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00:00Now, Absalom would rise early, so Absalom, he had a strong work ethic, but so does the
00:06devil.
00:07How many of y'all know that?
00:08You see, in every person there's a little bit of good, and in every good person there's
00:14a little bit of bad, which brings us to point number two.
00:19Bitter people still have admirable qualities, meaning you could be functioning in the church.
00:25You could be singing in the worship team.
00:28God might use you despite you.
00:29You hear what I'm saying?
00:33But just because there's some good things about you doesn't mean that you don't have
00:38a problem in this area of your life.
00:50Back to 15 and one, 2 Samuel, and I mean eight signs that bitterness is at work in your life.
00:55Eight signs that the spirit of Absalom is growing in your life, verse one.
01:04After this, or what we just talked about, David brought Absalom back to the kingdom.
01:09And it happened that Absalom provided himself with chariots and horses, and 50 men to run
01:17before him.
01:18So, he had this whole entourage.
01:19He was looking the part of a king, and he knew what he was doing.
01:24And he was about to get his revenge, and he was doing it on the sly.
01:28He was a smart guy, and he thought out the plan, and he knew how he was going to do it.
01:32But here's the problem with self-promotion.
01:36Whatever height you attain through self-promotion, you must yourself maintain.
01:43But when God promotes you, he will fight for you.
01:45He will keep you in whatever position he has put you in.
01:52And self-promotion will get you there for a minute, but it just gets exhausting to stay
01:56there, because you don't have the grace to endure it.
02:00I know folks that have stolen folks, done stuff.
02:03They got it from me, but they couldn't keep it.
02:07They might have stolen it, but they didn't have the grace for it.
02:11And if you keep your heart sweet, whatever's stolen, God will get back to you seven times.
02:15He's that type of God.
02:18We're talking about the eight signs of bitterness.
02:25Sign number one, we just saw it.
02:26Bitterness is deceptive.
02:28It always makes you feel justified taking matters into your own hands without looking
02:32to God.
02:34So when you're bitter, it's just like anger.
02:36Anger almost feels like prophetic, and then you're so right until it's amazing.
02:41Like two hours later, it's like, ooh.
02:45But in the moment, you feel so right.
02:48When he had so much bitterness in his heart, he felt he had a right to steal the kingdom
02:53from his daddy.
02:56Now Absalom would rise early.
02:58So Absalom, he had a strong work ethic, but so does the devil.
03:02How many of y'all know that?
03:05You see, in every person there's a little bit of good, and in every good person there's
03:10a little bit of bad.
03:12Which brings us to point number two.
03:15Bitter people still have admirable qualities, meaning you could be functioning in the church.
03:21You could be singing in the worship team.
03:24God might use you despite you.
03:25Hear what I'm saying?
03:29But just because there's some good things about you doesn't mean that you don't have
03:34a problem in this area of your life.
03:37And Absalom would stand by the gate, which was the place where decisions were made.
03:41It's where all the leaders of the cities would gather.
03:44And he liked to, you know, he kind of positioned himself to be around the powerful.
03:51Point number three, the Absaloms of this world are good with hiding who they really are and
03:57positioning themselves with people more powerful than themselves.
04:02So bitter people often, it's kind of parasitic.
04:07They look for that larger figure so they can also poison them.
04:13And in those gates he was working a plan so he could steal the kingdom from his daddy.
04:20So it was, whenever anyone who had a lawsuit, point number four, bitter people target hurting
04:28people.
04:30So they gravitate toward the wounded and the abused.
04:36The disgruntled, I have found, I don't know how it's done, but the disgruntled just kind
04:41of have a way of finding each other.
04:45So pay attention to the types of friends you have.
04:50Because birds of a feather flock together.
04:53Yep, yep, yep.
04:56So it was, whenever anyone who had a lawsuit came to the king for a decision, that Absalom
05:03would come and say, what city are you from?
05:09Bitter people on the surface seem to care, but underneath all they, they don't really
05:17care about you.
05:18They just care about getting even.
05:21You're merely a tool, a means to an end to help them make whatever point their bitter
05:29heart wants to make.
05:33A woman on the rebound will do things she would never do any other time.
05:39A man on the rebound would be dumber.
05:42Okay.
05:43See, I have a lot of life experience behind this pulpit here, and I got to learn to give
05:59it out in just doses.
06:02And he would say, your servant is from such-and-such a tribe in Israel.
06:09Then Absalom would say to him, he had an M.O., look, your case is good and right, but there's
06:15no deputy of the king to heal you.
06:18Number six, bitter people are constant fault-finders.
06:22They can very quickly point out everything wrong without mentioning what's good and right.
06:27Now you do need critics in your life, and you do need to deal with things that aren't
06:32right and aren't wrong, but what happens with the Absaloms of this world, they can't find
06:37any good.
06:38They're the only one that got something good and that's fair.
06:41They're the only one that cares, and they just look for the wrong, and they focus on
06:48the wrong.
06:50And when all you can see is what's wrong in a person, and you can no longer see the good
06:55qualities in that person, you're dealing with a root of bitterness.
07:02Look, your case is good and right, but there's no deputy of the king to heal you.
07:12Notice Absalom did not attack the king directly.
07:17He used insinuation.
07:20He used ingratiation.
07:22He made himself likable, and he also used the rolling of the eyes.
07:29Some people are smart enough not to say it, but you see it all over their face.
07:34And what, 70, 90% of communication is nonverbal.
07:38So, you might not be able to get it on a tape recorder, but it's been said, and God is watching
07:46what we do.
07:48I would rather an enemy who admits they hate me, instead of a friend who secretly puts
07:54me down.
07:57Moreover, Absalom would say in the gate, this is David's son, oh that I were made judge
08:10in the land back to point number one, self-promotion.
08:16And anyone who has a suit of cause would come to me, and I would give him justice.
08:24And so it was, whenever anyone came near to bow down to him, and he loved it, that he
08:31would put out his hand and take him and kiss him.
08:36Point number seven, the bitter often feel that they are the voice of reason.
08:45A man or woman of the people, and they think they're more caring.
08:52They think they're more in touch with the needs of others than the folks that God has
08:57set in place.
08:59So he would come and kiss the hand, and again, he's ingratiating himself, and if you come
09:05to me because I care, he didn't say David's a bad man, but it's implied.
09:11And everyone knew what was going on, and he wasn't just doing this with the people,
09:16he was doing it at the gate.
09:17Other leaders were watching.
09:19And he was gathering a crowd, and he was gathering a team, and an assembly, and a group of people
09:26that he could get in agreement so he could ultimately revolt against his father.
09:32In this manner, meaning this is what he did.
09:35He had, like I said earlier, he had a MO, a modus operandi.
09:38This is the way he operated.
09:41In this manner, Absalom acted toward all Israel who came to the king.
09:46Now they were coming for the king.
09:47This guy was supposed to be representing the king, but he twisted it and made it about
09:52his advancement.
09:54Who came to the king for judgment.
09:56So watch this, and we're done.
09:59So Absalom stole, stole.
10:03He didn't just want to, he stole the hearts of the men of Israel.
10:10People went for it.
10:14People bought it.
10:17Absalom was strategic.
10:21Point number eight, bitterness is a thief.
10:29Bitterness not only steals from you, the big point is it steals from you.
10:40Your innocence, your integrity.
10:45And Absalom was left, and next week we'll wrap this up I believe.
10:52By his own strength, Absalom was going to take the kingdom from his father.
11:00By this time, David's a little bit older.
11:03David's not as strong as he used to be, but David was still God's man.
11:09David made mistakes, but it was still God who appointed him, and he wasn't to be sat
11:17down and removed until God moved him.
11:21But Absalom allowed his bitterness to speak to him like a prophet.
11:30His bitterness spoke to him with such authority that he felt invincible.
11:38His hair, and his youth, and all this charisma, and all that he had going for him.
11:46He used it and stole the hearts of Israel.
11:53If any daddy was brokenhearted at this point, in fact David wrote a psalm during this next
12:01period, and I'll bring that up perhaps next week, and we could see what was going on in
12:06his heart.
12:09David, there's one thing, someone you don't know.
12:16But the little one you had bouncing on your knee, and the little baby that you had the
12:22highest hopes for, and the one that looks like you, acts like you, Absalom stole the
12:30hearts of the men of Israel.
12:39But the reason he did it was because his heart got bitter.
12:47And I have watched men in marriages 40 years not deal with issues, and then that bitterness
12:57rise up, and all of a sudden they're with a woman half their age.
13:07I've seen women, beautiful women, beautiful, but because of bitterness, they're 40 but
13:14look 60.
13:20Bitterness is setting yourself on fire and hoping the people around you die of the smoke.
13:34In the book of James, James makes this observation.
13:38He says, anger does not work the righteousness of God.
13:44This is something I had to get as a younger man, and even as an older man I still find
13:49myself sometimes when I watch these movies rooting for the revenge.
13:54How many of y'all do the same thing, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
14:01I felt if I, my anger meant God ought to do something, because I'm angry.
14:12But my anger doesn't work the righteousness.
14:15It don't make God do nothing.
14:20God is God.
14:21God is the judge.
14:23If I stay angry, I'm the foolish one, because only God can be angry and just completely
14:31all at the same time.
14:34He's loving, merciful, kind, and also He can be just, well He is just all at the same time.
14:46Humans, that's the whole thing.
14:49I'm not, I'm not built to handle the type of anger that people might try or life might
14:59try to put on me.
15:03And God's like, you're right, I didn't build you for that.
15:08So let me be God, you be man.
15:17This is how the Bible says it, it says, vengeance, Derek, is mine.
15:23I will repay.
15:27Vengeance is God's prerogative.
15:30I put myself in the place of God when I try to exact vengeance.
15:38He says, I am God.
15:40Vengeance is mine.
15:41I'm not going to steal from God.
15:45And sometimes we try to get even, we don't realize that we're stealing the prerogative
15:49of God.
15:51We're acting like little gods.
15:56And God said, no, vengeance belongs to me.
15:58Boy, as smart as you think you are, you won't get it right.
16:03I'll do it.
16:04I won't go to jail.
16:10Matter of fact, I'll get it so right they might even come to me.
16:17That's right.
16:22Jesus took Paul, the man that was persecuting, killing, and beating Christians, and he said,
16:31It's hard to kick against the goals, ain't it?
16:36And then by the time Jesus was through, Paul's on his knees talking about Lord.
16:45Most of us would have prayed God kill him.
16:48He's killing Christians with justified and asking to kill him.
16:53That's why I leave that to God.
16:56Because only God knew what he placed inside that man.
17:00And that man or woman you hate, God may not be through with yet.
17:05There may be something divine placed in him that only that person can do, and you've got
17:10to give it to God.
17:11Give it to God.
17:12Give it to God.
17:13Give it to God.
17:14Give it to God.
17:26I'm done.
17:40Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, he said, Father, can this cup pass for me?
17:49Pray three times.
17:52He's never been separated from the Father all eternity.
17:54They were always one.
17:55So, what was going to happen on the cross physically was going to be awful, but the
17:58worst part for Jesus was to be separated from the Father.
18:01He took God's wrath.
18:02He became sin, and the punishment that was supposed to be ours was laid on him.
18:07So, he took it spiritually, emotionally, physically, in every possible way, and he said, Lord,
18:14hey, I ain't never done nothing like that before.
18:18See, you know, I've sinned and come back, but he ain't never done that.
18:21He was the first.
18:23He didn't sin, you know what I mean, but he took it.
18:26Father, if it be your will, can this cup pass for me?
18:33God didn't say yes, so Jesus drank the cup of every bad thing ever done to us, every
18:44bad thing you've ever done.
18:47He drank the cup to its bitter drinks, and he took it for you and me.
18:55Jesus died for you, but he also died for that person that hurt you and wounded you.
19:04I know, I know, I know.
19:09We have to learn to leave it.
19:12It doesn't mean you don't get mad, and please don't misunderstand.
19:15I get mad.
19:18People do stuff, and I'll just have to pause in my office for a minute.
19:23Sometimes I have to pick up the phone.
19:24Uh, this is, you got some advice?
19:26I got to talk it through.
19:29And a lot of times, forgiveness begins like a seed.
19:35It's just a choice I make.
19:37It's not a feeling I have.
19:38The feeling comes later, but it's the choice that I'm not going to go there with that person.
19:46I'm not going to return evil for evil, but I'm going to return good for evil.
19:52Jesus said, blessed are you when you're reviled, used, and people say all manner of evil.
19:56He said, blessed are you when you get there.
19:58He said, so they treated the prophets of old, meaning you're in good company.
20:04So when people do things to you, you are actually in good company.
20:09And now you have an opportunity to prove your faith.
20:14A lot of people settle for being church people, but Jesus wants us to be Christians.
20:23The Christ I know had holes in His hands, holes in His feet, yet He said, forgive them.
20:30They don't know what they're doing.
20:32And then, instead of killing everybody, He said it was finished.
20:36And then at the end of that, He did not take matters into His own hands.
20:40He waited three days for the Father to raise Him from the dead and vindicate Him.
20:49Can you trust God to be your vindication?
20:53Can you trust God to handle it in His way?
20:57Do you really have faith in your life and in your heart?
21:05The end of the book of Galatians, the Galatian church had been fighting with Paul and criticizing
21:11him.
21:12And he gets to the end of it, he says, trouble me no more, for I bear in my body the marks
21:18of the Lord Jesus Christ.
21:21He didn't say, I'm an Apostle.
21:24He didn't say that one day I'll be one of the most celebrated Christians that have ever
21:28lived.
21:31His authority were the marks of the Lord Jesus Christ, meaning He had holes in His hands,
21:41holes in His feet.
21:44He took the beating, but kept loving.
21:48He took the criticism, but kept speaking the truth.
21:52He took the rejection, but He kept reaching out.
21:59Many of us have crosses that we wear around our necks, earrings.
22:07We do this even when we pray.
22:11But God's not looking for a bumper sticker or at your jewelry.
22:20He wants to see if you have holes in your hands, holes in your feet.
22:27Did you love somebody even when it hurt?
22:32You need to understand that Israel at that time was the church.
22:37What happened when Amnon and Tamar happened at church?
22:41This was the first family.
22:44David was a prophet, and in church these awful things happened.
22:51Absalom rose up in the church against his daddy.
22:57And many of us never going back to church because you had some church hurt.
23:03But Jesus saying, I don't want you to be just a churchified person.
23:09I want you to be a Christ follower.
23:13I need you to learn about the holes in the hands and the holes in the feet.
23:17I want you to learn about loving imperfect people.
23:22The problem with church is people.
23:25God, Jesus, is the people.
23:29Wherever you got people, you got trouble, you got problems, you got issues.
23:39And this church is no different.
23:40And I'm not speaking of anything I know of, so please, I'm not-
23:43If y'all arguing with somebody, I don't know, okay?
23:45It's just my message today.
23:49You'll know them by their love.
23:54And true love loves the unlovely.
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24:27God bless you.