His Blood for Our Bitterness

Pastor Natasha Cargill shares a powerful message from Exodus on the incredible power of the Blood of Christ and how God wants to free us from the root of bitterness and bring healing to every area of our lives. She unpacks how unresolved hurt, offence, and unforgiveness can take root in our hearts, sometimes when we're not even aware. Christ calls us into freedom through forgiveness and surrender. This is a call to let go of bitterness and walk in the sweetness of Christ's freedom that He has made available to us.

Our heart at Celebration Church Rarotonga is that this message will greatly bless your walk with Jesus and help bring you closer to Him. We pray that you would be stirred to live a life that is passionate about loving Jesus!

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Transcript

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Welcome to this week's podcast by Celebration Church Latatoma. We believe this message will empower and equip you to live a life of breakthrough. Thanks for joining us.

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Awesome to be in the house this morning. What beautiful praise and worship we had this morning. I just love the presence of the Lord. And I feel like, thank you, James. I feel like the word Jonathan had a while back about center fix, center fixing our heart on the Lord. And I feel like that's what God is doing in our midst. Our hearts are getting closer to Him. We are allowing Him to go deeper in our lives. We are center fixing our attention, our focus on the Lord Jesus Christ. And I love the song we sang about the greatest name, Jesus Christ, the name above all names. And I'm going to share this morning a few thoughts. Share from Exodus. And I love Jonathan's messages the last two weeks on relationships, where he talked about dealing with offenses and allowing God to work in our hearts so that our relationships are healthy, our relationships are strong. And I want to continue on a bit in that vein. But first of all, I'm going to pray and then we'll get into it. Holy Spirit, we love you. Thank you, Lord, for what you're doing in our midst. We don't take your presence for granted, Lord. We love your presence. We're so grateful how you've brought us out of darkness into light. We're so grateful for our life in you. And Lord, I pray as I bring your word this morning, Lord God, your word will penetrate hearts, Lord. Your word, Lord God, will dig inside of us the things you want to reveal. And Lord, you would transform us, Lord God, into your image, that we would reflect you, that we will be free, that we will be whole, that we will be just like Jesus Christ. And we thank you that you're in that process with us in Jesus' name. Amen. Awesome. I was thinking just before when Jonathan was doing the notices, how beautiful our life is in Christ, how it just gets better and better. How it says in the word, the life of the wires winds upward. And I feel like that in my own life. And yes, there's been dips and challenges along the way. But I can honestly say that I love Jesus more than I did before. Like I feel like my heart is softer towards him than before. I'm hungry for him. I feel like I'm in a fresh place of revelation with him, that he's speaking and doing new things in my life. So I just want to encourage you. You know, you might just be new on your journey with the Lord, but it keeps getting better and better. And I just, yeah, I just excited for how the Lord doesn't just save us and we go live our life. No, He blesses us in every aspect. He changes us in every way. He comes on the inside of us and transforms us so that we are a completely different person to who we once were. That we look different, that we talk different, we behave different, we're full of joy, we're full of peace, that God's power is moving through us. And it's just a beautiful, beautiful thing to be on a journey with Christ because there is no other person in the whole of the universe like our God. And there is no one worth serving like our God. Sometimes we can get caught up serving the wrong thing, serving mammon, serving our job, serving people, serving all sorts of things, and we don't realize we're actually being robbed from a life of blessing and a life of breakthrough because there is only one that can make us whole, there is only one that can set us free, there is only one that can give us peace, there is only one that can transform our life, and that is our Lord Jesus Christ. Yeah, amen. I also feel, and this isn't my message as such, but I want to talk a little bit to start with about the blood of Jesus. We sang about it this morning, beautiful worship song about the blood of Jesus. And I want to tell you that there is no more valuable, more powerful, greater substance in the universe than the blood of Jesus. There's a scripture, I just read it from 1 Peter 1, 18. For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors, and it was not paid with mere gold or silver, which lose their value, it was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. John the Baptist said when he saw Jesus coming to him, behold the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world. The Lamb being Christ and his blood poured out takes away the sin of the world. That's an incredible achievement. There is nothing else on the face of the earth that can take away our sin. If everybody surrendered to the Lord Jesus Christ, their hearts, there will be no sin in this world. It's incredible when you think about it. The precious blood of Jesus can take away the sin of the world. And there's nothing on earth that is more valuable, nothing on earth that is more powerful than the blood of Jesus. And it's kind of sad when we get caught up in thinking that we pursue this wealth or pursue money, gold, silver, those things. And we miss the mark of receiving the power of the blood of Jesus in our life. In the book of Exodus, um, it talks about the Israelites in Egypt as slaves for 400 years. They were working hard. It talks about heavy burdens, hard work, making bricks, slaves under the Egyptians, abused, physically beaten, pushed down, crushed. The woman, most of the women lost their firstborn sons. They were killed by the Egyptians. These were, the Israelites were in a real hard state. They're in a state of sorrow, they're in a state of grief, they're in a state of bitterness, they're in a state of pain and suffering. It's a picture of our life before Christ. Where we're toiling endlessly but there's no satisfaction, where we're toiling endlessly, but there's no joy. Where we're going after one thing and another thing and another thing, and there's no peace or joy or satisfaction in our life. And it talks about how they cried bitterly to the Lord. It took them 400 years, mind you, to cry out to the Lord. But eventually, after 400 years, it says in the Word of God that a big groan came out from the people and they cried to the Lord to rescue them. And it says, God heard their groan, he heard their cry. And I think that's just beautiful because it doesn't matter where we are in life, how difficult our life is, how much we're struggling, what we're going through, if we cry out to the Lord in sincerity, he hears and he answers. And he comes and he delivers. And that's what he did for the Israelites. He raised up Moses and he delivered them out of Egypt, out of bondage. On the night he delivered them out was the Passover, the first Passover. We know that the Jewish people today still celebrate the Passover. But this was the very first Passover. And God commanded the Israelites to take a lamb, not just any lamb, but a spotless lamb, a pure lamb, uh unblemished lamb, slaughter the lamb, and take the blood of the lamb and put it in a basin. And then it says, take a hyssop branch, which was a very common plant in Egypt. It wasn't hard to find, and with that hyssop branch, dip it in the basin of blood and wipe it on the lintels and doorposts of your home. And then God said, I'm gonna bring judgment on Egypt. I'm gonna kill the firstborn of every family and of every livestock. You know, God is a jealous guy. I love this about God. He's passionate about us. When Pharaoh sent out an edict to kill the firstborn male of all the Israelites, God brought vengeance. It's God who brings justice, God who brings vengeance. We don't have to take revenge when things happen in our life. God steps in. God stepped in and he said he's gonna bring judgment because Pharaoh would not release the Israelites out of Egypt. Moses had been a number of times. And the last time he said, I'm gonna release death over Egypt, and I'm gonna kill the firstborn of every family and every livestock. But if you want to be protected from this spirit of death coming into the land, you need the blood. It's a picture of Christ. You need the blood of the lamb upon your home. And it says you must stay inside the house, and then the spirit of death will not come upon you. It's a beautiful picture of what the blood of Jesus Christ does. It was a type and a foreshadow of what's to come or what was to come through our Lord Jesus Christ. You can imagine the families. I kind of picture this the families, maybe, you know, these are slaves, they don't have much, and to get a spotless lamb will probably require all that they had. Some families couldn't afford a lamb, and God said, pair up with another family. And then they take this beautiful lamb and they slaughter it and they let the blood drain out. Because in the blood is life. In your body, what keeps you alive is your blood. The blood breathes life into your cells and into your body. So when Christ was sacrificed on the cross and his blood was poured forth, it was his life that was given that we might receive life if we by faith take hold of his blood upon our life. If we put the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ over our life, we receive his life. When we surrender our life in exchange for his life, we receive the blessings of God, the blessings of his life upon us. It's a powerful transaction. I've been meditating lately on the fact that who we are in Christ, but who Christ is in us, that oneness we experience with God when we surrender and live our life in Him. You know, when we're born again, His Spirit comes inside of us, it indwells us. It's incredible. I think it's so powerful that the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Godhead, God Himself dwells within us as a born-again believer, and we carry His presence wherever we go. And then if we submit to Him, listen to Him and obey Him, we walk in supernatural living. We walk in supernatural power. That's why we can lay hands on the sick and they will be healed, not because of us, but because of Christ inside us, His power, His working. It's incredible. So this is what happened for the Israelites. They put the blood on their house. The spirit of death passed over, and none of them died. And then God said to them, spoke to them to get up, take the plunder from the Egyptians and leave. And we know the story if you've seen the movie Prince of Egypt or you've read your word, where God parts the Red Sea, the Israelites go over on dry ground, then Pharaoh and his armies come after them with his chariots, and they get washed away in the sea. And then in uh let's go to Exodus chapter 15. It says, Then Miriam, which was Aaron's sister, the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took the timbrel in her hand, and all the women went out after her. Now they say there's likely to have been a million women. Because they say there was about two and a half million Israelites. So you can imagine a million women out, and what were they doing? They were with timbrels and with dancing, with dancers. That would have been a huge celebration. It may have been the greatest celebration that the earth ever saw, has ever seen. A million women dancing and celebrating and praising God for the deliverance out of Egypt. You think about how that would have been personally for each individual woman, ones that lost their child through the murder through the Egyptians. You know, I was thinking, just breaking it down to our real life, those women would never have been able to dress up nicely. Those women would never have been able to have their hair done, have a spa day, put on makeup, enjoy life, have a nice cup of coffee, talk with their friends, social engagement. None of that would have gone on in their whole life. From the time they were born under Pharaoh, under Egypt, they would have been in slavery. Then, as they had children, those children would be, they would be carrying them to work, to work in the fields, to make bricks. Their life was miserable. And then God comes and he delivers them. And he destroys the enemy for them. And he allows them to escape, and they are partying. They are celebrating, they are rejoicing because God had set them free from 400 years of bondage. What a celebration that would have been. How powerful would have that been? Okay, we're gonna move on a little bit to what I want to bring out this morning. Then Moses, it says, led them out. Oh, I'll bring it out from the word. So Moses brought Israel from the Red Sea. Then they went out into the wilderness of Shur. And they went three days in the wilderness and found no water. Now when they came to Marah, they could not drink the waters of Marah, for they were bitter. Therefore, the name of it was called Marah. And the people complained against Moses, saying, What shall we drink? So Moses he cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a tree, a branch, a piece of wood. And when he cast it into the waters, the waters were made sweet. There he made, God, made a statute and an ordinance for them, and there he tested them and said, If you diligently heed the voice of the Lord your God, and do what is right in his sight, give air to his commandments and keep his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord who heals you. Then they went to Elam, where there were twelve wells of water and seventy palm trees. So they camped there by the waters. God brings us out of Egypt, out of sin, out of bondage, out of darkness. We are cleansed by the blood of Jesus. He brings deliverance into our life. And then we're on a journey where God is getting Egypt out of us. When we're first born again, we are sealed by the blood of Jesus. We are redeemed out of the hand of the devil. But inside of us are still leftovers, if you like, of our sinful nature. There's still areas in our life and heart that need sanctifying by the work of God. So even after all the women and the men were celebrating their freedom, it was three days later that they came to this oasis. They've been walking for three days with run out of water and were thirsty. And they see this oasis, probably were thinking, oh, this is awesome. Finally, we've got water. And they go to drink the water and it's bitter. And it says in the word there that it was a test from the Lord, not a test as in past fail. It's a test to see, to prove what's in them, to identify what's really going on in their heart. Because it says in the word that just out of sight down the road were 12 wells of water and 70 palm trees. So we know God had provided for them, but that he led them by the way of Marah to test them, to show them what was still in their heart left over from their time in Egypt. The bitterness that was there from their difficult years, their life had been sowing them. God wanted to reveal it to them so that they would get healing, so that they would get free from this root of bitterness in their life. So he brings them to this oasis of testing, this uh pool of water, and it's bitter. And what did they do? They complained. When we complain, it shows that there's a root of bitterness in our life. I want to talk about the root of bitterness because in Hebrews, we'll go there shortly. In Hebrews, it talks about don't let any root of bitterness spring up amongst you. What happens is in that scripture in Hebrews, he was talking to disciples that were quite mature in the Lord. He was talking to them about them being sons and daughters and receiving the discipline of God. So these weren't baby Christians he was talking to, but right in the middle of that passage of scripture, he talks about the root of bitterness. And I think this is relevant for all of us, and certainly something that we've got to keep our hearts in check for is not to allow any root of bitterness in our life. And well, let's let's go to that scripture. Hebrews 12, 14. It says, work at living in peace with everyone and work at living a holy life. For those who are not holy will not see the Lord. 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. Up to trouble you, corrupting many. First of all, it says that none of you fails to receive the grace of God. The grace of God is available for us to walk free from her in bitterness. It's the choice we make to painful situations that determine whether we have a root of bitterness in our life or whether we're free from that. And what bitterness does, like it did to the Israelites, it springs up. So when we come to a difficult circumstance, a challenging situation, a negative something happens in our life that's negative, it will show what's in our heart by the way we respond and the way we react. And oftentimes we have a root of bitterness, but it's hidden because it's a root. It's hidden under the surface. It's in our heart, but we don't realize it. But God will allow something to happen to us to reveal what's in our heart that He wants to change and He wants to deal with. And it says about the root of bitterness that it brings us trouble and defiles many. So if we're carrying a root of bitterness in our life, it will bring much trouble around our life. In other words, it will rob us from the living the blessed life. It will cause us to live our life as a victim, always feeling like we're hard done by, always feeling like life is unfair to me. It causes us to live with a complaining attitude that things aren't, you know, so-and-so always gets blessed. I've got this, love got that, she's always favored, da-da-da-da-da. And we feel like we're the victim, we're missing out. Now, as you know, there's a lot of that in society today, right? There's a lot of bitterness, roots of bitterness in hearts today. But Jesus is the answer. You know, the tree that was put into the water represents the cross. It was a picture of the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, that when He Moses put the wood into the water, the water was made sweet. It wasn't the wood that healed the water, it was the supernatural power of God through the act of faith that God told Moses to put the wood in. And it's the same when we come to the cross and we allow God to come into the midst of our pain and our difficulty when we allow He reveals something to us and we take it to the cross and we allow His grace to come upon us that it heals the bitter areas of our heart. Um, I'm going to talk about some of the ways that we can identify a root of bitterness because sometimes I don't think we realize that we can be carrying it. And there's no condemnation on us. In fact, as I was preparing this, God spoke to me about bitterness towards a actually government agency that I had expressed because I had made a judgment about the way they were treating people. And when I said these words, that makes me so angry, I realized that there was a wrong attitude, a bitter root judgment in my heart that was not Christly. So when I'm speaking to you, believe me, God is speaking to me too. I'm not condemning anyone, I'm just bringing this out to us because I believe it's part of what God wants to do inside of us. And one of the things I did is I went back to the person I had expressed that to and apologized and asked their forgiveness. Because when we speak out of bitterness, it says we defile many. We bring others into our bondage, we bring others into our negativity. So I'm gonna give us some identifications of what bitterness looks like. I think one of the first ones is that bitterness has a language and a tone. How many of you don't put up your hands, grew up in a home where someone in your home, maybe a parent, had a cutting tongue, where every now and again they will burst forth with some sharp, harsh words that made you feel like you were walking on eggshells in your home. You'd go out, you come home, what sort of mood is there gonna be in the home? What sort of mood is so-and-so gonna be? That is there because of a root of bitterness in the life of whoever you experience that from. And that can be in our life. Sometimes, if we blurt out that tone, it's pointing to a deeper root within our own heart that God wants to identify. So one of the first ways we recognize the root of bitterness is the tone and the sharpness by which we speak. And often it's the innocent ones around our life that wear it, right? It's our kids who don't deserve it. We're under stress, such and such is happening, and you turn to your child and you don't put those toys away. The bitterness comes out, we take it out on someone who's innocent that never deserved to be treated like that, or because there's something in us that needs changing. Another way that we identify a root of bitterness is our countenance. Everyone smile. Good, no bitterness. When there's bitterness, it shows in our face. Now, sometimes we can put on a mask and look happy, but it's in those times where we're not really aware, but we're just about our life, where the frown comes, the lips curl down. And the older we get, the more visible it gets, right? Yes, the bitterness ends up showing on a face. And I remember Jonathan's mother, one of her classic sayings was, you get the face you deserve. And it's kind of true. I've seen some very beautiful old old elderly people that are full of joy, and I've also seen some very sad and bitter older people. We get the face we deserve. That's another sign. Complaining and ingratitude. That's what happened with the Israelites. Three days before they're rejoicing and celebrating and praising God. Three days later they're complaining and blaming Moses for no water. Because in their hearts they still had a slave mentality, they still had a victim mentality that no one cares for me, no one's gonna provide for me, God doesn't care about us. Look, he's brought us to these bitter waters, and they start accusing the leader and accusing God for not what they have for what they haven't got and what they need. And I think sometimes if we catch ourselves complaining about something or speaking negatively or criticizing or murmuring, it identifies there's a root of bitterness in our life. It's a branch that comes out from the root of bitterness, ingratitude, where we don't stop and thank God for all the little things that He's doing in our life. Where we're not walking in thankfulness, thankfulness that we actually have water, thankfulness that we can shower and drink and eat, and thankfulness for this beautiful day, thankfulness for the clothes we wear, thankfulness for the people around our life, thankfulness, so many things we can be thankful, thankful that we can walk, thankful that we can talk. God has given us so much, thankful that we can work. There's so much to be thankful for. That we're not complaining about what we don't have, that we're not envying what someone else has, that we're not judging someone for what they do or say, but that we're just so grateful. Grateful that we have a church family, grateful that we can come in and worship. So beautiful that we are free. We live in a country that's free, that we can gather freely and worship the Lord every Sunday. Many nations around the earth don't have that freedom. I mean, you think about Nigeria, what's going on there, and the churches that gather there gather every Sunday or any time they meet with a fearful wonder in their heart, is this the day we're gonna be executed? Is this the day that a gang of terrorists are gonna come in and murder us for worshiping Jesus? That's a reality. That's a reality for our brothers and sisters in Nigeria. It's not our reality. And we've got so much to be thankful for that when we bring our children to church, we're not thinking, are they gonna be murdered today? I mean, that does not even enter our heads. How grateful should we be? How thankful should we be? So I want to encourage us to be a people of thankfulness. You might not have all of your expectations met yet. The Israelites were looking at what was in front of them instead of looking to that God is gonna provide for us, and little did they know there were 12 wells of water available for them just down the road. And we don't know what's just down the road for us. But if you're in Christ Jesus, just down the road, it's awesome. Just down the road, it's better. Just down the road, it's blessing, just down the road, it's favor, just down the road, it's goodness, just down the road, it's all God has intended for you. It's abundance, an abundant life. Jesus is a life giver. He has so much for us, and we have to fix our eyes on him and know and trust in his goodness and not look at here and now and think it's not enough. And oh, I wish I had this, and life is tough, and I don't have enough money and da-da-da-da-da, that we can all the things we complain about. But know that life is better in Christ and He has steps and goodness and blessings and abundance ahead for us. And he wants us to be a people of faith, knowing that he is a good father, knowing in the goodness of God, knowing that he won't leave us or forsake us, and we only need to ask him. The word of God says, ask and I will give you. We only need to ask him, God, I have no friends, I'm lonely. Bless me with friends that will encourage me anew and watch and see what the Lord will do for you. It's incredible. God will give you in abundance. He does us exceedingly more than we could ever ask, think, or imagine. He's a good, good God. So let's not get into the habit of complaining. And if we are complainers, let's allow the Lord to expose the root that's in our heart that's causing that to spring up out of us. Amen? Judgments, accusing people. When we judge other people's motives, it's often a sign that there's a root of bitterness in our own heart. Oh, she did that because of this, he did that because of this. Oh, they're just like that. When we start talking like that, it identifies that we have a root of bitterness in our heart that needs to be pulled out. Anger. I love what one preacher said about anger. God gives us one day to deal with it. Because in his word it says, don't let the sun go down on your anger. Something can hurt us, something can be offensive, something can happen, and we get angry. The Bible says, be angry and do not sin. So anger is an emotion in response to something hurtful in our life. But when it is also, I see anger like an alarm, right? It's like an alarm going off in our emotions that's pointing to us to say, wake up, there's an assignment here to get you into bitterness. There's an assignment here to get you in the wrong track. So when you feel yourself angry, pause, stop, and think, what is really going on here? What is there something inside that needs dealing with? Or is this a temptation by the enemy to try and get me down the wrong path? But deal with anger quickly. Forgive those who hurt you. Bible says to her, bless those who persecute you. Pray for those who treat you badly. Bless. Love those. Love your enemies. We've probably all got people around our life that might speak wrongly to us, that might treat us badly, that might be ungrateful, that might misread us, they might judge us, they might, whatever, whatever. We all had those situations in our life. But God wants us to forgive. God wants us to bless those who persecute us, to speak well of those, even when they don't speak well of us, to love our enemies. It's a challenge, but it's a good challenge because Jesus on the cross said, Father, forgive them. They do not know what they're doing. When he's inside of us, that same attitude should be coming out. Father, forgive them. They don't know what they're doing. Father, forgive them. I wish them well. I release them. I want to see good things happen for them. I speak well of them. That's this that's the spirit of Christ inside of us. But when we're angry and speaking negatively and criticizing and tearing people down with our words, it shows there's a root of bitterness going on. In Hebrews, it says that no root of bitterness springs up. So it will burst forth and causes trouble, it will bring destruction around your life, and by it many become defiled or contaminated. Where there's a root of bitterness, it will draw other people in to your complaint, to your attitude, to your judgment, to your unforgiveness, to your criticism. It will bring defilement. And the home, like as a parent, if you have an attitude towards, let's just say, attitude towards government, they don't, no, no, no, no, no, no. That spirit comes into your home and it defiles your children. If you have an attitude of bitterness towards another people group, that spirit comes into your home. I don't like those people. I don't like that ethnicity. I don't, they're just this, this, this, this. That comes into our home and it pollutes the hearts and minds of our children and brings destruction to their life. God wants to convict us. He wants to heal us. He wants to change us so that we're not carrying any roots of bitterness in our life. And we're not giving the devil a foothold when he tries to come in. You know, wherever the Lord is moving powerfully, and the Lord is moving powerfully here, the enemy tries to sow seeds as well. Wherever the enemy is moving, God always comes in. You look at Iran, what's happened there? The enemies had a regime over those people, but it's now has the fastest growing church in Iran. So God always comes into those dark places, but the enemy always comes in and seeks to make a foothold in the when things are going well, when God is moving. Back in Exodus, just finishing up, it said verse 26, I think. There he made a statute and an ordinance for them, and there he tested them and said, If you diligently heed the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in his sight, give ear to his commandment and keep all his statutes. I will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord who heals you. When you go back to the source of that, it's actually saying, I am the Lord your doctor. I am the Lord your doctor. When you put him first and obey him and listen to him, he's giving them a promise. I am the Lord your doctor. No sickness is going to come upon you. No evil manifestation of disease and sickness is going to come near your body because I am your doctor and I am going to protect you. I am going to keep you healthy. I'm going to keep you well. God was saying to them, he brought a revelation to them. At the point of disappointment, where all they're seeing is this bit of water, God comes and he brings them a revelation of him as the healer, of him as the doctor, and he unveils to them a completely new facet of who he is and who he wants to be in their life. Sometimes when we're going through difficult situations, we have a choice. We can choose to say, oh, God's not with me, oh, this is just too hard. And we get allow bitterness to come into our heart, and we let that root go down and we get taken out into bondage. Or we can say, God, what do you want to show me in this situation? What is the response that you would have me have? Reveal yourself to me in this painful situation. I've heard many testimonies when people have lost a loved one and God has come and revealed Himself to them as their as the comforter, as the healer. Even people who have had abusive situations come and they've come to the Lord, and the Lord's revealed to them that He is with them, that He is healing them, that He loves them, that He's God is far greater than any negative circumstance we will face on the earth. God is far bigger than any giant we will face. God is far greater than any difficulty, than any lack, than any hardship that will come to our life. And in every situation that we face, there is a blessing and a revelation for us if we walk it his way, if we listen to his voice and if we obey him. It's a beautiful, beautiful thing because God is purifying us and transforming us and lifting us up into another place in Him that we would see Him like we haven't seen Him before, that we would experience Him like we haven't experienced Him before. And so I just want to encourage us today is allow the Holy Spirit to reveal to you is there. Anything, anything in my heart that's not pleasing. Is there any root? Bitterness often comes in through our childhood where we've been wounded as a child. And we're made to be quiet and we're made to shut up and we're made to whatever, whatever. And rather than knowing how to deal with it, we suppress it. And it may take years, but maybe when we hit our teenage years, that's when all hell breaks loose around our life. Because we're now in a state of rebellion and we're gonna show everyone. We're gonna show everyone. You know what I'm saying? Some of you have walked that path, but it comes back to childhood roots of woundings and hurts that were never dealt with at the cross, that never allowed Jesus in. So, Holy Spirit, I just ask, Lord, I ask that you would speak to us. Examine our hearts, Lord. We don't want any root of bitterness inside of us, Lord. Bring to our attention, Lord, that which might be down in our hearts. The heart is deceitfully wicked. It means it's wicked and we're deceived by that. We think it's not. Our heart is deceitfully wicked, who can know it? It's only the searchlight of the Holy Spirit shining down into our heart that we see something. Lord, show us today that which is bringing trouble to our life, that which is polluting others. Maybe um the keyboarders can come. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Holy Spirit. If the Lord is speaking to you, I'm not gonna get you to come out the front, but I will ask you to stand up in response. Doesn't matter how big or how little what he's showing you. But if you want to respond today and say, yes, Lord, I see that. I want to deal with that. Yes, Lord, that's me. There's some unresolved hurt in my heart. There's some unresolved bitterness that's gone down. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Lord. And what I'm gonna get you to do is just confess that out to the Lord. When this happened to me, Lord, I got angry and bitter. Just confess it out to him. I felt hurt by this. And now I want us to, as you it's like a releasing out of your heart. It may be a person, it may be an institution, it may be a situation. I just want you to picture that seed that's gone into your heart. I want you to picture taking it to the cross, releasing it out of your heart and putting it on the cross, on Jesus at the cross. Now I want you to say, I forgive. Name the person, name the situation. I forgive them.

SPEAKER_00 47:57

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