In your bulletin, you'll see an insert, and it talks about the series that we're preaching on, Facing the Giants. And there's a little survey there that says if you have something, a giant in your life, that you would like to hear a message preached about, this doesn't mean we're going to preach about it. Well, we want to see if we've missed anything. So don't put your name on it. My name is so-and-so, and I struggle with a desire to murder the preacher. Don't do that, but just put, if there's something you'd be interested in hearing that you deal with in your life and you'd like to hear a message preached about it, please fill that out. And the offering plate already went by, so you can just leave it in the sound booth there with Brother Alberto. Nehemiah chapter 5. Nehemiah chapter 5. And there was a great cry of the people of their wives against their brethren the Jews. For there were that said, We our sons and our daughters are many, therefore we take up corn for them that we may eat and live. Some also there were that said, We have mortgaged our lands, vineyards, and houses that we might buy corn because of the dearth. There were also that said, we have borrowed money for the king's tribute, and that upon our lands and vineyards. Yet now our flesh is as the flesh of their children, and lo, we bring into bondage our sons and our daughters to be servants. Some of our daughters are born unto bondage already. Neither is it in our power to redeem them, for other men have our lands and our vineyards." So they got into all this debt, and the Bible says the borrower is servant to the lender. And it says in verse 6, and I was very angry, and I heard their cry in these words. That's what we're preaching about, anger, right? And so this is Nehemiah's response to the problem. He said he was very angry. when he heard their cry and these words, then I consulted with myself, and I rebuked the nobles and the rulers, and said unto them, You exact usury every one of his brethren. I set a gate assembly against them. And I said unto them, We, after our ability have redeemed our brethren the Jews which are sold unto the heathen, will you even sell your brethren, or shall they be sold unto us? Then held they their peace, and found nothing to answer. Also I said, It is not good that ye do. Ought ye not to walk in the fear of our God because of the reproach of the heathen, our enemies? I likewise, and my brethren and my servants, might exact them money and corn. I pray you, leave us off this usury. Restore, I pray, you to them, even this day their lands and their vineyards and their olive yards and their houses, also the hundredth part of the money and of the corn, of the wine and the oil you exact of them. Then said they, We will restore them and will require nothing of them, so will we do as thou sayest. Then I called the priests and took an oath of them that they should do according to this promise." Now, Brother Ashton, will you please stand and ask the blessing on the service and the message. Lord, we come to you this morning. Lord, we're excited to see all the parents, Lord, here dedicating their children this morning. Lord, we recognize that it's really not the babies that are dedicated, but the parents, Lord, that are dedicating themselves this morning, and we pray for them. And God, we also pray for this service. Lord, we know that anger is a very real thing, and Lord, we know that you gave it to us, but like all things you've given us, it can easily become corrupted and used for much evil, God. So, Lord, we pray we'd put ourselves in this story as Pastor Bez preaches. It wouldn't just be about Nehemiah a thousand years ago, but, God, what about me and my wife, or what about me and Lord at the workplace, or even here at church? And, Lord, may we grow to use, Lord, anger in the correct way. And I pray you'd, Lord, use Pastor Bez to speak to us, Lord, as you would speak to us. In Christ's name, amen. Amen. So we're continuing our series, Facing the Giants, and these are things we find hard to deal with. They take our peace because they cause us a great deal of distress in our lives, problems we have that we need to be taking care of. but we're unsure how to face them. So many times we just allow them to remain in our life, and they do what giants do. They wreak havoc. They eat up all our joy and our corn and everything that we have. And we want to defeat those giants, those hard-to-deal-with things in our life, like David defeated Goliath. And we preach the first message about how to recognize those giants. And then last week we started on anger. And it was a very foundational message. If you did not hear it and you want to go back, it's very helpful as understanding the origin of anger. And so we're going to build on that this week. Because to be able to defeat a giant, you have to be able to identify it and understand it, why it's there, and how to take it down. So we discovered last week why we get angry. Now let me ask you this, is anger a sin? No. Anger is not a sin. It's something that God gave us. Anger is our sense of justice. It's proof that we are moral creatures, or have somewhat of God in us, no matter how depraved we get. And that comes from God. Right? We also learned that, who's the most angry person in the Bible? God, the Lord. So it can't be a sin to be angry, because the Lord's angry in the Bible all the time. Like 500 references talking about how he's angry. And we learned the origin of anger, and we also learned why we become angry. We become angry because someone crossed a real or imagined sense of justice, and we feel that there's something that's a problem that takes place that needs to be corrected. Now what is anger supposed to do? It's supposed to motivate you to action, right? And so, that's where we're starting today. What is our plan of action? Anger gives you what you need to get started. But how do you start? That's what we're going to look at this morning. So, I hope that you write these things down, and they will help you as you deal with this in your life. And it will help anger to become constructive. And it will help anger to have a purpose, a meaningful purpose, and something that helps you. So what is the first thing we do? Well, number one, we need to look at verse 6. It says here, Nehemiah chapter 5 and verse 6, And I was very angry when I heard their cry and these words. The first thing that you need to do when you get angry is, and this is going to seem very simple, but it's very practical, is you need to recognize you are angry. Isn't that what Nehemiah said? That I was angry when I heard their cry and their words. Now this is simple, but it can be difficult. So, you know, when you get angry, say it out loud, I am angry. I was angry with them. And you know what, before I understood anger that much, I used to get in arguments with my brother and with my father, and they have some things in common. My brother doesn't brush his teeth, and my dad doesn't brush his tooth. And he only has one left, right? And they would get angry at me and they'd be yelling at me. And my dad, you know, you are so stupid. You're a bozo. What is the matter with you? You need to believe what God says instead of reading all these dumb books. And he's just yelling at me and yelling at me. What do you think is wrong with you? You know? And then I would say this. I would say to them, either my brother or my dad, I'd say this. Why are you so angry? Not a good idea, right? I learned that you do not point out to an angry person that they are angry. We're going for self-discovery here. And you know what they would say? I am not angry! What makes you think I'm angry? Why would you tell me that I am angry? I am not angry! I'm going to kill you! And I'm over there cowering in the corner. I'm like, what? And you know, it seems very simple, but I learned that when I was being showered with my dad's spit, that I could see something that he could not see at that moment, right? Or that he refused to see. And Nehemiah here, you know what he did? He acknowledged, he said, I am angry. And you know who the first person to find out you should be angry is? Who? You. You should be the first person that knows you're angry. Nehemiah was the first person to acknowledge his anger, and not the last person. And you know the problem is, is so many times we get angry, you know who the last person to acknowledge and find out they're angry is? The person that is angry. And it might be funny to think about it, but it is not natural to recognize you're angry. It's not natural. You know why? We have been taught our whole lives You should not be angry. It's wrong to be angry. It's a sin to be angry. So to admit you're angry is to admit you're doing something wrong or sinning. But we learned that that's absolutely not true. You have a greater chance, the Bible says, be angry and sin not. And you have a greater chance of doing the right thing and not sinning when you're angry if you recognize that you are angry. And Nehemiah does that. He recognizes that he's angry. The Lord said of Israel, He said this all the time, He said, My anger will be kindled against you. I was wroth, I was angry with My people. And it's helpful to do that. You ought to say this, I'm angry? Now what am I going to do about it? You want to be proactive with your anger and not reactive. Here's the thing that's very important to learn. As you grow, you need to be able to separate your action from your emotions. You have to separate your emotions from the action you're about to take. And when you do that, you set the stage for reason to prevail and not to be controlled by your emotions. When you start to grow and mature as a person, you learn to do the right thing regardless of how you feel. Now you know what I find interesting in the Bible? The Lord legislates Most of the times, He legislates actions, and He leaves the emotional part up to us. The spirit of the prophets is subject to the prophets. You know what the Lord does? He says, Thou shalt not. Thou shall. But He doesn't really go and spend too much time about how you should feel about it. He just tells you to do the right thing. And that's what the Lord is looking for. He's looking for you. And here's one thing we can learn. If you do the right thing, Your emotions will eventually catch up with you. They'll eventually catch up. But you cannot lead with emotion. You have to lead with doing the right thing in what that is. We can hold ourselves accountable like the Lord does for action, but not for emotion. You know what I find interesting? The Lord, when somebody's being emotional and talking to the Lord, He doesn't spend too much time dealing with their emotions. Moses was talking to the Lord and he's all emotional, and I'm scared. I don't want to talk. He's like, what do you have in your hand? Throw it down. Pick it up. Now go talk to Pharaoh. And he's like, what is this? And the Lord tells him what to do, but he doesn't address that. Remember Elijah? He's running from Jezebel, and he's all scared, and he goes there, and the angel of the Lord comes to him and says, what are you doing? He said, you know, I've been angry, and I've been jealous for the Lord, and I wish I could die. Jezebel's after me. And you know what the angel of the Lord tells him? Get up and eat something. And he gets up and eats something, goes back to sleep, he wakes up and he's all depressed again and crying and complaining. You know what the angel does? He says, get up and eat something. He gets up and eats something, and then he has to go somewhere else, and he's there, and the Lord comes to him, and the whirlwind, and Elijah's up there, and he said, What doest thou hear, Elijah? And Elijah's like, I've been very jealous for the Lord of Hosts for a long time, and nobody gives me any credit, and you know what, it just stinks living for God, and my life is so terrible, and the Lord said, Go stand on the mount. And he goes and stands on the mountain, and the earthquake, and the rock rent, and the fire, and all this stuff. And he asked him again, what do you do here, Elijah? And Elijah starts to complain again. And you know what the Lord does? He said, go anoint Hazel to be king over Israel. You know why? The Lord knows that when you do the right thing, your emotions will eventually catch up with you. But you know what we live in a society that does? We live in a society that leads with emotion. They lead with, how do you feel? Follow your heart. What does your heart tell you? What do you want to do? And you would be an idiot if you followed that advice. How do I feel? I feel like killing them. What does your heart tell you? My heart tells me to beat them up because they are worthless. You cannot lead with that, right? And the only way you're not going to lead with that is if you recognize the emotion that you're having. I am angry. Okay? So that's the thing that Nehemiah does here. He admits that he's angry. Back in Bible school, Dr. Ruckman would tell us, he said there was all kinds of people and they would say, I did what the Bible says, and I asked the Lord to save me, but I just don't feel saved. I think that something should have taken place, that there was no lightning, the heavens didn't burst open, and I didn't speak in tongues, I didn't get healed, I still have a headache, and I'm still driving a Honda, I don't have a Mercedes, and I just think that when you get saved, you should feel different, something should happen. And he would always tell us this, salvation is you put your faith in the fact that Jesus died for you. And the feelings come later. But you lead with doing what God says. He said, you want a feeling? They're like, yeah, we want to feel saved. He said, come downtown with me. And he'd go downtown, and he'd bring his pickup, and he'd park in front of a bar where there's hundreds of drunks out there yelling and carrying it on, and he'd say, now get up there and quote John 3.16. Get up there and quote Romans 1.16. Say the wages of sin is death. Tell them if they don't get saved, they'll go to hell. And so they'd get out there and start preaching. People would throw beer at them and cuss them out, and they would get done with that. And he's like, now do you feel saved? They're like, yes. Amen? But see, the emotions are something that catch up. You go not on emotion. You have to go on what the Lord says. So, the first thing you do when you're angry is, number one, you recognize you're angry. Very simple, right? But it's still profound because most people will not do that. Number two, very important, you restrain your immediate response. He says, I am angry. And then what does he do next? He consults with himself. He thinks. He takes some time. Right? You say, well, that's easy for Nehemiah. Nehemiah was a man of God. He was a priest. He was close to the Lord. He was the king's cupbearer. Nehemiah, you know, he was just a pacifist. You know, I have a temper problem, you don't understand. When I just blow up and the lava spills everywhere, and I can't control myself. Nehemiah, he was just a nice guy, you know, that's easy for him. But is that really how Nehemiah was? Look at Nehemiah chapter 13 and verse 23. And what I want to show you here is that Nehemiah was not a pacifist. Nehemiah was not a pushover. Nehemiah was not someone that was scared to take care of things. Look at verse 23, and I was going to model my pastorate after Nehemiah, and then somebody told me I shouldn't do that. Nehemiah chapter 13 and verse 23, In those days when I saw that the Jews had married wives of Ashdod, of Ammon and Moab, in their speech, and their children spake half in the speech of Ashdod, and could not speak in the Jews' language, but according to the language of each people, I contended with them, and cursed them, and smote certain of them, and plucked off their hair, and made them swear by God. Pastor Nehemiah. Such a wonderful, wonderful pastor, right? So loving and compassionate. Listen, that was Nehemiah's personality. I want to take care of stuff like that sometimes too, don't you? Just go bust them over the head, pull out their hair. What could be more painful than that? Cuss them out. It's biblical to cuss people out. Nehemiah did it. He was a preacher. If you want to be right with God, you've got to cuss people out. No. But you know what he did? He restrained his initial response, and he thought about it, and he wasn't the coolest head in the world, but he didn't do what he had the first English nation to do. He took a new moment. Now, I don't know about you, but my initial response is usually destructive, illegal, harmful, and over the top. That's my initial response. My initial question is, how can I do them the most harm and still not go to prison? I rented a house before in Pensacola, Florida, and a hurricane came through. And this big old oak tree, this limb fell off of it, and it hit the front door, knocked the front door in, and put a big scar on the front door, and busted the jam open. And so I called the landlord and I said, listen, I'm a carpenter. I can take care of this. You know, I'll fix the front door for 150 bucks. I'll replace it. Just take 150 bucks off my rent. That's really cheap. I'll include the materials and take care of this. They're like, no, no, no, we'll send someone else. Well, the hurricane happened, so it was hard to find people to do things. So I'm there, and after about three days, I said, they're not going to fix this. So you know what I did? I didn't call them. I just fixed the front door so I could lock it and go about my business. I moved out of the house, and I applied to get my deposit back. And they came back, and they said, you can't get your deposit back because the front door is messed up. I'm like, you idiot. Do you not realize this is what happened? I tell them the story. They're like, well, do you have any pictures? No, I'm sorry, the homeowner won't take care about it because there's no proof. I'm like, no, you're the one keeping the deposit. You're a liar. You know that this happened. Now I want my deposit back. They won't give it to me. And when I bought the new house, I had to drive past that property management place every day. And every time I went past it, I got angrier, angrier, angrier. And you know what I said? I said, I have a big chainsaw in my truck. They have a big oak tree in their front door. And I can have the same thing happen to their house that happened to my house. And I'm like, how can I do this without getting caught? How can I do this with the Lord being okay with me and the law being okay with me? And you know what? That's how we do. We get caught up in those things. I hate when people steal from the church. Ashton came to church this morning, and I have an old computer that was no good, and I laid it on the front porch in front of the camera. He said, why is there a computer laying on the front porch? And I said, because people steal stuff all the time, they'll steal this worthless computer, and I'll catch them on the camera, and I can put them under the jail. I have evidence. And Ashton said, isn't that kind of like Haman? You're putting a gallow. You're digging a pit, hoping that they'll fall in it. He said, you're going to get snared in that pit and the stone's going to roll back on you. I said, oh man. Because that's been my whole goal ever since I became a pastor. One of my very biggest spiritual goals has been to put up cameras, catch thieves, and then put them in jail. I thought that would be a good ministry. How many want to be part of that ministry, right? I've thought about, you know, putting bicycles in my front yard and hooking them to the electricity, you know, all kinds of stuff, amen? Good stuff. I've thought about when I left apartments and they wouldn't give me my deposit back to cut a hole in the wall and put a bag of fish there and seal it all up, amen? Hey listen, but you know what you need to do when you're angry? You need to control and restrain your immediate response. And the Bible is filled with stories of people that did not do that and it became destructive in their life. Saul had a problem with anger, didn't he? And it got so bad that his own son was sitting there questioning him about a legitimate thing to question him about. You know what Saul does? He throws a javelin at him. Herod, when he saw he was mocked of the wise men, immediately sent people out to kill all the children that were two years old and under, to protect himself and his interests. And you know why? We need to restrain the initial responses because we have learned, growing up, destructive actions to the emotion of anger that God didn't teach us, but maybe our parents teach us, or when we watch people, we would see these things happen. important adults in our life, and how they reacted to anger. I remember an important person in my life, he got angry at his wife, and there was a shelf in this little cabin they were staying at, and there was hot sauce, and barbecue sauce, and pickles, and all kinds of stuff, all the spices and sauces you'd want above the stove there. And I remember him, just a little kid, and he screamed as loud as he could, and he went, ah, and swept it across there, and smashed it all against the wall. And against the wall there's hot sauce, and ketchup, and barbecue sauce, and broken pieces. So you know what my response was as I got older? To anger, to break things, and to vent physically. and some people vent verbally, and some people vent in a different way, and they decide to give people the cold shoulder and retreat in silence and not say anything. And it doesn't matter if it's anger that comes out in an explosive form or an implosive form, both of those reactions to anger are destructive. And you know what you think if you give someone the cold shoulder and don't talk to them anymore? You think that you're Jesus because you're not talking to them when you could do something. And you're not. You're having a bad reaction to anger. Both are destructive. That's not why God gave you the emotion of anger, and that's not what He wants you to do with it. Somebody said, speak when you are angry, and you will make the best speech you will ever regret. You know, I notice when I talk when I'm angry and tell people what I think when I'm angry, that man, things come out so good, and it sounds so good, and then I always regret it afterwards. It takes some time. How many of a mother told their child to count to ten? I don't think when you get older that counting to ten is good enough. Counting to ten just helps you recalibrate so you can aim better. Right? You know what you need to do? You need to take some time. Go walk around the block. And if you're married, you need to communicate it ahead of time. Look, when I get angry, I'm going to go on a walk. I'm going to think about this stuff. because I don't want to make a bad reaction to my anger. And not take time, not three months, but I just need some time to think about this. So number one, you recognize you're angry. Number two, you restrain your immediate response. And then here's one that's very important. You have to locate the source of your anger. He says here, And I was very angry when I heard their cry in these words, and injustice was being committed. He said, you exact usury. Right? And Nehemiah was able to recognize the source of his anger was because the Jews were lending payday loans to their brethren. And they were taking an advantage of a crisis. I'll turn off this ringer. I was wanting to get mad at someone else, but I had to restrain my initial response. Locate the source of your anger, right? These Jews are poor. They're fugitives already in their own country. Most of their people went out into captivity, and these poor Jews are back here. And the Jews that were a little bit smarter started credit card companies. They started network marketing schemes. They tried to sell their brethren makeup, and they tried to sell them prepaid legal, and they tried to sell them you know, all these different things, and they're charging their interest, and they're foreclosing on their houses, and they're making them poorer. And you know what Dave Ramsey did? I mean, Nehemiah, he pulled a Dave Ramsey on them, cut up the credit cards, and also blew up the credit card company. He said, you can't do this. And it made him mad. Now, what is the source of your anger? If you're going to make it constructive, you have to find out what is making you angry. Nehemiah knew what was making him angry, so then he was able to take the appropriate action. Right? Yesterday I woke up in the morning, and I woke up late, tired from vacation Bible school. I got up about 7.30 or something, and I go out in the kitchen, and Michelle's already up, the kids are all up, She made them breakfast, and they have bagels with eggs and bacon and cheese. And she said, good morning, honey. Here's your cup of coffee. And she was so happy and pretty. I'm like, why is everyone so happy? And I'm walking and the dog's in my way. I want to kick the dog. Why are you smiling at me? Why are you so happy? This is not a good day. I'm tired. I have to go study all day. I've got to go to work. We had vacation Bible school. We had outreach last week. I'm overworked. I'm tired. Right? And my initial reaction is to want to lash out and be mad at them. They're about to go swimming all day. And I'm going to go to work. They're going to go do all these different things." And then I started thinking, well, why am I angry? What's the source of my angry? Well, I woke up in the morning, and I had called the scuba diving company three times to try to find out a price to get Michelle certified so we can go diving, and they never took time to call me back. And then they text me on a Saturday night in the middle of the night and said, the first step is to pay us. I'm like, why would I pay you if I can't even get a hold of you? Right? And I'm like, that made me so mad. I'm like, what kind of business? You are sorry. And then I'm thinking, well, why does that make me so mad? Well, we just hired somebody to do some work on the SEO work, and stuff's not happening that's supposed to be happening there, and people aren't keeping up their end of the deal, and so I'm just angry about all this stuff, and so, I recognize the appropriate action is not to lash out at my wife and kids and kick the dog. Right? It is our anger because we live in a fallen world that can become distorted and misplaced. And we can lash out at people that it's not even their fault. We're not even angry at them. So you ask yourself some questions. Why am I so angry? Let's say you're angry at your wife. Why am I angry at her? What did she do? What was the crime that she committed? What did the dog do? Because you know what it might be? It might be just unresolved anger that you brought home from work or other people. Maybe it's the way she's talking to you. Maybe it's the way they're looking at you. Why am I angry? Does it remind me of something else that makes me angry? It can be distorted. Now there's two kinds of anger. There's justified anger and there's unjustified anger. There's definitive anger and there's distorted anger. Anger that is not wrong. And even though the emotions are just intense, there was no wrongdoing that was committed. The lawnmower didn't do anything to hurt you. The flat tire is not trying to destroy your life. So ask yourself, did they actually do anything wrong? What was the crime that was committed? Why am I angry? What is this really about? You go to the gym, and you come home, and your husband is laying on the couch eating Cheetos, and he fell asleep, and the game is on, and the dishes are in the sink. I'm trying to keep myself in shape and look good for him, and he's eating Cheetos there, and the dishes are all done. I'm tired from the day. But what was the crime that he actually committed? Is it a crime to eat Cheetos? Some people think so. Is it a crime to fall asleep on the couch because you're tired? No. Maybe you're angry because he leaves his clothes all around. And you're a neat person. Well, maybe he's that way because that's the way he grew up and that's the way he's raised, and you have to find other ways to deal with it. But there was no crime that was actually committed. There was nobody that broke one of God's moral laws, or did they sin against you. And we might think that because we're angry and they say, we don't love them, they don't care. But that's not how you deal with it. You have to locate the source of your anger. Maybe you're missing some information. Maybe you're jumping to conclusions. You know what Nehemiah does here? He asks them questions. Will you even sell your brethren? And he asks them questions to find out what is going on. Don't jump to conclusions and locate the source of your anger. There's many examples in the Bible of distorted anger. Remember when Cain and Abel brought an offering to the Lord? And the Lord accepted Abel's offering and he didn't accept Cain's? And Cain was angry, right? And he went over and he slew his brother because he was wroth and he was angry. Now, let me ask you this. What was the crime that Abel did? Was there any crime? No. And the reason it's important to find the source of your anger is because sometimes God is calling you to action to correct your own spirit. Sometimes He's trying to show you something that's wrong with you and something that needs to be corrected and needs to be taken care of with you. Remember when Nathan came to David and he told him a story about the guy with the sheep? You know what happened? David's anger was greatly kindled against the man, and he said to Nathan, as the Lord liveth, the man that has done this thing shall surely die. It was a check for David's spirit. I like things to be neat and clean, right? So sometimes I walk in and I look at the piano, and the organ, choir loft. Then I'll go look at Ashton's desk. Then I'll look behind the pulpit. What is all this junk? And I get angry and I want to start firing people. Nobody cares as much as I do! Then I walk into my office. I'm like, I have to start with the beam that's in my eye. I have to start with my desk. So then I call the secretary, I say, come clean my office up so I can yell at others. But what is the source? What is the source of your anger? There's an example also in the Bible where there was distorted anger that went right. Naaman comes to Elijah, right? And Elijah doesn't even come out to talk to Naaman. He said, go wash in the muddy river seven times. And you know what? He's furious and he's angry. And he said, aren't our rivers better? And he goes off in a rage. And this little servant was there saying, hey, if he asked you to do some great thing, wouldn't you have done it? You know what Naaman did? He corrected his spirit and he went and washed down in that river and became clean because he allowed his distorted anger to call him to the right action. Recognize when you're angry. Restrain your immediate response. Locate the source of your anger. Analyze your options. I consulted with myself. He asked them questions and he came up with restoration. He could have given them a verbal beating. He could have thrown something at them. He could have cursed at them and plucked out their hair. He could have dismissed them with a mental put-down and say, they're so stupid, why do I even waste my time talking to them? I'll ignore them and let them feel rejection for a while, I'll be passive-aggressive. But anger is supposed to motivate you to positive, corrective, constructive action. To correct the wrong that's being committed and helping the relationship. So when you analyze your options about what to do about your anger, you ask yourself these questions. Will this help the relationship? Will this be done for edification? Is what I'm considering not only best for me, but is it best for the person whom I'm angry at? Will my action leave matters better or worse? Will it leave them better or worse? And when you analyze your options, you're going to come up, you only have two options. You can either overlook the matter, or you can address the matter and confront the person. Now, sometimes it's better to overlook it, but that's still an action. Maybe you're dealing with an unreasonable person. Has anyone ever dealt with a person like that? And you have went to them, and you have tried to talk to them, and it just didn't work. Right? I need to talk to you about something. I'm not going to talk to you. I have a thing I need to discuss with you, right? Now, maybe a person like that crosses you, and maybe your boss did something wrong, and the last person that talked to him about it got fired and got let go, and you need to feed your family, so you let it go while you look for another job or do something like that. But somebody cuts you off in traffic. What are you going to do? I need to talk to you. That's not the proper thing to do, right? So you choose to let it go. Maybe you're in an argument with your spouse, and you've had this argument five million times. Well, maybe you need to take a break and pray about it, and get some counsel. The Bible said, the discretion of man deferreth his anger. And it talks about forbearance and living peaceably with all men. But this is not, understand, And we're almost done. This is not stuffing your anger and withholding your anger and becoming bitter, but it's turning it over to God. And I think the greatest example of how that is done is when Jesus was on the cross, He said, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. He couldn't forgive them because they didn't ask for it, they wouldn't address it with Him, so He asked the Lord to forgive them. And you know what we have to do sometimes when people do us wrong and we're unable to address it? We're supposed to turn it over to God and give it to Him. But that's one option, and the other option is to lovingly confront them. And this is the one that you need to do most of the time. And be careful with this, because a lot of times what people will do is they won't confront somebody, And they'll act like they're the bigger person just to let it go, but they hold on to the anger, and in reality, they're just a coward. And they're hiding it by being the bigger person. And we look at one reference here, Luke chapter 17 and verse 3. Analyze your options. Let it go or confront them. Luke 17 and verse 3. The Bible says here, if thy brother trespass against thee, what? Luke 17, verse 3, if thy brother trespass against thee, what? Rebuke him. And if he repent, what? And if he trespass thee against seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn to thee, saying, I repent, thou shalt, what? Forgive him. And you know what? In Matthew chapter 18, He gives you how to do this and the things to do this. But you know what is missing in churches? When your brother transpasses against thee, rebuking him." Rebuking is not a verbal lashing or laying out. It says, listen, I need to talk to you about something. There's something bothering me. And I might be misunderstanding the situation and jumping to conclusions and not having all the facts. But I need to talk to you about something that is bothering me. But you know what happens in churches? They don't defer the matter. They don't overlook it and give it to God. They hold on to it and don't address it. And you know what that becomes? That becomes bitterness. That becomes an implosive anger that destroys you. You have to do that. And if you go to them and say, brother, I need to talk to you about something, and they refuse to talk to you, at least you tried to address it, and you know what that person is letting you know? This relationship is not important. They're letting you know that it doesn't matter what you think, I'm not going to talk to you about it, I'm not going to address it. So, you've done what God wants you to do, you give it to the Lord, or then you follow Matthew 18 and bring someone with it, but He's letting you know, I do not want to have a relationship with you, but you are not ever responsible for their reaction, you're only responsible for your action. And it's missing in marriages, it's missing in family relationships, and it's missing in churches, and it's biblical, and it's why God gave you the anger to motivate you to the action of this after you do all the other stuff. You address the problem. It doesn't matter with who. Why do people not address the problem? Because they haven't been taught to, and they haven't seen the constructive purpose of it, and it's scary to them, and most people are cowards, and they would rather hold on to their anger, not give it to God, than address it and get rid of it, so it becomes self-destructive in your life. You have to do this if you want to have a healthy emotion of anger. So you recognize when you're angry. You restrain your immediate response. You find the source of your anger. You analyze your options. And the last thing, you take constructive action. Okay? And the action is, let it go or confront them. You know what he did? I said unto them, I rebuked them, and I set an assembly against them, and he brought it to a good resolution because he addressed the problem. You need to do what the Lord wants you to do and not spend time in your anger. The Bible says this, let not the sun go down upon your what? Okay? So when you get angry, you have to do something with that anger. You can't hold on to it. You're not supposed to let the sun go down. Anger is meant to motivate to action and be done with. So when I was angry the other day, What did I do? I wrote down, do not use this dumb scuba company. They will steal your money. Pay the more expensive guy and you'll get customer service. Call the internet guy and let him know you're unpleased with what's happening. Did that, the anger was dissipated until the air conditioner broke. Right? But you take constructive action. You do it. Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry. Anger resteth. It stays in the bosom of a fool. So why did I preach this message? I want you to use this to turn your anger to be constructive and help you grow rather than being a destructive force in your life. It needs to be a constructive force in your life. So, one more time, write these things down and we'll be done. Recognize you're angry. Restrain your immediate response. Locate the source of your anger. Go over your options. And take constructive action. The best passage on anger in the Bible is where the Lord looked on the Pharisees, and He was angry at them for the hardness of their heart, and He healed the man. He did something constructive, right? So, that is how you will be able to slay the giant of anger in your life. Alright?