The Root of Bitterness

[Music] hello this is David Igor Hernandez and you're watching Spirit Church here on the encounter TV network I'm gonna minister a word right now it's going to challenge your heart and I want you to be open and say to the Lord search me O God as we explore these truths this is important now because now more than ever we need to be spiritually prepared and we must get rid of every root of bitterness the first Stephen moctezuma's here with me he's going to lead you in some very anointed worship and then we're getting right into this message here Stephen Moctezuma [Music] [Music] Oh Oh [Music] Rissa [Music] [Music] in the present Oh [Music] Prince of trust [Music] [Music] in Oh [Music] in the present ooh [Music] [Music] Fraser Travis Vinnie [Music] some [Music] in the [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] bitterness is something that goes deep into the heart and affects everything about you now the thing about bitterness is people who are bitter often don't recognize that they actually are bitter be it some interaction that caused them to feel pain or be it some rejection that they felt from someone they loved bitterness can find its way into the heart through many different things and again I want to emphasize this people who are bitter do not know that they are bitter I'm not saying that to scare you I'm not saying that everybody's bitter and they just don't know it I'm simply saying that I think somewhere deep inside the people who are holding unforgiveness know that they're holding unforgiveness but the deception of the flesh keeps them from acknowledging this truth and working to get rid of this deeply rooted darkness so as I said this can occur in our everyday interaction maybe someone in the church hurt you and you no longer attend church maybe someone in your family made a comment that you took a certain way and you've disconnected from your family or perhaps you had a friendship that was thriving and that God was using to influence your spiritual life and maybe they weren't there for you in the way that you thought they should be or maybe they didn't come through for you in the way that you thought they should have come through for you regardless of how bitterness got in bitterness will corrupt you bitterness will destroy you and so I want to take a look at the scripture here right now and I want to show you some simple truths regarding bitterness number one bitterness is a root Hebrews chapter 12 verse 15 says look after each other so that none of you fails to receive the grace of God watch out that no poisonous root of bitterness grows up to trouble you corrupting many again that's hebrews chapter 12 verse 15 bitterness is called a root because bitterness once it gets in begins to produce all kinds of fruits of sin bitterness produces anger bitterness produces rage bitterness produces mindsets that isolate us and I'll tell you this once that root has set in that root begins to corrupt and choke the life out of everything around it maybe you felt your spiritual strength waning perhaps you feel isolated disconnected in a darker place than you've ever been before maybe you might feel justified in being offended with an individual or justified in the fact that you've left a church and there are some situations where you should cut some people off but then this is why we must search our hearts isn't it this is why we must consider each situation for what it is and we must be open to the idea that maybe there might be some root of bitterness in us and we cannot become defensive we cannot become defensive because as soon as we become defensive any truth that comes to us we reject immediately because we don't want to deal with the issue now the other day if I'm being honest with you I'm not much of a cook okay I can't cook anything my wife tries to teach me we have nights where I'll be in the kitchen and she'll try to teach me it's not one of my spiritual gifts okay and no it's not a spiritual gift I'm just joking but I must be honest with you don't ask me how but I burned my hand making oatmeal and I remember I burnt my hand there was this certain part of my hand that was very very very sensitive I didn't I I didn't even realize how badly I had burned myself until someone went to shake my hand and when they shook my hand I felt the pain immediately my reaction was to pull away because of that sharp pain that I felt pulsing through my hand I didn't realize I was burned that bad until someone tried to shake my hand many of us are like this spiritually we don't realize how hurt we are until someone tries to get close again we don't realize how hurt we are until we're challenged to reconnect we don't realize how hurt we are until we're challenged to free and then when someone touches upon that area of pain the first reaction pullback don't touch me get away that's why bitterness produces defensiveness and if you are defensive lower that defense I don't want to be insensitive because I know there's someone watching me who has every right to be angry every right to be hurt every right to never want to talk to another human being again I understand that but may the Holy Spirit rescue you from that isolation may the Holy Spirit bring you to the place to recognize that you are strong enough to face what you need to face often when we don't confront something it can never be healed when we are defensive we prevent our own healing and again I emphasize to you this is why we must lower our defenses so I'm coming to you as someone who loves you in the spirit as someone who's ministering the Word of God to you because of that love and I want to make this clear it's time now to lower the defense I know I know I know it's a scary thing I know it can cause you to be reminded of the times you've been hurt but I want to challenge you today to break out of this prison now you've been a prisoner long enough and it's time to come out of bitterness and step into the love of the Holy Spirit so number one bitterness is a route remember it produces all kinds of darkness in our lives number two bitterness and anger our partners anger is a manifestation of bitterness but that doesn't mean all anger is rooted in bitterness Ephesians chapter four verse 31 says get rid of all bitterness rage anger harsh words and slander as well as all types of evil behavior anger is often an attempt to protect yourself from being hurt again and by demonstrating those acts of anger you are doing things that you know push people away because you do not want to be approached because you do want to be hurt get rid of all bitterness rage anger harsh words harsh words harsh words harsh words are a manifestation of bitterness slander is a manifestation of bitterness you know when you're hurt you want everyone to know the story you want everyone to believe that the one who hurts you is bad you know it's bitterness when you can't just deal with it personally you know it's bitterness when you have to go around warning people oh that person's like this and you want everybody to hate the person that you hate you want everybody to be angry with the person with whom you have issues wanting them to take sides hoping that they'll be loyal to you whispering about these people that's an act of bitterness so number one bitterness is a rout number two bitterness and anger are partners number three bitterness pollutes your spiritual life James chapter 3 verses 7 through 11 say people contain all kinds of animals birds reptiles and fish but no one contained the tongue it is restless and evil full of deadly poison sometimes it praises our Lord and father and sometimes it curses those who have been made in the image of God and so blessing and cursing come pouring out of the same mouth surely my brothers and sisters this is not right does a spring of water bubble out with both fresh water and bitter water does a fig tree produce olives or a great buying produce figs no and you can't draw fresh water from a salty spring again that's James chapter 3 verses 7 to 11 bitterness wants to hang on to the issue won't let it go and bitterness doesn't want to believe anything good about the person who offended them now I understand as I said earlier that there are instances where you have every right to be bitter and I'm going to show you how to deal with that in a moment - but more often than not bitterness comes about not because of an experience but because of your interpretation of an experience you see once you've been hurt now you have you have to really get this because this is so key and and this is how bitterness can become detrimental once you've been hurt once you've faced an issue where you've been hurt in your soul in your emotions then you begin to see things through the lens of that hurt I'll give you an example and this is a trivial example and I'm by no means trying to trivialize what you might be facing but you need to hear this this is just an example of how bitterness works situations may vary and situations may often be more serious than what I'm about to say but imagine that somebody who grew up facing rejection their whole life comes to church and as they're walking into the church an individual doesn't shake their hand or greet them properly now any other individual in that situation would say okay maybe they're having a bad day or oh well if that's how they want to be that's how they want to be that's on them but an individual who's suffered rejection after rejection after rejection is going to face that situation with a much different perspective because they've been hurt by rejection so often they now have a lens through which they see everything and when that individual doesn't greet them properly or doesn't shake their hand properly or isn't projecting a kind' tone then that person is gonna take it as this person hates me this person's mean this I don't like this individual and what what happens from that point on is they make an initial judgement you know that people who make judgments based upon first impressions usually have an issue with bitterness in other words if their first impression of you is that they don't like you and that's it that you're stuck in that category of people they don't like that's a bitterness issue that's because of past hurt that's because they've grown to have that defense because of something they faced in the past now they keep that filter on so no matter what anybody does now that filter is there now now watch this that same individual in that church and I'm not talking about anyone in particular which is why I'm using a trivial example now say for example after having that encounter that hurt is agitated that soul wound is agitated now it's no longer that person it's this church and then it stops being that church and it goes to being this pastor or that group or all Christians and it begins to form our perspective so if you've had one bad encounter that one bad encounter can hurt you to the point to where you're carrying around this lens through which you see all things and no matter what is actually happening you will always interpret that situation as something that's against you that's why I say that when we have these experiences they cause us to carry these hurts now your experience is not always the issue it's often how you interpret these experiences and then what happens is you begin to build a case against people everything they do now is judge more harshly than anything else anyone else does and then that piles on and that makes that lens and that judgment much more harsh and then no matter what they do even when they begin to do kind things for you even when they reach out to you even when they do something that's loving it doesn't matter because all things that you see in them are now seen through that lens and no matter what they do or say it's gonna be twisted against them it's gonna be twisted in a way where it makes them look negative because bitterness tries to hang on it pollutes your spiritual life it chokes out your joy it chokes out your peace it chokes out your love it takes away your gentleness and now what begins to happen is as that bitterness begins to grow that lens becomes more powerful and everything becomes interpreted through that lens remember again it's not your experience that causes bitterness it's your interpretation of the experience as well as what you choose to do with the experience and yes there are instances please hear me very clear that there are instances where people have done things to hurt you maybe a spiritual leader hurt you maybe a friend hurt you may be a family member hurt you and it's so easy at that point to just give up call it quits but we have to learn to take this lens off number four bitterness disrupt friendships proverbs chapter 17 verse 9 says love prospers when a fault is forgiven but dwelling on it separates close friends it can destroy your friendships which brings further isolation which agitates the wound which makes that lens more powerful now watch this pattern because it begins to become something that overtakes your entire life when that bitterness is allowed into your heart you see as I said through a lens when you see through that lens now you develop anger to protect yourself and when you develop that anger to protect yourself watch this now it goes from just that defensiveness to now an attack now you attack your friends you attack your loved ones you attack everyone around you you attack whatever it is you hold bitterness against you attack because now that's another layer of safety that you've created for yourself so instead of just protecting yourself from it through defensiveness instead of just isolating yourself through anger now you're attacking through accusation you see when it comes to our own mistakes we demand mercy when it comes to the mistakes of others we demand revenge when somebody hurts you like that you want them to to fill the pain and the guilt of that mistaken you never want to take it off of them because here's the truth somewhere deep in the soul you believe by keeping them under guilt you're keeping them under control and by keeping them under control you prevent them from ever hurting you again so now it goes from that defensiveness to the anger that brings isolation to the attack and then the guilt that you want to hold over them because now you control your world around you with guilt and you cause others to to be very careful and if people have to walk around you like they're on eggshells everything's very sensitive they don't want they're afraid of what they might say around you there's an issue there but see you've created that environment around you because of the bitterness now number five and this is the final point on bitterness and I want to show you what the Bible says about getting free number five bitterness disrupts your relay ship with God mark chapter 11 verse 25 says but when you are praying first forgive anyone you are holding a grudge against so that your father in heaven will forgive your sins to forgiveness is a river the moment you stop stop letting it flow out from you you stop it from flowing to you and the forgiveness of God can no longer flow through you and it becomes a reservoir which becomes polluted a river remains fresh because it's constantly flowing but when you stop that river of God's forgiveness in your life because you're not releasing it the same way you're receiving it it becomes backed up it becomes static water it does not move and that static water becomes polluted let the river flow through you receive forgiveness from God and release forgiveness to your loved ones now of course if somebody is repeatedly doing things that offend you and they're cruel to you and they're maybe maybe you're they're taking advantage of you in ways they shouldn't be taking advantage of you perhaps they're using you for your finances they're using you for your connections whatever the case may be obviously there are some unhealthy people with which we are to disconnect but I'm talking about the believer who is stuck in isolation or even in anger maybe you are connected to people but you've all kind of gathered around and you have your little angry group and you're all very bitter with everyone else that's dangerous too if you're united with them in bitterness those relationships too will eventually become bitter now I want to talk to you about getting free the cure for this bitterness Ephesians chapter 4 verse 32 instead be kind to each other tender-hearted forgiving one another just as God through Christ has forgiven you now how does God forgive me that's Ephesians chapter 4 verse 32 how does God forgive me God forgives me again and again and again and again now I want to emphasize once more that if someone is intentionally taking advantage of you that's a different story but if someone has an issue in their own heart and they're working through it or someone has a hurt themselves or bitterness themselves obviously you want to then work through that but we ought to forgive others as God has forgiven us through Christ the Colossians chapter 3 verse 13 I love this verse make allowance for each other's faults and allowance is something you do beforehand make allowance for each other's faults and forgive anyone who offends you even the word forgive before anything happens give them that grace before anything happens before give them the grace forgiveness it's forbearance in other words it takes place before forgiveness it's not something that occurs after someone has offended me forgiveness is my state of being forgiveness is not something that happens after someone has wronged me forgiveness is a predisposition it's a condition of the heart so that when offense does come I've already given that allowance they already have something there you know people often talk about overdraft fees from their bank account it's because there wasn't enough in the account to cover the balance we ought to make allowance for each other's faults in other words carry enough in the relationship account to cover the balance of any withdrawal they might make through an offense and if I have enough in that account then they can make some withdrawals my friends have some some good deposits made and so when they offend me or hurt me you know what I say you know I don't worry they have they have enough in the account to cover that and how much should we put in that account well the Bible says this in Matthew chapter 18 verses 21 through 22 then Peter came to him and asked Lord how often should I forgive someone who sins against me seven times no not seven times jesus replied but seventy times seven and they're not he's not just talking about in general he was talking about in any given day seventy times seven so if they offend me I forgive them seventy times seven even in one day the same way Christ forgives me I ought to forgive others now I want to finish reading Colossians 3:13 just real quickly what's this make allowance for each other's faults and forgive anyone who offends you remember here we go this is key remember the Lord forgave you so you must forgive others you absolutely must bitterness seeks revenge forgiveness seeks reconciliation bitterness to prove a point notice I'm not gonna forgive them until they get what they did I'm not gonna forgive them until they acknowledge that my philosophy is it's witty to forgive faster than they can apologize when Jesus was being crucified What did he say Father forgive them for they know not what they do he didn't say I'll pray that later because right now they're sending against me right now they're crucifying me so I'll wait until they come to me and apologize and then oh no no What did he say Father forgive them now for they know not what they do forgive them now even before they ask for forgiveness now I'm not making any implications on the salvation theology of course we know that repentance is a part of forgiveness but as it goes with one another we are to have this forbearance forgive faster than they can apologize you're stronger than you think you are you can forgive bitterness is a prison it's time to come out of that prison so I'm gonna pray with you right now and I'm gonna ask the Lord to help you to release not wait for the apology not wait for them to understand what they did wrong to you not wait for them to pay for their mistakes this is this is not the biblical way when we forgive one another in the church we're just to cover each other love covers a multitude of sins Christ is the Advocate Satan is the accuser don't do his job for him don't do the job of the accuser don't accuse instead forgive forgive forgive forgive now believer it's time to reconnect maybe you've disconnected from people because you've had disagreements or because you didn't see eye-to-eye on something or maybe you've had disagreements because of maybe a mistake they made we need each other in the body of Christ and I know it's difficult but it's time to forgive and be reconciled so I want you to pray this friend say father say it with me watching Lehren I want you to say say father help me to forgive I want you to say their name after I say for you to say father help me to forgive and then say their name Lola we pray you give them the grace release them from that prison the name of Jesus my one should say because she believed say Amen look someone said someone might say well wait you're not gonna pray any longer than that look the Holy Spirit can do more in one second than you and I can do in hours and hours of striving and I believe this forgiveness is a decision it's not a feeling it's a decision it's a decision to act as if that offense never took place and you may you may still feel something in your heart but God will heal that as you choose to forgive pray for the one who hurt you love those who come against you that is it for the lesson I want to welcome now the new members of Spirit Church there you are up on the screen we love you we are praying for you I always say that because I always mean it if you like information on how you can join the Spirit family now almost 15,000 members strong spirits almost 15,000 members from all around the world go to David Hernandez ministries.com / spirit church it's 100 percent free to join go and join the spirit family today and now to your comments these comments are from last week's teaching angels heavenly beings no that was quite an interesting teaching I had a lot of fun teaching it I talked about the different classes of angels I talked about even a little bit concerning the origin of fallen angels and what exactly happened there in the heavenly realm when those angels were cast down you're absolutely going to enjoy that lesson go and check it out and while you're at it be sure to subscribe if you're watching here on the encounter TV youtube channel click the subscribe button and don't forget to click that notification bell and if you possibly and you want me to possibly read your comments on next week's edition of Spirit Church go ahead and leave a comment in the comment section right now here are the comments again from last week's teaching angels heavenly beings pria Scott writes Stephens voice is very anointed every time I listen to his voice during worship I feel the Holy Spirit you know I often heard people say that Stephen sounds like what they imagined a Seraphim would sound like we want to know what a Seraphim is make sure you watch this teaching build up comments amen love the e-courses I wish you your team and family all the best of luck while they're talking about the new Holy Spirit school calm 100% free bible education program you can actually begin taking the course right now by going to Holy Spirit school calm Jesus flame comments that man angel disappeared that's very mysterious and exciting at the same time today I've signed up for Holy Spirit School Jesus flame is talking about a story I told about what I think was actually my encounter with an angelic being again that's on last week's teaching and the final commenter chunga rights to be honest you and Steven are just God sent to my life I really had struggles with putting my spiritual life together I recently joined and since then I have realized there are no other places I want to be than in the presence of Jesus after a few days of joining and going through most of your videos my life has changed in a way I can't even explain everything about your channel feels like home I am already addicted to the channel and I'm hoping to catch up with all the videos that were posted before I joined may God continue blessing you with more wisdom you are loved well thank you chinga for writing in to us and this is just one example of lives that are being being impacted from all around the world we're talking nations of the world are being changed I want to challenge you to do 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Channel: David Diga Hernandez

Views: 72,377

Keywords: roots of bitterness, how to deal with bitterness, how to deal with anger, why am i angry, anger management, bitterness sermon, anger sermon, sermons on anger, sermons on bitterness, sermons on forgiveness, forgiveness, how many times should I forgive someone, what does the bible say about anger, what does the bible say about bitterness, what does the bible say about forgiving someone, what did jesus say about forgiveness, forgiving someone who hurt you, how to forgive

Id: lT14QHvmE4U

Length: 35min 24sec (2124 seconds)

Published: Mon Jun 08 2020