The following material was produced for the national
radio series Come Up Higher featuring pastor and
teacher Bob Phillips This special 12 cassette album
is titled Developing the Roots of Christian Character.
This is part 4 Dealing with Anger Well
today we're continuing our teaching series on Developing
the Roots of Christian Character And Bob, today's
topic I think is really going to hit
home for many of us.
Michele, I think you're right.
We're going to talk today about how to
deal with the roots of anger, and anger
is such a big problem.
You know why I think anger is such
a problem?
Because it mixes so well with the mud.
Now what I mean by that is that
it brings up so many other things in
our life.
Anger will open the door to so many
areas that are also called sin.
And you know many people try to excuse
their anger by calling it a righteous anger.
I think we've really got to nail this
subject down, because if your anger is self
-centered in any way, it's not righteous at
all, it's sin.
And we're going to deal today with what
causes that anger.
We're going to find that there's a sinful
root in the heart that has to be
exposed.
Well, as always, Bob, I'm looking forward to
hearing your insights on this subject.
Again, this is part four of the series
titled Developing the Roots of Christian Character.
Today's presentation is called Dealing with the Roots
of Anger.
Let's join those gathered at Times Square Church
in New York City as we listen to
our host and teacher, Pastor Bob Phillips.
The power and the strength of being a
Christian is not the fact that they never
get angry.
The strength of it is that when you
notice its anger, that you take it to
the Lord and you allow Him to work
a deep repentance over that.
Now, by the same token, you can't just
keep practicing anger and practicing anger and say,
oh well, God forgive me.
No, we're talking about a deep repentance that
roots it out.
See, a Christian is someone that's being transformed.
He's not perfect, but he's not excusing his
imperfections either.
He's going through a transform transforming process.
All right.
So what I'm saying to you is that
when we talk about character, for example, if
you can handle if you can handle difficulties
most of the time, but part of the
time you don't, that's still not all right.
You see, it's the whole of the life
God's looking at.
He literally wants to make us unoffendable.
Doesn't mean it won't hurt, but he wants
to make us as being unoffendable people.
And we can be.
We can literally be unoffendable.
Now, the one thing that bothers God.
Well, there's a lot of things that bother
God.
But I know one area he speaks consistently
about.
Is this faithfulness that just it just passes
away like the dew.
And turn with me, Hosea, Hosea.
And as we go through this, I want
you to think about this.
See, because many of you may be able
to sit and think, well, you know.
I get angry every once in a while.
But I want to tell you something.
If you are capable of saying that you
have a problem with anger.
Are you hearing me?
And when we go through these scriptures to
see the result of anger, you're going to
see just how big that problem is.
You see, the Christian doesn't say, well, I
get angry occasionally.
But the Christian says anger is a sin
and it's an abomination to God.
It's got to go in my life.
It doesn't excuse it.
All right.
Now, notice this description of Ephraim in Hosea
chapter six, verse four.
What shall I do with you, O Ephraim?
What shall I do with you, O Judah?
For your loyalty, the King James says, goodness
is like the morning cloud, like the dew
which goes away early.
Now, what is your walk with the Lord?
Does your walk represent a tree rooted and
grounded, planted by streams of water that does
not cease to yield its fruit even when
the heat comes?
Or is your character like the morning dew?
What happens to the morning dew when the
heat comes?
It evaporates.
Now, God is making a comparison.
Are you like a tree, firmly planted?
Or are you like, do you resemble the
morning dew or, as he says, the morning
clouds?
You know, that are blown away.
As the day goes on, as the heat
comes, they change.
Now, the real test of you being a
Christian is not so much if you are
free from anger most of the time.
The real test is, are you free when
the heat comes?
Not are you in a good disposition almost
all the time, but when the heat's turned
up, when you face a particular circumstance, does
your loyalty and your faithfulness go like the
morning cloud?
When the heat comes, is it like the
dew that immediately evaporates?
Or is it rooted and grounded firmly like
a tree whose roots are extended deep into
the ground and when the heat comes, it
still yields its fruit?
Now, that's the question we're faced with.
Now, turn with me to the Sermon on
the Mount, Matthew chapter 5.
Now, I want to give you a definition
of meekness.
I want to give you a definition of
meekness and humility.
I'm going to read several scriptures to you
tonight that deal with meekness and the New
American Standard will translate it, humility.
And I think it's errored there in many
of the cases, not all, but in many
of them.
And the King James translated it as meekness.
There obviously is a difference, I believe, between
humility and meekness.
Now, a lot of people say it's the
same.
But humility, and I'm trying to give you
as simplistic a definition as I can give
you, but humility is a character in a
person that regards the word of another as
more important and more valuable than his own.
Now, for the Christian, humility, you know, the
world can have a humility about it, too.
You know, there is a worldly humility.
All right.
But for the Christian, humility, then, is to
value the word of God higher than any
other authority.
That's humility.
See, because you're coming under the authority of
another.
And it's not a person you're coming under
the authority of.
It's the word you're coming under authority of.
So, real humility, real Christian humility, is to
value the word of God as the highest
authority possible.
Now, you know what that means?
That means even when you don't understand why.
It means that when God demands something and
you say, but God.
With humility, there's no but God.
God's word takes the final authority, whether you
understand it or you don't understand it.
All right?
Now, meekness.
Meekness is built upon humility.
You can't have meekness without humility.
But meekness is trusting God to take care
of my life, my desires, my possessions, and
my rights.
Now, we'll see that as we go along.
True meekness is trusting God to take care
of my life, my desires, my possessions, and
my rights.
Now, in Matthew 5, he makes this statement.
Verse 5, blessed are the...
Now, the New American Standard says gentle, but
the word here is meek.
Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit
the earth.
Now, we're going to look at the inheritance
before we're through.
That's a pretty big statement.
God says, you're blessed if you're meek.
Now, anger.
Now, I want you to think of the
difference between anger and meekness.
Anger is a response or reaction.
Anger is a reaction.
Meekness is a response.
Now, are you hearing me?
Anger is a reaction.
Meekness is a response.
Anger is a reaction to an external event
when a right that you think you have,
and you may actually have it, has been
challenged or questioned.
Meekness, then, is taking those rights, whatever they
may be, trusting God to take care of
my life, my desires, my possessions, and my
rights.
Now, are you following me so far?
Now, the basic problem with anger.
Anger is the very opposite of meekness.
Anger is a reaction.
When something about my life is threatened, something
about my desires are threatened, my possessions, or
my rights.
Now, how many of you can see that
in anger?
A man's driving down the street.
A taxicab cuts in front of him.
He's got a right to that lane, and
the taxicab doesn't.
Anger rises up on the inside.
You see?
Or a man comes home.
His wife doesn't have supper ready.
He's angry.
Why is he angry?
Because I have a right to have my
supper ready.
Are you hearing what I'm saying?
See, anger is always a reaction.
Now, there is a godly anger.
For example, if there's a fear that rises
up into somebody.
Somebody said, all anger is wrong.
And, you know, but if I...
I mean, all anger is wrong.
All fear is wrong.
Some people say, if I walk across the
street, and I suddenly look up, and here's
a big truck barreling down on me, I'm
gonna have some fear, first of all.
And I hope that fear will motivate me
to get out of the way.
And then when I watch the truck go
by, I might feel a little bit of
anger.
You see?
But then, what I'm talking about is, what
a Christian does, is he doesn't react to
that thing.
He gathers himself, you know, and he responds
to God.
Are you hearing what I'm...
Am I making some sense?
Responding versus reacting.
All right.
Now, we're gonna see how this works itself
out.
Remember what I said, though, as we go
through these lessons.
Anger is a what?
Reaction.
Meekness is a response.
All right.
Now, that's gonna be important.
Now, anger is a reaction to an external
event when a right is challenged or threatened.
Meekness is a response to God or to
His Word when an opportunity to trust God
presents itself.
And in other words, I'm trusting God to
take care of my life, my desires, my
possessions, my rights.
For example, if I don't get a promotion,
I have a desire for a promotion in
a job, and I don't get that promotion,
and you allow anger to come in there,
not only you tell me, does it affect
you?
Absolutely.
And what are you holding on to?
You're holding on to the absolute right that
you should have been promoted.
But where's God in all of this?
Are you trusting God while you're angry?
You're not getting the promotion.
Are you really putting your trust in the
Lord?
No.
No, it's not in the Lord.
You're saying, God, why didn't I get it?
God, why didn't this happen?
Why didn't that happen?
Instead of responding to God's grace, and as
you respond to God's grace, you say, well,
Lord, I didn't get it.
You're in control of my life.
My sole desire is to walk with you
and to bless you and to give you
glory in all that I do.
If I didn't get it, and you're overseeing
my life, then, Lord, I'm trusting you with
the response to it.
Maybe there's something better or something worse, but
it doesn't matter, God.
Whatever it is, you're in control of my
life, and I want to walk with you.
Now, that's meekness.
Meekness is not just that gentle spirit that
gets whipped all over the place.
Are you hearing me?
Meekness is an active, not a passive, but
an active trust in God's ability and desire
to take care of your life, desires, possessions,
and rights, whatever they may be.
Now, Jesus illustrated that.
Some people say, well, did Jesus lose his
meekness when he went into the temple and
built the scourge of whip, of a whip,
of cords, and begin to drive out the
money changers?
Well, if meekness means just walking around and
just kind of, oh, just, you know, getting
tossed here and there, yes, but if meekness
means trusting Almighty God with his life and
with his possessions, and with his rights, and
his desires, it wasn't Jesus who was doing
the turning of the tables over, it was
God the Father.
See, he was in control.
He didn't lose his meekness then, because meekness
had, there's nothing to do with just being
gentle all the time.
Are you following what I'm saying?
So when the Bible translates as gentleness, sometimes
we misunderstand what it's really saying.
Now, turn with me to James chapter 1.
I'll show you how important this meekness really
is.
Now, listen to me carefully.
This meekness is so important that it will
affect every area of your spiritual life if
you neglect it.
First thing we started with was humility.
The opposite of humility is pride.
Now, we're not necessarily talking about people walking
around trying to look pretty all the time
or saying that they're the most important people
in the world.
We dealt with what the roots of pride
really are.
See, because you can't have humility and pride.
With pride, God will resist you.
With humility, He'll give His grace to you.
And His grace is the will and the
ability to do whatever He's calling you to
do with whatever the Word says.
Alright, now, building on that pyramid, you cannot
have meekness without being humble.
But did you know why meekness affects all
the rest of your spiritual life?
Because you can't receive the Word of God
implanted on the inside of you unless you
have a meek spirit.
Now, that's what James 1.21 says.
See, if you sometimes wonder, why is it
I'm able to read the Word of God
and it not penetrate like it ought to?
Or why is it some areas don't penetrate?
Well, then you look to your rights and
your possessions and your desires and your goals
that you're hanging on to and saying, God,
I'm going to control these areas.
And you're really holding on to them, not
trusting God with them.
Because if that's the case, anger is in
there.
In some form or another, there's anger in
there because any time you're holding on to
your rights, there's an anger that's going to
be on the inside.
You may not be having outbursts of anger,
but there's an anger on the inside.
It's going to be the opposite of meekness.
And meekness is the ability to trust God,
the willingness to trust Him with those things.
And without meekness, you can hear the Word
and hear the Word and hear the Word,
but it'll never become implanted.
And it's only when the Word becomes implanted
that it's able to affect your character.
All right, now notice this.
James 1, verse 19 and 20.
This you know, my beloved brethren, but let
everyone be quick to hear, slow to speak
and slow to what?
Anger.
Why didn't he say lust?
Why didn't he say something else?
Because he knows this anger will affect your
ability to get the Word implanted on the
inside of you.
And notice what he places right along beside
it.
The next verse.
For the anger of man does not achieve
the righteousness of God.
Now, the King James says wrath, but the
best word there is the anger of man.
The anger of man.
You can't have God's righteousness and have anger
controlling and dominating you.
Is that clear?
I say, is that clear?
Let's say it again.
The anger of man does not achieve the
righteousness of God.
You see the Pharisees fasted twice a week,
said their prayers many times.
As to the law, they had all the
outward observances there.
And Jesus looks at them and says, unless
your righteousness exceeds that of the Pharisees, you
will not enter the kingdom of heaven.
And the next thing he talks about is
anger.
Are you hearing what I'm saying?
It was affecting their righteousness.
Here's why it affects your righteousness, because you
can't receive the Word.
Now look at verse 21.
Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that
remains of wickedness, New American Standard says in
humility.
King James says in what?
Meekness.
In meekness, receive the word implanted, which is
able to save your souls.
So meekness, meekness, the loss of it or
the absence of it will directly affect how
the word of God penetrates your heart.
Now that makes it important, doesn't it?
Now, you can read those scriptures for yourself.
In fact, I want to read one of
them.
Turn to Deuteronomy.
Deuteronomy 11, verse 26.
See, I am setting before you today.
I want to wait just a minute till
everybody gets there.
Deuteronomy chapter 11, verse 26.
See, I am setting before you today a
what?
A blessing and a curse.
Now here's what the blessing is contingent upon.
The blessing.
If you listen to the commandments of the
Lord, your God, which I'm commanding you today
and the curse, if you do not listen
to the commandments of the Lord, your God,
but turn aside from the way which I'm
commanding you today by following after other gods
which you've not known.
A blessing and a curse.
Go ahead and turn with me to Deuteronomy
30, verse 1.
So it shall be when all of these
things have come upon you, the blessing and
the curse, which I've set before you, and
you call them to mind in all the
nations where the Lord, your God has banished
you and returned to the Lord, your God,
and a what?
Obey Him with how much of your heart?
All of your heart and soul according to
all that I command you today.
Now look with me at verse 11.
For this commandment, which I command you today,
now this is very important, is not too
difficult for you nor is it out of
reach.
God says, I'm placing a commandment before you.
Now I don't care how much you and
I say it's too hard, God.
God says, I'm sorry, but it's not too
difficult because it's not out of reach.
Now how am I going to reach it?
Well, He tells us in verse 14 and
15.
But the word is very near you in
your mouth and in your heart.
Now that says a lot to the confession
message.
It's not enough to have it in your
mouth.
It must be in your mouth and in
your heart.
In your mouth and in your heart that
you may observe it.
See, I have set before you today life
and prosperity, death and adversity.
Now here's what I want you to see.
Which one is anger?
A blessing or a curse?
All right, then with it, it's going to
carry death and adversity.
Isn't it?
All right, which one is a blessing?
Meekness.
Now is meekness a blessing?
Then it's going to carry with it life
and what?
Prosperity.
Now not material prosperity, but that means good.
It's going to carry with it good.
So if meekness is in our life, it's
going to produce what?
Goodness and character.
If anger is in our life, it's going
to produce adversity and destruction.
Now let's see that through the word of
God and see, I'm going to take you
through several scriptures.
And these are so important that you understand.
Now meekness, we're going to see how, some
people are going to be saying as we
go through this, how am I going to
get more meekness?
Well, we're going to talk about that.
But before we talk about it, I want
you to be hungry for it.
Okay?
And you say, how am I going to
get rid of anger?
Well, we're going to mention that.
But before we mention that, I want you
to hate it.
All right?
Now meekness.
What is the blessing of meekness?
Remember what meekness is?
Trusting God to take care of my life,
my desires, my possessions, and my rights.
Meekness.
You want more guidance?
How many of you would like to have
more guidance from the Lord?
You'd like to have more instruction from the
Lord.
You'd like to know more clearly the Lord's
movement and guidance.
You'd like to know His word and which
way to go, which way to turn, how
to handle difficult situations.
Now I've watched people work on guidance until
they're blue in the face.
I mean, they read every book you can
find on guidance, but never one time.
And you know, I've watched this happen.
I'm thinking of one particular person.
It's not in this church, but in a
church that I pastored once.
And they wanted guidance, guidance, that's all.
Constantly guidance, be led by the Lord, instruction
from the Lord.
Wasn't anything wrong with that?
But if there was any one thing that
I could say was honestly missing from that
person, that this particular person had a husband
who was an alcoholic.
And he wasn't as bad as some alcoholics,
but alcoholism is bad.
But what I'm saying is he wasn't beating
her, he wasn't doing those things.
She wanted him to change so much.
So much.
And there's nothing wrong with wanting that change,
but it dominated her life.
And she would get so mad at him,
so angry.
Every time, and you know, when she finally
dealt with the outward anger, she finally got
to the place when she was reprimanded enough
where she was no longer angry outwardly.
But you know what she'd do?
First chance she got, she'd tell her friend
over here at the prayer meeting, would you
pray for me and my husband?
You see, he did such and such today.
Would you?
And that prayer wasn't enough though.
Because as soon as she got through with
that prayer, there's somebody else over here at
the prayer meeting.
By the way, I just wonder if you
would pray with me.
And let's present this to God.
And it was so sweet.
And it looked so kind.
And if you looked at the outside, you
would think, poor woman.
I mean, she's got this over of a
husband and she's going through this and she's
going through that.
And look at her.
There's so much there that's so sweet and
so kind.
All she wants is prayer.
And that's exactly what everybody thought.
Until one day, I had the two of
them in my office.
And we were talking.
And he brought out one thing.
He said, I know I'm an alcoholic.
And he said, I know I'm this and
I know I'm that.
And he says, as a matter of fact,
I don't think I'm worth much.
And I don't even know why she'd want
to even be married to me.
But because she is married to me, there's
something I expect.
And he mentioned that very area.
Boy, there went the meekness.
I mean, she came up out of that
chair.
If I didn't stand with her, I believe
she'd have flogged him.
And the whole idea was what right do
you have to expect that of me when
you're not fulfilling my rights?
Now what I'm telling you is all of
that meekness and humility flew away like the
morning cloud and like the dew when the
heat came.
Are you hearing what I'm saying?
And underneath all the kindness was a seething
anger on the inside.
But she wasn't showing the anger because she
knew if she showed the anger, she's going
to get rebuked for it among righteous people.
So she didn't show the anger, but it
still was in there.
Am I making sense?
Alright.
Now, she wanted guidance.
But look what the scripture says.
Psalm 25, verse 8 and 9, good and
upright is the Lord.
Therefore, He instructs sinners in the way.
And He leads the whom?
The humble or now when this says humble,
the scriptures I want to read to you
that say humble, sometimes afflicted, are meek.
Say that with me.
The meek.
He leads the meek in justice and He
teaches the meek His way.
See, if you want to be led by
the Lord, one of the blessings of meekness
is God promises you I'll lead you in
the way.
I'll guide you.
I'll teach you.
Well, let's go on to another one.
Isaiah 61.
I mentioned it earlier.
I said you can't really receive the Word
of God.
And I want to show you clearly you
can't receive the Word of God without meekness.
You may receive parts of it, but you're
not going to be able to get the
fruit of the Word.
Isaiah 61, verse 1.
Again, the new American standard is a little
different.
Isaiah 61.
1 says the Spirit of the Lord God
is upon me because the Lord has anointed
me to bring good news to the afflicted.
The King James says to preach good tidings
to whom?
Who did He bring His Word to?
The meek.
He's not going to bring His Word to
the angry.
Are you hearing me?
And see, the rest of that goes with
it.
He sent me to bind up the brokenhearted.
Are you brokenhearted?
But are you allowing angry to stay there?
He's not going to bring His Word to
you.
He's not commissioned to bring His Word to
the angry.
He's commissioned to bring His Word to the
meek.
You see, does that mean a person with
anger is never going to have the Word
preached to them?
No, that's not what I'm saying at all.
But as long as that person wants to
hang on to their anger, the Word is
not going to penetrate them.
But the minute the angry person becomes a
helpless person who needs help and cries out
to God, then His Word can penetrate.
Are you hearing me?
But the wall of anger, if it stays
up there and it's not dealt with, the
Word can't penetrate it.
Of all the curses that could possibly be,
that has to be one of the greatest.
In fact, I wrote it down, but I'm
not going to have you turn there.
But in Matthew 13, He gives the parable
of the sower sowing the Word.
Also in Luke 8 and Mark 4.
But in Matthew 13, verse 23, He talks
about the fact that the soil, if there's
good soil, then that person will bring forth
fruit.
Some 30, some 60, some 104.
Good soil is a meek heart.
A meek heart is the planting for good
soil.
See, are you seeing that?
The Word is preached to whom?
The meek.
If you're going to receive the Word implanted
into the soil, James 1 says that you
have to receive it in meekness.
This meekness is important for receiving the Word.
A lot of times, there are people who
have all kinds of problems, fears and doubts
and all of these other things, and yet,
they're saying, well, here's the problem.
There's no meekness.
You say, well, trusting God, that's a pretty
big order.
How do I trust God?
I want to trust God.
Well, again, we're going to get to it.
I'm trying not to get ahead of myself.
But I'll tell you something.
You can't trust God and hold on to
your rights.
Are you hearing me?
You can't hold on to your rights and
trust God.
You can't hold on to your possessions and
your desires and ambitions and trust God because
holding on to those things will destroy trusting
God.
We'll get to more than that.
We'll get to that in more.
But anyway, Matthew 13, 23 says, there's a
good song.
Matthew 13, 19, and these are in your
notes, but it says that if there's not
good soil, but there's a hardness, then Satan
comes how soon?
Immediately.
And he steals whatever word's been thrown at
you.
Whatever word's been placed in the heart.
So meekness is a characteristic necessary for the
receiving of the word of God.
And it's not just going around being gentle.
Are you hearing me?
Now let's look at some other promises.
This is a good one.
Isaiah 29.
Isaiah chapter 29.
This is the blessing of meekness.
Isaiah chapter 29.
This is a promise.
These are the blessings.
We're going to look at the curses in
a moment.
But these are the blessings.
Isaiah chapter 29 verse 18.
And on that day the deaf shall hear
words of a book and out of their
gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind
shall see.
The afflicted and the word is meek the
meek also shall increase their gladness in the
Lord.
Well if you're wondering if you're going through
something and you're wondering you go through a
period where you're just you're not feeling you're
not feeling like you enjoy God anymore.
Don't act as if that never happens to
a Christian.
Well according to this one of the places
you look is for have I violated the
spirit of meekness somewhere?
Am I holding on to something?
Listen, it can be in your marriage it
can be on your job it can be
in your relationships but you're holding on tenaciously
to some right somewhere.
And maybe you have a right to it.
That's not the issue.
The issue is whether or not you're going
to trust God with it.
A lot of times you don't even have
a right to it.
But it's not a matter of whether you
do or you don't.
It's whether or not you're going to trust
God with it.
But if you start losing your enjoyment of
God are you hanging on to a right
somewhere?
It can be something like for example a
friend that you feel has offended you.
They ought to love you.
I mean that's my friend.
As a matter of fact jealousy starts happening
when they start being friends with somebody else.
And you start feeling neglected and you start
feeling oh well you know but they've got
a right to do that but you're still
feeling it on the inside.
And then before long you're coming and you're
saying I don't understand why I don't enjoy
God as much.
Or it just seems distant from God.
Well see if meekness is there it's going
to increase your gladness in the Lord.
It's going to increase your joy in the
Lord but you take meekness out.
See you feel like you have a right
to that relationship.
And you trust Him.
And God says trust me with it.
Hand me the right.
Put it right here in my hands.
And you follow me and you trust me
with it.
And then He starts bringing the gladness and
increasing the joy in the Lord.
That's the blessing of meekness.
You see this affects all of our lives.
Psalm 37 Now please listen to me carefully
because the Lord's really burning this inside that
there are some of you for example who
are angry because you don't have certain friends.
Are you hearing me?
I mean the Lord's just really it must
be here.
I mean He's just zeroing in on that.
That an anger is there because that you're
not going around mad all the time you're
not exploding all the time but you're angry
because somebody has a relationship with somebody that
you don't have.
You're hanging onto a right and one of
the characteristics of it is that you go
up and down when you get refreshed in
the Lord you quickly lose your gladness in
the Lord.
Psalm 37 Psalm 37 verse 11 The humble
or the meek and this is a direct
this is what Matthew 5 5 is quoted
from the humble or the meek will inherit
the what the land abundant and they will
delight themselves in what abundant what prosperity or
peace how many of you it says peace
well that's what it should be you see
the peace will be there if you're going
through a period of time where you're having
circumstances that are really controlling you and dominating
and you're not having any peace one of
the things you might look at is is
there a right that I'm holding onto myself
and not trusting God with am I making
sense could be with a relationship a circumstance
well I'm gonna get to some others in
a minute 1st Peter 3 suppose you're one
who struggles with timidity embarrassment and you're easily
intimidated how do you get rid of it
what do you look at you check out
your meekness see because you can try your
best to overcome timidity and embarrassment and intimidation
and yet be holding onto a right somewhere
and that's what's holding you back are you
hearing me now look at it it's right
here in the word we don't often read
it this way but it's right here verse
9 1st Peter chapter 3 verse 9 not
returning evil for evil or insult for insult
but by giving a blessing instead now that's
meekness you see it's not holding onto any
right is it I say is it see
instead of see someone gives you evil well
you don't return evil but instead you don't
hold onto that right to defend yourself what
you do is you hang onto the word
alright someone insults you you don't return insult
for insult but you hang onto the word
you see you're planting it deep inside instead
you not only hang onto the word but
you give a blessing instead for you were
called for the very purpose that you might
inherit a what a blessing for let him
who means to love life and see good
days refrain his tongue from evil and his
lips from speaking guile and let him turn
away from evil and do good let him
seek peace and pursue it for the eyes
of the Lord are upon the righteous and
his ears attend to their prayer but the
face of the Lord is against those who
do evil and who is there to harm
you if you prove zealous for what's good
but even if you should suffer for the
sake of righteousness you're blessed do not fear
their what their terror or intimidation and do
not be troubled how sanctify Christ as Lord
in your heart always being ready to make
a defense to everyone who asked you to
give an account for the hope that is
in you yet with meekness and fear not
in the new American sentence as gentleness and
reverence but it's meekness and fear so how
are we going to do that meekness controls
if you're looking if you're finding a real
struggle with intimidation is there some right you're
hanging on to and I tell you sometimes
it's the right to be accepted are you
hearing me see you're saying well I can
be bold if they'll accept what I've got
to say so can anybody else so can
the world but you're a Christian you're not
a mere mortal person yes you are a
person and you're flesh and blood but you're
you are you are a person indwelt by
a supernatural God and if you're holding on
to a right to be accepted it's going
to make you intimidated are you hearing what
I'm saying now that's the opposite of meekness
because meekness says God I'm going to trust
you with my life my desires my possessions
and my rights the only thing I want
is your will done are you seeing the
relationship all right now let's go on this
is a big one if you're really having
trouble saying God I know you say you
love me but I don't know if you
really love me God I understand I understand
that you said you would be with me
in times of trouble but I just I
don't know God will you be or you
listen to a message that's a hard message
and you say I can't stand that because
listen surely God is more than just wrath
listen what you want is another message the
whole basis of all of those circumstances is
that you're not seeing the true nature and
character of Jesus himself are you hearing me
it's not just a problem with lack of
trust it's an inability to see what he's
really like see because if you could see
what he's really like you'd say God I
know you can trust me I can trust
you through this if you could see what
he's really like other than just reading about
him on a page but see what he's
really like you'd be able to say God
I have no question you love me I
don't feel loved right now but I know
your character I know you I can see
what you're like but if it's a problem
with meekness turn with me to Matthew 11
it's a familiar scripture but I want you
to read it in the light of what
we just thought about Matthew 11 verse 28
come to me all who are weary and
heavy laden and I'm going to do what
I'll give you rest take my yoke upon
you and learn from me for I am
meek and lowly in heart New American Standard
says gentle and humble in heart and I
am meek and lowly in heart and you
shall find rest for your souls for my
yoke is easy and my load is light
you say but God I don't think it's
too easy I don't think it's too light
then start looking for an area of your
rights that you're hanging on to if you're
demanding something from your husband or something from
your wife something from your employer something from
your friends it's going to block your ability
to see Jesus as he really is you
can't receive that word implanted on the inside
meekness is missing and if you're not careful
before long anger will start to develop now
am I telling you the truth because if
you start thinking that long enough you start
getting right angry at God and you say
God why aren't you coming through in this
circumstance then after you get so guilty about
being angry with God you say well I
better not be angry with God I've been
to the altar and repented five times so
now the only one I'm angry is my
circumstance but then when the circumstance doesn't change
and you've repented over being angry over the
circumstance there's only one person left to get
mad at and that's yourself and then you
say well that's alright it's just me the
whole problem was you had a right you
were hanging on to and you wouldn't let
go wouldn't trust him with it now you're
hating yourself are you hearing me it can
happen if you were abused as a child
see God understands you had a right to
have a father or a mother who loved
you who cared for you who nurtured you
and protected you and loved you as a
human being you had a right but the
world's not fair God came to take you
out of the effects of the world but
if you hold on to that right it
will haunt you throughout your Christian life and
it will keep you from seeing the character
of God and the tragedy about it is
you can't go back and change it and
so the devil just keeps you in his
grip all of the time because you can't
change it you've got the right and you're
hanging on to it I've got a right
to that have a right to that you
can deal with bitterness and anger everything else
you can think of but you're dealing with
a right you're hanging on to and meekness
is being destroyed and you come to God
and you can't say God see you've already
passed the point where you're not saying God
how could you have allowed this to happen
to me that used to be the question
but as you grew as a Christian you
had to get rid of that question because
you thought well I can't question God but
down deep inside is buried see this lack
of meekness now let me tell you you'll
also see it in your relationships with other
people it may just be with you but
I want there's a characteristic there's a principle
the scripture says how can God forgive you
if you don't forgive those who trespass against
you matter of fact I quoted it wrong
he says it a lot stronger than that
he says neither will God forgive you if
you don't forgive those who transgress against you
now listen that's speaking about you can't be
angry at God and cover it up and
expect to walk in the blessings of forgiveness
yourself you can't be angry at others and
expect to walk in forgiveness yourself but let
me take it a step further if you're
not going to forgive yourself how's God going
to forgive you are you hearing me if
you're not willing to deal with the anger
directed towards yourself now does that mean God
doesn't forgive you doesn't want to no, he
wants to desires to but you'll never receive
it God wants everybody to be saved but
there's a lot of people out there that'll
never receive it I mean it's there for
them he died for them but they'll never
receive it because they'll never accept it because
they'll never let go and there's a lot
of people that are holding on to an
anger and mad at themselves they don't like
the way they look they don't like the
way they talk they don't like the way
they act they don't like the way their
social status they don't like this they don't
like that they don't like this and they
go over and over and over and over
and consider it acceptable it's not acceptable to
God it's a sin it's the opposite of
meekness because it's saying I don't trust you
with me God you made me and you
bungled this whole thing up it's the truth
down deep inside you're saying God I'm so
mad at you I can hardly stand it
you could have made me like so and
so you may never utter that you may
never say it but it gets buried down
deep on the inside are you hearing what
I'm saying?
well let's look at some of the the
curses Job chapter 5 I thought we'd already
covered some of those well it gets worse
you know things that are bad can always
get worse how many of you have learned
that?
well it gets worse we'll take you through
these quickly so we can move on Job
chapter 5 here's what's promised to the person
with anger verse 1 call now is there
anyone who will answer you and to which
of the holy ones will you turn?
for vexation slays the foolish man and anger
kills the simple now do you remember I
read to you Deuteronomy 30 a blessing and
a curse is laid before you vexation you
know what that means just constantly vexed constantly
upset constantly in turmoil constantly check it out
are you angry at your heritage?
are you angry you see are you angry
because somebody's got more friends are you angry
because something didn't work out are you angry
because you're the way you are if you
are that you are experiencing vexation and turmoil
all through your life and it will destroy
you it's a curse Proverbs chapter 14 verse
17 Proverbs 14 verse 17 a quick tempered
man acts foolishly and a man of evil
devices is hated you know what that means
that means throughout your life there will be
a continual loss of respect and loss of
friendship now listen carefully to me I'm not
just talking about the person who blows up
all the time this is something that follows
the person that even covers up their anger
but if you're a person that has anger
and you cover it up nobody knows that
that anger is seeding down on the inside
of you there's one thing that you can
count on characterizing your life you have very
very few friends it's difficult to make friends
and the friends that you have often seem
to turn against you now it wasn't because
you blew up at them are you hearing
what I'm saying but if you're carrying anger
on the inside it carries the curse of
the loss of friendship with you and you
may sit back and wonder why, why, why
because there's a curse that follows that am
I making sense to you well let's go
on Ecclesiastes 7.9 here's the problem with
anger it says in Ecclesiastes 7.9 do
not be eager in your heart to be
angry for anger resides and the word is
more properly translated deeply embeds itself for anger
deeply embeds itself in the bosom of fools
now you know it does because anger is
the one thing you can think about when
you get offended and you get angry and
even after you've walked away from the circumstance
you can feel that thing trying to work
itself down inside you isn't that the truth
I say isn't that the truth you can
feel it working on you it stays with
you and it'll come back up again and
you know it's embedded on the inside because
all you have to do is see that
circumstance again or that person again or have
that thought again and here it comes I
mean it just rises up it's why because
it's deeply embedded on the inside of you
and the danger of anger is it's not
something you practice once or twice and walk
away from no when you practice it it
works itself deep deep deeply embeds itself in
your heart that's why it's so serious see
even when you act righteous and you turn
around and don't react outwardly but on the
inside you turn around and you got that
thing boiling on the inside of you like
I said last week you know boy when
you're walking away here come all those things
you should have said boy if I'd have
said that I'd have leveled them right then
why didn't I think of that at that
time just give anything to replay it
I'm telling you it's working it's way down
on the inside it's digging itself in it's
hanging on to you and even if you
never face that same issue again it's still
embedded on the inside and it's gonna come
out in another issue cause it embeds itself
Proverbs 19.19 another very serious one now
listen to me carefully cause I don't want
you to misunderstand me I don't want you
to hear me there is a deliverance for
anger but not all anger requires deliverance of
a demon and I wanna tell you one
of the tragic things that I've seen in
deliverance ministries is when that anger is identified
as being demonic and the sin is never
thoroughly dealt with and here it is Proverbs
19.19 a man of great anger shall
suffer punishment for if you deliver him you
will only have to do it again the
new american standard says a man of great
anger shall bear the penalty for if you
rescue him you'll only have to do it
again there is absolutely no freedom over anger
that's lasting until you are deeply convicted of
the enormous curse that comes with the anger
are you hearing me?
and oh what a tragedy to have somebody
delivered of anger only to have to have
it happen again and the problem was there
was no deep conviction over the sin of
anger oh it's so hard for you and
I to accept but Galatians 5.19 says
that outbursts of anger disqualify us from heaven
are you hearing me?
now that's not the only one that says
it there are plenty more but what this
is saying is if anger is allowed to
be in your heart you will experience an
unstable life of continually falling into sin I
can tell you case after case after case
of people who have a problem at home
with their wife they have two problems one
is an anger problem toward their wife the
other one is a lust problem of infidelity
or even pornography let's say there's not even
any infidelity just pornography and they do everything
they can to get rid of the pornography
but they go home maybe not all the
time but frequently and from time to time
let that anger come out and express it
or hold it toward that wife they'll never
get free you can set them free you
can do everything you can you can walk
with them you can live with them but
you'll never see a life of stability they're
dealing over here and all they can talk
about is immorality but the problem is anger
and they won't deal with it see because
we've been trained religiously that that sin of
pornography looks a whole lot bigger than that
sin of outburst of anger you see we
don't have any trouble in our religious world
of saying that a drunkard and a drug
addict is going to go to hell but
we have a whole lot of problem believing
that the little nice man over here that's
angry with his wife in the confines of
his home and teaches Sunday school and reads
his bible and quotes scripture and is always
on the outreach but blows up at his
wife over and over and over again surely
the word of God means something different for
him but the drug addict is going to
hell and I want to tell you something
it's because of religious bondage not the word
of God are you hearing what I'm saying?
you see but until we really get convicted
that these things are sins there'll be no
real freedom oh God's so serious about it
can you imagine the shock on some people
when they stand before a living God having
gotten rid of pornography they've come out of
drugs they've come out of all of these
things and they stand before God and they
never dealt with that and everybody in the
whole church thought they were righteous and they
stand before Jesus and Jesus looks at them
right in the eye and the minute he
sees them he sees Jesus he shrinks back
because he knows this anger starts coming up
inside and he hears the words depart from
me I never knew you you see because
if you're full of anger James 4 1
-2 says you'll have a life of conflict
and war and you know what else happens?
I'm not going to have you turn there
because you read it you have real trouble
getting through with your prayers brass heavens Deuteronomy
28 says that there'll be a curse of
brass heavens over you James 4 3 says
you ask but you do not receive why?
because in verse 1 and 2 there's a
source of wars and conflicts you're living a
life of anger are you hearing that?
well I'm taking you back and forth to
let you see the difference between meekness and
anger what are some of the benefits then
to not giving in to anger?
Proverbs 14 see if you'll resist the anger
see here's the problem you know why we
don't resist the anger?
because it's alright to have outbursts of anger
at the taxi cab nobody knows and a
lot of people are doing a lot worse
than we are but the problem is it
doesn't stop at being angry with the taxi
cab because anger doesn't stop in one place
it embeds itself deep into the heart until
it starts working its way out in other
areas and it may just be a period
of time but after a while it's going
to come out are you hearing what I'm
saying?
but here's here's the reward of instead of
reacting responding and I tell you it hurts
to respond listen to me I'll say it
again it hurts to respond reacting pleases the
flesh a whole lot more it's easier to
react because there's an immediate release oh but
you can't compare what that gives you with
what God gives you look at me I
mean look at it Proverbs 14.29 he
who is slow to anger has great understanding
oh God says I'll unfold myself to you
you'll understand me if you'll resist the anger
if you'll put it off and not only
that Proverbs 15.1 a gentle answer turns
away wrath but a harsh word stirs up
what?
anger can I say to you a harsh
word spoken inside and not outside also stirs
up anger and meekness saying God I have
a right here at least I feel like
I do but you're in charge of my
life I submit that right to you I
submit that desire to you I submit my
life to you God even though I may
get hurt in this thing you know what
the number one trick of the devil is
listen he says to you but if you
give in here it's only gonna mean more
injury now it may not come directly as
a thought like that but that's why you're
reacting oh you know if I don't it's
gonna be deeper injury I'm gonna get hurt
worse if I yield to this well it
hurts then God says I'll give you great
understanding if you respond to me and not
only would God give you great understanding but
I'm gonna turn away the wrath if it's
in your marriage I'm gonna turn it away
I'm gonna give you great understanding of what
I'm doing and it may take a while
but I'm gonna turn it away I'm gonna
turn it away I'm gonna bring victory and
then he promises now I like this one
Proverbs 16 he says you're better than a
mighty warrior Proverbs 16 verse 32 he who
is slow to anger is better than the
mighty and he who rules his spirit than
he who captures the city he says you're
a greater warrior than a person who goes
out and single-handedly captures the whole city
are you hearing me?
you know why I believe that is see
because with the help of God it's easy
to capture a city I mean David was
talking about or Don one of them was
talking about an angel of the Lord went
through the camp and slew 185,000 people
in one night it doesn't take many angels
to get rid of all the wickedness in
New York City if that's the way God
would wanna do it you see but that's
not the way God chose to do it
the way he chose to do it was
to rule the spirit and that's difficult the
person who rules the spirit is greater than
a mighty warrior are you hearing me?
that speaks of great victory victory is gonna
be there but the tragedy of giving into
it turn with me to Psalm 37 here's
the tragedy verse 8 cease from anger and
forsake wrath do not fret it only leads
to evil doing now the literal word there
means to further evil doing it doesn't mean
that just anger alone is evil the idea
here in the original language is this if
you yield to anger anger won't be your
only problem are you hearing me?
it will yield to further ungodliness and unrighteousness
Proverbs 22 verse 24 do not associate with
a man given to anger or go with
a hot tempered man lest you learn his
ways and find a snare for yourself see
the tragedy of anger is say between a
husband and a wife now he's not urging
a wife to leave her husband if he's
angry but it means don't go along with
his ways don't fight anger for anger you
know what will happen?
you can take one party in the marriage
that starts out with anger and before long
they've afflicted the other one the other one
has learned one's ways are you hearing me?
meekness toward God I gave you a definition
of it in point 5 it's submission to
God's will and it's responding to His word
do you see what I'm talking about?
you see?
here's what it's all about I'll say it
again yielding my rights to God my rights
my way my will and my possessions and
you know turn with me to Galatians 5
verse 22 and you know he lists this
right after he gets through listing in verse
19 or verse 20 that outbursts of anger
disputes factions and dissensions will not inherit the
kingdom of God then he comes right behind
it and he says but listen to me
the fruit of the Spirit is love joy
peace patience kindness goodness faithfulness and what?
gentleness or meekness meekness and the next one
is self-control or temperance turn with me
if you would to Ezekiel 46 because meekness
is a grace now do you remember what
I said grace is?
it's not only the will to do but
what?
the ability to do isn't it?
it's not only the the will to do
but it's the ability to do and is
there a throne of grace?
you see we have an opportunity to come
to what's called a throne of grace and
we can respond to that because see a
meek man he trusts in the power of
God to provide protect help and change circumstances
are you hearing me?
that's what a meek man does he trusts
in the power of God not in his
own power not in his own abilities he
trusts in the power of God to protect
to care for you to provide for you
to help you and to change the circumstance
and if God doesn't change the circumstance he
trusts him anyway he then trusts in the
wisdom of God and the meek man has
a divine perspective on life he's not looking
through his own eyes if God doesn't change
it the way he expects it to change
he's looking at it through God's eyes and
he says ok Lord you're doing a work
in me and you're doing a work in
this circumstance or this person or whatever but
Lord I understand and he's submitted to the
will and the purpose of God and he's
yielded all of his rights to God see
meekness is a grace and when you've really
submitted see listen if you don't submit and
I'm not talking about just mechanically going through
the process of getting up in the morning
say ok God this day's yours no I'm
not talking about that I'm talking about with
a genuine spirit of heart of meekness saying
God I trust you today and Lord here's
what I don't trust you in I have
trouble trusting you but I'm gonna try to
trust you with what I don't trust you
with you say well that's not possible yes
it is man came to Jesus and said
Lord I believe but you're gonna have to
help me with all this unbelief that's crowding
in and God won't leave you out there
he'll come to you and I'm gonna give
you the best definition of meekness I've ever
found in the Bible turn with me to
1 Samuel 3 18 the Bible says blessed
are the meek for they shall inherit the
earth but you know the interesting thing about
that God's not gonna give you the earth
you know that's not even what he means
the whole ministry of Jesus was characterized by
humility and meekness meekness and lowliness of heart
characterized the whole ministry of Jesus and yet
he never took claim of the earth as
such when he walked did he?
didn't even have a place to lay his
head now what that means when it says
shall inherit the earth see cause the earth's
not really what he wants to give to
us now what that means is that you
will inherit the reign of almighty God over
all the earth you will inherit the reign
of almighty God over that circumstance over that
condition over that thing about yourself that you
don't like you will literally inherit the reign
of God just as he is lord of
the whole earth he will be able to
deal with your circumstance with your character with
that person with that relationship with that marriage
with that job he'll be able to deal
with it as he reigns over all the
earth and he will rise you above the
earthly are you with me?
now look and see look and see 1st
Samuel 3 verse 17 verse 16 then Eli
called Samuel and said Samuel my son and
he said here am I here I am
and he said what is the word that
he spoke to you that is that God
spoke please do not hide it from me
may God do so to you and more
also if you hide anything from me of
all the words that he spoke to you
you see here is a man here is
a man who is saying God just tell
me your word God just tell me your
word are you hearing what I am saying?
I say are you hearing what I am
saying?
whatever it is God I don't care if
it's good if it's bad you tell me
your word if it goes against my rights
that's not the issue what is your word?
verse 18 so Samuel told him everything and
hid nothing from him and he said it
is the Lord let him do to what
seems good to him are you hearing me?
that's meekness it is the Lord let him
do what seems good to him then you
know what happened?
verse 19 the Samuel what?
grew and the Lord was with him and
let none of his words fall to the
ground if God can find a man who
is willing to say Lord do what seems
good to you but I am going to
trust you I am going to trust you
I may not understand it I may not
like it but God if it seems good
to you I didn't say you don't resist
the devil I didn't say you don't fight
spiritual warfare that's involved I didn't say you
just lay down let everything run over you
that's not meekness but I said you come
to the word of God you submit and
when it's a circumstance that you can't change
righteously you say God whatever seems good to
you you're in control of my life I'll
trust you with it God whatever right it
seems like I have violated I'm going to
trust you with it whatever seems good to
you and you know what happens?
you begin to grow and the Lord walks
with you and you speak with an authority
that your words don't fall to the ground
that God hears your prayers if you look
at the scriptures Ecclesiastes 4.12 says that
a threefold cord is not easily broken how
many of you ever heard that?
a threefold cord is not easily broken here's
the first thing you're willing to bear the
injury you're willing to bear it turn with
me to Psalm 38 if you're injured and
you're willing to bear the injury see that
means that if you have trouble with people
thinking thinking people are talking about you all
the time and you have trouble with rejection
see how do I overcome rejection?
well the first thing you do you allow
you're willing to bear the injury if you
lay your rights in the hands of God
and say I'll trust you you say well
that means I'm going to get injured more
no that's what the devil says what God
says is that you will inherit the earth
if you'll be meek toward me and toward
them you'll inherit my reign over that circumstance
in Psalm 38 verse 12 and 13 those
who seek my life lay snares for me
and those who seek to injure me have
threatened destruction and they devise treachery all day
long but I like a deaf man do
not hear I am like a dumb man
who does not open his mouth yes I'm
like a man who does not hear and
in his mouth are no arguments for I
hope in thee oh Lord and thou will
answer oh Lord my God that's the first
strand of the cord the second strand Matthew
6 you not only bear the injury but
Matthew 6 I quoted it earlier 14 and
15 for if you forgive men their transgressions
your heavenly father will also forgive you but
if you do not forgive men then your
father will not and don't try to cut
that out you know I had a friend
who used to say all the time well
if you don't like that verse just take
your scissors at home and cut it out
that's what a lot of people do but
if you do not forgive men then your
father will not forgive your transgressions see that's
the second part of the cord you're willing
to bear the injury just like the dumb
man you become a dumb and deaf man
because your trust and hope is in whom
God you've laid your rights into his hands
and then secondly you forgive you forgive and
then thirdly and this is a real key
we read it in 1 Peter 3 9
so I'm not going to turn there you
can find it here in Matthew 5 verse
44 but I say that you love your
enemies pray for those who persecute you in
order that you may be sons of your
father who's in heaven you know a lot
of people miss that do you hear what
he says?
in order that are you hearing me?
that means to hold the anger means Galatians
5 20 that the outbursts of anger will
not attain to the righteousness of God that's
what it says in James 1 20 in
21 but what it says in Galatians 5
20 is that those who practice outbursts of
anger shall not inherit the kingdom of God
they say well I don't want to hear
that well if we become convinced of that
really convinced of that we'll deal with anger
in a new and fresh way and you
know what will happen?
the grace of God will move right in
and if we'll begin to say ok Lord
I hate rejection but I'm going to bear
the injury and then I'm going to forgive
them say well I've tried to forgive how
do I know I've forgiven you just keep
letting the grace of God come and then
you make a response of good for evil
whatever their response in evil was you make
a response back that's where a lot of
people fall short and they don't understand why
they're not able to forgive you see they
don't make a response back of good are
you hearing what I'm saying?
there's a threefold chord and if you'll practice
the intertwining of those three chords you'll not
find anger able to root itself back up
and God says verse 45 in order that
you may be sons of your father who's
in heaven for he causes his son to
rise on the evil and the good sends
rain on the righteous and the unrighteous for
if you love those who love you what
reward have you?
do not even the tax gatherers do the
same and if you greet your brothers only
what do you do more than others?
do not even the gentiles do the same
and you know sometimes some of your brothers
and sisters are hard to greet sometimes some
of your brothers and sisters are harder to
greet than the gentiles now I'm gonna close
with this but what are the characteristics of
anger then?
number one I'm just gonna mention some of
them some of them are obvious some of
them are not so obvious temper tantrums temper
tantrums outbursts you've got an anger problem when
you get angry when you have an angry
reaction to unfairness even as it relates to
others you've got an anger problem I know
a whole lot of people that don't seem
to get angry except when somebody else gets
injured when somebody else gets injured instead of
trying to bring a reconciliation they're right in
there with the anger are you hearing what
I'm saying?
but they think it's alright because it's not
them you've got an anger problem and it's
gonna get embedded in the bosom of your
heart it's already been it's already there when
you express frustration over unchangeable circumstances expressed frustration
when you get into circumstances you absolutely cannot
change an inability to trust not only God
but others is a sign of deeply rooted
anger and you can pass it off to
saying well but everybody lets me down they
say well I don't wanna hear that well
if we become convinced of that really convinced
of that we'll deal with anger in a
new and fresh way and you know what'll
happen?
the grace of God will move right in
and if we'll begin to say ok Lord
I hate rejection but I'm gonna bear the
injury and then I'm gonna forgive them say
well I've tried to forgive how do I
know I've forgiven?
you just keep letting the grace of God
come and then you make a response of
good for evil whatever their response in evil
was you make a response back that's where
a lot of people fall short and they
don't understand why they're not able to forgive
you see they don't make a response back
of good are you hearing what I'm saying?
there's a threefold chord and if you'll practice
the intertwining of those three chords you'll not
find anger able to root itself back up
and God says verse 45 in order that
you may be sons of your father who's
in heaven for he causes his son to
rise on the evil and the good sends
rain on the righteous and the unrighteous for
if you love those who love you what
reward have you?
do not even the tax gatherers do the
same and if you greet your brothers only
what do you do more than others?
do not even the Gentiles do the same
and you know sometimes some of your brothers
and sisters are hard to greet sometimes some
of your brothers and sisters are harder to
greet than the Gentiles now I'm gonna close
with this but what are the characteristics of
anger then?
number one I'm just gonna mention some of
them some of them are obvious some of
them are not so obvious temper tantrums temper
tantrums outbursts you've got an anger problem when
you get angry when you have an angry
reaction to unfairness even as it relates to
others you've got an anger problem I know
a whole lot of people that don't seem
to get angry except when somebody else gets
injured when somebody else gets injured instead of
trying to bring a reconciliation they're right in
there with the anger are you hearing what
I'm saying?
but they think it's alright because it's not
them you've got an anger problem and it's
gonna get embedded in the bosom of your
heart it's already been it's already there when
you express frustration over unchangeable circumstances expressed frustration
when you get into circumstances you absolutely cannot
change an inability to trust not only God
but others is a sign of deeply rooted
anger and you can pass it off to
saying well, but everybody lets me down you
remember what we read?
Proverbs that that man has few friends or
that woman has few friends it's a curse
that follows this anger an inability to trust
now there's some people I don't trust but
I'm talking about a continual practice you find
it hard to trust people I know some
people that have said well, I left the
church and I got hurt I've been in
five churches and I got hurt by all
five pastors and I'm looking at you with
a close eye well, it's alright to examine
the pastor with a close eye but when
you cross the thin line of not trusting
anything you've got an anger problem you've not
dealt with here's another one extreme sensitivity and
touchiness easy irritability anger has embedded itself
grumbling, murmuring, complaining or being open to receive
gossip and slander is identification of an anger
problem you may not be blowing up to
other people but that's what's happening if you
find yourself frequently saying cutting remarks you have
an anger problem if you find a frequent
blaming of others for example, when someone says
well, you did this and you say well
but so and so was part of it
too or somehow the blame has to say
well, I wouldn't have done that if you
hadn't have done such and such you have
an anger problem it's eating away at you
when you have to defend your right to
control anything and I want to tell you,
here's a big one because we just talk
about this irritability and we think we have
a right but when you have to defend
your time and you regard your time now,
there is a stewardship of time we'll talk
about that in one of the lessons as
we go on but when you have to
defend your time an anger has rooted itself
down on the inside and it happens so
often in marriages the wife has been with
the kids all day and the husband thinks,
well, this is my time the husband comes
home and the wife thinks, well, it's my
time are you hearing what I'm saying?
that's just one example but you have to
defend your time you're working on the job
you get a 30 minute break but your
employer comes up at 25 minutes and says
now I need you to do something all
of a sudden you've got no right to
do that I've got 5 more minutes and
you're thinking about that 5 minutes the rest
of the day men, it's weekend,
it's time for softball and basketball nothing wrong
with those things but when it's at the
exclusion of the rest of your family or
even to God but it's your time it's
your time you're holding on to a right
there's a lack of meekness and somewhere along
the line it may not seem to be
related but you've developed an anger at something
that one time controlled your time and you
couldn't handle the circumstance and you're mad at
it and angry with it and now you're
expressing it by guarding it the danger
is it will embed itself it'll come out
somewhere else what you've been listening to are
highlights of a message presented by Pastor Bob
Phillips as he spoke a number of years
ago at Times Square Church in New York
City this was part 4 of a 12
-part series we've titled Developing the Roots of
Christian Character Practical Advice on Developing Righteousness and
Christlike Character in Your Life today's presentation was
on the subject of dealing with anger here
at the end of our program for those
who are experiencing anger in their life perhaps
it's directed at a boss or a close
friend or between husband and wife give us
some practical advice on how to overcome anger
I want to speak to those of you
who have this problem you know I can
identify with you because this was a major
problem in my life before I became a
Christian and after I became a Christian I
still had battles with this so first of
all I want to encourage you you can
overcome anger first of all you have to
come to grips with it you have to
recognize that you've got a problem because if
you don't do that then you will use
it as an excuse as a defense mechanism
or whatever in your life and then reject
it make a conscious choice to reject it
and tell God you're ready to loose its
hold on your life listen, He will hear
you and I want to remind you I'm
speaking from personal experience and then resolve to
hold on to God say, God I will
not allow this thing to stay in my
life until you deliver me completely and here's
another key whenever you can reconcile with anyone
that you were angry with before sunset because
God says don't let the sun go down
on your anger Michelle, one of the things
that we talk about is the key to
overcoming anger is meekness I want to tell
a little story that I think is a
powerful story about how God worked in a
man's life his name was Roland Hayes the
son of a black minister and he could
remember a time when his father gave this
presentation on Pilate and the dramatic part when
Pilate faces Jesus and says why don't you
answer me and he makes this statement don't
you know that I have power over you
and then at that point his father said
he never mumbled a word not a word
now, how did that help Roland Hayes?
well, he saw the meekness of Jesus now
Roland Hayes had an opportunity to sing he
was an incredible tenor he had an opportunity
to sing before a Nazi audience in Berlin's
Beethoven Hall and that audience was hostile and
ugly and scornful mainly because he was a
black man daring to sing at the center
of Aryan culture now, what happened?
he was greeted with hisses and curses that
grew louder and louder and louder for 15
whole minutes he stood right there and his
anger was seething within him and then he
remembered the meekness of Jesus Christ and you
know something?
it kept rolling through his mind he mumbled
not a word and a power came to
him his courage began to build and he
knew that if he stood there in silence
and then sang when they stopped no matter
how long it would take that ultimately the
power of God was on his side and
he remembered this scripture from Proverbs he that
is slow to anger is better than the
mighty and he that ruleth his own spirit
is better than he who takes a city
it was meekness and seeing the meekness of
Jesus that gave him the strength and the
courage to have the power to overcome his
anger and friend you can take that same
meekness and draw from that same source of
strength to overcome the anger in your own
life come up higher come up higher
oh come up higher where the trees come
up higher this is the end of this
cassette from Come Up Higher for information on
additional cassette and booklet resources from Pastor Bob
Phillips please write Come Up Higher at Post
Office Box 1700 Sheridan, Wyoming 82801 or call
1-800-313-2202 Come Up Higher is
a listener supported outreach and is made possible
by the continued prayers and financial support of
people like you where the trees where the
trees come