
so pressured and fathers.
Let me challenge you to guard your families
Guard your wives and your children's from this
thing of being so busy that there's no
time for the family to Worship together to
pray together to be together to play together
to do things because you're all distracted Remember
Satan is the one that wants to destroy
the family.
He's the one that wants to destroy the
little babies I should have maybe said this
last week Forgive me, but we had a
new little baby on January 24th, we had
a little girl Jana D Lane that was
born into our family born in in our
home We had her at home a delightful
experience.
I wished I'd had the first five at
home We had two midwives that God provided
for us very well trained and experienced We're
just a tremendous experience and the baby is
doing fine the mother's doing fine for those
of you that that keep in touch with
us that Know us personally and and whenever
we were in the area we try to
make contact with our new listeners that have
written us and you write us and and
we we try to You ask questions and
we try to answer questions and we try
to you ask for things and we try
to give you the things That we need
and and we have some material that's available
to to meet certain needs and as God
supplies one man from the diamond area Wrote
a check out to us a few weeks
ago, and it was a tremendous blessing to
me To encourage us in the area of
the versions how we're being so deceived by
all these Versions and it's getting us confused
To where you don't know the Word of
God is and we don't realize how Satan
has always Attacked the Word of God and
wanted to confuse us on what it said
and so I I was able to get
some material and have a little material on
hand for those of you that wanted some
information on this and and By the time
this should be will be on the air
the brother would have received his material But
it was an encouragement to us.
You are an encouragement to us.
We love you and we pray for you
We appreciate it when you're right, and I
want you to pray for this station KK
ll pray for the operation of it There's
not many stations that take a stand on
not playing the rock music and many of
us do not understand How devastating this one
area alone is in our churches already we
have Pastors that have stood against us and
this this stand on rock music that have
stood strongly against it coming Back with broken
hearts their families are being torn apart Along
with their churches and they're realizing how wrong
they were and how this had given ground
to Satan and now they're reaping the fruit
of That Oh pastor be careful be careful
about how you let things come into your
life and into your church Well, let me
read the little poem to you before I
forget it and get going off somewhere.
I don't have a format I just have
the Holy Spirit guiding and leading me and
and Lord you just guide us through today
that we would get that what you want
Madame Gunion Who spent ten years of her
life in a French prison in French prisons
wrote this poem now?
I ask yourself this could I write a
poem if I was taken away from my
family and shut into this old dark damp
prison?
With very little to eat and for ten
years to stay in these prisons Could you
write a little poem like this where you
would say a little bird am I?
Shut from the fills of air and in
my cage.
I sit and sing to him who placed
me there Well pleased a prisoner to be
because my God it please it thee Not
else have I to do I sing the
whole day long and he who most I
love to please Death listen to my song
he caught and bound my wandering wing But
still he bends to hear me sing Thou
hast an ear to hear a heart to
love and bless and though my notes were
ever so rude Thou wouldest not hear the
less because thou knowest as they fall that
same sweet love Inspires them all my cage
confines me round abroad I cannot fly, but
though my wing is closely bound my heart's
at Liberty My prison walls cannot control the
flight the freedom of the soul Oh, it
is good to soar these bolts and bars
above to him whose purpose I adore whose
providence.
I love and in thy mighty will to
find the joy the freedom of The mind
isn't that good last week.
I gave you a definition on bitterness as
being that attitude Which refuses to make reconciliation
with others and to accept the sovereignty of
God?
visions 520 says Giving thanks always for all
things unto God and the father in the
name of our Lord Jesus Christ It's that
attitude that refuses to make reconciliation with others
and to accept the sovereignty of God is
there anybody?
Who you have a difference with that you
have not forgiven or maybe you have not
made it, right?
So that they would forgive you is there
anyone that you are not right with?
Right now is it worth it to try
to go through life and pretend that you
have fellowship with God when you're not right
with your brother or your sister or your
mother or your father or an employer or
Whoever is it worth it to lose all
those years in your life to you lose?
All those minutes is bad enough, but to
you lose years is it worth it?
Because you see we're deceived if you if
we think we're walking with God in power
And we're deceived if we think God is
blessing our ministry, and we're not right with
somebody else now.
This is the scripture The scripture tells us
not to be deceived Paul says we're not
ignorant of his devices I was reading in
my devotions in 2nd Corinthians in Chapter 2
about how they they must have had to
deal with somebody in the church church discipline
Paul comes back to them, and he says
that they need to forgive him now he
said in 2nd Corinthians 2 7 so that
country rise you ought rather to forgive him
and Comfort him lest perhaps such a one
should be swallowed up over much sorrow you
see the purpose of discipline is to restore
Not to get out of your church if
you've done that then you have persecuted been
a part and in in persecuting somebody But
you're to restore them to fellowship you to
minister to them if they're sin in their
life with loving rebuke with loving discipline and
without love don't do anything and So he
said wherefore I beseech you that you would
confirm your love toward him for to this
end Also, did I write that I might
know the proof of you whether you be
obedient in all things And this is the
key are you obedient in all things in
your life?
Or is there one area that you're not?
Obedient in if there's one area that I'm
not obedient in or you're not obedient in
then that's going to give the devil Opportunity
to come into our life, and this is
the springboard Ephesians 4 27 where God tells
us neither give place to the devil don't
give him legal right in any area of
your life to get in Then Paul says
to whom you forgive Anything I forgive also
for if I forgave anything to whom I
forgave it for your sakes Forgive I yet
in the person of Christ less Satan should
get an advantage of us for we are
not ignorant of his devices now I wish
I could say along with Paul that we're
not ignorant of his devices But I think
we're ignorant many of us are ignorant about
the ways of God We think that we
have to power our way through every situation
with people and we don't have the calm
cool frame of mind and spirit to where
when we're mistreated we just bow our head
and we pray and we say dear father
I commit This to you.
I refuse to have my flesh revived and
to have your spirit Die as far as
practical working in my life father.
I commit this situation to you I commit
my spirit to you.
I commit this person to you Lord.
Would you work?
I free you to work I forgive them
for what they've done to me and no
matter how much it hurts No matter how
much it is tore wounded you destroyed your
reputation Stole your property Stole your car or
whatever you release them to God let him
Take revenge revenge is mine says the Lord
whenever you and I try to take revenge
then we Actually open ourself up for Satan
to work And there's many different areas I
could take off on this, but you and
I don't have the right to play God
In any kind of situation at the cross
when we receive Christ as our Savior We
died This is what the scripture says we
died and Christ became our life You know
what when Abraham went to the cross and
and and he offered up Isaac on his
on the altar He was offering up his
very life It was all bound up in
Isaac his future was bound up in Isaac
his presence Isaac represented his life and he
laid it on the altar and this is
what God Wants us to do when we
receive Christ as our Savior We not only
receive him and have our sins forgiven, but
he becomes our life we offer our very
life to him at the altar and it
is no more us that lives, but Christ
lives in us and There is the power
when people see us and they say wow
What is that that that person was so
mistreated, but they didn't get angry They didn't
get bitter what they see is Jesus and
they say whatever it is You have I
want it and you say it's Jesus and
you can have them But when you and
I get angry at somebody else are bitter
or upset and we just try to get
revenge.
What do they see?
They see you and me and they say
whatever that is I sure don't want that
I've got my own dose, but I think
he's got a worse dose And here is
where Satan keeps God from being glorified if
you're a believer or I'm a believer and
we react in the flesh We do not
have that right to react in the flesh.
It is the Lord Let him do what
seemeth him good You let him be God
in your life and you'll find out that
you'll be a lot happier You'll have the
peace that he promised you'll have the joy
that he promised you'll have the power that
he promised You'll be free like Madame Gunion
You may be in a cage some kind
of a situation and you just keep looking
at God and your radiant face We'll tell
others that person even though they're in that
circumstance, which is so bad They've got something
I want and you will find as the
Lord Jesus Christ people will come to you.
I know of preachers And I was one
myself that was actually trying to take out
my frustration on my own people Because I
wanted to be looking good And because they
would not attend when I thought they should
be attending and do what I thought they
should be doing I began to get bitter
in my spirit and let me tell you
something brother and sister God took me to
the cleaners and I'm so thankful.
He did I wouldn't want to continue to
be a bitter pastor.
I Wouldn't want that.
I would rather have God take me to
the cleaners and leave me in the closet
That I can fellowship with him in the
closet than to be back trying to be
somebody important in my own mind And in
the eyes of others so that I could
look good.
I found out it doesn't matter what I
look like Doesn't matter who I am just
as long as I'm abiding in Jesus and
he's getting the glory There's so much demonism
in our churches today It makes your head
swim Well, we got little gods running around
if they don't get their way and if
they don't get the position if you don't
do what?
They say if you don't bow and gravel
when they say bow and gravel and you
don't crawl or you don't jump or whatever
That's not Jesus my friend, that's not the
Christianity and the scriptures I know of we've
got a different gospel that's going around today
This thing brother if you'll receive Christ as
your Savior, he'll solve all your problems.
He'll give you peace happiness He'll he'll give
you the things you need.
That's not the gospel And that's why many
people who pray and receive Christ.
They have a stillbirth.
They're not really saved They pray to get
something for themselves just for themselves They didn't
care about their sins and they wasn't repenting
of their sins and and they say and
they turn and they say this is no
Good, it doesn't work Well that kind of
Christianity doesn't work but the kind of the
cross where you come to the cross and
you receive Christ as your Savior and you
recognize now that you're Dead and that Jesus
is the Lord and he can do whatever
he wants to with you Why was it
in the early church when they received Christ
as their Savior?
They went into the waters.
They were baptized They came up.
They were so joyful.
They say you quit doing that.
We're gonna throw you to the lions They
said told me to the lions.
I don't care.
I'm free Jesus is my Messiah.
He's my Savior.
They throw him to the lions.
They didn't care I threw one to the
lions ten more jumped out there to go
eat beaten up by the lines to two
because they say that's Reality, I want reality
You can't kill reality but artificiality doesn't last
and the artificiality of our Christianity that we
have developed in our culture is crumbling and
The area of revival ministry that we're in
and this ministry here is what I consider
a revival ministry They're not very many that
want to be revived Really and we have
our revival meeting So we call and actually
they're just evangelistic meetings where for four days
or one week We try to get some
poor guy to come in there and do
all our work in one week that we
should have been doing all year Jesus told
you to go out and to preach the
gospel He didn't tell you to get an
evangelist in to come in and preach the
gospel for you we've got the scripture so
mixed up many of us don't even have
any idea what they say and The devil
is so busy giving us different versions to
confuse us to work where we're getting so
confused We don't know what God is saying
anymore And what we're doing is we're beginning
to get bit out of shape when people
aren't doing what we think they ought to
be doing And that's why I'm talking to
you about Bitterness now, let's get into a
little bit got to preaching on you Webster
said it's having a sharp generally disagreeable taste
Painful as a bitter experience severe as bitter
cold cruel stinging as bitter words.
Now, let's see what the scripture says.
I Want to share with you six consequences
of bitterness now remember bitterness is also Not
only is it just an attitude that refuses
to make reconciliation, but it's also a meditating
upon evil It's a meditating on that thing
that happened to you and you then begin
to entertain vain Imaginations you begin to actually
invite demons to come in and fellowship with
you and You're meditating upon evil, which is
strictly forbidden in scripture Philippians 4 What's it
say Philippians 4 8 and 9 says finally
my brother what whatever things are true, whatever
things are honest Whatever things are just whatever
things are pure Whatever things are lovely whatever
things are good report if there be any
virtue if there be any praise Think on
these things don't think on your hurts your
offenses where you were run over No, you
think on the good things you begin to
praise God for the good things in that
person's life You begin to praise God for
the blessings that you have you get your
mind on the good things.
It's a practical thing But if you don't
you're in trouble now Let me share with
you six consequences of bitterness and I don't
think we'll have time to get through all
of them We'll go as far as we
can one Consequence the first one is broken
fellowship with God if you get bitter You're
out of it as far as fellowship with
God goes Now, let me take you back
to first John chapter 1 in verse 6
if we say that we have fellowship with
him and walk in darkness we lie and
do not The truth we do not obey
the truth So it's broken fellowship with God
back over in in chapter 2 verse 9
He that saith he is in the light
and hateth his brother in bitterness is the
beginning of hatred This is why if you
stay in bitterness and you stay there a
long period of time you may not even
be saved He may not be saved and
I'm gonna deal with this a little bit
later on But he that saith he is
in the light and hateth his brother is
in darkness Even until now he that loveth
his brother abideth in the light and there
is none occasion of stumbling in him You
see if you're walking in the spirit And
you're growing in Jesus.
You're loving your Lord.
There's there's nothing gonna touch you There's no
amount of persecution, this is why we're we're
not ready for for Really Jesus to come
back.
We're not ready for persecution If somebody come
into most of our churches today and said
listen You guys got to do whatever we
say you got to get a license from
the state You got to do exactly what
we say you can only preach so many
things you can only sing the songs that
we allowed it Allow it or we're gonna
shut you down Most today would say okay,
whatever you say, that's fine.
We've lost our backbone.
We're a bunch of yellow We're just chicken
Because we've accepted Satan in most of the
areas of our life.
We've been killing our babies and Even Christians
have been doing this not only the unsaved,
but we've been killing our babies We we
refuse to have large families because we want
to do what we want to do in
our lives We run off our preachers because
we don't like them preaching the truth We
refuse to pay him a salary that they
can live on and raise their family So
they have to they're forced to go out
and do other things when when they could
be preaching the word and ministering the word
to you Listen God says he that loveth
his brother abideth in the light.
Do you love your brother?
Do you love your pastor?
God's giving me a special burden for pastors.
I'm hard on them because I'm one of
them But I love them and I'll stand
behind them but if there's sin in Anybody's
life then we have to come out against
sin, but we keep loving the person.
I love you pastors I'm for you.
I pray for you.
I'm praying that God bless your ministry We
may not agree on everything And that's just
a part of I guess our sin that
we've got That we don't agree on everything.
It should grieve our hearts so that we
don't But I pray for you he that
loveth his brother abideth in the light and
there's none occasion of stumbling in him But
he that hateth his brother is in darkness
and walketh in darkness and knoweth not whether
he goeth because that darkness had blinded his
Eyes, you know being in confusion is a
terrible thing But broken fellowship with God Bitterness
is one of the sins that grieves the
Holy Spirit of God the most, you know
We started off in Ephesians 4 30 and
grieve not The Holy Spirit of God whereby
you are sealed unto the day of redemption
God help us if we would grieve the
Holy Spirit and then he said let all
bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and
evil speaking be put away from you with
all manner of malice a second thing is
Broken relationships if you can look into your
life and see that there's family your spouse
even divorces directly related to this Friends have
left you you've been divided churches organizations businesses
bitterness toward one Person will defile many relationships
If it's not dealt with this is why
this thing is burning on my heart so
heavy You just don't have the problem and
the other person but it affects their family
and your family and What did James say
and the tongue is a fire a world
of iniquity So is the tongue among our
members that it defile at the whole body
and set it on fire the course of
nature and it Is set on fire of
hell the source of it is Satan Out
of the abundance of heart the mouth speaks
something else There's broken fellowship with God first
broken relationship second and third is a broken
spirit You know job said and job 2125
and another diet in the bitterness of his
soul and never eat it with pleasure What
a terrible thing it is to have all
kinds of blessings of life, but not be
able to enjoy them You and I both
Probably know somebody that is a very bitter
person They're not fun to be around You
walk across their grass they they growl at
you you park your car too close to
their car They growl at you and snap.
They're cranky critical backbiting Snarly type people you
ever been around one of those You say
watch out preacher.
You're getting a little too close to home
Well, I don't care how close to home
I get Just long as we hit the
bullseye right in the center and the Spirit
of God can work and bring revival in
entire lives and Say listen, that's you Or
that's me Let's do something about it.
How long are you gonna play games?
How long you gonna be a hypocrite a
play actor?
Hypo, you know, how long you gonna be
in this pharisaical system?
another thing not only do we bring self
-destruction and mental suicide into our lives and
and Have this broken spirit where we entrap
our own spirit in a bondage and we're
frustrated with life and there's no joy But
also there's broken health We can actually break
our own health the fruits of bitterness Lifeship
wrecked hurt loved ones destruction confusion sickness can
lead to premature death You say what's your
scripture on that?
Listen, I don't have to go far.
You know That the scripture says in 1st
Corinthians chapter 11 in verse 28 Let a
man examine himself and so let him eat
of that bread and drink of that cup
for he that eateth and drinketh Unwilling eateth
and drinketh damnation to himself not discerning the
Lord's body for this cause many are weak
and sickly Among you in many sleep, you
know, we're not dealing with sin in our
churches and we've got a lot of sickness
around Could it be that it's our own
fault that we have sin in our life?
Well, I've got to go my time's about
gone for today.
We'll continue this next week The Lord willing
until then remember that Jesus Christ is all
you need But is he really all you
want till next time God bless you, my
friend