Ephesians 4 26-27 Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: Neither give place to the devil.
Normally on a Sunday, I like to write a sermon review from my home church. But this weekend has been a stormy one here where I live so I was not able to get to church. I listened to an online sermon by Greg Laurie and I thought I would share some thoughts from his message.
Greg Laurie began by asking the question - What makes you angry? We all have our boiling point. What is yours? It might be another person's cellphone that gets on your nerves. The cellphone being set to the loudest ring and he or she does not answer till like the 5th ring. Or it may be when you travel, and on the airplane you find yourself seated behind a person who reclines back in his seat and you are left to stare at his greasy scalp the rest of the flight.
We all have things that irritate us. We also are aware that anger can cause illness and heart attacks.
Greg Laurie stated that the angrier we become the more stupid our actions become. Never try to write an email while you are angry. There is no retrieving it once you have clicked the send button.
In the Bible we learn there is also a righteous anger. This is the kind of anger that Jesus demonstrated when he cleansed the temple in Luke 19:45-46 And he went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold therein, and them that bought;
Normally on a Sunday, I like to write a sermon review from my home church. But this weekend has been a stormy one here where I live so I was not able to get to church. I listened to an online sermon by Greg Laurie and I thought I would share some thoughts from his message.
Greg Laurie began by asking the question - What makes you angry? We all have our boiling point. What is yours? It might be another person's cellphone that gets on your nerves. The cellphone being set to the loudest ring and he or she does not answer till like the 5th ring. Or it may be when you travel, and on the airplane you find yourself seated behind a person who reclines back in his seat and you are left to stare at his greasy scalp the rest of the flight.
We all have things that irritate us. We also are aware that anger can cause illness and heart attacks.
Greg Laurie stated that the angrier we become the more stupid our actions become. Never try to write an email while you are angry. There is no retrieving it once you have clicked the send button.
In the Bible we learn there is also a righteous anger. This is the kind of anger that Jesus demonstrated when he cleansed the temple in Luke 19:45-46 And he went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold therein, and them that bought;
Saying unto them, It is written, My house is the house of prayer: but ye have made it a den of thieves.
This was not an uncontrollable outburst of anger. Jesus was showing his authority here and was putting a stop to the evil of those who were buying and selling there in the temple.
We learn in the Bible that Jesus is meek but meekness is not weakness.
Matthew 11:29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
Meekness is not weakness but it is power under constraint, under control.
eg, is a horse under control.
In the Easter story, Jesus allowed himself to be captured and nailed to the cross. We know that Jesus is the great I AM so no chain or nail could really hold him. He stayed there on the cross of his own free will to save you and I. Jesus did not defend himself but allowed these things to happen for our salvation.
God is angry when people stand in the way of others coming to know Him.
The church is a hospital for sinners, not a museum for saints.
Each of us who are Christians are a witness for the Savior - What kind of a witness are you?
Be a bridge to bring others to Jesus and not a barrier.
Just as Jesus cleansed the temple, so he also brings about change in our lives when we come to him for salvation. He cleans house. We are the house in which his Spirit comes to dwell.
Sin doesn't belong in our lives. We need to be constantly confessing our sin to Jesus - sin that we commit and sin of omission.
1 John 1:5-10 This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:
But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.
If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
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