Anger

- Genesis 4:3-5

Genesis 4:3–5 (CSB)

3 In the course of time Cain presented some of the land’s produce as an offering to the Lord. 4 And Abel also presented an offering—some of the firstborn of his flock and their fat portions. The Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, 5 but he did not have regard for Cain and his offering. Cain was furious, and he looked despondent.

Demonstrate how holding even the slightest thing, will eventually become so heavy You can’t hold it any longer and will begin to wear down the strength

Give credit to the “mentor house” online, (happened to see it online) Anger is like this, Anger is like the surprise guest, that comes over to your house unannounced, and then never wants to leave.

- Anger is a Real Emotion

Anger is a natural emotion, everyone has it.

You were created with it.

It is the second oldest recorded emotion on the human experience in the Bible Next to fear!

We are told Cain was angry, so angry in fact that his countenance fell.

That means he was really T’d off. (In modern words.)

So Anger is REAL. It exists.

Let me share a funny anecdote on Anger and exasperation,

A young girl who was writing a paper for school came to her father and asked: “Dad, what is the difference between anger and exasperation?”

The father replied: “It is mostly a matter of degree. Let me show you what I mean.”With that, the father went to the telephone and dialed a number at random.

To the man who answered the phone, he said: “Hello, is Melvin there?”The man answered: “There is no one living here named Melvin. Why don’t you learn to look up numbers before you dial.”

“See,” said the father to his daughter. “That man was not a bit happy with our call. He was probably very busy with something and we annoyed him. Now watch.”

The father dialed the number again. “Hello, is Melvin there?” asked the father.“Now look here!” came the heated reply. “You just called this number and I told you that there is no Melvin here! You’ve got a lot of guts calling again!”

The receiver slammed down hard. The father turned to his daughter and said: “You see, that was anger.

Now I’ll show you what exasperation means.”He dialed the same number, and when a violent voice roared:

“Hello!”The father calmly said: “Hello, this is Melvin. Have there been any calls for me?”

What you are feeling in times of anger is a natural emotion.

If you are human, you are going to get angry at times.

There is no way to live in this world, among some of the people we know, (wink-wink) Without ever getting angry.

So, don’t let people tell you differently.

Sometimes, people do things to us or to others that generate a sense of Anger.

This is a normal reaction. It is not a sin to feel angry.

Just as it is not a sin to feel fear.

- We need to understand a few things about our emotions

However, we have to understand a few things about our emotions like fear or Anger

They were meant to help us navigate through life by avoiding certain dangers Not to be overtaken by them.

I Robot with Will Smith is a movie about a technology that allows for artificial intelligence.

The artificial intelligence is designed for human development but what ends up happening with anger; is that like this technology,

If left unchecked and just trusted to do what it wants.

It begins to grow and grow in its new position of power and begins to dominate your lives, and it becomes very dangerous for humans.

- Anger come in Via many ways

Anger comes in via many ways.

It could be people who’ve hurt you,

people who have hurt others,

It could be animals,

machinery,

Anything can cause Anger to come in.

Where we get hurt is, when we allow it to grow unchecked!

Where it just sits and stirs and churns over time.

Before you know it, you are being operated by an entity that has assumed complete control of everything you do.

And how you deal with life in general

Now, in the movie plot as well as in real life, Anger begins to show its ugly agenda and begins to change the person you were into someone else.

Before you know it, its no longer you alone making decisions, it’s you as a result of the anger, making the decisions for you now.

For example, Anger is like a weed.

It serves a purpose in the human experience, like fear.

But like fear, the devil has distorted this emotion in us, morphing it into a dark sinister force created for our good.

But when distorted it can destroy and wreak havoc.

Like a weed, it feeds on healthy soil and steals needed nutrients for healthy thinking, living, etc.

Anger is there, it is a natural human emotion, created for a purpose.

But if we don't tend our human emotional garden diligently, it “will” outgrow all of the other emotions we have, just like a weed in a tomato garden.

Weeds unkept will outgrow the tomatoes.

Eventually spiraling into a leadership position in your life.

- It will seek to control you

Effectively taking control of all of your decision-making, and planning.

It “will” seek to control every aspect of your life.

God said “Sin” is at your door, and its desire is for you, but you should rule over it”

It will determine who you can be friends with,

It will determine how you see your church

It will determine how you see your pastor

What you watch on TV,

What you read,

eat,

How you spend your time,

And how you look at life.

The very worldview you hold, the way you interpret the world will be passed through the filter of anger first.

Tainting everything with the essence of anger.

Have you ever bitten into a jalapeño pepper?

I am sure most of you have, or cilantro? 🌿Ot like Onions

Once you have it in your mouth, it steals or masks the flavors of everything else.

Everything for a few minutes tastes like peppers or cilantro, or onions.

Anger has the same effect on your life. Once you allow anger to grow inside you, it “will” grow out of control.

As it does, it changes the way you deal with life in general, and those around you.

Even when they have absolutely nothing to do with the root cause of the anger.

Anger is also very sneaky, it can hide away in your psyche, still filtering everything in your world through the looking glass of the anger that is hiding deep within you.

This is one of the culprits in your lives preventing you from that promised “peace” that passes all understanding.

Anger is like a bacteria, allowing it to go grow unchecked and uncontrolled, it can easily turn into an infection.

So, that which was created for your good morphed into a deadly sinister force bent on the destruction of what is healthy in you.

There does not exist an infection that does the body good.

It is not interested in what is good, only in how to destroy.

The Bible says the enemy comes to do three things,

Steal,

kill,

and destroy.

Therefore, unchecked anger is not your friend, it is your enemy.

Three changes take place when Anger takes over in you.

1.) Your Physical State Changes: When you get angry, your physical body chemistry changes.

Your palms get sweaty,

you start to breathe faster,

your heart rate goes up

If we know it wreaks havoc on your physical body, What on earth do you think it's doing to your mind?

2.) Your Emotional State Changes It’s eating you up, gnawing at your day and night.

Sometimes we get so angry we can’t think of anything else.

We lose our appetite,

we lose the ability to sleep.

We lose our ability to make rational decisions

3.) Spiritual State Changes.

We lose our ability to filter out our choice of words. When we are in the throws of this nasty disease, we can say some of the

most evil,

nasty,

blasphemous

and hateful things

Even to the ones we truly, dearly love otherwise, when we aren’t under its control.

It does long-lasting damage to our witness for Christ.

And most unfortunate of all, it makes us lose our ability to express our love.

How do we prevent this from happening?

How do we prevent Anger from wreaking havoc in our lives?

In the continuation of Cain’s bout with his anger i

Genesis 4:6–7 (CSB)

6 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you furious? And why do you look despondent? 7 If you do what is right, won’t you be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.”

- Ask yourself, Why am I angry?

We see how God instructed Cain in how to deal with it.

1.) He asked, why are you angry?

So, we should ask ourselves,

Why are we angry?

Make sure you can Identify the specific reason you are angry.Don’t let it slip into “Whatever” territory.

When you do this, you allow it to swim around in your psyche and grow.

Paul tells us not to allow the sun to go down on our wrath.

Ephesians 4:26 (CSB)

26 Be angry and do not sin. Don’t let the sun go down on your anger,

Anger wants to rule over you, but you must rule over it

2.) Why has countenance fallen? Notice, it creates a physical change in you, as I said,

Your body is affected,

The rest of your emotions are affected,

and so is your spirit

This leads to the third point God instructs

3.) Be careful how you handle it because sin lies at your door, and its desire is for you.

But, you aren’t powerless,

Anger wants you to believe you can’t control it, but God says YOU CAN!

And if you don’t, it will rule over you!

Now, let me address the issue the devil is no doubt already whispering in your ear;

“How can you let those people get away with what they’ve done?”

“How can those people get away with what they've said?”

“That is just unacceptable, I can’t allow this or that?”

Before I address these, let me ask you point-blank.

You, in all of your worldly power of self-will and determination, what on earth could you possibly do to get justice for what has been done wrong?

Or have you already tried to pay back for what has been done?

What has that gained you?

Has it turned back time to prevent it?

Has it somehow prevented it from happening again?

The answer, unless you are God, is no!

Nothing you can do will change things already done.

But, you Do have the power to change how they affect you.

We learn this from Studying Jesus.

Jesus never got angry over something that was done to Him.

Did you catch that? Done to Him.

They led Him to the cross, He didn’t get angry.

They Spit on Him and pulled out His beard hairs, He didn’t get angry.

But they when defiled The Father’s house, He got angry!

They blasphemed the Holy Spirit, they worried more about their traditions than people being healed

Agh!

But, remember, Anger is a natural emotion.

Everyone will get angry, but we must re-evaluate what has the power to make us angry.

Many times, its for selfish, personal reasons, Or dare I say PRIDE!

But regardless, whatever it is, Paul tells us to be angry, but not to sin.

Ephesians 4:26 (CSB)

26 Be angry and do not sin. Don’t let the sun go down on your anger,

How do we do that?

I once had a bought with anger and I didn't know how to deal with it.

Tell the story about enrolling Raven in Collinsville Christian Academy I didn’t know how to deal with it.

It put me in the hospital. I was trying to figure out my next move.

How was I to react, etc?

How could they get away with that etc?

Then I remembered.

Zechariah 4:6 (CSB)

6 So he answered me, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by strength or by might, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord of Armies.

“Not by might but by His spirit”

Our first instinct is to take care of it ourselves.

But God says “vengeance is mine, I will repay”

So, how do we deal with things, and people that generate anger in us?

- Give it over to God

Give it over to God,

It’s His business how He is going to deal with so & so.

It’s not up to you how things should be made right.

That's God’s business.

It may seem like people or things are getting away with things.

But that's only what you can see with your own eyes.

Things are happening behind the veil of this dimension that we can’t see

It's time we allow God to make things right for us.

And trust, the appropriate response will be hashed out.

Tell the story about Lil Nico and his jaw God is the righteous Judge!

When we try to pass judgment we will get it wrong.

The punishment we hand out is usually out of step with the crime Because we have emotions in the mix.

Today- You could say, “For what so & so did to me, I ought to black their eye and such and such.”

Tomorrow, depending on your ever-changing mood and conditions,

You might look at what they did and go, “whatever man!”

But, God is the same yesterday, today & forever.

You WILL reap what you sow!

God will not be mocked!

For this reason, if you take God out of the justice equation by exacting revenge He will let that justice do,

Meaning, even if your justice wasn't enough, or you were too light on the crime God will allow that to act as the punishment.

Example: Let's say someone gets caught stealing from you.

Instead of allowing God to handle it, you go over and bust his teeth out.

Not only will nothing else happen to him, nor will you ever get paid back, but You’ll probably go to jail yourself.

And Anger, Anger will tell you its worth it to you to sit in jail for the crime of someone else.

And if you don't get anger in line and master over it, that's exactly what could happen.

Instead of willfully giving all to the Lord, then hearing that they arrested this person, and they found your stuff undamaged.

I can't tell you what will happen except for this.

I know your witness to the Lord will be saved and encouraged

I know you won't be the one in jail for someone else's crime I know, your countenance wouldn’t change because you’ll be happier.

Invitation / Altar Call

You are not alone in this journey; we are all flawed, but Jesus' grace and forgiveness offer a path to renewal and spiritual growth. Accepting Jesus as your Lord and Savior grants you the gift of eternal life and an unbreakable connection with the Creator. It is an opportunity to be washed clean of past mistakes, to find purpose, and to experience peace beyond human understanding.

Through prayer and reflection, you can invite Jesus into your heart, accepting Him as your personal Savior. Surrendering your life to His guidance will lead you on a transformative journey, transforming your life in ways you could not have imagined.

At this time we invite you to put your reservations aside, and come on down to the altar. Myself, Pastor Zach, and Sharon are here at the altar to receive you, and to help you pray for salvation.

If there be anyone here wishing to rededicate themselves to the Lord, I also invite you to come down the isle to the altar.