sanctification Series Message 4a Emotional Growth

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I} Man is An Emotional Being

A.

Romans 12:15 KJV 1900
Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep.

B. Five statements reminding us of the emotional nature of man.

1. “I don’t know what happened to me.

I just came apart when my husband made fun of my new dress. He made me so mad.”

2. “When I hear ‘God Bless America’ tears come into my eyes.

3. “I grew up in a home where it wasn’t manly to cry.”

4. “He never gets emotional. A bomb couldn’t move him.”

5. “She gives me a pain in the neck.”

C. Out of God’s creation, man is unique.

1. He has feelings and emotions which animals don’t have.

2. He can feel:

a. Sad

b. Glad

c. Sorrow

d. Joy

e. Happiness

f. Anger

g. Fear

h. Enthusiasm

i. And a host of other emotions within the span of a few hours.

Illustrate with a college football game.

1. Your team runs onto the field . . .

Joy, happiness, excitement, etc.

2. Your team scores a touchdown . . .

Joy, happiness, excitement, enthusiasm, etc.

3. The other team scores and takes the lead . . .

Sad, anger, sorrow, disappointment, etc.

4. It is late in the fourth quarter.

Your team is trailing by two points.

Your team is trailing by two points.
Time is definitely running out.
The other team fumbles inside its own fifteen yard line.
Your team recovers the ball and is set up for a sure thee or seven points to win the game.
Then the official that called the fumble is overruled and the other teams gets to keep the ball . . . Initially great glad, joy, excitement, happiness, etc.

Then anger, mad, vindictive, disappointment, sadness, sorrow.

a. “That makes me mad.”

b. “That makes me sick.”

5. What would be some other scenarios that would involve a host of other emotions during a relative short period of time.

a. Business

c. Church

d. Family

e. Work

f. Highways . . . road rage, etc.

g. Battlefield during wartime

D. Feelings play a very important role in man’s everyday life.

1. Without emotions a person becomes unnatural and callous within his heart.

2. God created man with the ability to feel.

3. In , Paul tells the Romans that God gave up the Gentiles because their emotions became vile.

Romans 1:26 KJV 1900
For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:
“This is why God delivered them over to degrading passions. For even their females exchanged natural sexual intercourse for what is unnatural.”

E. The challenge for man is to recognize the valid place for good healthy emotions in his life.

1. Likewise, he must realize how destructive negative and wrong emotions can be to his well being.

2. He must control his emotions, which is possible through help from God.

3. The Bible makes it clear that some emotions are harmful, as well as sinful.

We can discuss those when we study the subject, “The Bible and Emotions.” We can look at Biblical examples of each.

a. Anger

f. Lust

k. Resentment, hatred

b. Fear

g. Hatred

l. Pride, arrogance

c. Jealousy & envy

h. Greed & Covetousness

m. Selfishness

d. Agitation

i. Depression

n. Sorrow

e. Terror

j. Guilt

DEFINITION OF EMOTION

A. All of us know what an emotion is but very few can give a good definition of the term.

We know what we are talking about but it is difficult to describe in words.

B. Formal, professional definitions of “emotion.”

1. Dr. Clyde Narramore in his Encyclopedia of Psychological Problems: “A mental state characterized by strong feelings such as fear, anger, love, or hate.”

2. Webster: “A strong feeling, and specific feeling, a love, hate, fear, anger, etc.”

3. The Dictionary of Psychology: “An elementary mental process which differs from sensation and which has dimension of pleasantness or unpleasantness.”

4. The Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology: “Physical disturbance; disturbance of mind or feeling; affection of the mind, feeling.”

5. G. Allport in his book Pattern and Growth in Personality:

“The subjective coloring of motives, especially of motives that are thrown into conflict, or that make sudden or unexpected progress toward their goal.”
Illustrate with football, running for a touchdown, then a turnover.

6. Aristotle wrote: “By . . . the emotions, are meant those states which are attended by pain and pleasure, and which, as they change, make a difference in our judgments of the same thing.” Excellent statement!

C. The Biblical writers use the two words “heart” (kardia) and “”bowels” (splachnon) to express the emotions of man.

1. – “He said to him, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.”

Matthew 22:37 KJV 1900
Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

2. – “For out of an extremely troubled and anguished heart I wrote to you with many tears—not that you should be hurt, but that you should know the abundant love I have for you.”

2 Corinthians 2:4 KJV 1900
For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote unto you with many tears; not that ye should be grieved, but that ye might know the love which I have more abundantly unto you.

3.. – “For God is my witness, how I deeply miss all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.”

Philippians 1:8 KJV 1900
For God is my record, how greatly I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ.

4.. God created man with the ability to feel and to be emotional. The challenge, however, is to understand the nature of our emotions and bring them under proper control.

D. Emotion is the product of what the mind thinks.

1. Listen carefully! It doesn’t matter whether the mind knows if a statement or event is true or not, it will produce emotions in harmony with its thinking about it.

ILLUSTRATION: Upset at a call and then you see the replay that the official was right and called the play correctly.

2. This fundamental truth must never be forgotten . . . Man produces his own emotions.

a. This is hard to do because we have been conditioned to blame others for our emotions and conduct.

1. The person who says, “He made me mad,” doesn’t understand this basic fact.

2. A person produces his own anger within his own mind, just as he produces his own happiness within himself.

b. Emotions are feelings produced by thoughts held in our minds. Our thoughts shake us out of our peaceful condition into an emotional state.

THE POWER OF NEGATIVE EMOTION

A. Elvis Presley’s song, “All Shook Up.” His way of saying “I am very emotional.”

“A well I bless my soul What's wrong with me?
I'm itching like a man on a fuzzy tree My friends say I'm actin' wild as a bug
I'm in love I'm all shook up.”

1. When we get emotional, we get “shook up.”

a. The heart beats faster.

b. The eyes bulge.”

b. The eyes bulge.”

c. The hands shake.

d. The face turns pale, or red.

e. The voice crackles.

f. The throat gets dry.

g. The palms of your hands sweat.

h. The eyes water.

i. The face draws.

j. And a host of others things occur, not all at the same time, when we get emotional.

2. Emotions rage from mild to severe.

a. Some are easy to control.

b. Some are difficult to control.

B. God has made the body that all right emotions, right thoughts, and right attitudes produce right effects in the body.

1. The British Medical Association is on record as saying that there is not a single cell in the body totally removed from the influence of the mind and emotion. – “. . . I am fearfully and wonderfully made . . .”

2. Thus, the attitudes we hold in our minds produce emotions, which pass over into definite physical effects.

3. Wrong thinking produces wrong emotions which produce wrong actions in our lives.

4. Peace, and peace of mind, do not come in a capsule.

5. “He gives me a pain in the neck.” He does because we choose to react in resentment against him.

C. Psychological results of emotions.

1. Cardiac changes occur after a “startle stimulus.” The pulse rate lowers but the heartbeat amplitude increases. There is also a change in the systolic blood pressure.

2. Respiratory changes occur when a person become highly emotional. A sudden catching of the breath, increased breathing rate, or very irregular breathing may be produced by a sudden change in the emotions.

3. Glandular secretions are effected by the emotions. Saliva is altered, the secretion of adrenalin is increased. In some cases, the activity of the sweat glands is greatly increased as a “cold sweat.” The “bloody sweat” Christ and Napoleon.

4. Digestive tract changes usually follow emotional stimuli. Changes occur in the tonicity of the stomach: sometimes tonus increases and sometime it decreases.

EMOIONS – “Man is an Emotional Being” 5 decreases. Stomach contractions and intestinal movements are decreased or stopped. Salivary and gastric secretions are reduced, and other digestive activities are lessened. 5. Electrical changes are produced by emotions as bodily resistance to the passage of a small electrical current is decreased. D. The whole body reacts to the thoughts in our minds. ILLUSTRATION: The young boy who made a speech in Sunday school worked very hard to control his stage fright. Later when asked if he was afraid, he replied, “No, I was not scared, but my stomach was scared.”

Stomach contractions and intestinal movements are decreased or stopped. Salivary and gastric secretions are reduced, and other digestive activities are lessened.

5. Electrical changes are produced by emotions as bodily resistance to the passage of a small electrical current is decreased.

D. The whole body reacts to the thoughts in our minds.

ILLUSTRATION: The young boy who made a speech in Sunday school worked very hard to control his stage fright. Later when asked if he was afraid, he replied, “No, I was not scared, but my stomach was scared.”

CONCLUSION:

A. If you do not win over negative emotions, then negative emotions will win over you.

1. The body is “allergic” to them (fear, anger, resentment, guilt, etc.). You are made for love and good deeds, not for fear and hate.

2. Therefore you must choose your thoughts and emotions wisely. God made you with the capacity to do so. Use it . . . But don’t abuse it.

B. God Plan for Man’s Salvation

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