Heart of the Matter: Anger

Introduction

Well, good evening. It’s good to see everybody tonight. I have a good friend who lives up in a little piece of America known as San Mountain. Now, if you’ve ever been to Alabama, there is in the northeast corner of Alabama this unique place known as Sand Mountain. Yes, there’s a few cities up there, but it’s mostly a rural population. And you’ve probably heard of Sand Mountain more than once because Sand Mountain is actually one of these great regions of the country that’s in the news, and it’s just a little bit of the crazy news. Not necessarily the news that you’re gonna see on ABC, NBC, CBS. It’s kind of what you’re gonna see in the National Enquirer. Yeah. Little UFO things going on. I’m not kidding you.

You are there you have it. Need I say more. But up on Sand Mountain, my friend Jim lived, and he’s a pharmacist. He’s made his place his home, and he just loves this little nook of society. And he picked a place to live that was right across the creek from his Aunt Nokie. Now, whatever just went into your mind when you hear Aunt Nokie on Sand Mountain, well, you’re probably dead on. She is one of the mountain women of the region. She’s lived there her entire life. Nothing really scares her. And she lives in this little house that she’s lived in for many, many, many years, just her and her dog, and it’s just her quaint little corner of the world. Well, Jim one night got up late and noticed that there was a light on in Aunt Nokie’s house.

Now, Aunt Nokie went to bed generally around, you know, five, six o’clock in the evening. She’s kind of that tight. So for the light to be on late. Something must be up. So he went to his closet and got his pistol just in case and put it in his pocket and walked down from his house across the creek and kind of sneaked up to Aunt Nokie’s, and he noticed not only was the light on in the garage, but the garage door was just wide open. And he could hear some commotion going on in the house, and he started yelling for Aunt Nokie, and she immediately came out huffing and puffing. He said, Aunt Nokie, what’s going on? She goes, Jim, you’re just not going to believe it.

I got up in the middle of the night because the dog was barking and he just wouldn’t quit. And so I came out to the garage and I heard him barking, but I couldn’t see him anywhere. And he was just loud and loud and loud. And so I unlocked the door and looked out, and there he was, stuck behind this couch right here in the garage. And so I went down and I grabbed the couch and I moved it over so the dog could get free. And if a possum didn’t run out from under that couch and right into the house. Jim goes, Well, where’s the possum? She goes, I don’t know. Well, Jim immediately, like any rational person, said, Well, we got to find the possum.

And so he marched right in the house. And then he started to look behind things. She goes, Jim, Jim, I’ve looked there. I’ve looked there. I can’t find him. And he said, Well, Aunt Nokia, we got to find the possum. She goes, I’ve looked for him. I can’t find him. He said, Well, Aunt Nokie, what you gonna do? And she said, Well, I guess I’ll just go to bed. Go to bed. Yeah. He may have run out when I wasn’t looking. He’s just the possum. Now let me ask you, ladies, can I go to bed with a possum in your house? I was out of town a few weeks ago, and my wife called me and said, We get a mouse. In fact, it wasn’t a mouse, it was a rat.

I mean, this was like the gargantuan of all rats that was seen in the basement. And I said, Well, just go get you a few traps. You know, one should be sufficient. I got home, there were five of those sticky pads all over the place in the room, and that night we caught the beast. He was that bad. And I described to my kids especially the difference between a mouse and a rat. But do you go to bed? Do you go to bed with a big rat like a possum in your house? Well, no. Who could sleep? Who could sleep with something that eats garments, eats varmits and eats trash and could possibly eat on you in the middle. Who goes to sleep with it? Nobody.

But here’s the deal, folks. We all understand that. That is silly. We can see that. We would definitely not sleep in that house. But how often do we lay our head down at night knowing that there is a beast in our heart? That there is turmoil in our heart, that there is anxiety in our heart, that there is something in our heart that we know not only impairs our character, but it impairs our relationship with others. And more importantly, we know that it is also hurting our relationship with God. If you were here last night, you understood that we decided we would build a series around the heart, and we’re basing it around a passage in which our Lord is pleading with the religious leaders of his day to understand that there is more to their walk with God than just being religious, quoting a few verses and quote, going to church.

For God says, I look at your heart. Do you not see, says Jesus, that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled? But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart. And this defiles a person. For out of the heart comes evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, and slander. These are what defile a person, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone. And the point Jesus was making to these religious leaders, you can have all your hoop law, you can have all your religious ceremony, you can jump through all your hoops with your traditions, and it doesn’t mean a thing if your heart’s not right. And we know if we’re truly honest with ourselves, we’ll live our life with a filter to keep somebody from seeing our hearts, and we’ll allow the filter to stay in place so somebody doesn’t see exactly who we are.

Now, seriously, I’ve not known of many possums that have destroyed families, or mice for that matter. But I have certainly known of many hearts that have shattered dreams, shattered hopes, shattered families, and shattered churches. Solomon tells us this in Proverbs chapter 4 and in verse 23, and I want you to see it from a few translations. He says, above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life. The English Standard Version. Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life, the American standard. Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life. And then the King James, keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it, out of it come all the issues of life.

We need to understand that it’s our heart. It’s our heart that matters. And we may think that I have just a people person problem here, or I have just a relationship problem here, or I have just a character challenge here, but the Lord says no. It’s a heart problem. And you must learn to guard your heart. Can we change our hearts? Well, as we studied yesterday, not necessarily only God can change the heart. Trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not on your own understanding, says Proverbs 3.5. Proverbs 19.21. There are many devices in a man’s heart. Nevertheless, the counsel of the Lord that shall stand. So we need the Lord. And we need the Lord’s direction, the Lord’s guidance, the Lord’s instruction to change our hearts.

Tonight. Tonight we’re going to look at an issue of the heart, and it’s already been announced to you. And you might be sitting here this evening thinking to yourself, well, I’m not really one who’s prone to anger. I’m not necessarily angry. Well, let me ask you a question. Yelled at anybody recently? Burned on the inside, mad with somebody? You ever left somebody’s house and you’re gritting your teeth the whole time, or you’ve gotten off the phone and you’ve gritten your teeth the whole time and you hang it up, and then you turn to your wife and your kids, and you just go, oh you guys. You come home from work, and the poor dog was the first person to greet you at the door. You know what it’s like to lose sleep?

Know what it’s like to lose sleep because of what someone may have done to you? See, here’s the deal with anger.

Most people that have an anger problem don’t see it. They don’t recognize it. They’ll make excuses for their behavior. They’ll make excuses for their actions, and they’re going to think to themselves, oh, I really don’t need a heart change. Well, I can promise you this. Those who live with you believe you need a heart change. And I also need to warn you tonight as we get into this lesson, especially this one. This one may rip off a scab. Because too often many of us hold resentment, hold animosity, hold feelings inside for many, many years. Never deal with them. We’ll suppress them. Seek to ignore them. And we fail to recognize that there is a beast looming in our heart. And because of that beast, our other relationships, our other situations in life, even our jobs and things of that nature are constantly going to be affected because we never really dealt with the problem.

1. Do Not Let the Sun Go Down on Your Anger

So when this scab gets ripped off, I’m going to plead with you to understand that to truly heal to the attention of the great physician. That needs to take place. So he can get down into your heart. If you have your Bibles, I want you to turn to Ephesians chapter 4. In Ephesians chapter 4, we find the Apostle Paul actually speaking to us about this issue of the heart. And here’s what the Apostle Paul says in Ephesians chapter 4, verse 26. Be angry and do not sin. Do not let the sun go down on your anger. Now there may be a part of us that’s listening to these words, and we probably have heard these many, many times, and we look at this and we say, Well, see right there, I have every right to be angry.

It’s okay to be angry. And let me just go ahead and tell you, yeah. That’s all right sometimes. But the apostle Paul tells us there is an anger that can lead to sin. And here’s how it leads to sin. When this anger is allowed to be carried over. You’ll notice he says, do not let the sun go down on your anger. Now I’m going to make a little quick qualifier here, real quick. Who is the apostle Paul to speak to me and you about anger? You know what I’m saying? Who you ever had somebody come up and tell you what you really need to do? You know that person that just kind of walks up and says, Well, I know what your problem is. And you go, please tell me.

You know, it’s the person who’s never had to worry about anything, the guy who’s loaded with money who says, Well, you know what your problem is with your finances? Please tell me. You know. The guy who gets the girl all the time. What’s your problem? You know, we don’t want to hear. Well, here’s what you need to understand about the Apostle Paul. When the Apostle Paul wrote these words and said, Do not be angry, or do not let your anger lead to sin or the sun go down in your anger. Where is he when he writes these words? Anyone know? It’s in prison. Why is he in prison? Well, he’s actually probably one of the only people to really go to prison that actually didn’t do it.

I interviewed a lot of guys in prison. I didn’t meet too many that actually said, Well, I did it. Well, Paul didn’t do it. And you know why he’s in prison? Because he was preaching the gospel. And he was desperately striving to teach those who at one time he was a part of their band who was actually out there persecuting Christians, and he made it his desire and his aim to go try to speak to them, to try to share with them the gospel, knowing, knowing that they resented him and hated him. And so here he is telling us, do not be angry. Now that’s an interesting phrase. Do not let the sun go down on your anger. What exactly does that mean? Anybody ever done that very well?

Well, God says, I can’t go to sleep until I’m done being angry. What are you going to stay awake for a week, a month? I uh, as you know, I sit down with couples every now and then, marriage counseling, and there’s certainly some some good advice that comes from the idea, resolve your differences before you go to bed. But you know, sometimes it’s just not that easy, is it? You know what he actually means by this? And I think that this is the point. Don’t allow your anger to persist and last, to the point that it not only becomes sin, but it carries over into other relationships. That it carries over into another season of your life. You hold anger with this person over here, and you never resolve it, you never deal with it, you just try to close that person out of your life, and now you try to go on, never dealing with the problem, and you wonder why all your other relationships have problems as well.

2. Anger Says, You Owe Me

Paul says, Do not let the sun go down in your anger. Let me give you another way of maybe trying to understand this. Let’s use it in the debtor relationship. Here’s what anger says. When somebody has incited you to anger that you’re going to hold on to.

And here’s how it works. You see, when I said I do to you, and you said I do back, and you said for richer, for poorer, and sickness and hell. You made a promise to me. And I made a promise to you that we were going to stick it out and live together. You broke that promise. And you have robbed me of the peace and the joy and the comfort and the security that you promised to provide. And now here I am, and you owe me. Can work like this. It’s the child who’s born in a family like that. Who didn’t ask for this turmoil? Mom and dad separate, and now they’re bouncing around from house to house like a pinball. Graduation time. Dad’s not there.

First game, dad’s not there. Maybe even the wedding. One of them is not there. And even if they are together, they’ve robbed you of the peace and the enjoyment and the pleasure of the moment.

Can be a business partner who made a promise that he was going to work with you, and you were both going to commit to the business and you were going to stick it out, and they bailed on you early, or they took from the company and they robbed you. You owe me. Do you see how this works? And so what happens is this anger, this debt is there and it’s left unpaid, and it’s never been resolved. And every time I see you, the first thing that goes into my mind is, you owe me. You left a balance. You left me in pain. You left me hurting. You left me empty. And you have not paid me what you promised you would do. And I’m hurt. And I feel betrayed.

Now, when you go back and you look at these words, understand that the apostle Paul is pleading with us to see and understand that this kind of anger is sinful. You know what I find people do? You know what I really find people do? They’ll have something that happened in their life, and it can be 20, 30, even 40 years ago. And it still affects them today. Here’s what my family did to me. Here’s what my spouse did to me. Here’s what I mean. And they can’t get over it. They cannot move on. I had a couple come into my office one time. In fact, they they were living far away from Birmingham, and a friend had told them to come, and I was so proud of them that actually made the long drive to the office, and they sat there, and it was just an eye-opening experience, especially for me.

They said they would get so mad at one another that they would actually throw dishes at one another. I thought that was a myth. But they said they did it. Got so loud, even the cops were called out to their home. They were so embarrassed. Spent some time with them. We talked about some things. A few weeks later, the guy came back on his own, and this was a great learning experience for me, for I learned something very important when he came back. And he said, he said, I’m going to a clinic. And I said, Well, where are you going? He said, I’ve heard of an anger clinic over in Mississippi. I said, Really? He said, I think I really need to give this a try.

And I said, Well, okay, doesn’t your wife need then she don’t y’all need to be going together? And he said, you know, I really don’t think so. Because the more I thought about it, I’m not really mad at her. I’m mad at my dad. He brought me up in the church and taught me to love the Lord, and he brought me up all these years, and then when I was in high school, he just left my mom. Left us. Didn’t come to my wedding. Doesn’t communicate with us at all. He’s now off on his own.

3. Put It Away: Lift Anchor

And I’ve come to realize that. My problem’s with him, not my wife. You see what happens? Now I want you to notice what the Apostle Paul tells us in this text. You’ll notice in verse 31, he tells us, Well, what should I do? What should I do? Well, in verse 31, here’s what he says. He says, Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice. You know what’s interesting about this phrase put away in the Greek? Y’all see that there? If you have the new King James, this is the way mine reads. Put away from you all these things. The word put away is actually like a nautical term. It means to lift. It is actually the idea of lifting anchor.

And what the Apostle Paul is actually telling us, if you’re holding anger in your heart, if you’re holding resentment, if you’re holding malice, if you’re holding bitterness, you have a big anchor, and you can’t move on because you haven’t pulled up anchor. And here’s what you need to do, says Paul. You need to lift anchor. Now I’m thinking to myself, it’s not that simple. You don’t understand, Paul. You don’t understand what they did to me. You don’t understand how they messed up my life. They ruined my childhood. They destroyed my dreams. They owe me. Paul says, I know. Now get over it. I know that sounds simple. And I know that it may sound a little contrite and maybe just a little bit mean, but I’m pleading with you, says Paul.

You have to put it away. It is more important for you to lift anchor, forgive, and move on than to get paid back. But we say, no. They left the debt. They left the balance. Paul says, I know. Move on. Move on. For you’re letting this one debt keep you from enjoying all the great rewards and riches and joy that your heavenly Father wants you to have and is offering to you with so many other people. And you’ve got to put it away. All right, Lord. I need a little bit more. So if that’s what I’m supposed to do, just put it away. How do I do it? How do I do it? Notice verse 32. And be kind to one another, tender hearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.

Paul. You don’t understand. It’s just not that simple. If I was to share with you my story, it would bring tears to your eyes. Paul says, I know.

I know. I know. But how long are you going to carry it? How long are you going to allow this relationship, this pain, this turmoil, this hurt to weight you down? How long? It’s time to close the debt. Now I want you to do something here with me. I’m not going to stand before you tonight as a preacher. And I still consider myself a young preacher, 42 young. I’m not going to stand before you tonight as a snotty-nosed 42-year-old punk. And in any way, shape, or form think that I can identify and understand your pain. Okay.

I can promise you that I have not experienced the pain that you have. I’ll guarantee you that.

4. Close the Debt by Looking to Your Savior

Can I invite you to open your Bible and I want you to turn it to Isaiah chapter 53? Isaiah chapter 53. You see, in verse 32, the apostle Paul gives us, gives us the antidote for how we need to truly deal with this issue of the heart. And what you find in Isaiah chapter 53 is you find a person who was abused, who was afflicted, who was smitten, who was hurt, who was betrayed. And they did it. Because not of their own will, but of their father’s will. They allowed it to happen. In Isaiah chapter 53, here’s what I want you to do. There are some pronouns that are in this passage. But instead of using the pronoun that is in the text, I’m going to use a name, and I want you to invite yourself as you read through here to use your own name.

Are you ready? Verse 4. Surely he has borne Phil’s griefs and carried Phil’s sorrows. Yet Phil esteemed him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted. He was wounded for Phil’s transgressions. He was bruised for Phil’s iniquities. The chastisement for Phil’s peace was upon him, and by his stripes Phil was healed. All like Phil have gone astray. Each one like him hath turned to their own way. But the Lord has laid upon him the iniquity of Phil. He was oppressed. He was afflicted. And yet he opened not his mouth. He was led as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before it shears is silent. So he opened not his mouth. Verse 10. And yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him. And he has put him to grief.

When you make his soul an offering for sin, you shall see his seed, and he shall prolong his days. Now, what were you saying about your problem? How bad is your problem? How bad is your pain? Do you hear what Paul is imploring us to see and understand? You can close the debt. How? By looking to your Savior and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.

And I want to throw in a personal note. Anyone here tonight who is in any way associated with divorce.

Because it affects your whole family.

I know. Here’s the answer. Here’s how you get beyond it. Forgive. Forgive. Forgive. Close the debt. Let me add another note. I know full well. In an audience this size, there are probably people here who, as children, maybe even as older children, have been hurt by adults or abused. Seen the pain. I’ve listened to the pain. But here’s your solution. Forgive. You have to close the debt. And here’s the point. Here’s the point that Paul and the Lord are pleading with us to see. Whatever they took from you. Whatever the debt may be, don’t you see they can never pay it back? Let’s say, let’s say that all of a sudden they were hit with this huge bolt of humility and sorrow, and they came to you and they said, I am sorry.

5. How Do I Teach My Children?

Please forgive me. And you said, Yes, can they ever make up for what they took? No. They can’t. It’s impossible. This is a debt that can truly never be repaid. Please understand. That’s exactly why the apostle Paul is using in the antidote our relationship with our Lord, for he’s speaking to us to see and understand that our God has forgiven us, and he has forgiven us knowing we can never repay him. And that’s what forgiveness does. Forgiveness closes the debt. Now we’ve mentioned it. We’re really going to try to give parents and grandparents some tools to help mold our child’s heart. And I want to do that right now, if you’ll let me. How do I teach my children? How do I teach my children to deal with this issue of the heart?

Look, if you would, a page over from Ephesians. I want you to look in Ephesians chapter 6. Ephesians chapter 6. I want us to notice verses 1 through 4. Ephesians 6, 1 through 4. Paul writes to the inspiration of the Spirit, children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor your father and your mother, which is the first commandment with promise, that it may be well with you and that you may live long on the earth. And you fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and the admonition of the Lord. Here’s the first thing we need to do as parents. We need to teach our children the value of obedience. And what that means is this.

Obedience means we do what we do, not because we understand all the reasons why, not because all we have all the answers, but we do what we do because God said so. And it doesn’t have to make sense at first. Now I’m not one of these that believes that God just gives us things to do and commands things of us just to make us miserable and just to give us something to do and just see if we’re going to jump through the hoop. I don’t believe that at all. But I do believe this.

Same growing up in our house as kids.

I now understand why my mom got so upset when I didn’t make my bed. What in the world does this have to do with life? Why it was so important to not walk out of the house looking like you just took your breast clean shirt and you put it on and did about 500 somersaws before you walked outside in that wrinkled church. I understand now why it was so important that you weren’t just early, but you were there early, early.

There was a method to the madness. It was about discipline. It was about building character. Now, at the time I had no idea. I still don’t understand what trigonomet’s all about. Got to tell you that one. That’s why I went to speech communications. No math? Hey, I’m in there. Now that’s a major. And here’s how you teach your children the value of obedience. You obey. You obey. God said, forgive. Forgive. You know, there’s an interesting proverb in Proverbs 22, 24 that says this. It says, make no friendship with a man given to anger, nor go with a wrathful man. Proverbs 29, 22. A man of wrath stirs up strife, and one given to anger causes much transgression. Here’s one of my favorites. Proverbs 3033. The pressing of milk produces curds.

Pressing the nose produces blood. And pressing anger produces strife. Can I give you a little advice? If you’ve got a friend or a boyfriend or a girlfriend who’s prone to anger, can I give you a little advice? Run. Run. You’re just seeing the lava. The volcano is about to blow. And you don’t want to be there when it does.

We teach our children not only the value of obedience in God’s word, but we need to teach them the forgiveness of Christ. We need to speak to them about Christ’s love, Christ’s mercy, Christ’s grace, Christ’s suffering. Please understand the apostle Paul made it his aim to preach nothing but Christ in him crucified. Why? Because that’s the message. You want to mold character in your children. You want to mold their hearts. You show them the perfect heart. And you speak to them of the forgiveness, the life, and the death and the love of our Lord. And then please, please, at all cost, you teach them to avoid wrath and anger. I believe it is imperative as parents that we not so much discipline what may have happened or what may have been done, but we discipline behavior.

Kids break things.

You didn’t have to bring it back far. Wow. Oh. But I got that spanking because I just disobeyed. Not because I broke the window. And if you see any hint of anger, bitterness, malice in the heart of your child. That needs to be resolved immediately.

Immediately. My kids aren’t here tonight. So please don’t tell them this. That includes everybody from Melbourne. But the best part of my day is going into their rooms and saying their prayers. Take a knee beside their bed. And we talk. But I’ve gotten to a habit of doing this. Can I ask you a question? And they know it’s coming. Oh, Dad, here we go again. How’s your heart? Seriously, how’s your heart? Mad at anybody? Jealous with anyone? Upset about anything. I tell you, I was shocked the first time I did this. I have probably one of the most transparent and wide open daughters in the world. She goes, Well, Dad, I’ve got to tell you. Don’t tell mom. But I am a little upset. Well, let’s talk about it.

6. Identify the True Source of My Anger and Forgive

Possum isn’t going to ruin our family, folks. A mouse. Some loose shingles. The loss of a ball game. But a bad heart will destroy any family. So how do I deal with my own heart? Well, here’s what I need to do. Three things I need to apply. We’ll call these our take-homes. The first thing that I need to do is I need to identify the true source of my anger. Don’t look at your immediate surroundings because you might be sitting here tonight going, well, who am I angry with? Well, they’re right there, they’re there, they’re there, that person, oh yeah, that ooh, you made me mad. Took my parking spot, you’re in my seat. Yeah, here we go. Okay. No, no, no, no. What’s the real source?

Where’s the real bitterness? Where’s the big debt? And here’s what you do. You need to determine not only who owes you, but you need to determine how much they owe you. And I would implore you to do this. Write it down. Just like an accountant going through a ledger book, write down exactly what they owe you. What they took, what was robbed. And then you know what you do? You decide once and for all to forgive them. Forgive them. I was actually asked this question in a Bible class once. I’ll have to confess, when it was asked, it kind of took me off guard. Preacher, do I have to forgive somebody who doesn’t ask? I’m like, well, I don’t think you should. Because the fact of the matter is the sin’s still out there, and they ain’t asking forgiveness, and I really don’t have to give it to them.

Well, what’d Jesus do? What’d our Lord do? When the soldiers were gambling for his clothes, when the spikes were in his hands and in his feet. What did he do? Well, I believe you look at the text, he didn’t say it once, but he probably said it multiple times. Father, forgive them. For they know not what they do. Stephen, the faithful disciple, who was being stoned, said, Lord, do not charge this sin against them. And here’s why this is so important. And you’re probably wondering well, if somebody’s offended me, if somebody’s made me angry, then why in the world, preacher, haven’t you gone to the passage that says, if you’ve gone to take your gift to the altar and you realize somebody’s held you up, then you need to drop it and go to them.

Well, I’m gonna throw that in here, but here’s the point. You need to go talk to them if you need to do that. And if you haven’t done that, you need to talk to them. But before you ever get there, before you even call them, before you even confront them, before you even really think about how you’re gonna handle it, you’ve forgiven them. Because if that conversation doesn’t go like it should, if that meeting doesn’t end favorably, you’ve settled on. For you’ve already peeled up the anchor. And you’ve moved on. Because that’s what forgiveness is. In Proverbs 16, 32, whoever is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city. Proverbs 19 11, good sense makes one slow to anger.

And it is his glory to overlook the offense. Please hear me. These are the words of the Holy Spirit of God Himself. Pleading with you to make your heart right.

Conclusion

And this is the warning from Paul. Don’t allow Satan to gain control, for his tentacles will reach beyond you and will reach out into the other relationships in your life. For when the anger persists, it becomes a breeding ground for not a possum. But the great deceiver, the roaring lion, the beast himself, the destroyer of souls. So let me ask you tonight.

Are you dealing with some baggage? Are you dealing with some pain? It’s time to let it go. It’s time to forgive. And you can do it by looking to the one who hung on the cross. And it said, I forgive you. I realize. I realize this may sound way too simple. But isn’t it wonderful that God’s gospel is simple? And you may need some prayer. You may need a lot of prayer. Can I implore you to lean upon your elders, your shepherds, the wonderful men who are the ministers here with this congregation? So that you can deal with this. And so that you can lift anchor and move on. Tonight, if we can help you in any way, if you need to have your sins washed away in the blood of Christ, just to put on the name of Christ, you’ve been holding a resentment and anger against God, and now you need to let it go and you need to come to Him.

Now is that time as well. Do not leave here with this beast in your heart. If we can help you in any way, won’t you come while we stand and sing?