(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.) So this morning we're gonna start a new sermon series called Emotional. And what we're gonna talk about in this sermon series is we're gonna talk about different emotions that you will experience in your life and how you are supposed to handle those emotions. Some of these emotions, do they have a place in your life? Do they not have a place in your life? And if you handle them correctly, what will be the results? And if you don't handle them correctly, what will be the results? So we're gonna talk this morning, first of all, the first one we're gonna talk about this morning is we're gonna talk about anger this morning, okay? I can't even do that seriously. Okay, but we're gonna look at the emotion of anger this morning. Is there ever a time in your life to get angry? You know, what does that mean for us? You know, you've said I've been angry before. I mean, I'm sure everyone has been angry before. So what does that mean? How do we handle that? Look down at James chapter one in verse number 19 and 20. In verse number 19, the Bible says, Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath. For, so it basically tells us there's a methodology to wrath here. There's a methodology to anger in our lives, and we're supposed to be slow to anger. The Bible tells us it's one of those things. And then it's very interesting in verse number 20, the Bible tells us here, it says, for the wrath of man, it says, here's why. He says, here's why you should be slow to wrath. He explains. He says, for the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. So the Bible says that because of this reason, you wanna be slow to wrath because your wrath is not going, what's gonna come out of your wrath is not righteousness, according to God. Okay, so look, let's look at anger in the Bible. I'm gonna just, let's just turn to a few verses in the Bible about anger, about wrath. Look at Psalm chapter 37, and I'll read for you Ecclesiastes seven in verse number nine is a very similar verse to James chapter one. The Bible says, be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry, for anger resteth in the bosom of fools. So the Bible here in Ecclesiastes seven, nine is saying again, you know, don't be quick, hasty. He's like, don't just get angry, just like that. It's very similar to James one, 19 and 20. In Psalm 37, look at verse number eight. The Bible says, cease from anger and forsake wrath. Fret not thyself in any wise to do evil. So this, I mean, Psalm 37 eight is an interesting one because it basically gives us the clue that anger and wrath for you, by the way, anger and wrath for us as people is connected with doing evil, okay? So it's making the connection there. It says, you know, cease from anger, forsake wrath, and then, you know, and it connects it to evil, that you may end up doing evil, and we'll see that a little bit later in the sermon. We'll get verse number, look at Proverbs 16 and verse number 32. Proverbs 16 and verse number 32. The Bible says in Proverbs 16, 32, he that is, here we see it again. It says, he that is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he that ruleth his spirit, than he that taketh a city. So I mean, here it gives us the idea that number one, again, we're to be slow to anger, and it gives us the connection here that not only, so we see that anger, evil can come from anger, we saw in Psalm 37, but here it tells us that you're able to control that spirit. You see that in Proverbs 16, it says, be slow to anger. Well, what do you mean? How could I possibly do that? Because you can rule your spirit, because you can control that. I mean, that's what's so great about Proverbs. I mean, just one verse in Proverbs says, hey, be this way, and you have the ability to control that. So I mean, first of all, we see here in these verses that anger is not a great thing, as far as it applies to you personally, okay? The Bible says we should forsake it. It says again and again, we should be slow to get angry. We should not be hasty, but look, it does not say that it is a sin to ever get angry, that you should never get angry. Here's the trap that you can fall, turn to John chapter two. Here's a trap that you could fall into if you say that being angry is always a sin. Here's the thing then, Jesus is a sinner, if that's what you believe. Turn to John chapter two, and look at verse number 13. John chapter two and verse number 13. The Bible says, and the Jews' Passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem and found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves and the changers of money sitting. So here's these people in the temple of God, and they're making it their store. They're making it their retail storefront. They're making money off, why are they selling these things, by the way? They're selling doves because that's what people need to sacrifice. They're using the spirituality that the temple provides to make money, to make profit. I've been at churches in other parts of the world where they literally do this, where you can literally buy a dove and throw a dove off of this cliff or whatever it was, and then you're gonna have like many children or something. I mean, people are selling doves. I mean, it still happens today. So Jesus sees this happening in the temple of God, and then the Bible says in verse 15, and then Jesus went in and he said, Hey, hey, everybody. Hey, guys. What are you guys doing here? What? Is that what Jesus said? Look what Jesus went, and look at verse 15. Let's actually just like, let's listen to the Jesus of the Bible because the Jesus made up today is fake. It's not real. In verse 15, it says, and when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them out of the temple, and the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changer's money, and overthrew the tables. I mean, look, I've seen my grandpa on the farm braid a horse rope. You ever seen somebody braid rope? I mean, I'm sure nobody knows how to do it anymore. Who needs to know how to braid rope? You just buy a braided rope on Amazon, right? But I've seen my grandpa sit down and make, because you can go out and you can buy a horse lead rope for 20 bucks, or you can make your own, and you can braid your own, and it takes him just forever to braid the rope, and I watched him do it, and I was like, how in the world do you know how to do that? But it took him like half an hour to braid out this rope. Like, Jesus made a whip. How long did that take? I mean, he literally saw this. He sat down, and he fashioned he made a whip. I'm sure he was braiding the leather together, and I don't know if he was putting things in there or what, but look, he made a whip, and then he drove them out of the temple with the whip. Now, how many people think that he was like, hey, guys, hey? Look, he was mad. He was angry. And he said unto them, this old dove, take these things hence, and make not my father's house and house a merchandise. He threw the tables over. I mean, do you think he was like, excuse me. No, he threw them over. He threw them over, and he whipped them. He whipped these people until they left. Did Jesus sin, is the question. I mean, the Bible says that Jesus is without sin. Jesus is God in the flesh. He was tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Jesus has no sin, so if it's a sin to ever be angry, you know, the Bible says that there is a righteous anger, folks, turn to Proverbs chapter 15. Turn to Proverbs chapter 15. Proverbs chapter 15, look at verse number 18. So we see that there may be a reason to get angry. There may be, there is for sure, because Jesus did not sin, there is a righteous anger. Look at Proverbs 15 and verse number 18. The Bible says, a wrathful man stirreth up strife, but he that is slow to anger appeaseth strife. So there may be a righteous cause for getting angry. Let's look at, turn to Matthew chapter five and verse number 22. I mean, that wasn't the only time that Jesus got angry. First of all, he went in and he drove the money changers out of the temple twice in the Bible. And then, I mean, do you think when he was talking to the Pharisees and he was calling them hypocrites and you see that exclamation point in your Bible and he's calling them vipers, do you think that he was just in a good mood? Do you think he's like, hey, brother Johannes, brother Johannes, here's the thing about you, man. I mean, you're a viper. You know, you viper. Hey, buddy, you wanna go for lunch? No, he was angry. He was angry. He was yelling at them, calling them hypocrites, vipers. You know, talking about just how they just twisted the religion that he brought to the world. Look at Psalm chapter, are you in, oh, you're in Matthew chapter five. Look, what the Bible says in Matthew chapter five, Jesus says this. These are red words in your Bible if you have a red letter Bible. The Bible says, but I say unto you that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. Look, you can't forget those words there that says without a cause. There could be a cause for even you to get angry. Let me read for you Psalm chapter seven in verse number 10. The Bible says, my defense is of God which saveth the upright in heart. God judgeth the righteous, and God is angry with the wicked every day. If he turn not, he will wet his sword, he hath bent his bow and made it ready. The Bible says here that God is angry. God is angry, not only did Jesus get angry a few times in the Bible, but God is angry every day with the wicked on this earth. And look, eventually he's gonna judge the world with his wrath, with this anger. Look at Romans chapter one. Look at verse number 18. Romans chapter one and verse number 18. We're gonna go to a lot of Bible here at the beginning and then we'll look at how this applies to us. But I just wanna prove my point here. That God has gotten angry, not only has God gotten angry, Jesus got angry, and why was he angry? He was angry with the wicked. He was angry with the Pharisees because they were wicked. Because they were turning people away from the truth. Look at Romans chapter one and verse 18. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against what? All ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness. Look, the Bible even says, turn to John 3.36, one of my favorite verses in the entire Bible. The Bible says in John 3.36, that the wrath of God abides on the unsaved. That if you're not saved, the wrath of God abides on you. Look at John 3.36. He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life. That's the soul-winning verse that many of us use in the Bible, but, and he that believeth not, the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. So the Bible says that if you're not saved, the wrath of God, it means it rests on you. It means you're in danger of it if you're not saved. You know, look, the wrath of God, turn to 1 Timothy chapter two. The wrath of God eventually will be poured out on the entire earth. That's why, by the way, that's why as human beings, because this wrath of God abides on the unsaved, that's why we needed a mediator. We needed somebody to step in, to appease that. And the Bible says in 1 Timothy 2.5, it says, for there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. So that is what Jesus did, was he stepped in to be the mediator between us and the wrath of God. Think about that. I mean, think about, I mean, many of you, I'm hoping everybody here is saved, but look, many of you, I mean, I know this was the case when I got saved. When I got saved, and sometimes it will still happen today, I will think back. When I got saved, it was like, whew, close one. Because you think back on times in your life, maybe when you were in a dangerous situation, or something was like, man, that could have gone the other way, and we could have died, or you think about every time you've been in a car, and you've been driving, people get in car accidents all the time. You just think about how when you got saved, and you realized that now, hey, I'm free from that wrath now, but you realized for your whole life before that, you had it on you, and it abided on you, and you were at risk. You were at risk. I mean, that should scare you a little bit, even just looking back on it. I mean, obviously, it's like slid into home, made it. But look, I mean, you should think about those types of things, close call. That's how I think about it, close call. So look, I mean, you were in danger of hell, is what it boils down to. And that's the wrath of God. You know, that's the wrath of God on somebody that's not saved being realized, is if they die, and they end up in hell. So look, God is angry with the wicked. He's angry with the unsaved. But you say, I'm saved. Does he ever get angry with me? Turn to 2 Kings chapter seven. 2 Kings chapter seven, 17, I'm sorry. 2 Kings chapter 17. Here's the thing, God has even gotten angry before with his own people, with his own people. Look at 2 Kings chapter 17, and just look at verse number 18. The Bible says, therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel, and removed them out of his sight. There was none left but the tribe of Judah only. So this is talking about when the northern kingdom of Israel was carried off by the Assyrian Empire. The Bible says that God was angry with Israel, and that's why he allowed that nation to be judged. So obviously, there's a point where God judges his people with something like the removal of the entire nation. I mean, that's some pretty serious anger there. You know, at that point, he's angry with them. And we could read verses on God being angry with the children of Israel for an hour. There's that many. But look, God, turn to Revelation chapter 16. So we see that God gets angry with us. He gets angry with his own children at times. Turn to Revelation chapter 16. Look at verse number one. The Bible says that in the end times, that God will pour out his entire wrath on the world. So he gets angry with the unsaved, he gets angry with the wicked, and ultimately, Revelation 16 one shows us that he will pour out his wrath on the world at the end of times. And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels, "'Go your ways and pour out the vials "'of the wrath of God upon the earth.'" So those seven vials where all these things are happening, and the earth is being burned up, and people are being killed. Look, this is after, I mean, we're long gone at this point. As saved believers, we're out of here. But after that, God's gonna just pour out his wrath. That's why in Revelation, the saved people are saying, how much longer, Lord? Well, it's right here. In Revelation 16 one, God starts to pour out his wrath upon the earth. So look, I mean, God is angry with the wicked, he can be angry with the unsaved, and he can be angry with his own children at times. So we see that there's many times for righteous anger, especially from God. Now, let's look at unrighteous anger. Turn to Genesis chapter four. Genesis chapter four. Genesis chapter four, look at verse number three. So here we see the story of Cain and Abel, we see the story of the two offerings. One offering was acceptable to God, the other offering was not acceptable, and we see that it led to anger and what happened here. Look at verse number three. And in the process of time, it came to pass that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord. And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and the fat thereof. And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering. But unto Cain and to his offering, he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, that means he was angry, he was filled with wrath and his countenance fell. And the Lord said unto Cain, why art thou wroth? And why is thy countenance fallen? Look, the Lord said to Cain, why art thou wroth? The reason he said that is because the only reason that your offering wasn't acceptable is because you didn't bring the right offering. It's like it was your fault. It was only your fault, it had nothing to do with the fact that your brother brought the right offering. We're not gonna get into the doctrine on that. But look, one guy did right by the Lord, the other guy did wrong by the Lord, and the guy that did wrong got angry with the guy that did right, is basically what happened here. If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? He's like, all you had to do was do the right thing. So we know that Cain knew what he was supposed to do, but he didn't do what he was supposed to do. And if thou does not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him. And Cain talked with Abel his brother, and it came to pass when they were in the field that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and slew him. So look, he got angry with his brother here without a cause, without a righteous cause. He was just jealous, he was envious over his brother. And look, he got angry with him and it led to evil. It led to murder. So we have to understand that just as Psalm 37 said, that this wrath, this anger can lead to greater things. It can lead to evil. In this case, I mean, it led to murder. I mean, he murdered his own brother. So that's why we're supposed to be slow to get to it. It's mostly against the wicked, the Bible teaches us, even when God is angry. But slow is the main thing, not hasty, slow. That's why I read so many verses about being angry and how we're not supposed to just be this, I mean, have you ever met that person that's just angry just like that? That just like, you just one thing and they're just, bah! I mean, I've worked for people like that. I knew people like that growing up. I've worked for more people like that. And look, there's a lot of people like that that are just quick to anger, just like that. So what's the application to this whole thing? So being angry, when should you be angry? We know that there's a righteous anger. We know that God has gotten angry throughout the Bible. You know, when should you be angry? So let's look at, first of all, you know, these wicked people that are out in this world. There are plenty of wicked people out there, okay? Look, the entire, I mean, I'm actually shocked almost every day at how wicked it's getting, okay? So the question is this. Should I walk around, does the Bible teach that I should walk around being angry all the time? Should I walk around being like, ah, it's all so wicked and ah, I hate everybody. Should you be like that? Should you let it own you and take over your life and just, look, there's plenty of things that are wicked to be angry about. I mean, no one will argue that. Turn to Romans chapter 12. But look, here's the thing, and here's the catch why we don't have to be this way. Because number one, the Lord is wicked with the angry every day, okay? So the Lord is angry with all this wickedness every single day, the Lord is angry every day. Look at Romans 12 and verse number 19. So when you combine that with this, we see why we don't have to be angry every single day. Look at Romans 12, 19, it says, dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath, for it is written, vengeance is mine. I will repay, saith the Lord. Look, the God says here, God says here, he's like, look, I understand that there's wickedness everywhere. He's like, but I got this. He's like, not only am I mad and wrathful and angry with it every single day, but I will make it right. All these wicked people that are out there hurting people, hurting children, whoever, I mean, Jesus says it would be better if a millstone was hung around your neck and you're thrown into the ocean or the river. I mean, think about it. He didn't say, I'm gonna do that. He said it'd be better. I mean, it's better that God avenges than we do because he's better at it and he can do it in an eternal way. God can repay the wicked eternally. I mean, you wanna talk about something that is repaid in full. That's what will happen. Turn to Matthew chapter five. You, on the other hand, are to be a light in this world. How can you be a light if you're walking around angry all the time? How could you be a light in this world? Look at Matthew five and verse 14. The Bible says, ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick and give it light to all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven. So look, I will say this. The Bible says you're supposed to be a light. You can't be an angry light. You have to be a light to the world. But look, the Bible does also say that if anyone tries to keep that light from shining, that should anger you. You know, I mean, think about it. Whether it be church or out soul winning, you will find people that try to stop that light from shining. And you know what? That can anger us. But what's the methodology? You should be slow to anger. Look, don't get me wrong. There's a certain time when you just gotta get angry and just kick some wicked person out. There's a time for that, okay? But look, let me say this about soul winning. We had a great example of this yesterday. But look, just as Paul was angered by Bar Jesus, remember that in the Bible in Acts chapter 13? He was angry. He said, thou child of the devil. I don't think he said, thou child of the devil? If you please leave us alone. He's like, thou child of the devil. Because this guy was trying to stop somebody from getting saved. He got angry with him. But look, we had a situation yesterday. We should be slow to wrath, slow to anger, wise as serpents, harmless as doves. We're out situation soul winning yesterday. It was all in Spanish. Brother David's giving the gospel in Spanish, but I knew exactly what was going on because I'd seen this kind of situation 100 times before. And here, he's giving the gospel to this lady at the door and her husband keeps walking by. He's like. You ever seen this guy? He's walking around. He goes out and he's like. Says something in Spanish or whatever and then he leaves. He goes and he starts his truck in the driveway. He doesn't go anywhere. Shuts his truck off, comes back in. You hear him yelling some stuff from the back room. Look, he's trying to stop what's happening at the door. And then, even there, I'm just like praying, like help this guy just go away or have a call or he has to go somewhere or whatever. Just keep this guy out of the situation. The guy comes and stands up right next to, I assume it was his wife. And just starts arguing with Brother David. Now look, that's kind of a Bar Jesus situation where Brother David could have been like, you know what, thou child of the devil. But would that have been smart? And plus, we're in a soul-winning situation. We're at somebody's house. So Brother David is just like, oh, oh, oh. Just totally just defuses the guy, calms the situation down. And the guy finally just like, fine, whatever. And he just leaves and is able to continue giving the lady the gospel. I mean, that's wise as serpent, harmless as dove right there. I mean, that is smart. That is somebody that is being slow to anger, slow to wrath. I mean, would that have been justified? I mean, look, if you care about that lady's soul, wouldn't you be justified in being angry at that guy? But no, we're supposed to be slow to anger. And look at the payoff. You know, we're able to just plant this deep seed with this lady and give her some things to think about. I mean, it was wonderful. It's a wonderful example of being slow to anger and how well that can work for us. We shouldn't just be this hair trigger, ready to just go off on people. I tell the ushers the same thing. You know, your job here is to diffuse situations, is to de-escalate situations. We're to be slow to anger, slow to wrath. You know, calm things down if there is something that comes up. I mean, look, sometimes you gotta grab somebody and throw them off the street. You know, it's just the way it is. But, you know, in general, we need to be slow to get to that point, okay? All right, now look, God's angry with his children too. We saw that, did we not? Should you ever be angry with your children? Let's look at that. Go back to 2 Kings chapter 17. So we see with the wicked that God, you know, God's angry with him every day. And God says, you know what, I will avenge, I will repay. Look, if this guy yesterday was some reprobate that's just gonna go around stopping his whole family from getting saved, look, God's gonna burn him in hell. You say, that's harsh. Well, that's the vengeance of God. That's the wrath of God. Welcome to church. Welcome to the actual Bible. That's what's gonna happen to people like that. We are to be the light to the other people that are willing to hear the gospel. We're to be the light to those people. So that doesn't happen to them. So go back to 2 Kings chapter 17. Look at God getting angry with his children. Look at verse 15. And we're gonna find out, you know, look, there's plenty of places we could go in the Bible with God being angry with his children. But I wanna show you something that will explain a few things on how you should be towards your children and why. The Bible says in verse 15 of 2 Kings 17, and they rejected his statutes and his covenant that he made with their fathers and his testimonies, which he testified against them. And they followed vanity and became vain and went after the heathen and they were round about them. Concerning whom the Lord had charged them that they should not do like them. And they left the commandments of the Lord their God and made them molten images, even two calves and made a grove and worshiped all the host of heaven and served Baal. And they caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire. And they sacrificed their children and used divination and enchantments and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord to provoke him to anger. Turn to Judges chapter three. Judges chapter three. The Bible says, I don't want you to forget this because this is the phrase I'm gonna use again and again in the coming few minutes. The Bible says, they rejected his statutes. Really everything can be underneath that statement. Everything that they did from sacrificing their children to worshiping other gods to following the heathen. They rejected God's statutes. They rejected him. God said, hey, do it this way. Here's the way I want you to do it. And they rejected that. Look at Judges three, eight. The Bible says, and the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord and forgot the Lord their God and served Balaam in the groves. Therefore, it says, for this reason, the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel and he sold them into the hand of Tusharashnathaim, the king of Mesopotamia and the children of Israel served him for eight years, the Bible says. I'm not gonna pronounce that name again. Look, so the Bible says this, the father gets angry when the children are in disobedience. And furthermore, it says, when they reject his statutes. Okay, don't miss that. So the Bible says, look, you can get angry with your children if they reject your statutes. However, you know, God with his children, if you think about the Old Testament, we're talking about nations here. God with his children was extremely long suffering. I mean, think about this, the northern kingdom of Israel, Jeroboam came in right after the kingdom split and he made the two calves and he turned the people to Baal and he turned, I mean, he was just wicked. God judged him individually, these kings, but the bottom line is he was extremely long suffering with the actual people. He was extremely, I mean, it was 200 some years before they were carried away by the Assyrian Empire. So he didn't just destroy the nation just like that. I mean, we should thank God for that today. So the point is this, there was chastisement along the way though, for the children of Israel. Turn to Hebrews chapter 12 and verse number six. So while God eventually gets angry and destroys the entire nation, there is chastisement along the way. Okay, there's chastisement along the way. The prophets, they come and they say, hey, you should do it this way. Hey, get these people to repent. Nineveh's a great example, they repented, they changed the way they were doing things and God spared the judgment on them for a while. Look at Hebrews 12 and verse number six. The Bible says this, for whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. So look, chastisement is meant to correct, not destroy. You see, there's a difference between the wrath of God coming upon the nation of Israel to get them carried away to Assyria where he's just like, you're done, I'm done with you. And the chastisement. Turn to Proverbs chapter 13, Proverbs chapter 13. So chastisement is meant to correct, not to destroy. It's meant to get them to the point, look, it's meant to see something going wrong. You always wanna be in chastisement mode. Do you understand where I'm going with this? You wanna see something going wrong and you wanna chastise and correct it before it gets into the point where they have rejected the statutes. You see what I'm saying? Look at Proverbs 13, 24. The Bible says, he that spareth his rod hateth his son, but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes. That means again and again and again. Look, so the Bible says, anger and chastisement do not go together. Anger came from the rejection of the statutes. You see what I'm saying? Not correction. Correction comes out of love. Correction comes out, and the Bible says that because we are adopted into this family, God will chastise us because he loves us. The unsaved are not gonna get chastised by God. You ever wonder why people get away, so many wicked people get away with so many things? That's why. Because they're not under the chastisement of God in this life. They're gonna pay in hell. The unsaved have the wrath of God abiding on them, meaning they're gonna pay in hell if they don't get saved. But you, if you're saved, you're gonna endure the chastisement of a loving father. Look, so this is why, look, this is why chastisement, first of all, chastisement's an act of love. We see that here, right? Chastisement is an act of love, and I mean, that means, you know what that means? If you don't do it, you don't love your children. I mean, you could rightly say that you see, when you see a child that is not chastened by their parents, that those parents don't love that child. You could rightly say that. You say, but, you say, what? But I love my children. What? You say, well, it's really simple. Your definition of love is just wrong. It's that simple. So look, the reason that you chasten your children is so, look, and you don't do it in anger. You don't, I mean, when I spank my kids, look, I'm not gonna tell you I've never spanked my kids in anger. Okay, I'm not gonna stand up here and say that. But look, I should have never done it. When you spank your kids, the vast majority of the times that I spanked my kids, I didn't even wanna do it. Like, my flesh was saying, I'd rather not do this. Your flesh will tell you that, but that's not of God. You know, most of the time, it was me coming home from work, my wife telling, you know, reading the list of, you know, the execution orders, and then just taking care of business. Look, my flesh didn't wanna do it. I wanna go out and throw a ball around. I wanna go fishing. I wanna do this stuff. But look, that's not of God. When your flesh tells you, you know, I don't wanna do this. It's not of God. And it shouldn't be done in anger, okay? But here's the big thing, folks, and this is where you have to get this first one right. Because if you do not correct and chasten, they will become disobedient. They will become defiant towards you. Look, if you have ever seen somebody chasten their child, spank their child, and that child gets angry at the parents, that's a bad sign. That's a bad sign. That means that that correction is not doing its job. It's either not being done right or not being done enough, because that child is getting defiant. If you see a child that is chasten, they're like, like a five-year-old, no, I don't wanna be spanked, or whatever, that is danger territory. You as a parent had better raise a red flag on that one, because when disobedience, when chastening stops and it turns into disobedience, that is when anger will start setting in. You ever see a kid that's never been, that's not, you know, that's when they're gonna start rejecting your statutes. Sound familiar? And then, at that point, you have no chance. You have no chance. When they get older, if that obedience is not there, that means that that respect will not be there. That obedience needs to turn, look, the obedience needs to turn to compliance, needs to turn to understanding. You see that? And if you miss the first building block, you have no chance to getting to understanding. Do you think that, I don't wanna embarrass Garrett, but do you think that I put Garrett over my knee and spank him? I do not. I do not spank my 18-year-old, maybe some people do, I don't. If you get to the point where you are having to unleash beatings on an 18-year-old, you have lost the fight. You have missed the earlier building blocks. And I can guarantee you that if you're in a situation where you're gonna be spanking an 18-year-old, there's gonna be anger involved on both sides. You see, you're not provoke your children to wrath. But I'll tell you this, I'll tell you this, they still need correction. But you say, well, what do you mean? At that point, there should be what? The obedience should have led to compliance, should have led to understanding. And at this point, it should be more like minor corrections. But you still need a steering wheel. And the steering wheel, you know what the steering wheel is? Because you have understanding now, right? If you've done it right, you have understanding. You know what the steering wheel is? Here's the steering wheel. Amen. But you have to understand this. You have to understand these what? These statutes. If you have a situation where you have not gotten to the obedience step and you have failed there, you will never get to compliance, you will never get to understanding, and now you're beating an 18-year-old who has rejected your statutes. And you say, well, you know what? If my 18-year-old has rejected my statutes, then I should be able to get angry. Okay, well, congratulations. You have righteous anger there. What are you gonna do now? You don't wanna be there. You don't wanna get there. That's why you need to pay so much attention on what's happening now when they're two, three, four, five, six years old. Because look, I mean, you need that understanding. That understanding is your steering wheel. They're saved. They understand the Bible. They understand what you're trying to do. And that's your steering wheel. And look, I mean, it's a pretty good steering wheel. You can make some corrections with it. Because, I mean, they're saved, right? I mean, they're saved when they're 15, 16, 17 years old. Aren't they saved? If not, why not? They're saved. They've got that Holy Spirit in them. They should understand the Bible if you're teaching the Bible to them. If they're hearing preaching of the Bible, they should understand that. Look, the Bible can make some major corrections. I mean, you can have somebody slip up pretty big, and if they have understanding, you can make that correction. I mean, the Bible can correct. So what does this have to do with anger? You know, look, I've seen people, I've seen people that will not, they just won't implement, you know, the chastisement on their kids. I'm not gonna name names that we knew of family many years ago. And they just would not chastise their children. And they were not, they weren't even really Christians, so, I mean, we didn't really expect them to. But look, we saw the results of it. You know what you had? You had some very angry children before they were even five. Anger, it was crazy. And then you know what you had? You had parents, they wouldn't spank, they wouldn't even do anything that was any sort of, I mean, look, you gotta spank. Look, and I'm talking spanking on the bottom. I'm not talking about hitting your kids or hurting your kids. Don't be stupid. But look, I'm talking about giving, you know, some spankings to children where God has designed them to be spanked. But look, they wouldn't do any of this stuff. So they ended up with angry kids, and then you know what you ended up with? Like rage-filled parents. It was nuts. I mean, just like screaming constantly. I mean, look, when you're screaming at your children, you've lost control of the situation. Okay, I mean, it should be very matter of fact. You know, you've done this, and this is the punishment, and that's it. I mean, there shouldn't be anger involved. I mean, look, but it just, and as you get, look, that slow to anger goes away, and pretty soon it's just like this fireball of anger in the house. It's crazy. I've seen it happen. When they just rejected the first building block, that's the only thing that they did wrong. Turn to Ephesians 6, four. Or just look at the front of your bulletin. Look at Ephesians 6, four. The Bible says, and ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath, but. So look, this is a beautiful verse. There's two sides to this verse, once again. Provoke not your children to wrath, but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. It says, hey, don't provoke them to wrath. Instead, do this. So it gives you the problem and the answer. I mean, that's the wonderful thing about this verse, and many verses in the Bible. So here's the, you know, nobody understands this, but the bottom line is point number one is this. If you're an angry person, you're gonna raise angry children. So if you're somebody that's, I mean, that's just a side note. If you're somebody that's just angry at everything all the time, and you're this firecracker of a person, you're gonna raise kids, you're gonna train your kids to be that way. That's the bottom line. Yeah, but you know, at least they'll be well behaved, right? But eventually that anger will turn on you. That's what Ephesians 6, four means. Eventually that anger will turn on you. And the main point is if you miss that first building block, if they aren't nurtured and taught the admonition of the Lord, you have zero chance of building correctly. It's not like you might not make it. It's not like it maybe will work. No, you have no chance. Because look, it'll lead to disobedience, which will lead, here's the other side, to rejection of your statues. Can you imagine having a 14-year-old kid or a 12-year-old kid who rejects the Bible that you're trying to teach them? It happens all the time. It happens all the time. It can happen to you if you don't listen to what the Bible actually says. But you say, okay, but then if they reject my statutes, you know, when they're 12 or 13, then my anger will be justified. At that point, who cares? I mean, the problem is that your children have rejected the statutes that you've tried to teach them. Who cares if your anger is justified at that point? I mean, do you really wanna be in that place? Build the building correctly is the bottom line. Every block is necessary, especially the first ones. You'll have no steering wheel when they're older, all right? So look, anger, anger, there's a place for it. We see there's a place for it. You know, we see that the Lord Jesus Christ got angry a few times. We see that Paul got angry. In Acts 13, you know, when bar Jesus was trying to stop, you know, somebody from hearing the gospel, but we are to rely on God repaying the wicked. And we are to not be angry parents with our children, but chastise them in love and nurture. You know, in general, we just need to get our definition of love down properly. So many problems in the Christian life would be fixed if people would just quit listening to stupid, worldly definitions of love and listen to what the Bible says. If you love your children, you will not listen to your flesh and your emotions. I mean, we all have these emotions. There's all times, I'm sure, dads, that you didn't want to spank your kids. But, I mean, you don't have to be angry about it. Just do it right. Get your definition right, do it right. Or, you know, you will find yourself struggling with anger yourself and with your children years from now, which is a nightmare for people. And I don't want to see that for anyone here. All right, so anger, there's a place for it. God is angry. In general, God's gonna handle the anger thing, folks. In our own families, we need to manage it, we need to do things the way God says. I mean, that's with anything. We just need to do it God's way, no matter what culture we've been raised in, no matter what we think, just do it God's way. It's very simple. There's no decisions, right? I mean, that's the easy part of all this, right? We don't have to sit here and be like, oh, should I do it this way, should I? I mean, everything doesn't have to be a decision in your life. You just do what God says. That's it. I mean, have a little faith. Have a little faith that if I do it God's way, that it's just gonna work out. I, you know, it will. All right, so anger. We need to control it, we need to be slow to it, and we need to realize that God is going to handle things in the end. Let's bow our heads and have a word of praise. Thank you.