On Eagles' Wings Pt 117 — Don Courville

Bitterness and Freedom in Adversity

What do you know about bitterness? Could you define it? Let me read you a little poem. By Madame Gunion. She spent 10 years of her life in French prisons from night from 1695 to 1705. Here's a song she wrote in prison and As I read it.

I want you to ask yourself. Could I write a poem? Like this if I had to spend 10 years of my life in a prison she said a Little bird am I shut from the fills of air and in my cage? I sit and sing to him who placed me there.

Well pleased a prisoner to be. Because my God it pleases thee. Not have I else to do. I sing the whole day long and he whom most I love to please. Death listen to my song he caught and bound my wandering wing.

But still he bends to hear me sing. Thou hast an ear to hear a heart to love and bless. And though my notes were ever so rude Thou wouldest not hear the less because thou knowest as they fall that same sweet love Inspires them all.

My cage confines me round abroad. I cannot fly. But though my wing is closely bound my hearts at Liberty. My prison walls cannot control the flight the freedom of the soul. Oh, it is good to soar these boats and bars above to him whose purpose I adore whose Providence I love and in thy mighty will to find the joy the freedom of the mind.

On eagles wings is a program We trust that's designed to encourage you to walk in freedom to fly as it were on eagles wings. Above the roar and the distractions of life to walk with Jesus to abide with Jesus moment by moment.

The Atonement and Freedom from Sin

I'm afraid my friend That we have been deceived many times in thinking that the Christian life is just having our sins forgiven. For you see the Christian life involves more than that. The Christian life involves the atonement of Jesus Christ at Calvary where he was crucified for our sins.

He was buried and he rose again and through that we received redemption from our sins forgiveness for our sins. But also we received freedom in life. For you see at the cross Not only did Jesus die But when you receive him as your Savior you died and this is the teaching of Scripture.

It's shared in Scriptures Romans 6 6 as knowing this that our old man is crucified With him that the body of sin might be destroyed that henceforth. We should not serve sin. We still have the flesh. But the old man was crucified.

That happened at Calvary. When you came to Calvary you receive Christ as your Savior the old man was crucified. Now what happens when we forget that the old man is crucified. We forget that we are dead.

Remember Paul said I die daily. I'll tell you what happens. The flesh is in control and Something else happens the devil can be given legal right to take control of your life. Take control of a situation if we forget that we're dead in Christ.

Satan, Division, and Strife in the Church

My heart is so stirred and my spirit is so grieved over what I see going on in our churches today. I've been involved recently in a church where there is strife where the men of God are being separated and There is sin in the camp whenever there is split.

I told my wife Yesterday that any time there's division any time there's a there's a split. There's a division in the body of Christ that there's been demons involved. This is the work of Satan to divide.

Bitterness, Unforgiveness, and Spiritual Torment

I've been thinking about this one area about bitterness and I'd like to take just a few weeks maybe with you. I haven't shared this with you for probably almost a year on bitterness. But I just want to take some time with you and talk with you and share with you some things about the Scriptures.

See the thing that is promoted so much today is that you have rights if you're a believer you don't have that. Right to yourself. You yielded your rights at the cross. I've been reading a little bit about praying hide and I want to share a little bit.

I want to share a story with you about him. But before I do that, I want to give you some background about bitterness and just show you how devastating it is. And it's tied in with not forgiving. Directly tied in and there can come into your life the tormentors from Satan if you fail to forgive and you become bitter and it's so devastating in our churches that Satan has almost total control in Some churches because of this area and I care for you.

I pray for you. I'm praying for you now that God will be Lord in your life and that you won't feel like you have to play God in. In your life or in your church, he is sovereign and he is able to take care of things.

I remember many years ago when I was reading the life of Hudson Taylor and there's a big Book on him called God's man in China and I read that thing through three times. But one of the things that that Hudson Taylor shared was that he had learned to move men by God through prayer.

So many times when something comes on to into our life. We try to move it by the flesh by our Energy by manipulating people by getting the pastor. To go do our dirty work or we try to get somebody else to go do our dirty work against the pastor and we can become tools of Satan.

The Consequences and Evidences of Bitterness

So I want to just take some time to share with you this and it's very important and you may be bitter and not know It and that's why I'm going to share with you. I'm gonna share with you the consequences of bitterness today I'm gonna go through that and then I'm gonna share with you later on some of the Indications that we're given that we've given place to the devil through bitterness then I want to share with you some of the obvious traits of bitterness and then also I want to talk to you about evil words and actions and In this area of our hearts and then also I want to share with you a little bit about Bitterness in the heart how it can be an evidence of actually not being saved.

Or either an evidence of being in a terrible backslidden state and you don't even know it. Then I want to share with you also a little bit about discerning genuine unconditional love and then I want to also share with you a powerful story From a parable that Jesus taught us how that if we would not forgive We could be turned over to the tormentors and I believe many of us today are actually in torment.

We're in confusion and we're being tormented and it's our own fault because we will not release Others to God to let them work. We will not forgive them. This is one of the most devastating areas in the Christian life.

And as I've been around among churches and states All over the country many different places. I'm not all over the country. I haven't been everywhere in the country, but many places in and in other countries, too.

As I've shared over the last 27 years of preaching. I have been with people. I About something that happened to me when I was in the fifth grade. About how I was mistreated by a teacher. Remember that story maybe I ought to just take the time I don't have a format all I have is the Holy Spirit burning my heart to share with you about this.

A Childhood Wound and the Roots of Resentment

But when I was in the fifth grade my dad Used to cut my hair. I'll say he used to that's when it stopped. But I remember we were out in the storage shed and he put these little plastic clippers on and he'd give me a haircut.

Well, there's one time he took off and he went right up the center of my head and I heard this uh-oh and He'd forgot to put the little plastic clipper on and he gave me an inverted mohawk. And boy when I saw myself in the mirror, I was sick now I had trouble with this because I did not have a good self-image.

I had been beaten down I had gone through some things that had just about destroyed my self-image and I was image I and I was very self-conscious of myself, by the way. One of the clues of not abiding in Christ is being self-conscious.

He wants us to be conscious of him not ourself when you're self-conscious. This is when you get your feelings hurt. This is when you get insulted and this is where you can become you can give ground to Satan and become bitter.

But anyway We decided well, I might as well cut it all off. It looks too bad that way. So he did he cut it all off and I wouldn't go to school. They said okay. Well, you can wear a hat. All right. Well, I'll go to school find wear a hat.

So I put a hat on one of them old Airplane type hats had the flappers on man. I had my head all covered up wasn't anybody gonna see anything. I got there and the teacher wanted me to take my hat off and and I think mom and dad explained to her what was Going on, but she bugged me day after day to let her see.

What was underneath that hat? Finally one day I agreed on the condition that she wouldn't laugh. And so we went out into the hall and I've and I wore that hat a month. And this is back at the beginning of it I went out in the hall and I took off that hat and I'll never forget this because she just Laughed she burst out laughing.

She thought it was so funny. But do you know that my spirit was crushed? I was hurt and the reason that we get hurt is because we're not dead in our church experiences. The reason we get hurt we get our feelings all been out of shape.

We get in a mat we get mad in a meeting or whatever because we're so alive and ourself has not gone to the cross. It's supposed to stay there to where you can't hurt a dead man. But I was just a little kid and my feelings were hurt.

She crushed me and you know what? I could never trust her after that and I remember many years later, and I'm talking about many years later. She got cancer and she died and the immediate thought that came into my mind.

And this is when God showed me that I had a bitter attitude towards her the immediate thought that came into my mind when she died was that ah God has finally got you and That's when the Spirit of God said what was that thought in your mind and I had been in the ministry many many years.

But when I had that thought then God revealed to me that I had a bitter spirit and I had a bitter spirit against other people in my life, too and Matter of fact the 85 revival back when I was pastoring in 85.

This is the thing that God dealt with me on was my bitterness. And I you know what I've learned since that's been seven years ago I have learned that I have to continually deal with this area. I think one of the deceitfulness Deceitful things of Satan is that once we think we've got an area we think we've got it forever, and that's it.

We can forget about it and go on, but that's not true. Paul said I die daily. He he may have every day when he got up had a routine that he went through that he said I died of this Lord. I'm dead to this.

I'm dead to that matter of fact. Romans 11 tells us or 6 11 says likewise Reckon you also yourselves to be dead indeed and to sin and I many times and I pray Lord. I'm dead to sin. I'm dead to self. But he says reckon you set yourselves to be dead indeed and to sin but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Learning to Trust God with Unfair Circumstances

There's a resurrected Jesus living in my life. Something else that happened to me when I first first started pastoring my my first church out in Wyoming Many years ago I Went in there. It was there wasn't hardly enough people there to have a church.

I think there's about three families. They got them together, and they they they formed a little church. They were the membership and and I come in and I said They said we can only pay you 150 a month, and I said that's fine.

I'll get the rest from God and I did and we were under some counsel and direction from Some other fellowship of churches and and the leader had recommended that I put my my missionary support. I rounded me up some missionary support friends praying relatives and whatever and that this would go into the church and that they would pay me a salary out of that and Raise my salary as time went on or what happened was we established the beginning salary and and it came in and More support kept coming in and more support and and the bottom line was that the man that controlled the money the money the purse Strings wouldn't let my salary come up.

So I stayed at that 700 a month for a long time but Something else came up and that was the church savings account. Came up and up and up and I remember it got up to three thousand dollars. And I kept thinking that three thousand dollars is my missionary money.

Never did get it, but God had to deal with me For years years after that on being bitter about that Who is in control of your life? He would say to my spirit. Well, you are who allowed that. Well, you did.

So who are you bitter against? Well you Lord, why are you bitter against me? It began to get a little hot. I remember after that church. I Candidated out at another church and I can't share details with you because it's in this area and I wouldn't want to bring Reproach on anybody in this area, but I went into this church and I candidated there for a week eight days.

And and I resigned my other church and was doing some work back up my folks home church doing some work on a Their church remodeling and carpenter work. I like to do that I like to work in my hand with my hands and and so I took a week off Lost a week of pay.

Went down and candidated at this church for eight days preached several times. And then when we left we were given a check for a hundred and eight dollars 108 dollars we traveled. Well, I think around 1 ,500 miles to get to this church preach sir week candidated and visited all over and Got a check for a hundred and eight dollars.

I'd lost three hundred and something dollars. During that same amount of time ten days at a time because of traveling and everything. For not working and there again the devil began to work on me. Doesn't he do that to you, too?

And I had to come back to God and say forgive me for being bitter. Against you you see bitterness isn't directed against a person or a church or somebody else. It's against God and this is why Satan can be given place in your life.

Biblical Instructions Against Bitterness

Listen to Ephesians chapter 4 verse 30 and grieve not the Holy Spirit of God whereby you are sealed unto the day of redemption let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you with all Malice now, let me share with you some things about bitterness.

My time is just seems like it's flying away. Somebody talked to me a few weeks ago about Going daily having a daily broadcast and I said it'd be up to the Lord. I'd have to have some release for time and There are things here.

We don't share with you our needs very much and we're not sharing them now. But if God would want to do that, it's up to him many times I've come just I've almost given up on this program not because of the financial burden on me because.

But because of this weight of this on my spirit of the one that is carrying this program financially. You don't know who it is, but it's not me. It's up to the Lord. I'm not carrying the program God is but there's a individual that has had the bulk of the burden of carrying the finances of this program and If I was to look at it humanly, I say father.

It's not fair That someone that doesn't have that much would carry so much. And I don't know why I hadn't thought about sharing this, but maybe you just want to might want to pray pray for us. Pray that God would would be honored and glorified in everything that's done.

Stewardship, Accountability, and Para-Church Ministries

I'm so tired of Having and Seeing the body in the work of Christ come under disrespect and disrepute because of begging ministries. These type of things are a sham we as Christians have God backing us up.

And I appreciate those of you so much that send in gifts from time to time and help us out. You don't know how many times your gift has been so timely and we don't look to you. We look to God and we ask God to bless you.

And in all my years of preaching and I started in 1965 was licensed to preach in 1968 and in all my years I've seen that very few times really have the wealthy and I'm not against the wealthy. But very few times have I seen that the wealthy have been the ones doing the bulk of the work.

But it's been just poor folks average folks those that didn't have a lot that would give sacrificially. Be very careful with your money. Remember your local church. Remember your pastor be very careful with ministries outside of the local church.

We are a ministry that is supporting the local church. I'm accountable to a local church to a pastor. I'm accountable to other men. I believe That the church today is in such a weakened state that many para church Organizations have risen up and even this ministry could be considered that I'm not blind.

I realize that but because of the failure of The local church to meet the needs of the body. This is why we have organizations like the Navigators inner varsity and on and on and on that have Bible study ministries Evangelism ministries and now we're getting all these counseling ministries and let me give you some caution there.

Some of these things are so expensive. You can spend your life savings and not still get an answer to your prayer or to your need. I'm I'm real reluctant with ministries that charge Christians high rates, especially I can understand needs being met.

But we need to be careful about what God is wanting to teach us now in this area bitterness getting back to this Webster defines bitterness as having a sharp generally disagreeable taste. Painful as a bitter experience severe as bitter cold cruel stinging as bitter words.

Bitterness as Resentment and Refusal of Reconciliation

Now here's the biblical definition Ephesians 430. Let all bitterness be put away from you. Bitterness is resentment in the heart. It is the attitude that refuses to make reconciliation with others and I add this to it and To accept the sovereignty of God.

Let me say that to you again bitterness is an attitude that refuses to make reconciliation with others and to accept the sovereignty of God and You know what? Ephesians 5 20 after 5 18 says be not drunk with wine wherein success but be filled with the Spirit you go down.

Here's the fruit of the Spirit in verse 19 singing to yourselves in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. Singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord in verse 20 giving Thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Thanksgiving, the Spirit, and Giving Satan No Ground

The first step on the way to becoming bitter is not being filled with the Spirit. If you cannot give thanks in the situation that you are in or the situation you've gone through then you're a candidate for Satan to work in.

Ephesians 4 27 says neither give place to the devil. Don't give him legal ground if you're not thankful in every situation. You immediately move into a dangerous area of giving ground to Satan. Now bitterness is a is a conforming process.

Transformation by the Renewing of the Mind

It's not a transforming process if I can flip back over to Romans chapter 12 very very quick. The Bible tells us that we're not to be conformed to this world. We're not to but we're to be transformed and I want to share these three verses with you.

Paul said in Romans 12 1 2 3 he said I beseech you. Therefore brethren by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice holy acceptable unto God which is your reasonable service and Be Not conformed to this world.

Now. How does the world operate? It works under the principle of revenge and greed and selfishness and bitterness. Well, that's the program if you hurt me, I'm gonna get even with you. Why. Because I'm bitter.

Why are you bitter because I don't forgive. Well, why don't you forgive. It's because I've got to have control in life because I don't have a God that's big enough to handle my problems and That's why many Christians are bitter is because they don't have a God that's big enough to handle their problems my friend.

The God that died on the cross for my sins that was big enough to pay the penalty for my sins is also big enough to handle anybody that runs over me and When I try to go straighten them out for running over me then all kinds of problems come about.

We have got it wrong when we think that we have to take care of ourselves. That's a philosophy of the world. Look out for number one. Well, I'm gonna look out for number one, but number one happens to be Jesus and I'm gonna praise him and in give thanks for all things.

There's freedom now. Let me go on Verse 2 he said and be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Keep meditating on Scripture. By the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God for I say Through the grace given unto me to every man that is among you not to think of himself More highly than he ought to think but to think soberly.

According as God had throughout dealt to every man the measure of faith and bitterness Enters into our hearts when we get to dwelling on ourself poor old me. Look what I've done or we might take up an offense somebody else for somebody else and then troubles come.

Remembering That Jesus Christ Is All You Need

Well, listen our times about gone. It just seems like it flies sometimes. But I'm gonna continue on this. God has put a burn in my heart in this area when I'm out among people. Sharing when I see how how Satan has got in so much into our lives.

It's burdening my heart and I feel like God wants me to share with you some on this area. So next week, we'll continue on this the Lord willing until then. Let me let me challenge you with this. Remember that Jesus Christ is all you need and I have to continually remember this myself, but Also ask yourself this question.

Is he all I? Want. Well until next time. God bless you and I trust that you'll trust Christ as your Savior. Apply the blood To your life the blood of the Lamb if you haven't done so may God bless you my friend.