|
(The 2 tapes on this are really good.)
Acts 8:23 "For I see that you are poisoned by bitterness and bound by iniquity." (NKJ).
Bitterness poisons the soul and causes you to be bound in unrighteousness of heart and life. Another translation says "trapped in bitterness". Bitterness in the heart will caused you to be trapped; trapped in human wisdom, trapped in the devils lies, the pride of life, trapped in circumstances, trapped in feelings and emotions.
Bitterness must be dealt with at the root, you can't just chop down the plant and think everything will be OK. You can't Run and hide from the plant and think everything will be OK. You have got to lay the ax to the root, it has got to be dealt with at the source.
If you run from the fire you will go in a circle and gain no ground; but if you run into the fire it will burn, and it will burn off the cords that bind you, then you can grow. But you will never grow, you will stay trapped until you face the problem head on. You must have courage, you must be bold, you must stand in the strength that can only be found in Christ, you must have faith that God is with you when you are in the fire; but remember He is there to save you while the things that bind you are being burned up.
For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king. (1 Samuel 15:23, KJV).
My Strong's concordance says the word rebellion means "bitterness". This is exactly what happens. Bitterness turns into rebellion, and it is as the sin of witchcraft. Witchcraft is serving a false god, giving your obedience to anything other than God the Father. What happens is you end up in rebellion to all authority that God has set up. When it has run it's coarse you will be in rebellion to the Headship of Christ, the pastor God has placed in your life, the brothers and sisters you have in Christ, your family, your work, all that God is doing in your life. All will end up in ruin and destruction, the son of perdition you become, serving the anti-Christ/self for self. Do not allow yourselves to become his slave. Repent from dead works.
Stubbornness is stiff-neckness. Unwilling to change or to yield to authority. Refusing to listen to those God has placed in your life. My computer definition is "be insolent, display pushing (arrogance, presumption)", and if you do this to the body of Christ you do this to Christ the Head. This is not a good thing, and the bad part is that these things have a very high price tag placed upon them. "Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king." Because of our refusal to repent at the word of the Lord, God refuses to let us be a king/priest in His kingdom. This is to high a price to pay just to have it our way. It comes down to choose this day who are you going to serve, Christ or self, there are no alternates in the kingdom of God. It matters not what other people say, or what other people may or may not be doing, the ball is in your court, what are you going to do with it. Forget about those that have wronged you, Jesus said "forgive them Father they don't know what they are doing", and He was wronged more than any other man on the earth.
An evil man seeketh only rebellion: therefore a cruel messenger shall be sent against him. (Proverbs 17:11, KJV).
If you feel like cruel messengers have been sent against you, then check the motive of your heart. Judge yourself to the standard of Christ, not against another person. The worst thing you can do is to compare yourself to others, this is unwise the scriptures say. Don't be like the person in the proverb, and everything you need to not be, is found in Christ, and only in Him.
But thou, son of man, hear what I say unto thee; Be not thou rebellious like that rebellious house: open thy mouth, and eat that I give thee. (Ezekiel 2:8, KJV).
Don't be like the rest of the house, feed on what God is giving you here in this place. You must feed on Christ alone and what He has done for you. You must feed on His flesh and drink His blood, not on things about Him; it's not knowing about Him, but knowing Him. You must give yourself to the knowing of Him, submitting to the Headship of Christ, and those He has placed over you in the Lord, and not having a bad attitude about it when you do. If you have a bad attitude towards your pastor, you have an attitude towards Christ and are still in bitterness and rebellion, don't be that way. Humble yourself in the sight of the Lord and He will lift you up.
Say now to the rebellious house, Know ye not what these things mean? tell them, Behold, the king of Babylon is come to Jerusalem, and hath taken the king thereof, and the princes thereof, and led them with him to Babylon; (Ezekiel 17:12, KJV).
See the source of the problem. The king of Babylon has carried you away into the heart of Babylon. confusion has come into your life and taken you captive, you are it's slave. This is who you get mad at, the king of confusion. Get mad at the confusion in your life and in others lives instead of the people around you. Cast the blame where it belongs, confusion, confusion, confusion, that is the problem with me, with you, and with others. We must come out of confusion, and we can only do that as we grow in the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man. People are not our problems, lack of knowledge is our problem, along with a stiff neck or two. But we don't have to be stiff-necked, or rebellious, or bitter, we just need Christ and His plan for our lives.
RHM 1997
