Unknown
Well good morning everybody. Good morning. I definitely have to have my water today. I’ve been coughing and I don’t know whatever.

01:33:29:19 – 01:33:34:23
Unknown
All right. Thanks.

01:33:34:26 – 01:33:38:28
Unknown
Thank you. Rose.

01:33:39:00 – 01:33:44:24
Unknown
Yeah. Come on.

01:33:44:27 – 01:34:17:07
Unknown
Guys don’t really realize what it is like to lead worship, right? It is such an honor and a privilege. And we are so blessed to have so many incredible leaders who don’t just sing good, even though they do, but who know how to bring us into the presence of the Lord. Because that is the most important thing, and I never want to take it for granted.

01:34:17:07 – 01:34:39:18
Unknown
And I always want to celebrate what the Lord does and worship and I, I don’t actually, I didn’t have the same experience as Pastor Jonathan today in worship. I I’m fired up and I feel like the Lord’s preparing us for something today. And.

01:34:39:20 – 01:34:47:21
Unknown
And actually, I think it might come into play a little later.

01:34:47:24 – 01:35:14:10
Unknown
I preached last week who was here. I know it was a little bit of slimmer crowd. We had camp happening, but he did a phenomenal job. If you missed it, go back and listen to it. He is. He’s so good at just bringing the heart of God to the room and bringing us where God has us and and to honor where we are in the series and what the where the Lord’s bringing us in a whole.

01:35:14:10 – 01:35:43:20
Unknown
And so we’ve been in this series called unhindered, I stole, I stole Jeremy’s a graphics because it’s so awesome. I can’t do things like this. So I’m like, yeah, can I steal that? Jeremy, we’ve been in a series called unhindered for the last three weeks. Well, we had a little bit of a break and we’ve got about three more weeks to go, but we’ve been studying two prophetic words that were given to this House earlier this year.

01:35:43:20 – 01:36:01:08
Unknown
And for those that may not know, we we are very prophetic House, and we believe strongly in the prophetic voice. And we believe that God did not stop speaking in the book of acts. I’m just going to say it right now. He still speaks. He always has spoken, he still speaks, and he will continue to speak, and he speaks through his people.

01:36:01:08 – 01:36:20:21
Unknown
And we have what we call a community of prophets that we gather at the beginning or at the end of a year, usually, or at different points in time, to gather them, to pray into what God is doing in the next season or what God is doing in a specific thing. And and several words were released and we’ve released some in the house will release some more.

01:36:20:22 – 01:36:45:26
Unknown
Some were given to our leadership team for direction. And there was two given that with some instruction that there needed to be some teaching along with those words. And I read them three weeks ago and then we emailed them out, and I’m not going to read them all again because it’s long. I have a lot to cover today, but we are continuing to dive into these words that the Lord gave us.

01:36:45:26 – 01:37:20:18
Unknown
The heart of the series is that God is giving us warnings of things to come, but we are not trying to predict what’s going to happen next, but prepare ourselves for whatever might come by remaining unhindered in our relationship with God, unhindered in our relationship with God. That is the most important thing, because lots of stuff is going to happen in our lives personally, corporately, as church, as a nation, as a world.

01:37:20:18 – 01:37:46:29
Unknown
But we have to remain unhindered in our relationship with him. It is the key in our lives. It is the key in our spiritual life. You see, God wants a people who remain unhindered in their relationship with him and in the flow of his life through them.

01:37:47:01 – 01:38:02:05
Unknown
Over the first three weeks, we looked at what happens when faith is challenged. We talked about circumstances that challenge what we know about God.

01:38:02:07 – 01:38:34:23
Unknown
How we are not supposed to interpret our circumstances apart from God’s presence. We’ve talked about struggle and how that can affect our trust in God and how we cannot interpret God apart from God’s character. We can’t interpret him by the things that are going on around us. And Jeremiah talked last week about enduring faith when understanding is not there.

01:38:34:25 – 01:38:43:12
Unknown
Jeremiah asked us a question last week. He said, what word are you standing on?

01:38:43:14 – 01:39:16:12
Unknown
What word are you standing on? And the answer he gave is that the answer to the season of pressure is not generated endurance. It’s not a self-generated endurance. The answer is continual dependance on God’s grace, dependance on God’s power, and the leading of the Holy Spirit.

01:39:16:14 – 01:39:48:00
Unknown
And this connects us directly to where we are today. I reminded us that the answer is continual dependance on God’s grace. Pastor David prophesied it today. His power, his leading. And that raises a question today that if God’s life is meant to flow in us today, we’re going to talk about what hinders the flow.

01:39:48:03 – 01:39:52:28
Unknown
What hinders the flow.

01:39:53:00 – 01:40:29:04
Unknown
So I want to read some of the prophecy. One of the prophecies that we’re going to talk about today, the first part of it that warns us, brings us some warning to what is happening. What is to come says, for so long bitterness, resentment, fear, depression and anxiety have been building up within the church.

01:40:29:06 – 01:40:43:17
Unknown
Clogging the pathways for the transformative, life giving, healing blood of Jesus to flow into the heart of the body of God’s people.

01:40:43:19 – 01:41:22:26
Unknown
I’m going to just read that part again for so long. Bitterness, resentment, fear, depression, and anxiety have been building up within the church, clogging the pathways for the transformative, life giving, healing blood of Jesus to flow into the heart of the body of Christ. God is shaking his church awake. The master surgeon is coming to remove what was clogged, remove what has clogged the flow of Jesus’s blood.

01:41:23:00 – 01:41:34:13
Unknown
But this is not something he’s doing alone. It is something he’s inviting us to do with him.

01:41:34:15 – 01:41:41:09
Unknown
So, Lord, we just thank you today for your word.

01:41:41:11 – 01:41:50:24
Unknown
Lord, we just pray that you would open our hearts, open our ears and our eyes.

01:41:50:27 – 01:41:56:29
Unknown
To see where you are taking us today.

01:41:57:01 – 01:42:10:26
Unknown
Lord, I pray that today my words would be your words and not my own, that you would speak your heart to the people of God here and now.

01:42:10:28 – 01:42:28:28
Unknown
That your love would flow, that your grace would about, and that your freedom would reign here in this place today. Amen. Amen.

01:42:29:00 – 01:42:38:25
Unknown
So this is where we’re going to begin today. We’re going to talk about this part of the prophecy.

01:42:38:28 – 01:43:06:28
Unknown
We’ve been talking a lot about in the last three weeks, the things on the outside, the things that come against us, the pressures that surround us and press against us. But now we are shifting in the Lord in these prophetic words, is shifting to the places on the inside of us.

01:43:07:00 – 01:43:22:23
Unknown
That we need to be aware of. So it’s not just what happens around us, but what is being formed within us.

01:43:22:25 – 01:43:52:25
Unknown
This prophecy uses language of building up and clogging the pathways that shift our focus from what happened around us, so we can begin to focus on what is happening and forming within us. So the first point that we’re going to talk about today is that pressure around us can become blockage within us.

01:43:52:28 – 01:44:15:02
Unknown
Pressure around us can become blockage within us. This is not just about whether we can endure external pressure. It’s about whether our hearts can remain open and surrendered and unhindered while we are under pressure.

01:44:15:04 – 01:44:36:07
Unknown
The prophecy names specific things and names, bitterness and resentment and fear and depression and anxiety. These aren’t necessarily external circumstances, you guys, but they’re internal conditions because of external circumstances.

01:44:36:10 – 01:44:44:20
Unknown
They are internal conditions that begin to shape our heart.

01:44:44:23 – 01:44:57:05
Unknown
See, blockages don’t usually form all at once, right? They’re built slowly.

01:44:57:08 – 01:45:07:04
Unknown
They settle quietly. They accumulate tiny bits over time.

01:45:07:06 – 01:45:28:13
Unknown
And this is why it makes it so hard to miss. Because it doesn’t necessarily really feel like we’re resisting God. It it doesn’t feel like we’re pulling away from God.

01:45:28:15 – 01:45:33:19
Unknown
We’re surviving.

01:45:33:21 – 01:45:38:02
Unknown
Come on.

01:45:38:04 – 01:45:43:04
Unknown
Or being responsible.

01:45:43:06 – 01:45:47:28
Unknown
Maybe we’re living with some disappointments.

01:45:48:00 – 01:45:56:16
Unknown
We’re just trying to keep one foot in front of the other and move forward.

01:45:56:18 – 01:46:04:06
Unknown
It’s not obvious, least for me.

01:46:04:08 – 01:46:33:23
Unknown
This can happen when someone hurts us, scares us, disappoints us, confuses us, offends us, and we keep carrying it instead of bringing it honestly before the Lord. That wasn’t that big of a deal. I’m not going to bring it up. It’s fine. Just move on.

01:46:33:25 – 01:47:10:23
Unknown
But when we refuse to identify it, deal with it. Bring it before the Lord. Honestly. Little remnants get left behind. Little things. It may not be all of it, but we’ve left crumbs behind us. We haven’t cleaned it all up. And it begins to build. And it begins to build. And it begins to build.

01:47:10:25 – 01:47:26:27
Unknown
I know how easy it is to keep functioning, to keep doing what needs to be done, and not realize that something has settled in my heart.

01:47:27:00 – 01:47:59:04
Unknown
I’ve walked way too many months, years with unsettled things and my heart, sometimes not even realizing what it’s doing, how it’s slowing me down, how it’s affecting my breath, how it’s affecting how I live my life, what I can do with my life. What I can’t do with my life.

01:47:59:06 – 01:48:08:20
Unknown
Hear me. What we continually surrender to God. He can transform.

01:48:08:22 – 01:48:17:02
Unknown
But what remains unknown, rendered becomes a blockage.

01:48:17:04 – 01:48:24:06
Unknown
If we get nothing else today, we need to get this.

01:48:24:09 – 01:48:52:01
Unknown
God is warning us as a people that there are things that we have unknowingly allowed to build up in our lives and not be fully surrendered to him. And he is such a good and gracious God to say, hey guys, I need you to hear this because you have so much to do. I can’t have you slowed down.

01:48:52:03 – 01:49:02:00
Unknown
I’ve got so much for you to accomplish. I can’t have you huffing and puffing up the stairs.

01:49:02:03 – 01:49:15:19
Unknown
Will you bring me the things? Even some of the littlest things that have gone on surrendered.

01:49:15:22 – 01:49:39:01
Unknown
Or they will block the flow of my anointing. They will block the flow of life that God wants to pour through you. And you know what? When God pours life through you, healing happens in you and then out of you.

01:49:39:03 – 01:49:45:09
Unknown
We reap and we show it.

01:49:45:11 – 01:49:55:12
Unknown
God is bringing us to a place of surrender today.

01:49:55:14 – 01:50:23:00
Unknown
Just like we’ve talked about over the weeks. This doesn’t necessarily mean that every question gets answered. It doesn’t mean that every wound stops hurting. Hear me? This is not about stopping pain necessarily. This is bringing it in surrender to Christ. It doesn’t mean that every situation gets resolved, maybe ever.

01:50:23:03 – 01:50:52:04
Unknown
But what we keep bringing to God stays in the place of his grace and his truth and his presence. And that’s where life can touch it. That’s where his life can touch it. Because we stay open to the flow of life in our lives. You see, when we stop bringing things to him, they can settle.

01:50:52:07 – 01:51:13:22
Unknown
And that settling affects everything. It affects how we see God. It affects how we see ourselves, how we see others, how we look at the future.

01:51:13:24 – 01:51:31:28
Unknown
We are not only asking what pressures might come, we are asking what could hinder the flow of God’s life in us while we walk through the pressures?

01:51:32:01 – 01:51:40:24
Unknown
This question becomes personal. What have I stopped bringing before the Lord?

01:51:40:27 – 01:51:52:23
Unknown
What of what has begun to settle inside of me? What has started shaping me apart from my relationship with him?

01:51:52:25 – 01:52:17:20
Unknown
Because these things don’t just sit quietly, you guys. They affect everything. Proverbs 423 says, guard your heart above all else. This is what it’s talking about. You guys guard your heart above all else because it determines the course of your life.

01:52:17:22 – 01:52:40:21
Unknown
John seven says, anyone who is thirsty may come to me. Anyone who believes in me may come and drink. For the Scripture declares, rivers of living water will flow from his heart. And he said, living waters. He spoke of the Spirit of God.

01:52:40:24 – 01:53:07:10
Unknown
See if the Spirit’s life is meant to flow from the heart, then what settles in the heart matters. Being unhindered does not mean we don’t experience pain or disappointment. Unhindered means that the pain is still being brought into relationship with God.

01:53:07:12 – 01:53:23:18
Unknown
So if blockage is formed when things stop being brought to God, then we need to look at the first blockage that the prophecy names bitterness.

01:53:23:20 – 01:54:03:29
Unknown
You see, bitterness is often where blockages begin. It’s the first thing that’s prophetic word names. And that is significant. He doesn’t name. Fear first. Doesn’t name first doesn’t name. Depression first. It names bitterness because bitterness is often where it begins. It may not be the loudest issue, but like a root, it sits beneath the surface and affects everything growing above it.

01:54:04:01 – 01:54:37:12
Unknown
Hebrews 1214 and 15 says, work at living in peace with everyone, and work at living a holy life. For those who are not holy will see the Lord look after each other so that none of you fails to receive the grace of God. Watch out that no poisonous root of bitterness grows up to trouble you, corrupting many.

01:54:37:14 – 01:54:55:10
Unknown
Watch out that no poisonous root of bitterness grows up within you, corrupting many weight. But this is only my own root. It’s my life.

01:54:55:13 – 01:55:30:07
Unknown
I have every right to be offended. I have every right to be angry. You may have every right to be angry and offended, but if you want to walk in the flow of the Holy Spirit, if you want to walk in the anointing of the Holy Spirit, if you want to walk in the life of the Holy Spirit, then no root of bitterness can have a place because it does not just affect you, it affects the flow into the body of Christ.

01:55:30:09 – 01:55:34:29
Unknown
Period.

01:55:35:02 – 01:55:53:15
Unknown
A root groan is hidden before it ever produces visible fruit. Bitterness is something that we can hide well for a while.

01:55:53:17 – 01:56:01:21
Unknown
But let me tell you, it does grow fruit.

01:56:01:24 – 01:56:30:09
Unknown
Scripture I want to be careful when I talk to talk about bitterness, because in the Scripture it doesn’t treat the word bitter. In the Old Testament is a lot, a lot of times just translated. It just means pain. And it doesn’t necessarily treat pain itself as the problem. So hear me. Hannah was bitter of soul, it said. Naomi called herself Mara because her life had become bitter.

01:56:30:09 – 01:57:03:27
Unknown
Job speaks out of anguish. The issue is not simply that someone feels pain or grief or disappointment or sorrow, but bitterness becomes something. When we are want that we are warned to put away. Because it really means. I love this definition in the pocket lexicon of the Greek New Testament says, bitterness is an embittered, resentful spirit which refuses reconciliation.

01:57:03:29 – 01:57:15:00
Unknown
Bitterness is not pain. Bitterness refuses reconciliation.

01:57:15:02 – 01:57:27:02
Unknown
And Paul tells us to put it away. Ephesians four says, get rid of all bitterness.

01:57:27:05 – 01:58:00:24
Unknown
Get rid of bitterness and rage and anger, harsh words and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior. Instead, be kind to each other, tender Harding, forgiving one another as God through Christ has forgiven you. Bitterness is not just pain. Bitterness is what pain can become and surrendered.

01:58:00:26 – 01:58:13:15
Unknown
It’s important because bitterness is not only what we feel, it is where the heart stop moving.

01:58:13:18 – 01:58:26:29
Unknown
It refuses reconciliation. It stops moving towards healing. It stops moving towards trust.

01:58:27:02 – 01:58:44:11
Unknown
Bitterness becomes a blockage because. Not because we’re hurt, but because the hurt settles in us and resists the movement of God.

01:58:44:13 – 01:59:12:07
Unknown
Naomi gives us an interesting picture of this in the book of Ruth, and her story begins in famine. And Naomi and her husband, they leave Bethlehem and they move to Moab. And there they brought their sons, and their sons married, and the land of Moab. And while they were there, Mi’s husband dies, and and both of her sons die.

01:59:12:10 – 01:59:41:24
Unknown
And then she decides to return home, and and Ruth goes with her. But she’s carrying grief and loss and disappointment. And when Naomi speaks, you you hear her pain. And her pain is real. She’s not just being dramatic, her pain is real. And and Ruth one verse 20, it says, this is Naomi says, don’t call me Naomi. She responded, when she got back into the land of Israel, she said.

01:59:41:26 – 02:00:03:13
Unknown
Instead, call me Mara. For the Almighty has made life very bitter for me. I went away full, but the Lord has brought me home empty. Why call me Naomi when the Lord has caused me to suffer, and the Almighty has sent such tragedy upon me.

02:00:03:15 – 02:00:22:18
Unknown
See, Naomi, he’s honest about her pain here. But notice something that begins to happen. She let her pain name her.

02:00:22:21 – 02:00:27:27
Unknown
She let her pain interpret God.

02:00:27:29 – 02:00:33:06
Unknown
And she let her pain tell her story.

02:00:33:09 – 02:00:45:06
Unknown
She said I went away full. I had everything when I left here. That actually wasn’t true. There was famine. They had nothing.

02:00:45:08 – 02:00:53:26
Unknown
But pain began to reshape her reality of what she once had.

02:00:53:28 – 02:01:07:23
Unknown
She said, the Lord’s brought me back empty. But no. Ruth stayed with her and took care of her and followed her.

02:01:07:26 – 02:01:18:08
Unknown
See, Naomi wasn’t wrong about her pain, but pain became the loudest voice.

02:01:18:11 – 02:01:39:07
Unknown
And that loudest voice began to tell her story. This is what bitterness does. It doesn’t lie about the wound. It begins telling the story without redemption.

02:01:39:09 – 02:01:55:19
Unknown
You see, Naomi. Brought Ruth, and Ruth met Boaz and the redemption. She was a grandmother of David.

02:01:55:22 – 02:02:04:14
Unknown
The seed that Jesus would come from the Redeemer would appear.

02:02:04:17 – 02:02:09:26
Unknown
She stopped in the middle of her story.

02:02:09:28 – 02:02:18:14
Unknown
It’s over. But God has redemption in our story.

02:02:18:16 – 02:02:48:19
Unknown
Bitterness hinders the flow because it does not stay contained. We saw it with Naomi. It begins affecting every relationship a relationship with God, a relationship with people, relationship with our own story, relationship with our future, or what we think of the lack of our future might be. You see, God is not asking us to pretend that we have never been hurt.

02:02:48:22 – 02:03:01:04
Unknown
Hear me? We are not ignoring pain. He is inviting us to bring hurt and to relationship so it doesn’t become a blockage.

02:03:01:07 – 02:03:16:18
Unknown
I’m going to say it again what? We continually surrender to God. He can transform what remains and surrendered can become a blockage.

02:03:16:20 – 02:03:21:19
Unknown
Now one of the ways bitterness keeps growing.

02:03:21:21 – 02:03:32:06
Unknown
Is through what we continue to rehearse.

02:03:32:08 – 02:03:42:18
Unknown
What rehearse? What we rehearse begins to shape us.

02:03:42:21 – 02:03:48:06
Unknown
Do you know that memory is not a bad thing?

02:03:48:09 – 02:03:54:17
Unknown
Scriptures don’t call us to pretend things didn’t happen.

02:03:54:19 – 02:04:38:12
Unknown
But the way we remember matters. Remembering isn’t simply replaying a recording. When we recall a memory in acts, we are actually reconstructing it scientifically. They know now that when we recall a memory, it is not like a video being played in our mind. We are actively reconstructing it. Okay. Memory becomes active again in its shaped by present emotions, present beliefs and meaning before it’s stored at once again.

02:04:38:14 – 02:05:13:19
Unknown
Research has supports this. Cognitive psychology. Psychologists Elizabeth Loftus. Her research showed that the way a memory is framed can influence how people recall it. In the study, Loftus and Palmer people watched the same car accident but later remembered it differently. On whether the question that was asked of them use the word hit or smashed.

02:05:13:22 – 02:05:28:27
Unknown
If the people watching it were asked a question about the car being smashed, they remembered glass and all sorts of things that wasn’t actually even there.

02:05:29:00 – 02:05:39:01
Unknown
Psychologist Susan Helen studied. You can look this up later because I don’t know how to say any of these names.

02:05:39:03 – 02:06:13:12
Unknown
She says. And many others have studied the concept of rumination. Rumination is the pattern of returning again and again to painful or distressing thoughts or experiences. Her research found that rumination does not move people towards healing or resolution. Instead, it can deepen depression, increase negative thinking, and make healthy action harder.

02:06:13:14 – 02:06:42:29
Unknown
The point here is that not that memories are unreliable or worthless, but the point is that the way something is framed, the way something is rehearsed, interpreted, can begin to shape how we continue to carry it and the power that it has in our lives. In other words, continually and replaying pain does not necessarily resolve pain. Sometimes it strengthens the grip that pain has on our interpretation of life.

02:06:43:01 – 02:07:14:10
Unknown
The early church fathers had language for this long before our modern psychology did. Maximus the Confessor wrote about what has often been called the remembrance of wrongs. And that phrase matters because bitterness is not only about what happened once, it’s about how we continue to rehearse it. Maximus connects love for God with freedom from the things that twist the soul and keep old wounds alive.

02:07:14:12 – 02:07:48:23
Unknown
Okay, when we continue to revisit a wound through resentment, accusation. Fear, despair. The wound does not stay in the past. It stays in the present. It begins living again. It affects how we see people. It affects our seasons. It even affects God. And how we see God. See bitterness, resentment, fear, depression, anxiety do not usually appear out of nowhere.

02:07:48:24 – 02:08:02:26
Unknown
They can build. When we keep rehearsing. Pain without surrender, without grace, without letting God speak into the story.

02:08:02:29 – 02:08:33:29
Unknown
Bitterness is not simply remembering what happened. It’s remembering it without redemption. Scripture teaches us to remember rightly. Naomi remembered through loss only. But we see Joseph he remembered through Providence. In Genesis 50 it says, you intended me harm, but God intended it all for good. He brought me to this position so I could save the lives of many.

02:08:34:01 – 02:09:06:17
Unknown
Communion teaches us to remember through Christ. Christianity is a faith of rightly ordered remembrances. Rose testified about it this morning. If you weren’t here at the beginning of service, go back and listen to her testimony. She said the unknown is not scary. When we have a known God. We must remember through the lens of a known God. Remember the things that God has done and live from that place.

02:09:06:17 – 02:09:24:01
Unknown
We choose one of my favorite teachings when I was a kid, I think it was camp and it was Cathy de Mattei, and she had a magnifying glass and she said, we choose what we make big.

02:09:24:03 – 02:09:36:23
Unknown
We can magnify the Lord, we can make big him or we can make big the pain.

02:09:36:26 – 02:09:48:29
Unknown
It’s not that it’s not there, but we choose what we make big.

02:09:49:01 – 02:10:00:17
Unknown
We do not deny the wound, but we refuse to let the wound become the whole story.

02:10:00:19 – 02:10:18:14
Unknown
The prophecy names other things that build up in our hearts and restrict God’s flow. It’s more than just bitterness, but it’s anything that stays un surrendered.

02:10:18:16 – 02:10:28:28
Unknown
But here’s the deal. We can decide that the blockage does not get the final word.

02:10:29:00 – 02:10:39:10
Unknown
We can decide that the blockage does not get the final word.

02:10:39:12 – 02:10:45:23
Unknown
The prophecy continues with more warnings.

02:10:45:25 – 02:11:05:17
Unknown
Says there is coming like arrows in the night. The things that I’ve mentioned. Bitterness and resentment, depression, anxiety and fear. And they come with this purpose to isolate and devour.

02:11:05:20 – 02:11:21:19
Unknown
You see, isolation works by convincing us to wait. To wait until we understand, to wait until we’re over it.

02:11:21:22 – 02:11:43:09
Unknown
To wait until the questions are answered, to wait until we feel okay again. But God doesn’t wait until everything is resolved to invite us back to him. He invites us back into relationship even when we’re carrying unanswered things.

02:11:43:11 – 02:11:57:28
Unknown
It’s a peace does not wait for every question to be answered. God offers peace through relationship.

02:11:58:00 – 02:12:16:11
Unknown
I’m going to say it again. Peace does not wait for every question to be answered. God offers peace through relationship.

02:12:16:14 – 02:12:35:16
Unknown
Do not fear this time, my people. Be prepared for it by establishing yourself in a relationship with me. Jaden, can I get you to come to the piano?

02:12:35:18 – 02:12:48:27
Unknown
See, God’s not asking us to pretend that things haven’t happened. He’s not asking us to pretend that wounds aren’t there.

02:12:49:00 – 02:12:58:05
Unknown
Disappointment isn’t there. Loss isn’t there. Fear isn’t there. The questions don’t happen.

02:12:58:08 – 02:13:09:04
Unknown
But he’s inviting us to keep bringing those things into relationship with him so that they don’t become the final word.

02:13:09:06 – 02:13:31:08
Unknown
See John 20, verse 27. Jesus says, and he said to Thomas, put your finger here and look at my hands. Put your hand in the wound in my side. Don’t be faithless. Believe.

02:13:31:10 – 02:13:40:04
Unknown
You see, Jesus still bore the scars of the wounds that he suffered.

02:13:40:07 – 02:13:47:15
Unknown
The wounds weren’t erased. You guys.

02:13:47:17 – 02:13:53:17
Unknown
But their meaning is transformed.

02:13:53:19 – 02:14:06:01
Unknown
So often we think, oh, I just wish this hadn’t happened. I wish I didn’t have to go through this. Why do I have to go through that?

02:14:06:03 – 02:14:22:09
Unknown
And I remember even one day saying those exact words to my husband. And we had been married like two years or something. And he said, but why would you wish that it’s made you who you are?

02:14:22:11 – 02:14:47:20
Unknown
You see how we view the things that we go through, how we respond to the things on the outside and the pressures and how our heart responds to them, will determine the course of our lives.

02:14:47:23 – 02:15:16:26
Unknown
You see Jesus, his wounds in his hands and in his side. They didn’t speak of defeat at that moment. They testified of redemption and resurrection. So why are we afraid of our scars and our wounds? Why are we afraid to expose them to the body of Christ and say, look what God has done.

02:15:16:29 – 02:15:25:02
Unknown
Look at the redemption of my father. And yeah.

02:15:25:05 – 02:15:31:25
Unknown
Jesus walked through hell. Literal hell.

02:15:31:27 – 02:15:45:12
Unknown
And sometimes it feels like we are walking through hell. That we are walking through the valley of the shadow of death.

02:15:45:15 – 02:15:51:04
Unknown
But he is with us.

02:15:51:06 – 02:16:05:07
Unknown
And we choose whether we take that pain. And we surrender it to God and say, I don’t know why I have to go through it, but I know you.

02:16:05:09 – 02:16:10:06
Unknown
I trust a known God.

02:16:10:08 – 02:16:15:07
Unknown
Or we can allow it to become bitter.

02:16:15:09 – 02:16:25:18
Unknown
We can allow fear to shape our lives.

02:16:25:21 – 02:16:34:22
Unknown
God is not after denial. God is not after pretending.

02:16:34:24 – 02:16:39:05
Unknown
He’s not minimizing what happens.

02:16:39:07 – 02:16:56:23
Unknown
But an unhindered heart keeps coming back to relationship with him.

02:16:56:26 – 02:17:05:24
Unknown
Naomi’s story wasn’t over. Joseph’s story wasn’t over when he was betrayed.

02:17:05:27 – 02:17:13:23
Unknown
Jesus wounds weren’t erased.

02:17:13:25 – 02:17:21:11
Unknown
But they bring transformation.

02:17:21:13 – 02:17:32:27
Unknown
Someone needs to hear this. Your story is not over.

02:17:33:00 – 02:17:47:22
Unknown
Your story is not over.

02:17:47:24 – 02:17:58:14
Unknown
So today we’re asking again. What hinders the flow? Hinders the flow of life.

02:17:58:17 – 02:18:12:02
Unknown
Of love, of healing, of restoration, of deliverance.

02:18:12:04 – 02:18:17:04
Unknown
I don’t want to rush this. I know it’s 12:00.

02:18:17:07 – 02:18:21:19
Unknown
Because.

02:18:21:21 – 02:18:33:23
Unknown
This is, I think, one of those messages that’s maybe easy to understand generally, but that the Lord’s asking us to make personal.

02:18:33:25 – 02:18:47:21
Unknown
And I think there’s an invitation today.

02:18:47:24 – 02:18:58:11
Unknown
There’s an invitation.

02:18:58:14 – 02:19:09:20
Unknown
To ask the Lord. Honestly, what have I stopped bringing to you?

02:19:09:22 – 02:19:25:03
Unknown
What pain, what disappointment, what fear? What anxiety, what grief has begun to settle in me?

02:19:25:06 – 02:19:39:01
Unknown
Where have I begin to protect myself. Stead of letting you in.

02:19:39:03 – 02:19:52:03
Unknown
We all witnessed how serious it was when a blocked heart stops.

02:19:52:05 – 02:20:29:05
Unknown
Right here. And I believe God is speaking to us personally and directly, so that we can understand the seriousness of what can happen spiritually if we do not allow him in to those places. Because the beautiful thing about God is when we bring it to him and we surrender. He is like that master surgeon that comes in and removes every place of blockage, because he is here to bring deliverance and freedom.

02:20:29:12 – 02:20:57:05
Unknown
He does not want us to stay in a place that we have been. He wants to bring us to a place of relationship and surrender with him where he says, you may not have it all figured out, but will you trust the one who does?

02:20:57:08 – 02:21:02:20
Unknown
So I want to give us a few minutes.

02:21:02:22 – 02:21:08:14
Unknown
If you need to go. It’s okay. Really? It’s okay.

02:21:08:16 – 02:21:16:06
Unknown
But I want to give us a few minutes to really be honest with ourselves in the Lord.

02:21:16:09 – 02:21:27:15
Unknown
The front is open. Your stay in your seats, wherever. It doesn’t matter. Because this isn’t about shame. This is about relationship.

02:21:27:18 – 02:21:50:28
Unknown
And he is asking us, will we bring it back to the feet of Jesus, where his love is enough and his sacrifice is enough? And he has a story that is yet to be written.

02:21:51:00 – 02:22:16:14
Unknown
Will you bring it to him? Will you bring it to him? Lord, show me today what has been settling in me. Help me bring it back into relationship with you.

02:22:16:16 – 02:22:23:09
Unknown
Because you are good. You are good.