Drop It

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This is not an 0:00:27.320 --> 0:00:29.080 offer to buy your self securities or is it investment, 0:00:29.160 --> 0:00:30.080 legal or tax advice. 0:00:30.760 --> 0:00:33.960 You're ready for a comeback, and with Purdue Global you 0:00:34.000 --> 0:00:37.200 can do more than take classes. You can take charge 0:00:37.520 --> 0:00:41.520 of your story, of your career, of your life, Earn 0:00:41.560 --> 0:00:43.559 a degree you can be proud of, and get an 0:00:43.680 --> 0:00:48.559 education employer's respect. 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Download the uns stap and use the 0:01:18.800 --> 0:01:20.840 code I heeart fifty at sign up to receive a 0:01:20.880 --> 0:01:23.400 fifty dollars bonus when you find your account. That's code 0:01:23.400 --> 0:01:26.400 iHeart fifty when you sign up at unest dot co 0:01:26.760 --> 0:01:29.319 for a fifty dollars bonus. See terms and conditions at 0:01:29.440 --> 0:01:30.120 UNEs dot co. 0:01:32.920 --> 0:01:35.640 Hi, this is Joel and Victoria. Thanks for listening to 0:01:35.680 --> 0:01:38.440 our podcast and thanks for supporting the ministry. 0:01:38.560 --> 0:01:40.920 If you enjoy today's message, why don't you be a 0:01:40.959 --> 0:01:42.480 blessing and share it with a friend. 0:01:42.800 --> 0:01:45.520 We appreciate you and pray for God's very best in 0:01:45.600 --> 0:01:49.680 your life. Well, God bless you. It's a joy to 0:01:49.760 --> 0:01:52.440 come into your homes and for ever in our area. 0:01:52.720 --> 0:01:54.720 Please stop by and be a part of one of 0:01:54.760 --> 0:01:57.560 our services. I promise you we'll make you feel right 0:01:57.600 --> 0:01:59.960 at home. But thanks so much for tuning in, and 0:02:00.120 --> 0:02:02.640 thank you again for coming out today. I like to 0:02:02.640 --> 0:02:05.480 start with something funny and I heard about this lady 0:02:05.840 --> 0:02:09.359 She's surprised a burglar in her kitchen late one night, 0:02:09.480 --> 0:02:12.800 and she was home alone, didn't have any weapon, didn't 0:02:12.800 --> 0:02:15.240 know what she'd do, and finally she thought, I'll just 0:02:15.280 --> 0:02:19.560 say a scripture verse. She shouted out acts two thirty eight. 0:02:20.280 --> 0:02:23.440 The burglar suddenly froze in his tracks, wouldn't move, and 0:02:23.840 --> 0:02:26.800 soon the police arrived, and they were amazed that a 0:02:26.840 --> 0:02:29.720 woman with no weapon could do this. They said to 0:02:29.760 --> 0:02:32.520 the burglar, what was it about that scripture that had 0:02:32.600 --> 0:02:36.120 such an effect on you? He said, scripture? What scripture? 0:02:36.400 --> 0:02:38.760 I thought? She said, she had an axe in two 0:02:38.760 --> 0:02:42.679 thirty eights. Hold your bible up, say it like you 0:02:42.800 --> 0:02:45.600 mean it. This is my Bible. I am what it 0:02:45.600 --> 0:02:47.960 says I am. I have what it says I have. 0:02:48.520 --> 0:02:51.160 I can do what it says I can do. Today 0:02:51.280 --> 0:02:54.560 I will be taught the word of God. I boldly confess. 0:02:55.000 --> 0:02:58.359 My mind is alert, my heart is receptive. I will 0:02:58.400 --> 0:03:02.040 never be the same and she Jesus' name, God bless you. 0:03:03.440 --> 0:03:05.880 I want to talk to you today about drop it. 0:03:06.840 --> 0:03:10.480 We all have had negative things happen to us. People 0:03:10.520 --> 0:03:13.919 did us wrong, the company laid us off. A clerk 0:03:14.120 --> 0:03:17.040 was rude to us. It's easy to go through life 0:03:17.120 --> 0:03:23.280 offended in self pity, blaming others, blaming ourselves, even blaming God. 0:03:24.120 --> 0:03:29.000 And because we're always looking back reliving the negative, we 0:03:29.240 --> 0:03:32.680 end up carrying around all this baggage that weighs us down. 0:03:33.639 --> 0:03:35.600 One of the best things we can learn to do 0:03:36.320 --> 0:03:40.080 is drop it. Let it go, whether it happened twenty 0:03:40.160 --> 0:03:44.880 years ago or twenty minutes ago. Don't carry negative baggage 0:03:44.920 --> 0:03:50.400 from yesterday into today. You won't live a victorious life 0:03:50.440 --> 0:03:54.520 if you're always reliving what didn't work out, who hurt you, 0:03:55.000 --> 0:03:58.640 the mistakes you've made. The reason it's called the past 0:03:59.040 --> 0:04:03.000 is because it's over, it's done, it's history. Now do 0:04:03.120 --> 0:04:07.000 your part and let it go. Well, Joel, they betrayed me, 0:04:07.520 --> 0:04:10.280 they walked away, broke my heart. That's why I'm bitter, 0:04:10.520 --> 0:04:14.080 That's why I'm upset. Well, they hurt you once, don't 0:04:14.160 --> 0:04:18.160 let them continue to hurt you by always thinking about it. 0:04:18.200 --> 0:04:20.800 As long as you're dwelling on that, it's going to 0:04:20.880 --> 0:04:23.440 keep you from the new things God wants to do. 0:04:24.240 --> 0:04:27.080 God said he would give you beauty for those ashes. 0:04:27.640 --> 0:04:30.480 He said he would pay you back for that injustice. 0:04:31.000 --> 0:04:34.560 But you have to drop the hurt Quit dwelling on it, 0:04:35.000 --> 0:04:39.359 quit reliving it. Move forward. There is a new beginning 0:04:39.520 --> 0:04:42.800 in front of you, but God will not release new 0:04:42.800 --> 0:04:46.600 opportunities as long as we're holding on to old hurts, 0:04:46.960 --> 0:04:50.520 old failures. You may have a lot of negative things 0:04:50.520 --> 0:04:53.880 in your past. You had a rough childhood, you lost 0:04:53.920 --> 0:04:57.440 a loved one, your business didn't make it. You could 0:04:57.480 --> 0:05:00.880 easily go around with a chip on your shoulder, not 0:05:00.920 --> 0:05:06.599 trusting anybody, bitter, resentful. But everything you've gone through has 0:05:06.640 --> 0:05:11.440 deposited something on the inside. You're not defined by your past. 0:05:11.760 --> 0:05:15.160 You're prepared by your past. You may not realize it, 0:05:15.279 --> 0:05:19.800 but you came out stronger, with more confidence, greater experience. 0:05:20.480 --> 0:05:23.960 If that hadn't have happened, you wouldn't be prepared for 0:05:24.040 --> 0:05:27.240 the new levels that are coming your way. Don't have 0:05:27.320 --> 0:05:29.880 that poor O me, look what I've been through attitude. 0:05:30.520 --> 0:05:33.440 I've heard it said. You can be pitiful or you 0:05:33.480 --> 0:05:37.440 can be powerful, but you cannot be both. You may 0:05:37.440 --> 0:05:39.520 have made a lot of mistakes. You have a lot 0:05:39.520 --> 0:05:43.680 of regrets. You blew your marriage, didn't raise your children right. 0:05:44.440 --> 0:05:49.600 She can't do anything about yesterday. Living guilty and condemned 0:05:49.920 --> 0:05:52.880 doesn't make it any better. You have to drop it. 0:05:53.480 --> 0:05:56.720 If you'll get rid of that negative baggage, you'll not 0:05:56.800 --> 0:06:00.320 only feel that heaviness release off of you, but then 0:06:00.360 --> 0:06:02.880 you'll step in to the new things that God has 0:06:02.920 --> 0:06:06.839 in store. The scripture says where the spirit of the 0:06:06.880 --> 0:06:11.159 Lord is, there is freedom, not where the spirit of 0:06:11.200 --> 0:06:16.320 the Lord was. If you're always thinking about yesterday, last month, 0:06:16.680 --> 0:06:20.479 last year, there's no freedom there. That's where the spirit 0:06:20.520 --> 0:06:24.080 of the Lord was. This is a new day. There 0:06:24.080 --> 0:06:29.920 are new victories, new opportunities, new relationships. Quit living in 0:06:29.960 --> 0:06:34.520 what was and come over into what is. Right now, 0:06:34.600 --> 0:06:40.480 there is freedom for you. Right now, there are new beginnings, joy, peace, victory, 0:06:41.160 --> 0:06:46.200 and crying over what happened yesterday doesn't bring freedom. Living 0:06:46.279 --> 0:06:49.200 in regrets of what you could have been, what you 0:06:49.320 --> 0:06:54.560 should have done, doesn't do anything productive. Being offended, angry, 0:06:54.720 --> 0:06:58.400 upset over what didn't work out will only keep you 0:06:58.680 --> 0:07:03.200 in mediocrity. It's time to drop it and move forward. 0:07:04.080 --> 0:07:06.680 You may be a product of your past, but you 0:07:06.760 --> 0:07:10.480 don't have to be a prisoner of your past. Nothing 0:07:10.520 --> 0:07:14.320 that's happened to you is a surprise to God. Before 0:07:14.360 --> 0:07:16.800 he laid out the plan for your life, he already 0:07:16.880 --> 0:07:20.480 knew every person who would hurt you, every mistake you 0:07:20.520 --> 0:07:23.880 would make, every loss you would go through. And the 0:07:23.880 --> 0:07:28.080 good news is for every setback, God has already arranged 0:07:28.120 --> 0:07:32.160 to come back for every disappointment, a new beginning for 0:07:32.320 --> 0:07:37.280 every failure, restoration for all the ashes He has beauty. 0:07:38.040 --> 0:07:40.239 You have to put your foot down and say that's it. 0:07:40.720 --> 0:07:43.440 I may have gone through some disappointments, i may have 0:07:43.520 --> 0:07:46.720 made some mistakes, but I'm not going to waste the 0:07:46.760 --> 0:07:49.600 time I have left worried about what I could have 0:07:49.640 --> 0:07:53.720 done better, bitter over who hurt me, upset over what 0:07:53.880 --> 0:07:57.200 didn't work out. I'm stepping out of the walls and 0:07:57.280 --> 0:08:01.720 I'm coming over into the is, dropping the offense, dropping 0:08:01.760 --> 0:08:05.600 the guilt, dropping the failure, dropping the hurt. I'm not 0:08:05.760 --> 0:08:08.280 living my life with any more baggage. I'm gonna live 0:08:08.320 --> 0:08:12.160 my life free. Here's the key. If somebody hurts you, 0:08:12.760 --> 0:08:15.400 if you'll give it to God, He'll be your vindicator. 0:08:16.680 --> 0:08:19.880 Or if you've made mistakes and we all have quit 0:08:19.920 --> 0:08:24.280 beating yourself up and receive God's mercy. It's new every morning. 0:08:25.360 --> 0:08:28.720 If there are some things you don't understand. You worked 0:08:28.720 --> 0:08:31.960 hard but you didn't get the promotion, or you did 0:08:32.000 --> 0:08:35.280 your best, but your marriage didn't make it. Instead of 0:08:35.360 --> 0:08:38.680 carrying around that baggage, you have to be mature enough 0:08:38.720 --> 0:08:43.079 to say, God, I don't understand it, but I trust you. 0:08:43.880 --> 0:08:47.040 Not gonna live bitter. I'm not gonna go through life 0:08:47.080 --> 0:08:49.760 looking in my rear view mirror. I'm gonna keep moving 0:08:49.880 --> 0:08:52.840 forward knowing that my best days are still up ahead. 0:08:53.640 --> 0:08:59.000 Ecclesiastes says, better is the end than the beginning. You 0:08:59.080 --> 0:09:01.160 may have had a rough stary, but you don't have 0:09:01.200 --> 0:09:04.640 to have a rough finish. Better is the end. Maybe 0:09:04.679 --> 0:09:08.160 you went through a disappointment, somebody broke your heart, the 0:09:08.240 --> 0:09:12.839 medical report wasn't good. Don't get stuck on what happened yesterday. 0:09:13.520 --> 0:09:17.839 God is saying something better is coming. There may be 0:09:17.880 --> 0:09:20.840 some rough places in the middle, but don't stay focused 0:09:20.880 --> 0:09:25.040 on the betrayal. Better is coming. The loan didn't go through. 0:09:25.320 --> 0:09:28.840 Don't go around in self pity. Better is coming. You 0:09:28.920 --> 0:09:32.320 prayed and believed, but the medical report wasn't good. That's 0:09:32.360 --> 0:09:36.520 one report, But God has another report. He says something 0:09:36.600 --> 0:09:40.719 better is coming now. Don't cancel out the better by 0:09:40.800 --> 0:09:46.439 living in yesterday. Relive in your hurts, your failures, the disappointments. 0:09:47.280 --> 0:09:50.880 If your mind is always in yesterday. You're going to 0:09:50.960 --> 0:09:55.520 move in that direction. You can't go forward looking backwards. 0:09:56.040 --> 0:09:59.280 If you're always thinking about who hurt you, what didn't 0:09:59.320 --> 0:10:03.040 work out, living your failures, calling people telling them how 0:10:03.080 --> 0:10:05.560 bad the medical report is, you're going to get stuck. 0:10:06.720 --> 0:10:11.680 Receive this into your spirit. Better is coming, joy is coming, 0:10:12.120 --> 0:10:17.560 healing is coming, breakthroughs are coming, Victory is coming. Paul 0:10:17.600 --> 0:10:21.160 said it this way in Philippians. I focus all of 0:10:21.200 --> 0:10:26.439 my energies on this one thing, forgetting what lies behind 0:10:26.880 --> 0:10:30.760 and reaching forward to what lies ahead. Here's a man 0:10:30.800 --> 0:10:34.200 who wrote almost half of the New Testament. He could 0:10:34.240 --> 0:10:36.880 have said, I focus all of my energies on being 0:10:36.920 --> 0:10:41.360 a better writer, on developing my leadership skills, on impacting 0:10:41.400 --> 0:10:45.040 the culture in a greater way. He said, in effect, 0:10:45.320 --> 0:10:48.880 what's more important than all of that is forgetting what 0:10:49.080 --> 0:10:53.320 lies behind. He knew if we went through life carrying 0:10:53.360 --> 0:10:57.440 negative baggage, we would miss our destiny. Paul had a 0:10:57.440 --> 0:11:01.480 lot of adversities. He was falsely accused and put in prison. 0:11:01.840 --> 0:11:06.000 He was beaten with these rods, shipwrecked, gone without food 0:11:06.200 --> 0:11:09.480 and shelter, on and on. If he had not learned 0:11:09.480 --> 0:11:13.480 this principle, he would have become bitter, angry, God, why 0:11:13.559 --> 0:11:16.240 is this happening to me? It's not fair? He felt 0:11:16.240 --> 0:11:20.079 it so strongly. One translation of that verse I quoted 0:11:20.280 --> 0:11:23.760 he said, I have not attained it all yet, but 0:11:23.920 --> 0:11:27.880 this one thing I do forgetting what lies behind. He 0:11:28.040 --> 0:11:31.360 was saying, I'm not all I should be, but one 0:11:31.440 --> 0:11:34.880 thing I have down, one thing I'm good at. I 0:11:35.000 --> 0:11:37.720 know how to let go of the past. He was 0:11:37.760 --> 0:11:42.160 an expert at dropping it. But sometimes we spend more 0:11:42.280 --> 0:11:45.840 energy holding onto the negative than we do letting it go. 0:11:47.160 --> 0:11:49.680 What if we were to do like Paul and start 0:11:49.760 --> 0:11:55.079 focusing our energies on moving forward, dropping the offense, dropping 0:11:55.120 --> 0:11:58.480 the guilt, dropping the hurt. How do you drop it? 0:11:59.080 --> 0:12:03.320 Stop thinking about it and stop talking about it. Don't 0:12:03.400 --> 0:12:07.040 relive the negative things that have happened to you. The 0:12:07.120 --> 0:12:10.880 reason some people never see the better is because they're 0:12:10.920 --> 0:12:15.280 always opening up old wounds. Every week they call their friend. 0:12:15.480 --> 0:12:17.840 Can you believe what they did to me that happened 0:12:17.880 --> 0:12:21.600 twenty seven years ago? They're still dragging it up like 0:12:21.640 --> 0:12:25.840 it happened yesterday. If you're going to get free, you 0:12:25.920 --> 0:12:28.920 need to not only drop it, you need to bury it. 0:12:29.559 --> 0:12:32.480 Have a funeral, for it, put it away once and 0:12:32.559 --> 0:12:35.920 for all. Make it a decision. You're not gonna talk 0:12:35.960 --> 0:12:40.800 about it another time. When you're tempted to just zip 0:12:40.840 --> 0:12:46.240 it up. That betrayal, that failure, that disappointment is dead. 0:12:46.800 --> 0:12:49.520 You buried it, you had a funeral. It's over, it's done. 0:12:50.080 --> 0:12:52.679 It's in the past. Now. If you go dig it up, 0:12:52.880 --> 0:12:55.920 it's going to stink. It's not only going to make 0:12:55.960 --> 0:12:58.880 your life sour, but nobody's going to want to be 0:12:58.960 --> 0:13:03.920 around you when you carry around stinky stuff. You may 0:13:03.960 --> 0:13:08.319 not realize it, but that makes you unpleasant. When you're bitter, 0:13:08.720 --> 0:13:13.880 you push people away. When you're offended, angry, living guilty, 0:13:14.240 --> 0:13:18.160 it pushes opportunities away. You have to get the stink 0:13:18.320 --> 0:13:21.680 out of your life. Leave the baggage. A couple of 0:13:21.679 --> 0:13:24.240 months ago, I was coming home from a night of hope, 0:13:24.320 --> 0:13:27.800 and we leave on Thursdays and come home Friday night 0:13:27.920 --> 0:13:31.520 after the event. I had forgotten to pack an extra 0:13:31.559 --> 0:13:34.440 pair of socks, so I put my socks on Thursday 0:13:34.440 --> 0:13:37.040 morning and we traveled to that city and did a 0:13:37.040 --> 0:13:40.480 book signing that night, had a lot of activity, got 0:13:40.559 --> 0:13:42.520 up the next morning, didn't have time to go to 0:13:42.559 --> 0:13:44.920 the store, so I put my same socks back on, 0:13:45.120 --> 0:13:48.160 and that afternoon I worked out and perspired, and on 0:13:48.640 --> 0:13:51.280 that night did the three hour Night of Hope, shook 0:13:51.320 --> 0:13:54.440 hundreds of hands. Afterwards, when I got on the plane 0:13:54.559 --> 0:13:57.600 to come back home that Friday night, I was so tired, 0:13:57.640 --> 0:13:59.960 and I took my shoes off just so I could 0:14:00.040 --> 0:14:03.080 rest a little bit and put my head back. And 0:14:03.559 --> 0:14:07.080 about ten fifteen minutes later, Victoria came back to where 0:14:07.080 --> 0:14:09.640 I was sitting. She said, what in the world does 0:14:09.679 --> 0:14:14.000 that smell? Steek's so bad? Back here she saw I 0:14:14.040 --> 0:14:16.439 had my shoes off. She said, Joel, put your shoes 0:14:16.520 --> 0:14:19.440 back on. It steaks really bad. I said, oh, my 0:14:19.480 --> 0:14:23.240 feet don't steak. I couldn't smell anything. I'd been back 0:14:23.280 --> 0:14:27.840 there ten or fifteen minutes. But here's my point. Sometimes 0:14:27.920 --> 0:14:33.120 when we stink, we don't know it. When we carry 0:14:33.200 --> 0:14:39.080 around bitterness, unforgiveness, guilty, angry at our neighbor. You may 0:14:39.120 --> 0:14:42.720 not realize it, but that's stinking up your life. That's 0:14:42.800 --> 0:14:46.880 pushing people and opportunities away. Why don't you get the 0:14:46.920 --> 0:14:50.680 stinky stuff out. There's an amazing future in front of you. 0:14:51.120 --> 0:14:55.640 There's beauty for ashes, joy for morning, dancing for heaveness. 0:14:55.840 --> 0:14:59.600 But you gotta move forward. Maybe you need to bury 0:14:59.600 --> 0:15:04.040 a miss mistake that you've made. You've lived guilty, condemned 0:15:04.440 --> 0:15:08.000 down on yourself long enough, have a funeral for it, 0:15:08.160 --> 0:15:11.080 and put it behind you. No more talking about it. 0:15:11.720 --> 0:15:14.600 No more letting the accuser convince you that you're just 0:15:14.640 --> 0:15:17.800 a failure. You don't deserve to be blessed, You're unworthy. 0:15:18.480 --> 0:15:22.360 Those lives will stink up your life. Don't let the 0:15:22.400 --> 0:15:26.800 defeat play in your mind. When the failure, the mistake, 0:15:27.400 --> 0:15:30.280 the guilt, the disappointment comes back up on the movie 0:15:30.360 --> 0:15:34.200 screen in your mind. Do yourself a favor. Change the channels. 0:15:34.840 --> 0:15:38.240 Have the attitude. I'm not going backwards. I'm not living 0:15:38.280 --> 0:15:43.080 in regrets. I'm not rehearsing my failures. I'm moving forward. 0:15:43.680 --> 0:15:46.400 I may have made some mistakes, but I've got a promise. 0:15:46.520 --> 0:15:50.640 Better is the end. If you'll get your mind going forward, 0:15:50.840 --> 0:15:54.680 your life will go forward. How much time and energy 0:15:54.960 --> 0:16:01.680 are you giving to the negative things of your past? Hurts, wounds, failures, disappointments. 0:16:02.240 --> 0:16:07.160 You only have so much emotional energy each day. When 0:16:07.200 --> 0:16:11.560 you're spending that energy on negative things, calling a friend 0:16:11.840 --> 0:16:16.480 talking about how bad somebody treated you, reliving your failures 0:16:16.680 --> 0:16:20.720 down on yourself. That's energy you should be using to 0:16:20.800 --> 0:16:24.280 move forward. You have to come out of what was 0:16:24.800 --> 0:16:29.400 and come into what is. Don't say another word about 0:16:29.400 --> 0:16:33.720 that breakup, that disappointment you went through. Don't tell another 0:16:33.800 --> 0:16:37.840 person about the mistake you made. That's over and done. 0:16:37.960 --> 0:16:40.640 You buried it, you had a funeral. Now don't talk 0:16:40.680 --> 0:16:44.720 about it anymore. You can't have your mind in yesterday 0:16:45.040 --> 0:16:48.720 and expect to go forward. The truth is every person 0:16:48.800 --> 0:16:52.480 has baggage. We all have things that could cause us 0:16:52.560 --> 0:16:56.360 to be bitter and live with a heaviness. The difference 0:16:56.480 --> 0:17:00.600 between the people who are positive, happy, expect acting good 0:17:00.640 --> 0:17:05.480 things and people that are bitter, discouraged, negative is that 0:17:05.640 --> 0:17:09.560 second group. They hold on to all the baggage. The 0:17:09.680 --> 0:17:12.840 first group have learned this principle to drop it to 0:17:12.960 --> 0:17:17.320 let it go. Mark Chapter eleven. Jesus was talking about 0:17:17.320 --> 0:17:20.680 what we should do when somebody does us wrong. Verse 0:17:20.720 --> 0:17:24.800 twenty five. He said, in the amplified version, forgive them 0:17:25.200 --> 0:17:28.520 and let it drop, leave it and let it go. 0:17:29.640 --> 0:17:33.280 Notice the principle, drop it, leave it, and let it go. 0:17:34.480 --> 0:17:37.760 Maybe somebody's talking about you, trying to make you look bad. 0:17:38.320 --> 0:17:42.040 You could easily be upset offended, try to pay them back. 0:17:42.640 --> 0:17:46.119 Why don't you try a different approach? Drop it, leave it, 0:17:46.400 --> 0:17:49.840 and let it go. God will fight your battles. Well, 0:17:49.880 --> 0:17:53.800 they betrayed me, they walked away. Don't waste another minute 0:17:53.920 --> 0:17:58.600 being bitter. Drop it, leave it, let it go. You 0:17:58.680 --> 0:18:00.760 took a step of faith, but it didn't work out. 0:18:01.040 --> 0:18:03.600 The business didn't make it. You could easily be soured. No, 0:18:03.720 --> 0:18:07.240 three simple things. Drop it, leave it, let it go. 0:18:08.359 --> 0:18:11.600 The reason it says leave it is because you'll be 0:18:11.720 --> 0:18:15.280 tempted to go pick it back up. You may drop 0:18:15.320 --> 0:18:17.480 it at first, and that's good, that's the right thing. 0:18:18.160 --> 0:18:21.159 But tomorrow morning, when you think about what they said, 0:18:21.840 --> 0:18:25.240 how rude they were, you'll want to pick up the hurt, 0:18:25.480 --> 0:18:28.360 pick up the bitterness. I know people that have been 0:18:28.400 --> 0:18:32.320 picking up the same offense for forty seven years. It's 0:18:32.359 --> 0:18:35.240 no longer a bag. It's attached to them. It's a 0:18:35.240 --> 0:18:38.560 part of who they are. You have to leave it. 0:18:38.560 --> 0:18:42.280 It may not have been fair, but God saw what happened. 0:18:42.480 --> 0:18:46.119 He is a god of justice. He's promised that he 0:18:46.200 --> 0:18:49.639 will make your wrongs right. When you leave it, that 0:18:49.680 --> 0:18:53.680 doesn't mean that you're weak. You're giving up. You don't 0:18:53.680 --> 0:18:56.040 care what they did to you. No, you're saying, God, 0:18:56.520 --> 0:18:59.600 I trust you to be my vindicator. I trust you 0:18:59.640 --> 0:19:02.320 to open the right doors. I trust you to get 0:19:02.359 --> 0:19:05.560 me to where I'm supposed to be. Maybe at ten 0:19:05.560 --> 0:19:09.359 o'clock in the morning, a coworker is rude to you. 0:19:09.359 --> 0:19:12.240 You drop it, leave it, and let it go. But 0:19:12.320 --> 0:19:15.320 when you see them at noon again, you're going to 0:19:15.400 --> 0:19:17.960 want to be tempted to pick it back up. Just 0:19:18.000 --> 0:19:21.399 say no, thanks, I'm leaving that offense where I dropped it. 0:19:21.760 --> 0:19:25.560 I'm not carrying any negative baggage. But so many people 0:19:25.600 --> 0:19:29.080 are just the opposite. Somebody cuts them off in traffic 0:19:29.119 --> 0:19:31.720 at eight in the morning. At noon, they're still upset. 0:19:32.800 --> 0:19:35.720 Instead of dropping it and leaving it, they keep picking 0:19:35.800 --> 0:19:38.640 it back up again and again. Put it in their bag, 0:19:38.800 --> 0:19:43.000 take it wherever they go. Friends, life is too short 0:19:43.400 --> 0:19:47.359 to carry around negative baggage. Your destiny is too important. 0:19:47.760 --> 0:19:50.640 Your time is too valuable to go through the day 0:19:50.960 --> 0:19:56.080 weighted down by offense, by guilt, by disappointments, by hurts. 0:19:56.440 --> 0:19:59.399 You have to make this decision to not only drop it, 0:20:00.040 --> 0:20:02.920 but to leave it. Don't give in to the temptation 0:20:03.240 --> 0:20:05.800 to pick it back up. There was a man in 0:20:05.840 --> 0:20:09.119 the scripture by the name of a Hiataphel. He was 0:20:09.160 --> 0:20:12.560 one of King David's right hand men for over twenty 0:20:12.600 --> 0:20:16.720 five years. He served as an advisor and close counselor 0:20:16.760 --> 0:20:21.480 to David. But when David's son Absalom made an attempt 0:20:21.560 --> 0:20:25.320 to take the throne, a Hiatafel was one of the 0:20:25.359 --> 0:20:28.800 first ones to desert David and go with his son. 0:20:29.640 --> 0:20:33.600 He started advising Absalom, telling him what he should do 0:20:33.840 --> 0:20:39.320 to overthrow his father. Well, this revolt wasn't successful. Eventually, 0:20:39.359 --> 0:20:43.640 Absalom was killed, and the scripture says that a Hiatafel 0:20:43.880 --> 0:20:47.080 was so distraught that he went out and hung himself. 0:20:48.119 --> 0:20:52.399 But why would a trusted adviser of King David for 0:20:52.480 --> 0:20:57.359 so many years suddenly turn on him. A Hiatafel was 0:20:57.400 --> 0:21:01.720 the grandfather of a lady named Bashion. She was the 0:21:01.800 --> 0:21:05.280 woman that David had an affair with and had her 0:21:05.400 --> 0:21:10.440 husband Uriah killed, then David took her as his wife. 0:21:10.560 --> 0:21:14.119 Could it be that a hiata Fell turned on David 0:21:14.240 --> 0:21:18.760 so quickly because he never got over what David did 0:21:18.840 --> 0:21:24.800 to Bathsheba and to Uriah. Instead of forgiving David dropping it, 0:21:25.160 --> 0:21:30.120 leaving it, letting it go. All those years that poisoning 0:21:30.320 --> 0:21:34.400 was simmering on the inside. On the outside he looked fine, 0:21:34.840 --> 0:21:38.000 everything looked like it's okay. He was advising King David, 0:21:38.440 --> 0:21:43.120 but on the inside something wasn't right. Tragically, he ended 0:21:43.200 --> 0:21:46.800 up taking his own life. And of course what David 0:21:46.880 --> 0:21:50.760 did was wrong. A hiata Fell in the natural at 0:21:50.880 --> 0:21:55.439 least had a reason to be bitter, angry, upset. But 0:21:55.520 --> 0:21:59.920 when you carry around negative baggage year after year, not 0:22:00.240 --> 0:22:04.840 harming the other person, it's contaminating your own life. You 0:22:04.880 --> 0:22:08.480 won't have the creativity, the blessing, the favor that you should. 0:22:09.400 --> 0:22:12.240 And like a hiata Fel, what they did to you 0:22:12.280 --> 0:22:15.600 may have been wrong, it may not be easy, but 0:22:15.680 --> 0:22:19.240 for your sake, not theirs, you need to drop it, 0:22:19.760 --> 0:22:24.000 leave it, let it go. When you do, God will 0:22:24.080 --> 0:22:28.720 heal your hurts. God will restore your broken places. God 0:22:28.760 --> 0:22:31.840 will pay you back for the injustice. But when you 0:22:31.920 --> 0:22:36.879 hold on to bitterness, unforgiveness, guilt, actually you're not holding it, 0:22:37.520 --> 0:22:40.880 but it's holding you that poison will lead you down 0:22:40.920 --> 0:22:44.720 the wrong path. A Hiatafel had everything going for him, 0:22:44.880 --> 0:22:49.800 a successful career, working for the king, respected, but because 0:22:50.119 --> 0:22:54.040 he wouldn't deal with his negative baggage. He missed his destiny. 0:22:54.480 --> 0:22:56.960 It cost him his life. Don't let that be You 0:22:57.720 --> 0:23:02.960 don't play games with negative baggage, bitterness, unforgiveness, guilt, drop 0:23:03.000 --> 0:23:06.640 it and let it go. Well, Joel, I don't understand 0:23:06.640 --> 0:23:09.480 why this happened to me. Why did these people do 0:23:09.600 --> 0:23:12.560 me wrong? Why did I come down with this illness? 0:23:12.960 --> 0:23:16.000 People ask me why did your mother get healed and 0:23:16.040 --> 0:23:20.680 my mother didn't. We're never going to understand everything. Don't 0:23:20.720 --> 0:23:24.760 get caught up in the whys of life. The scripture says, 0:23:25.119 --> 0:23:29.360 we see in part now like looking through a glass dimly, 0:23:29.840 --> 0:23:33.120 but one day we will see in full. One day 0:23:33.160 --> 0:23:36.199 it will be clear. But if you're always trying to 0:23:36.200 --> 0:23:40.960 figure out why everything happens, you're going to end up bitter, frustrated. 0:23:41.280 --> 0:23:45.160 The best thing you can do is just leave it alone. 0:23:45.240 --> 0:23:48.840 If God wants you to understand why he's God, he'll 0:23:48.840 --> 0:23:52.800 tell you why. But if he's not revealing that to you, 0:23:52.800 --> 0:23:55.080 you need to be smart enough to let it go. 0:23:56.359 --> 0:23:59.640 Some things God doesn't want us to know. The scripture 0:23:59.680 --> 0:24:04.280 says it is God's privilege to conceal things. If you're 0:24:04.320 --> 0:24:07.160 going to trust God, you have to accept that there 0:24:07.200 --> 0:24:10.960 are going to be unanswered questions. We have to be 0:24:11.000 --> 0:24:14.360 big enough to say, God, I don't understand why this happened. 0:24:14.880 --> 0:24:18.480 But I'm okay with not understanding why. I don't have 0:24:18.600 --> 0:24:21.600 to have all the answers your God, and I'm not. 0:24:22.119 --> 0:24:24.720 I trust that your plans for me are for good, 0:24:24.800 --> 0:24:27.720 that you know what you're doing. Good friends of mine 0:24:27.760 --> 0:24:30.760 passed through a church in another city and one night, 0:24:30.840 --> 0:24:35.360 their teenage son was tragically killed in an automobile accident. 0:24:36.040 --> 0:24:39.960 As you can imagine, they were so heartbroken, devastated. Overnight 0:24:40.040 --> 0:24:44.840 their world came crashing down. They're great people, strong believers, 0:24:45.240 --> 0:24:47.639 but I didn't know how they would respond. A lot 0:24:47.720 --> 0:24:50.960 of people get bitter, angry, blame God, let it ruin 0:24:51.000 --> 0:24:54.600 the rest of their life. It wasn't easy. They went 0:24:54.640 --> 0:24:58.000 through a dark time, but they came through it. And 0:24:58.080 --> 0:25:01.280 I asked them how they did it without becoming bitter. 0:25:02.240 --> 0:25:06.280 They said, we made a decision that we weren't going 0:25:06.320 --> 0:25:09.760 to exchange what we do know for what we don't know. 0:25:10.760 --> 0:25:13.840 What we do know is God is good, that he's 0:25:13.920 --> 0:25:17.600 for us, that he's loving, that he's merciful. We weren't 0:25:17.640 --> 0:25:21.920 going to let that one situation that we didn't understand. 0:25:22.320 --> 0:25:26.159 Cancel all that out. Maybe you've gone through some things 0:25:26.200 --> 0:25:29.639 that don't make sense. It's bothering you, causing you to 0:25:29.680 --> 0:25:33.240 be bitter, discouraged, upset. You need to do what they did, 0:25:33.920 --> 0:25:36.720 Quit trying to figure it all out, and go back 0:25:36.760 --> 0:25:39.960 to what you do know. You do know God has 0:25:40.000 --> 0:25:42.399 you in the palm of his hand. You do know 0:25:42.600 --> 0:25:46.119 God wouldn't have allowed it if somehow, some way he 0:25:46.240 --> 0:25:49.359 wasn't going to bring good out of it. The truth 0:25:49.440 --> 0:25:54.040 is everything is not going to fit perfectly into our theology. 0:25:55.080 --> 0:25:57.360 We all need to have a file in our thinking 0:25:57.920 --> 0:26:01.760 called an I don't understand it file. When something comes 0:26:01.880 --> 0:26:05.000 up that doesn't make sense you can't find an answer to. 0:26:05.200 --> 0:26:08.880 Instead of getting bitter frustrated, just put it in your 0:26:08.920 --> 0:26:13.000 I don't understand it file and keep moving forward. If 0:26:13.000 --> 0:26:15.439 you make the mistake of going through life trying to 0:26:15.440 --> 0:26:18.520 figure out why everything happened, why did I get sick? 0:26:18.640 --> 0:26:20.800 Why'd my loved one not make it, that's going to 0:26:20.840 --> 0:26:26.000 poison your future. Eighteen eighty one, James Garfield was elected 0:26:26.320 --> 0:26:30.240 the twentieth President of the United States. Six months later, 0:26:30.280 --> 0:26:33.480 he was shot in the back the doctors were able 0:26:33.520 --> 0:26:36.240 to save his life, but they couldn't find the bullet. 0:26:36.960 --> 0:26:40.320 He was recovering just fine, but back in those days, 0:26:40.560 --> 0:26:43.440 they thought if they didn't remove the bullet, it would 0:26:43.520 --> 0:26:47.840 cause them problems later on, so they did more surgeries 0:26:48.200 --> 0:26:52.880 probing all around. Still couldn't find it. Alexandro Graham Bell 0:26:53.480 --> 0:26:57.920 developed an electrical device hoping to locate it that wasn't successful. 0:26:58.680 --> 0:27:03.400 Two months later, President Garfield died not from the original 0:27:03.440 --> 0:27:07.680 gunshot wound, but from the infection that came from all 0:27:07.720 --> 0:27:13.560 the probing around. Sometimes it's better to leave things alone. 0:27:13.600 --> 0:27:18.280 If you're always probing around your hurts, your wounds, your failures, 0:27:18.960 --> 0:27:22.200 because you're keeping it so stirred up, you're never going 0:27:22.240 --> 0:27:25.200 to get well. You have to turn it over to God. 0:27:25.400 --> 0:27:27.880 Say God, I don't understand it, but I'm not going 0:27:27.920 --> 0:27:31.280 to keep probing all around. God. I trust you. My 0:27:31.440 --> 0:27:35.240 life is in your hands. I'm asking you to quit 0:27:35.280 --> 0:27:39.240 looking back. God wants to do something new, but you 0:27:39.359 --> 0:27:41.960 have to let go of the old. Don't be like 0:27:42.000 --> 0:27:44.439 a hire to fail and hold on to things that 0:27:44.520 --> 0:27:47.560 are going to poison your future. Do like the Apostle Paul, 0:27:47.840 --> 0:27:52.520 focus your energies on forgetting what lies behind. There's something 0:27:52.560 --> 0:27:56.600 you need to drop, and a fence, a hurt, a failure. 0:27:57.040 --> 0:28:00.119 There's no better time than now. Today can be a 0:28:00.200 --> 0:28:03.520 turning point. Make this decision with me. You're going to 0:28:03.560 --> 0:28:06.359 get rid of your negative baggage. You're not only going 0:28:06.400 --> 0:28:09.000 to drop it, but you're going to leave it. If 0:28:09.000 --> 0:28:12.120 you'll do this, I believe and declare, God is going 0:28:12.160 --> 0:28:14.840 to give you beauty for ashes. He's going to heal 0:28:14.960 --> 0:28:19.399 your hurts. Like Ecclesiastes says, something better is coming. Joy 0:28:19.520 --> 0:28:23.359 is coming, Favor is coming, the fullness of your destiny 0:28:23.720 --> 0:28:26.600 in Jesus' name, And if you receive it, can you 0:28:26.640 --> 0:28:30.359 say him in today? We never like to close our 0:28:30.400 --> 0:28:34.239 broadcast without giving you an opportunity to make Jesus the 0:28:34.240 --> 0:28:38.720 lord of your life. Would you pray with me? Just say, Lord, Jesus, 0:28:39.960 --> 0:28:44.560 I repent of my sins. Come into my heart. I 0:28:44.720 --> 0:28:48.320 make you my Lord and savior. Friends, if you prayed 0:28:48.320 --> 0:28:51.880 that simple prayer, we believe you got born again. Get 0:28:51.920 --> 0:28:54.840 in a good Bible based church. Keep God first place. 0:28:55.120 --> 0:28:57.640 He's going to take your places that you've never dreamed. 0:28:58.440 --> 0:29:01.160 Thanks so much for listening to the day's message. I 0:29:01.200 --> 0:29:04.520 hope you'll subscribe so you can receive the latest podcast 0:29:04.720 --> 0:29:07.400 to keep you encouraged and inspired all through the week. 0:29:07.560 --> 0:29:09.800 Help us to continue to share the message of hope 0:29:09.800 --> 0:29:13.280 with those all around the world. Visit Joelosting dot com 0:29:13.360 --> 0:29:15.959 or click the link in the description to partner with 0:29:16.040 --> 0:29:16.560 us today. 0:29:16.840 --> 0:29:19.280 We hope you'll share this message with a friend and 0:29:19.360 --> 0:29:22.200 be sure to follow us on social media. We're praying 0:29:22.240 --> 0:29:25.360 for you. I know God's best is still ahead. We'll 0:29:25.360 --> 0:29:26.200 see you next time. 0:29:28.240 --> 0:29:30.760 More than ever before, people are turning to the church 0:29:30.800 --> 0:29:34.520 for their mental health struggles. Unfortunately, the church has largely 0:29:34.600 --> 0:29:37.840 been ill equipped to help. 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