August 25, 2024 • 32 mins
Ep. 049 A Bitter and Disillusioned Man
Text: Acts 8: 21-23
- Bitter
- Better
- Best
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PHSA Church (Potter's House Salmon Arm)
#201 231 Trans Canada Hwy.
Salmon Arm, BC, Canada
604-997-8446
Email: pottershousesa@icloud.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
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Welcome to the Potter's House Salmon Arm podcast. We are a Bible-Believing Church located
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in beautiful British Columbia, Canada. We are proudly part of the Christian Fellowship
Ministries with 3,000 churches around the world. We are a church focused on world evangelism,
discipleship and church planting. Here we will share recent sermons from P.H.S.A. Church
and other sermons from throughout our fellowship. I am Pastor David Bigford and I will be your
host for this podcast. I thank you for listening today and we hope these messages are a blessing
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to you and bring you closer to God.
Hello and welcome back to the Potter's House Salmon Arm podcast. Thank you for coming back
again. Today the message I put together is called, A Bitter and Disillusioned Man. I
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want to also thank you for those who have been listening to the podcast with the extra
messages that have been put in for our conference. I have a few other bonus messages that I am
going to be throwing up that are not exactly from the conference. The conference is typically
17 sermons within the shot, but there are a few messages that were from the Sunday previous
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and I am going to throw those in as well as bonus sermons onto the podcast. I think that
will be a good help to us all and I look forward to adding those. Let's dive in to A Bitter
and Disillusioned Man or the three B's, bitter, better and best. The text we are going to
be using is Acts 8, 21-23. We all live in an age or a time that is full of entertainment,
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every sort of distraction possible. Some will call it consumerism, capitalism, corporatism
or any other kind of ism that we find ourselves attracted to. With everything at our fingertips
you would think that we could find peace and tranquility, but that doesn't seem to be so.
Why is it that with all this saturation of entertainment, food, content on the internet,
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we seem to be helplessly and hopelessly depressed as a society? It is an interesting thought
that we need to dive into. We need to have a better understanding for. Let's look at
our text, Acts 8, 21-23. You have neither part nor lot in this matter, for your heart
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is not right before God. Repent therefore of the wickedness of yours and pray to the
Lord that if possible the intent of your heart may be forgiven to you, for I see that you
are in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity. Let's go ahead and pray. Dear
Lord God, I pray that this message will cut the heart of a hardened heart, of a person's
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hardened heart. I pray that this would be able to penetrate the walls that we put up
to try to keep at bay the word of God, for we all put up walls at times because of what
we watch, what we listen to, but I pray that your word will cut through that, all that
noise and help us today as we dive into your word. In Jesus' name, amen.
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So let's take a look at some numbers here. Antidepressant use is something that we know
to be on the rise and users that typically use this like by the numbers by statistics
end up being a lot of times older adults, non-Hispanic whites and women. 12.7% of the
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US population over the age of 12 took antidepressant medication in the past month. According to
analysis from the National Center of Health Statistics, most antidepressants are used
to obviously treat depression. 64% is the increase in the percentage of people using
antidepressants between the period of 1999 and 2014. In 1999, 7.7% of the population
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was taking this medication. Something is happening in our society that is causing people to live
a life with more like more depressed or with less hope for the future. 19.1% of older adults
over 60 took antidepressants within the same period of time. So antidepressant use increases
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with age. These medications are used by 16.6% of people ages 40 to 59, 7.8% of those 20
to 39 and 3.4% of adolescents 12 to 19. So women are also two times more likely to take
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antidepressant medication. And I could argue that that has a lot to do with our society
pushing on women, unrealistic expectations and ungodly understanding of how society is
supposed to live in a godly format. And I'm not trying to make some sort of weird claims
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here. It's just simply that if you were to look at under the law and Judaism and how
things were looking at women ran businesses, women took care of lots of responsibilities.
They were very forthright, but they also had a deep connection to family. And what I see
in society today is this tearing down of family that is very, very sad and hard for us to
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understand. But it's the tearing down of family that I believe impacts women at a far greater
amount than it does young men. Young men end up with different issues and they are typically
quieter with the way that they deal with their depression. But I do believe that on both
cases and both groups, the tearing down of God and faith and then ultimately the family
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unit is a big reason for a lot of these increases. So the percentage of non-Hispanic white Americans
taking antidepressants is roughly 16 and a half percent, about three times as much as
any other race or ethnic group. So by comparison, 5.6% of non-Hispanic Blacks Americans, 5%
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of Hispanic Americans, and 3.4% of non-Hispanic Asian Americans took antidepressants in this
past month. So what's the root of this problem? What causes bitterness and how do we combat
this poison in our lives? So let's look first at this idea of bitterness and how this ties
in with depression or hopelessness. Then we'll be able to better see a better way and ultimately
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the best way, which is through Christ Jesus. Praise God. So Bruce Goodrich was being initiated
into the cadet corps at Texas A&M University. And one night Bruce was forced to run until
he dropped, but he never got up. Bruce Goodrich died before he even entered college. A short
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time after the tragedy, Bruce's father wrote this letter to the administration, the faculty,
the student body, and the corps of cadets. I would like to take this opportunity to express
the appreciation of my family for the great outpouring of concern and sympathy from Texas
A&M University and the college community over the loss of our son Bruce. We were deeply
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touched by the tribute paid to him and the battalion. We were particularly pleased to
note that his Christian witness did not go unnoticed during his brief time on campus.
Mr. Goodrich went on, I hope it will be for some comfort to know that we harbor no ill
will in the matter. We know our God makes no mistakes and Bruce had an appointment with
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his Lord and he is now secure in his celestial home. When the question is asked, why did
this happen? Perhaps one answer will be so that many will consider where they will spend
eternity.
So bitter. Bitterness is something that we can read about throughout all the New Testament.
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It's a theme that we see repeated over and over again and there's a good reason for the
constant repeating of this theme. Bitterness is something that we all have to battle with.
The cost of bitterness is extremely high and left untreated can cost you more than just
your life. Bitterness is symbolic of the affliction or misery and servitude. We see examples of
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this portrayed in Exodus 1 14 or Ruth 120 or Jeremiah 9 15. The Chaldeans are called
the bitter and hasty nation in Abacov 1 6. The gall of bitterness expresses a state of
great wickedness in our text Acts 23. So a root of bitterness is a wicked person or a
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dangerous sin and you can read that in Hebrews 12 15. So as we think about all these mentions
of bitterness or being bitter in the scripture, we need to recognize that there are some significant
dangers that lie under the surface of allowing bitterness to grab ahold of your heart. Oftentimes
sorrow and pain can lead to depression, but I've also seen that bitterness can grab someone's
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heart and draw them into deep bitterness. Sometimes bitterness can happen when we don't
get a promotion that we feel entitled to or when a friend doesn't reach out to us to go
out but yet they invite someone else and we get jealous. So we can be covetous of our
neighbor and that can create bitterness within our heart. The Passover was meant to be eaten
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with bitter herbs and we see that in Exodus 12 8 and Numbers 9 11. The kind of herbs so
designated we aren't quite sure of. It's kind of lost to history to some extent, but
probably they were any bitter herb that was obtainable at the place and time when Passover
was being celebrated. They represented the severity and the servitude under which the
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people groaned and have been regarded also as typical of the suffering of Christ. So
here we have this annual tradition or this festival of Passover where the eating of bitter
herbs is to show how hard the servitude was for the people of Israel and the typically
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suffering of Jesus Christ. Can you imagine you're having this festival and you have to
eat something that is purposely bitter? It's an interesting thought and it's so that we
recognize the sharpness of what bitterness is represented in our lives. So these illustrations
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and rituals of bitterness are needed so that we don't forget the costs associated with
allowing bitterness to creep into our hearts and to control our lives. So let's take a
look at the tale of two monks. One day two monks were walking through the countryside.
They were on their way to another village to help bring in the crops and as they walked
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they spied an old woman sitting on the edge of a river. She was upset because there was
no bridge and she could not get across on her own. The first monk kindly offered, we
will carry you across if you'd like. Thank you, she said gratefully accepting their help.
So the two men joined hands and lifted her between them and carried her across the river.
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When they got to the other side, they set her down and she went on her way. After they
had walked another mile or so, the second monk began to complain. Look at my clothes,
he said. They are filthy from carrying that woman across the river and my back is still
hurts or my back still hurts from lifting her. I can feel it getting stiff. The first
monk just smiled and nodded his head. A few more miles up the road, the second monk griped
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again. My back is hurting me so badly and it is all because we had to carry that silly
woman across the river. I cannot go any farther because of this pain. The first monk looked
down at his partner loud lying on the ground moaning. Have you wondered why I'm not complaining?
The other monk asked. Your back hurts because you're still carrying the woman. But I set
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her down five miles ago. This is what many of us like our are like dealing with our families.
We are the second monk who cannot let go. We hold the pain of the past over our loved
ones heads like a club. Or we remind them every once in a while when we get, you know,
when we want to get the upper hand. We remind them of the burden we still carry because
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of something they did years ago. Living a life full of bitterness is kind of like eating
a food you despise every day while looking at a table full of foods you like that are
laid out in front of you. So I hate bananas, the smell, the texture, everything about them.
I'm just not a fan of the banana. Now you might think that's crazy, but you know what?
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You're going to say, oh, bananas have great potassium. It's all right. Bacon has more
potassium than banana. I'll just stick with the bacon. So if I was a sit at the table
though and only eat bananas, I would be pretty darn miserable. Now if I choose to eat only
those bananas, even though there's like a juicy tomahawk steak or let's say, you know,
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there's a, you know, a nice bacon wrap steak. Now you're talking about it, right? They would,
you call me insane to sit there and eat something that I can't, that like is just disgusting
to me. But that's like choosing to hold on to bitterness or unforgiveness, anger, envy,
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malice when there is a better way. When we allow these feelings of anxiety or depression
to grow within our lives, like bit and bitterness and the stuff to grow in our lives, we allow
it to choke out the things of God. We allow it to disrupt what God is wanting to do in
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our lives. So this brings me to my next point, which is better. God gives us a clear insight
into a better way. And that way starts with forgiveness. We see this message repeated
in the old Testament. The idea is that vengeance is the Lord's. God will right the wrongs and
punish the wicked. This is meant to remove the reaction from our hands and to leave it
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up to God to leave it with the Lord. This is the path to forgiveness and letting go
of that root of bitterness. And when you do this, when you give these things over to God,
whether it be bitterness or anxiety or any of these kinds of emotions, you know, anger,
when you give it up to the Lord, that is the better path. So in Ephesians four 31 to 32,
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it says, let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from
you along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tender hearted, forgiving one another
as God and Christ forgave you. What a powerful portion of scripture. It's a very difficult
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portion of scripture. I don't deny that. And as we enter into these political arenas that
are coming up and in the United States, then, you know, in the next year or so in Canada
as well, when we come up to these political things, we need to remember that we're not
the ones that are meant to be fighting. Yes, we pray. Yes, we do the right thing. Yes,
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we vote according to our conscience of the word of God. Of course we do, but we do not
allow for bitterness to grab ahold of our heart. We do not take up the weapons of wrath
and anger. We do not run around screaming, clamoring and slandering people. We put all
that aside. We be kind to one another. We allow ourselves to be tender hearted, forgiving
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those who hurt us just as God has forgiven you and I. So the caterpillar and the butterfly
is another story that I came across that's pretty cool. I like this story. So seems there
was an enemy that had a beautiful princess trapped in a palace tower, right? It's the
old, you know, damsel in the stress up in the tower story. The strong, handsome knight
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loved this princess so much that he wanted to do a surprise attack and free the princess
from their enemy and bring her home. But how could he tell her to be ready for the escape?
So he decided to get some help from his friends and some friends that are going to be able
to help notify her of the escape so she'll be ready. So the knight spoke to Mr. Caterpillar
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and asked Mr. Caterpillar to scale the wall of the palace, you know, to go up the tower
and warn the lady to be ready for the daring escape. So Mr. Caterpillar complained and
complained, do I have to? You mean, do I have to climb that high wall just to tell her you
will be there Thursday morning at 5 a.m. to set her free? So reluctantly, Mr. Caterpillar
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began his cat is climb up that steep wall. It was dark and as cold and he as he began,
he ascended up to the heights of the wall. Mr. Caterpillar fussed and fussed and then
the sun came out and the heat was so bad that each step required effort. During the night,
the rain came down and Mr. Caterpillar griped and griped. And finally, the next day, Mr.
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Caterpillar made it to the window ledge. He was exhausted and he felt unappreciated. Mr.
Caterpillar yelled over to the lady, you are not nearly as pretty as I thought you would
be. He asked, are you the damsel in distress? The lady nodded yes. Mr. Caterpillar thought
I climbed all the way here for this. He complained to the lady and waiting. You mean I climb
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the, sorry, he told the lady, you will never know how hard a climb I had. I got hungry
and so tired. And after all of his complaining and griping, he told the lady, the night told
me to tell you he would be here Thursday morning at five a.m. and you better be up and waiting
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for my boss. Do you think you can remember that or do I need to tell you again? Repeat
after me, Thursday at five a.m. He was so hateful to the princess, he crawled down the
tower wall complaining every inch of his journey. So we are often times way too much like the
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Caterpillar. We assume the worst intentions of others. We accentuate the negatives of
a given task and ignore the positives. We are so skilled at this form of pessimism that
we will do or that we will work to turn the positives into negatives. The root of bitterness
starts when we turn away from the Lord. In Deuteronomy 29 18, beware lest there be among
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you a man or a woman or a clan or a tribe whose heart is turning away today from the
Lord our God to go and serve the gods of those nations. Beware lest there be any among you
a root bearing poisonous and bitter fruit. The danger is that we do not immediately see
this fruit of bitterness. The fruit only comes after we choose to disregard God's covenant.
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And as we allow our hearts to be led away by all the other gods that we lift up, all
of those other isms that I referenced earlier in the beginning of this message, we allow
them to take God's place in our heart. And that is where bitterness, anxiety, depression,
and the poisonous fruit spring up. There is a better way than cultivating bitterness and
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we can choose a different path. In Deuteronomy 33 it says, then the Lord your God will restore
your fortunes and have mercy on you. And he will gather you again from all the peoples
where the Lord your God has scattered you. So to make sure the princess would be ready,
the knight thought I will ask another friend to help me. So the knight talked to Mr. Butterfly.
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Hey friend, would you tell the princess I am coming to rescue her Thursday at 5 a.m.
Make sure that she is ready for the rescue mission. Mr. Butterfly said, sure, I'll be
glad to inform her and make sure she is ready. So Mr. Butterfly caught the wind and started
flying up towards her window. It rained a little but Mr. Butterfly kept flying upward.
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Later in the day a bird swooped over Mr. Butterfly to eat him but he just kept flying higher
and higher. Mr. Butterfly landed on the windowsill and saw how beautiful the princess was. He
just admired her beauty. He whispered, honey come over here. I have a message from the
handsome knight to you beautiful princess. Mr. Butterfly flew over to her shoulder and
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kissed her cheek. Mr. Butterfly said, I have good news for you. My white knight will be
here at 5 a.m. in the morning to set you free and you will live happily ever after. Mr.
Knight will be here at 5 a.m. sharp. Please be ready. The knight really loves you so much.
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The princess was so happy she said thank you so much Mr. Butterfly. You are so sweet I
will be ready for my love when he comes for me. But the princess said let me ask you why
was Mr. Caterpillar so mean and rude? He was so disagreeable. Mr. Caterpillar brought me
the same news as you did but I felt so bad when he left. Mr. Butterfly said oh you mean
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Mr. Caterpillar. Don't mind his disagreeable attitude that is just the way he is. For you
see I used to gripe and complain just as he does but I had a transformation. I have changed.
I love the knight and I love to bring his message to you. Soon we will be or we will
all be together forever. What do you see when you look into the mirror? The picture of the
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caterpillar and the butterfly highlights the chosen perception of the participants and
the scriptural truth is proven in our society as a whole. It is documented that those who
do not fester with old grudges or harbor envy tend to lead happier lives. Countries like
Finland that tend not to judge their happiness on the amount of stuff they have but rather
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on having the bare minimum to live tend to have higher self-reported levels of happiness.
Finland is a pretty socialist country but they all have similar values and understanding
of the need to contribute to their own country and they don't get all worked up with what
they lack. This is something that we can all learn from. Legong is a Swedish word that
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means not too much and not too little but just the right amount. It is about moderation,
efficiency and fairness and these are things that we can glean and apply to our own lives.
The Bible talks about being content and we can live a content life full of joy and happiness.
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In Psalm 37 he will not forsake his saints of David. Fret not yourself because the evil
doers be not envious of wrongdoers for they will soon fade like the grass and wither like
the green herbs. So the Finnish are a great example but we have something even better.
In Christ we have all the joy. And this brings me to my final point which is the best. Romans
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15 13. May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing so that by the
power of the Holy Spirit you may have bound in hope. Through salvation and the gift of
the Holy Spirit we can tap into the joy of the Lord. It does not matter what is happening
in our lives. It does not matter if we have nothing. It does not matter if life is unfair.
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It does not even matter if life is downright miserable. In Christ we can tap into a power
that can and will equip us to overcome all things in his name. In Philippians 4 10-14
it says I rejoice in the Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern
for me. You were indeed concerned for me but you had no opportunity. Not that I am speaking
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of being in need for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to
be brought low and I know how to abound in any and every circumstance. I have learned
the secret of facing plenty hunger and abundance in need. I can do all things through him who
strengthens me. We do not have to live like this work. We have something better than this.
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So bitterness and disillusion. I pulled this from Dr. Armand M. Nicolai. He's a professor
of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and he explains that when Sigmund Freud died at
the age of 83 he died a bitter and disillusioned man. Tragically this Venetian physician one
of the most influential thinkers of our time had little compassion for the common person.
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Freud wrote in 1918 I have found little that is good about human beings on the whole. In
my experience most of them are trash. No matter whether they publicly subscribe to this or
that ethical doctrine or to none at all Freud died friendless. It is well known that he
had broken with each of his followers. The end was bitter. What a crazy thought. A successful
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and renowned doctor of psychiatry at the time but his doctrine was ungodly and wrong and
it led to such tragic bitterness. In Hebrews 12 14-15 it says strive for the peace or strive
for peace with everyone and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. See
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to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God and that no root of bitterness springs
up and causes trouble and by it many become defiled. So as we close this message as we
come to the end we don't have to be controlled by the spirits of this world. We do not have
to allow bitterness to rise up in our hearts. We can live a better life focused on others.
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We can put God first in our lives. We can be content knowing that our Father in heaven
will provide for us. Even more we can live our best life when we submit to Jesus Christ
in repentance. We can follow him as recipients of his grace and his mercy. Through that decision
we will be able to tap into the joy of the Lord no matter what is happening to us and
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what is happening around us. The world is fighting against God. They are striving to
outlaw God's word and make it hate speech but we can be above all of this because of
the knowledge that we know that the fact that we know that God is already victorious and
in him we can partake in his victory. Not only the victory over bitterness but also
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the victory over death and sin. If I could have every head bowed every eye closed as
I draw this message to a conclusion. I hope that this message has sparked some thoughts
in your life. Maybe there is a family member that you are not in right relationship. A
friend that you have broken off with and you recognize that you had a large part in it
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and why that things went the wrong way. I just pray that this message would show you
that there is a better way and whether you can mend those fences or not the reality is
you can let the bitterness go on your side. You can repent of that anger, of that hostility,
that wrath, that malice, that bitterness and you can give it to the Lord. I pray that those
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relationships can be mended but the reality is there is something much more important
in mind here is keeping your heart right with the living God. What bitterness does is it
chokes off what Jesus can do within your own life and within your own heart. You produce
the wrong kinds of fruit. You don't produce the fruits of the spirit. You produce these
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bitter fruits. How do you do that? How do you give your life to Jesus Christ and allow
him to change your heart? Maybe that is you. Maybe that is the question you have right
now and you want to give your life to God. You want to have a right heart. You want to
let go of bitterness and you can do that right now. If that is you and you want to give your
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life to Jesus, you want to sacrifice your life to Jesus Christ, you can do that. You
just signify that with an uplifted hand wherever you are and I will just pray with you. I can't
see your hand but it is a physical manifestation of a spiritual problem. You raise your hand
because God can see it wherever you are. So if you did that, if you rose your hand and
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you meant it, I want you to repeat this prayer after me. Just repeat, Dear Lord God, I know
that I am a sinner but I know that you sent your son Jesus Christ and that he died for
my sin. I accept Jesus as my Lord and Savior and I repent of my sin. In Jesus name I pray.
Amen. So with that quick prayer, if you said that and you meant that, please reach out
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and let me know you did. I love hearing those kind of stories but the reality is that your
name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life. So then you can go forward from this place
and hopefully you can lock into a Bible believing church if you are in salmon arm please coming
out to church. We would love to have you. If you are not, reach out. We have 3700 churches
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globally and I am sure I could find a good Bible believing church for you to attend.
And then you partner with that church because then the next process is sanctification. It
is that diving in and allowing God to work on your heart so that you will read the word
of God, you will pray and you will fellowship with other believers. It is such a glorious
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thing to be part of such a large, beautiful, vibrant fellowship. I thank God for the opportunity
to be able to preach his gospel. I thank you for listening today. I pray this message has
impacted you whether you are a new believer or whether you are an old believer, an old
crusty saint. I pray that you won't allow bitterness to choke out all of the blessing
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that God wants to pour into your life. So I thank you for listening. I can't wait for
you to come back next time. God bless.
Welcome to the Potter's House Salmon Arm podcast. We are a Bible-Believing Church located
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in beautiful British Columbia, Canada. We are proudly part of the Christian Fellowship
Ministries with 3,000 churches around the world. We are a church focused on world evangelism,
discipleship and church planting. Here we will share recent sermons from P.H.S.A. Church
and other sermons from throughout our fellowship. I am Pastor David Bigford and I will be your
host for this podcast. I thank you for listening today and we hope these messages are a blessing
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to you and bring you closer to God.
Hello and welcome back to the Potter's House Salmon Arm podcast. Thank you for coming back
again. Today the message I put together is called, A Bitter and Disillusioned Man. I
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want to also thank you for those who have been listening to the podcast with the extra
messages that have been put in for our conference. I have a few other bonus messages that I am
going to be throwing up that are not exactly from the conference. The conference is typically
17 sermons within the shot, but there are a few messages that were from the Sunday previous
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and I am going to throw those in as well as bonus sermons onto the podcast. I think that
will be a good help to us all and I look forward to adding those. Let's dive in to A Bitter
and Disillusioned Man or the three B's, bitter, better and best. The text we are going to
be using is Acts 8, 21-23. We all live in an age or a time that is full of entertainment,
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every sort of distraction possible. Some will call it consumerism, capitalism, corporatism
or any other kind of ism that we find ourselves attracted to. With everything at our fingertips
you would think that we could find peace and tranquility, but that doesn't seem to be so.
Why is it that with all this saturation of entertainment, food, content on the internet,
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we seem to be helplessly and hopelessly depressed as a society? It is an interesting thought
that we need to dive into. We need to have a better understanding for. Let's look at
our text, Acts 8, 21-23. You have neither part nor lot in this matter, for your heart
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is not right before God. Repent therefore of the wickedness of yours and pray to the
Lord that if possible the intent of your heart may be forgiven to you, for I see that you
are in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity. Let's go ahead and pray. Dear
Lord God, I pray that this message will cut the heart of a hardened heart, of a person's
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hardened heart. I pray that this would be able to penetrate the walls that we put up
to try to keep at bay the word of God, for we all put up walls at times because of what
we watch, what we listen to, but I pray that your word will cut through that, all that
noise and help us today as we dive into your word. In Jesus' name, amen.
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So let's take a look at some numbers here. Antidepressant use is something that we know
to be on the rise and users that typically use this like by the numbers by statistics
end up being a lot of times older adults, non-Hispanic whites and women. 12.7% of the
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US population over the age of 12 took antidepressant medication in the past month. According to
analysis from the National Center of Health Statistics, most antidepressants are used
to obviously treat depression. 64% is the increase in the percentage of people using
antidepressants between the period of 1999 and 2014. In 1999, 7.7% of the population
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was taking this medication. Something is happening in our society that is causing people to live
a life with more like more depressed or with less hope for the future. 19.1% of older adults
over 60 took antidepressants within the same period of time. So antidepressant use increases
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with age. These medications are used by 16.6% of people ages 40 to 59, 7.8% of those 20
to 39 and 3.4% of adolescents 12 to 19. So women are also two times more likely to take
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antidepressant medication. And I could argue that that has a lot to do with our society
pushing on women, unrealistic expectations and ungodly understanding of how society is
supposed to live in a godly format. And I'm not trying to make some sort of weird claims
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here. It's just simply that if you were to look at under the law and Judaism and how
things were looking at women ran businesses, women took care of lots of responsibilities.
They were very forthright, but they also had a deep connection to family. And what I see
in society today is this tearing down of family that is very, very sad and hard for us to
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understand. But it's the tearing down of family that I believe impacts women at a far greater
amount than it does young men. Young men end up with different issues and they are typically
quieter with the way that they deal with their depression. But I do believe that on both
cases and both groups, the tearing down of God and faith and then ultimately the family
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unit is a big reason for a lot of these increases. So the percentage of non-Hispanic white Americans
taking antidepressants is roughly 16 and a half percent, about three times as much as
any other race or ethnic group. So by comparison, 5.6% of non-Hispanic Blacks Americans, 5%
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of Hispanic Americans, and 3.4% of non-Hispanic Asian Americans took antidepressants in this
past month. So what's the root of this problem? What causes bitterness and how do we combat
this poison in our lives? So let's look first at this idea of bitterness and how this ties
in with depression or hopelessness. Then we'll be able to better see a better way and ultimately
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the best way, which is through Christ Jesus. Praise God. So Bruce Goodrich was being initiated
into the cadet corps at Texas A&M University. And one night Bruce was forced to run until
he dropped, but he never got up. Bruce Goodrich died before he even entered college. A short
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time after the tragedy, Bruce's father wrote this letter to the administration, the faculty,
the student body, and the corps of cadets. I would like to take this opportunity to express
the appreciation of my family for the great outpouring of concern and sympathy from Texas
A&M University and the college community over the loss of our son Bruce. We were deeply
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touched by the tribute paid to him and the battalion. We were particularly pleased to
note that his Christian witness did not go unnoticed during his brief time on campus.
Mr. Goodrich went on, I hope it will be for some comfort to know that we harbor no ill
will in the matter. We know our God makes no mistakes and Bruce had an appointment with
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his Lord and he is now secure in his celestial home. When the question is asked, why did
this happen? Perhaps one answer will be so that many will consider where they will spend
eternity.
So bitter. Bitterness is something that we can read about throughout all the New Testament.
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It's a theme that we see repeated over and over again and there's a good reason for the
constant repeating of this theme. Bitterness is something that we all have to battle with.
The cost of bitterness is extremely high and left untreated can cost you more than just
your life. Bitterness is symbolic of the affliction or misery and servitude. We see examples of
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this portrayed in Exodus 1 14 or Ruth 120 or Jeremiah 9 15. The Chaldeans are called
the bitter and hasty nation in Abacov 1 6. The gall of bitterness expresses a state of
great wickedness in our text Acts 23. So a root of bitterness is a wicked person or a
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dangerous sin and you can read that in Hebrews 12 15. So as we think about all these mentions
of bitterness or being bitter in the scripture, we need to recognize that there are some significant
dangers that lie under the surface of allowing bitterness to grab ahold of your heart. Oftentimes
sorrow and pain can lead to depression, but I've also seen that bitterness can grab someone's
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heart and draw them into deep bitterness. Sometimes bitterness can happen when we don't
get a promotion that we feel entitled to or when a friend doesn't reach out to us to go
out but yet they invite someone else and we get jealous. So we can be covetous of our
neighbor and that can create bitterness within our heart. The Passover was meant to be eaten
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with bitter herbs and we see that in Exodus 12 8 and Numbers 9 11. The kind of herbs so
designated we aren't quite sure of. It's kind of lost to history to some extent, but
probably they were any bitter herb that was obtainable at the place and time when Passover
was being celebrated. They represented the severity and the servitude under which the
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people groaned and have been regarded also as typical of the suffering of Christ. So
here we have this annual tradition or this festival of Passover where the eating of bitter
herbs is to show how hard the servitude was for the people of Israel and the typically
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suffering of Jesus Christ. Can you imagine you're having this festival and you have to
eat something that is purposely bitter? It's an interesting thought and it's so that we
recognize the sharpness of what bitterness is represented in our lives. So these illustrations
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and rituals of bitterness are needed so that we don't forget the costs associated with
allowing bitterness to creep into our hearts and to control our lives. So let's take a
look at the tale of two monks. One day two monks were walking through the countryside.
They were on their way to another village to help bring in the crops and as they walked
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they spied an old woman sitting on the edge of a river. She was upset because there was
no bridge and she could not get across on her own. The first monk kindly offered, we
will carry you across if you'd like. Thank you, she said gratefully accepting their help.
So the two men joined hands and lifted her between them and carried her across the river.
(12:00):
When they got to the other side, they set her down and she went on her way. After they
had walked another mile or so, the second monk began to complain. Look at my clothes,
he said. They are filthy from carrying that woman across the river and my back is still
hurts or my back still hurts from lifting her. I can feel it getting stiff. The first
monk just smiled and nodded his head. A few more miles up the road, the second monk griped
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again. My back is hurting me so badly and it is all because we had to carry that silly
woman across the river. I cannot go any farther because of this pain. The first monk looked
down at his partner loud lying on the ground moaning. Have you wondered why I'm not complaining?
The other monk asked. Your back hurts because you're still carrying the woman. But I set
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her down five miles ago. This is what many of us like our are like dealing with our families.
We are the second monk who cannot let go. We hold the pain of the past over our loved
ones heads like a club. Or we remind them every once in a while when we get, you know,
when we want to get the upper hand. We remind them of the burden we still carry because
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of something they did years ago. Living a life full of bitterness is kind of like eating
a food you despise every day while looking at a table full of foods you like that are
laid out in front of you. So I hate bananas, the smell, the texture, everything about them.
I'm just not a fan of the banana. Now you might think that's crazy, but you know what?
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You're going to say, oh, bananas have great potassium. It's all right. Bacon has more
potassium than banana. I'll just stick with the bacon. So if I was a sit at the table
though and only eat bananas, I would be pretty darn miserable. Now if I choose to eat only
those bananas, even though there's like a juicy tomahawk steak or let's say, you know,
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there's a, you know, a nice bacon wrap steak. Now you're talking about it, right? They would,
you call me insane to sit there and eat something that I can't, that like is just disgusting
to me. But that's like choosing to hold on to bitterness or unforgiveness, anger, envy,
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malice when there is a better way. When we allow these feelings of anxiety or depression
to grow within our lives, like bit and bitterness and the stuff to grow in our lives, we allow
it to choke out the things of God. We allow it to disrupt what God is wanting to do in
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our lives. So this brings me to my next point, which is better. God gives us a clear insight
into a better way. And that way starts with forgiveness. We see this message repeated
in the old Testament. The idea is that vengeance is the Lord's. God will right the wrongs and
punish the wicked. This is meant to remove the reaction from our hands and to leave it
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up to God to leave it with the Lord. This is the path to forgiveness and letting go
of that root of bitterness. And when you do this, when you give these things over to God,
whether it be bitterness or anxiety or any of these kinds of emotions, you know, anger,
when you give it up to the Lord, that is the better path. So in Ephesians four 31 to 32,
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it says, let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from
you along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tender hearted, forgiving one another
as God and Christ forgave you. What a powerful portion of scripture. It's a very difficult
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portion of scripture. I don't deny that. And as we enter into these political arenas that
are coming up and in the United States, then, you know, in the next year or so in Canada
as well, when we come up to these political things, we need to remember that we're not
the ones that are meant to be fighting. Yes, we pray. Yes, we do the right thing. Yes,
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we vote according to our conscience of the word of God. Of course we do, but we do not
allow for bitterness to grab ahold of our heart. We do not take up the weapons of wrath
and anger. We do not run around screaming, clamoring and slandering people. We put all
that aside. We be kind to one another. We allow ourselves to be tender hearted, forgiving
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those who hurt us just as God has forgiven you and I. So the caterpillar and the butterfly
is another story that I came across that's pretty cool. I like this story. So seems there
was an enemy that had a beautiful princess trapped in a palace tower, right? It's the
old, you know, damsel in the stress up in the tower story. The strong, handsome knight
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loved this princess so much that he wanted to do a surprise attack and free the princess
from their enemy and bring her home. But how could he tell her to be ready for the escape?
So he decided to get some help from his friends and some friends that are going to be able
to help notify her of the escape so she'll be ready. So the knight spoke to Mr. Caterpillar
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and asked Mr. Caterpillar to scale the wall of the palace, you know, to go up the tower
and warn the lady to be ready for the daring escape. So Mr. Caterpillar complained and
complained, do I have to? You mean, do I have to climb that high wall just to tell her you
will be there Thursday morning at 5 a.m. to set her free? So reluctantly, Mr. Caterpillar
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began his cat is climb up that steep wall. It was dark and as cold and he as he began,
he ascended up to the heights of the wall. Mr. Caterpillar fussed and fussed and then
the sun came out and the heat was so bad that each step required effort. During the night,
the rain came down and Mr. Caterpillar griped and griped. And finally, the next day, Mr.
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Caterpillar made it to the window ledge. He was exhausted and he felt unappreciated. Mr.
Caterpillar yelled over to the lady, you are not nearly as pretty as I thought you would
be. He asked, are you the damsel in distress? The lady nodded yes. Mr. Caterpillar thought
I climbed all the way here for this. He complained to the lady and waiting. You mean I climb
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the, sorry, he told the lady, you will never know how hard a climb I had. I got hungry
and so tired. And after all of his complaining and griping, he told the lady, the night told
me to tell you he would be here Thursday morning at five a.m. and you better be up and waiting
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for my boss. Do you think you can remember that or do I need to tell you again? Repeat
after me, Thursday at five a.m. He was so hateful to the princess, he crawled down the
tower wall complaining every inch of his journey. So we are often times way too much like the
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Caterpillar. We assume the worst intentions of others. We accentuate the negatives of
a given task and ignore the positives. We are so skilled at this form of pessimism that
we will do or that we will work to turn the positives into negatives. The root of bitterness
starts when we turn away from the Lord. In Deuteronomy 29 18, beware lest there be among
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you a man or a woman or a clan or a tribe whose heart is turning away today from the
Lord our God to go and serve the gods of those nations. Beware lest there be any among you
a root bearing poisonous and bitter fruit. The danger is that we do not immediately see
this fruit of bitterness. The fruit only comes after we choose to disregard God's covenant.
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And as we allow our hearts to be led away by all the other gods that we lift up, all
of those other isms that I referenced earlier in the beginning of this message, we allow
them to take God's place in our heart. And that is where bitterness, anxiety, depression,
and the poisonous fruit spring up. There is a better way than cultivating bitterness and
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we can choose a different path. In Deuteronomy 33 it says, then the Lord your God will restore
your fortunes and have mercy on you. And he will gather you again from all the peoples
where the Lord your God has scattered you. So to make sure the princess would be ready,
the knight thought I will ask another friend to help me. So the knight talked to Mr. Butterfly.
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Hey friend, would you tell the princess I am coming to rescue her Thursday at 5 a.m.
Make sure that she is ready for the rescue mission. Mr. Butterfly said, sure, I'll be
glad to inform her and make sure she is ready. So Mr. Butterfly caught the wind and started
flying up towards her window. It rained a little but Mr. Butterfly kept flying upward.
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Later in the day a bird swooped over Mr. Butterfly to eat him but he just kept flying higher
and higher. Mr. Butterfly landed on the windowsill and saw how beautiful the princess was. He
just admired her beauty. He whispered, honey come over here. I have a message from the
handsome knight to you beautiful princess. Mr. Butterfly flew over to her shoulder and
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kissed her cheek. Mr. Butterfly said, I have good news for you. My white knight will be
here at 5 a.m. in the morning to set you free and you will live happily ever after. Mr.
Knight will be here at 5 a.m. sharp. Please be ready. The knight really loves you so much.
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The princess was so happy she said thank you so much Mr. Butterfly. You are so sweet I
will be ready for my love when he comes for me. But the princess said let me ask you why
was Mr. Caterpillar so mean and rude? He was so disagreeable. Mr. Caterpillar brought me
the same news as you did but I felt so bad when he left. Mr. Butterfly said oh you mean
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Mr. Caterpillar. Don't mind his disagreeable attitude that is just the way he is. For you
see I used to gripe and complain just as he does but I had a transformation. I have changed.
I love the knight and I love to bring his message to you. Soon we will be or we will
all be together forever. What do you see when you look into the mirror? The picture of the
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caterpillar and the butterfly highlights the chosen perception of the participants and
the scriptural truth is proven in our society as a whole. It is documented that those who
do not fester with old grudges or harbor envy tend to lead happier lives. Countries like
Finland that tend not to judge their happiness on the amount of stuff they have but rather
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on having the bare minimum to live tend to have higher self-reported levels of happiness.
Finland is a pretty socialist country but they all have similar values and understanding
of the need to contribute to their own country and they don't get all worked up with what
they lack. This is something that we can all learn from. Legong is a Swedish word that
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means not too much and not too little but just the right amount. It is about moderation,
efficiency and fairness and these are things that we can glean and apply to our own lives.
The Bible talks about being content and we can live a content life full of joy and happiness.
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In Psalm 37 he will not forsake his saints of David. Fret not yourself because the evil
doers be not envious of wrongdoers for they will soon fade like the grass and wither like
the green herbs. So the Finnish are a great example but we have something even better.
In Christ we have all the joy. And this brings me to my final point which is the best. Romans
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15 13. May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing so that by the
power of the Holy Spirit you may have bound in hope. Through salvation and the gift of
the Holy Spirit we can tap into the joy of the Lord. It does not matter what is happening
in our lives. It does not matter if we have nothing. It does not matter if life is unfair.
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It does not even matter if life is downright miserable. In Christ we can tap into a power
that can and will equip us to overcome all things in his name. In Philippians 4 10-14
it says I rejoice in the Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern
for me. You were indeed concerned for me but you had no opportunity. Not that I am speaking
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of being in need for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to
be brought low and I know how to abound in any and every circumstance. I have learned
the secret of facing plenty hunger and abundance in need. I can do all things through him who
strengthens me. We do not have to live like this work. We have something better than this.
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So bitterness and disillusion. I pulled this from Dr. Armand M. Nicolai. He's a professor
of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and he explains that when Sigmund Freud died at
the age of 83 he died a bitter and disillusioned man. Tragically this Venetian physician one
of the most influential thinkers of our time had little compassion for the common person.
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Freud wrote in 1918 I have found little that is good about human beings on the whole. In
my experience most of them are trash. No matter whether they publicly subscribe to this or
that ethical doctrine or to none at all Freud died friendless. It is well known that he
had broken with each of his followers. The end was bitter. What a crazy thought. A successful
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and renowned doctor of psychiatry at the time but his doctrine was ungodly and wrong and
it led to such tragic bitterness. In Hebrews 12 14-15 it says strive for the peace or strive
for peace with everyone and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. See
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to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God and that no root of bitterness springs
up and causes trouble and by it many become defiled. So as we close this message as we
come to the end we don't have to be controlled by the spirits of this world. We do not have
to allow bitterness to rise up in our hearts. We can live a better life focused on others.
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We can put God first in our lives. We can be content knowing that our Father in heaven
will provide for us. Even more we can live our best life when we submit to Jesus Christ
in repentance. We can follow him as recipients of his grace and his mercy. Through that decision
we will be able to tap into the joy of the Lord no matter what is happening to us and
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what is happening around us. The world is fighting against God. They are striving to
outlaw God's word and make it hate speech but we can be above all of this because of
the knowledge that we know that the fact that we know that God is already victorious and
in him we can partake in his victory. Not only the victory over bitterness but also
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the victory over death and sin. If I could have every head bowed every eye closed as
I draw this message to a conclusion. I hope that this message has sparked some thoughts
in your life. Maybe there is a family member that you are not in right relationship. A
friend that you have broken off with and you recognize that you had a large part in it
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and why that things went the wrong way. I just pray that this message would show you
that there is a better way and whether you can mend those fences or not the reality is
you can let the bitterness go on your side. You can repent of that anger, of that hostility,
that wrath, that malice, that bitterness and you can give it to the Lord. I pray that those
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relationships can be mended but the reality is there is something much more important
in mind here is keeping your heart right with the living God. What bitterness does is it
chokes off what Jesus can do within your own life and within your own heart. You produce
the wrong kinds of fruit. You don't produce the fruits of the spirit. You produce these
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bitter fruits. How do you do that? How do you give your life to Jesus Christ and allow
him to change your heart? Maybe that is you. Maybe that is the question you have right
now and you want to give your life to God. You want to have a right heart. You want to
let go of bitterness and you can do that right now. If that is you and you want to give your
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life to Jesus, you want to sacrifice your life to Jesus Christ, you can do that. You
just signify that with an uplifted hand wherever you are and I will just pray with you. I can't
see your hand but it is a physical manifestation of a spiritual problem. You raise your hand
because God can see it wherever you are. So if you did that, if you rose your hand and
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you meant it, I want you to repeat this prayer after me. Just repeat, Dear Lord God, I know
that I am a sinner but I know that you sent your son Jesus Christ and that he died for
my sin. I accept Jesus as my Lord and Savior and I repent of my sin. In Jesus name I pray.
Amen. So with that quick prayer, if you said that and you meant that, please reach out
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and let me know you did. I love hearing those kind of stories but the reality is that your
name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life. So then you can go forward from this place
and hopefully you can lock into a Bible believing church if you are in salmon arm please coming
out to church. We would love to have you. If you are not, reach out. We have 3700 churches
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globally and I am sure I could find a good Bible believing church for you to attend.
And then you partner with that church because then the next process is sanctification. It
is that diving in and allowing God to work on your heart so that you will read the word
of God, you will pray and you will fellowship with other believers. It is such a glorious
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thing to be part of such a large, beautiful, vibrant fellowship. I thank God for the opportunity
to be able to preach his gospel. I thank you for listening today. I pray this message has
impacted you whether you are a new believer or whether you are an old believer, an old
crusty saint. I pray that you won't allow bitterness to choke out all of the blessing
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that God wants to pour into your life. So I thank you for listening. I can't wait for
you to come back next time. God bless.
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