Raising Hell (I’m Angry) | Alex Gallien | "Red Letter Summer" Pt. 11

We are in the last few hours of our churchwide 21-day fast.

And as beneficial as this has been for me, sincerely, it may be the second most beneficial period of fasting I've ever gone through in my entire life.

I hope that's the same for you on any level.

I hope it's been good.

I hope it's been worth it.

And of course, if God's done something truly noteworthy in your life, reach out and let us know.

Send me a message on Facebook if you have my number, text me.

I'd love to hear it.

I'd love to keep it in the archives somewhere.

But with that in mind, today's week 11, I believe, of a series that we're calling Red Letter Summer.

We're spending every Sunday covering as much Jesus as possible.

Early this year, we spent a lot of time remembering uh important, practical, and even deep theology.

And all this summer we've set ourselves to remembering quotes from Jesus and teachings from Jesus and stories from Jesus.

And since Jesus' words historically show up in red font within the pages of our Bible, that's where you get the idea behind our series title, Red Letter Summer.

And if you've been here, which most of you probably have, over the last three Sundays, we've spent a lot of time talking through the themes of mercy and forgiveness.

When I set up this series, I didn't anticipate this happening.

And then after week one, I thought, let's stay on this train.

And it's been good.

Three weeks ago, we began this somewhat, it's like a mini-series inside of a series.

And we began it through talking through one of Jesus' most famous stories, known as the Parable of the Prodigal Son, where the son takes his dad's hard-earned life savings.

He leaves home and he wastes it all in selfish and reckless living, only to find himself broken and embarrassed and full of shame, realizing, man, I need to go home.

And so he decides to go home, probably expecting to return home to a dad who was going to be angry and who was going to send him packing, and instead comes home to something totally different.

A dad who sees him coming from a long way off takes off running after his son, showers him with hugs and kisses, immediately gives him back everything that he left, and then throws a giant party just to celebrate his return.

It may be one of the most beautiful pictures of God's mercy that's extended to every single one of us every day.

And then two weeks ago, we continued that same story, but we continued by talking about the other brother, the older brother in that story who never left home, who stayed right where he was, who was reliable, who did right by dad, who seemingly didn't do anything wrong at all.

And then he gets furious when the dad shows all this mercy to the younger son who stayed away.

And in highlighting this older brother, Jesus teaches us the timely lesson that you can technically be in the father's home and still totally miss out on the father's heart, because God's heart is always going to be bent toward mercy.

God doesn't just want children who appreciate it when mercy flows to them.

He wants children who know how to allow that same mercy to flow through them.

And then last week we spent our time talking about that, what that looks like, what it means to hurt people, or what it means to hurt people.

What it means to forgive people who hurt us, and how sometimes that forgiveness happens immediately and in the moment.

And then other times, and I would even say the majority of the times, uh, that requires us to flex and exercise those forgiveness muscles over and over and over, or as Jesus says, 70 times, seven times until it becomes real to us.

And uh I get it.

We've been talking about this same subject for like three weeks now, but I'll be honest with you, I think it was probably good that we spend that much time talking about forgiveness, because at least now you're walking away with some tools, especially before the conversation that we're having today.

And you're gonna have some tools that are gonna help you begin to deal with the most destructive emotion that all of us experience, which is not sadness and which is not anxiety, which is anger.

Today, I know it's so fun and exciting.

Today, we're gonna talk about what Jesus teaches concerning anger.

We're gonna talk about the danger of allowing it to set up shop in your heart and in your mind for too long.

And of course, we're gonna talk about how hopefully today you're gonna be walking out of this building just a little bit more free from anger than you were when you came into it.

And so if you have your Bibles and you'd like to turn to Matthew chapter five, I'll give you just a few minutes to get there.

I lied, a few seconds.

I don't know why I said minutes.

You get 15 seconds to get to Matthew chapter 5.

Matthew 5 · chapter mention

It is, of course, gonna be up on the screen.

You can follow along.

I hope you're still taking notes.

We started this year off strong by taking notes and worshiping God with our minds.

Some of you have slipped from that.

I would encourage you to pick it back up starting today.

Let's look at Matthew 5.

We'll begin in verses 21 through 22.

We're gonna read past this, but this is what we'll start off with.

Matthew 5, 21 through 22.

Jesus says, You have heard that it was said to people long ago, aka when Moses went up on the mountain, got the Ten Commandments, brought him back down, and told him to God's people, you've heard that it was said to people long ago, you shall not murder.

And anyone who does murder will be subject to judgment.

But I tell you that anyone who is even angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment.

Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, Raka is answerable to the court.

And anyone who says, You fool, will be in danger of the fire of hell.

I want to work through these verses and preach a sermon entitled Raising Hell.

Or if you would prefer a less spicy sermon title, you could just put, I'm angry.

Personally, though, I like the title Raising Hell.

And it's not just catchy, it's gonna make sense.

So I need you to hang in there with me.

We'll get there.

You'll understand the idea behind this title shortly.

But for those of you who may not be aware of this, when Jesus says this, he's talking to a bunch of people who have been taught that God's love for us is based on our actions and our outward appearances.

And so, like Jesus does within the entirety of his Sermon on the Mount, which is where we're pulling from today, he is re-emphasizing once again that in his kingdom, while actions are certainly important, so are your thoughts, and so are your attitudes, and so are the motives of our hearts.

Okay, these he's consistently emphasizing this same idea within the Sermon on the Mount.

Now, what he's not saying is anger and murder yield the same natural consequences.

He's not saying that.

He's saying that simply not killing people who make you mad isn't a great route toward healthy relationships within the kingdom of God.

And in the eyes of God, nurturing anger against people will merit you the same eternal judgment as you killing those people outright.

And I remember the first time I ever preached on this subject, which was last year during Rebel Manifesto.

And I remember thinking it was a somewhat weird sermon and kind of tough sermon for me to preach, because normally I can really identify with sermons that I preach because I'm just as messy as everybody else in this room.

But if I could be honest with you, that one was a little bit tough because I don't think almost anybody in my life would describe me as an angry person.

Now, there's no doubt I've had low moments and embarrassing moments, but generally speaking, I find it much easier to identify with being selfish, prideful, lazy, or fearful than I do being angry.

Uh, and I think the reason that was the case back then is because I was a little misguided concerning how anger presents itself within the hearts of different people.

Okay, here's what I mean.

And you're gonna you you're gonna understand when I say this.

When I think about an angry person, I think about that dude who loses his temper in the argument and cannot help but don't put a hole through the drywall.

That's what I think about when I think about an angry person.

When I think about an angry person, I think about a broken-hearted woman who listens to Carrie Underwood when she says, I dug my key into the side of his pretty little soup to four-wheel drive, carve my name into his lettuce seeds.

And then she goes and gets her keys and does that exact thing to the person that broke her heart.

When I think about an angry person, I think about abusers and yellers and fighters and name-callers and cussers and instigators and troublemakers.

And yet, the older I get, the more I've come to realize that anger can also look like a spouse who never yells, but always keeps a detailed record of the other person's wrongs.

Anger can also look like the coworker who smiles in the meeting and yet secretly hopes that that person that they resent fails in the long run.

Anger can display itself in different ways within the hearts of different people.

It can look like being the friend who laughs when the other person comes in the room and then talks bad about them when they walk out.

It can look like experiencing a small or large amount of satisfaction when that person that you don't like experiences just a little bit of what you feel like is much deserved pain.

And if that is, in fact, a sign of anger, then ladies and gentlemen, I'm guilty as charged.

I have experienced anger.

I've experienced anger this week, I have experienced that anger this month, I've experienced most of every one of those exact examples probably this year.

And I know it's probably weird for some of you to hear me admit to like experiencing feelings of anger, and that's because since Christians have been Christians, we have been believing and teaching things about anger that are simply not true.

Okay?

And uh you may or may not have this same experience, but growing up in church, whether I was taught this directly or indirectly, I don't know.

But I recall picking up on this notion that Christians are never supposed to feel angry.

Christians are never supposed to get angry.

We are supposed to suppress and deny all of our feelings of anger because anger is always a sin for every person in every situation.

It's never cool, it's always bad.

And so I grew up doing what many of you also grew up doing, and I quit even saying that I was angry.

I quit using that.

I never said, I'm angry, I'm mad.

No, no, I said I'm irritated, I am frustrated, as if using different words to describe the exact same emotion somehow makes those emotions not those emotions.

You know, that's not how that works, but that's what we do, and we grow up acting like we're not angry, and I would ignore very legitimate feelings of anger in the name of loving God.

And in case no one's ever told you this, when you suppress and deny real emotions, the result is either a really ugly form of self-deception and self-righteousness, or really unhealthy coping mechanisms, like, especially when we're talking about anger, brutal sarcasm, or backhanded passive-aggressive responses, or uh self-medicating with drugs and alcohol, or binge eating, binge scrolling, binge watching television, likely doing all three of those things at the exact same time, if you're like me.

Or I don't know, maybe it looks differently for you.

Maybe it's the spontaneous and uncontrolled outburst of anger that came out of nowhere and oftentimes is directed at the very people that you love and appreciate the most.

Now, the title should at this point be making a little bit more sense.

If it still doesn't, I'm gonna remind you of an example that I used last week.

I've never said the same example two weeks in a row, but it makes sense.

I thought it was brilliant.

Pastor Josh Howard said it on a podcast that I heard recently.

I thought it was so cool.

He said, if heaven is the place where everyone only is experiencing forgiveness, and hell is the place where everyone only experiences unforgiveness, then when you extend forgiveness, it's as if you're pulling heaven down into your life.

But when you withhold forgiveness and you carry that anger, it's as if you're raising hell up into your life.

Okay?

In Matthew 5, when Jesus uses the word anger, Bible scholars translate that word as carrying anger and remaining angry and nursing a grudge in the same way that you might nurse a newborn.

Meaning, Jesus isn't attacking a single fleeting moment of anger.

Okay, he's warning us about the danger of treating anger like we treat our kids, nursing it and feeding it, and protecting it, and coddling it, and raising it.

One conversation, one day, one fight, and one thought at a time.

And his tone is so serious because when you nurture your anger, you are also raising hell right into your marriage, right into your family, right into your workplace and your community, and your church, and your mind.

When you nurture and coddle and protect your anger, you are nurturing, coddling, and raising hell.

And you know exactly what that looks like.

You know exactly what that feels like.

It's why you still snarl your nose every time you think about your ex.

It's why you still snarl your nose when you think about your in-laws.

It's why you still snarl your nose when you think about that last church.

It's the animosity that you still feel toward your parents for how unfairly and irresponsibly they raised you.

It's the vitriol that you still feel toward that political leader that you didn't vote for, or that political party that you find gross and disgusting.

It's that rage, or that tone, or that silence that you wield against your spouse whenever you fight, or every time you argue about that thing that you always argue about.

You know exactly what I'm talking about.

Some of your blood is boiling right now as I bring up these situations and these people, and that is exactly what Jesus is trying to place his finger on.

In fact, he gets very specific in verse 22.

Let's look at it.

Matthew 5, 22.

He says, again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, Raka, is answerable to the court.

And anyone who says, you fool, will be in danger of the fire of hell.

Now, we wouldn't use words like racka or you fool when we're fighting or yelling at people today.

If you did, that'd be weird, and we'd make fun of you for that.

That's typically not we would do what we would do.

But when translated, that word raca probably means something a little bit closer to idiot or jerk, except with the F word in front of it.

Like just the meanest insult you could possibly think of.

In fact, a lot of Bible scholars believe that that word raka that it originated from the sound that you make when you gather phlegm from the back of your throat in order to spit in someone's face.

That word, that sound right there.

And that's because raka doesn't just communicate anger, raka communicates something a little bit different and a little bit more sinister, which is contempt.

Anger is I want to hurt you physically, emotionally, verbally, spiritually, financially.

Contempt is I don't care if you're hurt or not.

I don't care about you at all.

You're not worth my caring.

You're not worth me considering.

I may still live with you.

I may still go to work with you.

I may still have to see you at church or at school or in the community.

I may have to see you from time to time.

I may have to tolerate your existence.

But I am dreaming about the day where I don't.

Some examples.

Um you guys hung out and you didn't invite me?

Rock.

You were at home for how long and you still didn't wash the dishes or take out the drink.

You were texting me.

You were Snapchatting.

You messaged who?

You've opted out of sex for two weeks in a row?

Raka.

You got the job that you knew I was going for.

You accepted the promotion that you knew I needed.

You got the spot on the team that I wanted that bad.

Rocka.

You been there?

You don't have to shake your head, you don't have to acknowledge it.

Let me say this, you've been there.

And why is it that anger and contempt are both so bad?

Well, because they poison humanity.

I want you to think about the first sin that was ever committed following the first sin.

Right?

The first sin is the fall of Adam and Eve.

What's the next sin in the Bible that we read about?

If you get to Genesis 4, you'll note that Adam and Eve have two sons, Cain and Abel, who are both seen offering sacrifices to God.

God is super pleased with Abel's sacrifice.

He is not at all pleased with Cain's sacrifice.

And in verse number five, we read that Cain is really mad about this.

He's described as being angry.

And then the anger that Cain allowed to poison his heart eventually results in Cain murdering his brother.

The poison that is anger was the root cause of one of the first ever recorded sins, which is murder.

Now, I also want you to consider how far gone humanity is at this point, like how quickly we fail.

Sin number one, we wanted to be God.

We wanted to be like God.

We wanted to know the things that God knew and experience the things that God experienced.

So, sin number one, we disobey God and we eat some fruit.

Sin number two, we are killing our family members, murdering those who are closest to us.

Now, with that in mind, you don't have to spill blood in order to steal life.

You don't have to spill blood in order to steal life.

There's a degree of malice and death and murder and hell in every degree of anger.

Whether your anger is communicated through violent action or through a demeaning tone or through rage or through not looking at or speaking to the people that need you to look at and speak to them, whether your anger is communicated through low burning resentment that only those that are closest to you would ever pick up on, or a holy crusade for vengeance.

Anger is you gladly and warmly welcoming hell into your marriage.

Anger is you opening the door for hell to walk right into your family and into your friend groups and into your relationships and allow it to rip it apart.

Anger is you raising hell into your community, into your church, and into your country alike.

And this is why Paul is so very clear about anger in Ephesians chapter number five, chapter four, Ephesians four.

You just write this down, Ephesians 4, 26 through 27.

He writes to the Ephesians, he says, In your anger, do not sin.

Now that's a fun verse to try and unpack.

In your anger, do not sin.

And we'll we'll talk about that here in a second.

Don't let the sun go down while you're still angry.

Why?

Because you don't want to give the devil hell a foothold.

Commenting on this verse, one author says to retain and cultivate and carry and nurse and nurture and protect your anger, it's to give the devil a chance.

And when you give the devil a chance, he's gonna take it.

And there will be hell to pay.

That's what it means to raise hell.

You are the one who invited hell right into your life through that anger.

Now, with that in mind, we just covered this verse.

It's also good, I think, before we go any further, to remember that not every experience of anger is inherently simple.

And we just read it.

In your anger, do not sin.

Meaning that there's a way to be angry.

There's a time where you can technically be angry and not be sinful.

Okay, for example, I would suggest that anger can be a really holy and appropriate response to injustice.

When you see people being mistreated solely because of their race or their ethnicity, I think anger is a decent response to that.

When you see children being abused by people who are more powerful than them, I think we should be angry at that.

When you experience abuse or neglect or some form of mistreatment, anger is probably going to be the most natural emotion that rises up out of you.

And before you try to tell yourself stop being angry, at least consider the fact that Jesus himself is recorded as being angry twice, not just once, but twice.

Once he's recorded as being angry because religious leaders were exploiting the poor in God's temple of all places.

And then the second time he's described as being angry, those same religious leaders were seen caring more about people adhering to their man-made traditions than they were caring about seeing someone who's been suffering their entire life get healed from that suffering.

But in both instances, Jesus' anger is directly aimed at injustice toward the vulnerable people who can't protect themselves.

Meaning, there are moments where anger can be a redemptive gift of sort, but only when that anger is aimed toward justice and love and protecting people who cannot protect themselves.

Okay, you've got examples of this, this kind of moral outrage being a somewhat positive thing throughout history.

An example would be Dietrich Bonhoeffer, angry at the Nazi regime, angry at the persecution that they're putting the Jewish people through, and he begins to speak out against them, and he's angry about what he's seeing.

Another example would be Christian leaders all over our nation years and years ago detesting the practice of slavery and leading the civil rights movement.

People were angry about that, but in the same frame of reference, regardless of what our culture says, you can do.

Godly anger never results in angry mobs.

It's not from God if it resulted in an angry mob.

Godly anger cannot result in an angry mob.

Godly anger cannot result in bitterness.

Godly anger does not result in yelling and screaming and fighting.

Godly anger does not result in physical, mental, or verbal destruction of other human beings.

Godliness can fuel us to fight against evil, but it never gives us permission to become evil when we fight.

And this is why the author, theologian, and philosopher Dallas Willard says it like this To cut the root of anger is to wither the tree of human evil.

To cut the root of anger within your life, within your family's life, whatever, is to wither the tree of human evil.

And so now the question is, how do we do that?

How do we cut the root of anger?

Well, Jesus helps us.

If we continue reading right here in the passage where we are already at, we pick up where we stop, he gives us some examples that are helpful.

And so we've already covered the part where Jesus says, if anyone says to a brother or sister, Raka is answerable to the court, anyone who says, You fool be in danger of the hair of the fire of hell, now we gotta move to verse 23, Matthew 5, 23 through 25.

Jesus says, Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar, and there you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar and go be reconciled to them.

Then come and offer your gift.

Settle matters quickly with your adversary who's taking you to court.

Do it while you're still together on the way, or your adversary might hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown into prison.

This is confusing on the surface.

But here, Jesus is painting a picture of what someone who has a new, clean, healthy kingdom heart might do in response to a moment of anger.

He's saying, Man, maybe you're getting ready to present God with a super important sacrificial offering, which in the life of an ancient devout Jew would be one of the most defining and important moments of their spiritual life.

If in that moment you suddenly remember that you've made someone mad, that someone is angry with you, don't continue giving this offering.

All right.

I remember that someone's mad, and instead of just giving the offering and then going and making things right with them, no, I'm gonna stop right here.

I'm gonna go find them and I'm gonna try to make things right.

The only example that we could take and say, like within our lives of what this might look like for you and I would be you pausing your wedding ceremony or postponing your baptism in an effort to go reconcile with someone who's not there simply because you just care that much about the condition of their heart, simply because you understand how important them experiencing healing from the wound that you cause them really is.

And so you'd be willing to put on pause or to postpone the most important and defining moment of your life, because that moment is not important if someone is still dealing with a wound that you caused them.

Then he gives another example.

He says, Let's say someone sues you.

Let's go ahead and take it a step further.

Let's say someone sues you wrongfully for something you didn't do and it wasn't your fault, and I want you to imagine the kind of bitterness and anger that you feel toward that person.

Jesus says, if something that extreme happened, the person with a kingdom heart, their first response is not getting them back.

Their first response is not legal action.

Their first response is going and finding that person and having a face-to-face, cordial conversation where we sincerely try to come to an agreement and figure out what I've done to you and how it is that I can help, and how it is that I can pay you back, and how it is that I can make things right.

And using these specific examples, Jesus is trying to take us deeper into becoming the kind of people that we've always been created to be, the kind of people whose hearts yearn to do everything that we can to make sure that we are delivering people from the hell that we've put them through.

And while it is true that you are not going to be able to control how anyone else responds to your efforts, you still have to ask the question Have you actually put in any effort at all?

Have you gone out of your way to do anything to make things right?

Do you even want to reconcile and make things right?

Is your heart even mildly broken over the idea that you may have raised hell up into someone else's life?

And depending on your answer to that question, the next question is, well, okay, what do I do about it?

And I would say there's two things that you can do about it, and those two things sort of depend on the condition of your heart.

Number one, if you really want to find a solution to the things that are happening, to that kind of anger, to that kind of rift in a friendship or relationship in your life, the first solution is not uh nursing a grudge or getting revenge.

For some of you, the first solution is gonna be getting a new heart.

Because when you get a new, clean, holy, healthy, reborn heart, that resolves everything.

The wounds of anger that you still have as a result of someone else sinning against you, those get healed when your heart gets healed.

The forgiveness and the mercy and the patience and the compassion that you have to show to people who make you mad, all of that becomes possible when your heart gets healed.

The apology that you may need to extend to someone else who you know you've wronged in one way or another, that only becomes doable when your heart becomes healed.

And so if that's you and you're like, man, I might need a new heart.

Well, there was here's here's how you get a new heart.

One, you have to acknowledge the fact that you need a new heart.

You have to acknowledge that you are a sinner and that all you can do, if God doesn't step in and do something, all you can do is keep sinning.

You can't figure this problem out on your on your own.

You need him to figure the problem out for you.

That's step number one.

Step number two is you begin, you have to acknowledge Jesus as the God who does that.

You have to acknowledge Jesus, his life, his death, his resurrection, as the way by which you can be made right with God and receive that new heart from God.

Number three, you have to, even when you don't feel it and you don't feel like you deserve it and you've done nothing to earn it, you have to humbly just accept and receive God's love and God's mercy and God's patience on your behalf.

And then number four, you have to repent from your sin.

You have to turn from your way of living, from your truths and your life and your ways, and you have to make Jesus the Lord and master of your life.

Surrender every action, every word, every dollar, every moment of your life over to following Him as you continue forward.

And what no one probably ever tells you is that it's not like a clean step-by-step process.

Sometimes all of that happens in like one and a half seconds.

It's like I don't know when I if I received mercy first, or if I repented first, or if I repented first, or if I received mercy first, because it all just sort of happens at the same time.

And so if that's you and you need to receive that kingdom heart and make Jesus Lord of your life, the Bible says that when you do that, God immediately takes away your old heart that is defined by sin and death and destruction and anger.

He throws it away, and in its place, he gives you a brand new heart that is defined by love and peace and joy and right standing with God and purpose and all sorts of other great stuff.

But the next question is okay, but what about for me?

I have a whole heart, I have a clean heart, I'm a Christian, I love God.

What do I need to do?

And that's a great question.

And for those of you that maybe find yourself in that category, there are three steps that in my own life and in the scriptures, I believe, we see that help you begin walking in freedom from anger.

And I'll just give them to you real quick if you're taking notes.

Confession, reflection, action.

Confession, reflection, action.

Number one, you gotta acknowledge that the anger exists.

You can't keep holding it in and acting like it doesn't.

You can't say, Well, I'm not mad, I'm I'm frustrated.

I'm just I'm just irritated.

No, no, you gotta be able to say, I'm mad.

And first and foremost, you gotta say it to God.

You gotta take it to prayer and be honest, as if he doesn't know what's happening in your heart, anyways.

You gotta say exactly how you feel.

I'm mad, I this is unfair, I can't believe you allowed this to happen.

You may need to say some stuff like that out loud to God.

Number two, you can't just confess it to God, though.

You gotta confess it to someone else.

Maybe it's a trusted friend, a pastor, a leader, a therapist, whoever.

You gotta find some people in your corner that are gonna lift your hands up when you get tired, who you can trust with information like this, and you gotta say it.

You gotta confess.

The Bible's clear, there are forms of healing that are only available after we confess our sins against one another.

So, one, you gotta confess it.

Two, reflection.

By reflection, I mean that in the process of you trying to deal with your hurt and your anger and your baggage, you have to remember that God could still be angry with you, but he's not.

You have done more than enough to suffer the wrath of God for all of eternity, and yet God stepped in and decided, nah, I'm not gonna make you do that.

Instead, I'm gonna deal with, I'm gonna suffer the pain that you deserve myself and forgive you.

And you're gonna have to reflect on the fact that he keeps doing that.

It's not like he did it that one time when you were eight.

He did it yesterday, he did it last night, he did it last week, and you gotta reflect on that.

Remind yourself, I haven't deserved that from him ever.

And yet he just keeps pouring it on me over and over and over again.

The more you remember that, I promise you, the easier it will be for you to look in the mirror and go, I can do the same thing.

If I've received it and didn't deserve it, someone else who doesn't deserve it can definitely receive it from me.

And then, number three, and this is the part, then then ain't nobody like action.

You don't just get to take it up with God, you gotta do something.

This is where you do the stuff.

It's like when you hear sermons and you walk away, but you don't respond to the sermon, you just wasted your whole Sunday.

It was for nothing because you didn't do the stuff.

What I mean by do the stuff?

You gotta send the text, you gotta have a conversation, you gotta extend that forgiveness.

For some of you, doing the stuff looks like you praying for that person.

Jesus was clear.

We pray for our enemies.

Who is your enemy?

Well, I guarantee you, if you're harboring that much anger in your heart against someone, let's just go ahead and classify them in the enemy category.

Jesus says, pray for your enemies.

And why is that?

Well, one, because God wants to bless your enemies just as much as he wants to bless you.

And two, because when you begin praying for your enemy, these walls and the hardness and the callousness that builds up around your heart, is just it's like it starts melting in the presence of God.

And so for some of you, you're gonna need to begin praying for your enemies, or maybe a mixture of all three, but I believe that you can be set free from anger.

And I believe that today we're gonna begin that process.

So if you're willing or able, without putting all your stuff away and get out in your keys and knocking over your loud cups that make all that noise on the concrete, I want to invite you to stand up on your feet.

All right, we're just gonna embrace a moment of worship.

And when we do, your response, I mean, you get four options, all right?

And maybe it's all four, or maybe it's one of them, I don't know.

But for some of you, do you need a new heart?

If so, and you know you're far from God, you haven't given your life over, maybe it's not that you need to make a fresh start with him for the very first time.

It's that you need to make a fresh start with him for the first time in a long time.

Maybe you need him to give you a brand new heart.

Maybe you need him to take off a lot of stone that's on the new heart that he gave you a long time ago.

We don't have to get into like the specifics there.

But do you need a new heart?

If so, maybe like that's why you can't forgive people and that's why you're struggling to follow Jesus because he's never given you that new heart.

If so, then go for it.

I'm not leading you in a prayer.

You pray your own prayer.

You don't have to pray some specific perfect prayer for God to hear you and respond to you.

He wants to hear you and respond to you right now.

You just say, God, I'm a mess and I need you, and I believe in you, and I need you to step into my life.

And boom, he goes, Yep, you got it.

That's it.

That's all as it sounds like.

You don't have to be cute or fancy or anything like that.

Number one, my prayers ain't cute or fancy, anyways.

I don't pray perfect prayers, and neither can you.

Do you need that new heart?

Ask for it.

Number two, uh, do you need potentially to like confess some of this stuff first to God?

When in the moment when we sing, maybe you don't need to say any of these words.

Maybe you need to say, Lord, I am so mad right now.

I'm so frustrated right now.

Maybe it's at God, maybe it's at yourself, maybe it's at that person, but you gotta get it out and you gotta let him know, right?

And then when you leave, you're probably gonna have to tell someone else as well.

Or maybe what the Holy Spirit's gonna speak to you about whenever he's shining his light into your hearts as we begin to sing and lift up our hands here in a moment.

Maybe you, maybe we all need to take a moment and reflect and remind ourselves that I don't deserve God's forgiveness and he gives it to me.

So, like, how much more so should I be giving forgiveness to other people?

You know, like you may just need to remind yourself you've been forgiven over and over, like an embarrassingly large amount of times, probably more times than you've had to forgive this other person.

So maybe, just maybe, you should start extending that same type of forgiveness.

And then the last thing, here in a moment when you're singing and you're praying and your hands are up and you're not really paying attention to what's happening here because you're paying attention to what's going on between you and God, I guarantee you, he's gonna start slipping into your mind some action steps.

A text that needs to be sent, a call that needs to be had, a conversation that needs to be had, maybe a prayer that needs to be prayed, and he's gonna give you the words to pray.

He's gonna teach you how to do it, he's not gonna leave you on your own.

So, for those of you who are excited to begin this process of being set free from anger, I want to invite you to raise your hands as a sign of just surrender this morning.

Now, if that's not you, you're ready to carry that anger and remain in your anger.

You just keep your hands by your side.

That's totally fine.

For those of you who are ready to get set free from it, I want your hands raised.

And as I begin praying, I want you to begin praying as well.

This is not a moment where you are singing the song or looking at the worship team as they perform your favorite song.

This is a moment where you are interacting with God.

You gotta okay, eyes closed, Lord.

We want to be set free from anger.

We want you to do what only you can do to lie within our hearts, or whatever it is, whatever the nastiness and the grossness within our hearts, then weave allowed the faster than we have in hell with God, take it out! It's not ours anymore, it's yours! And if there's any apology or conversation that we need to have, because of hell that we've remained into someone else's life, remind us of that, take us what it is that we need to do, we send it yes to whatever that looks like, it is used to.