Song number 245, the old account was settled, let's all stand together for this first song
if you're able.
Song number 245, all together nice and strong on that first verse.
There was a time on earth when in the book of heaven an old account was standing for sins yet unforgiven.
My name was at the top and many things below.
I went unto the keeper and settled long ago, long ago.
Long ago
Yes, the old account was settled long ago
Hallelujah!
And the records cleared today
For he washed my sins away
When the old account was settled long ago
The old account was large and growing every day
For I was always sinning
And never tried to pay
But when I looked ahead and saw such pain and woe,
I said that I would settle.
I settled long ago, long ago, long ago.
Yes, the old account was settled long ago.
Hallelujah.
When the old account was settled long ago,
when in that happy home.
My Savior's home above I'll sing redemption story
And praise Him for His love I'll not forget that book
With pages white as snow Because I came and settled
And saddled long ago, long ago, long ago
Yes, the old account was saddled long ago Hallelujah!
And the records clear today For He washed my sins away
Sinner trust the Lord be cleansed of all your sin for thus he hath provided for you to enter in and then if you should live
100 years below up there. You'll not regret it. You said a long ago long ago
long ago
Yes, the old account will settle long ago, hallelujah
The old account was sanded long ago.
Amen, great singing.
Let's start a first service with a word of prayer.
Lord God Heavenly Father, we thank you for giving us another day that we come here to your house
Hear the preaching of your word and we thank you for everyone that's in the building this morning Lord
We ask that you please bless our service every aspect of it
Please bless the singing that it would prepare our hearts for the preaching and most of all
Please fill the preacher with your spirit as he preaches unto us Lord and give us your spirit in the congregation as well
That we may leave here changed in Jesus name. We pray amen. You may be seated
Please turn your song books to song number 372.
Song number 372, let the lower lights be burning.
Brightly beams our Father's mercy from his lighthouse evermore.
But to us he gives the keeping of the lights along the shore.
Let the lower lights be burning, send a gleam across the wave.
Struggling sea men, you may rescue you, you may save.
Dark the night of sin has settled.
Loud the angry pillow's roar, eager eyes are watching longing
for the lights along the shore.
Sing, struggling sea men, you may rescue, you may save.
Trim your feeble lamb, my brother, some poor sailor tempest
toss, trying now to make the harbor in the darkness
may.
Good morning. Welcome to First Works Baptist Church. If you do not have a bulletin, raise your hand
and one of the ushers could get one for you. Some important announcements there. Also our next song
would be 121, like a river glorious. If you want to go ahead and get that ready. You see our service
times there Sunday morning at 10 30 a.m. Sunday evening at 5 p.m.
Thursday Bible study at 7 p.m. We're currently going through the book of John as a reminder
We are a family integrated church
What that means is that infants and children are welcome in a service and we do have mother-baby rooms in the back rooms
With TV monitors and speakers and changing tables if you need to take out your children to distract them
You also see the soul winning times and teams there
If you're new to our church and would like to learn how to so when you can see me or pastor
We'll place you one of these teams and then that way you can learn to preach the gospel
You see the list of expecting mothers there, please continue
to pray for them and also congratulations to the mahiyas once again on the birth of their daughter
lillian jane who was born on thursday and she weighed 10 pounds four ounces now obviously pastor
is not here today because he's caring for his wife who just had the baby so continue to pray
for them and for misera's recovery and then you see those so many stats there for the month of
august great month there 235 salvations and five baptisms as a reminder we are trying to hit the
to pray for that and not only pray but also do your part as well. And then on the right side you
see some upcoming events. The church anniversary is this upcoming Sunday which is September 14th
and let me just tell you the schedule for that day so listen up so that that way you know what's
gonna you know happen on that day. On Sunday we're gonna have the Sunday morning service at the
regular time 10 30 a.m. and then we're gonna have lunch from 1 to 2 p.m. and then our evening service
It's gonna be at 3 p.m. So just make note of that, you know
If you show up at five services over you missed the preaching, but you will be able to participate in the activity
So, you know, that's that's the bright side there
So just a reminder the evening service is not at 5 p.m. It's at 3 p.m.
And then activities to follow and jumper for the kids soft play for the little ones and then possibly a mechanical bull as well
And then on Saturday, September 27th, we do have the TJ missions trip
This is the second to last one that we're having this year. So if you have not
onto one of those and would like to participate.
You can see me for more details.
We leave the building at 9.15 a.m.
and just bring your passport.
And then on Tuesday, October 14th,
we have the homeschool field trip,
which is Legoland, California.
And then if you need more details about that,
we have more at the guest center
or you could talk to Ms. Sarah.
And then we have the ladies prayer breakfast on Saturday, October 4th and they're meeting
at the building at 10 a.m. If you have any questions regarding that, you could always
see Ms. Janelle Gonzalez and then some other announcements there.
Before we sing happy birthday, let me just go over an announcement from Pastor that he
wanted me to give you guys.
It says it has been brought to my attention that people are talking in the mother bedroom
During the preaching. This is a reminder that the mother Bayrooms is still church
Please make sure you respect the rules of our church and not distract others who are listening to the preaching by
Fellowshiping and talking in the mother Bayroom during the preaching if someone notifies you that they can't hear the preaching
Because you're talking that should be your cue to cut all communication if this continues then I will approach you or your husband
Myself. Thank you for understanding and God bless. So that's a message from pastor. Please
respect the mother Bayrooms and then at this time we are celebrating the birthdays of September whose birthday is it is September
Can we see a show hands for the Jacob any other buddy else?
Back there brother Paul a couple of people. I will not be singing brother Bill
I would not be singing happy birthday though because I don't want to ruin your birthday month
But I might have brother John, you know come up and sing for us. But I don't want you come up
All right, all together.
Happy birthday to you.
Happy birthday, God bless you.
Happy birthday to you.
All right, amen.
The next song will be song number 121, Like a River Glorious.
Song number 121.
All together, nice and strong on that first verse.
Peace and rest, it is.
great singing. At this time the ushers will come forward to receive the offering. You can turn
your bibles to Romans chapter number 12. Romans chapter 12.
in Romans chapter number 12 Romans chapter 12 the Bible reads I beseech you
therefore brethren by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living
sacrifice holy acceptable unto God which is your reasonable service be not
conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind
that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God for I
say through the grace given unto me to every man that is among you not to think
but I think soberly, according as God has dealt to every man the measure of faith.
Whereas we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office,
so we being many are one body in Christ, and everyone members one of another.
Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith, or ministry, let us wait on our ministering, or he that teaches, on teaching, or he that exhorteth, on exhortation, he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity, he that ruleeth with diligence, he that showeth mercy with cheerfulness.
The love be without dissimulation, abhor that which is evil, cleave to that which is good. Be kindly affection one to another with brotherly love, in honor preferring one another.
not slothful in business, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord, rejoicing in hope,
patient in tribulation, continuing instant in prayer, distributing to the
necessity of saints, given hospitality. Bless them which persecute you, bless and
curse not. Rejoice with them that do rejoice and weep with them that weep. Be
of the same mind, one toward another. You might not hide things, but calm to
Recompense to no man evil for evil.
Provide things honest in the sight of all men.
If it be possible, as much as lieeth in you, live peaceably with all men.
Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath.
For it is written, that entrance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord.
Therefore I find any me hunger, feed him.
If ye thirst, give him drink.
For in so doing thou shalt keep coals of fire on his head.
Be not an overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.
Let's pray, dear Lord God, thank you again for everything you've blessed us with,
ask that you would meet with us here now this morning, please bless the preaching,
and in Jesus' name we pray, amen. Amen.
Are you there in Romans chapter 12? Look down your Bibles at verse number one. The Bible says,
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies and living
sacrifice wholly acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service, and be not conformed to
this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good
and acceptable and perfect will of God. And the title of the sermon this morning is,
the dangers of having a victim mentality. The dangers of having a victim
mentality. And I think this is important because we live in a day and age where a lot of people
you know are just too soft, get offended really easily, you know are just saying things too personal
and I think this is important to be preached so that that can change with the upcoming generations
and here in this passage we do see Paul saying that
In the body of Christ, in the local church, there's different members.
Similar to how in our physical body, there's different members.
You think about having the eyes and the nose and the mouth and the hands.
These are all different in what they do and their functions,
but they all play an important role to help our body move properly.
And in the same way in the church, we have different members with different roles,
different abilities, capabilities that God wants to use to further the preaching of the gospel.
when a person has a victim mentality,
you know, they never reached their full potential.
They limit themselves, they cripple themselves,
and they never really do anything great for God.
And so this morning I want to preach on that subject,
and just coming to this, you know,
Paul kind of gives a list of those
members that we see in the body of Christ,
you think about the prophet that's able to preach
and prophesy the teacher as able to teach,
the servants, the mercies as able to empathize
with other people, the exorters, right?
Not extortioners, right?
Exorters, they're able to, you know, encourage.
other people and the ruler that are just able to organize different activities in the church.
These are all different roles, but they're all very important. And so this morning,
I want to go over this mentality that I believe we should stay away from. You know,
let it not be said that anybody in this church has that mindset, that they feel like they're a
victim to society, to the system. And we'll go back to verse number one, where it starts,
where Paul says, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God that you present your
sacrifice. So Paul here is saying, you know, as Christians, you know, obviously we should
present ourselves as a living sacrifice. And how, what that means is that every day, you
know, every day we should die daily, right? And the way that we do that is by reading
the Word of God, by praying, by fellowshiping with God, praying to God that he would fill
us with his spirit so that we don't fulfill the lust of the flesh. And then he says that,
you know, holy except unto God, which is your reasonable service, and be not conformed to
be conformed to the way that society thinks,
the way that the world is moving.
We shouldn't have a worldly mindset.
And it says, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
So daily, if you're reading the word of God,
if you're coming to church every Sunday, every week,
you know, this is more likely to happen.
You're able to renew your mind, your thoughts,
your attitudes, your perspective on life, right?
You bring it into alignment with the word of God.
You see people that get out of church
that don't come to church often,
that they think is worldly. The way that they think is not in alignment with the Word of God.
And Paul here is saying that we need to renew our mind and be transformed by the renewal of our
mind that we may prove what is that good and acceptable perfect will of God. So this morning,
you know, you think to yourself, you know, I'm saved. I'm a born again believer. I want to be
effective. I want to serve God. I want to do something great for God. If you're going to do that,
you can't have a victim mentality.
Now, many people today are ineffective, as I said,
in their service to God due to negative thinking.
Obviously, there's a lot of negative ways of thinking,
a lot of different mindsets,
but one of the most detrimental mindsets that is out there
is this mindset of a victim.
It seems like everybody's a victim today.
Now, let me define to you what a victim mentality is.
Obviously, if you look online,
there's a lot of different definitions,
but I think there's three main characteristics
of somebody that has a victim mentality.
The first one being somebody that has a victim mentality,
feels as though they never have control of any situation.
They feel helpless, they feel hopeless.
They don't have any control of any situation
that's going on in their life.
Number two, a second characteristic
of somebody that has a victim mentality
is that they feel like bad things
are always happening to them
and they just keep happening to them, right?
No matter what they do.
They follow the rules, they do what's right,
but no matter what, they can never catch a break.
This is somebody that feels
like they have a victim mentality.
And the truth is bad things happen to everybody.
Not just to you, bad things happen to me.
You know, life doesn't come without its trials.
And then the third thing is that a person
with a victim mentality, you know, often blame others.
They shift the blame.
They don't take accountability for the things that they do,
and they blame other people for every event or situation
that's happening in their life.
So if this is you this morning, you need to change that.
You know, God doesn't want you to feel like a victim,
have this mindset, because nobody in here
should feel like that.
If you're saved this morning, which many of you,
I believe you are, unless you're visiting here
for the first time, if you don't know whether or not
you're gonna go to heaven, you know, you can see somebody
and settle that after the service.
You know, the Bible says that these things are written
unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God
that you have eternal life so it is something that you can know whether or
not you're gonna go to heaven but those of you who are saved you know we can't
have this mindset God doesn't want us to feel like a victim and the Bible says
you know if God before us who could be against us the Bible says you know that
we're more than conquerors the Bible says that we know that all things work
together for good to them that love God to them that are the call according to
his purpose I don't want to misquote it but purpose right thank you
So go to Romans 12, Romans 12, so Bible has all these promises for us, which is why we shouldn't feel as a victim, you know, this morning or ever.
And I think it's important that whoever has this type of mindset,
we shouldn't enable them, right?
We should never enable bad thinking.
We should never enable bad behavior, bad attitudes, bad habits.
We should try to help them, but not enable them.
And it's similar to when somebody gets excommunicated from the church,
we should never enable them by hanging out with them,
you know, by texting them, by keeping up with them,
by going out to eat with them.
If someone is excommunicated, just let God deal with them, right?
If you enable them, they're never going to get right.
They're never going to, you know, repent.
They're never going to come back because you're interrupting
the punishment of God.
And similar to also when somebody is lazy and refusing to work,
the way that people enable them is by giving them money,
by helping them too much.
You know, it's important to pray for them.
You don't want to just be, you know, like, be warm and feel.
We want to help them.
But at the same time, we don't want to enable them
and help them to be lazy and not get a job.
You know, if anybody doesn't work,
At this church, what do we do?
We reprove them, we help them,
we even help them to find a job, right?
There's no excuse for anybody to be enabling bad behavior.
So in Romans chapter 12, actually go to Romans eight.
Let me read that verse again.
Romans eight.
So again, Romans 12, it says that God wants us to present ourselves as a living sacrifice.
And I said, we need to die daily, you know, don't be conformed to this world, don't have a worldly mindset.
Be transformed by the renewal of your mind. The way you do that is by reading the Bible.
by praying, by coming to church,
by listening to preaching,
by fellowshiping with other brethren,
you know, doing what's right.
Now in Romans chapter eight, verse 28,
it says that we know that all things were together for good
to them that love God,
to them who are the called according to his purpose.
So we know at the end, you know,
God's gonna work it out in our favor if we love God.
Now in Romans eight, go down to verse 31.
Go down to verse 31.
And this is why when you read passages like this, there's no reason why we should feel like a victim.
In Romans 8, verse 31, the Bible says,
Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect?
It is God that justified.
Who is he that condemned it?
It is Christ that died.
Ye rather, that is risen again,
who is even at the right hand of God,
who also make it intercession for us.
And then it continues by saying,
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?
Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine
or nakedness or peril or sword?
As it is written, for thy sake we are killed all the day long, we are accounted as sheep for the
slaughter, nay in all things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us, for I am
persuaded that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present
nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from
the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." So that's a long passage obviously but when you
feeling like a victim, right?
How can you come out with this victim mentality
saying that everybody's against you, nobody's for you,
everybody wants to see your fall, your destruction?
No, God already said that we're more than conquerors.
If God be for us, who could be against us?
Go to Philippians chapter four, Philippians chapter four.
The Bible also says, you know,
for God had not given us a spirit of fear,
but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
So as a Christian, we shouldn't be fearful
of the things to come.
We shouldn't be fearful of the unknown.
you know, of the enemies of God. God has given us the spirit of power and of a
sound mind of love.
I'm in Philippians chapter four, the Bible says in verse 11,
not that I speak in respect of want, for I have learned,
and whatsoever state I am, there with to be content.
I know both how to be a base, and I know how to abound,
and everywhere, and all things I am instructed both
to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.
And then it says, I can do all things through Christ
with strength in me.
And oftentimes we do see this kind of verse, you know,
picture frame but it's true you know God has strengthened us and the Bible says
that I can do all things through Christ which strengthened me now go to
2nd Timothy chapter 1 2nd Timothy chapter 1 you know if you're say
there's mourning
As I said, there should be no reason why you should have a victim mentality.
Pastor Mejia often says, you know, our worst day here on earth as a safe person
is an unsafe person's best day here on this earth.
And the reason for that is because an unsafe person,
the only thing that awaits them after death is what is hell.
And then after hell, the white throne judgment and then the lake of fire.
But as a Christian, you know, we have
more to look forward to. We can serve God. We can, you know, serve God with our spouse,
with our children. Even after death, what do we have to look forward to? We have heaven to look
forward to. We have eternal life to look forward to. We have the resurrection to look forward to.
You know, we have the millennial reign to look forward to, the new heaven and the new earth.
There's all these things as a Christian we have to look forward to, right? And that might not be
you this morning where it says, well, I don't really think about these things, but that's because
All you think about is this life, and you don't think of what's to come, right?
And if you don't think about the Millennial reign, and that doesn't get you excited,
it's probably because you're not really doing anything for God.
If you're serving God, and you're winning souls, and you're doing what's right,
you know, God is going to reward you in the life to come.
Now, go to 2 Corinthians 4.
Again, I said there's three characteristics,
mainly that define somebody with a victim mentality.
Number one is that they never feel in control
of any situation, you know,
they feel like they're hopeless or helpless.
Number two is that, you know,
bad things always happen to them no matter what they do.
And obviously, like I said,
bad things happen to everybody.
This life is full of trials,
but you know, you're not the only one
that goes through bad things.
Number three is that they shift the blame.
you know, they can't take accountability. They can't, you know, accept what happens to them.
They have to blame others for every circumstance, every situation, any event that happens to them.
It's never their fault. It's always somebody else's fault. Now in 2 Corinthians chapter 4,
look down at verse 17, the Bible says, for our light of flexion, which is but for a moment,
work it for us a far more exceeding and external weight of glory.
So right there Paul who literally went through a lot in this life had a lot of trials was betrayed with shipwrecked
Went through so many things he says for our light affliction
Which is better for a moment and that's how we should view life, you know anything bad that happens to us
It's a light affliction in comparison to what's to come
You know even if our life goes bad, which I doubt any of our lives are going to go that bad, right?
It's always going to get better
Even if that were the case the Bible still says that it's a light affliction because like I said after
you know, we die, was there to come? Heaven, right? And it says which is but for a moment.
And just know this, every trial that we go through is not going to last forever.
It's not, you know, going to be an eternity. And it may feel that way, right? But if you're
somebody with a victim mentality, you're always reminiscing on the bad. You're always, you know,
just dwelling in all the bad things that happen to you and you're never going to get over it.
But somebody that overcomes his mindset, you know bad things happen
You come out of a trial you forget about it and then you move on to the next and trials are good for us
Right affliction is good. David said that it was good that he had been afflicted
So we should welcome trials in our life and not see it as you know what oh woe is me if trials happen to us
You know, let's face it head on we have God on our side again if God before us who could be against us
Now if there's anybody in the Bible that could have had this victim mentality, you know
We think it would be Jesus Christ. Obviously, he didn't have it because he's the son of God. He's God in the flesh
He's God Almighty, right?
But Jesus Christ suffered at the hands of sinners, you know Jesus Christ had every reason to be a victim, you know, he was
He was treated as a criminal
He was wrongly arrested, right?
He was spit on, he was beat,
he was put a crown of thorns on his head.
The Bible says that he was mocked and ridiculed,
and then he died, he was put up on the cross.
The Bible says that his soul went to hell
for three days and three nights.
He resurrected, he went through all these things for us,
and yet he's not a victim, right?
He didn't have that mindset.
And if we're gonna be like Jesus Christ,
if we're gonna follow in his footsteps,
we have to have the right mindset.
And he even says in Hebrews 12, go to Hebrews 12.
You're there in Hebrews 12. Look down at verse number two.
The Bible says, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith,
who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross,
despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
So Jesus Christ, the Bible says, who's the author and finisher of our faith, would it say that he endured
The cross right for the joy that was set before him and can we not as Christians this morning?
You know when we go through trials in door that can we not be like
As good soldiers of Jesus Christ endure harness, you know too many people as I said in the beginning are just too soft
Right, their skin is too thin
You know you we need to learn how to be more thick skin be able to you know take it be able to welcome trials
Again, we need to be just toughen up as Christians
Now go to go to give me a second go to Colossians chapter 3 Colossians chapter 3
So I kind of ready to find what a victim is this morning
And sometimes we hear these traits.
Obviously, if you know somebody like that
or maybe you may be like that, you can verify this.
Like if you know somebody like that, raise your hand.
Nah, I'm just kidding.
And like if you're sitting next to one, raise your hand.
But let me just illustrate to you what a victim looks like.
I already gave you three characteristics,
but let me show you a picture of what a victim looks like.
Here's an example of a victim.
Okay?
You guys see this?
This.
is what a victim is, right?
Now, obviously, this person here
is one of God's chosen people.
He's just worshiping God clearly in this picture, right?
And it's never his fault.
It's always other people's fault.
He's done nothing wrong, right?
And he gets mugged mainly because of this hat,
mainly because of the beer that he has.
I don't know if you guys all can see this.
Obviously I'm being sarcastic, right?
Now the Jews are wicked people, okay?
And they're no victims, right?
They've been kicked out of, what is it,
109 countries or is it more in County?
Did they hit a new PR or something?
So 109 countries, why?
Is it because, you know, they're just persecuted for no reason?
Are they just victims?
These people have a victim mentality, right?
Where it's everybody else's fault, it's never their fault.
But what does the Bible say about the Jews?
You know, the Bible says,
who both killed the Lord Jesus and their own prophets
and have persecuted us,
and they please not God in our contrary to all men.
So that's not what I'm saying.
That's what the Bible says.
And people can call that, you know, anti-Semitic all day long,
but that's what the Bible says.
And they don't like to take, you know, they don't want to take credit, they don't want to be responsible for killing Jesus.
But the Bible clearly says, you know, who both killed the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, and they themselves, you know, they said that His blood be upon us and on our children.
So that's what the Bible says, you know, forget what, uh, what's his name, Kirk? Oh, what's his name?
Yeah, Charlie Kirk that we're looking to. But, you know, it's never their fault. They have a right to defend themselves, right?
Now let me show you another picture of what a victim looks like you know
I feel like Alex Jones you're saying like I got a meme for you
So who's seen this picture before?
This is somebody that has a victim mentality right at first you see that this person
Obviously, he's just riding his bike might in his own business
Sticking his hand, you know having a good time
Accidentally puts it in his rim and then falls as a result, but you laugh at it. That's how a lot of people are right?
It's never their fault. It's always somebody else's fault
And a lot of times the problems that we have is due to us having bad habits,
is due to us having, you know, making bad decisions,
is due to us having bad friends,
and then we want to be like this guy, right,
when we try to blame other people for falling.
Let me show you another picture, and this is the last one.
I ran out of ink. I'm just kidding.
So here's another picture, right, of an Asian boy.
Obviously he's being stomped at and a lot of people feel like that, right?
People are just always stepping on them, getting on them, correcting them, but then what do we see on this picture?
He's just laughing about it, right?
Because he did it to himself. And a lot of times the situations that we find ourselves in,
you know, it's no one else's fault, it's our fault. And we put ourselves in that situation because of bad decisions,
you know, wrong friends that we chose to have and people warned you.
right? People warned us and he still went ahead and did it and now you find yourself in the
situation that you're in. So don't be like this guy. You know, forget that he's Asian, right? I
don't think that has anything to do with it. Don't be like this guy.
Don't be like this guy as well, you know, Brother Rick, right? Like the cyclist. Does any cyclist do it? No?
Definitely don't be like this guy, right?
So that's just to illustrate what a victim is and then the three
characteristics that I gave. So this morning the title of the sermon is the dangers of having a victim mentality.
So there's obviously a lot of dangers, but I want to highlight just three.
Danger number one of having a victim mentality is that it will bring destruction.
it will bring destruction.
Now, how does it bring destruction, you ask?
Well, it's gonna destroy your relationships, right?
It's gonna destroy your relationships.
I told you, go to Colossians chapter three,
look down at verse number 19.
The Bible says husbands love your wives
and be not bitter against them.
You see, somebody in marriage,
and it's not just the husbands, it's the wives too.
When marriage comes with its problems,
it has its trials, but how you deal with them,
you know, it's going to determine what kind of life you have.
You know, whether or not you like it, you know, we're all...
the Bible says that marriage is unto death, right?
So there's no room for divorce, anything like that.
But people that have a victim mentality in their marriage,
it destroys their marriage because they're always thinking
that their spouse is against them.
You know, their spouse doesn't want to see them succeed.
Their spouse doesn't want them to reach their goals,
anything like that.
People that have a victim mentality,
who do they blame?
Their spouse.
And it's never anything that they're doing.
It's never any bad decisions that they do.
You know, it's always their spouse's fault.
And this goes both ways.
You know, a husband blames a wife,
a wife blames the husband.
And, you know, it shouldn't be so.
Now go to Hebrews chapter 12, Hebrews chapter 12 again.
So again, instead of taking personal responsibility
and realizing, you know, that sometimes bad things happen
as a result of bad choices, we blame other people.
Now, one of the things that happens in the way that a victim
mentality destroys marriages is because people let bitterness
enter into their hearts. And the Bible says in Hebrews 12,
15, looking diligently, lest any man fail off of the grace of
God, lest any root of bitterness spring up trouble you, and
thereby many be defiled. The Bible says that many be defiled.
And you may think this may never happen to you, but a lot of
marriages end up because spouses
you know, decide not to forgive one another.
And they just let bitterness take over.
They don't talk about it.
They don't try to fix it.
They don't, you know, work out their issues and send.
They just let bitterness harbor in their heart
and then it just ends up in divorce.
And you know, I don't, I don't want to discount the fact that there are people that have bad spouses for sure, you know, I'm sure, I'm sure of that, you know, maybe you have a husband that's lazy.
Maybe you have a husband that doesn't provide, that doesn't, you know, meet your needs or whatever the case may be, but I doubt that's for everybody in this room, right?
And in the same way, you know, you may have a feminist as a wife, you may have somebody that believes, you know, that it should be 50-50, hopefully not in this room.
But, you know, even if that were the case, you know, don't grow bitter towards your wife.
Now go to Proverbs chapter 27. Proverbs chapter 27.
See, this is why it's important to follow what the Bible says and follow the order of God, meaning the husband's in charge, right?
The wife is to submit, to submit to her husband, and the children submit until their parents.
And when this gets out of order, you know, what happens? Bitterness starts to spring up, people become victims, you know?
you know, everybody else has a great marriage,
mine is as well worse, whatever the case may be,
if a person has a victim mentality,
they will never do anything to change it.
You know, it's almost like that mentality paralyzes them,
and they don't seek to take steps
in order to improve their marriage.
Now, I told you to go to Proverbs 27,
I looked down at verse 17,
the Bible says, iron sharpeneth iron.
So a man sharpening the countenance of his friend and the reason why I had you go there, too
Is because not only will it destroy your marriage it also destroy your friendships, right?
Somebody that's a victim has a victim mentality always feels like their friend is out to get them get them
They always feel like their friend is trying to one-up them, you know
Geo hits a PR of 315 and then Jacob Polito hits 316 or whatever
You know, these are these are they're competitive, right?
And I doubt they're bitter against each other, but people that have a victim in time
They will look at that as they're like, hmm, like he's always doing that to embarrass me, right?
people feel sorry for themselves and
The victim entirely like I said not only will destroy your marriage, but it will destroy the friendships that we have and in this church
I believe we have a friendly church, right?
Even the quietest people in this church have friends.
Just put it that way.
It's just a friendly church.
It's a friendly atmosphere.
But don't let that type of mentality creep in and don't develop that mentality as well.
Now another thing that could happen in marriage is that it creates constant conflict when somebody feels like a victim all the time
It creates, you know emotional distance instead of reconciling for giving one another then there's some distance between you and your spouse
Right and instead of talking it, you know, you ignore each other you go to bed all mad
You let the sun go down your wrath. It also creates mistrust
you know instead of coming up with solutions to fix your marriage, you start to become defensive.
You start taking everything as a personal attack. You know, your husband gives you some criticism.
Hey, maybe you shouldn't burn the food out. No, but you shouldn't like do things this way.
You shouldn't wear that, right? You know, that looks kind of like if you're a little too short,
instead of taking the criticism, they take it as a personal attack. Now, if your husband tells you,
you know, yeah, you need to change your outfit, you should listen to him. By the way, I'll just throw
Now go to Hebrews chapter 10 Hebrews chapter 10
It says in verse 24 here's the purpose of friends as I read in Proverbs 27 iron sharpened of iron
So a man sharpened the countenance of his friend
We're here to help each other out, right?
We have systems in place where we have teams.
We have team leaders.
You have your friends and your team,
but you could be friends with anybody in this church.
But the point that I'm trying to get across
is that people are here to help you succeed
in your Christian life.
No one's here to hold you down.
No one's here to put you down or anything like that.
As men, we roast each other,
but that's all in fun, right?
That's all in good play.
But we're...
At the end of the day, what we want to see for each other is for you to succeed.
You know, we want to see the single men, I don't know why I look that way, but
we want to see the single men, you know, get married and, you know,
find the spouse, have children.
We want to see the parents succeed with their kids.
We want to see the children, young children, you know,
succeed and grow up to love the Lord, have a seal for God,
and, you know, win people to Christ.
And in Hebrews 10, verse 24, the Bible says Hebrews 10, verse 24, it says,
And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works.
not forsaking the assembly of ourselves together
as a matter of some is, but exhorting one another
and so much the more as you see the day approaching.
So what's the purpose of this church?
To exhort each other unto good works.
You know, if a person has a victim mentality,
you miss church, they miss church,
and then you're like, hey, where were you last week?
I missed you.
He's like, ah, why are you always checking up on me?
You know, that's how people get sometimes
that have a victim mentality.
You know, they think like, oh, this person is just trying
to keep track of me, trying to like follow me, stalk me,
No one's like stalking you, right?
The ops, was it how you say it?
The ops?
Yeah, so as a church, we just want to see you succeed.
We want to see you in church,
not because we just count you as a number,
but because you're edified by the preaching,
you see your friends,
and then obviously we fellowship afterwards.
Now go to Proverbs 18, Proverbs 18.
Like I said, a victim, a person with a victim mentality
always feels attacked.
The slightest question.
irritates them, they don't like accountability.
And then this often happens too in a church setting,
you know, when somebody decides to leave church,
they always blame the church.
You know, someone with a victim mentality,
it's never their fault, it's the church's fault.
You know, they never reached out to me,
they never helped me, you know,
they never reached out to my kids.
You know, here at this church,
we do our best to follow up on people.
And we do our best to make sure that everybody,
you know, is doing good, right?
Pastor does a great job at that.
And people that leave church, you know,
it's often because,
You know, they isolated themselves.
It's not because, you know, we said,
you know what, we don't want to hang out with you.
Like I said, we're a friendly church,
but people, if you don't have friends,
it's not because no one hasn't approached you.
It's because you isolate yourself.
Now, in Proverbs 18, 24, the Bible says,
a man that had friends must show himself friendly,
and there is a friend that stick it closer than a brother.
So we need friends in the Christian life.
You know, we can't live the Christian life alone.
Obviously, your best friend should be your spouse,
but aside from your spouse,
you should have friends in church
that is gonna help you to succeed.
And in order to have friends,
the way that you can do it is obviously
by you being friendly towards other people.
You know, you're never gonna make friends
if you're always sitting by yourself.
If you have, like, you know,
if you look like the Grinch, like just mad,
and like just, you know, never talking to anybody,
that's not a way to make friends.
Now having a victim in town as I say can destroy your relationship also with your with your spouse with your friends
But it could also destroy it with your boss and you shouldn't feel like a victim at work because at the end of the day
You know, you're not there to make friends. You're there to work to you know
Make the company money. You're there to serve your boss. You're there to you know
Be profitable and ask it to your job
But someone who has a victim mentality always feels like the boss is getting on them
You know, they do a poor job, but it's not their fault, right?
It's the boss that like delegated too much to them and they they don't like to take responsibility
They always blame other people, you know, if something didn't get done own up to it, you know, I messed up, you know, I didn't finish it
I should have
you know, done it. But people that have a victim mentality instead of taking responsibility,
what do they do? Oh, so-and-so's fault. Or because, you know, so-and-so called off,
so I had to do everything. You know, these are people that have a victim mentality.
And I go to Genesis chapter 4, Genesis chapter 4. Also, when people have a victim mentality
at work, you know, instead of getting work done, what are they doing? They're just complaining.
They're murmuring.
They're like, oh, my boss doesn't give me breaks.
Why do you need a break in eight hours, right?
I don't know, maybe you do.
I at least need a 10 minute break.
I take that back.
I didn't say that, I should pay.
But you don't really need a long break, right?
Sometimes even when I did construction at the job site,
there's no time for breaks.
You gotta get something done.
And those that have done that kind of work,
you know, sometimes just breaks don't come.
Maybe like nurses, they don't have breaks.
Sometimes they're working long shifts, 12 hour shifts.
The point is this,
that a person that has a victim mentality,
instead of getting work done, they're just complaining.
And a person also that has a victim mentality,
instead of getting better at their job and improving,
you know, they avoid personal growth
because they're just too afraid to fail, right?
They're too afraid to fail.
So instead of trying and learning new skills,
you're like, what's the point?
You know, nothing's gonna change.
I'm gonna fail regardless.
And then also people, instead of like working with your co-workers and being an asset, being a team player,
people just stay away from you because nobody likes a complainer, right?
Nobody likes people that just murmur that, you know, are energy takers instead of energy givers.
People like to work with people that get things done.
And a person with a victim mentality does not get anything done.
So again, we want to avoid this mindset of always being a victim, you know
And there's another problem with being a victim too. Not only is it going to destroy
Your marriage not only is it going to destroy your friendships
Your work life. It's also going to destroy your children
And the reason for this because these kind of mindsets are passed down from generation to generation, right?
It's not that you know, you're teaching your child. Hey, learn to be a victim
You know, you're not teaching them that things are caught rather than taught, you know, pastor always says that
If your child is a victim, that's because you're a victim, right?
That's because they hear you complain all the time.
And let it not be said that, you know, your children at home,
you're just complaining about church, you're just complaining about,
you know, pastor, you're just complaining about your job.
If you keep doing that constantly around your children,
then they're going to grow up that way too.
They're going to be complaining about their spouse to you.
You know, that's why women are like that sometimes,
because they learn that from their mom.
So in Genesis chapter four, look down at verse number one, we have the story of Cain and Abel and then it says in verse number one.
It says, And Adam knew Eve, his wife, and she conceived, and
bear Cain. And said, I have gotten a man from the Lord, and
she again, bear his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of
sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. And in the process
of time, it came to pass that Cain brought of the fruit of the
ground and offered unto the Lord. And Abel, he also brought of
the first things of his flock, and of the fatter of, and the
Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering. And it says,
And to his offering, he had not respect, and Cain was very wroth and his countenance fell.
So what do we see in this story?
You know, Cain, Abel brought an offering that was acceptable unto the Lord.
You know, Cain brought something else that the Lord did not ask for,
and the Bible says that God did not respect his offering.
And Cain could have gotten it right, right, instead of, you know, just doing what's wrong.
He could have gotten it right, but instead he had that victim mentality.
So much the more that what did it lead him to do?
To kill his own brother.
And then even when God approached him and said,
it came, you know, where is my brother Abel?
What does he say?
Am I my brother's keeper?
Again, we see a person with a victim mentality
refusing to take accountability,
refusing to take responsibility.
And so we see here that people with a victim mentality
sometimes they even go as far as to commit crime,
to kill people.
And then God obviously curses him.
And Cain says when he receives, you know, the punishment from God, he says,
this punishment is too much for me to bear.
And was that really too much though after that he had just killed his own brother, right?
What was worse, what God told him or with him killing his brother?
And this is somebody that feels and magnifies their problems.
You know, I have it worse than anybody else, even though Cain just killed his own literal brother.
Now go to Philippians chapter 4, Philippians chapter 4.
So the first danger that we see this morning is that it will bring forth destruction
The second one is that having a victim mentality will bring discontentment
So people that have this victim mentality. They're never happy. You know, they're always discontent
They're never, you know, happy with the things that they have a person with a victim mentality
They get a new place to live in but they're upset right because it's not a two bedroom. It's a one bedroom
They're upset because it only has street parking.
There's no parking for his car.
Nothing ever pleases them, right?
They're just discontent people.
They get a good job, they move up at work,
but what happens?
Oh, the pay is not that good.
They're just discontent.
You know they get anything that happens to them. You know you've encountered people like this when you try to praise them
You're happy for them. You're rejoicing for them. They're like mmm. It's not the best
You know you got a new car a graduation on your car. Yeah, but it was too much gas
You know people are just with this victim and tell you are always discontent and now go to Philippians chapter 4
Philippians chapter 4
Look down your bios in verse number 11 the Bible says not that I speak in respect of want for I have learned in
What's over state? I am there with to be content. I know both how to abase and I know how to abound it
Everywhere and in all things, I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound
and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me." So here Paul is
telling us, you know, in whatsoever state he's been in, you know, he's had plenty, he's gone through,
you know, famine and all this stuff. He learned to be content. And I think that's the way that we
have to be, right? We can't have this victim mentality where we expect our life always to be perfect.
In this life, you know, you're gonna go through seasons you're gonna go through seasons of plantiness
You're gonna go through seasons of famine where you know, you're not gonna have a whole lot
But whatever season you're in be content with what God has given you a person that has the victim mentality again
Whether they're in a season of plenty is it's never enough, right? They always want more a person that doesn't have this mindset
Even though they're in a season of famine, you know, they're content.
You know, they're happy that they just have a roof over their head.
They're happy that they have clothes. They're happy that they're in good health.
You know, there's always things to be thankful for.
And people that have the victim mentality, they can never see the good in anything.
You know, God has blessed us with a great church, a great pastor,
a great church family, and then there's people that leave because,
oh, church wasn't cutting it for me. You know, it never helped me in any way.
And I go to 1st Timothy chapter 6, 1st Timothy chapter 6 on the subject of contentment.
The Bible says, But Godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into
this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.
And having food and raiment, let us therewith be content.
So the Bible is saying, you know, having food and raiment, let us therefore be content.
In reality, we didn't bring anything into this world.
And when we die, we're not taking anything with us.
All the nice toys, all the nice things that we have,
they're gonna stay here, right?
And when we die, the only thing that matters
is what we did for God.
And I go to Genesis chapter 15.
Genesis chapter 15.
And here's the thing, you know,
we're all gonna go through these seasons
of having more, having less,
but we gotta realize and not be a victim.
that it's not always gonna be that way, right?
There's always light at the end of the tunnel.
There's always hope for us as Christians
because God could change any situation
that we're in overnight.
You know, it's happened before where, you know,
maybe you needed money to pay the rent
and God blesses you with overtime, right?
Maybe some people, a victim entirely will see that
and be like, oh, now I gotta work more, right?
But that's the way that God blesses sometimes, right?
You need more money, okay, work some more, right?
So God could change your situation overnight.
Now, in Genesis chapter 15, actually go to Numbers 11.
Numbers 11.
Here's the thing too.
If somebody has a victim mentality before I move on,
also they start to like develop resentment
towards others that have more than them.
And as Christians, you know,
we should esteem others better than ourselves.
You know, if somebody gets a good job,
if somebody gets a raise at work,
if somebody gets promoted, we shouldn't be haters, right?
Be happy for them rejoice with them, you know, pray for them so that God could continue to bless with them
Bless them, but people that have this mentality instead of you know
Being happy for other people that they got married or that you know
They moved to a nice whatever the kids may be, you know, they don't they're not happy for them
They have resentment in their heart
Now you're there in Numbers 11, but before that let me read to you from Genesis 15 verse 13 says and he said unto Abram
Know of a surety that they see shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs and shall serve them and they shall flick them for
400 flick them 400 years
So obviously the children of Israel were
enslaved by the Egyptians and it says that they were enslaved
for 400 years
And in Numbers 11 it says in verse number 4,
And the mixed multitude that was among them fell elusting,
And the children of Israel also wept again.
So, see, when a group of people started to complain, it's contagious, right?
More people complain.
And as the children of Israel also wept again and said, who shall give us flesh to eat?
We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely, the cucumbers and the melons
and the leeks and the onions and the garlic, but now our soul is dried away.
There is nothing at all beside this manna before our eyes.
So here God already delivered them, you know,
took them away from bondage, he's leading them to the promised land, and what are they doing? Complaining.
You know, they were enslaved 400 years and now they're saying, well, you know, at least there we had some food to eat besides this manna.
And, you know, I don't really know what manna would look like. I always picture it as oatmeal, and you know, those are you against oatmeal.
But you know, they had food to eat and they weren't no longer enslaved to the Egyptians, but here they're complaining as well.
And these are people that have that victim mentality.
And it started here and it continues today
with these people, right?
There's just, you know, they could never catch a break.
Now go to Job one, go to Job one.
Let me give you another example regarding this point.
Number one, I said one of the dangers of having
this victim mentality is that it's gonna bring destruction.
Number two is that it's gonna bring discontentment.
You know people today cannot be happy for any reason
You know you think about the the stereotype of the Starbucks employee, right this content
But it's ours having to work long shifts eight hours, you know people like this
You know, this is the generation the people that we live around where it's just
Discontentment everywhere now in Job chapter 1 look down verse 21 the Bible says
And said, Naked came out of my mother's womb, and Naked shall I return thither, the Lord
gave and the Lord had taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord.
And then all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly.
And so we know the story of Job, that he lost everything.
Right?
This is a man that lost his children, his goods, every single thing.
And this is somebody that could have fallen into the victim mentality, but instead of what
He brought nothing into his world and he's not going to take anything with him.
And it says in all this, Job said, not nor charge God full of steam.
And this is the attitude that we should have, whether we have much or little,
we should be content with what God has given us. Now, go to Job 42.
Obviously his life did not end there. And like I said, God could change your
situation overnight. He could work all things together for good.
And the Bible says in Job 42,
If you're there, the Bible says in verse 10,
and the Lord turned the captivity of Job
when he prayed for his friends.
Also the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before,
then came there unto him all his brethren and all his sisters
and all they that had been of his acquaintance before
and did eat bread with him in his house.
And they bemoaned him and comforted him
over all the evil that the Lord had brought upon him.
Every man also gave him a piece of money
and everyone an earring of gold.
And then look what it says in verse number 12.
So, the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning, for he had fourteen
thousand sheep and six thousand camels and a thousand yoke of oxen and a thousand she-asses.
He had also seven sons and three daughters.
So what do we see at the end of Job's life?
He had twice as much.
You know, God blessed him far more than what he had in the beginning.
Obviously, we're not discounting the fact that he grieved.
He lost a lot.
but he didn't fall into the trap of having a victim mentality
and he realized, you know, God could work it together for good,
for him, change the situation overnight,
and at the end of his life he had twice as much.
Now go to Genesis 39, here's another one, another example.
Genesis 39, we're on the point of
the victim mentality brings discontentment.
So here's another example of somebody that didn't fall into this mindset that
And I don't think any of us are going through what this individual went through. I'm talking about Joseph, right?
None of us are being sold by our brethren, right? Nobody's being sold here. And then no one's trying by anyone. No, it's okay.
But um, the Bible says in Genesis 39 in verse number two
And the Lord was with Joseph and he was a prosperous man and he was in the house of his master, the Egyptian.
So Joseph got sold at a young age. He could have developed his victim mentality.
Right? I'm sold by my brethren. I'm in an unknown land now, away from my family.
And what did we see? You know, anywhere that Joseph went, he prospered.
He had God's favor on his life. Anything that he did, prospered.
And here we see, it says in verse three,
and his master saw that the Lord was with him,
and that the Lord made all that he did
to prosper in his hand.
So see God, whether you're in a tough situation,
God could work it out for you if you do what's right.
And the Bible says that Joseph was a prosperous man.
He found favor in the Lord's eyes, says in verse four,
and Joseph found grace in his sight and he served them.
And he made him overseer of his house
and all that he had put into his hand.
And it came to pass from that time
that he had made him overseer in the house
and over all that he had,
that the Lord blessed the Egyptians house for Joseph's sake.
And the blessing of the Lord was upon all that he had
in the house and in the field.
and he left all that he had in Joseph's hand,
and he knew not all he had saved the bread,
which he did eat, and Joseph was a good person
and well-favored.
So he gave him so much responsibility,
he put him over his house, and then what happens?
He falls into more trials, right?
He gets accused falsely by Potiphar's wife
that he was trying to take advantage of her,
and then he's wrongfully put in prison.
And what happens in prison?
He's put over the prisoners.
He's still blessed by God.
He still has favor from God.
And I'll go to Genesis chapter 41, Genesis chapter 41.
I'm going to read to you from Genesis 39 and verse 22 of the Bible says,
And the keeper of the prison committed to Joseph's hand all the prisoners that were in the prison,
and whatsoever they did, he was a doer of it.
The keeper of the prison looked not to anything that was under his hand because the Lord was with them,
and that which he did, the Lord made it to prosper.
So in any situation that Joseph found himself in, you know, he could have turned into a victim,
had that mindset, but what any situation we see in the Bible, he prospered.
And that could happen to any of us, right, where we were wrongfully, you know, treated or whatever the case may be, bad things are going to happen, but we could prosper in the midst of all that.
Now go to Genesis 41, I think you're already there, the Bible says in verse 40, once you got out of prison, thou shalt be over my house, and according to thy word, shall all my people be ruled.
Only in the throne will I be greater than thou, and Pharaoh said unto Joseph, See, I have set thee over all the land of Egypt.
And so, again, Joseph just continues to prosper.
I think this is a good story to illustrate this because, you know, if anybody could fall
into that trap of thinking that the world is against them, because in his case, you
know, he kept getting, you know, bad thing, one bad thing after another, but he prospered,
and he didn't have that mentality.
Now go to 2 Corinthians chapter 10, 2 Corinthians chapter 10.
It's gonna bring discontent me in your life. And then lastly, it's gonna bring
Distortion I mean distortion
So the way that it's gonna bring distortions because somebody that has a victim mentality, you know, they don't see things as they are
You know, they have a warped view of reality. They think that everybody's against them
They think that you know, no one wants to see them succeed and they're in second Corinthians chapter 10
Here's one thing that we can do if we have this mindset where we're thinking that you know all odds all odds are against us
It says in verse 5 casting down
Imaginations in every high thing that exalted itself
Against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ
And so if you have that victim mentality, not only is it going to destroy your?
Relationships not only is it going to bring this contentment. It's going to distort the way that you view things
If somebody has a victim mentality, what are they going to do?
Instead of taking responsibility, they're going to blame others.
When somebody has a failed marriage and they end up single, having to raise their children
all by themselves, instead of realizing that maybe it was their fault because of the decisions
that they took, because of the people that they chose to listen to, and maybe they're
like, oh, you should date this guy, you should marry this guy.
Realizing, you know, that that's the reality of what happened, they distorted, right?
They don't look at reality as it is.
And they start to imagine things, you know, they start thinking,
well, is this person really my friend?
You know, does my spouse really love me?
You know, do people just, you know, does everybody hate me?
They have this defeated mindset.
And I go to 1 Samuel chapter 18.
1 Samuel 18.
Let me give you an example of somebody that had a distorted view of how things actually were
The Bible says in 1 Samuel 18 and
David went out with whoever Saul sent him and
Behaved himself wisely and Saul sent him over the men of war and he was accepted in the side of all the people and also in the side of
Saul's servant so here we're talking about King Saul who was the first king of Israel
You know, he was headed shoulders of both the people. You know, he was a good guy in the beginning
But through the course of his life, because of bad choices that he made,
not taking responsibility, when the Bible talks about him forcing himself to do the burnt offering,
not waiting for Samuel, instead of taking responsibility, what did he do?
He said, well, the people, right? Always blaming other people.
You think about when he was supposed to kill the king of A-Gang?
I can't remember his name right now, but he was supposed to kill one of the kings and, you know,
destroy everything. But what did he do? He spared the king, he saved the goods, and then Samuel
confronted him again. And what do you say? The people, you know, always putting the blame on
other people. And this is the way that people that have the victim mentality, you know, behave.
It's always other people.
And then I looked down at verse number six, the Bible says,
And it came to pass as they came when David was returned from the slaughter of the Philistine,
that the woman came out of all the cities of Israel, singing and dancing to meet King Saul,
with tablets, with joy, and with instruments of music, and the woman answered one another as they
played, and said, Saul had slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands. So here's Saul,
this is what started it all, right? Instead of just realizing David's on the same team,
He starts to envy David.
He starts to look at David in a different way.
His reality, his perception of reality gets distorted.
And it's not like they say,
Saul didn't kill anybody, right?
They said Saul killed his thousands
and David his 10 thousands.
But because of that victim mentality,
he didn't see it that way.
Now look down at verse number eight the Bible says in Saul was very wrothed and the same displeased him
And he said they have ascribe unto David ten thousands and to me they have ascribed but thousands
And what can he have more but the kingdom and saw I David from that day and forward?
So Saul here after this moment, you know
He always tried to find a way to kill David and all because he had that victim mentality of thinking that you know just David
Obviously, David was going to replace him, but at the time, you know, because of what
these people said, that he killed his thousands and David's 10 thousands, he let that get
to him.
Now, I don't know if there was people on that day, you know, instigating it and being
like, dang, he said that he only killed thousands, right, and David is 10 thousands.
Maybe there was, you know, like, dang, you're going to let them say that.
It could have happened, right?
No, but it's like, but, you know, like I said, it's not like they didn't attribute to him
anything.
But he took it the wrong way and he developed that victim mentality now go to
Go to Philippians chapter 4 Philippians chapter 4
Now I'm almost done and here's the thing,
a lot of people that have this victim mentality,
again, we don't not want to pass this down to our children.
And unfortunately, this is what we see out there in the world,
people feeling sorry for themselves,
not realizing that they can change their situation.
And this is not, you know, something that's limited
to a certain group of people.
Now, obviously to this people, I'm always gonna bring this up.
Yes, they're always gonna be victims, right?
In their own mind.
But there's cultures today that feel that,
like as a whole, they're victims.
And it's not just black people, it's Hispanics,
it's white people, it's all kinds of people that feel
like they're the victims of something, right?
A lot of times, yeah, we attribute
because of what we see on social media
that it's only black people, right?
But it's also Hispanics, it's also white people,
and it's for a different reason.
I doubt that it's ever for the color of their skin, right?
And I'm not really gonna say nothing about black person
because look at my skin, right?
But...
It's because of the way people are that they get treated that way, you know, if you're somebody that's upright, you know
You're saved. You're doing what's right. You're living a good life. You're treating others
Well, you're gonna be treated well, but if you're somebody that's just like a criminal, you know
You're cheating in life. You're stealing from people
Whatever the case may be, you know life has its consequences and then when the consequences come and it's time to pay for your actions
those people
referring to all kinds of people is
They develop that victim mentality and instead of saying well, this is the consequences of the things that I've done
What do they say? Well, it's the system, right? It's the it's
Authorities, you know cops are not out there to get on just a certain race, you know, they're out there to get on criminals
People are doing wrong
Now, if you're there in Philippians chapter 4, here's the last thing that I want to say
is that people with a victim mentality, not only, you know, will they, you know, magnify
their circumstances, not only will they make it worse than what it really is.
And I think we've all encountered this type of people where they are going through bad things.
I don't want to discount that, but they make it more than what it really is.
And they almost make it seem like there's no way out, and there's always a way out as a Christian.
And then people that have this victim mentality,
instead of being able to empathize with others,
what do they do?
Their situation is far worse than theirs.
Nobody has suffered like them.
Nobody has gone through what they've gone.
Even though the Bible says that there's nothing new
under the sun, their situation is different.
And if you have a victim mentality,
this is one of the things that it limits you in.
You're not able to empathize with other people.
You know, you gotta forget about all the things
that you go to sometimes,
because there's always other people that have it worse.
And if you're a Christian,
you should have seen others better than yourselves.
You should seek to help others.
And a way that you are able to overcome,
you know, adversary and trials is by helping others.
You know, stop worrying about yourself,
focusing on yourself, learn to help others.
Now, in Philippians chapter 4, here's the last passage I'm going to turn to.
Look down at verse number 8.
The Bible says, finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true,
whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just,
whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely,
whatsoever things are good at report, if there be any virtue,
and if there be any praise, think on these things.
So instead of having that negative mindset, what is the Bible telling us?
Think on these things, you know, whatsoever is pure.
Think on what's right, you know, read the Bible, think about...
the Bible. You know, think about other people in church. A way to overcome victim
mentality is by thinking of others, right? There's other people in here that are going through,
you know, tough situations. And if you think on them and you're praying on them,
you don't really have time to feel sorry for yourself. So what's the sermon this morning?
You know, don't be a victim.
Obviously, no one's going to be like this guy, but also, you don't not want to be like this person either where you're always blaming other people.
You're always thinking that it's other people out to get you when in reality, it's just a result of you making bad decisions, having bad friends, you know, doing what's doing the wrong things.
You know, get right with God if that's you this morning, or if you know somebody who has that victim mentality, help them, don't enable them.
Help them overcome that, because as Christians,
as I said in the beginning,
God has so many promises for us,
we're more than conquerors.
God is for us, who could be against us?
So let's think about all those things in the Spray.
Heavenly Father, Lord, thank you for this day.
Thank you for allowing me to preach this morning.
I pray, Lord, that you continue to bless our church
and that you would help us, Lord,
to raise a generation of people with thick skin.
Help us, Lord, to not feel sorry for ourselves
or ever develop this mindset that it cripples us
and renders us ineffective for your service.
I pray, Lord, that you continue to bless our efforts
as a church, help us to reach people in our area.
continue to bless our church, Lord, as we get ready
to celebrate the 8th anniversary, Lord.
Bless the remainder of the day,
and then also bless the preacher of the night.
In Jesus' name, amen.
Please turn your songbooks to song number 316.
Song number three hundred and sixteen all together nice and strong on that first
verse I have decided to follow Jesus I have decided to follow Jesus I have
No turning back, no turning back
Though none go with thee, still I will follow
wonderful singing, you are dismissed.