Walking With A Limp

A.W. Tozer

Read the excerpt from Tozer with this slide up.

Anger

Anger

Each of us has a limp. The limp may be greed, anger, lust, idolatry or many other things we deal with on a daily basis. Tonight we begin with anger. Anger comes in many different forms and we all deal with it. The question is, will we control it or will it control us? The thing is, we have gotten good at hiding our anger from others, but we can never hid from God. He’s always present and he always knows what’s on our hearts. Pretty simple example: Say someone bumps into you while you’re holding a cup of coffee. What comes out, tea, water, soda, no coffee does. The same is true in life; when we get bumped, whatever is inside WILL come out.

What’s your typical response when some one cuts you off in traffic?

If We Would, We May

If

If we would, We may...

If we would, We may...

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What happens when you pray for something and don’t get it?

What happens when you pray for something and you don’t get it?

Give an example of a time you asked God for something and you didn’t get it.

What was your response?

Greed

Need short responses.

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If we blame God.....Why?

Anger is often preceded by an unmet expectation or series of unmet expectations. Oftentimes we don’t get what we want because we ask with selfish motives. The more unmet expectations we have have, the more anger can and oftentimes does grow. Would someone mind reading ?

What was your response

What was your response

What was your response

James is right. Why do most conflicts arise? Let the men answer. James doesn’t say, “it’s ok you yelled at the barista, after all your latte wasn’t up to your expectations”. NO! He said, It’s from the selfish desires that battle within you. From the very first two people placed on earth we have been choosing our own way and not God’s. It reminds me of the old joke that says, “the problem wasn’t the apple in the tree, but the pair on the ground.

Why did you respond the way you did?

Original Sin

Have someone read Genesis 3:1-7

Satan deceived her by suggesting to Eve that God was sinister

Listen to what Paul says here in

Now listen to what Paul says here in Read from printed sheet

The New International Version Chapter 11

But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ

Sometimes anger arises when God says “NO” to something we really want. That may be not buying that new car, not taking a better paying job because you know it will interfere with your family, or maybe it’s giving up a favorite past time like watching sports. In Jeremiah we see God talking to the nation of Israel in V29:11. God says, “for I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.” The same applies to us. He isn’t being stingy. In fact, God wants to bless us, but as it says in we must seek after him first. When we have done that, then the other stuff will be added, but not garbage, real, meaningful, life-giving stuff. Ask them “If God promises to add the other stuff, why don’t we seek after him first, but after what we want first?” Let them answer, then remind them of . Read it to them again. That can be a tough pill to swallow when we have to realize WE’RE the problem.

Anger is Fear’s Bodyguard

Earlier I asked for an example of a time you asked God for something and you didn’t get it.

Let’s go a little deeper. Give an example of a time you asked God for something you felt you desperately needed and he didn’t give it to you.

God wants us to be honest with him. In we see David seeking God in the midst of his agony.

1 LORD, do not rebuke me in your anger

The New International Version Psalm 6

1 LORD, do not rebuke me in your anger

or discipline me in your wrath.

2 Have mercy on me, LORD, for I am faint;

heal me, LORD, for my bones are in agony.

3 My soul is in deep anguish.

How long, LORD, how long?

4 Turn, LORD, and deliver me;

save me because of your unfailing love.

5 Among the dead no one proclaims your name.

Who praises you from the grave?

6 I am worn out from my groaning.

or discipline me in your wrath.

2 Have mercy on me, LORD, for I am faint;

heal me, LORD, for my bones are in agony.

3 My soul is in deep anguish.

How long, LORD, how long?

4 Turn, LORD, and deliver me;

save me because of your unfailing love.

5 Among the dead no one proclaims your name.

Who praises you from the grave?

6 I am worn out from my groaning.

David sought the lord in earnest and as a man with a great fear of the lord. I wonder how often we approach God with the posture of a petulant child. The truth is God want’s us to bring our problems to him, but we should be careful to approach his throne with reverence and not in anger. Approaching God with our anger is different than approaching him in anger. The former is simply being angry, while the latter is attacking his character out of a posture of pride. When we let fear become anger, we give it place. In Paul says, “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, of love, and of a sound mind”. If we are truly in Christ we should never let fear take center stage because in doing so we have moved our focus off of Christ and give it to fear.

7For God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, of love, and of a sound mind.

Does fear itself have any power outside of our own minds?

Norton, D. (Ed.). (2011). The New Cambridge Paragraph Bible with the Apocrypha: King James Version (Revised edition, ). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

If Jesus hasn’t given us a spirit of fear, where does fear come from?

So…if fear doesn’t come from God and is only in our heads, why do we let it control us?

Choosing From The Same Tree.....

Unfortunately, we keep choosing from the wrong tree. We keep believing Satan’s lie that something other than what God has given us will be good for us. The bigger lie Satan tells us is that God alone isn’t enough to make life fulfilling. BUT, isn’t he our sustainer? Peter specifically tells us in “in him we live and move and have our being”. He is literally sustaining our lives by the power of his word. How is that we keep choosing our own way when we know God’s way is best. We call ourselves Christians (which literally means “little Christs”). How can we be his, but not be his. Being a Christian, but not being fully surrendered to Christ leads to confusion, which leads to fear, which ultimately leads to anger.

NOT OUR OWN

Read

God is very clear here. We are NOT our own. Frustration builds when we know we should be living Godly lives, but we keep chasing after the things of the world. After all, scripture says “a double-minded man is unstable in all he does”. When you’re double-minded you’re confused and unstable. Again, instability causes fear which leads to anger.

Have someone read aloud acts of the flesh in v.19 and write them on the board.

Can these things have place in the life of a Godly person? Why not?

Now list the fruits of the spirit in Galatians 22.

Remember!

says, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”.

You may ask, how is this good news?

Well, in it says, “ Read from printed page

Though We Struggle

In it says, read from printed page

God comforts us in read from printed page

The New International Version Chapter 53

Surely he took up our pain

and bore our suffering,

yet we considered him punished by God,

stricken by him, and afflicted.

5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,

he was crushed for our iniquities;

the punishment that brought us peace was on him,

and by his wounds we are healed.

6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,

each of us has turned to our own way;

and the LORD has laid on him

the iniquity of us all.

The New International Version Chapter 53

4 Surely he took up our pain

and bore our suffering,

yet we considered him punished by God,

stricken by him, and afflicted.

5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,

he was crushed for our iniquities;

the punishment that brought us peace was on him,

and by his wounds we are healed.

6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,

each of us has turned to our own way;

and the LORD has laid on him

the iniquity of us all.

God has not turned a blind eye to us in either our wanting nor our sufferings. He cares more deeply for us than you or I could ever imagine. He is simply asking for obedience and for us to love him. Jesus said, “If you love me you’ll keep my commands.

In he urges us to to be separate from the the world. Read from printed sheet

and bore our suffering,

In closing I would like to read a prayer Paul prayed for the Ephesians in 3: 14-21 Read the prayer on the printed sheet.

yet we considered him punished by God,

stricken by him, and afflicted.

5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,

he was crushed for our iniquities;

the punishment that brought us peace was on him,

and by his wounds we are healed.

6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,

each of us has turned to our own way;

and the LORD has laid on him

the iniquity of us all.