Transcription
word. So the two of them continued their journey. When they came to Bethlehem, the entire town was excited about their arrival.
"Is it really Naomi?" the woman asked. "Listen to verse 20."
"Don't call me Naomi," she responded. "Instead, call me what? Mara. For the Almighty has made life, Jesus, very bitter for me. Don't call me Naomi."
You're in a bad place when you change your own name. Throughout the text, throughout the Bible, we see where God changed his name. Jacob goes from Jacob to what? Israel. This sister changed her old name. And she doesn't change her name for the good. Look what she says. "Call me Mara, for the Almighty has made life very bitter for me."
Look at verse 21. "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?" See, we don't read scriptures like this in church 'cause we only want to shout. "Why call me Naomi when the Lord has caused me to suffer and the Almighty has sent such tragedy upon me?"
If you're not too mean, look at somebody around you and just say, "Please, please, please, please, please, please let it go. Let it go. You may be seated. Let it go." To everybody in overflow, I love you so much all over this place. Let it go.
I want to start from the unstart and say thank you for being patient with your pastor. I know better than anybody. We do not have the facility that we can have one service in. They're telling me people are all over the campus watching in multiple overflows and they're watching online. Pastor Mike, why then do one service? From the depths of my heart, I felt like I could not preach this sermon twice. I felt in my spirit that however it came out, it would be spirit-led and God would be used that way. And a lot of times when I have to preach two and three services after you preach it once and you feel it's God-inspired, you're trying to match what you just did each time. And I wanted my opportunity to just say what I felt God was calling us to say. Is that all right?
Since we began this series, we've been asking a very basic but extremely challenging question. What's that question, Pastor Mike? Will you allow the pain in your life to be a prison or a passport? Will you allow the pain in your life to be a prison or a passport? And that's very vital. I mean this from the depths of my heart. A prison is a confined space. A passport is a is an identity card that allows you to travel the world. So, are you going to allow the the pain in your life to keep you in a confined place in life? Are you going to use it to take you to different levels in life? Pain or passport?
We talked about five types of pain and I need your help right here. The first type of pain was what? Genetic pain. This represents the pain that we inherit. Then the second type of pain was what? Grudge pain. This represents the pain that we hold on to. The third type of pain was what? Group pain. And I can't wait to talk about that group pain. That's the pain that represents what we're influenced by.
Funny story, my daughter uh is in gymnastics and she's really, really getting good. She's 7 years old. They literally just put her in the 10 to 12 class because of the way she's flipping. So, she gets to camp this week, last week, and she's getting ready to flip. She gets back. Boom. She's nailing her tuck. She's nailing her flips, her round-offs, everything. There's only one problem. Her best friend is in the seven or eight-year-old class. So, she's in the 10 to 12-year-old class. And I have a picture I'm going to show you next week where the entire day all she's doing is staring over at all her friends in another class. She was so ready to be with her group. She was resenting promotion. Here it is. She's been promoted to a higher level, but the level wasn't enough. And it revealed her motive. Her motive wasn't to be a great flipper. She really just enjoyed being in the class with her group. Don't let your group keep you on a lower level. That's next week. It's called group pain.
The fourth type of pain is what? Giant pain. This represents the pain that transforms us. And the fifth type of pain is growing pains. Growing pain represents the pain that we need for expansion.
This week I want to talk about grudge pain. Pull your cell phone out, your notes, however you take notes. I want you to take really good notes. Grudge pain. Okay, here it is. First note of the day. A grudge is when you hold on to anger, bitterness, or resentment long after the hurt has happened. A grudge is when you hold on to anger, bitterness, or resentment long after the pain or the hurt has happened.
So, so let's talk about this. A grudge is the picture of you being dressed for the winter and keeping those clothes on till the summer 'cause the season changed but you didn't. Michael, the danger about a grudge. This is dangerous. Why, Pastor Mike? Because when a grudge develops, you don't. This is loud as I'm getting today. When a grudge develops, you don't. So, let me free you. Let me free you. Let me free you. This is the equivalent of you being 35 numerically, but 12 mentally, spiritually, emotionally.
So, so here's what happens. This is for five of you who were hurt by someone in 2012, and yet you've been dating since 2012, but you cannot fully open your heart to receive love because the pain has happened, but you live as if it's happening. I don't think you heard what I just said. The pain has happened, but you live as if it's happening.
Now, I know you're not going to say amen 'cause you don't want nobody in your business, but who is free enough to say, "Pastor Mike, there are some things that I have tried with all of my heart, but I just can't let it go." Oh my lord. Pastor Mike, I'm trying my best. Why PMJ? A grudge is when you hold on to the anger, the pain, the resentment long after it has happened.
Can I ask you a question? In your notes, I need your help. If you're watching online, in the room, in your notes, I want you to think about a specific pain. Did I say that right? Specific. I stayed up all night working on that one word. Uh, it might be the hood of me. I just say specific, but specific. I am so proud of me right now. I want you to write in your I want you to think about a specific one or two, three things that in your heart, Pastor Mike, I've been trying to get over this. Get over this. I want you to just write in your notes the year it happened. That's the that's that's the drill. That that's the exercise today. The year it happened.
Now, I I want to free you. Anybody's year is longer than three years ago, 5 years ago, 10 years ago, 15 years ago. Jesus. 20 years ago. All right, here it is. Isn't it crazy? Oh, this is so rich. Put Put this in your notes. The danger of a grudge. Danger of a grudge. It forces you to rehearse, therefore you relive. A grudge forces you to rehearse, therefore you relive. What does that mean, PMJ? You rehearse the pain mentally. You live in it mentally, therefore you're bound physically.
Michael, a grudge. I I I never forget when I was growing up um K's Jewelry and all them had commercials and they would say this is the gift that keeps on giving. Remember that? This is the gift that in other words they were suggesting that if you give them this gift they will continue to enjoy this gift so much. So for years later they will still be getting a gift off the original gift. Can I can I modernize contemporize or mccleurize that? Grudge is the pain that keeps on hurting. It is the pain that keeps on hurting. Make that make sense, Pastor Mike? In other words, long after it has happened, there are still remnants of what happened. Therefore, you feel as if it's still happening.
This is the equivalent of a person being incarcerated for a long time and when they get home, they're not used to freedom. One of my favorite movies is Shawshank Redemption. And when when he comes home, I never forget, he comes home and he's working at the grocery store and he walks over to the man and say, "So, is it all right if I go use the restroom?" And then the guy looks at him and says, "Hey, if you have to use the restroom, just go." For 40 years, he had to ask permission to do something that you should freely do. So when he was released, his mind was still in bondage. Okay, you going to catch this? His body was free. His mind was in prison. His body was released. His mind was still incarcerated. And for many of you, the relationship is over. Therefore, you're out of it. But psychologically, you're still in it. And the picture of a grudge, one one one scholar said, "A grudge is like dying by one being sting over and over again." One being sting over and over again. Holding a grudge is like being stung to death by one bee.
So the question I would like to ask you today is what is it that is hurting you? Listen to your pastor because of you. I'm in the wrong church today. Make that make sense, PMJ. Because when it comes to grudge pain, you have a choice to let it go. No, no. You can't blame grudge on the devil. Grudge is the fruit of what you went through. If you don't like the fruit, throw it away. See, the what I'm discovering that a lot of the hurt that I'm experiencing in the area of grudge isn't because the devil was that big and bad. And it's not because the person hurt me that deep. It's because I am choosing not to let it go. Hear me? Put this in your notes. Please hear your pastor. It will hurt as long as you hold on to it. Michael, it will hurt as long as you choose to hold on to it. Please write this. Please write this. When we hold on to our pain, three things. Our issues become our identity. Are you writing? Our issues become our identity. Our mess becomes our mindset. Our pain becomes our perspective. Oh, I'mma go back through that. Please put that in your notes, please.
Especially in the African-American context. In the African-American context because historically we have been through so much. We are trained as children to be tough. Think of like psychologically all my parents listen to me now. We are trained as children to be tough. If a little boy falls and cry, the first word you speak over him before you even check to see if he broke something is, "Man up." His leg could be broken in four places. The first thing you going to say, "Ain't you why you crying like a baby?" Listen to the psycholog. Okay. Okay. Words. Somebody say words. If I go too heavy, just just just sit through it. Okay. Words are also spells. [Applause] Words are also spells. Death and life line the power of your tongue. So a lot of times you are speaking things ignorantly and and off the top and don't realize you're casting words. Some of those words you cannot control how it manifests. So you look at a child and say stop crying like a baby. Like emotion is reserved to immature. You tell them stop crying like a baby. As if the only people who can emote are those who are ignorant and immature. Then when you become an adult, you wonder why all you do is fight and scream. It's because as a child, you were taught that to tap into a sensitive emotion is a form of weakness.
So hear me. So what do we do, PMJ? We are taught to hold on. I'm I'm sorry. I want to say that better. I I want to say that better. We are taught to hold out. Therefore, we hold on. Hold on. We don't talk about nothing. We don't have safe places. We are taught in our community to talk to a professional means something's wrong with you mentally. You go through pain. And so what happens now is our issue becomes our identity. Our issue becomes our identity.
Now I want to talk about this identity. Somebody say identity. Identity. I'm blessed to be in a lot of rooms now. And uh one of the hot words that's happening in a lot of the different rooms that God has put me in now, 'cause it's funny, I I'll be in certain rooms as a music artist and then I'll be an ambassador for the World Game. So I'm in a different room now with different type of power players and I'm sitting there listening. So the hot word that I'm hearing in every circle is identifi. How do you identify? That's real. How do you identify? And when I look at this particular statement, it made me look at it differently. If our issue Mhm. becomes our identity, then based off of the current culture, identity is a choice. Wow. In spite of being delivered from it, I still choose to identify as it. Yeah. So, so if my issue becomes my identity and the issue was you went through a season of your life where you were broken. If you hold on to the grudge, even though you're now whole, you choose to identify as broken. I'm going to free seven people if you'll receive it. You're not even mad no more. If I was to sit down and ask you why and what, you would have a hard time explaining it. 'Cause it's been so long now. You don't remember what happened. You really just remember how it made you feel. And because you can't let go of the feeling. Okay, I'm going to free you. Because whether you know it or not, you discarded the memory of it by default. Even as you piece it together, you're really piecing it filling in the gaps based off of the feelings that you still feel. Yeah. Because it went from when it happened and they had the nerve to call me a blank blank blank and say blank blank blank and walked out my life. Three years later, then they had the nerve to just talk about me any kind of way. Walk out my life. Six years later, then they had the nerve to just treat me like they did. Then 10 years later, see it don't matter. It don't matter. Nobody going to ever make me be. To hold on to a grudge is to look at a scar and cry as if it's still a wound. Scars, wounds. What's a scar? What's a scar? It's the proof that you survived. What was wounded? What's a wound? Current pain. What's a scar? Current healing. A wound is current pain. A scar is current healing. To hold a grudge is to look at current healing and call it current pain.
Michael, here's the big idea and the big question. What are you holding on to that is holding you back? That's real. What are you holding on to that's holding you back? Simply put, a grudge is when you refuse to forgive. And I want to say this and be very be very respectful in my teaching today because some of you have been through some stuff that we can't even imagine. And I never want to delimmit and categorize everybody into one group and say, "Hey, we all need to let some stuff go." Some of us have been through some stuff that is going to take prayer, counseling, and time to overcome. Here's the question I want to ask you. But for some, but the majority of the things you've been through, what are you holding on to that is holding you back?
Many of us are walking around carrying unforgiveness to a couple things. Put this in your notes. The first person we're holding unforgiveness to is ourselves. Ourselves. I want to give you three and we'll go. I'm going to go fast. Okay. Three three areas we're holding on to unforgiveness. Ourselves, others, and our God. And I'm going to argue with you today. You've never heard a pastor really say this to you. That the biggest person you have a grudge with right now is God. And we're gonna talk about that in a minute. That's very deep because we were taught as children that you can't even express that you were frustrated with God. But throughout the Bible, I see David saying stuff like, "Why are you hiding from me?" We'll get to that in a minute.
So, the first person we need to forgive unforgiveness for is ourselves. Most of this can be discovered when we beat ourselves up. Okay, here it is. Here it is. Here it is. "How could I be so dumb? How could I be so stupid? How could I let them hurt me?" Okay. Okay. Okay. You meet somebody, you trust them, you love them, they break your heart, you blame you. So the culture now because you're because you're embarrassed because of pride because of pain instead of you processing that this is a part of life or a part of see love is risky. Doing relationships even with friends is risky. Family is unless you're going to live in a closet and not interact with anybody ever in life. Life is risky. Hear me when I say this. So the problem now becomes, "How could I be so stupid?" You know what? You know what? Never again. Never again. Never again. I ain't trusting nobody else. Meanwhile, the person who broke you trusting all new people. You want to know why? 'Cause when they left you, they were free. And here it is. You're still holding on to the grudge. Every every every man, every woman who's in a relationship, listen to your pastor right here. You have no idea how free and how much greater your relationship could be if both of y'all let some stuff go. Pastor Mike, I done let some stuff go. Well, God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. I'm so proud of you. Just answer this one question for me. Why when you fuss, you fuss through him, not to him? 'Cause when you get mad, your grudge comes out. No, you must think I'm stupid like everybody. No, I I'm No, I already said ain't nobody else getting over on. That's grudge talk. That's grudge talk. That's grudge.
So So we're frustrated with ourselves. "I wish I would have been." "I should." Or we're frustrated with others. But but I don't even want to talk about that. That's self-explanatory. Here's the third one. We have unforgiveness to God. Now, here's the part that I really feel is going to take your relationship with Christ to another level. Many of us are frustrated with God simply because he did not meet our preference. That's rich. He did not meet our preference. I I want to free you. Free you when I say this right here. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. So many people are upset with God because he did what you said, not what you meant. I'm going to say it again. You are frustrated with God because he did what you said, not what you meant. You prayed, "God, just remove all distractions." And he broke y'all up. You said, "God, just give me peace." And he gave you a problem. Because peace is not the absence of problems. Peace is the presence of problems under submission. See, if you ask God for peace, he's not going to take away your enemies. Because if he takes away your enemies, you didn't get stronger or better. Therefore, all you going to do is run next time they show up. What the God what God does is when you ask for peace, he makes you stronger. He gives you more enemies, more problems, so it can build your strength. That way, when it shows up in the next season, you don't run from it. You stand up against it. Many of us are frustrated because God did what we said, not what we meant. Have you ever asked somebody, "What we eating for dinner? I just want something good to eat." Then they brought you something and you was like, "I don't want to eat this." What did you tell them you wanted? So they brought you something good to eat based off of their preference. So when you pray to God, Uh huh. you don't get to pick what he picked. Michael, you don't get to pick. Oh, okay. That was a double entendre. You missed it. That's that's that's a double entendre. You missed it. I don't think you really caught what I said. Okay. Okay. You don't get to pick what he picked. I'm not saying selection. I'm talking about extraction. Michael, I'm not talking about selection. I'm talking about extraction. Make that make sense, PMJ. So when you pray to God, you don't get to determine how God moves because your ways are not his ways. Your faults are not his faults. So the next time you Many of us right now are holding a grudge, which is why you don't pray as often as you should, 'cause you've subconsciously convinced yourself, why pray about it? Can I can I free you? Well, here's what you're really saying. Have you prayed about it, man? I prayed or whatever. I I prayed. I prayed or whatever, but you know what I'm saying? No. What you're really saying is, "Why pray if he ain't going to do what I'm telling him to do?" But you told him to do it. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. I I told him to do it, but what I meant was what I meant was God fix them to be what I want them to be, not what you want for me to have. And God is like, "I can't fix that because that ain't my plan for you." And here's the problem with many of you. Put this in your notes. Put this in your notes. Put this in your notes. You have resuscitation and resurrection. Resuscitation. Resurrection. If you go to the hospital and you cold, what do they try to do? Reset. Clear. Boom. Hallelujah. Clear. Boom. Hallelujah. Why do they yell clear? Shout to me. Why? Can't touch them. 'Cause you can't what? They yell clear so nobody else has their hands on them. Yes. Because if you got your hands on him when they're pumping that electricity to him, it may hurt you. See, many of you don't realize the reason God had resuscitated some stuff is because he keep yelling clear. But you keep holding on to stuff and God is like, "I can't resuscitate it until everybody get their hands off of it." So sometimes sometimes the way God blesses you is by removing things, people and places from around you. And if the pandemic ain't taught me nothing, the pandemic has taught me that I have to abandon my preference. See, I have grudge. I had I rebuke that. In I had changed my language. I had grudge. Why PMJ? I would have a church full of people telling me they love me, but it was certain people I wanted to hear it from. I would have a thousand people saying, "Oh, you preached today." But then be frustrated when one or two didn't like it. And the Holy Spirit said, "How are you stuck in your preference when I got people pushing you to your purpose?" And I don't know who I'm preaching to in here. God told me to tell you, it is not my job to give you what you want. It's my job to give you what you need. And if you grow up and embrace what you need, then I'll give you what you want. But I can't give you what you want without giving you what you need. Because your need may be bigger than you want. Michael, but I want God to meet my preference. I want God to meet my preference. Lord, in the name of Jesus, I just I'm just asking you to just ask you to fix this relationship, Lord. I'm just asking you to fix my money. Can I ask you a question? What if he fixes your money by letting it get repossessed? What if God is saying, "Well, we both know you can't afford it. So here's what we going to do. Let him have it. What I got for you is greater." But we can't even embrace it. Why? 'Cause holding on to your pain is dangerous because it allows your pain to become your perspective. That's critical. It becomes your perspective.
In today's text, we meet a woman by the name of Naomi who is carrying a God grudge. That's where I want to sit today. She's carrying a God grudge. A God grudge. And in the book of Ruth, we read about Naomi, the wife of Elimelech. Elimelech took his wife and two sons down from Bethlehem to the country of Moab because there was a famine in the land. While living in Moab, the sons took wives named Ruth and Oprah, you've heard about them, from among the native people. Elimelech and his two sons died in Moab and left Naomi, Ruth, and Oprah to fend for themselves. They have experienced a painful experience. And Naomi is having a hard time letting go of her pain. I told you this earlier. Holding on to your pain is dangerous because it allows your pain to become your perspective. Your perspective. Okay? Put this in your notes. Perspective under perspective or across from however you do your notes, put lens. Lens. Lens. Lens. You see, holding on to a grudge allows your pain to become your lens. Okay? I'm in a 21st-century church. Y'all don't get it yet. Put filter. 'Cause I'll be seeing some of y'all stories and you you don't be looking like your filter. The devil is a liar. They got filters now where you can have a whole beat face in a in a filter like Well, good and well your cheeks don't look like that. It's called a filter. I do it. I'll do it when I go on my IG story. I got three Sade filters. They make my skin look a little smoother. Wrinkles go away just a little bit. I feel cuter. Hear me. I will even record a message in the filter, save it, then post it like it wasn't a filter. When you hold on to a grudge, that's the filter you wear. [Music] Mhm. So now every person you meet, you see them through the filter of the grudge. "Hey, Holy Spirit just told me to pray with you." "I wonder what they want." "Hey, hey, what you doing this weekend? You want to just connect?" "And I'm good. I'm good." "I wonder why they trying to be nice all of a sudden." See, that just hit me on the spot. See, you want to know what a grudge do? It shifts you from being inviting to investigative. [Applause] [Music] A grudge shifts you from being inviting to investigative. So, so, so D see see a grudge will make you start. So, you used to be, "Hey, how y'all doing, man? Y'all Hey, y'all come with me. Y'all, what y'all eating? Don't worry." No. Remember when you was nice? I'm preaching in such a real way today, you almost kind of scared to even say amen. I'm going to say it again. Remember when you were nice? When remember or or let me show you how the world work when you was naive. Do you see how the world play on you now? They play on your ability to trust. So now if you too trusting and too nice, they say you naive 'cause you got group pain telling you you better stop trusting all these. So they putting a grudge. You used to be so inviting. No, you need a ride. Just ride with me. You need a car. No. Here, here go my keys. What? What you mean? No. No. How much you need? You remember that? Remember that. Now, glory to God. Now, I wonder what they want. Yeah. It It changes your perspective. It changes your perspective. It changes your perspective. It changes your lens, your filter, how you view life and people. See, see, grudge impacts every area of your life, whether you receive it or not. For those of us who lost all our money before and you upset 'cause you can't believe you lost it, now you getting it back. You even view your finances through the grudge. No, I ain't buy. No. No, don't ask me for nothing. Don't spend a Nope. Still hurt by the loss. Okay, y'all don't like me. Okay, here it is. Here it is. Here it is. I said this two weeks ago. I'mma always preach from a transparent place. I am not Jesus. I am not God. I don't even want to be a hero. I am a man who trusts God maybe just a little bit more than you at times. And I'm still learning life myself. I'm not even 40 yet. I'm still learning life myself. So when I make a mistake or when I have bad days, I'mma preach from those. Is that okay? Two weeks ago, you know what I said? I ain't gonna even get excited 'cause every time I get excited. So whatever happened, in other words, I just said out my mouth, I'm not going to enjoy this moment God gave me because of the other moments that hurt me. And soon as I said it, the Holy Spirit said it and got the nerve to preach it. Let it go. 'Cause 'cause I'm 'Cause a lot of times, y'all ain't going to appreciate me till about 10 years from now. But just remember, I said this, okay? A lot of times I'm like your parents. I'm really telling you to do what I say. Look at me. And I'm telling you today, you need to trust God and step out. Hey, hey, hey, this a pandemic. We don't need to be trying to No, 'cause I be holding on to grudge. So, a lot of times you say, "Man, I just I can feel Pastor Mike." You want to know why? 'Cause I'm preaching my life and I I want to be bold enough to stand before you and say, "Hey, I love God. I trust God. Yes, I'm your pastor, but there's some stuff I'm still trying to let go." Let go. It It impacts my preaching. It impacts my pastor. I've had people who I've loved who just left. So now it's hard. Some of you right now have ministerial gifts and preaching gifts and you really need to spend some time with your pastor so I can start developing your gift. And the truth of the matter is I had grudge in my heart. So I said, "No, I want nobody else close to me again." 'Cause every time I put somebody on my stage, they try to split it. Then I have to be the bigger person and just get before the church and say, "Hey y'all, well, God bless them." But then they can go all over the city and dog me. Don't tell a lie about me. I won't tell the truth about you. Y'all missed that. So then what happened? So now now now I'm like, "Hey, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no." You don't know how much pain Debo energy caused me. Literally up at night almost having anxiety attacks 'cause I know I'm going to put people who I all the way don't sometimes know personally in front of the people I love dearly and every for for weeks I was like, "Lord, please don't let them say nothing crazy. Lord, Lord, please, please, Lord, please don't let them try to split the format. Lord, please don't let them just go." Then you know what the Holy Spirit said? "You didn't start this, so you can't stop this." So I had to let who who wants truth or who just I had to learn to let some stuff go. See, 'cause the problem is when we come to church, we preach about characters in the Bible that you really can't touch. So although the word hits your head, it doesn't necessarily pierce your heart. So there are times when I show you my issues. So you can say, "Okay, whoa, whoa. We need it. I'm not crazy. You're human. You're human." Truth of the matter is, Truth of the matter is I want some friends. We going to get free today. I told you this. That's why I'm going to get free. Who in here right now say I want a friend? You know, but now you stuck. Let me show you how you what a grudge is. The people you call friend ain't nothing. You know it in your soul. Something you like, they just ain't. But you know what? They my friends. And you and and truth be told, you sometimes don't even want to be their friend no more. They just know too much. Truth doesn't matter is if they didn't know that much, you would have been saying, "May the Lord watch between me and them." But you already know my growth is antithetical to this circle. But I don't want to take the risk of trusting new people. So I rather just sit in it. And you have no idea. You now have a grudge called loyalty. [Music] I heard my brother say this and I'm going to say it again. I call it lethal loyalty. It It's no I'm loyal. I'm loyal. See, I heard certain people I used to say I'm loyal to a fault. So So now that that grudge develops it develops. I've had people cuss me out, cuss me, slap out, and the old me cussed them right back out. Right back out. Oh, really? The older me. I take it now. Oh, I take it now. Somebody gave it to me yesterday. I take it. Send me a nice nasty voice message. "You weren't the pastor I thought you were going to be to me. I want you to be my spiritual father. You dropped me and just gave it to me. Never answered my car." I'm I just Yes, sir. You want to know why? 'Cause they really weren't talking to me. They was really talking to the father who never. So, so hear me. So, I didn't realize in my youth they really didn't want a pastor. They needed to be repaired. They weren't saying spiritual father. They were saying father. And so for me, I'm like, "No, I'm going just do what I do at church and if you want to come around, come around." No. They was like, "No, I really needed you." So the old me is like, "No, no, no, no, no. I'm not Jesus. I'm not going to let my pride form a larger grudge in them." You know what I said, man? I repent. I said, "I'm be honest with you, man. I was 33 when I met you. I said, I ain't know who I was as a man for real, let alone somebody spiritual father. I said, I did what I just saw my pastor do. You come to church, we go to classes, we do so and so, so and so. I said, but if I'm not mistaken, I think what I'm hearing you say is you wanted more of a personal relationship." Like, that's all I was saying, bro. I was like, "Well, then say that." I said, "I said, but that also has to be pursued on both ends. I said, now I'm not going to apologize a big old church, all this stuff going on. I said, so a lot of time I I'm I'm being honest with you. I you just got to come like if if you ain't if you ain't afraid to sit in the office while we writing sermons or sit in the office." I said, "Well, here's I do up." I I said, "Cool." I said, "I will do that. I will do." And see, the old me would have been like, "No, I'm not going to let them." See, but maturity, and this is what I'm trying to get my church. Maturity is understanding that sometimes you have to die so people can I am to know him. To know him and the to know him and the power of his resurrection resurrection and the fellowship of his suffering. That's what we don't preach in church. We always talk about resurrection. We never talk about crucifixion. And what I'm trying to show you in this moment right now is that when we sit in church, every time you hear a message, for the most part, you hear yourself as the either the victim or the hero. So when I preach about David, you think you're David. Some of you are Goliath. When I think preach about Daniel in the lion's den, some of you are the lions. Let me go deeper. At some point in your life, you're either one of them. So, as I'm sitting here talking to you about grudge, you're thinking about who hurt you. Maturity is trying to figure out who have I hurt. [Applause]
Three ways holding on to pain can damage your perspective. Three ways holding on to pain can damage your perspective. Number one, when you hold on to your pain, it can change the way you see yourself. It changes the way you see yourself. Look at verse 10 and 11. "No, they said, we want to go with you to your people." Look at this verse. "But Naomi replied, why should you go on with me? Can I still give birth to other sons who could grow up to be your husbands?" Wow. Naomi no longer thinks she has anything to offer. Think about this. They're telling Naomi, "Come with us." And Naomi Naomi like, "I I ain't got nothing to offer." Wow. Pain caused her to lose sight. Please put this in your notes. Pain or a grudge will cause you to lose sight of your potential. Potential. That's what it does. Corona to cause you to lose sight of your potential. That grunt that that that grud. Oh Lord, who gonna want me after these kids? Now you going to walk around with swag? But some of us, there are some conversations we have with ourselves that we may never say out loud that's birthed by stuff people said. Joking. Y'all, y'all don't want to go deep with me today. So now you allowed the grudge to change the way you see yourself. I had a grudge with the church at large. Not my church, but the body. I had a grudge when I started my church. I was young. Everybody I met told me it would never work. "You too young. Ain't nobody going to go to a young person's church. Y'all too radical. Y'all too loud. Y'all ain't going to never do this. You ain't going to say he looked too young. He need to grow up." So many of you who've been with me longer than 10 years, if you can remember, I used to wear fake glasses to try to look older. Then I then I went through the whole phase. I was wearing these sweater vests. Then they had my initial. I was doing everything in my power to look older because I I was convinced if I was me, it would not work. This is the danger of mimicking what you see. Many of you praise other people's stuff and don't know the pain that's behind the stuff. That's why never in your relationship never ever say you need to be more like so and so. You do you really know them? Have you allowed what you lost to make you doubt what you have left? She she now feels as if she has no value. And that's the danger of a grudge. Flipping your perspective. It causes you to see you differently. "If I don't drive this, I must not be successful. If I don't possess this, I may not be effective. If I'm not at this point by this age, I'm blank blank." No, no. It change it. It impacts how you see you.
Now, I hope you catch this. I I heard one I heard one doctor say he he sort of like this physicist. Said, "You have never seen yourself." Who's ever heard that? They like like you've never seen. You've always seen a reflection of yourself. But if you This is true research. They said, "If you walked up on yourself, you would not recognize yourself." Okay. All right. All right. I'm almost scared to say this. All right. Who think you ugly now? We know [Applause] all y'all ain't no dimes in here now. All y'all ain't looking like Denzel in here now. But let's let's be honest. It's hard to convince me. I'm not cute. Okay, I'm going to free you. I'm going to free you. I'm going to free you. Who don't never put on an outfit? I did it today. You put on an outfit and in your head you slim, handsome, cute. Then when somebody pop a picture of you. [Applause] No. Have I'm I'm I'm being honest. All right. So you get dressed and here's what you do. Take a picture. [Applause] No. No. No. No. Do that again. Do that. Do that again. Hold on. Hold on. Are you holding it right? No. Make it do this. No, you're not doing it right. No. You got to You got to go like this. You don't do this. No, you do this. Okay. Hold on. Do it again. [Music] Oh, I I look weird. Do it. Just forget it, y'all. I'm done playing. There it is. Filter. There it is. 'Cause it's hard to see what you don't want to see. [Music] Truth of the matter is you could have went to an extra large, [Applause] but in your head you was like, "No, this large, you know, all I got to all I really got to do is." Truth is you could have let that go. No, but they going. I need to holding holding on to a perspective. Wow.
Number two. When you hold on to pain, it can change the way you see others. Look at verse 12. "Now my daughters, return to your parents' home for I am too old to marry again." Look at how she sees herself. Like really look at how she's like and see this is what I'm going to try to do a better job in this next three or four years in my ministry is coming from scriptures that we don't read normally. All we ever hear about is how God makes a way sometimes. Let's see some of the things we deal with in life in the scripture. "No, my daughters, return to your parents' home for I am too old to marry again. And even if it were possible and I were to get married tonight and bear sons, then what? Jesus, would you wait for them to grow up and refuse to marry someone else? No, of course not, my daughters. Things are far more bitter for me than for you because the Lord himself has raised his fist against me." Ruth and Oprah had already expressed to Naomi that they didn't want to leave her. But the pain and trauma she had experienced is forcing her to push them away. I want to say something that may not be popular and it may not get you to shout, but if you trust me as your pastor, I just want you to really pray about this. Many of you need to go to repent to people who've been believing in you, yet you've been pushing them away. Need to repent. Many of you need to go to certain people and say, "I just want to say, I'm sorry. Pastor was preaching today and it made me realize when everybody else didn't believe. You believed. You believed. You told me I was dope before any my daddy. I I'm going have to live the rest of my life. Repent to my daddy for some of the stuff I did. God blew me up. And then I was so excited. I was just giving other people credit. Like, man, so and so open this door. I want to thank so I want to be very clear. None of this happens without my daddy. I'm I'm I'm nine and my daddy like put put this clip on towel. Come with me real quick. All right, Mike. So, here's what you're gonna do. When you walk up there, I want you to say, 'Hey, my name's Mike McClure and I want you to sing I got a mind to live for Jesus.'" I'm like that now. Trust me. Don't go down here. That's why all the kids sing. You walk up to the pulpit. Take control of the room. I'm 9 years old. God. Praise the Lord, saints. Praise the Lord, saints. McClure chapter 1 verse one says, "I got a mind and I we kind of let me show you. Be humble. Be so and so so and so." It would be Easter Sunday at my dad's church. That's the biggest Sunday in the world. And my dad walking. No, you gonna preach it. No, you you got to come. Come on. You got to come on. No, no, Mike, you going to sing. But I don't want to say sing. Mike, do me a favor. Go to media ministry for me. Like, Dad, I don't want to go in the back. And so now when I start my ministry and I understand media, preaching, singing, leading people. I'm at 15 sitting in marriage counseling class. I'm like, "Dad, what am I?" He saw it. 15. I'm in marriage seeing couples fight. I don't know. I'll bet you won't. I bet you will. My dad look at me. See, Mike, here's where you got to really take. I'm like, "Look, you need to pay attention. You need to pay attention." My daddy saw it. He saw it. He saw it. And when he would come to me sometimes and say, "Are you getting a little too big in the head, man? Go on. Turn." No, I I got the See, in my immaturity, I wanted to show him I learned so much that in my zeal to show what he said worked, I
was pushing him away. You spend so much time talking about who left you when you just going to thank God who stayed. Ruth and Oprah like, "Come with us. We don't want to leave you. Come on." She like, "For what? For what?"
Verse 13. Naomi is doubting that they will stay committed to her. See, see, this is why I need you to get free, and this is why I need you to help get the people you love free. Because if you get free and they still in a grudge, then y'all going to be stalled. Okay, put this in your notes. Free person, bound person. All right. Either you're going to pull them to freedom, or they're going to pull you to pull you to bondage. That's what the Bible calls being unequally. But we only talk about it in marriage. Your friendship should be equally yolked. Amen. Every relationship in your life should be equally yolked. Hear me when I say this. Hear me when I say this. Hear me when I say this. Every relationship, I'm even down to who sits on the keyboard for me. We got to be equally yolked. We, I, I ain't got time to always look at and be like, it's certain moments where we just got to be in the same spirit, in the same flow. Am I talking to anybody?
So, so what's happening is Oprah and Ruth like, "Come on." She like, "Nah, we believe in you." "No, y'all don't, girl. It's They want us. They want us. Y'all going to get over there, get y'all husbands, and forget all about me. Y'all, I'm I'm good right here. Y'all going to do what everybody else did. If I'm not mistaken, then a man died. So, it ain't like he wanted to leave her."
Think about this. It ain't like her man said, "I don't want you no more." He died. But she's processing her pain as rejection. 'Cause sometimes it's not about what happened. It's how you perceive what happened. Have you allowed who you lost to make you doubt who you have left? I got to stop. Have you allowed who you lost to make you doubt who you had left?
Can I say something? And if I'm boring you, I'm so sorry. But can, can I say something that's going to bless your life? Bless your life. Bless your life. Have you had a, have you ever had like a group of friends, but then you was closer to one? Then that one left, and now you realize the one that you weren't really that close to is really the one who was holding you down the whole time. And it's hard for you to kind of receive them because in your head, you had already placed them in this box of you kind of just around. In other words, you wanted to pick who would be dependable. [Laughter]
Look what she says in verse 13. "Would you wait for them?" Look at this. "Things are far more bitter for me." Naomi had reduced her faith to the level of her frustrations. Wow. Naomi reduced the level of her faith to the level of her frustrations. The same way many of you reduce the power of God to the connection of your people. Make that make sense. PMJ Champ, we do things like, "Well, if so and so couldn't get me in the door, ain't no telling who can." No, favor ain't a favor. [Applause] [Music]
I'm talking heavy today. I'm going to say it again. Favor isn't a favor. You know what? I'm going to do a favor for you, man. It was $10. I'm going to give it to you for eight. That ain't favor. That's a favor. See, favor is when God does what? No. M. See, the favor of God ain't a discount. It's an exception. Michael, the favor of God ain't God saying, "It was 10, you going to get it for six." The favor of God is saying, "You didn't deserve it, but I'm going to give it to you anyhow." He looks beyond Michael.
So, when you hold on to your pain, it can change the way you see God. Like Naomi, our faith is challenged whenever God does not do three things. Our faith is challenged when God does not do three things. Here it is. When he does not do what we want, when he does not do what we want when we want, and when he does not do what we want when we want, how we want.
Three keys to getting over your grudge. You can play softly. Remember that forgiving yourself is just as important as forgiving them. That's rich. Forgiving yourself is just as important as forgiving them. I, that's one, that's hard. That's hard for me, you know, 'cause I'm, I consider myself to be like this strong guy sometimes. So, a lot of times I work so hard to forgive others, I never spend time trying to forgive me. Yeah.
You will never have, please write this online. I hope I'm blessing you. You will never have peace externally as long as you are at war internally. Oh, my brothers, listen to your boy. You're never going to be at peace as a man as long as you still fighting on the inside. It's hard, bro. It's hard. You're not. Whenever I'm at war internally, I fight everything externally. Now I'm screaming at everybody around me. I am mad because there's something on the inside of me I can't quite figure out.
And the problem that we have to understand is we need to build gates, not walls. Oh, put that in your notes. We need to remember to build gates, not walls. A wall will keep everybody out. A gate is selective entrance. Michael, a gate is controlled. See, if it's a wall, can't nobody get in. If it's a gate, I then can allow those in who need to be in my life.
Remember that what God has in store is better than what you had in mind. She got to learn to let it go. If Naomi's son would have lived, Ruth would have remained his wife. She would not have met and married Boaz. Y'all missed that. If Naomi's son would have lived, Ruth would have remained his wife. Everybody praised Ruth for meeting who? Boaz. Ruth would not have gave birth. If Ruth don't meet Boaz, she never would have gave birth to her son Obed, who became the father of Jesse, who is the father of David, who from that lineage we get Jesus. [Music]
Naomi is in a grudge and has no clue she's on assignment. Had she not lost her son, we wouldn't have had the Son of God. And what I'm trying to show you now is so many times we are stuck in what we're losing. We can't discern what God is trying to give. God, I pray in this moment that we find the strength to let it go. God, some of us have some things that we've been wrestling with for a long time. Childhood trauma and failed relationships, loss of money, loss of income, loss of peace, loss of sanity in certain situations. [Music]
But God, I'm just crazy enough to believe that you didn't bring me this far just to be this far. God, I'm just crazy enough to believe that you didn't allow me to survive that to just keep reliving it. God, if it was over then, I would have died in it. But you are letting, you let me live. So since I'm here, I'm going to live. The perfect picture of the grudge is the enemy coming to steal, kill, and destroy. But God, you came that I may have life and have it more abundantly. One translation says, "to the full."
God, we trust you. God, I ask right now that you would give them insight, foresight, and hindsight. Insight to look into what they're dealing with. Foresight to see what's coming. Hindsight to learn from the past. God, I pray right now, God, that as men, we will become emotionally whole. God, emotionally whole. So this way, God, we can articulate what we feel and we, we, we'll, we'll find ways to express our emotions without anger and without frustration. God, for my sisters, God, I pray that they become emotionally whole as well. God, we got to stop calling toxicity normalities. God, right now, I speak by faith that you will begin to do a fresh work. Behold, I am doing something new. Can you not see it? He who has begun a good work, God, you're doing something fresh within us right now.
And right now, in the name of Jesus, I choose to let some stuff go. If I never get an apology, I'm letting it go. If they never say I'm sorry, I'm letting it go. If they never come back, I'm letting it go. If they never repent, I'm letting it go. If I never get it back, I am letting it go. 'Cause God, I'm crazy enough to believe what you have in store for me, the latter will be greater. It is in Jesus' name we pray. And everybody who agrees said, clap your hands. Stand to your feet with your pastor. Come on. I'm excited. Did you get anything out of that today? Who, who got some things on your mind you're like, "I got to let that go." I mean it from the depths of my heart, man. I'm just excited about what God is doing.
Listen, before you leave, you may be in the room right now. You may be in the room and you don't know Jesus. This is important to me. Why, Pastor Mike? I'm not a self-help coach. I'm not a motivational speaker. I'm a pastor. I serve a God who can do exceeding and abundant above all we could ask, think, dream, or imagine. If you're in this room today, if you're online today and you don't know Jesus, every head bowed, I don't want to put you on the spot. But here's what I do want to do. I'ma pray, and I just want you to slip your hand in the air, and I want to pray from you for where you are. Maybe you're in the comments section, if you would just type "home" to 28950. I have some people who will pray with you there. So, do me a favor. If you're in the room and number one, you don't know Jesus. Number two, Pastor Mike, I know Jesus, but I just need a good church home. Man, I feel like just being honest when I come here, I just feel like I hear God. Every head bowed, every eye closed, just slip your hand in the air. Father, in the name of Jesus, I pray for all these hands that are lifted, right where they are. God, if they can repeat after me and say, "Lord, come into my heart. Make me over again. I confess with my mouth. I believe with my heart that you rose from the dead with all power in your hands. And right now, I am saved. I am renewed. I am revived. I am refreshed. And ready to be what you called me to be. It is in Jesus' name."
Church, can we go crazy for the souls that were saved today? Yeah. Yeah, man. Hear me. That's what I get. Hear me when I say this. That's what I get excited about, bro. When I see people get saved, when I see people make decisions, especially millennials. Real soft ride, especially millennials, because I said this, you will be one of the most powerful, successful generations to ever walk the face of the earth. My fear will be, you will also be the lost. Hear me. There's a lot going on that attacks our faith, man. Especially if you're on TikTok longer than three minutes, you're going to hear 75 different conspiracy theories and all this other stuff. I don't want you to get afraid. Why? Because this fall, your pastor going to sit in each, every, each and every one of them. We going to talk about the lost books of the Bible. We going to talk about culture. "What's Jesus black?" That, that, that's called in Revelation when they say hair like wool, feet like brass. That's called apocalyptic poetic imagery. They were given apocalyptic end-time poetic imagery. They said, "No, it's hair was like wool, feet like brass." That was not, that was not saying that's exactly how it was. They were painting a picture. So, but we also know that what we saw in Grandma's house absolutely wasn't it. That was a psycho in one of the first centuries who drew a p, had them paint a picture of himself, and then he forced everybody to believe. So, hear me to my millennials. I want you to know you're at a church with a pastor who understands what you're dealing with. The psychological attack on your faith when your friends are now saying, "I don't do church. I just believe it." Listen to me. When life gets thick, you're going to need Jesus. Hear me when I say this. When life gets thick, you're going to need church. And hear me when I say this. And I know every church ain't perfect. This church ain't perfect. But what I can tell you is you're connected to some people who will fight for you, fight with you. And I'm crazy enough to believe God is setting you up for something bigger. Who can receive that? Amen.
Listen, I'm excited. I'm so excited. To those you watching online, if you gave your life to Christ today in the room, pull your cell phone out, just text "home" to 28950. I'm doing that 'cause I just want to keep up with you. Uh, I have a pastor on staff who all he does, raise your hand, Pastor Friday. All he does every day, all day, is call members and check and see how things are going. And if you ever need something, do me a favor. We have so many new members since the pandemic. Put this phone number in your phone. Many of you don't even have the number to your church. If something happened, you don't even know how to get in touch to pray. If you go to the hospital, you need somebody to pray. This going to be funny. We do hospital visits. The last hospital visit I did, we almost shut down Children's Hospital. I walked on the floor. They come in here. I was praying in every room like, "Let's go." The doctors look like, "Who is he again? Dr. McClure." No. So, hear me. 2052057987621 [Music] 79. You rock one. I think that's what I, I think. I don't know if it's still that no more. Just forget that. 7987621. If anything is going on in your life and you need something, hear me when I say, ask for Pastor Friday. "Hey, how you doing? May I speak to Pastor Friday?" He's going to be on the phone with you. We're going to do our best to help you, our best to assist you. I mean, if it's something's going on, it's late. Hear me when I say this. It's late at night, 2:00 in the morning, you just got, I just want somebody to pray with me. Give us a call. Some of my members can tell you, I will FaceTime you if I have to call sometimes, man. We just really want to do a better job of loving people, and that's what we're doing.
Also, don't forget DVO Energy in the morning, 7:21. To everybody who don't log on, unless I'm logged on, I am watching you. So, you make sure you be logged on in the morning. I may make an appearance in the morning. Let's get this party started. If you're giving today, you know how to give. You can text "irock" with the amount you wish to give to 28950. Don't let your giving be a place of grudge. So, hear me when I say this. I am a tither. I believe our church believes in generosity. I was talking to a pastor this weekend. He said, "Do you really talk about tithing a lot?" I said, "I try to create a generous, a generosity culture." Generosity means I give beyond, above and beyond the point. And that's who we are as a people. So, I'm excited about that. Were you blessed by the word today? Amen.
He didn't want me to say this, but I'mma say this. This Friday, I need everybody to get ready. Uh, our very own Pastor James Fortune, his album goes up for pre-order this Friday. Hear me when I say that. I'm excited about it. Uh, it's incredible. I've already heard it probably 17 times. That's the perk of being the pastor. He ain't messing around and putting me on a song. I'm on that joint. God dang my dance on around here, boy. So, I'm excited about it. Pre-orders start Friday. Is it all right if I tell the church what you got coming up with the award? And he's got the phone call. He's performing on the Stellar Awards this year, man. Shutting it down. Hey, Rock City take them things over every year, don't it, boy? So, I am excited, man. So, it's going to be a great, great, great season. Again, I'm just excited about what God is doing. Salute to Grindhouse on their three-year anniversary. We're so proud of you guys, and I just can't wait. And last but not least, D. Reed, one of our best members. You always here on DVO Energy. Today is her birthday. And I just want to say publicly, happy birthday to her. I love you guys so much. Every hand lifted, your will, nothing more, nothing less, nothing else. It's in the name of Jesus we pray. And everybody said, "Amen." God bless you. I'll see you next Sunday, right here. God bless you.
Whoa. What an incredible message today, I tell you. Um, there's, there's no place like Rock City. We know that it's a place where the word consistently goes forth. And you know, a lot of people in a day and age, Julian, especially around our age, where people are looking for so many things, uh, to help them. We know that it's truly going to take the word of God to help, to change, to impact, and to transform. That's right. That's right. And so, we just want to thank everybody for tuning in today. Everybody who joined, everyone who shared. Remember, join us tomorrow morning. Okay, it doesn't stop today. Join us tomorrow morning for DVO Energy. Okay, we kick off every day at 7:21 Central Standard Time in the morning. And D, you know, we mentioned our digital family members. Okay, so what I would like to see, and I'm just throwing it out to our media team. I would love to see somebody that is not here in Birmingham be a part of DVO Energy. Whoa. Good. So, so, so if you're in the comments, right, and you said, "Look, I'm, I love jumping on every morning." We want you to take the next step, okay? So, join us in the morning energy. I love it.
And listen, as you can see, we are outside. We're standing in front of the B. Well, because we are marking down, we're counting down the days, uh, to Madness Behind the Mascara. So, ladies, if you haven't already registered, do it now. Text "she rocks" to 28950. That's "she rocks" to 28950. And maybe you were blessed by this word, or maybe you have made the decision to take the next step. You can text one word, that's "home," to 28950. That's "home" to 28950. And giving is also on the screen if you want to be able, uh, to get seed in the ground. This is truly good ground. Truly good ground. It's good ground. So, again, we thank you so much. All of the prompts for you to be able to give are right there below, and we enjoy and hope to see you next Sunday. All right. Look, we'll see you in the morning. 7:21 YouTube and Facebook DVO Energy. Let's go. Let's go.