What’s the Big Dill?
Sunday October 29, 2023
Notes
John 16:33 NIV
Jesus said, I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.
You can’t always stop things from happening to you, but you can choose how you respond.
Don’t open the door to bitterness. Bitterness affects every area of our lives.
The longer you hold onto it, the harder it is to get rid of.
Bitterness is always knocking at the door.
Hebrews 12:15 NLT
Watch out that no poisonous root of bitterness grows up to trouble you, and by this many become defiled.
Hebrews 12:15 MSG
Keep a sharp eye out for weeds of bitter discontent. A thistle or two gone to seed can ruin a whole garden in no time.
Song of Solomon 2:15 NKJV
Catch us the foxes, The little foxes that spoil the vines, For our vines have tender grapes.
Just one or two little things you hold onto will affect your life.
Bitter roots produce fruits.
1 Peter 5:8-9 AMPC
Withstand him; be firm in faith [against his onset-rooted, established, strong, immovable, and determined], knowing that the same (identical) sufferings are appointed to your brotherhood (the whole body of Christians) throughout the world.”
Deal with feelings of bitterness the moment they try to get their foot in the door.
Proverbs 4:23 NKJV
Keep your heart with all diligence for out of it spring the issues of life.
One of our most important responsibilities is to keep our heart pure.
Paul had plenty of opportunities to live offended.
2 Timothy 4:14 NRSV
Alexander the coppersmith did me great harm; the Lord will pay him back for his deeds.
The good news is you don’t have to live with bitter roots.
Ask God to show you what’s making you bitter.
They can’t stop the hand of God on your life unless you allow them to.
Stop reliving what didn’t work out.
Exodus 15 is the story of the bitter waters of Mara.
Mara in Hebrew means bitter.
God always has a plan waiting when things seem bitter.
Ruth 1:19-21 NIV
19 So the two women went on until they came to Bethlehem. When they arrived in Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them, and the women exclaimed, “Can this be Naomi?” 20 “Don’t call me Naomi,[a]” she told them. “Call me Mara,[b] because the Almighty[c] has made my life very bitter. 21 I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? The Lord has afflicted[d] me; the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me.”
Just because someone says something about God doesn’t make it true.
God is not the source of your problem.
Have you changed your name to Mara? Go back to being who called God you to be.
One of the best things you can do when you’re bitter is quit thinking about yourself and go be a blessing to someone else.
The law of The Kinsmen Redeemer
Ruth 4:17 AMPC
and her neighbor women gave him a name, saying, “a son is born to Naomi. They named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David [the ancestor of Jesus Christ].
Like Ruth were poor lost Gentiles with no future and no hope, but thank God we have a Kinsmen Redeemer who paid the full price cancelling all of our debts and making us kings in this life.
We can’t stay in Moab where all of our heartache and pain and loss is. We have to follow the plan of God to Bethlehem where the blessing is waiting for us. Your blessing is being right in the center of God’s will.
Other scriptural examples:
- Job
- The two Marys at the tomb
Mark 16:6-7 NIVq
“Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, Who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid Him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see Him just as He told you.’”
“He is not here… He is there.”
God doesn’t want us to get stuck “here.” He wants us to move forward into “there.”
- Amram and Jochebed
Hebrews 11:23 NKJV
23 By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden three months by his parents, because they saw he was a beautiful child; and they were not afraid of the king’s command.
- The prodigal son’s older brother
Luke 15:28-32 NIV
28 “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. 29 But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’ 31 “‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32 But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”
Offense is completely unproductive.
The party still went on without him.
Quit trying to make people pay you back and go to God.
Ruth 2:12 AMPC
The Lord recompense you for what you have done and a full reward be given you by the God of Israel under Whose wings you have come to take refuge