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  ANGER, ONE LETTER AWAY FROM DANGER
  by Shane Idleman
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Summary: This sermon delves into the topic of anger, exploring the
righteous and unrighteous aspects of it. It emphasizes the importance of
surrendering to God, addressing the struggle to find balance in dealing
with anger, possibly stemming from past experiences or family dynamics.
The need for self-examination, repentance, and crying out to God for
transformation and revival is highlighted as a solution to anger issues.

Duration: 1:00:33 Topics: "Righteous Anger", "Transformation through Surrender"
Scripture References: Genesis 4:6, Psalms 34:17, James 1:19, Ephesians 4:26, Exodus 14:14, Philippians 4:6

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DESCRIPTION
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This sermon delves into the topic of anger, exploring the righteous and
unrighteous aspects of it. It emphasizes the importance of surrendering
to God, addressing the struggle to find balance in dealing with anger,
possibly stemming from past experiences or family dynamics. The need for
self-examination, repentance, and crying out to God for transformation
and revival is highlighted as a solution to anger issues.

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CONTENT
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There's righteous indignation, and then there's anger that we express
that is not biblical. And so you have an emotion that can be good and
God-given, and if it's targeted in the right direction, for example, how
many people are doing ministry today because of anger? The homeless
ministry, or families not having enough food, or abortion industry, or
the sex trafficking that we've announced things in the bulletin. And you
can get involved with that.

And there's anger, and sometimes some of my best sermons, what I would
consider my best sermons, came out of a heart of anger. You know, anger
at what they're doing, anger at the state of our nation, anger at God's
word is just being mocked and ridiculed, and plays in Hollywood or New
York of the gay Jesus, and things that just, there's the zeal for God's
house burns us up. And so we're gonna talk about trying to find that
balance, but I will tell you up front, it's a struggle for me to find
that balance.

And I was raised in what would be considered an angry home. Can anyone
relate? You're just not putting your hand up, right? But that's how my
dad did things, really, and his dad, and Farms of Oklahoma, and anger.
And he was actually an All-American in college football, and then went
to A.V. High School here, and just got rewards and different things.

And I remember he would say, how you succeed is you just get as angry as
possible. And that's your enemy, you spit in their face, and you just
drive that ball, and like, whoa. But that's how many people would cope,
and get through life, that anger.

And it runs in the military sometimes, and in law enforcement. And it
can be good in some cases, because that, you know, it's hard to be a
passive Navy SEAL. It is a hard balance to find.

And we're going through the Bible. So if you're joining us for the first
time, or watching online, we're actually going through the entire Bible.
Not verse by verse, necessarily, but chapter by chapter, overview.

It's gonna start going a little quicker now. And so if you have your
Bibles, turn to Hezekiah chapter four. Hezekiah chapter four.

Anybody find it yet? Okay, you're not gonna find it. I'm just testing
this early morning group. It sounds good, doesn't it? Jireh, you gave me
that bit of advice yesterday.

He almost got me yesterday. I'm like, Hezekiah, I don't even know where
to find that. Genesis chapter four.

Genesis chapter four. I'm just surprised so many people are looking for
it. But it's how the mind works, because you think, I even thought
Hezekiah four.

Yeah, what is, he's a king. He didn't write a book. It takes a little
while to think about that.

Genesis four. Now, Adam knew his wife. And anytime the Bible talks about
this, especially in the Old Testament, it is with sexual intimacy.

And as a result, she conceived and bore Cain. And said, I have acquired
a man from the Lord. And actually, if we break down his name in the
Hebrew, it can mean a gift from God, something along those lines.

And she bore again. This time, his brother was Abel. So Abel was the
younger, Cain was the older.

And Abel was a keeper of the sheep. But Cain was a tiller of the ground.
So they had different roles.

And that even jumped out at me, studying, because jealousy comes in when
we want the other person's role. We want the other person's job. And
that's why I just wanna just praise, if possible, our worship team here.

Because I've never seen so many people just not the center stage. You
take the song, not, and it's genuine. You can tell it's genuine.

I've been to places where if I speak, it's like rock stars up there. I
don't wanna talk to the pastor. I'm too busy.

And so you can see, it's all about me, and all about, and we want that
position. And if we're not careful, sometimes out there, we look up here
and we say, that's what I want to do. But Jesus said, if you take the
lower road, he who serves is actually greater in the kingdom of God than
he who is elevated in that servant's heart and removing jealousy.

And people say, well, that's easy for you to say. You don't get jealous.
No, it happens.

Pastors will struggle with, when is the church big enough? Because they
think you measure success by numbers. And I remember we are considered a
small church and then a medium church, and now we're a large church. And
each stage, people are, how big's your church? How big's your church?
What's your budget? And I'm like, that should not be part of our
discussion.

And so there's a struggle out there that it's part of the flesh that
wants to elevate himself. And I don't know if a keeper of the sheep was
better or a tiller of the ground, but in the process of time, it came to
pass that Cain brought an offering of fruit of the ground to the Lord.
Now, it's interesting because they started the offering process early
on.

There was something about giving back to God that is innate. It should
be in us to give back to God. And those people crack me up that email us
all the time and say, you shouldn't talk about tithing or anything.

That's Old Testament. Your heart's wrong. The tithe, the 10%, not bound
to that? Okay, but God loves a cheerful giver in the New Testament.

Are you cheerfully giving? And is there a cost to that? But it's always
those people who like to avoid giving that use that Old Testament
example. I'm just telling you, I've been around the block. I've talked
to enough people.

And we can check the tithing records if you want. We can find out who's
really saying that. And again, we don't, it's really not, the church has
been blessed financially since day one.

But it's about giving back to God. And that's why we don't push it or
promote it or always asking about giving. God just brings in what he
wants to do to accomplish his purposes.

We sometimes announce the needs. And we had a need for air conditioning
next door to get the kids and different things. And people just bring in
a $10,000 check.

And we don't even, they don't even know. And that's only God. It's like
the George Mueller approach.

And I love the George Mueller approach. He just prayed down the giving
and God funded his orphanages. But anyway, that's a rabbit trail.

Me and Joe are keeping track of how much my sermons change at each
service. It's like, there's a different message at each service. And I
usually go, I gauge the atmosphere of the congregation or when God
brings something in my heart, he revisits something, he plants something
in my mind to share here or this sticks out.

So the services often are a little bit different. I often say, it's a
skeleton and each service puts the clothes on differently. It speaks to
people in different ways.

So anyway, back to the offering. Cain brought an offering of fruit. And
Abel, though, brought the firstborn of his flock.

And it is, especially there when commodities were in your wealth, was
gauged by probably livestock and how much livestock. And that's why God
blessed Abram, God blessed Isaac, God blessed Jacob. You would see that
God blesses people often through the livestock in the Old Testament.

And so this probably cost a little bit more to bring one of your flock
to give to God versus some apples. Well, actually, he probably tilled
the soil, so maybe some vegetables growing in the ground. And so they
brought these to the Lord and the Lord respected Abel and his offering
of the what? Of the flock.

But he did not respect Cain and his offering. Now, what gets interesting
is if you read, and sometimes I'll read Jewish commentators and what
their thoughts are, because the Jewish history and what they believe and
they have some great insight or other commentaries or my own thoughts,
your own thoughts, but we don't know why he didn't respect his offering.
Now, there are good suggestions out there.

There's people kind of wondering if it was because the cost was too
great. And maybe, I mean, that's probably where I would lean, that it's
much easier, here's some turnips, then here's a sheep. And maybe, but
the heart wasn't right.

So I don't think God was looking at the sacrifice being better, but was
he looking at the heart of the person? And did one of them give
grudgingly? And see, that's what we don't know. And I'm glad that God
doesn't let us know on some things, because it allows us to let
everything affect us in Scripture, as far as Paul said, we know that
Paul struggled with something. God would not remove it.

And thank God, now we can all relate to it. But if he would have said a
certain thing, then we wouldn't be able to relate to it. Same with, I'm
glad they didn't describe Jesus.

Five foot 10, brown hair down to it, and it's like, okay, that's not
gonna be fine. And there's just no type of reason that we can think of.
But because of this, Cain was, what's the last few words here? And if
you can go easily nowadays to the Hebrew language, and it's like anger,
but then a fury, furious anger, like boiling and red with anger.

And I don't know why he would get that angry, because I would wonder why
wasn't he mad at himself? It's a heart issue. And this is a great test
of character, how we rejoice in the success of others. Let's take that
test real quick.

How do you rejoice in the success of others? If somebody's serving in
ministry, how do they rejoice in the success of others? Let's say a
worship team just nails it out of the park, and another worship team's
here. Are they excited for that? Or is jealousy come up, and backbiting,
and what about a job, or when you see a Christian, even a Christian,
your friend, say, oh, I can't believe it, my mother left us $100,000 in
inheritance. Do you get excited for that person, or, and it is a great
test of spiritual maturity, is how we rejoice in the success of others.

And I can always see it here at the church too, anytime we appoint
somebody to something, a deacon, or an elder, or you can watch how
people respond to that. Are they truly, truly rejoicing with that
person, or is envy eating them up inside? Special, it's a very important
test of our character. And what's interesting here about very, very
angry, did you know that leadership in the church, to be an elder, and
even I would say a deacon, and in leadership, you can't be a person who
has angry outbursts.

Now that's interesting. You can be angry, but do not sin. Be angry and
point it in the right direction, but the qualifications in Timothy, I
love the King James, not a striker, not a striker, or easily angered.

Now, it doesn't mean a person's not gonna have an emotional outburst
from time to time, but usually they'll apologize and say, hey, I'm sorry
about that. They're not known for angry outbursts, and just always, and
that's why it's hard with my type of preaching, is I've gotta, how I
preach is not how I talk to the individual. If I did, we'd be in
trouble, right? A single mom comes up to me, I just, you just need to
repent.

Just repent, stop crying. Just go home and repent. What's wrong with
you? What? And that's why people get confused.

They don't understand the difference between preaching corporately, what
dynamic takes place, because the spirit of the living God can hit and
hit and hit and hit and hit, versus individual conversations. So people
go to my, how's it like, to my kids, how's it like living with your dad?
Oh, it must be intense. And they're like, no, he has fun, he jokes
around, he plays with us, and they just can't make that different
connection there.

But in leadership, you actually can't be known as a person who is angry,
a striker, mean, spirited. And so there are even people at this church
who've been coming a while that we really can't consider for that
position of elder or deacon because they're known as an angry person.
Always upset, always angry.

But again, it doesn't mean you won't struggle with it. It's what you do
with that struggle that really makes a difference. So I'm gonna give you
a few keys here.

I actually could've preached a whole sermon on this next point, and I'm
considering doing one on it. And it might grow some legs on it, and we
might not finish. So this is just so important.

Anger is often fueled by fiery darts. I know we have an image up, I
think we can put up, I wanna give you this image, it's a little grainy.
But that is the role of a parent protecting their child, of course.

But also, that's the image of fiery darts. That the enemy, the only
weapon he really has is those fiery darts. And sometimes you'll see a
movie where the flame was already burning, and they shot the arrow.

Normally a flame like that would burn out. So the arrows that they would
really use back in Rome and early Jewish history was actually hollow
like a bamboo. And they would have something on the end that would cork
it, and some things inside that were flammable and light diffused, so
when it would hit the soldier, it would just, the oil or whatever it was
would open up and he would be caught on fire.

And so these flaming darts, that's how the enemy really works. That's
why 2 Corinthians 10, 5 is so important. We demolish arguments and every
pretense that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take
captive every thought and make it obedient to Christ.

That is so important. Guys, here's gonna be the key to your success in
this area. One big key.

Take those thoughts captive. It's one reason why I try not to look at
texting or email before church. Because you know that little mm, mm, mm,
mm, gotcha.

And the fiery darts, what happens is there's, somebody makes a comment,
or they look at you a wrong way, or here comes thoughts, here comes a
fiery dart, or a doubt, or a sinful idea. Do you ever just, you're just
sitting there like, where did that come from? Whoa, that's not good.
Well, who, sometimes who plants that fiery darts into your mind? About
another person maybe even, and doubting, and gossiping.

And I know it's hard because I would, and I'm not just saying this
because, to make a sermon point, but me and Morgan probably have the
hardest job at the church here dealing with fiery darts in our own
minds. I mean, it starts every day. What people say, their comment,
their suggestion, what was that person thinking, what was their ulterior
motive, what's going on here? And the fiery darts, the enemy just loves
that.

So taking the thoughts captive, like, Lord, you know, you're my defense.
You know, and even if they were trying to gossip or slander, Lord,
that's on you. I'm not gonna let ruin my day.

And so you take those thoughts captive, but if you don't, anger. And the
enemy, false prophets, feed off fiery darts, and they often plant them.
False prophets, what we would say, a person who's coming in, stirring
division.

Do you know those people? They call it stirring the pot. They are pot
stirrers, and there's been a few here over the years. And they will feed
off fiery darts, and they will sometimes plant them themselves.

I was going back and forth on this, praying all week, and I'm gonna make
sure maybe some of the people aren't here that were involved in this.
But about a year and a half ago, we had a guy that was what I would
consider, if not a false prophet, but he's walking close to that line.
And he would subtly come in and say, you know, that thing at the stadium
really isn't biblical.

Oh, and so he'd plant those thoughts. You know, the real way to have
church is in your home. The stadium's not biblical, that's not really
all these people, that's not church.

Guess what, I have a home group at my home. Also say, you know, there's
really nothing for marriage couples here. Does that church not care
about marriage? I actually do marriage counseling.

Oh, whoa, and so you see those fiery darts? And people, if they're not
skilled in the word, they start, yeah, the stadium, the JetHawk Stadium,
they did it at home churches, it was really about smaller gatherings.
True, but is it really a bad idea to walk, reach out to the community,
have worship on fire, 150 some baptisms, and people coming to, is that
really a bad thing? Come on, grow up. And so, but they'll take that, and
there's a few families who left because of these, that's not biblical.

We shouldn't be doing that. You don't offer anything like, okay, where
is this coming from, fiery darts. And that's how false prophets will
work.

They'll begin to subtly, now guess what, nobody is with him anymore. And
we told them that would happen. But we have to be careful by fiery
darts.

Planting those fiery darts, feeding off of those fiery darts. Because
what happens? Bitterness begins to build up, and unforgiveness, and
jealousy. And so I would think, you're getting a lot of heads shaking,
yes, that the biggest struggle with this area of anger is fiery darts.

I mean, daily, your family close to you, maybe outside your home, but
the fiery darts and the contention, and the trying to stir the pot, and
the enemy's just feeding those fiery darts, especially if you're
struggling with an issue, he'll fuel those fiery darts. And so the big
key to overcoming anger is obviously taking thoughts captive. For
example, what I did, and that made me mad, that guy, and we actually had
a meeting with him, he ended up walking out, I've never seen him again,
because I said, you're slick, you're sneaky, you're slippery, you know
the word of God, but you're twisting everything.

And he got up and left, so upset. But guarding the flock, but I had to
take my thoughts captive, because I could, mm-hmm, mm-hmm. It's, you
know, the temper's flaring, voices are increasing, volume, but Lord, you
got this.

We know we didn't do anything wrong. You got this, and erring on the
side, even now, I would love the person, forgive him, no big deal, run
into him at a store, but you err on the side of grace. That's why you'll
see throughout the New Testament, they would err on the side of grace,
because our sinful inclination is not to err on the side of grace.

So many times, even Morgan will say, what do you think they meant by
that? Just, you know what, just err on the side of grace. Or she'll tell
me, and I don't know, I can barely keep up with this little household of
five kids we have, and I don't know what other people are thinking, and
what the enemy's scheming, and erring on the side of grace. However,
there is a time to take a stand and lovingly confront.

Isn't it interesting, Jesus said, err on the side of grace. Somebody
slaps you, turn the other cheek. But then when he was slapped, hmm, did
you know he didn't turn the other cheek? He confronted the guy who
slapped him, said, why did you slap me? What evil have I done? People
say, well, wait a minute, he said, no, no, no, context is important.

Err on the side of grace, but there comes a time when I will have to
lovingly confront. But you have to be in that position to err on the
side of grace. For example, I'm just letting you into my life a little
bit.

There are some churches in town that are not happy that we stayed open
throughout the pandemic, and he's just a rebel. He's arrogant. That's
what I hear, he's just arrogant, rebellious.

Man, you ever hear him preach? Oh my goodness. And so I just have to err
on the side of grace. I'm not gonna defend myself.

If you wanna capitulate, it's easy to be a coward. It's not easy to
stand up for the truth. And God knows the heart, and so erring on the
side of grace.

Couldn't we learn from that? Absolutely. Can we be better on that?
Absolutely. I've even told a few people, I've apologized that I was
pretty heavy-handed on things a year and a half ago, even with like the
masks.

You know, just because for me, it felt like manipulation, control,
things that, you know, and I would be kind of heavy-handed on that, and
I'd have to kind of just back off in Romans 14 and let people do what
they wanna do, the vaccine, and so. But see, the problem is a lot of
times, we don't have grace with others. We don't have grace with others.

Somebody from Santa Clarita came down here. He's in the production thing
in Hollywood, really helped out with the church with some, actually the
lighting. It's way too bright in my eyes, but they say it works better,
so okay.

I have to err on the side of grace. Like, turn those things down. But
anyway, so he said, you know, I heard something, it's actually from Jack
Hibbs' church, where if you find a church, if you go to church and they
have to meet, you have to check off every box and agree with everything,
the problem's you.

Because, but a lot of times, do that, unless you do this, unless, Shane,
unless you go through the Bible verse by verse, unless those worship
songs aren't by Hillsong, unless you don't get too emotional, unless you
don't, what are they at the altar for? You're kind of manipulating the
emotions, and I've got, is it the King James only? Trying to fit this
box in. In church, I've realized it's just a bunch of people who
struggle coming together. Yes, there's going to be problems.

Yes, there's going to be challenges. And the way you grow is to work
through it. That's how you grow spiritually.

There's so many disgruntled people going from church to church who never
grow. They're still sucking their thumb. And they've been a Christian 25
years.

What do they call it, hop? Church hopping. Is that a good bunny rabbit
impression? My two-year-old likes it. But there is valid reason
sometimes to leave a church.

And the heart is right, and they say, listen, I can't continue with this
type of church anymore. And just the watering down of the truth, or
they're not standing for things. So that, I believe God pulls people
from that type of place, for sure.

But again, it goes back to where is our heart? Erring on the side of
grace. I mean, I'm just telling you, that's what's helped me a lot.
Because I can get, those fiery darts come in, don't they? And especially
leading an entire church, from children's ministry, to ushering, to
security, everything falls under this umbrella that I'm responsible for.

And people just sometimes want to help, but they can just be on a power
trip. Not saying everybody's right now, I'm just saying over the years,
okay? But they just rub you the wrong way, wanna take control, and I
don't think it should go that way. And I'm like, ah, erring on this,
here come the fiery darts.

And taking those thoughts captive to the obedience. That is half the
battle, I would say, with anger, is where we let our thoughts go.
Because I've noticed when the thoughts come in, what you do with them is
gonna determine the level of your anger.

Even spouses, even spouses, that can happen. I'll tell you a big
struggle we had recently this week, my wife will laugh at it, I mean,
it's not a, but, and I dread this time of year, it's the week of family
pictures. The week of family pictures.

Right, you can't be sick, the clothes have to match, find the perfect
spot, better not be windy, the sun not rigid, and I'm like, you know,
saying, just that, because, you know, the women, thank God, the women
like to take pictures, because we have a record, and if it were up to
me, we'd probably have no pictures of anything, because I forget a lot.
And so, that's been a little challenging, so trying to err on the side
of grace on both things, I'm like, let's just go somewhere, take a few
pictures, and be done with it. It doesn't need to be a whole big
production.

But that's not how you do family pictures, correct? You guys know. So
pray for us. Oh, but I wanna forget this.

On the fiery darts, that's why the shield of faith is so important?
That's the way Christians defend those fiery darts, that shield was so
true. What is the shield of faith? We think it's our salvation, which is
true, but really, faith, the definition of faith is believing something
is true, or believing, like, jihadists, they have faith in what they are
doing, even though it's, you know, way, way, way off course. And so, for
a Christian, believing something is true, that shield is, Lord, I'm
trusting you, Lord, you got this, you'll fight my enemies, I wanna err
on the side of grace, have faith, God, that you will get me through
this, you'll defend me, maybe I can learn from this, and that faith
begins to guard those fiery darts.

Also taking those thoughts captive, and thinking, my mom used to drive
me crazy with this, but it's true. Shane, try to think the best in
others, because with what God has called me to do, I don't think, I'm
like a correctional officer preaching. I don't see the, it's black or
white, you know, the world's falling apart, California's sin, oh my
Lord, God, help us in preaching heaven hot, and hell, I'm sorry, hell
hot and heaven sweet, and preaching repentance, but at the same time,
believing the best in others, and erring on that side of grace, and
showing love, and it's a hard challenge, it's a hard balance to find,
but you can do it as long as you are filled with the Spirit.

That's another key. It's hard, do you ever leave here, and it's hard to
get angry? Or just me? I'm not, you could do whatever, you could run
into my truck, and I wouldn't be angry after church. But come Monday
afternoon, hmm, I'll never forget the day, it was about five years ago,
I went to visit somebody at the hospital, just got in my truck, a Dodge
truck, and the wind was blowing, and it went right into a fire hydrant.

I said, that is gonna be such and such as dent, I'm gonna just remember
them, buy it, and you know, just went with the flow, but it was that,
you know, you feel, you just, these things, these emotions come on you,
and taking those thoughts captive, and anger is also fueled by hurt.
Anybody ever get hurt out there? Everybody in this room has been hurt.
And when we're hurt, we get angry.

I'm not gonna email them anymore. I'm not gonna do that anymore. I'm
just going to ignore them.

I'm hurt and angry. And there might be a time to take a break, and not
fuel things. But if we're not careful, hurt will transmit into anger.

And the best thing mature believers can do is actually a couple things.
If you always go to the person when you're hurt, you're gonna be going
to a lot of people a lot. People say, Shane, just go.

No, sometimes you just gotta let it go, and just forgive, and move
forward, and not hold it on. But sometimes, if it's eating at you, and
it's hard to process, to go to the person, and say, this hurt me, and
here's why, you actually remove a lot of the power of the enemy. Because
you expose it.

Anybody come out better after talking about things, and working them
through? You come out better, stronger. The anger is subsided, because
you're able to talk and hear them. And so don't let that, because what
happens with hurt is the walls we build to protect us end up imprisoning
us.

And we become known as a person that has been hurt. Hurt deeply, and
hurt in many ways. And Christians can hurt.

Cheap bite. Don't they? Ah, big teeth. Big teeth.

And so it's good sometimes to go, and apologize, or talk it through. And
then, as you're taking your thoughts captive, talking about the hurt,
anger begins to subside. Because the problem with fiery darts in the
enemy is he will plant them, and he will fuel it for days, weeks,
months, even years.

There's family members hurt at each other from years ago. And that just
eats them up inside. And then also, here's a biggie.

Men mainly take note, anger is fueled by pride. Anger is fueled by
pride. And one verse that really pops out is 2 Chronicles 26.

I don't even know if we have it on the screen. I kind of threw it in a
little bit later. 2 Chronicles 26, oh, we do.

Uzziah was a king. Here's what's interesting. He did what was right in
the eyes of the Lord.

Oh, I love that. But then you keep reading. I don't know what's wrong
with these guys.

I've had notes in my Bible, what's wrong with this guy? Like, just
cleans out the temple. Does right, and I think a lot of it has to do
with they weren't filled with the spirit of God, really. Sometimes they
were, sometimes they weren't.

It's a whole different concept. But he did right in the eyes of the
Lord, but when he was strong and his heart was lifted up. That's why I'm
so glad I tell Pastor Abrams sometimes that God really humbles us when
we're preaching.

Because sometimes you don't feel it. Sometimes it stinks. Sometimes, you
know, people humble you and critique you.

But it keeps you from being lifted up. Because there's a, now that's not
permission to come and critique. I'm just saying that God will keep his
people humble.

But when he was strong, meaning he'd accomplished a lot. He was
financially successful. He was doing things for God.

He was actually, he did a lot of things for God. And so he was strong,
his heart was lifted up. And now he said, guess what I'm gonna do? I'm
gonna boldly enter the temple and I'm gonna do what only the priests do.

He began to burn the incense and he angrily, angrily, Bible says he was
very angry. He confronted the priest and he became furious when he was
denied. Did that ever happen to you? That little voice rises up inside
of us.

It says, you don't say it just yet, but you're thinking it. Don't you
know who I am? Whether I'm your dad or I'm this position or this
administrator or this technician or this pastor or this preacher or this
leader. Don't you know who I am? And that's what he was no doubt
thinking.

He became furious when he was denied. So be encouraged when you're
denied some things. I often tell people whether it's trying out for the
worship team or this, we're like, maybe not right now.

Here's some areas we want you to focus on. What they do with that is
pivotal in their success. Absolutely life-changing what they do with
that.

Is it this? Well, fine, I'll find a church that likes my talents. Or
will they say, no problem, I'll submit to that, I'll work on it, and
then watch out, God will bless that. And we see that it is just this
need to, when we're denied something, and that's how we grow often.

God will deny something. And we learn from it, we say, okay, Lord, I
trust you. One example was, many of you know, I was all set to go speak
at a church in Torrance that has already canceled me twice now.

So three days prior, I get the call that it's not good timing, lots of
things going on. My daughter's looking forward to it, they've already
found a place we're gonna go eat, make a date out of it. I'm ready,
Pastor Abram's gonna speak.

And to tell you, I wasn't a little bit irritated, would not be honest.
Two times? Come on, guys. And so, but just, okay, Lord, I give it to
you.

And then that same time, Rob McCoy asked me if I would speak at his
church. God Speak, in Thousand Oaks, the end of November. And so God
will open doors that no man can shut.

And I don't like that to just speak, I like it to go and bring that
sense of revival to different audiences and different people, to get the
message out there. And then denied in other areas. You go into the city,
for example, and they deny you, you can't build that.

I've been there, stuff we wanna do at this church, you can't do that.
You're limited on parking, and you're denied. And so, do you become
furious? Because that's pride.

Now listen, it's okay when it happens, notice it and say, take your
thoughts captive. Say, Lord, I'm just gonna submit to that. I'm gonna
submit, and I'm just going to, Lord, let you.

Because here's my thought, if God wants to do something in your life, no
man can stop that. And so often at the church, when we tell somebody,
hey, no, not right now, let's give it some time. What do they do with
that? No, do we not see them for a month? Do they get disgruntled, or do
they grow from it? Say, no problem, I respect that.

God's gonna open the door when it's his time. You cannot shut a door
that God wants to open. I've told you that story many times before.

There's a few churches, or one church in particular, I applied to it
when they need a pastor. And they said, we're not even gonna look at
your application, you didn't go to seminary. Bye-bye.

And so you kind of leave there like, oh, okay. Well, God, they're not
gonna tell me if I should speak. They're not gonna tell me what I should
do.

Because you're calling me if you're gonna call me. And I remember some
of the men at the men's ministry would tell even the pastor, like 15
years ago, when I spoke at men's ministry, you gotta let this guy speak.
The men are challenged, and he said, that's a pipe dream.

Shane Eidelman will never speak here. And now our church probably has as
many people as they do, and a lot of those people left that church and
have come here. And see, what do you do with that denying? Because God
will often use that to test you, and to break you, and to humble you.

So you can now be a vessel that he can use. And don't say in your heart,
oh, Shane must have perfected this. No, I'm preaching to myself
throughout this whole sermon.

Things make me angry every single day that I have to take those thoughts
captive. One thing, I'll go to the mall, and I'll park as far as I can,
and I'll come out, and there's a car right next to me. I can't even, I
can barely even open my door.

I'm like, really? You, nobody else thinks that way? Gene, I know you do.
I'd seen your car parked way out there, too. Told you this was gonna be
a different sermon.

So are you angry when challenged? Are you set in your ways? Set in your
ways is great for concrete, but bad for a human heart. I'm set in my
ways. Well, as a Christian, you better be pretty flexible.

You better be pliable and usable. James 119 through 20 from the ESV.
Know this, my beloved brothers.

Let every person be quick to talk, slow to listen. That doesn't even
sound right. Quick to hear, which means stop, just stop and listen.

Don't prepare what you're going to say as they're talking. Slow to
speak, and slow to anger. For the anger of man does not produce the
righteousness of God.

In other words, you won't be in God's will with anger. You won't
accomplish his purposes with anger. And what really stood out to me was
quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger.

So does that mean I can be slow to anger? So your excuse of I'm just
hot-tempered, I'm Irish, isn't gonna fly. You can be slow to anger. It's
the mastering of the human heart led by the Holy Spirit.

Fill with the Holy Spirit. One of the fruit of, I don't say fruits,
because it's the love, joy, peace, contentment. One of the last points
is self-control, controlling self, bringing the anger under submission.

And if people ever tell you, you're not a good listener, this applies to
you. My kids tell me that sometimes. They'll be like, I already know
where you're going with this.

I already have an answer. And you're not a good listener, Dad. Okay,
well, I need to listen, right, to hear them out.

90% of friction is caused by the wrong tone of voice. I don't know the
exact number's true, but I think that's true. Something I've been
telling all of our staff and all of our leaders, I think we have 100
now, volunteers and leaders and people helping with the church.

If we have quarterly meetings or different things, it's not what you
say, it's how you say it. It's not what you say, it's how you say it.
Back when I was with 24 Hour Fitness, we were really taught on this big
time with Stephen Covey, Zig Ziglar, all those motivational guys.

And my goal was to have people thank me after I fired them, because you
listened. And you talked, you know, I'd love to help you, but your
production is so low, and you can't really do that with the opposite sex
in the spa area, and we just, you know, but I wanna help, and I'll go,
oh, I understand, I thank you so much, and give me a hug. They're
crying, and they're happy that I fired them, but it's not what you say,
it's how you say it.

Now, I've made many mistakes in that area, too. Continue to do that, but
keep that in mind. It's the tone of voice, and often, is it an angry
tone? That's where that word snippy comes from.

And I'll call people out sometimes. Why are you being snippy? Why do you
have that tone? Do you really think that's gonna accomplish anything?
And then anger is fueled by changes. Well, before I fill this in, I
don't even know if it's up there.

Any type A personalities out there? Be honest. Nope, there's a lot more
than that, and I see some of you are not raising your hands. Front row?
You're not type A. Kerry? No, okay.

I can go through this. I can go through, I can pick Tim for sure, right?
Okay, Brian, okay. I know who you are.

I'm learning, too, this sermon. Maybe some of you aren't. But anger, and
here's my big struggle, is fueled by changes to my agenda.

How often do we get upset when things do not work out? I've got it laid
out. I actually have today laid out. I don't know if you knew that or
not.

What time me and my daughter are leaving in the morning, 5.30, we're
getting here, this is gonna happen, then we're followed by this, and
then this, and later today, I'm gonna try, and then we've got it laid
out. This is my agenda, and it never goes completely like I like it to
go, and so what happens? Irritation, anger, and so one key, really, to
overcoming anger is going with the flow. Lord, you're sovereign, and if
you want to change my plans according to your sovereign plans, I can't
tell you how many times he's disrupted my plans, and I run into somebody
who needed help, whether it's a flat tire, whether it's at the store,
whether it's walking on the aqueduct, I didn't get in early enough, I
need to get up there now, and now there's people, I prayed with people
up there, and so God, you have to be pliable, and it's hard for the
leader type, gotta get this done, doing this, and so anger is fueled,
often, by when things change on our agenda.

Ephesians 4.27, be angry and do not sin, do not let the sun go down on
your anger. I'm gonna read the last half in a minute, but this is so
important. To me, it's saying, there's anger, you deal with it, don't
keep festering on it, did anybody go to bed angry? That's hard to sleep,
because your mind is working overtime, and resting in that, and just
trusting God, and Lord, I'm gonna deal with it, and then give no
opportunity to the devil.

That actually goes together. When we do let the anger continue, we are
giving the devil opportunity to do what? To plant fiery darts in our
minds, and to fuel anger. What has really helped us, Philippians 4, be
content in all things, be content in all things.

Now, this one, I went back and forth on, but I think it's important. Did
you know that, many of you do know, but it's a good reminder, there are
physical causes of anger. There are also physical causes of anger, from
hormone levels, to dieting, to fasting, to drugs.

These things, can anybody happy the first day or two of fasting? I tell
my, I can't fast half the time, because of my, oh, ah, mood swings. So,
there are physical things as well, being prepared for that, and I read
some of the fasting experts, you know, say, make sure when you fast,
it's in a nice, calm environment, and I say, I'm never gonna fast then.
I am never gonna fast then.

But, progesterone imbalances, low testosterone, low estrogen, excessive
cortisol, you know, all these things we hear about, can really lead to
anger. Really, you really fuel that inside of you, and there is a
connection between food and mood. And I like this part, because so many
people say, I'm so glad you talk about this, because nobody else does.

Nobody else goes into the physical aspects of our body, and God created
us, it's not priority, but it sure is important, because this is how I
minister. So, if I'm drinking 400 milligrams of Christian crack every
day, from Starbucks, I'm gonna be irritable, and I'm gonna be angry a
lot, and I'm gonna be snapping at people, and I'm gonna be, that's what
caffeine does, it's a drug, I'm sorry to burst your bubble, I'm just
being, speaking, so, if a person struggles with anger, I would start
there, and then be prepared for hell, for a week. I saw a guy, early in
the morning, I don't know, I was getting gas, I was finding the one,
he's got three big monster drinks.

Like, is that for, he goes, yeah, I drink one every three hours, I'm
like, oh, Lord, help him. But, because we're talking about fasting this
month, this is actually from PubMed.gov, from a medical industry, the
positive effects of complete water fasting played a role in the
reduction of oxidative stress, body weight, and blood pressure. And it
talks about how taking care of our physical body can actually really
help you in this area of anger.

What about hyperactive kids? Some of them do need some, there are
natural supplements that can really help those with ADD and
hyperactivity, but I think a lot of that connection is also in their
dieting, in their diets as well. That sugar, man, you turn a little kid
into a bunny rabbit to a monster with a little bit of sugar. They just
get so, their little bodies are so high strung.

And I just ran into a lady, got a lot of personal stories, she had a
dozen donuts, right? I'm like, oh, your staff is gonna be happy. She
goes, oh, this is for my kids. I'm like, whoa, those little things are
gonna be bouncing off the wall.

And so my point is, look at these things, take them to the Lord. Angry
people are four to seven times more likely to die. I think, I'm pretty
sure that played a pretty big role in my dad's early passing.

He only died two years older than I am right now. Nicotine, caffeine,
just, man, always angry. That's how you got things done.

Give me that shove, I'll finish, and angry and angry and angry and
angry. Because it can really lead to electronic or electrical
instability in the heart, one thing, but also these things produce
certain hormones. Anger produces, can produce adrenaline and cortisol
because they can be good.

Here comes a lion at me, and I need to get angry and fight, and so here
comes this rush of cortisol, rush of adrenaline, and so, got me through
it. But if you're constantly filled with what they consider toxic
hormones, it will lead to inflammation, early death, because you
shouldn't be consuming all, and your body just filled all the time.
That's where inflammation can come, from chronic inflammation and heart
disease and different things, there's always cortisol, always
adrenaline, always these toxic, toxic hormones.

It can be good in the right context. And again, back to food and even
mentioning, I know it's convicting, but I have to tell you the truth.
With high levels of, let's say, coffee, what does coffee do? It produces
cortisol.

So if you're getting to get up in the morning, it just, Brad just sang
that song, Remove the Idols. I don't know if you, clear the stage, just
remove the pew in the crowd if there's few, and bring revival. Idols,
anything that comes before you and God, and how many of us have to have
something before our study time? God, I'll get to you after I make my
pot of.

And you realize, okay, there's an addiction here. Now, I know I'm
camping out there for a while, but that, I'm just telling you, that
affects anger. Now, one out of 10 people come and say, but it doesn't
affect me that much.

Well, bless your heart, bless your heart. But most people, it does. You
get irritable, you get anxious, and I believe that's the connection with
a lot of the road rage that's happening, and we're high-strung, and
we're always upset, and that's what it does.

It's a fight-or-flight drug. It's a central nervous stimulant. So you're
being stimulated.

So if you struggle with anger, wean off. Wean off, because it will
affect you. Okay, I'm getting off that topic.

Anybody say praise God? Praise God. All right, good. But you can't say I
didn't try to help.

I'm well aware not everyone follows the advice I give on the physical
aspects, but at least you have the knowledge. So verse six, so the Lord
said to Cain, why are you angry, and why has your countenance fallen? In
other words, his faith, he could tell he was angry. If you do well, will
you not be accepted? And if you do not well, sin lies at the door, and
its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.

And this is why self-examination is critical. Why are you angry? So do
that. Ask yourself, why am I angry? Why am I angry? Because what that
leads to is repentance, hopefully.

Because most people who are angry, that wanna be angry, don't wanna
change, they don't ask. They don't say, why am I angry? Lord, help me.
What's going on here? What's going on in my heart? Why am I so mad?
Lord, is this jealousy? Is my schedule being changed? God, help me with
this anger.

Take it from me. God, I don't wanna deal with this from here on out. And
self-reflection, self-examination is critical because that's where
repentance follows.

But it's the person who says, I'm not angry. I'm not angry. You're all
right.

I'm not angry. No. Here's my favorite excuse.

I'm just passionate. Give me a break. If you do right, he said.

If you do right, so did he not obey God? Did he bring the wrong type of
sacrifice? But I will tell you this, another way to just kill anger
completely is start serving. Start serving. One of the hardest things
for me to ever do was go to the hospital homes that we used to go to
before COVID.

And you go and visit the patients. You're like, okay, gotta do this. And
as soon as you walk in and begin ministering, you just break.

You're just so humble to be there, so happy to help. And if you went
there angry, you left there encouraged. And so stepping out and serving.

Because when we don't, we don't do anything. We just come and be fed. It
leads to often anger because I'm designed to go do something, but I'm
not.

I'm just gonna be fed. I'm just gonna, it's all about me. And I can
become very angry.

He said something interesting as well. It's desire or it's urge is for
you. So there's something within us that is opposed to God.

And there is a desire and an urge within us that wants to fight against
God. Here's a commentary. I believe it's from one of the Bibles.

It's not a literal translation. It's more of a commentary, I would call
it. Sin is crouching at the door.

So sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you, but you must
subdue it and it must be mastered by you. Now, this is an interesting
concept because rule over it, this is why many Jewish scholars, and
again, I read the Jewish scholars, and if you even look at a lot of
early church fathers, like Tertullian and Justin Martyr, Polycarp, and
early church fathers, except for maybe Augustine, that's where this
whole concept of free will comes from. And that's why Jewish historians,
many even conservative pastors and theologians, they still believe that
there is a free will.

It doesn't mean man is good. It doesn't mean man is bent towards just
doing good and he's not really evil. What it is, though, it's this
desire or it's this understanding that God says you rule over it, you
control it, and I believe that is true because you don't see too many
rapes occur outside of a police house, police office.

People can control, to some degree, their emotions. But when it takes
off and it's anger and they don't know what to do and it's hard to
control that, and that's why people say, I just can't control myself.
The problem with that is it makes you a victim instead of responsible.

So as believers, the Bible, I believe, teaches you can control yourself.
Even to unbelievers, to some degree, there is a restraining aspect. You
can restrain yourself.

Now, there's demonic opposition. Maybe somebody has demonic bondage.
Maybe somebody snaps.

There's a lot of things that could happen, and I believe that's what
happened with that story that's been breaking on that girl who was
killed somewhere in that camping area and then they found the guy's body
in Florida that they've been looking for. My thought is when it comes
out, he snapped and then he realized he was gonna be in trouble and he
took his own life. And that's what anger does, one letter away from
danger and taking that into control.

And I guarantee guys like that that are probably abusive and
controlling, see, there's a consistent thing here. I don't wanna speak
out without having a lot of information but that is common among those
kind of guys who do type, who have their spousal abuse and the picture
is that they are controlling and domineering and you can't do certain
things. You can't get outside of my box and my agenda.

I'm controlling this and they get very angry when people break those
boundaries of control. And so those type of men need to find themselves
on the altar. They need to be completely broken by God because he does
not call us to control.

Leading is not controlling. And then the scriptures go on to talk about
the highlights. I think we have the highlights there.

They're in the field and what happened? Cain rose up against Abel and
killed him. His blood cried from the ground and Cain was banished from
the garden. It's interesting, this word blood can mean bloods and some
Jewish scholars even would interpret this to say generations were
affected.

Generations were affected because of the death of Abel. Think about it,
the whole generation wiped out and I hope we're not doing that to our
families and hurting our families. And on this point, the question comes
up, why was there no death penalty? He killed his brother.

Well, a couple thoughts, either it wasn't instituted yet, God hasn't
said an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, or it would be what they
consider a crime of passion. And you know, in the legal system, a crime
of passion or something that's not premeditated. Premeditated murder
carries a heavier weight because it was planned and premeditated versus
just a crime of passion.

And God may have dealt with him differently on that area, but he was
banished, he was removed from this area. And then verse 25, Adam knew
his wife again and she bore a son and named him Seth, for God has
appointed another seed for me instead of Abel, who Cain has killed. And
then this is interesting.

I think we have it in verse 26, you see the end of it? Then men began to
call on the name of the Lord. So God is saying this is finally, finally,
after 130 years, men finally begin to cry out, call upon the name of the
Lord. In Exodus, they cried out for help because of their bondage.

Moses cried out to the Lord. He said, these people are going to kill me,
and he cried out. Samuel said, I cry out to the Lord on behalf of the
people.

Judas said, we are surrounded by armies, so I cry out to the Lord. From
the Psalms, it says, from the earth, I call to you and my heart is
faint. Lead me to the rock that is higher than I. Josiah said, because,
God said, because your heart was tender, you wept and you cried out to
me, I have heard you.

Could it be the secret to our success here in America that we are
praying for and we are waiting on? Could it be that we're not waiting on
God, but that he is waiting on us to cry out to God and say, Lord, you
are my all-consuming passion. I will get to this altar. I will come
every night next week.

I will come early. I want desire like a deer that pants after the
brooks. My heart pants after you.

God, we're crying out to you. He hears the cries of his children.
Listen, folks, sitting in church is not gonna bring revival.

Listening to the word of God is not gonna bring revival. Having some
songs with our hands held like this, bored, is not gonna bring revival.
We've gotta cry out to God again.

And the irony is those who don't know God, you need to cry out to the
Lord as well. All who call upon the name of the Lord, the Lord shall be
saved. All you have to do is say, God, I can't pray.

I can't please you, but God, I cry out. Would you save me? Would you
save me? And that's why I'm not real concerned on the eloquence of
someone's prayer. Or they say everything just right.

Do they say the sinner's prayer and check this off and check this off?
The key is, did you repent of your sin? Confess Christ as Lord and
Savior and cry out to God. Do you know that people get saved without
even speaking sometimes? Wait a minute, Shane, what are you talking?
They get to the altar and they're weeping and they're weeping and God is
breaking them. The Holy Spirit is convicting them and they're crying out
to God.

God, take my sin, take my guilt, take my shame. And the tears begin to
flood their hearts and God begins to save them and redeem them and says,
that's a cry of my child. I can hear that cry.

That's a cry I will answer. I will never leave you. I will never let you
go, forsake you.

If you seek me, you will find me. That's a tear. The cry I always hear,
God says, is the cry of the person crying out to God.

But we're gonna open up the altar and it's a time of reflection. It's a
time of, the Bible will talk about present your bodies as living
sacrifices, holy unto God and laying our lives on the altar and be not
conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
So to me, it's a step of submission.

God really dealt with me many, many years ago. I was at a speaking
event. I'll never forget that day.

And I'm in the back back there. I like the back, my wife likes the
front. I don't know.

And there's an altar call and the Lord's just, I'm like, I'm not going
up there, I'm speaking next. That's embarrassing. Lord, these guys are
gonna think I got it all together.

I'm the speaker. Go to the altar. And the pressure was just so great.

Have you ever felt, it's almost like somebody's pushing me. You know,
it's like, and I came to that altar and oh, if I could repeat that day.
The tears, the power, the anointing of God was so strong because of that
step of obedience.

See, it's not in and of itself the altar, it's a step of humility. And
there's 300 guys there. There's a rock church in San Diego up in the
mountains.

And after I gave this call to the altar, 150 of the guys came forward.
And we were there for another hour and a half praying with people.
Addictions being broken, felons coming back to the Lord.

It was amazing. But I think it started with that initial step. But what
was preventing me? There we go.

I'm the speaker. I'm not going to the altar. What are these guys gonna
think? You've got to get to a spot where you do say, I don't care what
people think, what does God think? Because that's how we're gonna get
through these dire times.

What does God think? Let me also encourage you, tell King's stomach to
shut up for a while. If anyone's hungry, let me tell you, three sermons,
an hour long since 5.30, six this morning, I'm hungry. But I'm more
hungry for God.

I'm more hungry to hear, God, we've got to hear from you. Anybody want
to intercede for their children? Your children are gonna grow up in this
type of environment, in this nation, where all kinds of filth and
perversion is being pushed down, slammed down their throats, and we're
gonna sit by idly and not pull down heaven? I don't think so. I don't
think so.

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Video: https://sermonindex2.b-cdn.net/bp14L5_zRy8.mp4
Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/shane-idleman/anger-one-letter-away-from-danger-bp14L5/
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