Peter Roselle: Bring All Your Bitter Roots to the Cross  (Hebrews 12:14-15)
Channel: King of Kings Worship Center
Date: 28/05/2020

This clip is taken from a class on the topic of Bitter Root Judgements, outlined in the eighth chapter of the book, “Transforming the Inner Man,” by John and Paula Sandford. The Sandfords teach from Hebrews 12:14-15, “looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled.” They encourage us to ask the Lord to reveal where bitter root judgements may be lodged in our hearts, which could be hindering our spiritual growth and defiling us and those around us. Once revealed, they give us tools to bring those bitter roots to death on the cross and live in the resurrection power of a cleansed heart.

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Hebrews 12:14-15
“Pursue peace with all people, and 
holiness, without which no one will see 
the Lord: looking carefully lest anyone 
fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of 
bitterness springing up cause trouble, and 
by this many become defiled”

“Pursue peace with all people,” that's such an action statement!
I'm supposed to pursue it.
I'm supposed to chase it down.
It’s not just you that gets defiled when
you're holding on to this bitter root.
It's like concentric circles of the people in your sphere.
The bitterness in your heart tilts your decisions.
It impacts the way you tell your children how they should
handle other family members.
There are some Italian weddings it takes 8
hours to figure out the seating arrangement.
I’m Italian so I can speak about this from experience.
There are too many grudges being held for decades.
Often they don’t even remember why they stopped speaking.
Romans 12
18 If it is possible, as much as depends 
on you, live peaceably with all men. 
19 Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, 
but rather give place to wrath; 
for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, 
I will repay,” says the Lord.
OK, as if “pursue peace,” wasn't enough, here it says,
If it is possible, as much as depends 
on you, live peaceably with all men.
That translates into, “I can only handle my half of the equation.
If I've got a problem with somebody else and
I've tried everything I know to do, I could still say,
“Lord, show me what's the next thing you want me to do.”
They're totally rejecting me; they won't return my phone calls.
Sometimes the fact that you are reaching out
is enough to put a crack in their defenses.
They may realize all the energy it takes to hold that grudge against you.
I find this a lot - that there's lots of drama on the job that will test your faith.
You get into a problem with somebody and that
justice part of you wants to report them to Human Resources.
Sometimes we’re tempted to send an email in ALL CAPS!
We've been telling people about the 24-hour rule.
You can write the email but don't hit Send until 24 hours have passed.
It's amazing how the next day, when you go in
and you look at what you wrote the day before, 
after you've had a night to sleep on it, you say, 
“OMG, I'm so glad I go to that church and they told me not to hit Send.”
You could easily end up making the problem worse because now, 
whatever the original problem was, there is a new problem – your email.
This is a common tactic of the enemy.
He wants to hijack your  emotions.
When your emotions are hijacked you make bad decisions.
I'm not saying that certain things on the job shouldn't
be reported to Human Resources – clearly, they should.
But - pray first to make sure you're hearing the Lord about '
whether you're doing the right thing or not.
From the Sandfords:
“The law of judgment applies not only to our conscious actions, 
known and performed outwardly, but also to what is 
lodged in our heart, repressed, unknown and unexpressed.”
This relates to past hurts that are still lodged in our hearts.
Maybe your father kept promising you to come to your baseball  game, 
but always had an excuse afterwards about why he couldn’t make it.
It’s natural for the child to develop an expectancy –
“Don’t get your hopes up. I hope he doesn't even tell me 
he's coming because I get so disappointed when he doesn't show.
Those expectancies can carry forward in our adult lives,
making it difficult to trust others.
Again, from the Sandfords:
“Once formed, judgments bring results. Bitter roots – 
not brought to the cross - will defile you and many others. 
Bitter roots may be the most powerful negative force 
in our lives, bringing destruction to us and those around us.”
The Sanford's counseled for 40 years.
Here they say this could be one of the most toxic issues we 
deal with on the whole emotional spectrum.