INTRO:
Video
Story of man in Philly
Man in front of line was passed by guy on shoulder
Next stop light he shot him to death
We've heard stories like this pop up all over America
We are hearing new words to describe anger:
- Computer Rage
- Road Rage
- Air Rage
- Drive-bys
- Going postal
- School Shootings
However, anger is not something new:
- Anger made Cain kill Abel
- Anger made Saul lose his throne
- Anger made Moses smite the rock
We recognize, however, that anger is only an outward sign of something deeper.
When we were kids, we sang the song:
"If you're happy and you know it clap your hands", etc.
This song shows us that our internal world shows up in our external world.
In other words...
...The condition of the soul man...
...shows up on the physical man
We are a nation whose emotions are on edge
People are...
„« strung out
„« stressed out
„« burned out
We have phobias...
„« fears
„« syndromes
„« disorders
„« diseases
Everything gets on everyone's nerves
Abuse and neglect has left a generation of fragmented people...
...with holes in their soul
...not knowing where to turn
Most people have turned into complainers / whiners / and quitters
EXAMPLE: We see it in the church
- One of the most common terms used today among psychiatrists is LFT
LOW / FRUSTRATION / TOLERANCE
- Some fuses are shorter than others
- It's like they have no equilibrium
- When they get mad, it's like...BAM...RIGHT NOW!
- They go from real happy to real mad...RIGHT NOW!
- They're never equally -- balanced
- Hot or Cold
- One thing sets them off
- One thing goes wrong and they're mad at everyone
- Like the Grinch stole their Christmas!
- Others seem like they don't have a fuse
- They show no emotion at all
- Because if you spend all your time burying and hiding wrong emotions, you will eventually desensitize all emotion
- And, you walk around like a stone
- Ephesians 4:26
"In your anger do not sin. Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry"
- Be angry
- God is saying, I won't deny you the right to have emotion
- But, I don't want emotion to have you!
- Managing your emotions are the sign of being emotionally and spiritually mature
- I am supposed to have emotions
- It's my emotions that touch God
- We have a God who is touched by the feelings of infirmities (brokenness)
- Not all anger is a sin
4 KINDS OF ANGER
1. Sudden Anger Needs To Be Controlled
Proverbs 14:17
"A quick-tempered man does foolish things..."
Proverbs 15:18
"A hot-tempered man stirs up dissension, but a patient man calms a quarrel."
- Break up furniture
- Break up relationship
- Things said that shouldn't have been said
- You're a time bomb
- A jack-in-the-box
- You're angry because of something in the past that hurt you
- And anytime someone gets even close to that hurt,
- ...you explode
„« Explosion hits a lot of things and people around you
- You can control it...
EXAMPLE: Phone rings / you're in a fight / hello
Step One - Confess it
Step Two - Submit to God
Step Three - Stay aware and stay away
2. Sinful Anger Is To Be Condemned
Matthew 5:21-22
21. "You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, `Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.'
22. But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, `Raca, ' is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, `You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of hell."
- If we are angry without just cause
- Or anger that is seeking revenge, it is sin
Romans 12:19
"Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," says the Lord."
- 'Raca' -- is a term of insult and vindictiveness
- It's sinful anger when...
1. Toward a person (we wrestle not against flesh and blood)
2. Without justifiable cause
3. Seeking vengeance
4. Breeding Bitterness
5. And, ultimately not forgiving
3. Stubborn Anger Is To Be Conquered
- Anger that stays and won't go away
- It doesn't matter if you've counted to 10 or 100!
- Ephesians 4:26
"Don't let the sun go down on your anger."
- Some have had the sun go down every night for 30 years
- And the curse grows deeper and wider
- Holding on to hurts / grudges / bitterness
- EXAMPLE:
- I had to develop a relationship with my dad
- 5 years ago he was shot
- 4 years ago he had a heart attack
- If he would have died
- The sun would have gone down on my anger
- The way you get free from anger is by forgiving
- One of the Greek words for anger is....exhale
- NOTE: Verse 31....bitterness and rage
Rage is bitterness boiling inside you
- EXAMPLE: The teapot
- Brawling = Shouting, slander, insults
- Malice = Desire to harm
- Ecclesiastes 7:9
"Do not be quickly provoked in your spirit,
for anger resides in the lap of fools."
- Anger resides
- It's always there waiting for opportunity
- And when you least expect it
- Behind the smile, they are boiling
- Anger resides in people who...
...laugh with you
...sleep with you
...live with you
...clap for you
- Anger resides...
...you are angry at people that are dead
...it's not hurting them
...but it's hurting you
- Anger resides...
...been angry 'bout the same thing for 30 years
...it has dried you up
...disassembled you
...defeated you
4. Sanctified Anger Must Be Channeled
* Be Angry - That's a command
* Sin Not - That's a command
* Mark 3 - Jesus was angry
* Maybe we should be angry...
...at...teens whose parents abuse them
...at...Devil robbing people of salvation
...at...Christians with wrong priorities and agendas about the church
- Genesis 49:6-7
6. "Let me not enter their council, let me not join their assembly, for they have killed men in their anger and hamstrung oxen as they pleased. "
7. "Cursed be their anger, so fierce, and their fury, so cruel! I will scatter them in Jacob and disperse them in Israel."
- Cursed in their anger
- The curse was a result of anger
- Your angry reaction to the cruelties of life can cause you to lose your blessing
- Jacob in the final moments of life is ready to bless his sons
- They lost their blessing because of their anger
- The curse is where did the anger come from?
- You would be surprised how many people miss their blessing...
...because of their anger
- or any other curse that we allow to continue in our lives.
„« Now, they had a right to be angry
„« Their sister had been raped
„« So they killed them after they had been circumcised
„« They killed them when they were vulnerable
o Your anger, most of the time, is geared toward someone you view to be weaker (during personal pain)
o Vindictive / schemer / manipulative
o It's amazing how you can control anger when it's someone stronger than you
„« When you are threatened
„« or under attack
„« You begin to scheme...and set up plans
„« They were schemers
...watch the generational curse
„« Jacob, their father was a schemer / hurt people
„« His mother Rebecca was also
„« His uncle was a liar / schemer (Leah/Rebecca)
„« Jacob hated in his children what he saw in himself
„« Curses run through family
„« Break the curse...
...Submit to God
...Resist the enemy
...Get the Word
...Recognize where it comes from
...Tear out the root by forgiving your offender
...Prophesy
Joseph's Sons
Ephraim
* Fruitful in affliction
* I could forget it because God blessed me anyway
* I believe God will give double for your trouble
* You didn't have all the advantages
* You grew up scattered and disconnected
* You would be stupid to let anger / resentment / bitterness reside
* When God blessed you anyway!
Manasseh
„X I forgot all the troubles of my Father's house
„X The human should struggles with divine command
„X Joseph didn't forget
„X He resolved
„X All his toil didn't affect his destiny
