Drinking the Waters of Bitterness | Jim Hammond | LWCC

so my wife Kristin and I were down in Nashville for Christmas visiting my daughter and her husband and we one morning we were listening to a message by Bill Johnson out California at Bethel and this message just completely floored me it put me in check it made me evaluate myself it really convicted me in a number of areas and I just looked at Chris and I said we absolutely have to put our own spin on this we got our take out we got to take this message we got to preach it and he went on to say that five people that scared him the most that he's ever met in his life were people that were dealing with bitterness that were heavily bitter people they let a seed of bitterness get root in their heart like it talks about in Hebrews one of the most terrifying I have to say let me interrupt myself here for a second we do it a little bit different Kristen and I she's got a mic you guys haven't we've been doing this for quite a while on Saturday nights but what happens is is if she the Lord gives her something to say she just gets up here comes up here and says it so I don't want you to you know she has a mic and sometimes you know what it what it does is it brings in a like a moment of sweetness into the int into the intensity and everything just kind of settles down I settle down usually it's at a time where I'm kind of worked up maybe I need a break you know and so don't it's just it's a good combination it's been working really well and so that that's the way we've been doing it but you know one of the most terrifying and destructive and you can actually call it a vice it's definitely iniquity is the vice of unforgiveness which leads to bitterness bitterness is always justifiable I'm preaching this for myself all right okay to the bitter it's always justified there's always a lot of reason that goes behind bitterness I think cut in contrast the best virtue is Thanksgiving thankfulness thankfulness will insulate a person from things trying to contaminate or hurt their soul it doesn't mean think Thanksgiving I'll keep you from pain but it will go a long way to keeping your soul healthy and yes even your body healthy what's the main reason we pray for our food why do we thank them for our food before we eat it because Thanksgiving itself actually decontaminates the food that could possibly hurt us on the opposite side of that scariest vice sin or iniquity as a nick is bitterness and we actually here at Living Word have a group of pastors and that's basically all they do is counsel but that's all they do is counsel and just they make up the counseling department I'm I'm very thankful that I am not involved in that area of ministry because I am NOT a very good counselor I'll just say suck it up you go on a missions trip see how they feel over there so I'm not in counseling for a reason there's a question out there that is highly refuted can a Christian have a demon I heard one preacher say it like this I don't know why you'd want a demon they make horrible pets but they're one of the main things that goes answering this question is Ephesians 4:27 it's just disputable I'm can a Christian have a demon but it does you can give them a place you can give the devil a place the New Testament was written in the Greek language give no place to the devil that word place and the Greek language means ground you can give ground to the devil you can give your mind to the devil Kenneth Copeland says you're giving ground in your mind to the devil it goes on you know anything I talk about context a lot because I hear a lot of preachers just grab a scripture and preach it out of context any Bible School worth its salt will tell you you want to see what a scripture means look at the scriptures before it and the scriptures after it if you still don't know what it means look at the chapter before in the chapter after and in context would give no place to the devil two verses later it says know let let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth we went over this a little bit last week corrupt in the Greek language means worthless we're not talking about just swearing let no corrupt let no worthless communication proceed out of your mouth why because you're giving place to the devil you're giving up ground to the devil if you call yourself fat if you call yourself stupid if you tell your your your your spouse their a bad mother you're giving up ground to the devil let no worthless communication why because the next verse says it grieves the Holy Spirit in other words the Holy Spirit isn't just like ah darn II blew it again the Holy Spirit is grieved because it sets back the plan of God in your life and it goes on to say cuz we're talking about bitterness in verse 31 let all bitterness all binners not some all be put away from you goes on in verse 32 to say how to do it be kind to one another tender-hearted forgiving one another if you can forgive you'll never be bitter the question is sometimes how to forgive sometimes it takes time I heard Bill Johnson say in the groups of people that he's worked with over 47 years of ministry as being a pastor that the group of people that open themselves up to the most demonic influence or people that operate in the root of bitterness like he has said the five scariest people who's ever met in his life were operating in bitterness two of those people are in jail for murder today I'm based on what Jesus said murder bitterness is the spirit of murder in diapers because Jesus said under the law he said it under the law okay Old Covenant but the law what that's that's fading away that's Scripture it so called the Old Covenant for a reason it's called the Ministry of death and the Ministry of condemnation this is Scripture I'm quoting you on the law alright but he said under the law that if you hate your brother it's like murder bitterness is the spirit of murder in diapers but we're not necessarily talking about violent acts we're talking about what bitterness does to the heart and what it does to the body you know if I'm bitter towards someone for free after refusing to forgive them eventually it defiles me and everyone around me and barely affects them if they even know you're bitter towards them if they even care I heard one preacher say it's like drinking poison for your body and your soul and hoping someone else will die I remember years ago there was a girl that went to this church and got very very offended and you know left the church and I mean this is years and years and years ago but but she got so offended and so bitter she locked herself up in her house basically didn't leave her house it really didn't leave her room for like five years and I guess when she came out of the room her face had completely changed not for the better and it's interesting as she started to release people and forgive people her face started to change back to the way it was originally I don't think there would be a bitter person on the planet if we saw how undeserving of forgiveness we all actually are from God I don't think it's possible to see how undeserving I am and he forgave me how much more should I forgive others forgiveness does not mean you have to trust again the Apostle Paul and Jesus spoke a lot about forgiveness I heard Bill Johnson preaching this sermon he said he watched a video of a man that had died for one hour he was dead for an hour and then was raised from the dead not by the little shock things somebody laid their hand on him and he came back from the dead but when he died he went to hell and after he was raised from the dead he was so paranoid conflict and strife that when an argument would start in his home he would literally get up run into the bathroom and shut the door and lock himself in the bathroom he was afraid because he saw the effect of bitterness on eternity and it scared him and you have bitterness is something that people deal in or broken it broke her in on a regular basis it's become empowered and emphasized in our own political climate I don't believe in my opinion the God is a Republican a Democrat a libertarian a socialist or a communist but the question isn't who's side is God on the question is are we on his side because God has things that he despises Mike Bickle said it best God's anger is always aimed at whatever interferes with love well you know it says give no place to the devil the verse before that says Ephesians 4:26 you can be angry be angry and sin not let that let not the Sun go down on your wrath so the whole notion of the Christian coming to the place where there's no emotion is not Christian and he lines up more with Buddhism we're not supposed to be like Spock from Star Trek you know no emotion we're allowed to get angry if you're not angry at certain situations that rise up in your life or even in your culture then something could be broken inside you the Bible is saying it's okay to be angry it just can't lead to sin it can't lead to resentment it can't lead to bitterness it can't lead to promote self-promotion vindication or retaliation being angry is a sign that you're alive if you see a child abuse and you don't get angry then there's something wrong but if you're bitter towards someone your volume might increase and then your influence slowly decreases bitter people lose trust quickly everybody in society is looking for people they can trust we vote for this politician we choose this measure we move into this neighborhood we send our kids to that school because we trust the people that run the school to take care of our kids more than we trust people in other schools so Ephesians 4:26 be angry send not let not the Sun go down on your wrath let's look at it the disciple has asked Jesus how to pray Jesus pray our Father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us what's he saying here he's saying at the beginning of your day you're determined to live redemptive ly and if I'm sinned against I'm prepared to forgive he's saying matter-of-fact you pray what he just prayed to make sure I forgive to pray to make sure you forgive they asked how to pray he said make sure you pray to that you asked to remember to forgive I think it's important to point out too I mean he's saying it because it is gonna happen I mean that you are not gonna live in a world where offence is not gonna come at you it is gonna come at you and how are you gonna take it and I shared earlier I have a girlfriend who she just has it you should stand up sorry okay sorry that's okay and I mean we've heard other other imagery and other things to keep in mind that help people but this one really helps me she just says I don't have landing strips for offense if I mean we can all know that there are things that might bother us or certain people that like you see them and it's like whoa you know it feels like almost a dart um or in this case it would be like an airplane coming at you and she says I just don't even have a landing strip for it don't even let it land don't even let it come at you I mean if you take that thought for a second ooh that's given place to the devil that's given him opportunity to set that offense in you but it's just like nope it's not even going to land so yeah this is a good time to talk about this in the beginning of the year here just to start the year I mean first of all I I need I need to tear my landing strip up okay and that's not something that you do in just a day okay and so he's saying how to pray what the prayer just said about about the Lord's Prayer as we forgive those who trespass against us that I'm gonna live a lifestyle as a forgiving person it doesn't mean abuse and stealing isn't wrong it doesn't mean that stuff's okay it means I'm not going to become controlled by the sins of another person my mind will and emotions will not be controlled from something they do if you're a bitter person you're holding on to something in the past and if you're holding on to something in the past you cannot bring redemptive solutions to your life and your family in the future it's very clear in the Bible about that it affects how you can how you bring the future to your family it's one of the things the devil uses to keep us from being creative it affects your creativity he's trying to keep us married to what happened yesterday last month last year 10 years ago to the point where you lose your ability to have a positive effect on the world around you and your kids if we claim spiritual realities we eventually have to be able to measure them in the natural eventually Jesus said under the law if you love God who you can't see and you hate your brother then you're a liar because claiming an unseen reality I'm saying eventually has to be measured in the natural by what you can see if you're bitter towards someone and forgive them eventually your behavior has to change but I keep saying sometimes it takes time to forgive and and X effort right yes yes I was just listening to another message this morning it just kind of keeps coming at me but um you know and it's not I have a hard time with this sometimes because I feel like people can feel condemned if they struggle with forgiveness and it's don't feel condemned it's not it's something that God wants to help us with and it's not something he demands us to do on our own I heard somebody just kind of correcting people and say well you just need to walk in love and that sounds like such an easy answer but sometimes it is not easy to forgive sometimes it is it's hard you've been cut to the core but you know perfect love casts out fear and when you have that revelation of his love for you that fear that comes with bitterness that fear that's causing that pain or that hurt it's gonna it's gonna melt away and you know when we were talking and you're talking about forgiveness too sometimes I think people will just remove themselves from the thing that they have a hard time forgiving like a person and they'll say yeah I forgiven them I left that church but yeah I forgave them no I think forgiveness is when you can have that fruit towards them when you can be in their presence and still express forgiveness to them but he's gonna get into how God's gonna help us do that yes he's uh because you justify it you can justify it a million ways you know you reason it out and you say well I'm not talking about him and I'm just gonna be professional and give a quick hi so you're letting them know how you feel because that's as far as I can go and then it never moves it's still await it's still await if we're talking about an abusive situation verbally or physically doesn't matter that it doesn't I'm not seeing it it doesn't mean that Trust has to be rebuilt I'm not saying that but as far as I'm concerned you have to live in peace and not have your emotions controlled by circumstances the issue of not letting the Sun go down on your anger is to make sure you start your day the next day as a redemptive person that's why that scriptures there today it's saying today I have determined before anything else happens I'm gonna live my life as a free giver I'm gonna be as a for giver I'm gonna release people I'm gonna I'm gonna refuse to be bound by bitterness through the actions of other people and I'm gonna make sure at the end of the day the Sun good doesn't go down on my anger no matter what I experienced today that scripture is there for a reason we just overlooked it and it has to do with giving place to the devil because I think that if you sleep on it that little seed just grows a couple of roots and I must say it can't be pulled up and eventually those roots grow into your personality they get woven into your consciousness and become a fabric of who you are and the longer you leave it there the more it defines you and you can never a day with a fresh start like the Bible says under the influence of bitterness bill Johnson was counseling a married couple and she was angry did he dunce of what the husband had done 10 years earlier so that's three hundred six thousand three thousand six hundred fifty days gone down on her anger ten years so pastor Johnson find out the woman had been carrying this for 10 years looked at the husband and said did you ever repent for what you did and he said yes I did pastor Johnson looked and he said well is there any evidence that you repented he wasn't accusing the man but he was basing it on what John the Baptist said was quoted in Scripture as saying bring forth fruit of your repentance if your internal decisions don't affect your behavior you have no evidence that you've been that you've forgiven or repented if it doesn't affect your behavior eventually it's just a philosophy we haven't been called to a philosophy of forgiveness we've been called into a lifestyle of forgiveness eventually forgiveness and repentance has to be proven through action so he asked the guy do you have any evidence that you repented the husband said not offhand I'd have to think about that pastor Johnson said let's meet next week come back with some evidence Oh a week went by they sat down again pastor Johnson looked at the wife and said has there been any evidence she said no then he looked at the husband is there any evidence that you've repented he starts going through a list of his evidence from the last 10 years thing after thing after thing he says the why the eyes of the wife opened really wide and she realized right then that she had become the problem originally the husband caused the problem with this action but because of her bitterness she extended the problem pastor Johnson said that she realized this her bitterness blinded her to the reality of his repentance bitterness distorts view and perspective it poisons how we view not just the person not just the situation but life in general life in general becomes interpreted through a person carrying the spirit of bitterness through what's behind them through the pain of what's behind them you know there's a spiritual world and the Bible says it's more real angels demons yes there is a devil 50 I saw that 50% of the Christian Church believes there's no devil how can you how how then they don't believe the Bible they don't believe a lot of the Bible but a man named Rick Joyner had a vision late 80s early 90s and he wrote a book called the final quest I think we have it in the bookstore Rick Joyner the final quest he has a couple churches about the size of living word he's six or seven plants Church plants he's in the south he's from the prophetic movement I'm gonna read to you this vision he had okay there's a more detailed reading on this last night it was just two tits too long I read too much of it last night but if you want more details it's in the CD from last night the demonic army was so large that it stretched as far as I could see it was separated into two divisions into into divisions each carrying a different banner the foremost divisions marched under the banners of pride self-righteousness respectability selfish ambition unrighteous judgment and jealousy has a division of jealousy in his army that's what that's saying there were many more of these evil divisions beyond my scope of vision but those in the vanguard of this terrible horde from Hell seemed to be the most powerful the leader of this army was the accuser of the Brethren himself the weapons carried by this horde were named just like we have weapons this this preacher saw weapons the swords were named intimidation the spears were named treachery their arrows were named accusation gossip slander and fault-finding Scouts and smaller companies of demons with such names as rejection bitterness and patience unforgiveness and lust were sent in advance of this army to prepare for the main attack so he even has wreak reconnaissance units little reconnaissance units running out ahead of the army the smaller companies and Scouts were much fewer in number but they were no less powerful than some of the larger divisions they were smaller only for strategic reasons a single bitter demon of bitterness could sow his poison into multitudes of people even entire races or cultures a demon of lust would attach himself to a single performer a movie or an advertisement and said what appeared to be in the spirit bolts of electric slime that would hit and desensitize great masses of people I think this has done over the TV and the radio maybe huh all of this was to prepare for the great horde of evil which followed all this army was marching specifically against the church it was attacking anyone else it could I knew it was sinking to pre eight to preempt a coming move of God which was destined to sweep great numbers of people into the church the most shocking part of my vision was that this horde was not riding on horses but primarily on Christians most of them the Christians were well-dressed respectable had the appearance of being refined and educated but there also seem to be representatives from all so every walk of life many of these believers were hosting more than one demon so they were riding like two and three at a time but one of the demons would clearly be in charge the nature of the one in charge dictated which division it was marching in even though the divisions were all marching together it also seemed the entire army was on the verge of chaos at all times for example the demons of hate hated each other demons of jealousy or jealous of each other the power of the demons was clearly rooted almost entirely in the power of deception however they had deceived these Christians to the point where they could use them and the Christians would think they were being used by God this was because every single Christian carried a banner of self-righteousness as I looked to the rear of the army I saw the entourage of the devil himself I began to understand his strategy and I was amazed that it was so simple he knew that a house divided could not stand his army represented an attempt to bring such division to the church that she would be powerless and ineffective in the end times it was apparent the only way the devil could accomplish this was to use Christians to war against their own brethren trailing behind these first divisions was a multitude of other prisoners who were prisoners of this army all of these captive Christians were wounded hmm and they were guarded by demons of fear that were very small there seemed to be more prisoners than there were demons in the army all surprising all these prisoners still had their swords and shields but they didn't use them it was a shock to see that so many could be kept captive by so few little demons of fear above the prisoners in the sky were black the sky was black with vultures named oppression occasionally these these vultures would land on the shoulders of a prisoner and vomit on him the vomit was condemnation when the vomit hit a prisoner he would stand up and march a little straighter for a while you know when you condemn yourself there's something that feels good about it like you deserve it when you receive the thoughts of condemnation but eventually they would weaken worse than before I wonder why the prisoners didn't simply kill the vultures with their swords sometimes the weaker prisoners would stumble and fall and as soon as they hit the ground the other prisoners will begin stabbing them with their swords scorning in them for their weakness the only food provided for these prisoners was the vomit from the vultures those who refuse to eat the condemnation weakened until they fell those who did eat it were strengthened for a time but it was the strength of the devil then they would weaken unless they drank the waters of bitterness that were constantly being offered constantly once he get some prisoner constantly offers waters of bitterness that means every hour of every day after drinking the bitter waters they would begin to vomit on other Christians when one of the prisoners began to vomit on their bitterness on other Christians a demon that was waiting for a ride would climb up on him and ride him up to the front so when you start spreading bitterness is when you who you are then deemed worthy to ride in the front lines I was so repulsed by this evil army I wanted to die then the voice of the Lord came to me saying this is the beginning of the enemy's last day army this is Satan's ultimate deception his greatest power of destruction is released when he uses Christians to attack one another throughout the ages he has used this army but never has he been able to use so many for his evil purposes don't fear I have an army too you must now stand and fight because there is no longer any place to hide from this war you have to fight from one side or the other then on page 28 it says the battle begins and he starts to describe the Lord's army it's very interesting when he describes the Lord's army because he he he describes the first clash this is part of the vision and a lot of people in the Lord's army they have their armor but it's all messed up like they're missing like like a lot of people have like little shields you know those little circle shields called a buckler that's not the shield Paul described he's described a roman shield a Roman shield you can put your body behind covers your body when they put the shields together the Roman army took over the world they were unstoppable against the Roman shield wall nobody no army defeated the Roman shield wall rarely they had these little short swords they'd stabbed well under stabbed over the the shields with the swords that these Christians you know think about little buckler ching ching ching ching ching little circle some christians were missing their helmet i know it's called a helmet of salvation but that same helmet is also called a hell it's also called a helmet a hope they had no hope they're missing footgear they're missing different things some of them didn't have anything we're gonna teach about the armor in February there's some more revelation that's come out on that and I'm going to come back to this book and explain how people were missing their armor but even if I'm not a bitter person and I'm not an unforgiveness and I've held on to these issues in the past it still shapes how I will view the present and the future even if I'm not bitter and I'm still focused on the past okay you ready I kind of have a reputation just for for focusing on God's love a lot cuz that's honestly kind of what saved my life and I think so many times when we get into unforgiveness it's because we're kind of forgetting who we are and we're forgetting that we're a precious loved son or daughter and one chapter in the word that I just love is John 17 this was when Jesus was praying right before he went to the cross and because that's the timing of it because the content of it I feel like it's a very important thing that he was praying so in John 17 I'll start in verse 16 Jesus is just praying for his disciples he says they are not of the world they're not worldly belonging to the world just as I am NOT of the world sanctify them purify consecrate separate them for yourself make them holy by truth Your Word is truth just as you sent me into the world I also have sent them into the world so for their sake and on their behalf I sanctify myself that they also may be sanctified in the truth neither for these alone do I pray it is not for their sake only that I make this request but also for all those who will ever come to believe that's you and me that's us Jesus prayed for us and that awesome okay so he prayed for all who would ever believe who had trust in cling to rely on him on me through the word and teaching that they may all be one just as you Father are in me and I in you and that they also may be one in us so that the world may believe and be convinced that you've sent me I have given to them the glory and honor which you've given me that they may be one even as we are one you see how we keep saying this that they would be one not divided off not in bitterness I and them and you and me in order that they may become one and perfectly United that the world and definitely recognize that you sent me and this and that you have loved them even as you have loved me see I think that love that is such a key we need to know that you are sorry sorry here okay you need to know that you are loved that forgiveness when I said it earlier that perfect love that would cast out that fear it's a big thing there are so many things that we need to do or that we can do in the natural but I think this is a key part of it a key part of your forgiveness of being able to forgive is knowing how loved you are that he has you in the palm of his hand if you extend that forgiveness he's gonna hold you and love you and protect you and take care of you and it's amazing to see the power of forgiveness that you extend somebody it's it's gonna benefit everyone you're gonna set yourself free but you're gonna set that person free too and just to add on these that's good it's very good so you know John in verse 21 he says that they may be that they may all may be one he ends the verse saying why so the world may may believe and be convinced that you have sent me so the church being one the church getting along convinces the world that he really came and then he repeats himself again that they may be one in verse 23 that the world may know and recognize that you sent me why would he pray that twice he was praying for us two thousand years ago because he knew we would struggle with that we would struggle with his love knowing how much he loves us and so that's that's that's a great point thank you so much Kristen listen Philippians 3:13 he's Paul does one thing I forget the things which are behind we're y so you can reach for to the future and dad's you one of his the scripture I've seen him talk about the most press towards of mark probably the most of my life press hordes of Mark you're gonna hear that six to ten times a year for from Mac Hammond press towards the mark that's the future right but what does it say one thing I do though I forget the past before you press to the mark before you reach to the future you better forget the past and it starts you know with the son not letting the Sun go down on your wrath and so I know these things are known you know I know in order to forgive someone just embracing the philosophy will not make a difference there has to be action and I know a lot of these things are known okay you guys but you'd be surprised how many people don't try them and I'm telling you they work they work you know I'm gonna be honest when I heard that message from Bill Johnson I took me I thought about it for about a week and I came back and I made a list of people I mean it lists people and I want to make it sound like I'm a just a big hater all day but you've reason things out you know if you know I mean I mean I mean why wouldn't you just like a guy that sins let letters personally to your home about you ripping on you and your kids house even know my address you know what I mean and then and then and then says you know because we live in the same town almost to cover that because I think he thinks I'm kind of a violent past or something I don't know what he thinks but but he was saying like you know if we see each other out in town you know we maybe we can be cordial house like he ever and what does that five years ago and I just I still don't there's days for years where I didn't leave the house every day I wonder if I must see him today cuz I know what I'm gonna say I'll ask for forgiveness later but I justified it and lived with it you know the 22 people if you haven't sent letters to my house or ripped on my kids or trashed me to 17 different people to the point where it's just gotten back to me over and over and over you're good so don't worry about it don't ask me if you're on my list don't email there is no one in her on my list the list is to release them do you go I'm saying there and so you have to pray for people that you need to forgive that's the first thing and we're gonna get into that in a second but if you've got the guts to do this most people don't but it almost always works a phone call I'm talking to individuals that have hurt you trashed you and you make that call you don't even bring up the issue just to specifically bless them honor them or serve them in some way but make sure you pray to the Lord before you do it involve God in the call and he'll always come through oh you know there was mmm you know stuff happens at work you know and I mean even in the ministry with 350 employees it's cool if you count in the school and all the teachers and I'm just saying you know there's think about you think about this you go through this day and day out and people deal with this sometimes in the secular world 7 or 8 different people like this but if there's a problem with someone and you're bothered at them and maybe you thought they backstabbed you or hurt you in some way and you're just gonna be professional she walked by him on them hello you know well I said hi and I don't talk about them but it's still on your mind when you leave your office am I going to run into them if I run into them is there going to be people around if there are people around I've got to make it look like I don't have a problem but let them know I have one you get what I'm saying it weighs on you and when that thing breaks with that person through a compliment and maybe a hug that you give and it just goes away you realize that felt like two seven pound weights on my shoulders you really do it really feels like weight has come off your shoulders you know making that call is a serious act of sticking it to your flesh your flesh doesn't want to do that it's the part of you that needs to be stuck it's the part of you Paul talks about in acts 24:16 I always exercise and discipline myself mortifying my body deadening my carnal affections bodily appetites worldly desires endeavoring in all respects to have a clear unsane and blameless conscience void of offense between God and man from God toward man now listen toward God and toward men we think of carnal affections you know a cart deadening a carnal affection is a jealousy is a bitterness how do you deaden it you go after it with a compliment to the person you don't like you go after it with the phonecall that's deadening a carnal affection that's sticking it to your flesh something else people don't usually want to take the time to do as fasting you take a meal one meal and take ten minutes don't eat the meal take ten minutes and pray for that person if it's deep-seated bitterness it may take a day or it may take instead of a day cuz I don't know if I could go to a whole day all right instead of a day maybe you take you go three days one meal each day and it very well could eradicate your feelings to that person and get rid of the bit of the bitterness if the person if your people in here that were sexually abused or for a long time ago or emotionally or mentally broken by someone 20 25 years ago and that person is now deceased and you have issues of bitterness to that person start praying for their descendants let me give you an example of a prayer Lord I know I don't deserve your forgiveness the same forgiveness that you gave me allows me the same mercy you have let me have that same mercy for this person Lord take this black feeling out of my heart towards this list of 22 people so I've done for like six days straight help me forgive them Lord I can I say it I forgive them and I know right now that's more of a confession of hope you know what I mean but it's worked for me before it's worked for me before I heard Bill Johnson just preached that every time he takes communion and it sounds like if you listen to him preached it sounds like he does it daily he prays for each and every ministry that opposes him or every person that has written books against him and asked the Lord to bless them he prays for every single minister that he knows of that takes a public position to oppose him every time he takes communion the exact words he uses for these people that oppose him publicly is he prays that they would lack nothing in life that they would have everything they need whether if it's finances favor or open doors he even prays that God would give his enemies the joy of having children that have children that would serve God even praise for his enemies grandchildren why cuz he he he wants them blessed so much no to keep his heart clear it keeps your heart clear that's a pretty deep prayer for people that come out publicly against him we're talking about evidence that an internal session has been decision has been made and carried out that's evidence eventually it will happen we'll just will close it with with this story here we moved to Singapore in 2003 to go to Rhema Bible Training Center our children were in 3rd grade and in kindergarten and so we Kris and I both went to Rhema Bible Training Center to be under this couple named Patsy and Tony caminetti they were they were directing the school and I mean that's you go to Rhema Bible Training Center it's four hours of word a day I mean I don't think I had ever had even an hour of word a day so when my spirit started getting four hours of word a day it took a jump I took a jumps it just affected me completely and one things I heard that I'd never even tried is like personal worship so I said did what they said - I went back to our apartment got on my knees in my daughter's room turned off the lights back then it was the first Hillsong album ever turned on the song still remember the song and look actually was embarrassed to look around the room and I raised my hands because I was embarrassed like who's looking no nobody was there you know and I started to worship God and I immediately just started crying I pride on think I had cried since my teenage years I was 35 years old and I started crying and I remember seeing a puddle of tears under me on the tile floor and the Lord showed me something in my mind in my mind I saw like a like a golden wall it was like an angled wall in my relationship with God and he said you need to forgive and right there I took a piece of paper and I wrote down every single person and I started praying at a different prayer I started praying at that price still remember this prayer Lord I mentioned their names see Paul and Ephesians says I do not cease to pray for you making mention you of my prayers I just mention your name in other words he mentions you you can mention a list of people and then pray for them okay and I mentioned these 29 people and I'd say Lord they're your precious fruit you love them as much as you love me I forgive them at the time it was a statement of faith that I really hadn't forgiven him yet I ask you to take this black feeling out of my heart I didn't ask even ask for God to bless him maybe sometimes I said that prayer every day I read those people's names off I said that prayer every day and you know what in six weeks I didn't I wasn't even remembering to say the prayer I was free I had released every single one of those people I don't even think I said it seven days a week but it was just a constituted effort of knowing I need to forgive these people and asking God to help me now it's more of it gets done if you ask blessing on them I believe it comes faster and so as we were going to go ahead and hand out communion em you know because Bill Johnson you know when he takes communion he makes sure he takes care of that so that's what we're gonna do today and I want you guys thinking maybe you can't get a list of 22 people in a few minutes but you can get the top five right and we're gonna pray over them all together and we're gonna lift those people up and we're gonna start the year without any bitterness we're gonna let that unforgiveness go and if that unforgiveness has been there 10 years you need to go home and do the for a few weeks and you'll see that it's gone do it without condemnation I mean if it's taking you time there's no condemnation in that you're continuing bringing it to the Lord and he's gonna honor that he's gonna help you why do you think Jesus and Paul talks so much about forgiveness cuz you're gonna deal with it we all are gonna deal with it and so the key is is not letting a root of bitterness get in you and we may continue with this on the 19th we'll just have to talk about it but it's a root that grows and it actually talks about you guys we made this point in early services that Esau when he got that root of bitterness wound up with a spirit of lust because of the bitterness and you said something about that what were you saying about that scripture behind strife and division there's confusion and every evil work and it's not just the you know a light hearted you're just some bad things things go wrong for you don't get the parking spot whatever it is everything that makes your skin crawl it is the horrible darkest thing you can think of it says in strife and division there's every evil work okay and so bitterness is what comes from strife unforgive from Unforgiven not forgiving someone from a stripy situation and so we're gonna lift those those people up be thinking about it you know and just quickly how can you do this during communion I know ye Bill Johnson does this in communion you know there's two chapters in the Bible on communion first Corinthians 10:16 first of all I'm just want to show you I'm going to read you one scripture here the cup of blessing of wine at the Lord's Supper I'll just read the first line I'd say we're talking about communion wouldn't you and you can find all around there there's scriptures on communion the whole next chapters on communion when we're talking about in context let's go to verse 13 the second paragraph I can't read it all it's talking about sin every type of sin every type of temptation everything you deal with are you tempted to not forgive absolutely you're tempted to not forgive I'm looking for the second the second slide on this I'll just pick up right in the middle it says but with the temptation he will also provide the way out next next next slide the way out the means of escape he's gonna provide a landing place a landing place all right a way of escape out of this what do we need bitterness and I think it's interesting that it's right in there with the scriptures on communion do you get what I'm saying communion why would God do communion as we could all have a tradition and examine all the things we need to change in our lives no jesus said jesus said as often as you do this remember me remember me it's health its wholeness it renews your youth and it's a way of escape not the only way but let's use it today can we use this this tool God has given us now listen as we take it now I know some of your standing but can we just have I know you're doing that out of honor to the Lord but I need to do something here can we just have everyone sit down because I was like this is what we did last night it just came out of me if we could just have everyone sit down if you have bitterness in your heart and you need to declare to the devil I am NOT starting the year like this I'm getting rid of you I need you to stand right now that's what you're doing when you're stand there standing and acknowledging it's not so everybody can say oh he's got Wow he's got no I got it I deal with it that's half the reason I'm preaching it and so this is we're all taking care of this right here right now okay can I say - yes communion is to me the ultimate expression of his love for me I feel like I just have one theme but it just it is well we want that thing that's a good thing because I'm not a roll of Abul guy no I love you know I think mark Hankins says you know the blood is this liquid love I mean that's how we're able to do this is because of the love that was appropriated to us through the shedding of the blood on the cross through the stripes that he bore and by doing this in communion we're reminding ourselves even he loved us this much and by taking communion this is what we're doing yeah I mean you're gonna get bulk both sides from us always I'm into war and fighting back and stepping on the devil and she's into love okay so you're always gonna get to sides with us right you're gonna get both sides but listen so we've thought right we thought of who it might not even be people it might be an organization it might be God himself you might need to forgive yourself you might need to forgive your stuff you might I know there's people bitter against themselves you got to let it go you're living in the past you won't be able to move forward and so father we just we lift this up to you we lift these people up to you these organizations we lift these things up to you and what as we did not deserve forgiveness that same forgiveness you gave us allows us to have the same mercy you have for these people Lord let us have the same mercy towards them help us to forgive these people we want to forgive these people take this blackness out of our heart towards them we pray they would lack nothing in life that they would have everything they need whether if its finances favor open doors we pray for their children that you would blessed him that their grandchildren you would bless them and we thank you for forgiving us Lord we thank you for your mercy and for undeserved favor and he took the bread and he broke it and he said take eat this is my body which was broken for you as often as you do this do this in remembrance of me [Music] unit says the chastisement of our peace was on him our peace being punished was on him on the cross what punishes peace bitterness he took it and hung on that cross for six hours he took the cup and he said this cup is the new covenant cutting my blood as often as you drink it drink it in remembrance of me [Music] we thank you Father for the gift of forgiveness we receive it now we release these people these organizations even you or ourselves we release it right now by the power of the blood of Jesus in the name of Jesus Christ amen amen amen

Channel: Living Word Christian Center

Views: 3,369

Rating: 4.7866669 out of 5

Keywords: Living Word, Mac Hammond, Lynne Hammond, Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, Minneapolis, Faith, Grace, Jim Hammond, Jamey Hammond, Vision, Word of Faith, Love, God's Love, You Are Blessed, Jesus, Healing, Church, Sermon, Online Church, Bitterness, waters, drinking

Id: aeVg6sSsZhI

Length: 60min 58sec (3658 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 07 2019