THE ROOT OF BITTERNESS

Welcome to an Encounter with the Spirit Word and Prayer through the prolific apostolic and teaching ministry of Apostle Femi Lazarus, Lead Pastor, Sphere of Light Church Global. It is his vision to raise God's end-time armies.

God has not called you to prove you are the best. He has not. As a leader, you are a broker of gift and talent.

So brace up for an experience.

Growing up, uh, I saw some situations of some men beating their wives, and there was a particular family that they would always tear their clothes naked, and we, we got used to them doing that every week. At some point Somewhere, somehow in the week they will— you know when they start, just say, oh, your neighbor have started. But I also noticed a trend. All the homes that they were treating each other badly, somebody died young. I'm not sure any of the men that were beating their wives crossed 50. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. In all of the cases, they died one after the other. And I noticed that in the cases where the women died first, it was because they either did not recover from the injury in their body— on their bodies— or the one that was afflicted in their soul. The pain. Some girls somewhere have seen the mother being maltreated and has vowed, I will not marry, or when I marry, I'm not going to trust a man with anything. I'm going to keep my money to myself. I'm not going to do this. So sometimes the problem is not just the bitterness anymore, but the conclusions, the decisions we have made. The fact that you look at someone in front of you, but you ain't seen them. You are seeing those who inflicted injuries, sometimes not on you but on someone close to you. Someone so dear to your heart was maltreated, you vowed I will not take this from anybody. Now sometimes just look around, like Pastor Mimi said, there's injury everywhere. Everybody is angry. Everybody is trying to take things out on each other. Let me tell you something, you will never find anyone that came from a good home. Drag anybody on social media, quote me anywhere. There's pain. Look at the weight of words. A young boy is calling Adeboye a fool. Look at the weight. Where did you learn it? What happened to your childhood? What happened to your heart? Words are heavy. When it's not heavy in your heart, something is wrong with the heart. It's recycling of pain. It's recycling and it's everywhere. I don't get— I don't have the energy to read comment section though, because sometimes you see where somebody is bringing things from and you are amazed.

How?

Why will you just throw these words at people? It's the cycle. The lecturer is from a bad home, was also trained by a lecturer who was a sadist, will also cycle the same thing in the students who become lecturers, and the system never ends. Are you aware that the word bitterness literally means poison?

Practically.

That's the Hebrew word, poison. So to be bitter is to take poison and waiting for the next person to die. That's what it means. That's what it means. Let me say this to you, and I just want to put this out there. On Tuesday, I'm going to be teaching about Absalom, the story of Absalom. We're going to be learning from Absalom. No move in the body of Christ is perfect in itself. No move. Whether the holiness movement, the grace movement, or the new creation movement, um, the apostolic movement, the Word of Faith movement— no move is perfect in itself. Every move is built on pre-existing move. The balance to this move is in previous move, or the one that God will bring later. If the grace movement will be built on the holiness movement, and what we call lasciviousness will be contained. The bane of the apostolic movement is bitterness and pride. It is not enough to correct issues in the body of Christ. You must not damage the person in the process. And this is where I stand. Should there be corrections in the body of Christ? Plenty. False teachers and false prophets, they are going to give us more problem. But the fact that We are yet to have voices that understand balancing accuracy with maturity. In the midst of correction, the devil gives us more problem. And, and sometimes even those who are on the same side say, you see, you see, look at it, and there's confusion everywhere. I believe God is raising voices in the body of Christ. The Word of Faith movement did not just emphasize on faith, emphasized on love as the instrument that puts faith to work. As powerful as the apostolic movement is, if we refuse to embrace love, it becomes the worst ever. We must not have people in the body of Christ who are bitter, who who are hungry, who are pained, who are looking for loopholes in messages to drag people. When they are blessed, they don't talk. When they see loopholes, they drag. That is not the move of the Spirit. God is not raising an army of injurious young people who look at their father's age mate and call him a fool for doctrinal imbalance. That is not the move of the Spirit. One generation will serve him and will command him to another. That's the spirit. We carry this grace to our homes, to our schools, to everywhere around us, that we don't just stand for the truth, we stand for healing of the body of Christ. Fathers are bitter. Young people are bitter, members are bitter, pastors are bitter. Hey, and the devil is having his field day amongst us. But an end has come to that. I didn't hear amen to that. Are you aware you can be bitter against Nigeria? Nigeria can affect your mental health. You just say, hey, hold on. How much is Spark now? They say Spark, how much is Spark? It depends on what Spark. Oh yes, huh, one, is it carton or one? All right, I think when I finished my NYSC, a Spark was ₦65. Oh yes, ₦65. Now how much again for one? Somebody can just hear it and the next thing that come out of your mouth is that it shall not be well for— I don't know what you're talking about. Somebody just think now, just say, I, I want to buy, um, Gesha. Huh? They don't sell again? Oh, it's for big people. So Gesha now is for big people? I don't know. I don't even know all those things. How much is one tomato paste? The last time I bought should be about, um, ₦25 or thereabout. You see that? Someone said, I want to buy tomato paste there. I said, say bring ₦250. Say, ah, kudenita fuki. Somebody posted online and say even to drink Garina you have to have money. Say a bowl of garri, so and so, so and so, so and so, so and so, so and so, milk. But are you aware in most of these cases we are our own problem? Somebody was sharing out that if you buy foreign rice, it is local rice they are re-bagging. If you say I don't want this one, I want the other one, it is still the same one, they will just change the bag. Is it the president doing that? We are used to pain. God is going to heal this nation and heal us. He's going to heal families. There are states that people are owing people salary for 6 months. 6 months. The man now comes back from work, the wife say welcome. Say, what was your problem? Why did you tell me welcome? Did I, did I, did I— he doesn't know where the frustration is. Turn to your neighbor and say, don't forget, don't forget, don't be frustrated. Somebody can just give, say, what's good about money? No, no, no, tell me what's good about money. Why, why are you, why are you, why are you— now we are having cases, sicknesses that you find in young people because the pressure is getting serious. If there's anyone here who is struggling, God opens new door for you. Amen. People are thinking and there's no way forward. Somebody is going somewhere to climb the bridge and say it ends here. No, it doesn't. You finish well. Amen. Let me leave you with this word of comfort. It may be stormy for now, and even if it rains, no rain is forever. We will come out. And if you have seen bad stuff, you have seen injustice, you have seen pain, you have seen marriages go bad, and you have made up your mind. Renew that mind. Change the mind. There's somebody somewhere for you. Is that okay now? The power of God. You are a sweet mother. You are a sweet wife. You are a sweet husband. You are not a bitter person. The biapalo is not your second palo. No, you are a good man. You are— even if you don't know it, I insist, you are a good man. You are a good woman. It looks like it is so painful to love you, but it's not true. You're a good person. You just need to heal, and that's all. And that's all. You will see yourself blossom like flower. You'll be amazed at it. Amen. The next series we are having after this one is From Dysfunctionality to Functionality, and I'm going to be teaching that across all our centers, across all our centers. From dysfunctionality to what? Functionality. Amen. Have you been blessed this morning? Let's give Jesus a big, big, big hand.

Hi there, God is raising for himself an end-time army, and this is the mandate that he has given to us. Truly the harvest is plenteous, but we need you on board as a laborer. This is a call to partner with what God is doing in this great house. To become a monthly partner with us at Sphere of Light Church, and Femi Lazarus Apostolic Ministries Ecumenical, kindly reach us via the number +234 903 095 9735. To give an offering or to sow a seed, kindly make use of these account details being displayed. The gospel of Jesus is spreading. Thank you for being a part of it.