Summer Blockbuster series 2020 part 2
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Summer block buster series 2020
It a beautiful day in the neighborhood part 2
Play Mr. Roger open clip, then the music again
Eph 4:31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior.
Eph 4:32 Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.
INTRODUCTION
Welcome back to our Summer block buster series: It is a beautiful day in the neighborhood. This is part 2, last week we talked about being kind and being a good neighborhood.
Every day Mr. Roger would walked through his door and put on his sweater, and he would tells us “It was a beautiful day in the neighborhood.
But did he lie?
On television, his neighborhood did look beautiful. The sky was always blue. The porch swing always looked welcoming. the shoes were always where they should be and the trolley was never late.
But Mr. Rogers didn’t live in our neighborhood. He didn’t live in Lloyd Vogel’s neighborhood.
You see, Lloyd was a journalist for Esquire Magazine and he has seen his share of ugly days in ugly neighborhoods.
So Lloyd doesn’t do beautiful anymore. It’s been a long time. Mostly likely, since his father ran out on him.
Watch this clip of Lloyd and his father
Has someone ever said or done something to you for which you found it difficult to forgive them?
Every time their very name is brought up, even if it was years ago, it still brings butterflies to your stomach.
When you think of them, your heart rate increases. And you can feel your blood pressure rising when you think of what they said or did. It’s as though you were reliving it again, just thinking about it!
If so, it may be that you are in the bonds of bitterness. Which is a shame…because bitterness doesn’t even touch the person you are bitter toward, but it sure will harm you, no exceptions.
Like Frankenstein, bitterness is a monster which turns on its creator, and causes internal damage beyond compare…an internal poison eating it’s way out!
And the other person continues their life, and may be happy and content, and never even think about you, but because you hold bitterness for them, they continue to control your life.
If they do think about you, it’s in satisfaction as they can see they still get at you!
And it will continues to touch you until you give that bitterness to God.
When someone does you wrong then if you don’t give it to God, then that person in your mind is still do the thing that hurt you over and over in your mind.
There are many emotions which we feel when someone has hurt us or did someone wrong and they are not necessarily sin:
Anger—“be ye angry and sin not”
Eph 4:26 Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:
Eph 4:27 Neither give place to the devil.
But when anger gets out of its cage, it’s sin. Or when the object of our anger is misplaced.
Guilt is not always sin
Sometimes the Lord gives us a Godly guilt, a conscience, a convicting, to get us back onto the straight and narrow.
But Satan uses guilt to paralyze us in our Christian walk…and when guilt gets out of its cage it is sin.
Grief is not always sin.
Grief is a gift from God when used to help us heal from loss or sorrow of some kind.
But if we refuse to allow the Holy Spirit to comfort our grief, it becomes self-pity…a sin.
But bitterness and un-forgiveness is always sin!
We all have been sinned against! But don’t join in on the sinning by responding wrong!
Who is that person that comes to mind? They have come to your mind for a reason. The Holy Spirit of God brings them to your mind because He loves you and wants to rid you of it because it is eating you from inside out!
It may have been last week or last year…I don’t care if it was decades ago when you were a child…but you know in your heart that you’ve never truly forgiven them for it.
And whatever you do, don’t say: I don’t hardly ever think about them at all. That wasn’t the question. The question is when you DO think about them, or someone else brings it up even, what are your thoughts about them?
In our movies Lloyd’s whole life was running on bitterness. He didn’t write about the true or the noble or the right or the pure, because in his experience there’s always something worse underneath.
The real world doesn’t do noble and nothing is pure for long.
Those things need to be in make-believe filled with cardboard castle and talking tigers.
Just like in our lives and understand this movie is about a event that really happen in Lloyd and Mr. Rogers lives.(Mr. Rogers was been used of God to bring healing)
The Esquire was doing a special edition on “heroes” and ask Lloyd to write a profile piece on Fred, Mr. Rogers .
Just want him to interview him and write 400 words story just to get a bit of insight of Mr. Rogers.
Because of the bitterness in his life, his response was, Mr. Rogers a hero? A guy who plays with puppets for living? How does that qualify him. Bitterness controlling his life.
Few things Bitterness will do to your life:
1. Bitterness will devastate you spiritually
a. Because bitterness necessitates that you walk in the flesh, and not in the Spirit.
All Christians have that choice every day, many times a day, to take a step in the flesh or to take a step in the Spirit.
We can’t control what happens in life, but we can control how we respond or react!
A bold sounding statement: If you have unresolved bitterness in your life, you are not right with God, and you are not walking in the Spirit, but in the flesh!
Gal 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
Gal 5:23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
These are the very things you hold back from them, as long as you are bitter.
You are without them and don’t feel like displaying love. You think about them and don’t feel joy, and have no peace at all!
You aren’t longsuffering, or you would give them more freedom.
But if you are thinking about how much you’ve been forgiven by Christ and it would make it easier to forgive them yourself, even if they don’t deserve forgiveness…you and I did neither which is a form of meekness!
You can erase them from your hit list if you’re walking in the Spirit!
The very next chapter drives it all home:
Gal 6:7 Don't be misled—you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant.
Gal 6:8 Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit.
Yes, bitterness will devastate you spiritually. Holding bitterness is walking in the flesh…sowing to the flesh, and it will eat you up inside.
It’s impossible to be wrong with someone and right with God at the same time.
That’s how it is with the Lord, you can’t love on Him when you’re wrong with someone else, living…or dead!
2. Bitterness will discourage you emotionally
Where there’s bitterness, there’s discouragement.
You start to develop a victim’s mentality=everyone’s out to get you. You become negative, critical, and paranoid.
You become judgmental of others and think you know their motives. You think people are talking about you.
ILLUST: I NEED A BOOK TO USE, HOLD THE BOOK OUT WHILE TALKING.
Have you ever did this? The book is not heavy but after a while, I would start sweating and tears would start rolling and I would start begging for mercy to quit holding the book out.
You see, Some of us minimize the seriousness of that “little bit of bitterness” you have…and you say, it’s not really a problem for me…but you hold onto it long enough and you’ll drop your spiritual arms in discouragement!
Hebrews 12:12 So take a new grip with your tired hands and strengthen your weak knees.
Hebrews 12:13 Mark out a straight path for your feet so that those who are weak and lame will not fall but become strong.
Hebrews 12:14 Work at living in peace with everyone, and work at living a holy life, for those who are not holy will not see the Lord.
Hebrews 12:15 Look after each other so that none of you fails to receive the grace of God. Watch out that no poisonous root of bitterness grows up to trouble you, corrupting many.
Are you a Prisoner of Bitterness?
Let Christ set you free, because: Bitterness will devastate you spiritually and discourage you emotionally.
3. Bitterness will defile your relationships
There’s a spill-over effect with bitterness.
Show the clip of Lloyd and His wife arguing
You don’t have to be bitter toward your spouse to ruin your marriage. You can be bitter toward your mom or dad, and ruin your marriage!
You can be bitter toward me and ruin your relationship with your children! Because of the spill-over effect.
Bitterness hurts all your relationship not just with the person who you are bitter toward.
Rom 3:13 "Their talk is foul, like the stench from an open grave. Their tongues are filled with lies." "Snake venom drips from their lips."
Rom 3:14 "Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness."
Rom 3:15 "They rush to commit murder.
Rom 3:16 Destruction and misery always follow them.
Rom 3:17 They don't know where to find peace."
Rom 3:18 "They have no fear of God at all."
Be sure of this: Bitterness toward anyone, living or dead, will destroy your relationship with God and people who love you.
4. Bitterness will deprive you of a blessing
Show the clip of Lloyd and his family when Mr. Roger takes the picture.
In the movie, Lloyd invite Mr. Roger over to his father’s home where is father’s is on hospice and they have a wonderful time with the family and Mr. Rogers.
You see, because of Lloyd’s bitterness, he had loss the blessing that only family can bring.
Or you can also bring that negative, critical spirit to church with you. You are not come looking for a blessing, you’ll be looking for what’s wrong…and you’re sure to find it!
How do you remove bitterness?
Children of Israel crossed Red Sea, and they were thirsty, came to Marah which means (bitter).
God tell Moses to heal the bitter waters? Cut down a tree…and when the tree made contact with the waters, they were healed!
The only hope for the bitter waters flowing around in your soul is for them to come into contact with the cross of Calvary!