Welcome to the Kerwin Baptist Church broadcast today. Our desire is for the Word of God to be spread throughout the world so that all may know Christ.
Join us now for a portion of one of our services here at Kerwin Baptist Church located in Kernersville, North Carolina. Welcome to the Kerwin Baptist Church broadcast. Our desire is for the Word of God to be spread throughout the world so that all may know Christ.
Welcome to the Kerwin Baptist Church broadcast. Our desire is for the Word of God to be spread throughout the world so that all may know Christ. Our desire is for the Word of God to be spread throughout the world so that all may know Christ.
Welcome to the Kerwin Baptist Church broadcast. Our desire is for the Word of God to be spread throughout the world so that all may know Christ. Our desire is for the Word of God to be spread throughout the world so that all may know Christ. Our desire is for the Word of God to be spread throughout the world so that all may know Christ. Our desire is for the Word of God to be spread throughout the world so that all may know Christ. Our desire is for the Word of God to be spread throughout the world so that all may know Christ.
Our desire is for the Word of God to be spread throughout the world so that all may know Christ. a bit of breath and a bit of life and all of a sudden you almost got normal again and then all of a sudden that thought will come in your mind and as soon as it does it's like it's like an elephant sitting on you. It's like a burden.
And that's what he's talking about here. To lift the heavy burden. Notice third is to free from oppression. He says, is not this the fast that I've chosen?
To loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free. This is literally that I'm in prison. I can't get out. I can't, not only can I, I can't get out.
People can't get in. I'm isolated. And he said that literally you need freedom from this. This has become an oppression over you. And a lot of things can become oppression, by the way. I'm just talking to you about resentment, but a lot of things can oppress. Sin can oppress. All those, a spirit, a wrong spirit can oppress us.
All those things can't. But we're talking about here, he says, listen, I want you to fast for these reasons. And fasting isn't just for you to show off to everybody, to tell them you fasted. Fasting has a purpose. And it is to loose these bands that have you so tightly constrained and to lift off that heavy burden that you can't seem to bear and to let the oppressed go free.
To free yourself from these bars of containment that you can't get out of. Notice last, we see to break yokes. Now notice this, look at verse six.
He says to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, to let the oppressed go free. Notice this, and that ye break every yoke. What we're talking about here, we're talking about something that literally is attached to you.
It's got you enslaved. Do you know that when you put a yoke on oxen, they didn't ask for that. You know, oxen are not in a stable saying, hey, please put a yoke on me, please, please. You know, please constrain me.
Please make me haul something 10 times heavier than me. You know, it's not that they did that. They didn't want that.
It was put on them. And now that it's on them, everywhere they go, they're pulling a weight that's not really theirs. And somebody else is controlling where they're going. A person who is literally struggling with resentment doesn't want to be there. Doesn't want to feel that way. Doesn't want to go there. There's this negativity attached to your life. And you don't even want it.
You don't even want it. You didn't want to go there. But the yoke of bondage, this yoke of resentment ends up leading us where resentment wants to take us.
And we can't, even when we don't want to go there, we can't help but go there. We'll wake up and say, I'm going to have a good day and I'm not going to be negative today. And I'm going to feel great today.
And by noon, we're back in the fetal position, feeling sorry for ourselves. And so literally here, he says, these are the reasons to fast. Now here's what I want you to, why I want to bring resentment into this. Interestingly enough, resentment is all four of these things. Notice resentment can be a stronghold in your life. Resentment can become a burden too heavy for you to bear. We know from our theme verse in Proverbs that resentment becomes a jail of oppression. And may I say last that resentment becomes a yoke on you and it begins to take you where resentment wants to take you.
Literally resentment in the very nature of what resentment is, it literally is all four of these things. And if there's anything in your life that I would say, listen, if you're struggling with this and we've been talking about it, if there's anything that I would say you ought to consider. If you've tried and you prayed and you've read and whatever you've done and you just can't seem to get a step out of it, I just can't seem to loose that band, I can't seem to break that yoke, I can't seem to free myself from that oppression. You should consider fasting and prayer.
You ought to consider it. I mean from fasting of to do the old fashioned Bible way where, hey, I'm not going to, I'm going to fast for a day or I'm going to fast for two days. I'm not going to eat. I'm going to use the time that I would eat to pray and I'm going to focus on that. It might be that you need to, that resentment is bothering you and you need to fast some things. And may I say this, if something that somebody does or the success that they're having and every time you check it out on Facebook, it bothers you and gives you resentment. You need to fast Facebook. Are you all with me?
And don't think I'm against Facebook. That's not what I'm saying. I am saying that many times the very thing that is the source of contention, we continue to bring into our life.
And you know what? Maybe it means that you need to fast that. You need to get rid of that for a period of time because it is literally feeding the resentment that is there. It is keeping you in that jail, that oppression. It is constantly weighing down on you as a burden.
It literally has constricted you like bands of wickedness. And you and I need to consider that. He says these are the reasons to fast. Now, I want to follow out this passage and show you why it's important. Notice, we talked about the reasons to fast. Notice secondly, I want you to see the refreshment of freedom.
This is what God says when you fast and you pray and this fasting allows you to have a breakthrough where you do break those bands. Where you free the oppressed. Where you get out from under that heavy burden.
Where you literally break that yoke of resentment in your life. Look at this verse. Notice the difference when you're under resentment, when you're under oppression and notice when you have a breakthrough that only God can give. Notice this verse, look at verse eight.
Then shall thy light break forth as the morning. You know, listen, bitterness, resentment, all that stuff, it's darkness. It's lonely. It is not a happy place to be. None of you here that struggle with resentment enjoy it. It's just like this, an oppression, it's like a darkness.
And notice what he says, when you finally get victory over this, then shall thy light break forth in the morning. You know, sometimes you and I, we have this resentment, the person that caused this doesn't think one thing about us. You know, they're going on with life and their lack of compassion and care is probably what caused your resentment. It's like, and all of a sudden, may I say, if you and I aren't careful, we think, well, I need that person to change for me to get rid of this resentment. I resent this person because they didn't care, they didn't have compassion, they treated me like that, so we want them to change before we get rid of that resentment. Dear friend, why are you expecting someone to change when that's what they've always been? So it tells you right now, the problem's not them, they're never going to change.
They're not worth this. But what needs to change is I've got to get out from under this jail. I've got to get out from under this burden and it can't be done by me expecting them to change, you're going to wait the rest of your life. What has to be done is I've got to have a breakthrough with God. And notice what he says, thy light shall break forth as the morning, notice this, and thy health shall spring forth speedily.
Did you get this? Do you know that things like resentment and bitterness greatly affect our health? You know, oftentimes we're trying all kinds of things to fix and it's not even the problem. I've literally watched individuals that got victory over things. It looks like the weight of the world fell off them.
I've been at an altar with people and people making decisions, praying, heard a sermon, they're making a surrender to God. And it just, it's like they get breath again. It's like this heavy burden that they've been, he said, literally their light comes to your darkness and health comes out of your sickness. You know, when you struggle with resentment and bitterness, it affects you.
You don't feel like doing anything. Everywhere you go, they're there in your mind. Everything I do, no matter anything good in my life, I'm still going to have what they did to me facing me. And so it just restricts all happiness. It restricts things. You just can't get past it and all those things. And you know what? Literally it affects your health.
It eats away at you. He says here literally that thine health shall spring forth speedily. Notice this third, and thy righteousness shall go before thee and the glory of the Lord shall be thy re-reward. Re-reward. What does it mean? What does that mean? Re-reward. Well, I can give you the technical term and give you the technical explanation, but you probably wouldn't.
Let me just explain it in good old fashioned redneck terms, okay? God's glory was always your reward, but you need to be reminded of it. It is your re-reward. It always was, but you need to get victory over this so God's glory can be your reward again. What happens is in resentment, we think that the only reward would be is for God to get them back or for God to change them. And you and I have got to get past that in the Christian walk and realize our reward is for God to get the glory. Do you know, some of you, some of the things that we resent or the things that we have resentment about, God allowed in our life so that He could get the glory for it. Some of you might have something in the past and somebody's done you, a parent's done you wrong, whatever the case might be, and guess what?
You have a story now. You can get up in front of God's people or even individually with a person and you can say, well, listen, this is what happened to me. I mean, my dad never this, whatever. My mom never this, was never a mom to me or whatever the case was and treated me bad and struggled with this, whatever.
But can I tell you that was hard on me and it stole me for a loop, but guess what? God got the glory out of this thing and I'm here to tell you that even people that that happens to, God can do something in their life and God can get the victory and God can get the glory for it. And you know, you and I sometimes we are so self-consumed with what we're going through, we don't realize there is a purpose for everything that's even happened in our life.
God might not have caused it, but if God has allowed it, it's an opportunity for God to get glory out of this. Nothing will get rid of your resentment more than when you realize what I have been resenting was an opportunity for God to get glory for something in my life. I can sit up here and say, yeah, my dad did me wrong. Yeah, my dad, I don't even know him.
Yeah, my mom, she just did me wrong and treated me rotten. But guess what? God is greater than my mom and God is greater than my dad and God is greater than that person that physically abused me when I was young. God's greater than all that and God can still get the glory. And when God's glory becomes our greatest reward, resentment fades away. Somehow God got glory out of this. The refreshment of freedom. But he goes further. Number three, I want you to see the restoration of prayer.
Here's what I have found, Kerwin Baptist Church. It is hard to really struggle with resentment and stay really close to God. He says, I've chosen this fast to break these bands. To get the oppressed free. To get this yoke off of you to lift off that heavy burden.
And when you do. Notice what he says here in verse nine, then shalt thou call. And the Lord shall answer. Thou shalt cry and he shall say, here I am. You know, oftentimes you've not felt God and felt God answer. Because of resentment. It's amazing to me that when you allow yourself to be totally controlled and possessed by that, that it really hurts your prayer life.
Let me say this, I believe 100% for sure that you're struggling with what somebody has done to you or said about you, whatever the case, or just a circumstance in life. You can even resent God. And I mean good Christian people that sit in church resent God sometimes. But can I tell you this, oftentimes I'm saying we ought to go to God in prayer. He said in everything through prayer and supplication, let your requests be made known unto God. But look at me, if you're not careful, your entire prayer life will be consumed with that problem. Your whole prayer life to God has nothing to do with God. It has nothing to do with what his will is.
It has nothing to do with seeking his face. It is consumed with you talking to God about your issue. Now, do not think I'm saying that you shouldn't talk to God about that issue, but I am saying this, you should, but there's a whole lot more to talk to God about. Prayer is a lot more than you spending 24 hours a day complaining to him about what this person did to you. And I am sitting here saying that resentment can actually take up quality time with God. We become so obsessed with it that that's all we ever talk to him about. We actually sit down and say, I'm going to pray one night. We pray, we get three things out of our mind and we start right back on it. And you know what resentment turns into? You get somebody that's a close friend. They sit down, you can't talk two minutes and all of a sudden now you're talking about what that person did to you. He says, then thou shalt call and I'll answer.
I love that number four. He talks about the requirements for power. Now this is where we get specific.
I love this. Look at verse nine. He says, then thou shall call and the Lord shall answer. Thou shall cry. He'll say, here I am. Notice this. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger and speaking vanity. Notice here, he gives the requirements for power. He says, let me tell you something.
If you're going to call on God and he's going to answer and you really want to see God do something in your life. You've got to get rid of these three things. He says, first you got to get, you got to break that yoke.
That's why we chose this fast. You got to remove that yoke. Notice secondly, he says, you've got to remove the putting forth of the finger.
Now I did a little research on this. Can I tell you one of the easiest ways I can describe what this is? It's resentment. It's accusation. God says, listen, if you want me to start doing something for you, you've got to get past this constantly accusing others. This putting forth of the finger means literally pointing out the fault of others.
You know what resentment often can be? I just am constantly going to remind myself of what they did wrong. We all agree. They did wrong. All God's children agree.
They did wrong. But God says, if you want me to do something great in your life, you're going to have to remove that yoke. And you're going to have to remove from your life the putting forth of the finger.
Look at me. It means this. When somebody injures you and we get hurt and it can lead to resentment, if you and I are not careful, we will now be wired to watch for every wound any person inflicts on us. We walk around through life just waiting on somebody to hurt us.
And we're watching for it. I mean, we just walk around. A person can say something innocently and we're going to take it wrong.
Because literally the putting forth of the finger has become a lifestyle. And here's what I'm saying as your pastor. God says we can be free of that. You don't have to live your life like that.
You don't have to live your life every time you're turning around. It's this person, he did this wrong and they did this. And, you know, there's some people, I mean, you can't talk to them five minutes where it's not, but everybody in their life has done them wrong. It's narcissistic.
It's all about me. It's the putting forth of the finger. And here's the problem with the putting forth of the finger.
It never points back. You see, all of us, by the way, look at me. All of us have been done wrong by somebody. We've been hurt by somebody.
But can I give you a little bit of tidbit of information? We've all hurt somebody else. Whether we meant to or not. Now, we might not have gone to the level, and I'm not trying to downplay what might be a serious injury, a physical abuse, a sexual abuse.
I'm not talking about, I am talking about the fact that we treat people as if we are always the victim, they are always the perpetrators, and dear friend, you and I have done it too. And God says if you want me to do something great in your life, you're going to have to remove that yoke. You're going to have to remove that lifestyle, that state of mind that's always putting forth of the finger. And notice this third, he says, you're going to have to remove that speaking of vanity. Vanity in your life.
He says you're going to have to get rid of that. The stuff that doesn't matter. The stuff that's not really important. The stuff that we make big, but it's vain.
It's vanity. Anybody else a little bit convicted tonight? Anybody else? Am I teaching the Bible tonight, Colonel in Baptist Church? He says you're going to call and I'm going to answer.
You're going to scream. He says you're going to cry, and I'm going to say here I am. If you get rid of this yoke, you get rid of this putting forth of the finger, you get rid of this vain speaking. Notice he gives us here the rewards of victory. In verse 11, I want you to get this and we'll be done here in just a minute.
When you and I have a victory in our life, a breakthrough, and sometimes it's going to take fasting and prayer, and that's why I'm saying this might not be for everybody tonight, this thing of fasting on this particular subject, but I dare say in a room this size somebody probably needs to take steps to go to fasting and prayer to get past this resentment, to get over this bitterness. But here's what God says. Look at verse 11.
Notice the rewards of victory. First he says you will experience discernment. Look at verse 11. And the Lord shall guide thee continually. Do you remember the first Sunday night we talked about resentment, one of the things we showed from the Bible that resentment does, it takes away your ability to discern from right and wrong. God says you get rid of this.
Guess what? I will guide you continually. Resentment literally causes us to not be able to decipher God's guidance because we're so consumed. Remember what the New Testament says? Be not drunk with wine wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit.
You all remember that? See, the principle there is this, that, you know, if you fill yourself up with alcoholic beverage, it's going to take over. It's going to control you. And the Holy Spirit doesn't want anything else to control you in your life.
We can sit up here and we want to, hey, well, that's God. You shouldn't, you know, get drunk. Well, let me tell you something else. You shouldn't get so wrapped up in bitterness either. We want to treat somebody like, hey, you know, they drink. Let me tell you something. There's a whole lot more people that have caused a whole lot more damage by their attitude, by their bitterness.
Hello? That's why somebody asked me the other day, like I always joke here, are you preaching against smoking? I said no.
I really don't. I've never met a smoker that wanted to smoke. All of them wish they didn't smoke. But I'm going to tell you something.
Smoking doesn't hurt that body any more than sugar hurts mine. Let me tell you something. You and I, we like to pick our little things that we want to, listen, the whole point is you should have nothing in your life that controls you except the Holy Spirit of God. And resentment and bitterness can control you.
Notice what he says. The Lord shall guide thee continually. Notice secondly, not just a sermon, he says you're going to experience contentment. Look at verse 11. And satisfy thy soul in drought and make fat thy bones. That's all I'll say about that.
I'm already getting the looks. Satisfy thy soul in drought. Let me just show you, look at God's Word, make sure you see it. He didn't say satisfy your body. He says satisfy your soul. It means this, in the middle of drought, what's happening? The body can't get what it needs.
It's thirsty, it wants water. God says that even when you go through things in your life, even physically, God can still satisfy you spiritually. Look at me, please get this. When you're full of resentment, nothing makes you happy. When you're full of resentment, a hundred people could do a thousand things for you, but we can't really be happy because we're still resentful about what that person did. Are you with me? Am I right about that? It's like it don't matter what happens, that's still in the background. It's still the elephant in the room. And God says you break this yoke, you get past all this.
Guess what? He says your soul is going to be satisfied even in drought. I mean you still might have people do things and you still might be physically hurt by something somebody does or even emotionally hurt, but your soul can still be satisfied. Notice third, he says you're going to experience fruitfulness. I've never met a person full of resentment that was fruitful. Look at verse 11, and thou shalt be like a watered garden.
Do you get it? He didn't say just a garden, he said a watered garden. I've seen some gardens. Some of them need some watering. He said you should be like a watered garden.
Notice this, and like a spring of water whose waters fail not. Fruitful. What is a garden that's watered?
What does it do? It brings forth fruit. It grows. Listen, resentment can stunt our growth.
It literally can rip fruit from our life. A person that is full of resentment and they're always centered on that, they're not out bearing fruit. Whether we realize it or not, life has become about us instead of about others. He says listen, you break that yoke, get rid of that pointing of the finger, get rid of that vanity talking. And he said let me tell you something, you're going to understand and you will experience some wonderful things. You're going to understand now discernment. You're going to have satisfaction that you didn't have and you're going to have fruitfulness again in your life.
Notice last he says you're going to have intimacy. Look at verse 14. Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord. What's been going on here?
Look at me. When you and I really struggle with resentment, we can't find satisfaction just in the Lord because we're still bothered by a person. Isn't it a shame that we can't find satisfaction in the creator of the world because we're still bothered by one person's actions?
It means this, we've allowed somebody insignificant to rob us of a relationship with the most significant. He says notice, this has been missing. And then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord. You're going to actually enjoy the Lord now, enjoy church now, and enjoy God's Word now.
There'll be delight in your life. Thank you for listening today. We hope you received a blessing from our broadcast. The Kirtland Baptist Church is located at 4520 Old Hollow Road in Kernersville, North Carolina. You may also contact us by phone at 336-993-5192 or via the web at kirtlandbaptistchurch.com. Enjoy our services live and all our media on our website and church app. Thank you for listening to the Kerwin broadcast today. God bless you.
