Latest / Apostle Lazarus Femi / The Root Of Bitterness part 1
Transcript
- 0:02Speaker 1: Apostle Femi Lazarus is a man raised by God to
- 0:06Speaker 1: demonstrate his wisdom and authority to the last day church.
- 0:10Speaker 1: He is the lead pastor of Sphere of Light Church
- 0:13Speaker 1: and God told him years ago that a time will
- 0:16Speaker 1: come where my wisdom will be needed to navigate tough
- 0:19Speaker 1: times in the body of Christ. Then I will cause
- 0:23Speaker 1: your voice to be heard and all who pay attention
- 0:27Speaker 1: to my word on your lips will not lack light
- 0:31Speaker 1: and direction. He is a man sent from God, sent
- 0:35Speaker 1: to raise God's end time hours. With Apostle Fermi Lazarus,
- 0:40Speaker 1: every minute counts as you listen attentively.
- 0:45Speaker 2: Glory to God.
- 0:46Speaker 3: Now one thing I want you to do as you
- 0:51Speaker 3: listen to the word this morning is that don't be distracted.
- 0:56Speaker 2: Listen carefully.
- 0:58Speaker 3: Some things might come as joke, but understand that it
- 1:03Speaker 3: is the word of God to you. And I believe
- 1:05Speaker 3: strongly that you're going to receive your word this morning.
- 1:08Speaker 2: In Jesus' name.
- 1:09Speaker 4: Hallelujah.
- 1:11Speaker 3: So, Father, Lord, I pray that I don't just speak
- 1:15Speaker 3: of myself, but you speak through me this morning, oh God. Lord,
- 1:21Speaker 3: I pray, Lord Jesus, that you divide every word into
- 1:24Speaker 3: pieces and you spread it across this auditorium and to
- 1:29Speaker 3: everybody connected to this meeting in the name of Jesus.
- 1:33Speaker 2: I declare over.
- 1:34Speaker 3: Your people, oh God, that the highest of their understanding
- 1:38Speaker 3: is enlightened in the name of Jesus. You will do
- 1:42Speaker 3: what you only can do, even in our midst today,
- 1:46Speaker 3: in Jesus' mighty name. Amen.
- 1:48Speaker 2: Hallelujah.
- 1:50Speaker 3: So you agree with me that an average Nigerian is
- 1:53Speaker 3: an angry person, right? You go on the streets. Somebody
- 1:58Speaker 3: looks at you from ear to toe. You've never met
- 1:59Speaker 3: this person before. They look at you from ear to
- 2:02Speaker 3: toe and they're looking at you hungrily. And you're looking
- 2:04Speaker 3: at yourself. Did I pour my body?
- 2:07Speaker 2: What is going on? Why is this person acting? Why
- 2:08Speaker 2: is this person looking at me this way?
- 2:11Speaker 3: Or maybe you went to do something, maybe in a bank.
- 2:14Speaker 3: And then the person that was supposed to attend to
- 2:16Speaker 3: you is looking at you in a way.
- 2:18Speaker 2: Or responded to you in a particular way. And you're wondering, why?
- 2:21Speaker 3: Why?
- 2:21Speaker 2: Why? Like, what did I throw? What did you give?
- 2:24Speaker 3: Like, where I come from, they will say, meaning that,
- 2:28Speaker 3: you know, you said something and then the response you
- 2:32Speaker 3: got is not what.
- 2:33Speaker 2: You were expecting. Am I right?
- 2:36Speaker 3: A lot of people, people are going through a lot
- 2:38Speaker 3: these days and then they hacked from there.
- 2:43Speaker 2: People are hurt.
- 2:45Speaker 3: They've refused to, you know, come into a place of forgiveness.
- 2:49Speaker 3: Maybe somebody hurt them. or, you know, an institution ought them,
- 2:54Speaker 3: or it was something that happened.
- 2:57Speaker 2: Maybe it was not even a person. Maybe it was
- 3:00Speaker 2: a circumstance, something that happened, an event that happened.
- 3:03Speaker 3: And every time they keep remembering that, and in everything
- 3:07Speaker 3: they do, comes out from that depth of bitterness. Have
- 3:13Speaker 3: you ever wondered why... Okay, let me use Apostle's video
- 3:19Speaker 3: for instance. We'll post a video online. And of course,
- 3:24Speaker 3: you know that this video is not addressing anybody in particular.
- 3:27Speaker 3: But by the time you go into the comment session,
- 3:29Speaker 3: you see, I do tell people that when you see
- 3:31Speaker 3: a content online, you've not enjoyed it. Go to the
- 3:34Speaker 3: comment session. You will see how people are thinking. And
- 3:37Speaker 3: then you see somebody in the comment session that took
- 3:40Speaker 3: ease or time to analyze the video. Like the person
- 3:44Speaker 3: talking in the video was talking directly to them.
- 3:48Speaker 2: And I'm wondering, wait a minute. This is a public.
- 3:53Speaker 4: Address.
- 3:54Speaker 3: Nobody knows your name. We don't know your address. Let's say,
- 3:58Speaker 3: for instance, let's say the video is addressing us. And
- 4:01Speaker 3: this person comes to the comment section today.
- 4:02Speaker 2: You don't know my story. Why would you be talking
- 4:06Speaker 2: this way? I'm like, excuse me, why? What is going
- 4:10Speaker 2: on here? Nobody mentioned your name.
- 4:13Speaker 3: You were not addressed. So why are you taking it personally?
- 4:19Speaker 3: We can't really blame such people. And maybe you're here
- 4:23Speaker 3: and then, you know, you can see that, oh, I
- 4:25Speaker 3: think I hacked this way as well.
- 4:27Speaker 2: We can't blame them.
- 4:28Speaker 3: Because most of the time, where they're hacking from is
- 4:31Speaker 3: a place of hot and bitterness.
- 4:33Speaker 2: And that's why God is bringing this to us this morning.
- 4:36Speaker 4: Hallelujah.
- 4:38Speaker 3: Something has happened to you in the past. And then
- 4:41Speaker 3: you keep reminding yourself. Because a lot of time, the
- 4:44Speaker 3: memory is fading away. But you keep reminding yourself. you
- 4:48Speaker 3: will try to sit down and to analyze the story again,
- 4:52Speaker 3: even the things you've forgotten. I know you can relate
- 4:53Speaker 3: with what I'm saying. Somebody says something to you three
- 4:56Speaker 3: years ago, and you keep, maybe you even wrote it down.
- 5:00Speaker 3: You know, there was a time I was in a
- 5:01Speaker 3: counseling session with a couple, and then the husband brought
- 5:04Speaker 3: out a journal and said to me everything the wife said,
- 5:09Speaker 3: the time.
- 5:10Speaker 2: The date, the year. It was that detailed. So I
- 5:14Speaker 2: was wondering why. Why?
- 5:17Speaker 3: So a lot of times you see yourself doing something.
- 5:20Speaker 3: You see yourself reacting in a way. You see yourself
- 5:23Speaker 3: talking in a way. You see yourself addressing somebody or
- 5:26Speaker 3: a set of people in a way. And you don't
- 5:29Speaker 3: really know why you're acting that way. Maybe somebody is there.
- 5:32Speaker 3: Maybe you've been hurt by the church. And then every
- 5:35Speaker 3: time you go to the gathering of brethren, what you're
- 5:38Speaker 3: always looking for is fault. Like somebody can be here
- 5:41Speaker 3: this morning and then everything we've.
- 5:43Speaker 2: Been doing, what are they doing? Are they dancing? You're
- 5:46Speaker 2: looking for faults.
- 5:48Speaker 3: And let me say this to you that there's no
- 5:50Speaker 3: church that you get to that if you're looking for faults,
- 5:52Speaker 3: you will see faults.
- 5:54Speaker 2: You will see.
- 5:56Speaker 3: So a lot of times you're acting from what you
- 5:59Speaker 3: don't know where you're acting from. You just see yourself
- 6:02Speaker 3: acting in a particular way and you don't know. Maybe
- 6:05Speaker 3: you've not even thought about it.
- 6:07Speaker 2: In this line before. But I'm here to tell you
- 6:10Speaker 2: this morning that God is intentional about you. He wants
- 6:13Speaker 2: you to heal. Hallelujah.
- 6:14Speaker 4: Hallelujah.
- 6:16Speaker 3: He wants you to come to a place of renewing
- 6:18Speaker 3: and blossoming. He wants you to be a gracious person.
- 6:22Speaker 3: That irrespective of what you've been through in life or
- 6:25Speaker 3: what they've said to you or the experiences you've had,
- 6:28Speaker 3: you can be sweet. Hello? You can be a sweet person.
- 6:34Speaker 3: That when people come around you, they can, why is
- 6:36Speaker 3: she so sweet?
- 6:38Speaker 2: Why is this so sweet?
- 6:40Speaker 3: That they can't even relate it to your nationality.
- 6:46Speaker 2: Amen.
- 6:48Speaker 3: All right, so join me to the book of Hebrews
- 6:50Speaker 3: chapter 12, verse 14 to 15. I would like to
- 6:55Speaker 3: read from KJV and NIV. All right, so KJV says,
- 7:00Speaker 3: it says, follow peace with all men and holiness without
- 7:06Speaker 3: which no man shall see the Lord. See to it
- 7:11Speaker 3: that no one falls short of the grace of God.
- 7:16Speaker 2: And that no.
- 7:17Speaker 3: Bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defy many.
- 7:24Speaker 4: Hallelujah.
- 7:26Speaker 2: That's a naive view.
- 7:27Speaker 3: Now, KJV Translator says, Follow peace with all men and holiness,
- 7:31Speaker 3: without which no man shall see the Lord. Looking diligently,
- 7:36Speaker 3: lest any man fail of the grace of God, lest
- 7:41Speaker 3: any roots of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby
- 7:48Speaker 3: many be defied.
- 7:49Speaker 2: Follow me to Ephesians chapter 4.
- 7:57Speaker 3: Ephesians 4 verse 31.
- 8:01Speaker 2: Let's just read 31. Can we read together? Are you there? Hello?
- 8:07Speaker 2: Are you there? Let's read together. One, two, go.
- 8:15Speaker 3: Anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from
- 8:19Speaker 3: you with all malice.
- 8:21Speaker 2: Hallelujah.
- 8:22Speaker 3: So I'm going to be defining what bitterness is. You know,
- 8:27Speaker 3: I've shared, I've given you different pictures just for you
- 8:32Speaker 3: to understand, to come to the understanding of what we're
- 8:34Speaker 3: trying to talk about here. So bitterness is the hurt
- 8:38Speaker 3: buried for a long time without addressing. So somebody have
- 8:43Speaker 3: hurt you and then you refuse to address it.
- 8:48Speaker 2: It is there.
- 8:49Speaker 3: Don't ever think that something is an experience you had
- 8:52Speaker 3: sometime in your life or whatever anybody did to you.
- 8:55Speaker 3: Don't ever think that it is gone if you don't
- 8:58Speaker 3: address it. So bitterness is a heart buried for a
- 9:03Speaker 3: long time. It's a heart buried for a long time.
- 9:09Speaker 2: All right. And how does bitterness begin? It begins with
- 9:11Speaker 2: a seed of hearts.
- 9:13Speaker 3: Somebody looked at you in a way that you didn't appreciate.
- 9:17Speaker 2: That's a seed. Somebody said something to.
- 9:20Speaker 3: You, used vulgar words or abused you in a way.
- 9:26Speaker 2: That's a seed. You were raped. That's a seed. You
- 9:30Speaker 2: were abused. That's a seed.
- 9:34Speaker 3: You expected somebody to react in a particular way and
- 9:37Speaker 3: they reacted in direct opposite of what you were expecting.
- 9:41Speaker 2: That is a seed. So it begins from the seed
- 9:45Speaker 2: of hot. Hallelujah. It begins from where? The seed of hot.
- 9:52Speaker 3: So the enemy tries to, you know, sow the seeds
- 9:56Speaker 3: in your life, in your heart. So it says, And
- 10:01Speaker 3: the ground upon which this seed is dropping.
- 10:04Speaker 2: Is your heart. Are you seeing that? The seed, the ground.
- 10:11Speaker 2: The seed is what? Come on, talk to me. The
- 10:14Speaker 2: seed is what?
- 10:15Speaker 3: Hearts.
- 10:16Speaker 2: The ground is what?
- 10:18Speaker 4: Your heart. Hearts.
- 10:20Speaker 2: So somebody did something, you receive it.
- 10:22Speaker 3: You know why growing up, my dad would tell us that,
- 10:24Speaker 3: you know, if somebody hurts you, if.
- 10:27Speaker 2: They ask for forgiveness, forgive them. If they don't ask
- 10:29Speaker 2: for forgiveness, forgive them. If they don't feel remorse, forgive them.
- 10:34Speaker 2: If they never come to you for forgiveness, throw forgiveness
- 10:38Speaker 2: at them.
- 10:39Speaker 5: Why?
- 10:39Speaker 3: Because it is not about, it's less about the person
- 10:42Speaker 3: that has hurt you, it's more about you.
- 10:45Speaker 2: Because the enemy you are playing with is not playing
- 10:47Speaker 2: with you.
- 10:48Speaker 3: And he wants to, he's always looking for loopholes in
- 10:53Speaker 3: the life of the children of God. He's always looking
- 10:56Speaker 3: for what he can do, how he can come in, into.
- 11:01Speaker 2: Your life.
- 11:02Speaker 3: He's always trying, he's always looking. That's why the scripture
- 11:05Speaker 3: says that the enemy comes to steal, to kill, and
- 11:07Speaker 3: to destroy. He has not come to give you anything good.
- 11:10Speaker 3: All he wants to do is to mess you up.
- 11:14Speaker 2: So he uses people.
- 11:16Speaker 3: To hurt you, to make you feel, you know, bad.
- 11:20Speaker 3: And then if you don't address that hurt, it will
- 11:24Speaker 3: now begin to grow into other things. And I call
- 11:27Speaker 3: it chain reaction.
- 11:28Speaker 2: Amen. So if you're a science student here, hallelujah. Science student, hallelujah.
- 11:36Speaker 2: So what is chain reaction?
- 11:38Speaker 3: Chain reaction is a sequence of reaction where a byproduct
- 11:43Speaker 3: causes additional reactions to take place. It causes additional reactions,
- 11:49Speaker 3: you know, to take place. And that's why Ephesians 4.
- 11:53Speaker 3: So this is where the chain reaction is. Give me
- 11:55Speaker 3: Ephesians 4 again.
- 11:56Speaker 2: Ephesians 4, 31.
- 12:00Speaker 3: Please follow me closely. This is the chain reaction. It says,
- 12:04Speaker 3: let all bitterness. Somebody say bitterness. Now, it started from bitterness,
- 12:08Speaker 3: and I'm sure that's very intentional. It says, let all
- 12:12Speaker 3: bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking
- 12:20Speaker 3: be put away from you with all malice.
- 12:23Speaker 2: Now, let's follow the trend. You've been hurt.
- 12:26Speaker 3: Maybe your dad said something to you. And then, you know,
- 12:32Speaker 3: the hurt came into your heart. And then you begin
- 12:35Speaker 3: to get hungry.
- 12:36Speaker 2: You're hungry. Everybody's asking you, what's going on? Are you okay?
- 12:39Speaker 5: Okay.
- 12:42Speaker 2: Are you fine? What's up? You're very hungry.
- 12:45Speaker 3: Now he moves from you being hungry to you begin
- 12:48Speaker 3: to say negative things, evil speaking. Now you begin to
- 12:52Speaker 3: say things that you don't mean, but you mean.
- 12:57Speaker 2: At that moment.
- 12:58Speaker 3: Have you ever been in an argument with somebody and then,
- 13:02Speaker 3: you know, maybe the best.
- 13:05Speaker 4: All right.
- 13:06Speaker 2: All right.
- 13:07Speaker 3: You know, and you know, you are just saying things.
- 13:10Speaker 3: And you know that what you're saying, it's not like
- 13:11Speaker 3: you mean it. But you mean it at that moment.
- 13:16Speaker 3: I guess what I'm saying.
- 13:17Speaker 2: If you've ever been in a strong argument, you get
- 13:20Speaker 2: what I'm saying.
- 13:21Speaker 3: You mean it at that moment, but you don't mean it.
- 13:24Speaker 2: Then it moves to malice. And what is malice?
- 13:27Speaker 3: What's the definition of malice? Let me read what malice
- 13:29Speaker 3: is to you. Malice is a desire towards someone. It
- 13:33Speaker 3: moves from you speaking negative things, you know, trying to
- 13:36Speaker 3: pull the other person down, to trying to hurt them.
- 13:40Speaker 3: That's when you see couples or couples that are fighting, right?
- 13:43Speaker 2: Gradually, you know, the energy is building.
- 13:46Speaker 4: It's building.
- 13:46Speaker 3: It's forming, you know, other sequence, right? They started with,
- 13:50Speaker 3: why would you do that? Why would you talk to
- 13:51Speaker 3: me like that? Before you know what's happening, anger comes in.
- 13:55Speaker 3: Before you know what's happening, they begin to, you know,
- 13:58Speaker 3: say negative things to each other.
- 14:00Speaker 2: And it moves to, I will hurt you. I will
- 14:03Speaker 2: slap you. They can even throw things at each other.
- 14:06Speaker 2: Are you seeing the trend? So it is, when you're,
- 14:13Speaker 2: many times you feel like.
- 14:14Speaker 3: When something happens, you feel like, okay, it's just normal, right? No,
- 14:18Speaker 3: the enemy is not playing with you.
- 14:20Speaker 2: It has its pattern.
- 14:22Speaker 3: So you're not going to give space for the enemy
- 14:24Speaker 3: in your life. So when somebody asks you, what do
- 14:28Speaker 3: you do? See, number one, and I'm going to say this,
- 14:31Speaker 3: you know, from conflict resolution.
- 14:33Speaker 2: All right? At that time, it's not a time to talk.
- 14:37Speaker 3: Because you know that the things you say are the
- 14:39Speaker 3: things you don't mean, but you mean at the moment.
- 14:42Speaker 2: Is somebody with me?
- 14:43Speaker 3: That's not a time to talk. If you need to withdraw, withdraw.
- 14:47Speaker 2: And this is wisdom. Okay? Wait until you're calm. Right?
- 14:53Speaker 2: Then come back.
- 14:54Speaker 3: To have the conversation when you see that the both
- 14:57Speaker 3: of you are what? You're calm enough to have the conversation.
- 15:00Speaker 2: Hallelujah. So that's how it happens.
- 15:03Speaker 3: Gradually, you know, it moves from being hot, you become hungry,
- 15:10Speaker 3: you begin to say negative things about the person or,
- 15:13Speaker 3: you know, whatever, and then it moves to malice. Begin
- 15:16Speaker 3: to throw things at each other or maybe sometimes they
- 15:19Speaker 3: even beat, you know, punch each.
- 15:22Speaker 2: Other and everything. That's how it happens. Glory to God.
- 15:25Speaker 2: So it's a trend.
- 15:26Speaker 3: So it does not stop at, you know, the hot
- 15:29Speaker 3: most of the time. And that's why whenever you're hot,
- 15:32Speaker 3: you need to address it. Somebody turn to your neighbor
- 15:34Speaker 3: and say, address it.
- 15:37Speaker 2: Hello?
- 15:38Speaker 3: Turn to your neighbor and say, address it. You need
- 15:41Speaker 3: to address it. Because the enemy is not playing with you.
- 15:45Speaker 2: He wants to move.
- 15:46Speaker 3: He wants to take you on a journey. And this
- 15:48Speaker 3: is the journey. He wants to take you on a
- 15:51Speaker 3: journey gradually. And you will do things that even you
- 15:54Speaker 3: are wondering, how did I get here?
- 15:57Speaker 2: I'm not like this.
- 15:58Speaker 3: Why did I act that way towards this person? Why
- 16:02Speaker 3: did I say what I said?
- 16:03Speaker 2: I didn't mean it. Where did it come from? Glory
- 16:08Speaker 2: to God. So you have to understand that when you're hot,
- 16:19Speaker 2: address it. Give it time.
- 16:24Speaker 3: At that point, yes, you feel like talking. But you
- 16:28Speaker 3: should control yourself. And that's why the Holy Spirit helps
- 16:30Speaker 3: us Many times you want to say something and the
- 16:33Speaker 3: Holy Spirit asks you to keep quiet. Keep quiet. Just
- 16:36Speaker 3: keep quiet. Because the thing you're going to say, if
- 16:39Speaker 3: you don't keep quiet, you will chop stone. And I
- 16:42Speaker 3: know couples can relate to what I'm saying. You know?
- 16:46Speaker 2: You will chop stone. Just keep quiet. Take your time.
- 16:51Speaker 3: Forget about the issue for that moment. Let the both
- 16:56Speaker 3: of you go away and then come back to resolve
- 16:58Speaker 3: it when the both of you are calm.
- 17:00Speaker 2: Glory to God.
- 17:01Speaker 3: So never allow the enemy to take you on this journey.
- 17:06Speaker 3: Never allow the enemy to take you on this journey.
- 17:09Speaker 3: Never allow the enemy to take you on this journey.
- 17:12Speaker 2: Hallelujah.
- 17:13Speaker 3: So the seed, I've spoken about the seed, which is what?
- 17:17Speaker 4: Oats.
- 17:18Speaker 2: The ground where the seed is sown is what? Your heart.
- 17:26Speaker 2: And the fruits of the seeds are these stubs written here.
- 17:33Speaker 2: Do you get that? These are the fruits. These are
- 17:37Speaker 2: the fruits. So how do you make sure.
- 17:43Speaker 3: That you, how do I say now? You don't allow
- 17:48Speaker 3: these things to grow in your heart. Number one, that's
- 17:50Speaker 3: why the scripture says that you should always renew your
- 17:53Speaker 3: mind with the word.
- 17:55Speaker 2: Renew your mind always. Always. Renew your mind always. Renew
- 18:00Speaker 2: your mind.
- 18:01Speaker 3: You see that you're easily getting angry lately. That's the
- 18:05Speaker 3: time to retreat. I also used to say that.
- 18:07Speaker 2: Retreat.
- 18:09Speaker 3: Small thing, you're getting angry. Hey, that's the point that
- 18:12Speaker 3: something is going on there.
- 18:13Speaker 4: Go and retreat.
- 18:15Speaker 3: Renew your mind with the word. Let the word flush
- 18:18Speaker 3: out every heart. Don't let the heart germinate in your
- 18:22Speaker 3: heart so that you will not bleed on the people
- 18:25Speaker 3: that did not hurt you. And this is why I
- 18:29Speaker 3: tell singles that see, if you've experienced heartbreak many times,
- 18:37Speaker 3: now this is the time to now stay and heal first.
- 18:41Speaker 3: Because if you jump into another relationship, you'll bleed on
- 18:44Speaker 3: that person and the relationship will not even last. That's
- 18:46Speaker 3: the mistake we make sometimes.
- 18:49Speaker 2: We feel like, oh, okay, I just got out of
- 18:51Speaker 2: a relationship. God has brought another person. Let me just jump. No,
- 18:53Speaker 2: you need healing. You need God to walk through your heart.
- 18:58Speaker 3: You need healing so that you won't bleed on that person.
- 19:04Speaker 3: You need healing so that you can be whole again.
- 19:08Speaker 3: God does not want your heart to be messed up.
- 19:13Speaker 3: People will be in a relationship and then they are
- 19:15Speaker 3: not even connected to the person they are in a
- 19:16Speaker 3: relationship with.
- 19:17Speaker 2: Why?
- 19:18Speaker 3: Because their hearts have been broken a lot of times.
- 19:19Speaker 3: Right now, they are even moving with different kinds of mindsets.
- 19:23Speaker 3: Mindset like men has come, men has come. You know
- 19:26Speaker 3: what I'm saying now. You people are looking at me
- 19:27Speaker 3: like you don't get it. Because this is not just
- 19:31Speaker 3: about the things they heard that people are saying.
- 19:34Speaker 2: It's experiential. Because they have experienced it.
- 19:39Speaker 3: So you can decide to enter a relationship, not because
- 19:44Speaker 3: you want to, but because you're trying to... Oh, Holy
- 19:48Speaker 3: Spirit of God, help me. Because you're... trying to make
- 19:54Speaker 3: people feel like, alright, I'm not doing bad as well.
- 19:58Speaker 3: And it is coming from a place of hurt.
- 20:02Speaker 2: And you're not just going to hurt yourself, you're going
- 20:04Speaker 2: to hurt other people too.
- 20:05Speaker 3: Because by the time that relationship scatters, you'll hurt that.
- 20:08Speaker 2: Other person as well. Amen.
- 20:15Speaker 3: And that's why Hebrews 12, the last part of Hebrews
- 20:18Speaker 3: 12 said that and thereby many be defied. Springing up
- 20:22Speaker 3: trouble you and thereby many be defied because the root
- 20:26Speaker 3: of bitterness will not just affect you alone, it will
- 20:28Speaker 3: affect every other person around you. The way you're reacting
- 20:32Speaker 3: to them, the way you're talking to them, the way
- 20:35Speaker 3: you're behaving in your attitude, in your lifestyle, it will
- 20:39Speaker 3: affect every other person And that is how it spreads.
- 20:44Speaker 3: Somebody has hurt you, then you begin to hurt other people.
- 20:48Speaker 3: Then the people you are hurting will go and hurt
- 20:51Speaker 3: other people. Then the people they are hurting will go
- 20:53Speaker 3: and hurt other people.
- 20:55Speaker 2: And it goes on and on and on like that.
- 20:59Speaker 3: That's to let you know that your life is not.
- 21:01Speaker 2: Just about you.
- 21:04Speaker 3: Everything you're doing is not just about you. And the
- 21:08Speaker 3: scripture calls you the light of the world. It's this
- 21:11Speaker 3: set upon the hill that cannot be hidden. So it
- 21:14Speaker 3: matters the light you're shining. It matters what is going,
- 21:18Speaker 3: what you're radiating. It matters, you know, the influence you
- 21:23Speaker 3: have on the life of all the people around you.
- 21:26Speaker 2: So your life is not just about you.
- 21:28Speaker 3: Maybe somebody is thinking right now and you're like, no,
- 21:31Speaker 3: I don't have to, you know, I don't have to
- 21:33Speaker 3: address it. Of course, I'm not like I'm really relating
- 21:38Speaker 3: with anybody or anything, no.
- 21:40Speaker 2: Your life is not just about you.
- 21:42Speaker 6: Alright?
- 21:42Speaker 2: I mentioned that number one, renew your mind. Always renew
- 21:46Speaker 2: your mind with the word of God.
- 21:49Speaker 3: Always renew your mind with the word of God. Always
- 21:55Speaker 3: renew your mind with the word of God. Number two,
- 21:58Speaker 3: remove the seed. Remove that seed of hot. Remove the seed.
- 22:06Speaker 3: And how do you remove the seed? You remove the
- 22:08Speaker 3: seed with the word of God. Be intentional. You can
- 22:11Speaker 3: be as intentional as sitting down, get a journal. Write
- 22:15Speaker 3: out all the scriptures that has to do with art.
- 22:18Speaker 3: Write it out. All the scriptures that has to do
- 22:20Speaker 3: with art. Write that begin to intentionally declare it.
- 22:23Speaker 2: Flush. Flush it out with the word of God. Be deliberate.
- 22:31Speaker 3: Why do you think those that, you know, in the
- 22:34Speaker 3: other religions, they understand the power of what? That's why
- 22:39Speaker 3: you will see Anabales wake up in the morning and
- 22:41Speaker 3: begin to say things into the air.
- 22:45Speaker 2: They know the power.
- 22:48Speaker 3: But you with the real deal, you are the one
- 22:52Speaker 3: with the real power.
- 22:53Speaker 2: Use it.
- 22:55Speaker 3: Don't let the enemy cheat you. Use it on yourself.
- 22:59Speaker 3: Let God flush everything.
- 23:01Speaker 2: That he has not planted. Let it be uprooted in you.
- 23:06Speaker 3: I know as I'm speaking right now, you're having flashbacks
- 23:09Speaker 3: into the things that has happened to you. Maybe before
- 23:11Speaker 3: you even came to church this morning, somebody hurt you.
- 23:14Speaker 3: Or maybe it was a taxi driver. Maybe it was
- 23:19Speaker 3: a call you received on the phone. Maybe it was
- 23:23Speaker 3: your parents or your spouse. But I'm telling you that
- 23:26Speaker 3: that thing that happened, right? It is a strategy of
- 23:32Speaker 3: the enemy to mess up with your heart.
- 23:35Speaker 2: And the person involved is not the real enemy. Your
- 23:38Speaker 2: enemy is the devil. You can be angry.
- 23:41Speaker 3: Without your boss at work that is always stressing you.
- 23:45Speaker 3: You can be angry with your child. You can be
- 23:50Speaker 3: angry with your neighbor. You can even be angry with
- 23:52Speaker 3: your spouse. But they are not the real enemy. The
- 23:57Speaker 3: real enemy is the devil. So you're not going to
- 24:01Speaker 3: fight like one fighting another person.
- 24:04Speaker 2: No.
- 24:05Speaker 3: You're going to fight with the understanding that your weapons
- 24:12Speaker 3: are not physical. You're going to stand on the word
- 24:19Speaker 3: of God and declare the word of God and flush
- 24:21Speaker 3: it out.
- 24:23Speaker 2: The enemy wants to mess up with you.
- 24:26Speaker 3: He wants you to come to a place of bitterness
- 24:29Speaker 3: that everything around you is not flourishing. Because that's what
- 24:32Speaker 3: bitterness does. It brings people to a place of dryness.
- 24:37Speaker 3: There is no joy because you can only, you know,
- 24:39Speaker 3: the scripture says that with joy, we draw from the
- 24:42Speaker 3: well of salvation. You can't draw from the well of
- 24:44Speaker 3: salvation with bitterness. And that's what the enemy wants to do.
- 24:48Speaker 3: But you're not going to allow the enemy mess up
- 24:50Speaker 3: with your life. Somebody talk to your neighbor. Don't allow
- 24:52Speaker 3: the enemy mess up with you.
- 24:56Speaker 2: Say it again. Don't allow the enemy mess up with you.
- 25:01Speaker 3: That person, say to your neighbor, that person is not
- 25:06Speaker 3: the real enemy. That person, maybe they are not hearing,
- 25:11Speaker 3: that person is not the real enemy. Your enemy is
- 25:16Speaker 3: the devil.
- 25:17Speaker 2: The person is not the real enemy.
- 25:23Speaker 3: He's using them, yes, but they are not the real enemy.
- 25:27Speaker 2: So address the root cause. Amen. Number three. Pray for
- 25:38Speaker 2: the person.
- 25:40Speaker 3: When somebody hurts you on purpose, although most times people
- 25:44Speaker 3: don't really hurt on purpose.
- 25:45Speaker 2: The person that even hurts you don't even know that
- 25:47Speaker 2: they've hurt you. But when people hurt you on purpose,
- 25:50Speaker 2: what do you do? You pray for them. I know
- 25:51Speaker 2: it's difficult. I get it. It's very difficult. But pray
- 25:56Speaker 2: for them. pray if you can get up to get
- 26:01Speaker 2: up to pray over.
- 26:02Speaker 3: Them declare what over them when you do that consistently
- 26:06Speaker 3: what you will see is that your heart will be
- 26:09Speaker 3: loose like you won't you won't find.
- 26:12Speaker 2: Any heart again.
- 26:15Speaker 3: You won't because the enemy does not want you to
- 26:17Speaker 3: pray for that person he doesn't want to do anything
- 26:20Speaker 3: positive in the direction of that person but you're not
- 26:23Speaker 3: going to allow that to happen you pray for them
- 26:27Speaker 3: When you're doing that, you're not just praying for them alone,
- 26:29Speaker 3: you're praying for yourself as well.
- 26:33Speaker 2: You're praying for yourself as well. Matthew 5 verse 4,
- 26:36Speaker 2: it says, Jesus says, but I say to you.
- 26:39Speaker 3: Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good
- 26:43Speaker 3: to those who hate you, and pray for those who
- 26:46Speaker 3: spitefully use you and persecute you.
- 26:50Speaker 2: Pray for them. Take your time and pray.
- 26:52Speaker 3: It's not always easy, but when you begin, try it
- 26:56Speaker 3: the first day. Push again the second day. Do it
- 27:00Speaker 3: again the third day. Keep doing it.
- 27:03Speaker 2: There is a, you know, a breeze of fresh air
- 27:07Speaker 2: that will come into your soul. Even you will be happy. Yes,
- 27:10Speaker 2: thank you, Lord.
- 27:12Speaker 3: The Lord has liberated me away from the, the Lord
- 27:14Speaker 3: has liberated me.
- 27:15Speaker 2: Because that is what, that is how it should be.
- 27:18Speaker 2: The devil, he wants you, he wants to, he wants
- 27:21Speaker 2: to put you in a cage. The enemy wants you
- 27:24Speaker 2: to be in a cage. He wants you to be limited.
- 27:27Speaker 2: He wants you to be broken.
- 27:28Speaker 3: He wants you to lose all capacity.
- 27:31Speaker 2: But you're not going to allow that. You're not going
- 27:33Speaker 2: to allow the enemy steal your joy from you. You're
- 27:37Speaker 2: not going to allow the enemy kill your soul.
- 27:40Speaker 3: You're not going to allow the enemy destroy your relationships.
- 27:47Speaker 3: And I don't know the person I'm talking to this morning.
- 27:50Speaker 3: You're not going to allow the enemy destroy your marriage.
- 27:54Speaker 2: Stand.
- 27:54Speaker 4: Stand.
- 27:58Speaker 3: Fight for each other. It is not you against your spouse.
- 28:03Speaker 3: It is the both of you against the world. Hold
- 28:08Speaker 3: hands together. Fight for each other. Because what the enemy
- 28:12Speaker 3: wants to achieve is to scatter the home. Because he
- 28:15Speaker 3: has come to steal, to kill and to destroy. And
- 28:17Speaker 3: because he knows that God wants godly seats upon the earth.
- 28:22Speaker 3: And he knows that we are the ones that has
- 28:24Speaker 3: that capacity to raise godly seats. So he likes to
- 28:28Speaker 3: destroy homes.
- 28:29Speaker 2: He wants to destroy marriages.
- 28:32Speaker 3: So everything happening that you feel, oh, my spouse hurts me.
- 28:36Speaker 2: Oh, you can't understand.
- 28:39Speaker 3: On the 17th of this year, 2000, my spouse did this.
- 28:42Speaker 2: My spouse did that. You can't understand. I'm heartbroken. Yes,
- 28:45Speaker 2: I get it. You are hurt. I get it.
- 28:49Speaker 3: But the enemy is trying to take you on a journey.
- 28:53Speaker 3: is trying to take you on a journey. And if
- 28:55Speaker 3: care is not taken, if you don't address.
- 28:57Speaker 2: It, you will become.
- 29:02Speaker 4: Bitter.
- 29:05Speaker 2: Let me share this with you.
- 29:06Speaker 3: I don't know if you've ever thought of, I'm really,
- 29:10Speaker 3: this is the thing that I'm about to share.
- 29:12Speaker 2: Okay, let me just go ahead.
- 29:14Speaker 3: So a time came in my life that I sat
- 29:16Speaker 3: down and I began to analyze older women. Women in
- 29:20Speaker 3: their 60s, their 70s, like the kind of life they live.
- 29:24Speaker 3: And based on the area I was at that time,
- 29:27Speaker 3: I realized that 80% of.
- 29:28Speaker 2: These women were bitter. They were bitter.
- 29:34Speaker 3: So I started asking myself, what is responsible for this?
- 29:40Speaker 3: Then I began to see that many times, because at
- 29:44Speaker 3: the beginning of their lives, they were doing so much.
- 29:47Speaker 2: For other people.
- 29:49Speaker 3: They did so much for their children, for their family.
- 29:52Speaker 3: They never focused on themselves. Now they've come to a
- 29:55Speaker 3: point where all they're.
- 29:57Speaker 2: Expecting is, give me Give me.
- 30:01Speaker 3: Let me begin to get the reward of my labor.
- 30:04Speaker 3: And that there is nothing that children would do for
- 30:07Speaker 3: them that they will ever be grateful for. Because they
- 30:11Speaker 3: feel like you're not doing enough. Do you know how
- 30:14Speaker 3: much I sacrificed for you?
- 30:16Speaker 2: Do you know this? Do you know that? In the
- 30:18Speaker 2: year this, that, that, that, this one happened. This was
- 30:20Speaker 2: what I did for you. So the enemy takes them
- 30:25Speaker 2: on a journey. And then it's time.
- 30:28Speaker 3: Homes because you can't be bitter and be and be
- 30:30Speaker 3: thankful no you can't be bitter and be thankful you
- 30:34Speaker 3: can't be bitter and be gracious you can't when you're
- 30:39Speaker 3: bitter you are critical you're judgmental when you're critical sometimes
- 30:44Speaker 3: you can be politely indifferent i don't send anybody nobody
- 30:49Speaker 3: sent me let me just face my way i don't
- 30:51Speaker 3: you can just be like that When you're bitter, you
- 30:56Speaker 3: will always be looking for faults in people, in organizations,
- 31:00Speaker 3: in churches.
- 31:02Speaker 2: You will never see positive sides of things.
- 31:06Speaker 3: So, you know, I just, I saw that Akai, many
- 31:09Speaker 3: of these women, what happened is that in the early
- 31:11Speaker 3: days of their life, they were doing so much for people,
- 31:13Speaker 3: they were never concentrated on themselves. There was never a
- 31:16Speaker 3: time that, you know, they pursued personal growth or anything.
- 31:20Speaker 3: All they were doing was sacrificing, which is beautiful sacrifice.
- 31:24Speaker 3: sacrificing for their children. You're doing a lot for their children.
- 31:28Speaker 3: But they came to a point now that they began
- 31:31Speaker 3: to think and they're like, okay, all I want is.
- 31:35Speaker 2: Just to be getting and getting and getting.
- 31:36Speaker 3: But everything that children are doing or the people around
- 31:39Speaker 3: them are doing for them, they can never get it
- 31:44Speaker 3: because they feel it is never enough. You can't equate
- 31:47Speaker 3: it to the sacrifices I've done for you.
- 31:50Speaker 2: It's a journey. It's a journey.
- 31:53Speaker 3: So when things happen, it does not matter how little,
- 31:55Speaker 3: how little it is. Don't ignore it and feel like
- 31:59Speaker 3: I have moved on.
- 31:59Speaker 4: No.
- 32:00Speaker 2: Address it. As long as you feel hot, something happened
- 32:05Speaker 2: to your emotions at that instant, address it. Because it's
- 32:11Speaker 2: a seed.
- 32:12Speaker 3: And if you don't address it, if you don't remove it,
- 32:15Speaker 3: it will germinate.
- 32:17Speaker 2: It will grow.
- 32:18Speaker 4: It will bear fruits.
- 32:19Speaker 2: It will bear fruits. Did somebody get to me this morning?
- 32:27Speaker 3: Sometimes, you know, bitter people, they would like to always
- 32:31Speaker 3: share their experiences, the things that makes them hurt, the
- 32:34Speaker 3: things that hurt them. And it's called self-pity. They will
- 32:37Speaker 3: always want to tell people their story.
- 32:40Speaker 2: Ah, this one.
- 32:41Speaker 3: And many times it's used to, you know, paint the
- 32:43Speaker 3: person that hurts them in a black light. They are
- 32:46Speaker 3: always sharing stories of everything that has happened. It is
- 32:49Speaker 3: okay to share stories. But why are you so delighted
- 32:53Speaker 3: sharing it? Are you sharing it for the purpose of,
- 32:56Speaker 3: you know, trying to help the person you're sharing it to?
- 32:59Speaker 3: Or you're just sharing it because you're still hot? If
- 33:05Speaker 3: you're here and then, you know, you can see yourself
- 33:08Speaker 3: in this, I really need you to begin to pray
- 33:10Speaker 3: in your heart that.
- 33:11Speaker 2: The Lord will help you on your journey.
- 33:14Speaker 3: That the enemy will not take you on the journey
- 33:17Speaker 3: of no return. And we can see examples in the
- 33:21Speaker 3: scripture as well. During steward meeting this morning, Apostle mentioned Cain.
- 33:29Speaker 3: It was so bitter. Hey, me, I brought offering. My
- 33:33Speaker 3: brother brought offering. God now accepted my brother's offering.
- 33:37Speaker 2: Now accept my own. And that's anger. And it led
- 33:40Speaker 2: to malice. Wanting to haunt him. He did it. He
- 33:48Speaker 2: did it. And that's what the enemy tries to achieve
- 33:53Speaker 2: all the time. To destroy. To destroy.
- 33:56Speaker 3: Bitterness also leads to, you know, backsliding. Because you begin
- 34:06Speaker 3: to do things that you just, let me just try this.
- 34:10Speaker 3: Let me try that. And before you know what's happening,
- 34:13Speaker 3: you're gone. And that was what happened to Samson. Samson
- 34:20Speaker 3: was not sexually immoral until they took his wife.
- 34:24Speaker 2: It was bitter.
- 34:30Speaker 3: It was bitter. So bitterness will come, it can come
- 34:33Speaker 3: in any form. It can come from any direction. It
- 34:38Speaker 3: can express itself in any way, but don't allow it.
- 34:43Speaker 3: Don't allow the ought to germinate. Don't allow the heart
- 34:49Speaker 3: to journey. Sometimes when somebody has a heart, you feel
- 34:51Speaker 3: so bad.
- 34:52Speaker 2: Cry it out. Cry it out. Yes, it's good to cry.
- 34:58Speaker 2: Cry it out.
- 34:59Speaker 3: Have you ever finished crying and then you looked at
- 35:01Speaker 3: yourself in the mirror and you're like, ah, I'm a
- 35:03Speaker 3: fine girl.
- 35:05Speaker 2: I'm telling you.
- 35:07Speaker 4: Yes.
- 35:08Speaker 2: Like your skin will pop up. I know some of
- 35:11Speaker 2: you can relate to what I'm saying. Like suddenly you
- 35:14Speaker 2: just say, ah, I'm so fine. Cry it out. Take
- 35:17Speaker 2: your time.
- 35:18Speaker 4: Cry.
- 35:20Speaker 2: When you're done crying, now stand up.
- 35:23Speaker 3: Declare the word. Speak the word to that situation. Speak
- 35:29Speaker 3: the word of God over that person. Declare the word
- 35:33Speaker 3: over yourself. Pray for that person. The devil is trying
- 35:37Speaker 3: to hurt you. You ought to hurt the devil by praying.
- 35:39Speaker 3: That is warfare. You ought to hurt the devil where
- 35:42Speaker 3: he hurts. Deal with the devil. He can't stop you.
- 35:48Speaker 3: He knows how powerful you are. You might not know it,
- 35:51Speaker 3: but he knows.
- 35:51Speaker 2: He knows that you're powerful.
- 35:53Speaker 3: He knows that you have the power, the word of
- 35:58Speaker 3: God and the blood of Jesus. The covenant of the blood,
- 36:03Speaker 3: the covenant of the word of God.
- 36:04Speaker 2: He knows.
- 36:07Speaker 3: So you have to take it up. Don't just feel, oh, okay,
- 36:13Speaker 3: let me just forget about it.
- 36:14Speaker 5: No!
- 36:15Speaker 3: Don't forget about it because the enemy is not.
- 36:17Speaker 2: Forgetting about it. It's not.
- 36:24Speaker 3: Sometimes somebody has done something to you many, many years
- 36:27Speaker 3: ago and you thought you forgot about it. Then one
- 36:31Speaker 3: day you saw the person again and then you.
- 36:34Speaker 2: Begin to cry like it just happened. You begin to
- 36:39Speaker 2: wail like it just happened. That's telling you that you
- 36:41Speaker 2: have not addressed it. It is still there.
- 36:45Speaker 4: It is still there. It is still there.
- 36:48Speaker 2: Glory to God. Oh my God, my time. My time
- 36:52Speaker 2: is running out.
- 36:53Speaker 3: Hallelujah. Alright, can you just stand up on your feet?
- 36:56Speaker 3: Stand up on your feet this morning. And we're going
- 37:01Speaker 3: to pray a prayer together. That anything the Lord has
- 37:06Speaker 3: not planted... Is uprooted this morning.
- 37:10Speaker 2: Anything. The Lord has not planted in your heart. Is uprooted.
- 37:15Speaker 3: Can you just declare. Anything the Lord has not planted
- 37:18Speaker 3: in my heart. I uproot it this morning. In the
- 37:21Speaker 3: name of Jesus. The scripture says when men slept. The
- 37:24Speaker 3: enemy came and sowed seed. But it is written. Whatever
- 37:29Speaker 3: the Lord has not planted.
- 37:31Speaker 2: Shall be uprooted.
- 37:33Speaker 4: Amen.
- 37:34Speaker 2: In the name of Jesus.
- 37:39Speaker 3: Anything the Lord has not planted in the heart of
- 37:45Speaker 3: his people.
- 37:48Speaker 2: We approach this morning in the name of Jesus.
- 37:52Speaker 3: The plan of the enemy will not stand. It will
- 37:56Speaker 3: not come to pass over your life.
- 37:59Speaker 2: In the name of Jesus.
- 38:00Speaker 3: The enemy will not take you on the journey of bitterness.
- 38:03Speaker 4: No.
- 38:05Speaker 3: Come on, hold.
- 38:18Speaker 2: The hands of your neighbor. Hold the hands of your neighbor.
- 38:21Speaker 3: And begin to declare on your neighbor that in the
- 38:23Speaker 3: name of Jesus, everything the Lord has not planted in
- 38:26Speaker 3: the hearts of my neighbor, I uproot. In the name
- 38:29Speaker 3: of Jesus. We are put malice this morning. We are
- 38:54Speaker 3: put on forgiveness. We are put on controlled anger. In
- 39:00Speaker 3: the name of Jesus. Your heart is helped. There is refreshing, refreshing, refreshing.
- 39:13Speaker 3: In the name of Jesus, oh, the breath of life.
- 39:17Speaker 3: The breath of life, the breath of life. The Lord
- 39:20Speaker 3: breathes upon your soul. He breathes upon your heart.
- 39:24Speaker 2: And there is fresh air, fresh air, fresh air.
- 39:28Speaker 6: We remove every heart.
- 39:32Speaker 2: We remove malice.
- 39:38Speaker 3: We remove anger. We remove evil speaking in the name
- 39:41Speaker 3: of Jesus. And I declare in the name that is
- 39:46Speaker 3: above every other name, over everyone under the sound of
- 39:50Speaker 3: my voice, whether in this auditorium or online, I declare
- 39:55Speaker 3: in the name of Jesus, the enemy will not have
- 39:57Speaker 3: a hold over you. In the name that is above
- 40:02Speaker 3: every other.
- 40:03Speaker 2: Name, the enemy will not have a hold over you.
- 40:06Speaker 3: You will not give space for the enemy.
- 40:10Speaker 7: In the name of Jesus, the enemy will not have
- 40:13Speaker 7: a hold over your relationships. He will not have a
- 40:16Speaker 7: hold over your business. He will not have a hold
- 40:20Speaker 7: over your marriage. He will not have a hold over
- 40:22Speaker 7: your children. It will not have a hold over everything
- 40:26Speaker 7: that you do.
- 40:27Speaker 3: In the name that is above every other name.
- 40:32Speaker 4: I cover every heart.
- 40:34Speaker 3: Under the sound of my voice.
- 40:38Speaker 6: The blood of Jesus. The blood of Jesus. The blood
- 40:43Speaker 6: of Jesus. The blood of Jesus. The blood of Jesus.
- 40:49Speaker 6: You are divinely helped. You are divinely helped. You are
- 40:56Speaker 6: divinely helped. You are divinely helped.
- 41:01Speaker 2: In the name of Jesus. So be it in Jesus'
- 41:05Speaker 2: mighty name. Hallelujah.
- 41:21Speaker 4: Thank you, Lord. We bless the name of the Lord.
- 41:29Speaker 4: Taking place in hearts, in families, for the word that
- 41:35Speaker 4: you have sent to us this morning, we're grateful. Thank you, Jesus.
- 41:41Speaker 4: Can we say loud and clear, thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus.
- 41:52Speaker 4: When Pastor Mimi was talking, many things were flashing through
- 41:58Speaker 4: my heart. Growing up, I saw some situations of some
- 42:13Speaker 4: men beating their wives. And there was a particular family
- 42:19Speaker 4: that they would always tear their clothes naked. And we
- 42:23Speaker 4: got used to them doing that every week. At some point, somewhere,
- 42:28Speaker 4: somehow in the week, they will, you know, when they start,
- 42:32Speaker 4: they'll say, oh, your neighbor has started. But I also
- 42:36Speaker 4: noticed a trend. All the homes that they were treating
- 42:42Speaker 4: each other badly, somebody died young. I'm not sure any
- 42:48Speaker 4: of the men that were beating their wives crossed 50.
- 42:54Speaker 4: I'm not sure. I'm not sure. In all of the cases,
- 43:00Speaker 4: they died one after the other. And I noticed that
- 43:04Speaker 4: in the cases where the women died first, it was
- 43:08Speaker 4: because they either did not recover from the injury on
- 43:12Speaker 4: their bodies or the one that was afflicted in their soul.
- 43:16Speaker 4: The pain. The pain. Some girl somewhere has seen the
- 43:27Speaker 4: mother being maltreated and has vowed, I will not marry.
- 43:35Speaker 4: Or when I marry, I'm not going to trust a
- 43:38Speaker 4: man with anything. I'm going to keep my money to myself.
- 43:43Speaker 4: I'm not going to do this. Sometimes the problem is
- 43:47Speaker 4: not just the bitterness anymore, but the conclusions. The decisions
- 43:54Speaker 4: we have made. The fact that you look at someone
- 44:00Speaker 4: in front of you but you ain't seen them. You
- 44:02Speaker 4: have seen those who inflicted injury. Sometimes not on you
- 44:05Speaker 4: but on someone close to you. Someone so dear to
- 44:08Speaker 4: your heart was maltreated. You vowed. I will not take
- 44:15Speaker 4: this from anybody. And sometimes just look around like Pastor
- 44:22Speaker 4: Mimi said. There's injury everywhere. Everybody is angry. Everybody is angry.
- 44:27Speaker 4: Everybody is trying to take things out on each other.
- 44:32Speaker 4: Let me tell you something... You will never find anyone...
- 44:36Speaker 4: That came from a good home... Drag anybody on social media...
- 44:40Speaker 4: Go to me anywhere....
- 44:43Speaker 5: There is pain... Look at the weight of words... A
- 44:47Speaker 5: young boy is calling a boy a fool... Look at
- 44:49Speaker 5: the weight... Where did you learn it? What happened to
- 44:52Speaker 5: your childhood? What happened to your heart? Words are heavy.
- 44:57Speaker 4: When there's no God in your heart, something is wrong
- 45:00Speaker 4: with the heart. It's recycling of pain.
- 45:12Speaker 2: It's recycling.
- 45:14Speaker 4: And it's everywhere. I don't have the energy to read
- 45:18Speaker 4: comment section though. Because sometimes you see where somebody is
- 45:24Speaker 4: bringing things from and you are amazed. How? How? Why
- 45:28Speaker 4: will you go through these words at people? It's the cycle.
- 45:34Speaker 4: The lecturer is from a bad home, was also trained
- 45:37Speaker 4: by a lecturer who was a sadist, will also cycle
- 45:40Speaker 4: the same thing in the students, will become lecturers, and
- 45:43Speaker 4: the system never ends. Are you aware that the word
- 45:48Speaker 4: bitterness literally means poison? Practically. That's the Hebrew word, poison.
- 45:57Speaker 4: So to be bitter Is to take poison. And waiting
- 46:00Speaker 4: for the next person to die. That's what it means.
- 46:06Speaker 4: That's what it means. Let me say this to you.
- 46:09Speaker 4: And I just want to put this out there. On
- 46:14Speaker 4: Tuesday I'm going to be teaching about Absalom. The story
- 46:20Speaker 4: of Absalom. We're going to be learning. From Absalom. No
- 46:29Speaker 4: move in the body of Christ is perfect in itself.
- 46:34Speaker 4: No move. Whether the holiness movement, the grace movement, or
- 46:40Speaker 4: the new creation movement, the apostolic movement, the word of
- 46:44Speaker 4: faith movement, no move is perfect in itself. Every move
- 46:48Speaker 4: is built on pre-existing move. The balance to this move
- 46:52Speaker 4: is in previous move, or the one that God will
- 46:54Speaker 4: bring later. The grace movement will be built on the
- 46:59Speaker 4: holiness movement. And what we call lasciviousness will be contained.
- 47:04Speaker 4: The bane of the apostolic movement is bitterness and pride.
- 47:14Speaker 4: It is not enough to correct issues in the body
- 47:16Speaker 4: of Christ. You must not damage the person in the process.
- 47:22Speaker 4: And this is where I stand. Should there be corrections
- 47:27Speaker 4: in the body of Christ? Plenty. False teachers and false prophets,
- 47:35Speaker 4: they are going to give us more problems. But the
- 47:38Speaker 4: fact that we are here to have voices that understand
- 47:43Speaker 4: balancing accuracy with maturity. In the midst of correction, the
- 47:48Speaker 4: devil gives us more problems. And sometimes, even those who
- 47:52Speaker 4: are on the same side, you see, look at it.
- 47:54Speaker 4: And there's confusion everywhere. I believe God is raising voices
- 47:59Speaker 4: in the body of Christ. The Word of Faith movement
- 48:05Speaker 4: did not just emphasize on faith, emphasized on love as
- 48:11Speaker 4: the instrument that puts faith to work. As powerful as
- 48:17Speaker 4: the apostolic movement is, if we refuse to embrace love,
- 48:21Speaker 4: it becomes the worst ever. We must not have people
- 48:28Speaker 4: in the body of Christ who are bitter, who are hungry,
- 48:31Speaker 4: who are pained, who are looking for loopholes in messages
- 48:34Speaker 4: to drag people. When they are blessed, they don't talk.
- 48:36Speaker 4: When they see loopholes, they drag. That is not the
- 48:39Speaker 4: move of the Spirit. God is not the reason and
- 48:44Speaker 4: army of injurious young people who look at their father's
- 48:50Speaker 4: age mate and call him a fool for doctrinal imbalance.
- 48:54Speaker 4: That is not the move of the Spirit. One generation
- 48:58Speaker 4: will serve him and will command him to another. That's
- 49:02Speaker 4: the spirit. We carry this grace to our homes, to
- 49:07Speaker 4: our schools, to everywhere around us. That we don't just
- 49:12Speaker 4: stand for the truth, we stand for healing of the
- 49:15Speaker 4: body of Christ. Fathers are bitter. Young people are bitter.
- 49:23Speaker 4: Members are bitter. Pastors are bitter. Hey! And the devil
- 49:30Speaker 4: is having his field day amongst us. But an end
- 49:33Speaker 4: has come to that. I didn't hear you meant to that.
- 49:37Speaker 4: Are you aware you can be bitter against Nigeria? Nigeria
- 49:43Speaker 4: can affect your mental health. You just say, hey, hold on.
- 49:47Speaker 4: How much is SPAC now? They say SPAC. How much
- 49:49Speaker 4: is SPAC? It depends on what SPAC. Oh, yes.
- 49:54Speaker 2: Huh?
- 49:56Speaker 3: One.
- 49:56Speaker 4: Is it a carton or one? All right. I think
- 50:00Speaker 4: when I finished my NYC, a SPAC was 65 naira. Oh, yes.
- 50:03Speaker 4: 65 naira. I don't know. How much again for one?
- 50:07Speaker 4: Somebody can just hear it and the next thing that
- 50:10Speaker 4: will come out of your mouth is that it shall
- 50:11Speaker 4: not be well for you. I don't know what you
- 50:12Speaker 4: are talking about. Somebody just think now, just say, I
- 50:19Speaker 4: want to buy Gesha.
- 50:24Speaker 3: Huh?
- 50:26Speaker 4: They don't sell again. Oh, it's for big people. Gesha
- 50:35Speaker 4: now is for big people. I don't know. I don't
- 50:40Speaker 4: even know all those things. How much he wants tomato paste?
- 50:48Speaker 4: The last time I bought should be about 25 Naira
- 50:50Speaker 4: or thereabouts. You see that? So I said, I want
- 50:53Speaker 4: to buy tomato paste there. I said, bring 250 Naira.
- 50:57Speaker 4: He said, ah! Could they need that for me? Somebody
- 51:04Speaker 4: posted online, he said, even to drink Gary now, you
- 51:06Speaker 4: have to have one. He said, a bowl of Gary,
- 51:08Speaker 4: so and so and so. But are you aware in
- 51:12Speaker 4: most of these cases we are our own problem? Somebody
- 51:19Speaker 4: was sharing out that if you buy foreign rice, it
- 51:22Speaker 4: is local rice they are re-bagging. If you say I
- 51:26Speaker 4: don't want this one, I want that one, it is
- 51:27Speaker 4: still the same one they will just send the bag.
- 51:30Speaker 4: Is it the president doing that? We are used to pain.
- 51:35Speaker 4: God is going to heal this nation and heal us.
- 51:39Speaker 4: He's going to heal families. There are states that they
- 51:45Speaker 4: are owing people salary for six months. Six months. The
- 51:50Speaker 4: man now comes back from work. The wife says, where come?
- 51:55Speaker 4: What's your problem? Why did you tell me where come?
- 52:00Speaker 4: He doesn't know where the frustration is. Don't tell your
- 52:04Speaker 4: neighbor and say, don't fault it. Don't be frustrated. Don't
- 52:07Speaker 4: be frustrated. Somebody can just say, what's good about the morning?
- 52:13Speaker 2: No, no, no, tell me.
- 52:14Speaker 4: What's good about the morning? Why are you, why are you,
- 52:16Speaker 4: why are you? Now we are having cases, sicknesses that
- 52:24Speaker 4: you find in young people. Because the pressure is getting serious.
- 52:33Speaker 4: If there's anyone here who is struggling, God opens new
- 52:36Speaker 4: doors for you. People are thinking And there's no way forward.
- 52:43Speaker 4: Somebody is going somewhere to climb the bridge. And say
- 52:46Speaker 4: it's empty. No it doesn't. You'll finish well. Let me
- 52:51Speaker 4: leave you with this word of comfort. It may be
- 52:59Speaker 4: stormy for now. And even if it rains. No rain
- 53:04Speaker 4: is forever. It will come out. And if you have
- 53:09Speaker 4: seen bad stuff. You have seen injustice. You have seen pain.
- 53:15Speaker 4: You have seen marriages go bad. And you have made
- 53:18Speaker 4: up your mind. Renew that mind. Change the mind. There's
- 53:23Speaker 4: somebody somewhere for you. Is that okay now? The power
- 53:26Speaker 4: of God. You are a sweet mother. You are a
- 53:28Speaker 4: sweet wife. You are a sweet husband. You are not
- 53:31Speaker 4: a bitter person. The bitter power is not your second power.
- 53:34Speaker 3: No.
- 53:35Speaker 4: You are a good man. Even if you don't know it,
- 53:38Speaker 4: I insist. You are a good man. You are a
- 53:41Speaker 4: good woman. It looks like it is so painful to
- 53:44Speaker 4: love you, but it's not true. You are a good person.
- 53:46Speaker 4: You just need to heal. And that's all. And that's all.
- 53:51Speaker 4: You will see yourself blossom like flower. You will be
- 53:54Speaker 4: amazed at it.
- 53:55Speaker 2: Amen.
- 53:58Speaker 1: The message you just listened to is sponsored by the
- 54:00Speaker 1: friends and partners of Femi Lazarus Apostolic Ministries Ecumenical.
- 54:04Speaker 2: Flame.
- 54:05Speaker 1: To partner with Flame, kindly make use of these account details.
- 54:09Speaker 2: 221-500-5289 UBA