2. “Bitter or Better”
Lesson 2 Christian Harmony Series
Jim Stone 2007

3. Psalms 133:1
“..… How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity!”
King David 3000 years ago

4. FACT:
“Everyone lives downstream from everyone else.”

5. FACT:
Bitter people are always HURT people.

6. FACT:
The more we CARE the more it HURTS.

7. FACT:
Denial of bitterness makes it extremely dangerous.

8. Hebrews 12
14 Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.
15 See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.

9. Ephesians 4:
31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.
32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

10. Mark 11:
25 And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins."

11. Matthew 18:
34 In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.
35 "This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart."

12. FACT:
From you heart FORGIVENESS means that emotional hurt has been forgotten.

13. Realize all unfair things are God’s business and not yours.
Step One:
Realize all unfair things are God’s business and not yours.
Romans 12:
19 Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," says the Lord.

14. Step Two:
Guard your emotional “soft spots”.

15. Step Three:
Forgiveness is between God and You.

16. Step Four:
Let God have all your emotional hurt.

17. Romans 8:26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness
Romans 8:26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.