Speaker 1: Too kind.
Speaker 2: So our pastor did an incredible job last week. If
Speaker 2: you weren't here and didn't listen to his message talking
Speaker 2: about the commanded blessing, you missed out. And if you
Speaker 2: listen to it once, you need to listen to it again.
Speaker 2: There's a treasure trove of gold and depth in there.
Speaker 2: So He preached for two hours on Friday night. And
Speaker 2: so you're going to get me in a continuation message
Speaker 2: of what he started because there's something that he was
Speaker 2: unpacking it as he was unpacking it. I mentioned to him,
Speaker 2: I think I have the other side of your message.
Speaker 2: And so he's going to get a verbal or a
Speaker 2: vocal break tonight, or I should say this morning.
Speaker 1: By the time I get done, it'll be tonight. That's
Speaker 1: a joke.
Speaker 2: We're on a significant time crunch today.
Speaker 1: So I'm going to pray. Lord Jesus, we just, Holy Spirit,
Speaker 1: I just say, have your way. Don't let a word
Speaker 1: come out of my mouth that's me. Let it all
Speaker 1: be you. And I thank you for your word. I
Speaker 1: thank you for the tongue that you give, man.
Speaker 2: Okay, the title of my message is The Unholy Trinity.
Speaker 2: And I'm going to unpack some of this in a minute,
Speaker 2: but this message could also be titled the popular Trinity.
Speaker 2: In other words, it's something that's extremely common, and it's
Speaker 2: pretty much everywhere you look and go. And when we
Speaker 2: think about the Trinity, we think about the Father, the Son,
Speaker 2: and the Holy Spirit. Typically, that's what our mind engages with. However,
Speaker 2: I'm going to tell you that I think that there's
Speaker 2: a trinity that's very commonly engaged with day in and
Speaker 2: day out. And so I want to talk with you
Speaker 2: about that because I believe it is something that the saboteur.
Speaker 2: That the devil would want to try and sabotage our
Speaker 2: lives with so that our destiny, so that God's calling
Speaker 2: on your life, and so what Pastor Dwayne spoke to,
Speaker 2: the commanded blessing, doesn't come to pass.
Speaker 1: Okay?
Speaker 2: And so I'm going to have you just repeat after
Speaker 2: me and declare something. We're going to give the devil
Speaker 2: an uppercut or a stiff arm this morning if you
Speaker 2: like football. And so we're going to give the devil
Speaker 2: an uppercut. I want you to repeat after me. New
Speaker 2: Horizon Church is wise.
Speaker 1: To the schemes of the devil. New Horizon Church is
Speaker 1: wise to the schemes of the devil.
Speaker 2: And doesn't participate in any of his tactics.
Speaker 1: Doesn't participate in any of his tactics.
Speaker 2: So the Holy Spirit gate, like this, I'm positive this
Speaker 2: is from the Lord. He gave me this message and
Speaker 2: told me this is the other side. When Pastor Dwayne
Speaker 2: was talking about.
Speaker 3: That a lack of unity removes the anointing and it
Speaker 3: actually takes away this blessing that God would have for
Speaker 3: his kids. I was realizing as he was talking about
Speaker 3: the spirit of division at work to create a lack
Speaker 3: of unity and affecting the anointing and basically trying to
Speaker 3: create division, harm, and discontent, I realized there's a methodology
Speaker 3: through which the spirit of division actually works.
Speaker 2: Like he has a blueprint, if you will. And so
Speaker 2: this message is gonna be the unholy trinity. And here's
Speaker 2: the three components of the trinity. Offense, victimhood, and bitterness. Offense, victimhood,
Speaker 2: and bitterness. This is the unholy trinity. And so obviously
Speaker 2: it's unholy, so it's not for you because we just
Speaker 2: sang a song about the holy one. And we get
Speaker 2: to come here and he loves us and he's showering
Speaker 2: us with his love and his grace. And he loves
Speaker 2: us so much that he doesn't want to let us
Speaker 2: stay how we are or even where we were when
Speaker 2: we first got saved. So he's constantly looking to renew
Speaker 2: us in our mind and change us as who we are.
Speaker 2: And so I'm sharing this because the word of.
Speaker 1: God is sharp. It's active.
Speaker 2: It's able to divide soul from spirit, bone from marrow.
Speaker 2: And it's just like if you've ever tried to shave before,
Speaker 2: if you're a male and you're shaving your face, it's
Speaker 2: really tough to do with a dull razor or maybe ladies,
Speaker 2: if you've shaved your legs, tough to do with a
Speaker 2: dull razor.
Speaker 1: The beauty of the word of God is it's sharp.
Speaker 2: It's a double-edged sword and it has the capacity to
Speaker 2: cleave things, remove things from us.
Speaker 1: And so we just say more Lord.
Speaker 2: Ephesians 4, 31 through 32.
Speaker 1: Get rid of all bitterness. Say that after me. Bitterness.
Speaker 1: Rage and anger. You don't have to say the rest.
Speaker 2: Brawling and slander along with every form of malice. Be
Speaker 2: kind and compassionate to one another. Forgiving each other just
Speaker 2: as in Christ God forgave you. Do you know what,
Speaker 2: so Pastor Dwayne was preaching a little bit on Ephesians 4,
Speaker 2: and he was speaking to it from a standpoint of unity.
Speaker 2: And the whole first part of Ephesians, it talks about
Speaker 2: be completely.
Speaker 1: Humble and gentle, okay?
Speaker 2: Humble and gentle comes from a heart that understands from
Speaker 2: which we've been saved. It understands the grace of God
Speaker 2: that pulled us out of the pit, okay? And when
Speaker 2: we understand that, then it allows for us to be
Speaker 2: humble and gentle and it will help us to not
Speaker 2: allow for a root of bitterness to begin to grow
Speaker 2: in our heart because we don't become offended because just
Speaker 2: as he's been gracious to us, we're looking to extend
Speaker 2: that same grace to everybody else that we're interacting with
Speaker 2: because we know whose we are and what we've been
Speaker 2: saved from.
Speaker 1: Does that make sense?
Speaker 2: In this passage, it's talking about Ephesians 4.
Speaker 1: It's talking about number one, unity.
Speaker 2: And Pastor Dwayne just did a wonderful job in his
Speaker 2: message last week.
Speaker 1: Again, go back, listen to it again. The commanded blessing.
Speaker 1: If there's something that the devil could use to try.
Speaker 2: And obstruct, create division, or affect the commanded blessing, the
Speaker 2: thing that he will use is offense, right? Offense, like
Speaker 2: a spirit of offense, like becoming offended. And why am
Speaker 2: I sharing this? Well, the rest of Ephesians 4 at
Speaker 2: the end is talking about a different context other than
Speaker 2: just unity.
Speaker 1: It's talking about maturation.
Speaker 2: So for maturation to occur, maturation helps to build unity, correct?
Speaker 1: Correct.
Speaker 2: And so when it comes to how we interact with
Speaker 2: other people, we have to know.
Speaker 1: What the trap is, if that makes sense.
Speaker 2: Every single day, an opportunity exists in your life.
Speaker 1: Not a week goes by this doesn't happen.
Speaker 2: You have an opportunity to become offended or to take offense.
Speaker 1: It could be that you.
Speaker 2: Were at church and someone didn't come talk to you.
Speaker 2: It could be they did come talk to you and
Speaker 2: they said something that.
Speaker 1: Wasn't, you didn't enjoy it. It didn't lift you up.
Speaker 2: It could be that you went out to create connection
Speaker 2: and relationship with another person and they didn't reciprocate it.
Speaker 1: So you're offended.
Speaker 2: It could be that you had a relationship with another individual,
Speaker 2: you knit your heart to them, you gave your heart
Speaker 2: to them, and they actually abused and harmed you. It
Speaker 2: could be that you were physically abused. It could be
Speaker 2: that you were emotionally abused. Or it could be that
Speaker 2: actually no abuse occurred. But the person whom you talked
Speaker 2: to at church who ran out and didn't talk to you,
Speaker 2: they actually weren't trying to ignore you. They weren't trying
Speaker 2: to offend you at all. They just had dinner engagements
Speaker 2: right after church. And we're taking offense to something that
Speaker 2: their just life is full, right? And so sometimes a
Speaker 2: spirit of offense can come because of something.
Speaker 1: That doesn't even exist. It's not even real.
Speaker 2: Sometimes it happens because really we were wounded or harmed
Speaker 2: by another.
Speaker 1: And they're wrongdoing toward us. But nonetheless, every single day,
Speaker 1: this happens.
Speaker 2: Relationship or capacity, this thing occurs where humans take offense
Speaker 2: to another human because of what they did or didn't do.
Speaker 1: Does that make sense?
Speaker 2: And if you've been alive for more than five minutes,
Speaker 2: this is the case. Maybe you actually, maybe you had
Speaker 2: something and you worked really hard to obtain it and
Speaker 2: somebody stole it. Like you'd be actually justified in your offense.
Speaker 2: You're not, but that would be a good reason to
Speaker 2: be upset.
Speaker 1: With somebody, right?
Speaker 2: John 8, 31 and 33. So Jesus was saying to
Speaker 2: those Jews who had believed in him.
Speaker 1: So these are Jews that believed in Jesus.
Speaker 2: If you continue in my word, then you are truly
Speaker 2: my disciples and you will.
Speaker 1: Know the truth and the truth will set you free.
Speaker 1: Who is set free? Those that know the truth and
Speaker 1: apply the truth.
Speaker 2: You can't be set free by a truth you don't
Speaker 2: yet know and you can't be set free by a
Speaker 2: truth you don't apply.
Speaker 1: So who set free?
Speaker 2: Those that know the truth and apply the truth. And
Speaker 2: this is their response to him. They answered him, we're
Speaker 2: Abraham's descendants and have never been enslaved by anyone.
Speaker 1: How is it that you say you will become free?
Speaker 2: They're almost offended that Jesus is saying that they're not
Speaker 2: walking in freedom.
Speaker 1: Can you see it? Like there's an offense actually in
Speaker 1: the question.
Speaker 2: And so this says we're Abraham's descendants. They had a
Speaker 2: pride even about whose they were. Do you know, I
Speaker 2: think that sometimes Christian people think that because I said
Speaker 2: yes to Jesus, it means that I'm walking in full freedom.
Speaker 1: I'm a Christian.
Speaker 2: I'm walking in full freedom. No, you're walking in the
Speaker 2: amount of truth that you know that sets you free
Speaker 2: and you're applying.
Speaker 3: Come on.
Speaker 2: Good. Hello, somebody. So the unholy trinity is this, offense,
Speaker 2: which will turn or result in victimhood, which will then
Speaker 2: turn to a root of bitterness. This is the trinity.
Speaker 2: This is the cycle of how it works. What will
Speaker 2: actually occur is after the root of bitterness takes hold,
Speaker 2: if it takes seed long enough and the seeds grow
Speaker 2: really big and the roots get big, eventually what happens
Speaker 2: is we actually end up with something else called.
Speaker 1: A depraved mind.
Speaker 2: Listen to Hebrews 12, 15. See to it that none
Speaker 2: of you fall short of the grace of God.
Speaker 1: And no bitter root, say that after me, bitter.
Speaker 2: Root, grows up to cause trouble and defile many. So
Speaker 2: he wouldn't be saying this if it wasn't possible for
Speaker 2: a bitter root to grow up and cause trouble. He's
Speaker 2: saying this because it's possible. And we at New Horizon
Speaker 2: are very wise to the devil's schemes, and we do
Speaker 2: not participate in his tactics. So as a church, we
Speaker 2: recognize this is a foothold.
Speaker 1: Of the devil and we don't give him place.
Speaker 2: Romans 1.28 And just as they did not see fit
Speaker 2: to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a depraved
Speaker 2: mind to do those things that are not proper, people
Speaker 2: having been filled with all unrighteousness, Wickedness, greed, evil, full
Speaker 2: of envy.
Speaker 1: Murder, strife. What's strife? Division.
Speaker 2: He spoke about it in the commanded blessing last week.
Speaker 2: The spirit of division.
Speaker 1: Deceit. Deceit. It's saying something. It's misrepresentation. Deceit. Malice.
Speaker 2: They are gossips. slanderers, haters of God. You might be
Speaker 2: looking in here thinking, well, I'm not a murderer. I'm
Speaker 2: going to tell you that every week you have an
Speaker 2: opportunity to gossip about somebody, to spread a negative testimony
Speaker 2: to another person. And this spirit of offense is coming
Speaker 2: on you, trying to get you to participate with your mouth,
Speaker 2: to say something derogatory about another human being. and you
Speaker 2: do not have to participate with it. You can absolutely say, no,
Speaker 2: I rebuke that. I reject that thought. I refuse to
Speaker 2: say anything as far as slander or gossip about that individual.
Speaker 2: I'm going to tell you this week, actually, with me,
Speaker 2: I had an opportunity where somebody who I had once employed, uh, who,
Speaker 2: who there, anyhow, uh, They ended up not employed with
Speaker 2: me because they stole. And they lied consistently. They stole,
Speaker 2: so I had to fire them. And so what happened
Speaker 2: is this week, someone is in my office. I'm talking,
Speaker 2: and the person's name came up. And when the person's
Speaker 2: name came up, I actually said to the individual that
Speaker 2: was there, I affirmed something good that they'd done. And
Speaker 2: I didn't go down that road. I was very tempted
Speaker 2: to go down that road. But instead I said, they
Speaker 2: did a great job here with this.
Speaker 1: And I just stopped. Said no more.
Speaker 2: You have an opportunity to slander and gossip every single day.
Speaker 1: And the enemy's actually, you preached about this last week.
Speaker 2: The enemy's actually looking to get you to partner with
Speaker 2: that spirit that would do that. Gossip, slanders, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful,
Speaker 2: inventors of evil, disobedient to their parents, without.
Speaker 1: Understanding, untrustworthy, unfeeling, unmerciful. I'm going to skip the rest
Speaker 1: of it.
Speaker 2: In the ESV, it says of this verse, God gave
Speaker 2: them up to a depraved mind.
Speaker 1: That's an NIV.
Speaker 2: And ESV says God gave them up to a debased mind.
Speaker 2: This is talking about believers who aren't looking to God's will, way, wisdom,
Speaker 2: and perspective is the context of this passage. And it's
Speaker 2: talking about God giving them over to a depraved mind,
Speaker 2: to a debased mind.
Speaker 1: A King James says reprobate mind.
Speaker 2: Reprobate mind. This is the word depraved in Greek. It's adokamon.
Speaker 1: Adokamon.
Speaker 2: If there's any children in here, I didn't say Pokemon.
Speaker 1: Adokamon. And listen to the definition.
Speaker 2: A mind that is unapproved, corrupted, or unable to make
Speaker 2: sound moral judgments. A mind that has lost its proper function.
Speaker 2: A mind that has lost its proper function. When it
Speaker 2: says a mind that is approved, it immediately brought me
Speaker 2: to this passage of Scripture in 2 Timothy 2.15. Do
Speaker 2: your best to present yourself to God as one approved.
Speaker 1: Not unapproved, but approved mind.
Speaker 2: A worker who does not need to be ashamed and
Speaker 2: who correctly handles.
Speaker 1: The word of truth.
Speaker 2: The people of New Horizon are workers who are approved,
Speaker 2: not unapproved.
Speaker 1: Which means we will.
Speaker 2: Not participate with what leads to a depraved mind, which
Speaker 2: is a spirit of offense, which results in a victimhood mindset,
Speaker 2: which turns into a root of bitterness. I'm going to
Speaker 2: encapsulate a story very rapidly. The story is the story
Speaker 2: of Judas, and you're all familiar with it. But Judas
Speaker 2: is literally one of Jesus's inner circles. If there was
Speaker 2: cell phones and texting back then, he probably would have
Speaker 2: texted Jesus and said, I'm your BFF, right?
Speaker 1: Like he was close to Jesus. He reclined and ate
Speaker 1: meals with Jesus.
Speaker 2: He got to see miracles, signs, wonders, healings all the
Speaker 2: time with Jesus.
Speaker 1: I'm thinking, that sounds cool. Sign me up.
Speaker 2: That sounds like how many people wouldn't want that? To
Speaker 2: be selected to be part of that group?
Speaker 1: Like, how cool would that be?
Speaker 2: Like, you know, that's a lot of grace on your
Speaker 2: life to be selected to be part of that group.
Speaker 2: But somewhere along the line, what was happening is money
Speaker 2: was coming in. And there was money bags and money, anyhow,
Speaker 2: money's coming in. And Judas is watching how the money
Speaker 2: gets distributed. And Judas, in his heart, really wants that money.
Speaker 2: And so he starts to get super offended about how
Speaker 2: it gets spent. And he starts to say things about
Speaker 2: how it's supposed to get spent. But he actually didn't
Speaker 2: even really care about the people who he was saying
Speaker 2: he wanted to spend the money on.
Speaker 1: It was all about him.
Speaker 2: Right? Pastor Dwayne actually talked about this when he was
Speaker 2: referencing the Tesla last week. Because if someone was super
Speaker 2: offended that he drove a Tesla, there could be something
Speaker 2: ruminating in their heart that could be unclean that they
Speaker 2: need freedom from. Right? It was the same thing that
Speaker 2: was going on in Judas. So money's coming in. He
Speaker 2: takes an offense. Eventually what happens is that offense turns
Speaker 2: into something else deeper. And it turns into a root
Speaker 2: of bitterness. Next thing you know, what's occurring? He's going
Speaker 2: and getting some money and he's betraying his BFF.
Speaker 1: Then what happens? So they come and get Jesus out
Speaker 1: of the garden. They arrest him. What happens next to Judas?
Speaker 1: Judas ends up, he tries to give the money back,
Speaker 1: can't give the money back. He ends up hanging himself.
Speaker 1: His guts are spilled out on the field of blood.
Speaker 2: Zach, that was the question that won your wife and
Speaker 2: our team the victory at the staff party, the.
Speaker 1: Field of blood. It's where Judas' guts spilled out. So,
Speaker 1: Judas's gut spilled out. That didn't end good. Well, here's
Speaker 1: the question. The question is, what occurred? What was the cycle? Offense?
Speaker 2: Perceiving that something should be done differently than how he
Speaker 2: thought it should be done, which is the cousin, which
Speaker 2: is pride.
Speaker 1: Then we had a root of bitterness. Then we had
Speaker 1: something else happening.
Speaker 2: And the thing that we'd had happening was he was
Speaker 2: overcome by a spirit that gave him a depraved mind.
Speaker 2: Any of you who've watched The Passion of the Christ,
Speaker 2: that movie does a good job of depicting him being
Speaker 2: demonically tormented, like demonically tormented and ultimately dead, correct?
Speaker 1: Correct.
Speaker 2: Well, what happened is the depraved mind ended up leading
Speaker 2: to defilement and the defilement death.
Speaker 1: There's a cycle. Do you see the thread? There's always
Speaker 1: a pattern.
Speaker 2: So demonic spirits, the dark realm, work in certain pathways
Speaker 2: or patterns. And if you can see that there's a
Speaker 2: thread of taking an offense, becoming a victim, adopting basically.
Speaker 1: A root of bitterness in your heart.
Speaker 2: then allowing for it to cause your mind and your
Speaker 2: heart to become debased or reprobate, eventually you're defiled and
Speaker 2: it kills you. At its end stage, the worst thing
Speaker 2: that happens is this. That's not a good option. Why
Speaker 2: am I sharing this? I'm sharing this because God loves you.
Speaker 2: And what's his plan for you? His plan for you
Speaker 2: is to prosper you, not to harm you, but to
Speaker 2: give you a hope and a future. His plan for
Speaker 2: you is John 10, 10. I have come to give
Speaker 2: you life and give it abundantly. Not just to give
Speaker 2: you life, but to give you life that is the
Speaker 2: best life you could ever imagine, that's overflowing with milk
Speaker 2: and honey. that your cup is running over. This is
Speaker 2: the life, the zoe life. That is the thing that
Speaker 2: he purchased on the cross for you. Did he purchase
Speaker 2: that on the cross for everybody?
Speaker 1: Yes. Is everybody going to walk in the zoe life?
Speaker 2: No.
Speaker 1: And it's our choice.
Speaker 2: And if we can realize that a spirit of offense
Speaker 2: leads to a victimhood mindset, leads to a root of bitterness,
Speaker 2: leads to a depraved mind, then we can say, well,
Speaker 2: I don't like that rabbit trail and I'm not getting
Speaker 2: on it to begin with. So every time a thought
Speaker 2: comes in your head and you start to become offended,
Speaker 2: you just kick it out. I rebuke that thought in
Speaker 2: the name of Jesus. I dismiss that thought in the
Speaker 2: name of Jesus. That's not my thought. That's the devil's thought.
Speaker 2: I cast that thought out. And so it's better to
Speaker 2: get it out right away than let a root of
Speaker 2: bitterness run deep within your soul because when that happens,
Speaker 2: now you got a bigger problem to get it out.
Speaker 1: You can easily get it out. It can be cast out.
Speaker 2: But it's easier if we just do it and we
Speaker 2: keep a short list. Why am I sharing this? I'm
Speaker 2: sharing this because God's structures for life, for your life,
Speaker 2: and for kingdom expression.
Speaker 2: Are damaged and often destroyed by the spirit of offense,
Speaker 2: which is the cousin of pride. I'm going to say
Speaker 2: that again. God's structures for life and kingdom expression are
Speaker 2: often destroyed or damaged by a spirit of offense and pride. Well,
Speaker 2: what are God's kingdom structures and organizations? Obviously, you have
Speaker 2: the church is the first, right?
Speaker 1: You have the family.
Speaker 2: God moves in families. You have organizations. You have businesses.
Speaker 2: What are all of these things? These are collections of humans.
Speaker 1: Are they not?
Speaker 2: They're collections of humans. And division....
Speaker 1: Will destroy collections of humans.
Speaker 2: And collections of humans are God's expression of the kingdom.
Speaker 2: God does things kingdom-oriented through humans and collectivism amongst humans.
Speaker 1: I don't like that word. I take that word back.
Speaker 1: Not collectivism. Humans collected together. Because that word means something
Speaker 1: else today, which I don't like. I have watched....
Speaker 2: So I have been the president of an organization for
Speaker 2: a bunch of years, and I have watched how difficult
Speaker 2: it can be if that organization has more than one vision.
Speaker 2: If that organization has unity, oh man, it can accomplish stuff.
Speaker 2: But if you get some people in that organization that
Speaker 2: don't have unity, it is so difficult to accomplish anything,
Speaker 2: get anything done, And it's the same thing in the church.
Speaker 1: It's the same thing in your family.
Speaker 2: And I'm sharing this because if we don't realize how
Speaker 2: God moves and how God works and the institutions through
Speaker 2: which he does this, and we allow something to come
Speaker 2: in that can harm that, then we can actually affect
Speaker 2: kingdom expression.
Speaker 1: What do I mean?
Speaker 2: I have watched in this church, I have watched people
Speaker 2: who God has.
Speaker 1: A calling on them. They're gifted. They're anointed.
Speaker 2: God has something, a manifestation of his kingdom he's bringing
Speaker 2: through their giftings and talents. And he's wired them for
Speaker 2: these things. And the expression happens through church. And they've
Speaker 2: been knit to this church. And unfortunately, I'm looking around
Speaker 2: and I'm seeing that there's people not here right now
Speaker 2: who have told me they were called to this house.
Speaker 2: And they've been affirmed in gifting and expression and talent.
Speaker 2: And they're not here anymore because they took a spirit
Speaker 2: of offense. Then that spirit of offense grew and it
Speaker 2: turned into a root of bitterness. And next thing you know,
Speaker 2: the individual is manifesting evil intent because that root of bitterness,
Speaker 2: in other words, they're triggered with hostility and anger and
Speaker 2: malice because that thing got in their heart. And it
Speaker 2: started to run rampant. And they didn't really know that
Speaker 2: they were supposed to kick it out. And instead of
Speaker 2: kicking it out, they started to partner with it. And
Speaker 2: as they partnered, it grew deeper and deeper. And now
Speaker 2: they have a root of bitterness. And if they let
Speaker 2: it go long enough, the depraved mind comes. And a
Speaker 2: depraved mind is something that will take you to the grave,
Speaker 2: but it will also, if not to that extent, it
Speaker 2: will also remove you from God's destiny for your life
Speaker 2: and the application of his movement through you, through the
Speaker 2: giftings that he's given you, and the conduit through which
Speaker 2: he was designed to do that, which are those institutions.
Speaker 1: Is that making sense?
Speaker 3: Yes.
Speaker 2: What happens after the root of bitterness comes in and
Speaker 2: takes hold? What happens after these things occur?
Speaker 1: It leads to solitude. You're division, divided off. You can't
Speaker 1: have unity. It leads to solitude.
Speaker 2: Well, what do we do with criminals when we're really
Speaker 2: trying to punish them? We put them in solitary confinement.
Speaker 2: Why would you put somebody in solitary confinement? Because Humans
Speaker 2: in solitude are tormented. Humans in solitude are tormented. And
Speaker 2: the reality, this was COVID.
Speaker 1: Like, come on, people, really. Like, it was demonic, and
Speaker 1: that's what it was. You were trying to create solitude
Speaker 1: to separate the people. This was all a demonic thing.
Speaker 2: So solitude brings destruction, and it brings demonic torment. So
Speaker 2: how important is it that we recognize that we don't
Speaker 2: want to participate with that voice when it comes to
Speaker 2: bring accusation that causes you to be having an offense
Speaker 2: towards someone else? How would you know if you might
Speaker 2: be harboring an.
Speaker 1: Offense? Well, I think there's a really obvious way. Here's
Speaker 1: the obvious way.
Speaker 2: If somebody's name comes up and it causes you to
Speaker 2: have very negative thought processes and emotions.
Speaker 1: it's very likely that you probably have an offense.
Speaker 2: If somebody's name gets mentioned, if they pop in your
Speaker 2: head for a second, and you have a very negative emotion,
Speaker 2: it is likely that you probably have partnered at some
Speaker 2: point with an offense.
Speaker 1: So I come from a family who.
Speaker 2: where one of the spiritual giftings of that family, I'm
Speaker 2: not talking about my wife, nor my children, nor me.
Speaker 1: I'm talking about what I was birthed into.
Speaker 2: But I was raised in a family where the root
Speaker 2: of bitterness was just like, that was the hallmark spiritual characteristic.
Speaker 1: I'm not joking. I'm totally, you either got to laugh
Speaker 1: or you cry.
Speaker 2: But And it literally, my family, like the root of
Speaker 2: bitterness is like, was over all these people. And it
Speaker 2: wasn't until I got saved. And then I was like,
Speaker 2: what is this? And then I'm like, I needed freedom myself.
Speaker 2: And then I started to get some freedom. And so
Speaker 2: I started to try and bring freedom to some of
Speaker 2: my family. And what I found is when I was
Speaker 2: trying to bring freedom to some of my family, you
Speaker 2: cannot bring deliverance.
Speaker 1: To someone who does not want to be delivered.
Speaker 2: Right? I spent hundreds. So I'm going to tell you
Speaker 2: a story. My parents got divorced maybe when I was
Speaker 2: 11 or 12.
Speaker 1: I don't recall. But my mother, literally, if my father's.
Speaker 2: Name was to come up 10 years after they were divorced,
Speaker 2: 20 years after they were divorced, 30 years after they
Speaker 2: were divorced, or 40 years after they were divorced, the
Speaker 2: same response would happen. And the response that would happen
Speaker 2: is she would get irate. Just start saying every nasty
Speaker 2: thing about him that she could. And I tried to
Speaker 2: help bring freedom and some deliverance there. But what I
Speaker 2: realized is that you cannot bring freedom to an individual.
Speaker 2: You cannot deliver an individual who does not want deliverance.
Speaker 2: For me, it was futile.
Speaker 1: It was unproductive.
Speaker 2: And I'm talking about hundreds of hours spent trying to
Speaker 2: bring deliverance to someone who does not want to be delivered.
Speaker 1: And so... I'm.
Speaker 2: Sharing this with you because everybody grows up in different structures,
Speaker 2: and you may be a little bit more immune to
Speaker 2: a spirit of offense, but some of us, we grew
Speaker 2: up in this, in a household where everybody's offended. And so,
Speaker 2: how many people in here know the Gifts of the
Speaker 2: Spirit story, or the Gifts of the Spirit song?
Speaker 1: Song. Love, joy, peace, and patience, kindness, goodness, and faithfulness.
Speaker 1: Gentleness and self-control.
Speaker 2: Let these gifts in me be full.
Speaker 1: Right? So we were in a.
Speaker 2: Van teaching teenagers that song, and they didn't like the song,
Speaker 2: so they turned it into a rap.
Speaker 1: But here's the point. I'm not... No. I don't sing
Speaker 1: what you got. That's as good as it gets. So....
Speaker 2: In some families, they actually, you grew up and you
Speaker 2: like love, joy, peace. My family wasn't that way. This
Speaker 2: would be the song of my family. The song of
Speaker 2: my family was offense, rage, and bitterness. So my family
Speaker 2: was different than some of yours. And what I'm gonna
Speaker 2: share with you is that when you start to get
Speaker 2: free from that, you begin to have discernment for what
Speaker 2: that looks like and you can pick it up from
Speaker 2: a mile away because the Lord delivered you from it
Speaker 2: So now you can take the spiritual temperature of that
Speaker 2: thing like super fast.
Speaker 1: You can see it from a mile away. You know
Speaker 1: it's coming.
Speaker 2: And my endeavor here this morning is that the word
Speaker 2: of God would be sharp and active and it would
Speaker 2: go in and it would.
Speaker 1: Get some ick off our hearts.
Speaker 2: It would allow for us to not partner with anything
Speaker 2: that the demonic realm would want to bring harm to
Speaker 2: our church, to our family, to our organizations, and to
Speaker 2: our businesses. In Ephesians 4, Pastor Duane was talking about unity.
Speaker 2: And I mentioned something that a good bit of Ephesians
Speaker 2: 4 is maturation. That the apostle, prophet, pastor, evangelist, and teacher,
Speaker 2: these things were given so that we would come up
Speaker 2: to the fullness of the maturation of the stature of Christ. Well,
Speaker 2: this is what it says in Ephesians 4.23, and you
Speaker 2: don't have.
Speaker 1: This in the back.
Speaker 2: But it says, be made new in the attitude of
Speaker 2: your mind. Did you know that your mind has an attitude?
Speaker 2: Did you know that your mind has an attitude?
Speaker 1: So a year ago.
Speaker 2: I was speaking at a conference, and while I was
Speaker 2: at this conference, there was this other person who was speaking,
Speaker 2: and this guy was super brilliant. And Pastor Dwayne, remind
Speaker 2: me of my end time, because I have to land
Speaker 2: the plane.
Speaker 1: I thought it was 1240. What was my end time? Angela,
Speaker 1: help me. Okay. So, okay, we can do this. So I'm,
Speaker 1: I'm at this conference.
Speaker 2: I'm talking to this guy and he's, we're talking, anyhow,
Speaker 2: he's a brilliant guy. And the, the conference was a
Speaker 2: bunch of people that were there talking about brain health.
Speaker 2: And so people today are discovering something that's actually been
Speaker 2: talked about for 30, 40 years.
Speaker 1: Which is neuroplasticity.
Speaker 2: And the concept behind this is that your brain is
Speaker 2: constantly changing. Every time you have a thought, it changes
Speaker 2: the neural conductivity and your brain is different.
Speaker 1: So from day to day, your brain's different. It changes
Speaker 1: all the time.
Speaker 2: And so what happens is if you were a farmer
Speaker 2: and you were digging with your hoe, you're digging a
Speaker 2: track in the dirt, and then what you're gonna do
Speaker 2: is you're gonna go take and you're gonna go throw
Speaker 2: some seeds in there And then those seeds, you're going
Speaker 2: to cover it. Those seeds are going to turn into
Speaker 2: a harvest, correct? Well, what happens is that we can
Speaker 2: harvest the wrong thing. And if our mind continues to
Speaker 2: tell us something again and again, we dig a trough
Speaker 2: in it, we could actually tell ourself a lie. You
Speaker 2: tell yourself that enough, you actually believe it's true. And
Speaker 2: now your mind gets darkened. Your mind gets darkened and
Speaker 2: we can actually end up with a depraved or reprobate mind.
Speaker 1: Okay. James 1.19. My dear brothers and sisters, take note
Speaker 1: of this.
Speaker 2: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and
Speaker 2: slow to become angry. For anger does not bring about
Speaker 2: the righteous life that God desires.
Speaker 1: Quick to listen.
Speaker 2: Slow to speak, and quick to listen before when we
Speaker 2: hear something come in, we take the offense and we
Speaker 2: cast it out. James 1.22, do not merely listen to
Speaker 2: the word and so deceive yourself.
Speaker 1: Do what it says.
Speaker 2: Anyone who listens to the word but does not do
Speaker 2: what it says is like someone who looks at his
Speaker 2: face in a mirror and after looking at himself, goes
Speaker 2: away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But whoever
Speaker 2: looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom.
Speaker 1: And continues in it, and continues in it.
Speaker 2: Not forgetting what they've heard, but doing it, they will
Speaker 2: be blessed in what they do. If we're Christians and
Speaker 2: we don't have a discipline of waking every morning and
Speaker 2: opening up the word of God, you're not looking in
Speaker 2: the mirror.
Speaker 1: And you can't get the ick out. your heart will
Speaker 1: not be cleansed.
Speaker 2: And a few days go by, and instead of getting
Speaker 2: the ick out and your heart being cleansed because you're
Speaker 2: looking in the mirror, what happens is you actually start
Speaker 2: to participate with the spirit of offense that brews over
Speaker 2: three or four or five days, and two weeks later,
Speaker 2: you've got a root of bitterness growing.
Speaker 1: James....
Speaker 2: Two three two we all stumble in many ways anyone
Speaker 2: who is never at fault in what they say is
Speaker 2: perfect able to keep their whole body in check do
Speaker 2: you know that your tongue is a rudder do you
Speaker 2: know that it drives your entire ship Do you know
Speaker 2: that it's like a spark that sets a fire ablaze?
Speaker 2: And it actually says in that context in James 3
Speaker 2: that it actually will set your soul.
Speaker 1: Like on fire. And what happens is when the thoughts
Speaker 1: come in and.
Speaker 2: We don't kick them out immediately and the root of
Speaker 2: bitterness begins to grow. There's a crop producing not righteousness
Speaker 2: but unrighteousness. And then what happens is all of a
Speaker 2: sudden our mouth is expressing what it shouldn't express and
Speaker 2: we're directing our ship in a path it shouldn't go.
Speaker 2: If we believe we're an oppressed group, then we're partnering
Speaker 2: with a victim spirit rather than an overcoming spirit in Christ.
Speaker 1: This is extremely... dangerous.
Speaker 2: A victim spirit. This opposes everything God says about you.
Speaker 2: What does God say about you? That you're an overcomer
Speaker 2: in Christ Jesus. What does he say about you? That
Speaker 2: you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you.
Speaker 2: What does he say about you? That he gives you
Speaker 2: the victory. It says that he gives you the victory
Speaker 2: and spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him.
Speaker 2: You're an overcomer in Christ. It's no longer you who live,
Speaker 2: but Christ who lives in you. Like you are an overcomer.
Speaker 2: And if we partner with that second component of the
Speaker 2: unholy trinity, the victimhood spirit, We're opening ourself up to
Speaker 2: a depraved mind.
Speaker 1: So I'm going to finish with a story.
Speaker 2: So a few months ago, what happened is that I
Speaker 2: was having a little challenge with my mother. And what
Speaker 2: I mean by that is that my mom was getting
Speaker 2: really upset with everybody. She's just super bitter, angry with everybody.
Speaker 2: And I realized it didn't matter who she was talking to,
Speaker 2: if it was a healthcare provider, if it was somebody
Speaker 2: at Comcast, it didn't matter who, a family member. And
Speaker 2: what was occurring is she was getting very, very angry
Speaker 2: with everybody.
Speaker 1: And so I tried.
Speaker 2: To kind of do what I could to spread some joy,
Speaker 2: but it wasn't working. I normally talk to my mom
Speaker 2: about three, maybe four times a week. And usually every
Speaker 2: other Sunday we have her over for dinner after church.
Speaker 2: And so all of a sudden it's Mother's Day and
Speaker 2: she's like, I'm not coming over.
Speaker 1: I'm like, what do you mean? What are you going
Speaker 1: to do? Stay at your house by yourself? I'm like,
Speaker 1: I'm making food. I have flowers and a card for you.
Speaker 1: You know, come on, come over.
Speaker 2: So I'm endeavoring to go do this, like force her
Speaker 2: to come over.
Speaker 1: She kicks me out of her house. And so.
Speaker 2: I'm sharing this with you because what happened is she
Speaker 2: didn't come over. A few days went by and I
Speaker 2: knew that this root of bitterness had been growing. And
Speaker 2: I ended up going over to her house to check
Speaker 2: on her and find out what's going on.
Speaker 1: And what ended up occurring is I walked into her
Speaker 1: bedroom and I found my mother dead.
Speaker 2: She'd taken her own life. And The circumstance around it
Speaker 2: is she actually did it on Mother's Day.
Speaker 1: And she did it.
Speaker 2: As a final shot to my family and me. Pun intended.
Speaker 2: Pun intended. And so, I'm sharing this because This cycle
Speaker 2: of a spirit of offense, a victimhood mindset, a root
Speaker 2: of bitterness, a depraved mind, and defilement, it's a real cycle.
Speaker 1: It's a very real cycle. And this is a key
Speaker 1: strategy that the devil.
Speaker 2: Will use to try and take you out, to try
Speaker 2: and separate you out from the church, to try and
Speaker 2: separate you out from your family so you don't have relationship,
Speaker 2: to try and separate you out from all the humans
Speaker 2: that God's called you to interact with. Because what people
Speaker 2: don't realize, it's that circle that God actually designed to
Speaker 2: bring you health and healing. So when you're hurting, it's
Speaker 2: that group that's designed to bring.
Speaker 1: You out of your distress. and solitude removes you from it.
Speaker 1: We cannot allow.
Speaker 2: This root to take hold in us because when it takes.
Speaker 1: Its full course, it leads to death.
Speaker 2: My mom's life should have been watching my kids grow up,
Speaker 2: my kids get married, grandchildren being born, and that won't
Speaker 2: be the case, unfortunately. And that wasn't the Lord's plans.
Speaker 2: And I'm sharing this because the unholy trinity is so pervasive,
Speaker 2: it's so popular, it's so everywhere you look every day
Speaker 2: that if you're not careful, you could participate in it.
Speaker 2: And its goal would be to take you out of
Speaker 2: all of the things that God would have put you
Speaker 2: in to have your destiny and your life's calling manifested
Speaker 2: to create that blessing that he.
Speaker 1: Has for you.
Speaker 2: We must avoid it like the plague. We must think
Speaker 2: of this like Superman with kryptonite. Like I ain't picking
Speaker 2: that up because I'll lose.
Speaker 1: My strength and my power.
Speaker 2: We gotta keep short lists with people and forgive others
Speaker 2: as Christ forgave us.
Speaker 1: Oh man, stand with me for a moment. We're gonna pray.
Speaker 2: Lord Jesus, we just cast off the unholy trinity. We rebuke,
Speaker 2: even if you're online right now, we rebuke the unholy trinity.
Speaker 2: We say we do not partner with a spirit of offense.
Speaker 2: We do not partner with a victimhood spirit. We do
Speaker 2: not partner with a depraved mind. We kick these things out.
Speaker 2: We say they have no root in us. We say
Speaker 2: that we are ones who forgive easily and we actually guard.
Speaker 1: Our hearts and our minds from so.
Speaker 2: That the enemy has no foothold, zero foothold. We see
Speaker 2: his tactics and his strategies, we cast them off, and
Speaker 2: we say we as New Horizon Church, we as the
Speaker 2: body of Christ, will not participate with the demonic realm
Speaker 2: and the spirit of division, but we will walk out
Speaker 2: the commanded blessing that God has for us, and we
Speaker 2: give you praise, Lord, in the name of Jesus.