Conflict Resolution

What does it take to develop the mind of Christ and keep moving forward despite how others see you or what you have been through? Listen now and learn how to focus on your future, embrace God's perspective, and become the person He has called you to be.

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SPEAKER_01 0:00

Praise the living God. So I want to speak to you about conflict resolution today. Amen. And so there are a few things I want you to note down, you know. Today, I took a lot of time with God, um, getting God's opinion on you know how to resolve conflict amongst the brethren in the body of Christ, and also how to resolve conflict outside the body of Christ. And you may find that you are in conflict with family members, constant conflict. Would you like to know how to solve those things? Alright. I hope you don't hate me afterwards. Amen. Alright, so there's a few things I want you to note down, so just note this down for me. The first thing I want you to note down is this is that it's important to notice when God is silent on a matter that you are very passionate about. It's very, very important for you to To pick up on when God is silent, on something that means a lot to you. Praise God. It could be the way the way your parents speak to you, and it constantly offends you. You get upset in your heart with the way dad or mom is speaking to you. It could be the way your partner speaks to you. Amen. And you find that it's offending you, it's upsetting you. Maybe a co-worker. Alright, your colleague at work. So you like your respect. Raise your hand if you like your respect. So you like it when people disrespect you. Raise your hand if you like respect and be honest. Praise God. Some people's hands down as if they like being disrespected. I believe everyone here likes respect, right? Everyone likes respect. So, what do you do when you've been disrespected? You feel disrespected, uncared for, spoken down to, unappreciated. What do you do? The second thing I want you to note down is that you see, uh, you must check. Alright. Just follow me and try and write down what I'm saying. You must check if what you're passionate about, all right, is profitable for you and your relationship with God. Why I'm saying that is because this thought, all right, this train of thought came to my spirit when I was with the Lord, and it was centered around God's silence. So if God is silent on a matter I am passionate about, I should check if what I'm passionate about is profitable to my relationship with Him. And I'm only checking because God is silent. Sometimes some I believe genuinely in my heart that some believers think as they roar in anger, God also roars. No, honestly, you should you should see some how some believers behave themselves. Some think as as they get angry, God has you know has stood up on his throne, and God is saying, Who has annoyed my child? Praise God. Say with me, God is a king spirit. You gotta say it like you believe it. Say God is a king spirit. God is a king spirit, God is a king spirit. As a king spirit, you do not order him around. And he's so loving that he doesn't order you around either. Praise God. He's a king spirit. So check what you're passionate about. Now I've said to you, do you remember me saying to you, God is concerned about what you're concerned about? You remember that? Wave your hand if you believe it. No, no, no. I want to see your hands. Raise your hand if you believe that. Praise God. Oh no, it's not there's no updated word, it's true. He is, he is. God is definitely concerned about what you're concerned about. He is, he is. But the interesting part about that is that you gotta ask though, what what is what is piquing his concern? Do you understand? So he is concerned when you are concerned, but he may not be concerned about what you have in your heart. What piques his concern is that you are concerned. A lot of them missed it. Do you understand? So God gets very concerned, depending on how concerned you are, and his concern is that you are concerned. So, to make it more relatable, let's say that you are being maltreated. I think I remember giving an example of a lady who had cancer, all right, and she she came to see a man of God, and the man of God said, Uh, your cancer is unforgiveness. Yeah. Now, the lady in that situation was so concerned that her husband was bringing women home and coming together with these ladies in their matrimonial home. She was angry and hurt, all right, about that. And she was so concerned about that. So, question was God also concerned? I hope this is not too high for you. So, God was concerned. Was God concerned that the man is bringing in other women? Praise God. But the Bible says, do not commit adultery. So, was God concerned about that? Some people are saying yes. God is very concerned, isn't he? Let me explain. Let me explain. You see, this is why you must study God because you will get offended by him. Okay, God was not concerned that the man was in adultery because God's son paid for that very sin. Do you understand that? So God was not concerned in the way you think. God looked at the situation and said, Number one, all right, there are there's an urgent matter at hand. Do you remember Peter? He was walking on the water, and the Bible says he started to drown because he was doubting. What did Jesus do? The Bible says Jesus ran to him immediately. Did the Lord Jesus stop the storm first? Did he stop the waves first? No, he ran to the man who was drowning. So between husband and wife in that situation, who's drowning? She had cancer, and the pastor said, Your cancer is unforgiveness. You don't want to forgive your husband. So if the Lord Jesus is there, who is he going to grab first? The wife. Is this too much for you? We'll deal with the flood later. That flood is no urgent matter. Someone is about to die. Praise God. So, but I can imagine the lady in that place, she was enraged. You brought women into our home in our bed. How dare you! And she was probably thinking, God is behind me of all the hosts of heaven. But listen, listen, he uh the Lord was clear about this. He was clear about this type of thing. Nonetheless, in that situation, what piqued the Lord's interest and concern was how much this daughter of his was giving herself to this situation. How much attention and time she would give to this situation, that it started affecting her health and affecting her mental health, and then it started eating at her body, and the world would call it cancer. Praise God. So God is concerned about what I'm concerned about. But it doesn't mean he's passionate. His concern is piqued because he loves me. But it doesn't mean that he's passionate about the same thing. I'll give you one last example, then I'll continue with uh what I wanted to show you. God meets Moses. He meets Moses and says to Moses, You, I'm gonna use you to free my people. You're gonna free all of them, free them all. Moses says, and and the way Moses said it, it's as if God was not aware of this information. Moses turns around and says, But I can't speak properly. Now, out of care, God says, Okay, no problem, because it's a concern to you, I will make space for it. So God says, Your brother Aaron will speak in your stead. But let me ask you a question. If Moses had kept quiet and said, Yes, sir, I will go and speak to Pharaoh, do you think God would have brought up, oh, by the way, you can't speak properly. Who brought up that fact? So because God is concerned about what Moses is concerned about, God makes space for his concern. But that doesn't mean that it's the perfect will. You understand that? So it's very important, all right, that you check your passions in conflict when you have conflict at home and something is happening at home, ask yourself, all right. Number one, how much is God concerned about this? Number two, should this thing be irritating me as much as it's irritating me? I'm gonna give you a statement that I want you to write in bold. Conflict resolution with men starts with God. If you want to make peace with men, start that conversation with God first. If you start the conversation of peace with men, men will lead you astray. But if you start that conversation with God first, God most certainly will tell you, number one, why is this thing affecting you this much? Praise God. So I see many marriages have fallen apart. Many marriages have fallen apart because the husband was overly concerned about something God wasn't too concerned about. Hello, some people say, but God only cares about spiritual things. That's not true. I want to show you some examples in the Bible of individuals who cared about things that God Himself wasn't really concerned about. Let's go to Matthew. Matthew chapter fourteen. Now, this is something we've read before. We've read this a a lot, actually. We've we've we've looked at this a lot, but we we're gonna have to go through it again. Amen. We're gonna read from verse one, all right? Let's take it step by step. Go ahead. There's always something new to take from this verse. Go ahead. Go ahead.

SPEAKER_00 18:41

Thank you, sir. Matthew chapter 14 from verse 1 says, At the time Herod the Tetrarch heard the report about Jesus. Verse 2, and said to his servants, This is John the Baptist, he is risen from the dead, and therefore these powers are at work in him. Verse three, for Herod had laid hold of John and bound him, and put him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife. And although he wanted to put him to death, he feared the multitude because they counted him as a prophet. But when Herod's birthday was celebrated, the daughter of Herodias danced before them and pleased Herod. Verse seven, therefore he promised with an oath to give her whatever she might ask. Verse eight. So she, having been prompted by her mother, said, Give me John the Baptist's head here on a platter. Verse nine. And the king was sorry. Nevertheless, because of the oaths and because of those who sat with him, he commanded it to be given to her. Verse ten. So he sent and had John beheaded in prison. Verse eleven, and his head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, and she brought it to her mother. Verse twelve. Then his disciples came and took away the body and buried it, and went and told Jesus. Verse thirteen. When Jesus heard it, he departed from there by boat to a deserted place by himself. But when the multitudes heard it, they followed him on foot from the cities. Verse fourteen.

SPEAKER_01 21:01

Very, very, very interesting. So I've read this multiple times concerning different things, but I want to point out a few things in the context of which we're talking. John was very passionate, very, very passionate about the gospel. And he was very passionate about pure, pure living, purity, righteousness, praise God, which was very good. That's good, it's nice. But was it not John the Baptist that baptized Jesus? Hello. Was it not John the Baptist that also said, There's one coming who is greater than I? Was it not John the Baptist that also said, I am not worthy to untie his sandals? So John the Baptist knew that this is the Christ. Amen. If I was in John the Baptist's position, I would be following the Christ thereafter. The moment I baptize him, I now become a follower of him. Until he tells me, No, your mission is to go here and do this and do this and do this. Because God has come, the Christ has arrived. John persisted in his own mission to the point where his passion took him to confront somewhat of a king. Okay. Herod was the king. He confronted him and said, Okay, Herod has a brother called Philip. Amen. Philip had a wife called Herodias. Now Herod took Philip's wife. He took his brother's wife. And so John came to speak to him and said, What you've done is wrong. And it was creating conflict between him and his brother's wife. Now, what I found interesting is if Jesus is around, why didn't he deal with it? This was a clear injustice. Someone's wife was taken by their brother. Praise God forevermore. Christ could have come out and said, I'm the Messiah. This is what I came to deal with. I came to deal with folks like you. You understand? People like you that are taking your brother's wife. I came to deal with people like you. But Jesus was silent on the matter. God was silent on the matter. You were silent. But John decided to speak. And he lost his head for it. Praise God. Listen, if you concern yourself with things that God isn't too concerned with, it will most certainly result in death. I can tell you that for free. From experience, give your heart and your mind to things that God is not pressed about. You'll find that your life is you're sinking. You're sinking. And the things that you may find yourself being passionate about, they may be holy. So you come to church and you see someone dressed indecently, and the pastor has not addressed it. Disciples have not addressed it. No one has addressed it. But you in your heart, you feel the responsibility. You got the spiritual responsibility. Say, I have to deal with this. This cannot be in the body of Christ. And you come into the church and you lambast the said person. You know what you did? You gave your heart to something that God overlooked. You see why I said peace with men starts with God. Because you have to be in a real tight-knit relationship with the Spirit of God for him to tell you, give that thing your attention. Praise God. As a pastor, we get calls, text messages of people's uh mistakes, wrongdoings. Praise God. Most of you can attest, and when you tell me your wrongdoings, majority of the time I would say it is well. See, some of them finished it before I could even finish it. See, it is well. And I act like you didn't do it. We move. Why will I concern myself with something that God is not concerned with? God saw you when you did what you did. You finished, you walked out of that place. Did you collapse? Ha! Okay, so should I now pronounce judgment on you? So I've now become the judge. Amen. No, no, it's not my role. I know whose role that is. He's called the accuser of the brethren. That's what he does. He accuses the brethren. To who? To yourself. Not to God. God wouldn't hear that stuff. Praise the Lord. So John was described as the greatest man to ever live by Christ Himself. Christ said, you know, from anyone and everyone born of a woman, John the Baptist was the greatest. But John the Baptist's passions. He was more zealous than God. There were people like that in the Bible, more zealous than God. Praise God. So you find yourself in a bit of a conflict, all right? I personalize it. You're in a relationship with a person, and the person hasn't been dealing with you properly. You're in a conflict with that person. You don't like it. You say, I don't like the way you're treating me. The person insists I would treat you this way. This is how things are done in my family. Praise God. So there's a conflict. Is that a conflict?

unknown 28:53

All right.

SPEAKER_01 28:55

All right. Now, if you would ask God, should I stop there? God is not as concerned about maltreatment as you are. Because for you it's personal. For God is training. Praise God. For God is training. That's why he sent Hagar back. Someone said to me, I was evangelizing one time, and this person said to me, Did you know that your God allowed slavery in the Bible? I said to him, Beloved, I said, God is not as concerned about slavery as you are. Amen. It's too heavy, but you gotta take it. You gotta take it. You gotta take it. God allowed slavery throughout the whole Old Testament, even in the new. Paul writes letters and says, Honor your slave masters. Paul after Christ, honor your slave masters, even the bad ones. God was not concerned about slavery. But you were, or you are, so you've taken on a passion that God has washed his hand from. In the scripture, the disciples were trying to push Christ to fight a specific war, and that war was against the Romans. You gotta read your Bible, all right? Christ was clear, he said that's not the war I came to fight, but he's God. People are stealing, there's rebels, the towns are being looted. He said, That's not my war. He said, The war I came to fight was the one of sin. Praise God. So so many people in history took up mantles and responsibilities and missions that God's heart was not even there. You have different types of relationships, you have parental relationships, you have romantic relationships, you have family relationships, you have work relationships, and so when someone deals with you unjustly and you feel that pain, I know it may not be as comforting for me to say, but God doesn't feel the same pain because if God feels the same pain you feel, his reaction can cause permanent damage. Praise God. But I'll end with this because of time. How do I know Christ wasn't really interested? Or God isn't really uh as you wouldn't find God campaigning for these things. Okay, how do I know? Christ came, the Bible says he thought it not robbery to be stripped of his authority and come on earth. He was talking to uh Pilate. Pilate was questioning him, Are you the king of the Jews? He said, You said it. He asked him more questions. Jesus responded, and he said, My kingdom is not here. So Pilate asked him, Are you a king? He stopped responding. Pilate said, Do you know that I can release you? He stopped responding. The Bible says Pilate started thinking about how to release him. Jesus stopped responding. He was taken somewhere else. They questioned him, they slapped him, they spat on him. Did he respond? If they physically slapped him and spat on him and he didn't respond, why do you think God is standing up on the throne when someone slaps you? His own son, his begotten son, was slapped. God sat on the throne and did this. They treated him unjustly. God sat there and did nothing. The greatest man to ever come out of a woman was beheaded. God did nothing. Hello. You see, the power of God flows through a man who aligns with God. The man who aligns with God. So you find power when you align. That is, I am now concerned about what God is concerned about. I'm not going to take up my own missions. I'll continue this teaching on Sunday. Praise God. It's a heavy one to take in. Because it doesn't, it's not a feel-good message. Amen. But it's a maturity message. It's a maturity message. And it helps a lot more the ones who are in relationships. Really? When you're not happy in your heart and you're being treated a certain way, and you don't like how you're being treated, you are focused too much on you. You gotta go to God. I told you peace starts with God, then ends with men. You understand that? So if you don't like something and you're uncomfortable about something, okay, go to God. Say, God, can you tell me first? Are you concerned about this? One, two, are you as passionate as me about this thing? If the answer is no to both of them, guess what? Move on. Amen. Amen. Let's stand up, let's lift our hands and bless the Lord. Thank you for listening. For more information, find us at Christ Congress Global.