Ecc 7:9 (NKJV) Do not hasten in your spirit to be angry, For anger rests in the bosom of fools.

Transcription

1 Anger Part 1 Heavenly Father, thank you very much for this time to get together and study your word, to show us how to deal with the trials you're sending us. We re very grateful you give us instruction. You don't just leave us to wander around in the dark. But you lead us out in the light and know how to properly handle all the things you put in our path. We know they are for our good. We just pray for the patience and ability to accept that and see the benefits in all the things you're doing, In Jesus Christ s Name. Amen Welcome everybody. We are back in our Sunday night study here. And I seem to have stumbled into a series inadvertently on the different emotions that are described in the Scriptures. The one we re going to be doing today is Anger. What I find as a pattern, is that anytime the Lord's going to have you teach something, He's going to put you through it, right? He never fails, no matter what happens, before a study and as soon as the Lord puts it in my mind, it seems like life circumstances kind of surrounds me in that study s regard. It s GOD that gets you well prepared to understand the different aspects of the topic leading up to the study. James suggested a couple weeks ago, while I was doing the last study. He said; You know, you should do a study on anger. Next day, okay in the back of my head, I thought about it, but not too seriously. So last weekend, I had to fly down and deliver an aircraft for my dad and go with him. I left out on very short notice and came back Sunday night. I flew back on the airliner, got back into Dallas pretty late Sunday night and then I guess it was Sunday night or Monday morning when I realized that I had left my laptop in the back seat of the airline. My entire business runs off my laptop and so that was a pretty big deal to lose the laptop. The airline was simply unhelpful and wasn't able to find it. The location services also didn't work. So, you know; no laptop. Monday night I had a midterm exam, so I had to drive down to school to go to the midterm. I was so busy during the day that I didn't really get to have dinner. So now I'm hungry too with no laptop, thinking, I ll have to have my laptop going into this midterm. So, taking the midterm exam was 10 times harder, even harder than expected. It s was ridiculously difficult like an open book test. Since I don't have my computer to look up my work, and I'm hungry too, my flesh became very angry. I was frustrated, didn t want to be there and didn t have my right stuff. These are some small trials in the grand scheme of things, but still you know, anger is anger. Then, there s also getting through the rest of the week. When Saturday came, I go to pick up Martha from the hospital and I'm headed over to a gas station to put some gas in the car. I realize my taillight s out, so I go to change the light-bulb and end up gashing my left hand open and then bleeding all over the place. I can t pick up Martha, so Karla goes and does it. My hand is bleeding and I go over to the pharmacy, and then to replace

2 the taillight. As I am going to get the taillight bulb from the parts store, I leave my phone in the car. The car s unlocked only like five minutes. I come back and my phone is gone. Someone s stolen my phone! So in the course of about five days; I leave my laptop, my phone is stolen, my hand s cut open and I can't even use my left hand. So needless to say, I am angry, even though we know in the grand scheme of things, it s a small trial. These are very frustrating and annoying things that The LORD does, He does it, all of it. This is for each of us each in our own way. Sometimes they're really big huge trials that really push you to your wits end. Sometimes there just these annoyances like I got this last week. Anyway going through this was what made all these verses become relevant and just helped bring to mind, all the times that in my walk, I deal with anger and frustration. The first verse is James 1:19 and 1:20, it says: Jas 1:19 (NKJV) So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath (G3709);[ the word wrath is the same word is anger] Jas 1:20 (NKJV) for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God. One of the themes I was talking about, is that; If the Scripture tells you not to do something, you are going to do it, right? So why does it say, be slow to wrath, because you're not. Actually we ve been very quick to wrath. You're naturally going to lose your temper, want to throw things and throw a fit, curse and complain. Look at what a little child does. Little kids throw temper tantrums. We, as adults, have the same flesh as little kids. Inside we want to throw our temper tantrums. We don't want to be slow to hear; we don't want to be slow to speak and especially don't want to be slow to hear what God has to say about the trial HE is putting us through. We re just mad that he took our stuff and hurt our flesh; we re not getting what we want, when we want it, how we want it and we just don't like it. In Ecclesiastes 7:9 it says; Ecc 7:9 (NKJV) Do not hasten in your spirit to be angry, For anger rests in the bosom of fools. Now we re going to see in the study; there's definitely a positive and a negative application to anger in the Scriptures. Here's the negative one; When we re fools, we do not know God's Word. Then we are not listening to what he says about the trial. We re just mad, mad the big hurry, right?

3 We are going to see, as we go through these verses, there is a time to be angry, but we should be slow to get there and have godly justifiable reasons for it. Then we should righteously handle our anger in a profitable way for the situation at hand. But when you feel that instant welling up of anger in you, that's usually not good, right? So best to check it and say; Hold on here, let me think through this, before I go acting on this foolish hasty anger. Proverbs 19:11 Pro 19:11 (NKJV) The discretion (G7922) of a man makes him slow to anger, And his glory is to overlook a transgression. This word for discretion here is the same word as understanding. It is tied to the idea of wisdom, so a man of wisdom has great understanding. He s going to be slow to become angry. He's going to stop and consider what God has to say about this? What are the details of the situation? Why is this happening? Who's doing it? Then they're really thinking it through what's going on and not just being ruled over by how they feel in the moment. Emotions are very deceptive. Oftentimes what we re angry about is someone else has wronged us or there is a transgression done against us. So the scriptures say there's a time to just overlook it, just let it go. Is this a brother in the faith? And should I go to them alone? And is there some discipline needed here in this process? Is this someone outside the body? Should I just leave them alone? Am just casting pearls before swine? You know, every little thing that happens doesn't necessarily need to be addressed. If you can tell someone they did it, they may already feel bad about it. You realize; they are on their own going to figure this out. So I don t have to go have a temper tantrum on them to learn this lesson. Just take the time to consider what to do with this anger. Before you just run around and act on it. Pro 13:15 (NKJV) Good understanding (G7922) gains favor, But the way of the unfaithful is hard. Pro 16:22 (NKJV) Understanding (G7922) is a wellspring of life to him who has it. But the correction of fools is folly. So when you have wisdom, your anger is under control, which necessitates patience, because you have to endure the emotion of anger. It is not a pleasant emotion; it takes effort to subdue that and figure out how you should properly handle it. That is a wellspring of life to him who has it; you're going to save yourself and those around you a lot of undue suffering, if you can properly manage this. But the correction of fools is folly. If you try to tell a fool he is angry and he shouldn t be angry, He gets angrier, right?

4 So be very careful and discerning in whom you correct and when. And say you know what maybe I should just overlook this transgression and let them cool down. Because when you're caught in anger, you're not in control, an evil spirit has possessed you, and you re out of control. If no one is going to stop you, just walk away Proverbs 14:29 Pro 14:29 (NKJV) He who is slow to wrath has great understanding, But he who is impulsive exalts folly. If you want to look, even in the physical; people that are successful, wealthy, well-to-do, not all of them, but a lot of them are not impulsive. I ve always been impressed when I would listen to, especially lawyers, speak and handle different situations. Even though carnal men, I could just see, the Lord gave them a measure of; Let's not respond right away., Let's think about this., Let's calculate how to handle whatever this person said or did. And I grew up with a father who wasn't necessarily teaching the Bible. But he was, in a lot of ways, slow to anger. I would see him walk away from situations and calculate how to handle them. He was very successful and it helped to definitely bless him in business to have that type of the demeanor, to not be impulsive, or need to react in the moment. Pro 15:18 (ESV) A hot-tempered man stirs up strife, but he who is slow to anger quiets contention. Some people that are promoted inside of businesses in the world, usually are not hot tempered. It's usually that you pick out the coolest headed, most reasonable person of the bunch and you say; You're in charge. Because when all the cats start to fight, the kids are throwing a fit, you need someone to come with the cool heads. Someone who says: Ok, you guys, you go home for the day, you calm down, you sit over here, you talk about this later, that s what a good manager does. We, as God's people, are going to be the managers of all of mankind in the lake of fire, if we make it to the end. The Lord is not going to have hot tempered, quickly angered, people ruling. HE will have coolheaded, patient, calm thinking, self-controlled people. Who can deal with insults, attacks, aggressions, threats, all these things and have a cool head and say; This is how we are going to handle this.

5 This is one my favorite verses which is so beneficial: Pro 15:1 (ESV) A soft [gentle] answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. The most natural reaction is to reward evil for evil. When someone comes to you and says something mean or does some bad to you; our natural responses to come back with a sharp; Who do you think you are? or an insult or a yelling or something. But oftentimes the most beneficial response is a cool head and calm answer. It's not to make the situation worse, usually to get it going to calm down and you can let that person settle, by letting them come back into their self-control. Then you can deal with it. I quoted this verse to myself a lot of times and I quote it to others a lot in dealing with difficult very frustrating situations, where there are justifiable reasons to be angry. There are lots of reasons every day to be angry about things that we should be angry about. Being angry is not a sin. It is how you deal with the anger and what you do with it, that s where the sin comes in. SEE Related: ihttp://tryingthespirits.com/ /patience-3/ Pro 21:24 (KJV) Proud and haughty scorner is his name, who dealeth in proud wrath. What this verse really showed me is that, wrath and pride are often times connected. When you have humility you realize that; I don't know everything., I m still living in a body of flesh., and I m subject to unrighteous anger. Let me stop and go consider myself first. Take the plank out of my own eye, before I run around spewing anger on everyone around me. When you don't have that [humble] attitude: then you're proud, knowing nothing. You don't take account of yourself first. For when someone just does something to you, you judge them quickly and you re mad right away. So that s not to say that there is a justifiable reason to be angry and go back and express that anger, but go check yourself first, to make sure you're not doing it and just reckless self-control, that it's a godly anger grounded in the Scriptures. Then that correction you deliver will be done in a righteous way that the person can hear. When you do it without self-control, no one can hear you. You offend them so badly, it stirs up their anger. They don t hear anything, right? Then they are just madder at you for yelling at them, right?

6 Unrighteous Anger I did a study a while back called Words Fitly Spoken and there is a time for a sharp rebuke and you can go to the Scriptures and see that sometimes Christ did respond to the Pharisees immediately with a sharp word. There's a time for everything. I don't want you to hear this study and think that the response to every single situation is nice calm soft words. Sometimes the right response is a sharp rebuke. That is the only way to stop the mouths of those that are spewing utter foolishness or heresy. As you study the scriptures, you can consider this to get wise counsel; we will all begin to learn what the right time for what is. Some things need to be dealt with immediately or it's going to get a lot worse. Some things could be its best just leave and walk away. Here are some examples in the scripture that talk about unrighteous anger. There is a kind of anger we re supposed to get rid of: Eph 4:31 (NKJV) Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. Eph 4:32 (NKJV) And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you. This is the negative kind of anger we re supposed to get rid of. Unjustified anger, Self-righteous anger, Prideful anger. That is not the godly anger; godly anger just hates evil, which is a good thing to do. This is the other kind: Col 3:8 (NKJV) But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. The scriptures paint an impossibly narrow way and to the carnal mind this sounds contradictory. How can you put away anger and then be angry and hate evil, right? It s back to that, it is a two edged sword, which is light on one side and dark on another. We have to be given to discern this. This is a great example, really our first big example of anger in the Scriptures. It is in Genesis between Cain and Abel. Gen 4:3 (NKJV) And in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the LORD.

7 Gen 4:4 (NKJV) Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And the LORD respected Abel and his offering, Gen 4:5 (NKJV) but He did not respect Cain and his offering. And Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell. Gen 4:6 (NKJV) So the LORD said to Cain, "Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? Gen 4:7 (NKJV) If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it." Gen 4:8 (NKJV) Now Cain talked with Abel his brother; and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him. Was Cain's anger justified anger? No, he WAS ENVIOUS. He didn't like that his brother was doing well and he wasn't doing well. God speaking through Christ here points that out to him, saying; Look the plank is in your eye Cain, you're mad because you didn't do what is right., I didn't accept your offering. But what did Cain do? He goes and takes it out on his righteous brother, who did what he was supposed to do. We re all the same way. Our first reaction that s in our flesh when we do something wrong is to try to blame someone else. You did it., It's your fault., You're the reason I'm angry. NO, the reason we re angry is our flesh and that we don't respond to situations in a godly manner at first. Just realize we re all going to live by these words. Be careful to search ourselves for the spirit of Cain, before we go over and kill our brother. Remember what Christ says; to be angry at your brother to say rocka, to hate your brother is to kill your brother. That is murder spiritually speaking; hating your brother is murder. We think: I've never been Cain, never killed anyone. Oh we ve been angry with people. I ve been angry with people. You are having anger at people you hated, people that did things that were not wrong but at the moment you don't realize it. You just, in your selfrighteous judgment, just jump all over them. You don't take the time to sit down and know the Lord blinds you. You just can't see, because He just doesn't allow you to see. It is not your free will that made you do it, you just couldn't see it. Exo 10:27 (NKJV) But the LORD hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he would not let them go. Exo 10:28 (NKJV) Then Pharaoh said to him, "Get away from me! Take heed to yourself and see my face no more! For in the day you see my face you shall die!" Pharaoh s mad, right? This is when the Israelites are being led out of Egypt by Moses. We re going through the process of the plagues and God keeps doing this thing, where Pharaoh says, Okay, I will let you go. Then GOD hardens his heart where he says, Ok, I don t want to let them go.

8 So we in our flesh are Pharaoh and we want to do the right thing, we want to obey God's commands, but then he hardens our heart and then we don't want to do it. And we re like that, we re double minded. We re going to go back and forth. Just recognize; we have no free will, no one else has any free will, God is working all these things. When someone is speaking anger to you, realize the LORD has hardened their heart and the Lord has to soften their heart, before they're going to come out of it. Our first response should be prayer and acknowledging of GOD S sovereignty, before we just say, Why are you doing this?, What's wrong with you?, Why do you think that way? You know why; the Lord s given those strong delusions. Here's another example in the book of Daniel: Dan 3:12 (NKJV) There are certain Jews whom you have set over the affairs of the province of Babylon: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego; these men, O king, have not paid due regard to you. They do not serve your gods or worship the gold image which you have set up." So Nebuchadnezzar put out this decree and basically said: You're to bow down and worship my image I've made. Or go into the fiery furnace. God gave these three men to be faithful and not want to do it. Dan 3:13 (NKJV) Then Nebuchadnezzar, in rage and fury, gave the command to bring Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego. So they brought these men before the king. Dan 3:14 (NKJV) Nebuchadnezzar spoke, saying to them, "Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the gold image which I have set up? Dan 3:15 (NKJV) Now if you are ready at the time you hear the sound of the horn, flute, harp, lyre, and psaltery, in symphony with all kinds of music, and you fall down and worship the image which I have made, good! But if you do not worship, you shall be cast immediately into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. And who is the god who will deliver you from my hands?" Dan 3:16 (NKJV) Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego answered and said to the king, "O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. Dan 3:17 (NKJV) If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. Dan 3:18 (NKJV) But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up." That is exactly how we should respond when we re persecuted for righteousness. That you say, Christ had the same thing happen. When Pilot said, Don t you know I have the power to crucify you? He [Jesus] says, You have no power, but that which was given to you from above. He knew who was in control and He knew what the Lord was

9 going to do. So we should have this attitude of whatever the cost is we re not going to bow down and worship the image, because we have a more enduring possession in heaven. If we don't have that faith that there is something better to come, we re always going to cave in the short term, to get whatever is pleasing to the flesh because this is not pleasant. All of us can tell our stories of how we deal with this but it could cost us our jobs, friends, family, could cost us our life one day. We don't know when it'll come to that but it may, as the world waxes worse and worse, we should in our minds be counting the cost. Knowing now nothing is worth bowing down to the image and losing our birthright for some temporary relief. Who we really should be fearful of is falling into the hands of the living God. That something to fear is not physical man. So an idea that is very closely connected to anger is frustration and we see the word in the Bible a couple times in the Scriptures. Frustration: (H6565) to break, frustrate (Hiphil) to break, violate to frustrate, make ineffectual (Hophal) to be frustrated to be broken to break (Pilpel) to break to bits, shatter The word also means to break, to be broken, to be shattered to bits. It's really the idea that you have a plan or something you want to do and God's like: That's nice; we re not going to do it that way. I call it: stomping on my sandcastles I build these little sandcastles, am proud of my little sandcastles, my sandcastle, that's what I want. God s like; No He just comes and washes it away. Who am I to say? He s GOD, right He can do what He wants. Job 5:12 (NKJV) He frustrates (H6565) the devices of the crafty, So that their hands cannot carry out their plans. All of us in our own way are crafty. We try to find ways to justify what we want to do. We Rationalize with God or This is good and sometimes He is just like; No we re just not doing that and we try every little way, we try to weasel around and figure it out, so He closes every door, stomps on every sandcastle, He frustrates every plan. Your tires

10 are going to go flat, your car is going to fall apart, you re going to lose your computer, your laptop and cut your hand open, and you re not doing what you want to do today and what do you do? You just say; The Lord is in control and you just take it. Pro 15:22 (KJV) Without counsel purposes are disappointed: but in the multitude of counsellors they are established. If we don't want to have crafty devices in our heavens, the way you get around having to deal with that is you get a multitude of counselors, because they are going to say; OK that is not a good plan, that is not what the scriptures say, that's not wise and then you can pursue a righteous godly direction that are not carefully crafted, cunning ways to just get what we want. Why does the Scripture say you need to get counsel, because we naturally do not want to get counsel. My flesh does not want to go to someone else, what it wants to do is what it wants and must do it right now and you can leave me alone right? And that is a spirit to be contended with. The smarter you are and the more you know, the more experience you get, the harder it is, because you think you know what you re doing, right? It's hard to go and say; Is this right thing?, and If it's not, the Lord take it from me. It s a big reason we don't go to counsel, we don't hear no. If what we re doing is right, godly and good, no amount of scrutiny is going to dissuade us from that course of action. And if it's wrong, it s going to get torn down anyway, so would you rather find out now before spending all his effort to build all this plan, have your sandcastle stomped on, right. So really it is our disobedience, our rebellious foolishness, and it's really stupid, but we still do it. Because flesh is just not naturally wise and I'm speaking from experience. The joke in our apartment is; We all are as dumb as a box of rocks. You know, and then we just do dumb stuff that just makes no sense. It's like, we sin against our own lives because we won t get counsel, and we won t be patient and won t keep our mouth shut. We just want what we want and we want it right now, right? And our own backsliding will correct us. The Lord will cause us to reap what we sow, our plans will fall apart and eventually we ll say; Since there is no other possible way, I can do it your way, God. And that's really how we get there. We do not get there willingly and I'm so excited about this, it is because He closes every door, puts the fishing hook in your mouth and drags you in the boat. Big fish don't want to be in boat they want to be in the ocean. Do you ever see a fish that voluntarily jumps in the boat? If they do by accident they want to get back out. Job 16:12 (NKJV) I was at ease, but He has shattered me; He also has taken me by my neck, and shaken me to pieces; He has set me up for His target, Job 16:13 (NKJV) His archers surround me. He pierces my heart and does not pity; He pours out my gall on the ground.

11 Job 16:14 (NKJV) He breaks me with wound upon wound; He runs at me like a warrior. Job 16:15 (NKJV) "I have sewn sackcloth over my skin, And laid my head in the dust. This what you wear to mourn, we would say: wearing black was the idea of just that it's a state of mourning. Job 16:16 (NKJV) My face is flushed from weeping, And on my eyelids is the shadow of death; Job 16:17 (NKJV) Although no violence is in my hands, And my prayer is pure. And this is what Job says when everything is falling apart for him and we are going to have the exact same thing. God s in the business of destroying flesh, our bodies are not going to last forever, even if we re not doing anything necessarily evil. We re talking this over; we can be living righteous lives, doing the right thing, growing in the right direction, studying, and fellowshipping in the Lord. This life isn t made to last forever and sometimes HE just causes things to fall apart. It is what it is and we just have to accept it and say; Lord, You got a better plan and I m going to look back in the end to be grateful for what HE did, but I don't like it right now. My flesh just doesn t like it right now. That's the battle, to rejoice in the middle of losing what we want. Since flesh is sin, not because it did anything wrong, but just by nature of what it is, flesh is never meant to make it into the resurrection. The only thing it is going to do is slowly die, the day you're born you start dying. It s just a matter how long does it take, right, five years 10, 20, 50, 100? You know, it doesn't matter; it still ends in the same place. It's just a matter how many days does God give us, what does HE cause us to do with them and that's a hard thing to accept. Because we wanted our way on our time, wanted out of his wanting to do it, but with much knowledge comes much sorrow as Solomon says. And the more you understand how little control you have over things, your first reaction is to be really upset, frustrated, angry, mad and bitter and finally HE breaks us of that. When you realized that it's futile to resist God, HE is going to win. You might as well give up and it will make your life a whole lot better. If you watch a lot of the cop shows, they pull someone over, they go to the door and they ask them to get out of the car and they say no then they ll say; you can come out of the car or you can do it with assistance and otherwise we can do this the easy way or we can do this the hard way, which one you want? Like Paul says; it is hard to kick against the pricks, it's hard to resist God and the sooner we get with the program that your will be done the better it's going to get. Isa 44:24 (NKJV) Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, And He who formed you from the womb: "I am the LORD, who makes all things, Who stretches out the heavens all alone, Who spreads abroad the earth by Myself; Isa 44:25 (NKJV) Who frustrates the signs of the babblers, And drives diviners mad; Who turns wise men backward, And makes their knowledge foolishness;

12 Isa 44:26 (NKJV) Who confirms the word of His servant, And performs the counsel of His messengers; Who says to Jerusalem, 'You shall be inhabited,' To the cities of Judah, 'You shall be built,' And I will raise up her waste places; The Lord is not going to be mocked. We re going to reap what we are going to sow, when we are babbler's, we have false doctrine, we re driven by the delusion of our own free will, trying to do what we want to do, the Lord's going to frustrate all those plans and bring all of our wisdom to foolishness. The only thing He's going to prosper in the end is Jerusalem, the New Jerusalem, and the true Jews, those that are of Christ. And as long as we are against that, things are not going to go well for us. Know the Lord will prosper the wicked for what seemed like forever as there are people that are billionaires in this life and have no problems with their health either. Everything we think we want, they have and the Lord simply says in Psalms don't envy the wicked because the rain is going to come down on them for a while. But when you see the end of them, it's not good. The end is the wrath of God comes upon them, HE reveals it all and it doesn't go well. So we might as well just get with the program, get in New Jerusalem because it's the only safe place, it s the better reward in the end. So much so, that our proper response should be as we may come across situations that frustrate us to make us angry, just generally don't like the way God does it. Proper response: Psa 13:1 (NKJV) To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David. How long, O LORD? Will You forget me forever? How long will You hide Your face from me? Psa 13:2 (NKJV) How long shall I take counsel in my soul, Having sorrow in my heart daily? How long will my enemy be exalted over me? This is enemies within and without; our first and biggest enemy is the man in the mirror, right? Our own flesh and carnal mind causes us to sin against our lives and just brings trouble upon us. But once forgiven the measure of dominion over that, it's those around us that persecute us for righteousness. We have the same question about it in both cases; Psa 13:3 (NKJV) Consider and hear me, O LORD my God; Enlighten my eyes, Lest I sleep the sleep of death; Spiritually saying is; lest I be trapped in my carnal mind and never be delivered from how I deal with this. Psa 13:4 (NKJV) Lest my enemy say, "I have prevailed against him"; Lest those who trouble me rejoice when I am moved. Psa 13:5 (NKJV) But I have trusted in Your mercy; My heart shall rejoice in Your salvation.

13 Psa 13:6 (NKJV) I will sing to the LORD, Because He has dealt bountifully with me. Look at the dramatic shift: he's going from saying how long, how long, how long will it take to get better, to saying; you know what the Lord is going to have mercy, He's going to save me, He's going to deliver me, and He has dealt bountifully with me! As you look back at our past and we count how many times He's delivered us, look at Israel's pattern. He s sent these miraculous plagues to get them out of Egypt, He crosses the Red Sea, and what do they want? They want to go back to Egypt! Although through they see the deliverance, they think of; all the leaks and cucumbers and the melons of Egypt and why did you bring us here to die. While Moses is saying; Hey, would you remember what happened to you, like 30 days ago! And we re all the exact same way; we so quickly forget the deliverance, we go right back to the murmuring. So we have to take these thoughts captive, when they come, because they will come. Psa 35:17 (NKJV) Lord, how long will You look on? Rescue me from their destructions, My precious life from the lions. Psa 35:18 (NKJV) I will give You thanks in the great assembly; I will praise You among many people. Psa 35:19 (NKJV) Let them not rejoice over me who are wrongfully my enemies; Nor let them wink with the eye who hate me without a cause. Psa 35:20 (NKJV) For they do not speak peace, But they devise deceitful matters Against the quiet ones in the land. Now this is about being persecuted for righteousness sake, we re doing the right thing, suffering for righteousness, others are falsely against us. That is a perfectly legitimate thing to cry out for deliverance and God will bring it in due time, if we patiently endure the suffering while it s here, and when He does come to deliver us it will be right when we need it. 1Pe 2:19 (NKJV) For this is commendable, if because of conscience toward God one endures grief, suffering wrongfully. 1Pe 2:20 (NKJV) For what credit is it if, when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God. If you do some wrong, we have every reason to be patient because God caused us to do it. Still you re going to be angry when you realize sovereignty because you say; Wait a minute, I didn t ask to be this way, I don't have to be born, I didn t ask for this flesh, I did not ask for these thoughts, You subjected me to vanity, I m mad at you.

14 And that is going to happen to everyone. It's perfectly natural thinking and that needs to be overcome and we have to say; You re GOD and I m not, This is what you have given me, So, thank you Lord, I ll have another. Now that's it. What else are you going to do? You do with what you have, can't fight with HIM. But when you do well and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God. So at first, were going to suffer for evil, He's going to change us and then we are going to start suffering for good. When that's the case, that's really to be rejoiced in and when you and I are suffering with Christ, then you're really on the right path, that's when we should all count it a privilege to be worthy to suffer with Him, when you're suffering for a good reason. Then be very repentant and humble in mourning and quickly to seek forgiveness and confess when we re suffering for our faults. The sooner you get out of that stage the better things are going to get. Psa 42:9 (NKJV) I will say to God my Rock, "Why have You forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?" Psa 42:10 (NKJV) As with a breaking of my bones, My enemies reproach me, While they say to me all day long, "Where is your God?" What did they do to The Christ? They blindfolded Him and beat Him, asked Him to prophesy who is hitting you? What did He do? He kept His mouth shut. He could have called on a legion of angels, He had the power to wipe out every single one of those people, just like in the Old Testament over and over and over, but it wasn t the time for that. He kept quiet; He kept His peace and just patiently endured it. Psa 42:11 (NKJV) Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God; For I shall yet praise Him, The help of my countenance and my God. The only response when you're going to do this suffering is to reason with yourself, have hope in God. This is going to end. This light and momentary affliction is not worthy of comparing. Why are we studying this and saying this? Because we all need to be reminded, because these things are going to happen every day, every week, every month, every year, until the end. It's a marathon of endurance and our flesh is not going to like it, it is not going to be fun. But it is going to have a good result and there will be joy along the way. So here in James he opens up his book with the impossible command: Jas 1:2 (NKJV) My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, [Really? Joy in Trails?] Jas 1:3 (NKJV) knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. [the flesh dosen t want to hear this. But when in the Spirit we understand.]

15 Jas 1:4 (NKJV) But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. So the only way you can have joy in trials is to know that the end of the thing is better than the beginning and that's our only hope. Let s get this life over with; let s endure faithfully to the end. Let's be one in God with Christ and have all the tears wiped away, all the suffering over momentary, but in the moment it feels like an eternity. So we have to consciously remind each other of this stuff because it's not natural, so we have to be reminded! It's against everything in our flesh and our carnal mind. 2Co 1:6 (NKJV) Now if we are afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effective for enduring the same sufferings which we also suffer. Or if we are comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation. There is great comfort in knowing that we re all on the same process, the details are different, how it looks is different, our trials are different, but in the end, it has the same result. That's why you shouldn't compare trials or do mine are worse figures or yours are bigger than mine. Trials are trials. Yours are yours. Someone else's is someone else's. You don't know what they've been through, what's in their heart, what's in their mind, why they get what they get. But God is our Father and so we say thank you Lord and just get to the end. I did a study a while back on patience that was in multiple parts. It talks about how patience is really endurance. It s in the righteous way, just being faithful through everything. By everything I mean everything, the ups and downs, the good, the bad, the suffering, the persecutions, the physical pain, and emotional pain. Patience is just getting through it. How do you obtain the prize? You just get through it. When you have your mind on the end result, that's the only thing that gets you through. Here in Genesis 45 we see Joseph experiencing the fulfillment of all of his years of suffering after being cast in the pit, persecuted by his brothers, falsely accused by Potiphar s house, forgotten in prison, just trial after trial after trial. Big trials; not little, I lost my phone trials, like; my brothers beat me up and threw me into a pit and sold me into slavery trials, right? What is it he says in the end? Gen 45:4 (ESV) So Joseph said to his brothers, Come near to me, please. And they came near. And he said, I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt.

16 [Imagine their shock. They don't know that their little brother they threw into the pit and sold into slavery there in Egypt is now ruling Egypt for them to come to get food, so they don't die!]. And now says to them: Gen 45:5 (ESV) And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life.[god gave Joseph the ability to understand, that God did this and it took all of those steps to get into the place where he could save Egypt and his brothers.] Gen 45:6 (ESV) For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are yet five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest. Gen 45:7 (ESV) And God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. When were walking in a godly mindset we have this end result in mind, to remember that all the sufferings of the trial of the false accusations, all the mistakes, all the pain, whatever it is It's going to work together in the end to get us to that place where we can save Egypt, which is our own flesh, first of all being killed and resurrected. [Us being resurrected in the spirit] But it's also saving all of mankind. [Who is typified by Egypt]. That's the hope, that's the calling, to keep our eyes on that is the only thing that can keep us faithful to GODS calling in the long delay. As our sister Diana says, This walk is not for the faint of heart. It's a big difficult process but worth it, very, very worth it. We will stop there for tonight and pick up next week and do the second half on; What is righteous anger? How is God angry? And how we should be like him? How HE demonstrates His anger? That's all for tonight, anybody wants to add anything or say anything, go right ahead. Remember: EVERYTHING IS SMALL GOD MADE OLD TESTIMENT STORIES TO SHOW THAT; IT S A LIGHT AND MOMENTARY AFFICTION RIGHT ATTITUDE IN A TRIAL SHOWS US; THE PURPOSE IN LEARNING AND BENIFITTTING FROM WE COME TO SEE IT S OUR REASONABLE SERVICE - whatever it is