Ep 114: Beyond Bitterness - Operating From a Position of Victory (Part 1)

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"Feeling beaten down by the world? Today we’ll hear a powerful wakeup call about living from our position of victory in Christ rather than wallowing in bitterness."

Feeling beaten down by the world? Pastor Teddy, a.k.a Fred Kenney, Jr. delivers a powerful wake-up call about living from our position of victory in Christ rather than wallowing in bitterness. Through personal stories ranging from childhood dental visits to international ministry opportunities, he weaves together a message about discerning God's will and timing.

When a planned ministry trip to the Philippines seemed perfect "on paper", Pastor Teddy shares how God's lack of peace guided his decision to wait. "God didn't say no, He just said hold on a minute," he explains, revealing how submission to divine timing often contradicts our logical planning. This transparent account of spiritual discernment offers listeners practical insight into recognizing God's guidance in their own lives.

The episode takes us through Pastor Teddy's experience of teaching the entire Gospel of Matthew in just eight days at Calvary Bible Institute Luzon. Comparing Scripture to a Mandelbrot set that reveals endless depth the more you explore it, he describes how students from potentially hostile countries prepared to return home equipped with teaching outlines they created together. His passion for empowering international ministers shines through every word.

Most poignantly, Pastor Teddy addresses the concerning trend of Christians allowing world circumstances to embitter them. Referencing Paul's prison epistles written under dire circumstances, he reminds us to "rejoice in the Lord always" regardless of our situation. His childhood story about being slapped by a frustrated dentist becomes a humorous but powerful metaphor for the spiritual awakening many believers need today. Ready for a spiritual perspective adjustment? Listen now and reclaim your victory position in Christ! Share your own experiences of choosing joy amid difficult circumstances, and consider supporting Plays on Word's mission to spread biblical truth through innovative teaching and performances.

Listen to Part 1 of this interview here:
https://www.buzzsprout.com/2110391/episodes/16870855
Mandelbrot Set Video
Calvary Bible Institute Luzon
Website: https://calvarybibleinstituteluzon.org/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cbiluzon/
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The dentist dude slaps meacross the face.
You could do that back in the70s.
Slap me across the face.
Now, looking back in retrospect, it wasn't hard, but it was
trying to wake me out, like snapme out of my madness.
Well, it worked.
And then I gave the dentist alook and if it could have

(00:29):
transferred into a thoughtbubble, it would have been.
I'm going to tell my dad whatyou just did and he's going to
kick your butt.
Your name, your name, your name.

Speaker 1 (01:02):
Hello and welcome to Plays on Word Radio, where we
discuss, analyze, work and playon the Word of God.
Thank you for joining us onthis excursion.
Today let's join Pastor Teddy,also known as Fred David Kenny
Jr, the founder of Plays on WordTheater, as he does a deep dive
into the Word of God.

Speaker 2 (01:23):
All right, welcome all of you back to Plays on Word
Radio.
We are moving right throughtowards our destination with
glory.
Don't you feel like you're on atrain sometimes?
Or a bus, as we're travelingthrough life?
We are just moving towards thedestination.

(01:45):
The bus don't stop, though.
It's not going to stop Even inglory.
It's not going to stop For alleternity.
We're going to be exploring thewonders of the Lord.
Can I get an amen on that?
I'm just amped up.
We are on this, we're on thisjourney and we are moving

(02:07):
towards glory, being empoweredby His Spirit, and the crazy
thing is he's on the bus with us.
He's driving the bus.
Phil Sinclair really gets that.
He understands that more thanother people.
Phil is my is is is one of themusicians and he's the bass
player for Plays on Word.

(02:27):
One of the bass players forPlays on Word and, uh, for many
years I want to say for for 80years, even though he's only in
his fifties for 80 years hedrove a bus in Staten Island and
, uh, yeah, he was the Christianbus driver.
So he wouldn't cuss you out ifyou cut him off.

(02:53):
He would just pray for you.
We need more of those people.
Hey, I just wanted to let youknow.
We have something reallyspecial coming up, I believe
next week I'll have confirmationlater but yeah, we got

(03:13):
something for your ears and yoursoul and I'm really looking
forward to, and that's all I'mgoing to say.
Last week, we finished up ourteaching at Calvary Bible
Institute.
It is a Bible college known asCBI, and the main, or the

(03:39):
original CBI is in JoshuaSprings.
We have not been to that campusyet, although I have been to
the Thunderdome.
So, if any of you are listeningfrom Joshua Springs Calvary
Chapel, we have been to theThunderdome.
In fact, we went out for ourdear brother, robbie Reeves.

(04:00):
Robbie and Kat they got married, I want to say back in 2019.
Got a chance to meet Joe Arkham,my man.
He's with the Lord right nowand we went out there and I was
like this is this is like myfirst time in the real desert,
you know, and I'm like, yeah,I'm a New Jersey kid man.

(04:23):
I don't know nothing about nodesert.
The only thing I know about thedesert is Bennett, sand and
Gravel.
It's a gravel pit.
That was about it.
I didn't know anything about nodesert cactus, snakes, all
kinds of stuff, and so, yeah, wewent out there it was in the
spring I want to say May and thedesert had just bloomed and I

(04:49):
was like what it had justbloomed and like we were maybe a
week or two after, and so, tomy great surprise, there was
even pollen in the desert.
But it was fantastic.
It was a great experience.
We went out there for thewedding and we decided to visit
the Calvary Chapel.

(05:09):
Out there they're likeMcDonald's, they're everywhere.
And I met Pastor Gerald.
And keep him in your prayers,guys.
If you don't know who to prayfor, keep Gerald in your prayers
.
He's dealing with some healthissues.
But we went to visit and Iforget the sister's name, but

(05:34):
the lady from the church, shejust came right up to us and
said I don't recognize you guys,something along those lines
Come on in.
And we went and sat with her.
I don't recognize you guys,something along those lines Come
on in.
And we went and sat with herand I'm looking at Katie.
It was a great time, afantastic time, a great time in

(05:56):
the Word.
It was a blessed time in church, fellowshipping with brothers
and sisters in Christ, but thenat the end of the service and
sisters in Christ, but then atthe end of the service.
Actually, I know Pastor Geraldis.
He calls me and Katie up.

(06:17):
He calls people to come up, itwasn't just us.
But then he calls me and Katieup and he prays over us, the
ministry that we have.
I think the lady that invited usI'm going to have to have Katie
on the program here to explainit probably properly, because
I'm not doing justice to thestory but the lady who invited
us in or said come on in.
I think she told him they'revisiting from New Jersey and

(06:38):
they have a ministry.
So, yeah, he prayed over us,laid hands on us, the whole
church prayed over us and wewere just visiting, not trying
to, we were trying to go upfront or nothing.
You know, it just came up likein conversation with that lady
as we're walking to the.
She said something like well,what do you guys do, you know?
And I said, well, we're herefor a wedding and we're going to

(07:00):
be doing some plays.
Be doing some plays, because wehad some of our Pete plays were
set up in the CamarilloCalifornia area, which is just
north of LA.
So that would that was supposedto take place after the uh, the

(07:20):
wedding and this Sunday servicewe're at, and so I guess she
told him and next thing, youknow, the whole church is
praying over us.
Man, I'm like what is going on?
This is amazing.
Well, anyway, next door oraround the corner is the Calvary
Bible Institute.
I want to say it's the originalCBI.

(07:42):
Now there are CBIs around theworld.
There's one, I believe it'sSouth America, there's one in
the Mediterranean and there isone.
These are the ones I know of.
I have not looked on theirwebsite and checked, but there's
one in the Philippinesilippinesand I met pastor tony reyes.

(08:08):
Uh man, maybe four, no wait,four or five, four years ago,
might be four years ago, I don'tknow if it's four, something
like that.
I think it was during covidthing thing.
I met him at a pastor'sconference in Philly and we got

(08:32):
to talking and we wanted to goout and you guys remember we
were supposed to go to thePhilippines last fall and we
were going to do some plays andwe were going to teach at the
Calvary Bible Institute and theLord it was, ah, man, it was

(08:54):
just, it was difficult because Iwanted to go.
I really bet I still want to goand we're still planning on
going, but sometimes the Lordkind of puts the brakes on and
just puts in your spirit hold on, wait a minute, slow it down,
hit the brakes and for whateverreason, he just didn't give me

(09:17):
any peace with it, especiallywhen I prayed for peace.
For you know, you pray for Hiswill.
Lord, show me your will, tellme what you want me to do, show
me direct my steps.
And unfortunately, sometimesit's difficult for us to
decipher what he's saying.

(09:38):
But one of the great things ishe has given us of His Spirit.
So we have conscience, our ownconscience, but we also have the
Holy Spirit of God, who is God,who was hovering over the
waters at creation, whodescended on our Lord Jesus

(10:09):
Christ in the form of a dove,who descended on the church at
Pentecost and who has beenfilling believers since and
empowering believers since,since Pentecost, since we have
him.
So, uh, you know if, if youhonestly pray, say Lord, help me

(10:33):
out, help me understand atleast direction, uh, give me
peace please with what you want.
And there was no peace.
I mean, it was almost like,almost like he woke me up in the
middle of the night.
You're not supposed to do this,man.
And I was like, oh man, how canthis, how can this be On paper?
It makes perfect sense.

(10:54):
We are, we are designed forministry, that's what we do, so
this on paper is a perfect fit.
A hammer is designed to hit thenail, so why not?
You know that's, that was thementality, so why not?
You know that was the mentality.

(11:21):
And it turns out that Katie wasgetting the same lack of peace
and some people that we dearlytrust, that pray for this
ministry all the time, they alsohad like a lack of peace about
it.
I think about our dear sisterLydia.
You know I she's like EF Huttonwhen she talks people listen.

(11:43):
And you know she said shedidn't have peace and I just I
was like, wow, okay, all right,lord, lord, I'm going to.
I'm not going to be anxiousabout anything, but in
everything excuse me forcoughing, it's not from cigars
or anything like that, believeme, it's all from pollen.
This pollen down here isunbelievable.

(12:05):
It's like snow coming off ofthe trees anyway, trees, anyway.
Yeah, the pollen is making mechoke here.
Anyway, by prayer and petition,we make our request known to God
.
And what, what does it saythere?
Don't be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer

(12:27):
and supplication, withthanksgiving, let your requests
be made known to God, and thepeace of God which, by the way,
surpasses all understanding, youknow, it goes beyond what you

(12:49):
can even comprehend it willguard your hearts and your minds
in Christ Jesus.
So you know, that's what I wasseeking, and there are, um,
there are, times when God willdirect your steps and then he'll

(13:11):
give you peace, and I hadcomplete peace.
It broke my heart to have toreach out to Pastor Tony and be
like listen man.
I don't know how to tell youthis, but I think the Lord's
telling me I'm not supposed tocome out here.
I committed to it and told himyeah, sure, they told the

(13:32):
students I'm going to beteaching teaching blah, blah,
blah the whole nine.
And nah, man, I had to tellthem I can't come out and it
broke my heart.
I wrestled with that, but Isaid I have to operate in truth
and, being a man of God that heis, he completely understood and
got it and was graceful.
I was waiting to get chewed outor something, but I should have

(13:56):
known better.
From a human perspective, I'mlike, oh boy, he's going to be
angry at me the whole night.
But no, he was very, verygraceful and he submitted to the
Lord's will.
He said you know what theLord's will be done here?
Yeah, it puts me in a, it putsme in a uh, a difficult position

(14:21):
, but um, it, it, it, and itturned out.
It actually worked out for thebest, because there were so many
things happening even overthere at the time that
coordinating um an additionalmission, while we were there we
would have been doing plays, Iwould have been teaching the
students and we would have beentraveling long distances and

(14:45):
trying to teach it.
Just, it was not a tenablesituation for us.
It wouldn't, it would not haveworked.
And, thank God, the Lordintervened.
So what I did?
I said you know what?
I will honor my commitment asbest I can, and because of

(15:08):
technology, I can teach remotelyif you want.
And Tony said, oh, that'd begreat, Okay.
And I had peace with that.
I was like, okay, well, we'lldo that then.
And so they asked earlier in theyear, when we were setting
everything up, I was going toteach the Gospel of John.
And you know, I could probablyteach the Gospel of John with my

(15:32):
eyes closed because I've spentso much time in it and I've
taught from it so many times.
And so I was like, okay, yeah,let's do the Gospel of John.
I'm ready to rock on that.
And I don't know a week or two,a couple weeks, it feels like a
couple weeks before.
And I don't know a week or two,a couple.

(16:01):
It feels like a couple weeksbefore, maybe it was a month,
but it feels like a couple weeksbefore we.
I got a message Excuse me, andthey asked me.
They said, hey, can you teachMatthew instead?
Hey, you know me, those of youthat know me.
I'm like, yeah, okay, yeah, Icould do that.
And I have taught from Matthew,but I've never taught from

(16:25):
chapter 1 to 28.
You know, I've never taught theentire gospel as a unit.
I've taught many things from it.
And so I was like, yeah, okay,alright, sure, no problem,
scripture is scripture, man, Ilove it.
And I was like, as I'm goingthrough it, I'm like, oh man, oh

(16:46):
, wait a minute.
This is like a protein bar,like that's packed beyond belief
.
It's like a.
It's like a I don't know man, a10-yard protein bar.
How are you gonna eat that?
How do you eat that in onesitting?
You can't.
Oh, and on top of that theteaching is.

(17:09):
The teaching is not like asemester or anything like that.
It's not a semester long, it'snot even a five or six week
summer course.
This is eight days.
Eight days to teach the entireGospel of Matthew.

(17:38):
My beloved Pastor Bert, I thinkhe's been in the Gospel of
Matthew maybe a year and a halfnow and I don't even know if
they've gotten to chapter 17 yet.
So if you guys have UCCLW-ites,let me know and I will amend
this.
But yeah, it's not because Bertis dragging his feet at all.

(17:59):
It's because the gospel it'sloaded, man.
It is loaded.
The more you magnify in on it,the deeper it becomes.
It's like it's like theMandelbrot set for you
mathematicians out there, you,you scientists and mathematician
people.
I tell you what you guys.

(18:20):
If you don't know what I'mtalking about, just Google
Mandelbrot set and preferably avideo.
You want to see a video of it.
You go to YouTube and sayMandelbrot set Okay, mandelbrot
set Fractal geometry at its best.
But the bottom line is that'slike the gospel.

(18:43):
You think you're drilling ingetting to the bottom of it.
Oh, wait a second.
It never ends.
Second it just it is.
It never ends.
The depths of the Word of Godare unsearchable.
Man, it's literally, it'sunsearchable.

(19:04):
It just keeps going and goingand going.
And so I found myself like, howdo, how am I supposed to do
this in eight days?
Well, let me break it intochapters and just divide it that
way.
And I told the students, I said, listen, you guys are going to
be drinking from a fire hose.
Okay, you're going to, you'llget some water, but most of it's

(19:24):
just going to go over you,blast through you and everything
else, so, but don't beatyourselves up.
Anyway, that was a blessed time.
We had a um, we had a lot ofactive discussions and if you
guys know my teaching style,especially those of you that I
would, uh, we would do likeSunday morning at CCLW, um, I'm

(19:46):
very interactive.
I liked, I like questions, Ilike to, you know, and it's not
ADD, we, you know, we takequestions, we go into it and
allow the spirit to speak to us,try to find answers, and so

(20:07):
it's interactive in that way.
So we had some really, reallygood discussions and it was a
blessed time and we got throughit.
Well, that wasn't a fall, thisone.
We just finished.
We took a similar approach.
I kicked it up a couple notchesthough, rather than me just

(20:27):
giving a lecture, I had thestudents.
I had them every chapter we did, I had them create an outline
based on what we were talkingabout and discussing, and they
would create a chapter outline.

(20:47):
Because these students that areout here, they're going to be
leading ministries, some ofgoing to.
Some of them are going to bepastors leading churches, some
of them are going to be leadingdifferent ministries.
It's all going to be ministry.
They want to, they want to drawcloser to God, they want to
learn the word of God.
I had a student from fromBangladesh, student from Vietnam

(21:08):
, I mean, they're from all overthe place and some of these
places are, let's just say,they're not.
I don't want to say thatthey're hostile to the gospel,
but some of these places, youknow, these students could be
going back and find themselvesin hot water for preaching the
gospel.
So I wanted to try to pour intothem and encourage them as best

(21:34):
I could.
So we had them do outlines foreach chapter.
After I would give a lecture,discussion on it, and I would
give them some prompts for apotential teaching outline.
But the goal was that at theend of the teaching sessions or

(21:58):
the end of the whole class.
After eight days they wouldactually have their own outline
of the Gospel of Matthew thatthey could go back to multiple
times and teach, and I believewe accomplished that.
Most of the students let usknow that.
So that was a blessed time.

(22:20):
And so thank you, brother TonyReyes, out there in the
Philippines, and we do plan oncoming out to you, the
Philippines, and we do plan oncoming out to you.
God didn't say no, he just saidhold on a minute, just wait.
So in His right time we plan tocome out and do some plays.

(22:44):
So on the Plays, on Word sideof things, we also have done our
Genesis Joe play.
We brought the Genesis Joe playto the Wilmington Bible Chapel
in Wilmington, north Carolina,last week.
Last Saturday, blessed time,had a really blessed time there

(23:09):
bringing the Genesis Joe andthis is the I don't want to say
this the latest.
We usually do Genesis Joe in theMarch and then switch over to
Pete.
I'm hoping to work Dan in thisyear.
I just heard some people say oh, it's about time.
Yeah, great, great, great, amen.
Yes, we do plan on working Danin.

(23:31):
I don't have a date on that yetand I'm still waiting on the
director to help us out with afew things on that.
The director is the Lord, somaybe you guys could send him
some email or some text message,or pray or something you like.

(23:51):
How, I just passed the buck too.
That's how ministry should be.
That's what I do.
I'm like, listen, I'm waitingon him.
You know, he's the boss, I'mthe horse.
Okay, some of you guys mightget that too.
So, anyway, we have anotherGenesis Joe coming up.

(24:11):
Yeah, we're traveling back toNew Jersey, new Jerusalem.
We're traveling back earlyApril, beginning of April.
We have something we're doingat America's, keswick and then
we're going to be over inJamesburg with our brother Vinny
Whitehead.
Yeah, that's right, crossfields, calvary Chapel, crossfields,

(24:37):
yes, and Jamesburg there.
So we'll be visiting those guys, that part of the family.
Hey, if you're in that area,you need to roll out.
You just ought to come out andsay hello and check out.
Genesis Joe, yeah, we're goingto be doing that there.
Thank our brother VinnyWhitehead, looking forward to

(24:59):
that.
And so, before we close up, thisis my just saying hello and
touching base with everybody,but before we close up, you know
, I've been kind of not evenkind of, I've been extremely
concerned with some of ourbrothers and sisters in Christ

(25:23):
that seem to be letting theworld circumstances beat them
into a pulp Not only beat theminto a pulp.
And I want you, if you'relistening, say amen.
I'm going to say it again, ifyou're listening, say amen, yeah
, okay, listen to this.
If you're in Christ right, youare in Christ.

(25:47):
We're not supposed to be bitter, angry.
There's a such thing asrighteous anger.
Jesus was angry, but neverbecause he was treated a certain
way.
It was for the glory of theFather and that's righteous

(26:13):
anger, okay.
But many of our brothers andsisters are all bent out of
shape and upset and this is nothow we're.
We're not supposed to be livinglike that.
We have victory, victory, youhave the victory.
I was actually going to make aum, an award, the victory award,

(26:40):
and I was going to find all thepeople I know named vick and
put them on this tree and makeit like a trophy.
Yeah, so, michael vick, uh,vick tavak, vick Caboo, just
everybody I know with the nameVick.

(27:01):
I was going to put on this treeand then say, listen, you have
the victory.
And it is true, we have thevictory in Christ.
The victory in Christ, we'reoperating from a position of
victory.
Man, wake up up.

(27:35):
But when I was a little kid uhman, I might've been six or
seven, I think my mom took me tothis dentist Right, and the
dentist was, and I was.
I lost my marbles.
I was going nuts in the dentistchair.
I was going crazy and my momwas standing over there.
I didn't like, I didn't knowwhat was going on.
But the dentist guy, he wasclearly getting frustrated with
me.
I was trying to bust out thechair.

(27:56):
I was a bad little kid there.
I wasn't a bad kid, but I wasnot compliant with what they
wanted to do.
So, out of nowhere, as I'mhaving my complete meltdown
tantrum, the dentist dude slapsme across the face.
You could do that back in the70s.

(28:18):
Slap me across the face.
Now, looking back in retrospect, it wasn't hard, but it was
trying to wake me out, like snapme out of my madness.
Well, it worked.
It was like he slapped me and Ilooked at him like wait what?
Then I looked over at my momlike wait what?

(28:44):
And my mom was like she wasn'thaving that.
She was like hold on, hold on,whoa, whoa, whoa, hold on.
And there was, I want to sayabout three seconds where I
calmed down and then I gave thedentist a look and if it could

(29:06):
have transferred into a thoughtbubble, it would have been I'm
going to tell my dad what youjust did and he's going to kick
your butt.
I was, I was, I wanted, I waswanting to find my dad, cause I
was like I'm going to findFreddie, fred and he's going to
put an end to you.
That was my mentality, man, asa little kid, as a little.
That was the thought like.

(29:27):
And I had lost my marbles man.
I was trying to turn into theHulk and everything.
But so, listen, I don't want to.
Why do I say that I don't wantto?
I don't want to slap anybody,but sometimes we need to be
slapped, to be woken out of our,or knocked out of our,
mentality of walking aroundabsolutely bitter and salty at

(29:49):
this world.
Listen, I'm going to end withwhat Paul said in Philippians
Rejoice in the Lord, always, man.
Again I say it rejoice.
Let your reasonableness beknown to everyone.

(30:14):
The Lord is at hand.
And he also says in anotherprison epistle he says let no
corrupting talk come out of yourmouths, but only such as good
for building up as fits theoccasion, that it may give grace
to those who hear and don'tgrieve the Holy Spirit by whom
you were sealed for the day ofredemption, let all bitterness

(30:37):
and all wrath and anger andclamor and slander be put away
from you, along with all malice.
Be kind to one another,tenderhearted, forgiving one
another as God in Christ forgaveyou.
That's from Ephesians.
Let us, let us not be bitter,okay, and I wanted to spend so

(30:57):
much more time on that and maybewe will next time.
That's all the time we have fortoday, but I tell you what, god
willing, we will be back anduntil we're back, the Lord bless
you and keep you.
The Lord make his face to shineupon you and be gracious to you
.
The Lord lift up hiscountenance upon you and give

(31:20):
you peace.

Speaker 1 (31:32):
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