Participants: Pr. John Lomacang
Series Code: ASHF
Program Code: ASHF000155A
|
00:20 Hello, friends, and welcome to another
00:22 Wednesday Night Bible Study here at the 3ABN Worship Center 00:24 at A Sharper Focus. 00:26 We thank you for taking the time 00:28 to tune in to study this important topic with us, 00:31 and we are studying a topic 00:33 that sometimes often gets ignored, 00:35 how to deal with day-to-day issues, 00:39 in particular this one is called dealing with anger. 00:42 What's the title? 00:44 Dealing with anger, a very real emotion 00:48 that every one of us at one point or another 00:51 has to deal with. 00:53 And in a moment we'll tell you 00:54 where to get a copy of the lesson, 00:56 but for the next 57 minutes and 5 seconds to be specific, 01:01 we're going to walk through what the Bible has to say 01:03 and use some real-life situations 01:06 to find out how we can gain strength 01:08 to overcome these issues that we all confront. 01:11 But before we even have our theme song 01:13 and before I tell you where to get a copy of the lesson, 01:16 let's bow our heads and invite the Lord to be with us. 01:20 Our Father in heaven, we thank You 01:21 for the opportunity to study Your Word tonight. 01:23 We do pray that You'll be with us, 01:25 guide our hearts and minds that we may grasp 01:28 what Your Holy Spirit teaches us, 01:30 that we may know and understand 01:32 that as we comprehend intellectually 01:35 that we'll find strength also spiritually 01:37 to live in harmony with Your will. 01:39 We do pray in Jesus' name. Amen. 01:44 Now to get a copy of lesson number 37, 01:46 go to this website, it is ASF.3ABN.org 01:51 and download lesson number 37, lesson number 37. 01:56 Now lesson number 37 has... 02:01 Actually, we're covering about 11 questions tonight, 02:06 but based on our syllabus here, we may only cover 6, 02:10 but we'll see what we're able to cover tonight. 02:12 We have an amazing opportunity to walk through the scriptures 02:16 to see what the Word has to say to us. 02:19 But before we do that, we always sing a theme song. 02:21 And our theme song is on the screen. 02:24 If you want to join us, it is entitled, 02:26 "Victory in Jesus." 02:27 Let's sing this theme song together. 02:40 I heard an old, old story 02:44 How the Savior came from glory 02:48 How He gave His life on Calvary 02:52 To save a wretch like me 02:55 I heard about His groaning 02:59 Of His precious blood's atoning 03:03 Then I repented of my sins 03:07 And won the victory 03:11 O victory in Jesus 03:14 My Savior forever 03:18 He sought me and bought me 03:22 With His redeeming blood 03:26 He loved me ere I knew Him 03:29 And all my love is due Him 03:33 He plunged me to victory 03:37 Beneath the cleansing flood 03:41 I heard about a mansion 03:45 He has built for me in glory 03:48 And I heard about the streets of gold 03:52 Beyond the crystal sea 03:56 About the angels singing 04:00 And the old redemption story 04:04 And some sweet day I'll sing up there 04:07 The song of victory 04:10 Key change. 04:11 O victory in Jesus 04:15 My Savior forever 04:19 He sought me and bought me 04:22 With His redeeming blood 04:26 He loved me ere I knew Him 04:30 And all my love is due Him 04:34 He plunged me to victory 04:38 Beneath the cleansing flood 04:41 He plunged me to victory 04:45 Beneath the cleansing flood 04:52 Amen. 04:55 In the day-to-day that we live, 04:58 you know, the weather is changing 04:59 and it's a little warm here tonight, 05:01 but I think we'll be able to make it. 05:03 In the day-to-day of our lives we go through various emotions 05:09 and among one of those that the Bible addresses 05:12 I think clear, fully of a man by the name of Uzziah. 05:16 Uzziah was a man in the Bible that the Bible talks about, 05:19 he became a king when he was 16 years old, 05:22 and he reigned for 52 years 05:25 which means from 16 if you add 52, 05:28 what does that come up with? 05:29 What age did he reign till? Sixty-eight. 05:33 And all of his life, 05:35 his successes were contributed to the Lord 05:37 leading in one aspect of his life or the other, 05:40 but at 68, he made a turn in his life 05:42 and the Bible says, matter of fact, 05:44 go with me to the story, 05:45 let's look at this very carefully, 05:47 and it is in the book of 2 Chronicles. 05:53 Let me turn there and tell you exactly 05:55 where we can find our story. 05:58 2 Chronicles, here we are, Kings. 06:02 You know, Chronicles used to be 06:03 one of my least favorite books in the Bible, 06:07 but that is 1 Chronicles. 06:10 But when you get into 2 Chronicles 06:13 and the stories that you find there, 06:15 here we are, that's Asa, Moab, 06:20 okay, evaluation, this is... 06:25 Let's go to 2 Chronicles 26. 06:30 Okay, 2 Chronicles 26. 06:36 And I remember 06:40 reading a story of a person 06:45 whose day started with one event 06:49 that tumbled into another event that tumbled into another event 06:55 and each of the events that followed the first event 07:00 became deeper and darker and more anger filled. 07:04 And by the end of the day, 07:06 with all the things that tumbled, 07:07 this individual traced all of his anger during the day 07:10 back to one singular event. 07:13 And that one singular event, 07:15 the way that he responded to that 07:19 was the indication 07:20 that if he had only responded to that first event 07:25 with a clear mind, 07:26 then all the other events would not have tumbled 07:29 the way that they did. 07:31 Have you ever been in the situation 07:32 where you can trace the things that happened during your day 07:35 with one decision you made early in the morning? 07:37 Have you ever been there? 07:39 Each of us has been there in one way or the other. 07:41 And we think about 07:44 if we could make decisions on issues of anger. 07:48 Anger is more than just being upset. 07:51 I remember one day when I was on my way to work, 07:56 I was working at a bank at the time, 07:57 the Bank of America in New York City, 07:59 and it was a rainy day, and I had a large umbrella. 08:04 And I remember walking down my steps, 08:05 and as soon as I crossed the street to my house, 08:08 right across the street there was a large church 08:10 and I heard a man yell to call his dog to come back. 08:14 And I turned around just in enough time 08:17 to bend my umbrell down and block it 08:19 from a German Shepherd attacking me. 08:21 And I kept blocking every way 08:23 that he was trying to come to me 08:25 until the owner called his dog back. 08:28 And I was so upset. 08:30 Then I went to the subway 08:33 right there on Fulton and Franklin 08:34 for those of you that are in Brooklyn, New York. 08:36 And as I enter the subway, 08:39 it's kind of a terrible story to tell 08:40 because He said, "Confession is good for the soul, 08:42 but hard on the reputation." 08:44 I went down the subway, walked through the turnstile 08:47 where you pay your fare ticket on the train, 08:49 and as I'm waiting on the platform 08:51 to get on the train, 08:52 a police officer walks up to me and arrests me. 08:56 And I said, "Well, what have I done?" 08:58 And, you know, police officers, they don't explain anything. 09:01 He said, "Come with me." 09:02 And I went with him, I was on my way to the bank, 09:07 dressed up in my suit, beginning my day of work, 09:10 and instead of ending up at Bank of America, 09:13 I was down in a police station in a holding cell, 09:18 and I kept trying to say to the police, 09:21 "I've paid my fare. 09:22 Here's the change 09:23 from the dollar that I gave him back." 09:25 Then the fare was a lot less than it is now. 09:27 He still wouldn't believe me. 09:28 He said, "Tell that to the judge." 09:30 So here I am in the back of the police car 09:32 and I remember in my anger I said to him, 09:35 "If I lose my job, I'm coming after you." 09:37 Now I mean, Okay, I wasn't... 09:41 I wasn't a pastor, I was very angry. 09:44 Here I am dressed up in my suit 09:45 talking to a police officer that way, 09:47 anyway I got down to the court, 09:49 and about 11:30, I couldn't make a phone call, 09:54 didn't want to call my job and tell my supervisor, 09:57 "I'll be in late, I'm in jail." 10:00 How do you say that? 10:01 So I appeared before the judge and he says, 10:05 "Why are you here?" 10:07 And I said, 10:09 "Well, I told the police officer 10:12 that I paid my fare, but he said I didn't." 10:18 He said, "What proof do you have?" 10:20 And I took out my change, I said to the Your Honor, 10:26 I said, "Well, here's the change 10:27 from the fare that I paid." 10:29 And he said, "Case dismissed. Get out of my court." 10:33 And I went to work and I thought to myself, 10:36 "Oh, I'm glad nothing worse happened." 10:39 But I traced that response to that event 10:43 back to me getting angry and I thought to myself, 10:46 "What if something worse had happened?" 10:48 And when we think about the angers 10:50 that we face in life, 10:53 they don't always turn out the way that they would like, 10:55 but the Bible gives us counsel 10:58 that helps us deal with situations in life 11:01 that will result in honor to God 11:04 rather than in detriment to ourselves. 11:07 Honey, pass me that tissue you have in you hand, 11:08 it looks so good, I need it. 11:12 Okay, give me that 'cause I'm a little warm in here. 11:14 I was thinking of turn on the air on, 11:15 but it is a little cool outside, 11:18 and I said, "Well, let me go ahead and see 11:20 if I can make it through." 11:21 But thank you very much, I'm just going to dab my nose. 11:24 Go with me to the Book of Psalms 103. 11:26 We're going to look at some of these questions tonight 11:28 on how to deal with anger. 11:31 We're going to begin with our first question, 11:33 dealing with anger. 11:34 How do we deal with anger? 11:36 How do we find answers when the anger is stronger 11:41 than sometimes we are able to handle, 11:45 how do we deal with it? 11:47 Let's begin with our first question tonight. 11:51 All right, question number one, 11:55 "What does the Bible reveal about God's Anger?" 12:01 Kind of a strange way to begin, 12:02 but the Bible does say that the Lord has anger. 12:05 "What does the Bible reveal about God's Anger?" 12:07 Let's go to Psalms 103:8-9. 12:11 Psalms 103:8-9, let's look at that together. 12:16 Okay. Psalms 103:8-9. 12:22 And by the way, all you've got to do is... 12:25 Here we are, Psalms 103:8-9, here it's on the screen. 12:28 Let's read the first one together. 12:30 The Bible says, are you ready? 12:32 "The Lord is..." What? 12:33 "Merciful..." And what else? 12:35 "Gracious..." 12:37 And then it says, "Slow to anger..." 12:40 And what else? 12:41 "Abounding in mercy. 12:43 He will not always strive with us, 12:47 nor will he keep His anger..." 12:48 For how long? 12:50 "Forever." 12:51 So if we put the answer there, what would you put in, 12:53 how would you respond to that? 12:55 Give me some feedback. How would you respond? 12:57 Slow to anger. Slow to anger. 12:59 Does it say He gets angry? 13:01 Yes, but does He get angry quickly? 13:04 No. He gets angry slowly. 13:07 And, you know, if we think about God getting angry, 13:09 that's kind of... 13:10 that's a hard thought to wrap your head around 13:13 because oftentimes when we get angry, 13:15 it's a different emotion altogether. 13:17 It's not a general anger. 13:19 It's an anger that has an emotion behind it. 13:23 It's an anger that often elevates our blood pressure, 13:27 our heart rate, our thoughts begin to change, 13:31 we begin to feel differently about our anger, 13:33 and it often affects everything we do after that. 13:35 But the anger that God has, 13:37 I can safely say God's anger does not affect 13:42 the way that He deals with His children. 13:43 Can you say amen to that? 13:44 Because He also says in his Word, 13:46 "The Lord has not dealt with us according to our sin." 13:50 So He doesn't say, "I can't wait to get you." 13:52 Or "You wait..." 13:54 Like my mother used to say. 13:56 When I was being raised, 13:58 she disciplined me and she would say, 14:00 "You wait till your dad get in." 14:01 Or "You wait till your father gets home." 14:03 It's kind of like this fearful looking 14:05 for of the punishment to follow, 14:08 but God doesn't deal with us that way. 14:10 He is slow to anger, abounding in what? 14:13 Mercy. 14:14 What is mercy? What is mercy? 14:18 What's the difference between mercy and justice? 14:23 What's the difference between mercy and justice? 14:26 Justice is what a person asks for 14:29 when they know they're innocent. 14:31 Mercy is what a person asks for when they know they are guilty. 14:36 So the Lord seeing that we are guilty in what we do, 14:39 and it brings out anger in Him based on what that may be, 14:43 He's still abounding in mercy. 14:47 And then it says, "He will not always strive with us." 14:49 Meaning the word strive there 14:52 is different from the word used in Genesis 14:53 when the Bible says, 14:55 "The Spirit will not always strive with man." 14:57 That's appealing to man's heart. 14:59 The word there is better use, 15:01 the Lord is not going to always argue with us. 15:03 He's not going to always irritate us 15:05 about what we have done. 15:07 He deals with the issue, then He moves on, 15:09 but He moves our heart to a point of repentance. 15:11 But thank the Lord He's slow to anger. 15:15 Let's go to the next one. 15:16 Let's go to question number two. 15:19 And by the way, here's a slide, 15:21 I've used slides to illustrate some of these points. 15:24 If the guys in graphics could bring this up. 15:27 What I've put in there a slide, "Be slow to anger." 15:30 And notice where the piece of tape is. 15:33 Where is it? 15:35 What happens when we get angry? 15:37 We yell. 15:38 Huh? We yell. 15:40 We yell, what else do we do? 15:45 Okay, well, we use words that we shouldn't use. 15:49 Say mean things. 15:51 Usually, our anger is translated not only in words 15:54 but sometimes in actions, 15:55 but oftentimes, mostly in words. 15:59 We express things that we should not express. 16:01 We say things that, as one person once said, 16:04 "Anger is sometimes 16:05 like taking a feathered pillow outside on a windy day 16:10 and beating that pillow till the feathers start flying 16:12 in all different directions." 16:14 Sometimes we say things in anger 16:16 that we wish we can take back. 16:18 And then the person that gave me that illustration once said, 16:20 "Okay, now go to the next day 16:22 and try to gather all those feathers back up." 16:24 Can you do it? 16:25 And so when we get angry, we have to be careful 16:27 with how we express ourselves 16:30 because anger often translates our emotions 16:32 to a point where we don't think carefully 16:35 about what we say before we say it. 16:37 But the Lord doesn't ever have to repent on what He says 16:40 even when He gets angry with us. 16:44 Let's go to number two, let's go to number two. 16:47 Question number two. 16:49 Okay. 16:57 "What kind of emotional disposition should we have 17:03 towards Anger?" 17:04 "What kind of emotional disposition should we have 17:10 towards Anger?" 17:12 In other words, how should we respond to anger? 17:14 What should we do? How should we handle our anger? 17:18 Psalm 145:8. 17:20 Psalm 145:8, let's look at that together. 17:27 All right, Psalm 145:8, 17:29 David the Psalmist was in many situations 17:32 and the reason why you find that the first two text 17:35 come from the Book of Psalms 17:37 is David the Psalmist was in situations 17:39 where he could have been angry. 17:41 He could have easily lost his temper 17:42 based on how the moments and the situations 17:45 that he was in. 17:47 For example, can you think of somebody 17:48 that wasn't very nice to David? 17:52 Who can you think of if you think about him? 17:54 Saul. Saul. 17:56 Was he very nice to David? 17:59 He was his King. 18:00 Did David have opportunities 18:01 where he could have gotten back at Saul? 18:03 Yes, he did. But what did he say? 18:06 "Touch not the Lord's anointed and do my prophet..." 18:10 What? "No harm." 18:11 So in moments where David could have reversed 18:14 or responded to Saul 18:17 for what Saul had done to David, 18:20 David was not that kind of man. 18:23 He allowed the Lord to handle the matters 18:26 that brought him to anger. 18:28 He didn't do that. 18:29 So let's look at what advice he has given to us. 18:32 Psalm 145 and let's look at verse 8 together. 18:36 Here it is, Psalm 145:8. 18:40 It says, "The Lord is gracious and full of..." What? 18:45 "Full of compassion." 18:48 He is what else also? 18:50 "Slow to anger and..." What else? 18:53 "Great in mercy." 18:55 So write that down. 18:56 What do you find in the character of God 18:58 that's vitally important to us 19:00 that we could implement in our own lives? 19:03 "Slow to anger." 19:07 I think of things that I saw growing up, 19:11 I was raised in a household 19:15 where the man that was raising me, he... 19:18 There was a particular show on television he like to watch, 19:20 it was called "The Honeymooners." 19:22 Old black and white. 19:24 Oh, yeah. 19:25 You remember "The Honeymooners"? 19:26 What was, Norton? Yeah. 19:29 Ralph Kramden. Yes. 19:32 Jackie Gleason. 19:36 And his wife's name was Alice. Jackie Gleason's wife name. 19:41 He was Ralph Kramden in the program. 19:44 And he would always... 19:46 This program was a constant lesson, 19:48 almost every episode was a constant lesson 19:51 on why you shouldn't get angry 19:54 'cause it almost seemed in like every show was he got angry 19:56 for something or the other, 19:58 either with Norton or with his boss, 20:00 or with his wife, almost every episode, 20:02 it seemed like the entire purpose of the program 20:06 was how to get angry and how to apologize. 20:10 He did that often and often. 20:11 And so there was one particular episode 20:13 where his wife was trying to raise extra money 20:19 to get him a wonderful birthday present. 20:22 And since she did not work outside of the home, 20:26 she decided to take a babysitting job on the side. 20:29 But she didn't want her husband to know about it 20:31 because he wanted to be the sole provider. 20:34 So she was taking care of her little boy named... 20:37 Let's just say Marcus was his name. 20:39 And when he was on his way home, 20:42 he overheard her on the phone talking about Marcus, 20:46 "Wait till my husband leaves and come over afterwards. 20:49 And then when he goes to work then you could bring him over," 20:52 trying to make arrangements. 20:53 And he walked in and having heard 20:57 came to the conclusion himself 20:59 what this situation could have been. 21:02 He was completely wrong, completely utterly wrong 21:07 about the conclusions about his wife. 21:10 And when he found out about it, 21:14 after losing his temper to his wife, 21:18 she said to him, 21:22 pins and needles, needles and pins. 21:27 An angry man is a man... A happy man... 21:30 An angry man is a man that... Something to that effect. 21:32 Because he could never smile when he was angry. 21:35 And after he lost his complete composure 21:38 over something that he was completely wrong about, 21:41 she said, "Your response should have been 21:43 completely the opposite." 21:44 But in the same way, in many of our situations in life, 21:47 we are not slow to anger. 21:49 We come to what they call rush to judgment 21:51 about certain circumstances. 21:52 And we're not slow to anger, 21:54 but we are often slow to forgive. 21:56 We're often slow to forget. 21:58 We rush to anger, and we're slow to forget. 22:01 And the thing that also comes to my mind 22:03 when I go back to the first text we had 22:07 was David the Psalmist says, 22:09 "The Lord will not hold His anger forever." 22:12 How many homes have been divided for years 22:17 because people don't get rid of their anger? 22:21 Many situations, homes, jobs, companies, 22:24 relationships have been divided because people have not held 22:28 and dealt with their anger accordingly. 22:30 But let's go to the next one. 22:31 So here's a slide that illustrates 22:34 this very particular point, slow to anger. 22:37 And it comes out and says, look at this, it says, 22:39 "Don't let anger become your..." 22:41 What? 22:43 "First reaction." 22:44 So under the points you'll notice, 22:46 the scriptural point, the line under the scriptures there, 22:50 write that answer down 22:51 as to what the scripture communicated to us. 22:54 And then under the point number two, 22:57 write this point down that's on the screen, 22:59 "Don't let anger become your first reaction." 23:04 "Don't let anger become your first reaction." 23:09 When anger is your first reactions, 23:10 then what usually happens after that 23:13 is something that we are often not in control of. 23:16 "Don't let anger become your first reaction." 23:21 Okay, let's go to number three. 23:23 Let's go to number three tonight. 23:29 "What happens when anger becomes an early reaction?" 23:35 "What happens when anger becomes an early reaction?" 23:40 We're going to go to Proverbs 14:29. 23:43 Proverbs 14:29. 23:47 Okay. 23:50 Let's look at that together. 23:53 Okay, here it is on the screen. Proverbs 14:29. 23:57 It says, "He who is..." Read that with me together. 24:01 "Slow to wrath has..." What? 24:04 "Great understanding, but he who is impulsive exalts..." 24:10 What? "Exalts folly." 24:12 Write that down. 24:13 "He who is slow to wrath has great understanding." 24:17 Now what does that mean? 24:19 Let me explain that in greater detail. 24:22 This is talking about evaluating a situation. 24:25 This is talking about what you see 24:29 as compared to what is a situation evaluation. 24:32 So a person that is slow to wrath 24:35 has great understanding. 24:37 They often evaluate, 24:38 am I seeing what I think I'm seeing? 24:41 Am I hearing what I think I'm hearing? 24:44 They use great evaluation. 24:47 They assess the situation 24:48 before they come to a conclusion. 24:50 And so when you assess a situation, 24:52 it takes great understanding 24:54 to evaluate what a person might see 24:57 and evaluate what a person might hear 24:59 and then conclude after that whether or not 25:01 what they thought is that way or what they heard is that way. 25:06 That's why it uses the phrase here, 25:08 "But he who is impulsive exalts folly." 25:14 Have you ever had to apologize for coming to a conclusion 25:17 about something that was not that way? 25:21 Yes? 25:22 Have we all at one point or the other? 25:25 More than once? 25:27 In many examples we come to conclusions 25:29 about things that are not the way they appear. 25:32 As we have one of the lesson folders here 25:35 that talks about the Sabbath. 25:36 On the front of the folder, it has a hat that looks like 25:39 Abraham Lincoln's hat, the brim and the height, 25:42 and they say, "Measure, which one is longer?" 25:45 And it looks like the height of the hat is longer, 25:48 but in fact the brim, although thinner, 25:51 is actually longer than the height, which means 25:53 things are not always the way they appear to be. 25:56 So when we evaluate situations 25:58 what could have resulted in anger 26:00 doesn't result in anger 26:01 because we've evaluated what we've seen, all right. 26:05 So write this down, here's another example. 26:08 If you put the answer down, what did you put down 26:09 for question number three? 26:12 "What happens when anger becomes an early reaction?" 26:15 What is it? 26:18 Don't be impulsive. 26:20 Don't be impulsive. Don't be impulsive. 26:23 Sometimes people build up what I refer to as an anger bank. 26:29 An anger bank... 26:34 No, think about this, 26:35 an anger bank is really an important thing 26:37 that I want to consider for a moment. 26:40 An anger bank is when a person holds on to one situation 26:46 about a person and then another thing happens 26:50 and they invest more anger toward that individual 26:53 and another thing happens and they invest more anger 26:57 in their anger bank toward that individual. 26:59 And what happens is it becomes easier and easier 27:02 for them to hear the slightest thing 27:05 and begin to express anger about a particular situation. 27:08 That's where the impulse comes in 27:10 'cause the first thing they say 27:11 if you even mention a person's name 27:13 before you even finish what you have to say, 27:15 they're already angry 27:16 because they've invested into that anger bank, 27:18 and it stays there and sits, and it's like putting garbage 27:22 into a garbage bag and you keep that garbage bag 27:25 by your bed or under your desk or in your closet. 27:28 And after a while, that anger begins to stink 27:31 and it doesn't take very much. 27:33 The moment you open that anger bank or that garbage, 27:36 then the stench comes out 27:38 and all that has to happen for you 27:40 to go from zero to anger is just the thought 27:43 or the mention somebody might say, 27:45 "Don't tell me so and so said that." 27:48 And before you even say what they said, 27:50 that person has already become impulsive 27:53 and the reaction is not one that brings glory to God. 27:56 Let me give you some examples. 27:58 I told you earlier, go to 2 Chronicles, 28:00 but I didn't tell you what book. 28:02 Go to 2 Chronicles 26. 28:04 Let's look at some of the examples here, 28:07 2 Chronicles 26, the evaluation of Uzzaih. 28:13 The evaluation of Uzziah. 28:18 What we're going to see 28:20 is a man with a lot of successes 28:23 and then one moment 28:25 where he turns in a different direction 28:27 and then it begins to... 28:28 and then what the Lord reveals about his anger, 28:30 reveals about the condition of his mind and of his heart. 28:35 Let's go ahead and see. 28:38 Let's go to verse 15. Let's go to verse 15. 28:43 Let's go to verse 15. 28:45 And I'm reading in the New King James Version. 28:49 The earlier verses talk about his successes, 28:53 how from a young man the Lord blessed him, 28:58 and that's in verse 3, 28:59 he became a king when he was 16 years old, 29:01 it talks about his fame and his success 29:03 growing from generation to generation. 29:05 But there's a change that happens in verse 15, 29:08 let's look at this. 29:10 And it says, "And he made devices in Jerusalem 29:14 invented by skillful men 29:16 to beyond the towers and the corners 29:19 to shoot arrows and large stones." 29:22 Talking about his prowess in war. 29:24 And it says, "So his fame spread far and wide 29:27 for he was marvelously helped..." 29:30 And what's the next word? 29:32 The next phrase is, "Till he became strong." 29:36 So all of his successes 29:38 caused him at one point or the other in his life 29:41 to begin to rely less and less on the Lord 29:45 because if you look earlier, I need to support that point, 29:49 let's go back a... 29:53 Let's go back a few verses here 29:56 and see the examples of how the Lord... 29:59 I said Chapter 20. 30:00 Oh, here it is, Chapter 26 it was. 30:02 I said 27? Did I say 27? 30:04 I did say 26. Okay, good. 30:07 Let's look at... 30:14 Okay, verse 5 of 2 Chronicles 26, 30:18 verse 5, showing how his early stages of his life 30:21 he relied on the Lord. 30:23 It says in verse 5, 30:24 "He sought God in the days of Zechariah 30:27 who had understanding in the visions of God." 30:30 And look what it says, 30:32 "And as long as he..." Did what? 30:34 "Sought the Lord, God made him..." What? 30:36 "Prosper." 30:37 That was in the early stages of his kingly reign. 30:41 But as you go further, many, many years later, 30:44 going back to verse 15, 30:45 "So his fame spread far and wide 30:47 for he was marvelously helped till..." 30:50 What happened? "Till he became strong." 30:54 It was no longer the Lord's strength, 30:56 but it was now his strength. 30:57 And then he looked at all of his successes 31:00 and sometimes you get to the place 31:01 where you're so successful 31:02 that you rely less and less on the Lord. 31:05 And that's the dangerous turning point 31:06 because look at the next verse, verse 16. 31:10 It says, verse 16, 31:13 "But when he was strong, his heart was..." What? 31:18 "Lifted up to his destruction 31:21 for he transgressed against the Lord 31:24 his God by doing..." What? 31:27 "Entering the temple of the Lord 31:29 to burn incense on the altar of incense." 31:33 Now was he a king or was he a priest, 31:36 which one was he? 31:37 He was a king, 31:39 but he crossed the line from being a king 31:41 to trying to carry out 31:44 the responsibilities of a priest 31:46 that God had never ordained, 31:48 that God had never qualified him for, 31:50 that God never called him for. 31:54 So he decided to burn incense on the altar of incense. 31:59 Now to understand clearly, 32:01 to burn incense, you had to be a priest. 32:04 You couldn't be just anybody. 32:06 You couldn't just go into the temple unless 32:08 that was what God ordained you to do. 32:10 And look what happened, verse 17, 32:12 we're gonna go down to the area 32:14 where anger begin to be manifested in his own life. 32:19 "So as Uriah," verse 17, "the priest went in after him 32:24 and with him were 80 priests of the Lord who were," 32:29 what kind of men? 32:31 "Valiant men, 32:32 and they withstood King Uzzaih and said to him," 32:36 look at what they said. 32:37 "It is not for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the Lord 32:41 but for the priests, the sons of Aaron 32:45 who are consecrated to burn incense. 32:49 Get out of the sanctuary for you have trespassed. 32:53 You shall have no honor from the Lord God." 32:57 Now the key verses, verse 19, look at what happened. 33:02 "Then Uzziah became..." What? 33:06 Was he angry? 33:07 Yes. 33:09 Was he angry or was he furious? 33:11 He was beyond anger. 33:13 Now upset is where it starts. 33:16 He went beyond anger to the point of fury. 33:20 Fury, another word for fury is rage. 33:23 In other words, "I'm the King, how dare you tell me, 33:29 as the king, what I can and cannot do?" 33:31 That's where Uzziah entered into, 33:34 he entered into that kind of mindset 33:36 because to become furious. 33:38 But the priest didn't come by themselves, 33:40 it was 80 priests, 33:41 so they were all in one accord about what Uzziah had done. 33:45 They didn't come by themselves. 33:47 It wasn't a one-to-one conversation. 33:48 In other words, we discussed this. 33:49 We've got to all confront him about what he had done. 33:52 And notice what happened. 33:54 And it says... 33:57 Where am I now? 33:59 Verse 18, 34:00 "And they withstood king Uzziah and said to him, 34:03 'It is not for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the Lord 34:07 but for the priests, the sons of Aaron 34:10 who are consecrated to burn incense. 34:15 Get out of the sanctuary for you have trespassed. 34:17 You shall have no honor from the Lord God.'" 34:21 And then it says in verse 19, "Then Uzziah became furious 34:25 and he had a censer in his hand to burn incense. 34:28 And while he was..." What? 34:30 "Angry with the priests, leprosy broke out on..." Where? 34:36 "On his forehead." 34:37 Now this is a very important point. 34:40 Before the priest in the house of the Lord, 34:42 beside the incense altar 34:45 leprosy broke out on his forehead. 34:47 Now what is that indicating? 34:48 What is that indicating? 34:50 The condition of his mind, 34:54 leprosy breaking out on the forehead, 34:55 the condition of his mind, 34:57 the very place where the anger was seated. 35:00 It was not what other people thought about Uzzaih 35:02 but what Uzzaih thought about himself. 35:05 The leprosy broke out where his anger was expressed. 35:08 And you have two men in the Bible 35:09 that are talked about majorly when it comes to leprosy. 35:12 Do you remember the one that dipped 35:14 in the Jordan seven times, what was his name? 35:16 Naaman. 35:17 Naaman, the Bible says, was a leper and 1 Kings 5, 35:21 "He was a leper until God removed his leprosy." 35:25 But Uzziah was a man of great success 35:28 until he transgressed against the Lord, 35:31 burned incense where he should not have, 35:33 became furious, angry with the priest, 35:36 and look what happened, look what happened. 35:39 Verse 20, 35:43 "And Azariah the chief priest 35:45 and all the priests looked at him, 35:47 and there on his forehead he was a leprous. 35:51 So they thrust him out of that place. 35:54 Indeed he also..." What? 35:56 "He hurried to get out 35:57 because the Lord had struck him." 35:59 In other words not only were the priest upset with him, 36:03 but when the Lord gets upset with you, 36:04 you're in a different ballpark altogether. 36:07 You're in a different ballpark altogether. 36:10 Was not only the priest upset, but the Lord said, 36:13 "I didn't call you to be a priest. 36:15 I didn't anoint you to be a priest." 36:16 He had to be dedicated. 36:17 He wasn't dedicated to be a priest. 36:20 He was dedicated... 36:21 He had the skills of a king 36:22 trying to do the job of a priest. 36:24 In other words, 36:26 this is a very important story because there are some people 36:28 that are in companies or in churches, 36:30 and I've heard some horror stories 36:31 about board meetings. 36:34 You know, people tell many of our board members, 36:36 "You have board meeting tonight. 36:38 We're going to pray for you." 36:39 And we say, "We don't have those kinds of board meetings." 36:42 Thank the Lord in all the churches I've been in, 36:44 now we've had some of that kind of board, 36:46 we've had members that would eat pepper 36:47 before they come to board meeting, 36:49 and I would tell, 36:50 we had one particular guy in our church, 36:52 he was one of our elders, 36:54 and he liked a lot of hot pepper. 36:57 And I could always tell when he had pepper in his meal 36:59 and at board meeting he would bring up 37:01 some of the most controversial topics, 37:03 and I said, "Did you have pepper tonight?" 37:06 And he'd break out and say, "How did you know?" 37:08 I said, "I can tell." 37:09 Because what we eat often affects our attitude. 37:13 So as time went on, 37:16 for the sake of the board meetings, 37:18 but we didn't have those kind of board meetings. 37:19 There are some churches where people... 37:21 And I may be talking to a situation 37:22 you have where some people, 37:24 when the nominating committee comes around, 37:25 they don't get the position they want, 37:27 and that becomes in-fighting, they're angry. 37:30 I've been here for X amount of years, I should be that. 37:34 But if God didn't call you to be a priest, 37:37 be whatever God calls you to be. 37:39 Amen? 37:40 Somebody may be just a deacon or an elder or the one 37:44 that directs the cars were ever God called you, 37:46 be content there. 37:48 As the Apostle Paul says, 37:49 "Be content in whatsoever state you are in." Be content. 37:53 And when we're content, 37:55 then we don't have to deal with the issues of anger. 37:56 Let's go to the next one. Let's go to the next one. 37:59 Uzziah, and by the way 38:02 the reason why this story was intriguing to me, 38:04 just to give you the last part of that, 38:07 go with me to Isaiah very quickly. 38:09 Just since I opened that door, I might as well give you 38:11 the other component to this story. 38:13 Go to Isaiah 6 and you'll see something 38:16 that may answer a mystery for some of you 38:19 because there are no stories in the Bible 38:21 that are disconnected. 38:22 Sometimes we find pieces of them 38:24 other places in scripture. 38:26 Look at this story in particular, 38:27 you'll find that true about this one. 38:30 Isaiah 6, I always wondered about this verse 38:34 why Isaiah would talk about Uzziah. 38:38 Look at verse one, it says, 38:39 "In the year that King Uzziah died..." 38:42 Isaiah said, "I saw..." Who? 38:45 "The Lord sitting on a throne high and lifted up, 38:50 and the train of his rope did..." What? 38:53 "Filled the temple..." 38:55 I always wondered, 38:56 because when you go through the rest of the chapter 38:58 or the rest of the book of Isaiah, 39:01 you don't see Uzziah mentioned anymore. 39:03 In another words, why would he bring Uzziah out 39:05 when he talked about the year 39:07 that he saw the Lord sitting on His throne high and lifted up? 39:10 And it dawned on me 39:11 as I was researching this and studying into that, 39:14 the vision that Isaiah had... 39:15 This is very important. 39:17 The vision that God had for Uzziah was taken from him 39:21 and given to Isaiah 39:24 because he defeated the purpose that God had for his life 39:27 by getting angry with the priests, 39:31 crossing over into an area 39:32 that God had never ordained him to be in, 39:34 and then God adding leprosy at the end of his life, 39:38 he lost favor with God. 39:40 And God gave the vision to Isaiah 39:43 that he intended for Uzziah. 39:46 So it says in the year that King Uzziah died, 39:49 the vision was transferred to Isaiah. 39:51 So it really does matter 39:53 how we deal with situations in life. 39:55 They could become a blessing or our responses to them 39:58 can make them a tragedy. 40:00 Let's go to number four. 40:02 Is it number four? Number four. 40:04 And by the way, here's the slide to the one 40:06 that goes with number three. 40:07 I kind of thought it was kind of light hearted, 40:09 but it says, "Don't let anger control you." 40:14 Just an amazing guy arguing with his cellphone. 40:17 I don't know if that's his counter or not, 40:19 but don't let anger control you 'cause anger does control. 40:24 It's a powerful emotion. 40:28 Let's go to number four, here it is, 40:29 question number four. 40:32 "When it comes to anger, 40:36 where should our focus be?" 40:38 When it comes to anger, 40:40 where should our focus be? 40:43 I think now that we read the story of Uzziah, 40:46 it gives us an opportunity to find the answer to that. 40:50 When it comes to anger, where should our focus be? 40:53 Go to Proverbs 16:32. 40:57 Proverbs 16:32, let's look at that. 41:02 Wow. 41:06 You'll notice in your syllabus 41:09 that we find text in Proverbs, in Ecclesiastes, and Psalms, 41:15 three books that are closely associated together. 41:18 Proverbs is a book of a wise man 41:22 who went through all kinds of emotions, 41:25 all kinds of situations in life. 41:27 He's the one that says there's a time to be born, 41:31 a time to die. 41:33 I got to look back at that 41:34 and if you put time to be angry, 41:37 let me pick at that very quickly 41:39 'cause right now as I'm thinking about it, 41:40 but let's go to Proverbs. 41:42 Here it is, I'm looking at that. 41:45 Well, after we answer the question, 41:47 we'll walk through Ecclesiastes 3 together. 41:50 But look at the answer, here it is. 41:51 Proverbs 16:32 says this. 41:54 "He who is..." What? 41:57 "Slow to anger is better than the mighty..." 42:01 Wow. 42:02 "And he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city." 42:07 That's a huge... 42:09 You know what that means? 42:11 That means if you can control your emotions... 42:14 if you can control your emotions, 42:17 you are better than a person that's mighty. 42:20 If you can rule your spirit, you are better than a person 42:24 that has been victorious over bringing down a city, 42:27 and that's the phrase that's used here, 42:29 that's the example that's used, that takes a city, 42:31 because throughout the Scriptures, 42:33 you had many men that gain many victories. 42:36 Well, let me use one as an example 42:37 that's not often referred to in the Bible, 42:39 but in history, 42:41 a man by the name of Alexander the Great. 42:44 He was one of the most prolific generals in war 42:47 ever cited in history. 42:50 But he couldn't rule his own spirit. 42:53 And his end came 42:54 at the result of his own decisions. 42:56 At the end, 42:57 his end came as the result of his own choices and habits. 43:01 He was a man that drank himself to death, alcoholism. 43:05 You find people in the Bible... 43:07 I mean people in human history 43:09 that are hailed for the great conquests that they have, 43:13 but they can't rule their own spirit. 43:15 And so says it says, 43:16 "He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty." 43:19 And you know what? 43:21 If you had a job that was a very tense job, 43:25 who would you rather have, 43:26 and this is a very important point, 43:27 who would you rather have, a very knowledgeable person 43:31 or a person who's very calm? 43:36 Now you're all gonna to say that now that we have that, 43:38 but if you think about it, 43:40 a person that is very knowledgeable 43:42 or a person that's very calm? 43:44 Now the calm person, you can teach knowledge, 43:48 but the person that loses their temper, 43:50 you can't teach them how to be calm. 43:52 It's completely different. 43:53 The person that's always angry, "Would you calm down?" 43:58 You could see them seething at me. 44:00 I've been in situations 44:01 where I could see a person's face building, 44:03 they're just listening 44:04 and they're building, and they're building, 44:06 and their emotions are growing and growing, 44:07 and you think, "Just relax, relax." 44:12 So it's better to have a person that's calm 44:16 than a person that's knowledgeable. 44:18 I go back to one example and I use this illustration, 44:21 I had a situation many years ago 44:22 where I had to take somebody at a leadership 44:24 because they couldn't control their anger. 44:27 And their response to me was, 44:29 "But if you remove me from my position, 44:32 who's gonna do the job?" 44:35 'Cause he had a lot of knowledge, 44:36 "Who's gonna do?" 44:37 And they mention all the things they did. 44:39 "I do this. I do... Who's gonna do the job?" 44:40 And I said to the person, 44:42 "Oh, we could train somebody to do the job, 44:44 you just don't have the right spirit. 44:46 You're always angry. People can't deal with you. 44:48 People can't ask you a question." 44:51 And you know what? 44:52 It was the hardest thing to do. 44:54 Took that person out of leadership, 44:56 but after working with him for about a year to get calm, 45:00 to say it was the same guy that ate pepper. 45:04 But after working with that person to get him calm, 45:07 you know, to this day, we're good friends, 45:09 periodically I get a phone call. 45:11 And when we left that place that we were pastoring, 45:16 you know, oh, so happy, 45:18 that last year was the best year of my life. 45:21 And sometimes people don't... 45:24 Wow, it's kind of... 45:26 I don't want to give any hints. 45:27 But if you're in leadership 45:29 and you can't handle the stresses 45:31 and you get angry with people, don't be in that position. 45:35 Can I get an amen? 45:36 Because some people are well qualified, 45:38 but they cannot control their spirit. 45:44 And because they're well qualified, 45:45 they try to justify their anger. 45:48 "What do you want?" 45:50 "Okay, forget about it, nothing." 45:53 "Couldn't you ask me earlier? 45:55 Why you are so last minute?" 45:56 When you're in leadership, 45:58 you have to learn how to roll with the tide. 46:02 And remember that it's more important to be a servant 46:06 than to be one that's served. 46:08 A servant spirit is one that finds a way 46:11 to keep peace and accomplish the purpose 46:13 rather than tell people how they need to do things. 46:17 So be slow to anger. 46:19 Now here's the picture I want to put to that one, 46:22 slow to anger. 46:25 I had to figure out and put a lady in there somewhere. 46:28 Okay, look at this picture. 46:29 "Focus on controlling..." What? 46:32 "Your emotions." 46:34 You ever heard the phrase "buttons"? 46:37 You ever heard people say, "They press my buttons?" 46:42 Whose buttons are these? Whose buttons are these? 46:45 These are my buttons. 46:49 I learned psychologically that no one press your buttons, 46:53 those are your buttons. 46:56 That's your elevator. 46:58 You press the up and down button, 46:59 nobody presses your buttons. 47:01 That's what I learned. 47:03 And I learned this educating myself 47:05 into this particular point. 47:07 And that helped me kind of lay down 47:10 blaming other people about how I react to situations 47:13 because sometimes you say, 47:14 "Oh, just the thought of the person drives me..." 47:18 You ever heard, "Just the thought of that drives me..." 47:20 No, you drive yourself. 47:22 You think about it 47:24 and you drive yourself to a place you shouldn't be. 47:26 Very real emotion. 47:28 You end up there and you wonder how I got there 47:30 because of the way you responded to that situation. 47:32 So look at that, 47:34 let's write that down, and here's the answer. 47:36 Did you write that down under number four? 47:38 Focus on controlling whose emotions? 47:43 'Cause you can't control anybody else's. 47:46 You can't, don't try to do that. 47:47 If you try to control other people's emotions, 47:50 it makes you emotional 47:52 because you're focusing so much on fixing that individual. 47:56 And sometimes... 47:58 This is another one, 47:59 I'm falling into the counseling mode here. 48:02 Sometimes a person could be completely silent 48:07 and you're wracking your mind as to. 48:09 "Are they angry with me? 48:11 Did I do something? 48:13 Why are they upset? 48:14 Why am I getting the silent treatment? 48:16 What's going on?" 48:17 And you work your way into a situation 48:20 where you might say to a person, 48:24 "Lorraine, was it something I did to you, 48:26 is that's why are you so quiet?" 48:28 And then all of a sudden 48:30 you give them license to tag you. 48:32 "Yeah, last week, when you walked past me in church 48:34 and didn't say anything." 48:36 "When was that?" And you don't remember, 48:38 so be really careful when a person... 48:41 No, really, ain't that right? 48:43 When you ask a person, 48:45 "What did I do to make you upset?" 48:46 You right away admit you did something, 48:49 but you say, "What did I do?" 48:51 And they come out, "Okay, what do they do? 48:53 It was your cologne. I don't like your cologne." 48:55 It was the way you looked at me at Sabbath school. 48:57 It was the way you didn't invite me to potluck. 48:59 You left me out at... 49:00 You know, people tag you, so really be careful 49:03 not to insinuate yourself into a situation 49:05 just because you're wondering what's going on. 49:10 Control your own emotions. 49:12 Let's go to the next one. 49:13 Number five. 49:15 Let's go to the next one. 49:16 Now I'm stretching this for a particular reason 49:18 because I noticed... 49:19 and I'm stretching this for a particular reason. 49:22 I had 11 questions 49:23 and I realized I sent only the one with six questions. 49:27 So you didn't get the syllabus with 11, 49:29 we don't have the syllabus with 11, 49:31 so we're gonna just go ahead and cover the six tonight 49:33 and cover the others at another time. 49:35 Number five, "How does the Bible describe those 49:40 that cannot control anger?" 49:45 Wow. 49:47 Let's not rush. 49:51 Okay, Ecclesiastes 7 and look at verse 9. 49:56 Ecclesiastes 7 and let's look at verse 9. 50:01 Are you ready? 50:02 Write something down here. 50:06 Okay, here it is. 50:11 Let's read this together. This is an everybody text. 50:15 It's on the screen, are you ready? 50:16 "Do not hasten in your spirit to be..." What? 50:20 "To be angry, for anger rests in..." Where? 50:24 "The bosom of fools." 50:27 I don't want to read that by myself 50:29 because you know when you read it by yourself 50:31 and you tend to look around the room, 50:33 people talk, "Is he calling me a fool?" 50:36 So even in my sermon, sometimes I talk straight out 50:40 because there's certain text in the Bible, when you read, 50:42 you just don't look at anybody 50:44 because, "He looked right at me when he said that." 50:47 So that's why I said, "Let's all read it together." 50:49 So we're all looking at the screen together 50:51 because this is something that we all don't know. 50:54 Why did the Bible say 50:55 that anger rests in the bosom of fools? 50:59 You know why? 51:00 When you look at the wise man Solomon, 51:04 Solomon gave so much counsel as to... 51:07 If we could use him today in the context of counsel, 51:11 you can put together 51:12 one of the most psychologically solid books 51:15 if you put together categorically 51:17 what Solomon talked about in Proverbs and Ecclesiastics. 51:21 But the reason why he says it rest in the bosom of fools is 51:23 because fools often don't evaluate situations 51:26 before they react to that. 51:28 They fly off the handle. 51:29 They don't control their spirit. 51:31 They want to show their anger. 51:32 They want to show how they could deal with the situation. 51:35 They don't evaluate things, and therefore, 51:37 they are analyzed in such a way 51:43 that the Bible uses the word fools. 51:45 Now let's soften that by saying foolish, amen? 51:49 'Cause that sounds a little bit more palatable. 51:51 In other words, it's foolish... 51:53 it's foolish when a person hastens in his or her spirit 51:57 to become angry. 51:58 It's a foolish decision to make 52:00 because oftentimes you have to try to reverse 52:02 and try to find out how could I fix this. 52:04 And I tell you it's better to be slow and not angry 52:09 than to be angry and try to find a way to fix it 52:14 because sometimes people get angry... 52:17 And I remember being in a situation 52:19 where I knew that two people were angry with each other, 52:22 and I got them together to try to resolve it. 52:28 And it was the hardest thing 52:29 because you'll find out as we go further in our lesson 52:33 and we're not going to cover this tonight, 52:34 but I'll plant the seed, 52:36 one of the first things 52:37 you have to do to resolve issues of anger, 52:39 what's the first thing you have to do 52:41 to resolve an issue of anger? 52:43 Pray? 52:48 You have to humble yourself. 52:50 Pray, humble yourself, that's good. 52:53 What's the first thing you have to do? 52:54 Let's just use the different examples. 52:56 What's the first thing the alcoholic has to do 52:57 to find a way of out of alcoholism? 53:02 Acknowledge it. 53:05 Acknowledge that there is an anger problem. 53:11 You know, they even have programs, 53:12 what do they call them? 53:14 Anger management. 53:17 So unless you acknowledge that there's an issue, 53:20 you wouldn't even think that 53:21 there's a need to deal with the issue. 53:25 But when you acknowledge that there is an issue, 53:27 then that's the first step 53:29 in being able to resolve the issue. 53:31 So let's put this answer down. 53:32 And I want to give you a slide, 53:35 so do not hasten in your spirit 53:37 to be angry for anger rests in the bosom of fools. 53:40 What did you put down? What did you put down? 53:43 I'm interested. 53:45 What did you write down for your response? 53:48 Wow, somebody said they wrote fool, one word. 53:52 You cannot control anger for that's a foolish thing to do. 53:57 Let me give you some advice for number five, 53:58 look at the slide that I put to this one. 54:02 Okay, "Don't resort to yelling." 54:04 Now I don't know why I chose a woman yelling at a man, 54:07 but that was the picture that I found. 54:10 And if you notice the graphic artist who did the job, 54:12 it looks like his head is being bent convex 54:16 because she's letting him have it. 54:18 Okay, don't resort to yelling 54:20 because anger is manifested in so many different ways, 54:23 matter of fact, 54:24 do you remember what happened when... 54:29 I'll tell you... 54:30 When Cain killed, how did it begin? 54:35 With anger, it began with anger. 54:37 And you look at the examples in the scriptures, 54:39 just do yourself a favor and even just type 54:40 that word in "anger," and you'll find that 54:42 there are 234 results 54:47 about just the word anger. 54:49 Not angry, not the other derivatives, 54:53 not the synonyms to anger but just anger itself, 54:57 234 responses. 54:59 Don't let anger allow you to resort to yelling. 55:03 And let's go to the last one for tonight. 55:06 Okay, here it is. 55:08 "What is the best method to not plant anger seeds?" 55:15 What is the best method not to plant anger seeds? 55:22 I remember hearing this one growing up. 55:24 I think all parents tell this to their children. 55:29 Okay, don't say yeah, Proverbs 15:1. 55:32 We all know that one. 55:34 A lot of parents say this to their children. 55:38 Let's read this last one together, here it is. 55:41 "A..." What? 55:43 "Soft answer does..." What? 55:45 "Turns away wrath, but a harsh word..." Does what? 55:49 "Stirs up anger." 55:55 Write that down. 55:56 What's the best method not to plant anger seeds? 55:59 How is it? 56:01 A soft answer. 56:02 Now some people have the art of saying angry things softly. 56:07 They say, "I don't like you. 56:10 I just don't like you." 56:12 They don't raise their voices. 56:13 You could tell somebody off softly, 56:15 "Stay away from me." 56:19 But that's not what I'm suggesting. 56:22 It didn't say, "Say your angry words softly." 56:25 It's says a soft answer, not a soft approach. 56:30 There's a difference. 56:31 I want to make that clear because sometimes you think, 56:33 "Well, if I say it softer..." 56:34 "I just don't like you, I never did." 56:37 It's not saying to say that. 56:39 It says soft answer, right? 56:41 You know, let me just stop, but a soft answer. 56:48 It's not what you say but how you say it. 56:50 No, but also it's what you say 56:53 'cause that's what I'm just illustrating, 56:54 it's not just what you say, 56:56 it's not just how you say it but it's why you say it. 56:59 That's what is being illustrated here. 57:02 One of the biggest misconceptions in life is, 57:04 "Sticks and stones may break my bones..." 57:06 What? 57:08 "Words will never harm me." 57:10 Oh, that is not true. 57:12 The anti-bullying law 57:15 because the words, young people, 57:18 they attack each other on Facebook. 57:20 Some young people have committed suicide 57:23 because of words 57:24 that were not verbally expressed but typed. 57:27 So I got to give you this picture before we go. 57:30 Speak kindly, let's say that together, what? 57:33 Speak kindly. 57:35 When you speak kindly, 57:37 your words don't take on a different life. 57:40 When you speak kindly. 57:41 So like instead of... 57:43 Here's an illustration, instead of saying I'm sorry, 57:46 say I apologize. 57:48 Begin there and only the presence of God 57:52 can turn an apology into godly sorrow. 57:55 Well, we've laid the foundation about the topic about anger, 57:58 but we know if it doesn't make sense, keep studying, 58:00 one day it will come into a sharper focus. 58:03 God bless you. |
Revised 2018-09-10