Christian soldier and face to face in stern array
With armor gleaming and collar streaming
The right hand wrong and gauged today
The fight is on but be not weary
Be strong and in his might hold fast
If God be for us, his banner or us
We'll sing the victor's song at last.
The fight is on, a rousy soldier's brave and true,
Jehovah leaves and victory will assure.
Go buckle on, the armor God has given you,
And in his strength forever will endure.
The fight is on, oh Christian soldier.
With armor gleaming and collar streaming The right and wrong engaged today
The fight is on, but be not weary Be strong and in his might hold fast
If God before us, his banner o'er us Will sing the victor's song at last
On to certain victory, the bow of Bra,
Miss Fancy Eastern sky, it's glorious name.
In every land shall honored be, the morn will break.
The dawn of peace is nigh.
The fight is on, O Christian soldier,
And face to face in stern array.
With armor gleaming, the right hand wrong and cage too.
The find is on, but be not weary, Be strong and in his might hold fast.
If God before us, his banner o'er us, Will sing the victor's song at last.
Amen. Wonderful singing. Let's start off our service with a word of prayer.
Lord God Heavenly Father, we just thank you for giving us another day that we can come here to your house
You hear the preaching of your word
We ask that you please bless the service this morning every aspect of it
Please bless the singing that would be pleasing to your ears that it would prepare hearts for the preaching
And most of all father, please feel passing me here with your spirit as he preaches unto us
Give them boldness and gives your spirit in the congregation as well that we may leave here changed in Jesus name. We pray amen
You may be seated
Please turn your song books to song number 105
Song number 105 all that thrills my soul
Song number 105 all together on that first verse
Who can cheer the heart like Jesus
By His presence all divine
True and tender, pure and precious
Oh, how blessed to call Him mine
All that thrills my soul is Jesus
more than life to me. And the fairest of 10,000 In my blessed Lord I see. Love of Christ
than the heavens, deeper than the deepest sea.
All that thrills my soul is Jesus.
blessed Lord I see. What a wonderful redemption! Never can a mortal know how my
my soul is Jesus. He is more than life to me. And the fairest of ten thousand, in my
blessing, Lord, I see.
my scene. On his strength divine relying, he is all in all to me. All that thrills my
soul is Jesus.
the rest of 10,000. In my blessing, Lord, I see you.
the king. All that thrills my soul is Jesus. He is more than life to me. And the fairest
great singing welcome to First Works Baptist Church there's a few announcements here before we
sing our next song which will be 244 if you want to get that ready in your song books amazing
grace 244 if you did not get a bulletin go ahead and raise your hand one of the ushers can get one
for you some important information on there of course we welcome you to come back tonight for
Sunday evening service at 5 p.m. you see the so many times in teams listed there in the middle
the list of expecting mothers and we do have someone new on the expecting mothers list and that is
Brother Mori and Miss Angela are expecting. They asked for me to announce it today
so that we can keep them in prayer and so congratulations to them.
We do have the stats for Salvation and Baptisms there for the month of June. Great month there.
On the right hand side is the upcoming church events. Last week we began our family nights
and we're continuing tonight with our board game night and that will be after the PM service
and so there will be board games there in the back. We're also going to cater in Panda Express.
Some Americanized Chinese food. Amen. It's not ghetto Chinese food, but it's still pretty good
And so I personally like the ghetto Chinese food with the ones where you go and you can't even close the box
You know what I mean when they because they serve you so much, but we're trying to we're trying to exercise moderation here
So Penn Express will do but before that
At 4 p.m. Brother Marcos is going to be serving iced coffee. So at 4 p.m.
He's gonna be having his little stand right here in the fellowship hall and so no hot coffee just all iced coffees and
Latte's and and all that and so if you would like some of that make sure you show up nice and early to get yourself a
Shot of that and then we have watermelon sundae on Sunday, July 13th
And that'll be after the p.m. Service as well
Our youth rally because obviously we're not going to be going to the other youth conference will be on Friday, July 18th.
So it's not going to be this Friday, but the following this Friday. We have our team fellowship.
I think it'll be brother Cody, brother Glenn and brother Alex's team that's going to be there on this Friday.
And so we're looking forward to having one there.
But the following week is going to be the youth rally on Friday.
the evening, we'll have another preaching service with pizza thereafter, so we'll give you details
on that. And then we have the mini soulning marathon coming up on Sunday, July 20th,
and that is pretty much it. Please make sure you silence your phones during the preaching,
so it's to not be a distraction during the service. Let's go ahead and sing our next song, 244 Amazing Grace.
Song number 244 all together nice and strong on that first verse
But now I'm found was blind
But now I see
I'm sorry I committed a grievous, grievous sin in our church and I didn't sing happy birthday
to those in July and so please forgive me. Whose birthday? I'm gonna do it. Whose birthday is
in July on this side? We got one right here. Okay these people would have been bitter at me.
That person would have been bitter at me. Okay one right there. Anybody over here? Right right
Right there, all right, one here, one here.
Oh, that's why you're smiling, I mean,
because it's your birthday, okay.
All right, well, let's sing happy birthday
to those in July.
Ready?
Happy birthday to you.
Happy birthday, God bless you.
Happy birthday to...
All right, give him a round of applause for those in July now with that being said at this time
The ushers will collect the offering going to turn your bibles to Colossians chapter 3 Colossians chapter 3
Colossians chapter number 3 Colossians chapter 3 the Bible reads if you then be
risen with Christ seek those things which are above where Christ sit at the
right hand of God set your affection on things above not on things on the earth
for you're dead and your life is hid with Christ in God when Christ who is our
life shall appear and shall ye also appear with him in glory
Mortify, therefore, your members which are upon the earth, fornication, uncleanness,
inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry.
For which things take the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience, in which
ye also walked in some time when ye lived in them.
But now ye also put off all these, anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication
out of your mouth.
Why not one to another seeing that you have put off the old man with his deeds and have put on the new man
Which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him where there's neither Greek nor Jew circumcision nor
Uncircumcision barbarian Scythian bond nor free the Christ is all and in all
Put on, therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, vows of mercies, kindness, humbleness
of mind, meekness, longsuffering, forbearing one another and forgiving one another if any
man have a quarrel against any.
Even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.
And above all these things, put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness, and let
the peace of God rule in your hearts to the which also ye are called in one body, and
be ye thankful.
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs
Singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord and some and whatsoever you do in word or deed and do all in the name of the Lord
Jesus giving thanks to God and the father by him
Wives submit yourselves under your own husbands as it is fit in the Lord
Husbands love your wives and be not bitter against them
Children obey your parents in all things for this is well pleasing unto the Lord
Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged.
Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh,
not with eye service as men pleasers, but in singleness of heart, fearing God.
And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men,
knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance, for ye serve the Lord Christ.
But he that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done, and there is no respective persons.
Let's pray, dear Lord God, thank you again for everything you bless us with.
Just ask that you would fill the classroom here with your Holy Spirit now as it preaches a word unto us.
Pray that you would bless the message that he's prepared and that we'd be edified thereby.
And in Jesus' name we pray, amen.
Amen.
Okay, we're in Colossians chapter 3 this morning and look down at verse number 12, it's this
put on, therefore, as the elect of God, referring to, of course, believers, holy and beloved,
bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, and I want you to notice this
long suffering.
He goes on to say, for bearing one another and forgiving one another, if any man have
a quarrel against any, even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.
And above all these things put on charity,
which is the bond of perfectness.
And the time I showed you this morning
is lengthen your fuse, lengthen your fuse.
What am I referring to here?
Well, I'm sure you've heard the statement before
or the phrase, he's got a short fuse, right?
Essentially referring to a person that has a bad temper.
It doesn't take much to get them angry.
They get upset very easily.
And we often say this person is like a dynamite
with a short fuse.
that offends them. You, you know, make a statement. You criticize them. You critique them. Their fuse
is so short. It doesn't take that much for them to just blow up on you, right? To get extremely angry
and just blow their top and make a spectacle out of themselves. Well, I believe the Bible's teaching
us here that we should have a long fuse, right? And in fact, it specifically says that we should be
when people are getting on your nerves,
when you're getting angry,
when they're criticizing you and you're suffering,
or as the Bible also puts it,
just allowing them to do such things
for a long period of time.
And of course we know that the Lord exerts this quality.
We're thankful for the quality of long suffering
from God to us, right?
Because of the fact that we can often anger God.
We do things that are displeasing to him.
We're not always perfect,
yet in spite of that, he shows us mercy.
In spite of that, he shows us grace
and he is long suffering towards us.
And it's for that reason that we also
should exercise the virtue of being long suffering,
lengthen our fuse.
Go back to chapter one, if you would,
chapter one of Colossians.
Again, he says in Colossians three
to be long suffering,
to forbear one another
and forgive one another.
And he talks about the fact that if anybody has a quarrel, if they have a conflict, if
you're fighting with one another, then we should be as Christ and forgive, and as Christ
also does for us as well.
He says in Colossians 1 verse 10, that ye might walk worthy of the Lord into all pleasing,
being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God, strengthen with all
and long suffering with joyfulness.
So again, he says, be patient.
What does it mean to be patient?
Have endurance.
Don't be someone who just blows their top.
You just, you can't, you know,
receive any type of criticism.
You can't receive any types of comments.
You can't take a joke or something like that.
Be someone who is long suffering,
someone who has a very long fuse.
And it says there that it should be coupled with joyfulness.
Let me remind you,
that some of the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians chapter 5 is long-suffering, right?
It says in verse 22 of Galatians 5,
but the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering.
gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance,
against such, there is no law.
Let me read to you from Ephesians chapter four
and verse number one, he says,
I therefore the prisoner of the Lord beseech you,
that you walk worthy of the vocation
wherewith you are called.
What is he referring to here?
The apostle Paul is telling the church at Ephesus
that they should act like Christians,
be like Christians, walk worthy of the work
that God has called them to.
And he says in verse number two, how they can do that,
with all loneliness and meekness with long suffering,
he says again, for bearing one another in love,
endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit
and the bond of peace.
So part of being long suffering is that we're striving for,
we're endeavoring to be peaceful people.
to be peacemakers, and it says that we should endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
Our default setting as Christians is that we're long-suffering, we're peaceful, we're not trying to get involved in conflict.
If it comes to us, so be it, but the factory setting, so to speak, of a Christian should be that we suffer long with others.
1 Corinthians chapter 13, which is often referred to as the love chapter, states this in verse number four.
Charity also referred to as love, suffereth long.
And it's kind, charity envy is not,
charity vaunted is not itself, is not puffed up,
does not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not our own,
is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil,
rejoiceeth not in iniquity, but rejoiceeth in the truth.
I want you to notice this, beareth all things.
And I think we can add to that,
beareth all people too, right?
To a certain degree.
Believe with all things, hope with all things, and dearth all things.
And I want you to notice the fact that it says that charity suffereth long.
So we see here that the motive to suffer along with others, this virtue is often empowered
by love, right?
We are patient with people because of our love for others.
We suffer long, we bear with them
because of the fact that we want to suffer long with them.
We don't wanna just blow up on people and be impatient.
That is not a Christian thing.
Now, let me just say this
before I continue on with the sermon,
and let me explain and clarify
that anger is not sinful, okay?
A lot of times, especially in churches and pastors, Christians, they often take on this
Jedi type of mentality of Christianity where it's just like wrong to have anger, it's
wrong to have hate, but not according to the Bible.
The Bible teaches us be angry and sin not, showing us conclusively that you can have
the emotion of anger, yeah, it's even appropriate to be angry in certain instances and still
not sin.
Now, obviously, when anger evolves into wrath, it can become sinful.
When anger evolves into violence, it becomes sinful.
However, the Bible specifically shows us that there should be things in this world that
anger us.
False doctrine should anger us.
False prophets should anger us.
Injustices should anger us.
And if it doesn't anger you, then you've been desensitized.
You're not reading the Word of God because God gets angry at these things as well.
And so if angry being angry or having anger is sinful then God sins according to that standard
But obviously we know that God does not sin
It is possible to have anger and not sin now here's the caveat here
Let not the Sun go down upon your wrath the Bible says meaning that if you have anger in your heart
Maybe it's a justified reason
It's a natural emotion that you have because of an event because of a person a situation that took place
Just don't let the Sun go down
Don't let the sun set on being angry.
You should seek to resolve that conflict as soon as possible.
And so anger is not always sinful.
However, it can become sinful.
It can lead to wrath.
It can lead to strife.
It can lead to violence.
And these things are evil in the eyes of the Lord.
Now, a second thing that I want to point out
before I continue on here
is that the emotion of anger
is often associated with men for some reason, right?
It's like, oh, only men, that's a man problem.
But let me just remind you that women also get angry as well.
And ladies, before you think I'm going
to preach against your angry husband.
I'm preaching against you too, because there are women in this world that can also have
a short temper, a short fuse, they can't control their emotions, they just express them differently
than men would.
Now some actually express it the same exact way that a man would actually.
It says it is better to dwell in the wilderness than with a contentious and an angry woman.
Now, this isn't referring to the fact that you should flee from your wife if this is the case.
It's just saying that the location of the wilderness is far more better to dwell in.
You would rather be in the presence of animals and beasts in the wilderness
than with your brawling wife, angry wife.
Proverbs 19 verse 13 says,
A foolish son is the calamity of his father and the contentions of a wife are a continual dropping.
What is that referring to?
Talk about the fact that you know you think about leaky faucet
It's just constantly dripping and echoes throughout the house.
Well, God likens a contentious wife, referring to a nagging angry wife like that continual
dropping.
So, you know, before you nag your husband to death today, tomorrow, keep in mind that
God views that as a continual dropping, okay?
And it says that it stems from an angry wife.
and a contentious woman are alike.
What does it mean to be contentious?
It means you just want to fight, you know?
And let me just remind the married couples in our church,
we should endeavor to keep the spirit of unity
in our marriages on a daily, weekly basis, right?
Not look for a reason to fight.
not pull up something that happened 10 years ago or something like you know
what let's let's spice things up a little bit here remember you forgot this or
whatever and just look for reasons to you know fight with your husband and
fight with your wife we should be those who forgive one another and yet even
ask the Lord to help us to forget some of the previous offenses that causes to
be angry and contentious okay
Yeah, but you know, he just hurt me really bad.
Hey, for better or for worse, that's what the Bible teaches.
And we're sinners, we don't always do things perfectly
and you're not perfect either, okay?
And so the Bible's telling us here,
it's warning us against being contentious as a man,
but it's also warning us about contentious women as well.
Obviously it's painting a picture of angry people
in a very,
bad way that we should strive to stay away and avoid being this type of person that is constantly
angry, wanting to strive, pick fights with our husband, pick fights with our wives, pick fights
with our church members, just pick fights with people just because we're just angry. Okay.
The title of the sermon is to lengthen your fuse. That should be the goal here that if you are a
If you're easily provoked, you know, we should pray,
Lord, help me to lengthen the fuse of that dynamite
so that, you know, I'm not ticked off easily,
that I'm long-suffering towards others,
that I endure, that I'm patient,
that I bear all things,
and I can be a person of virtue, okay?
So let me give you a couple points this morning
on how to lengthen your fuse.
Go to the book of Proverbs, if you would.
Proverbs chapter 16.
Go to Proberty Chapter 16.
Point number one on how to lengthen your fuse.
Number one, don't be easily provoked,
meaning don't have thin skin.
Don't be easily provoked.
What does it mean to be easily provoked?
You just get mad, super easy, no matter what anybody says.
Everybody has to walk on eggshells around you
because you're just an easily provoked person.
That should not be the case.
You know, oh man, you gotta be careful with this person
because they just have a short fuse.
They get really angry.
They get really offended.
You know, I personally like the atmosphere
that our church has, especially amongst the men
that they're constantly just roasting each other.
They're just cooking each other.
They're just constantly making jokes about each other.
Why?
Because of the fact that people need to grow some thick skin.
and you can't just get offended at everything, you know, and quite frankly, when it comes to this
matter of Christianity, you know, we are a target to this world, and you know, if you can't take a joke,
you know, about, you know, your weight, about your skin color, yeah, I said it.
You know, we need to make sure that we're people who are just not easily provoked, you know stop
You know, how about this? How about you stop listening to the liberal news media?
It's caused you to be so sensitive about every single topic and situation
Learn how to laugh at yourself learn how to take a joke and don't be easily provoked
Don't be like these liberal, limp-rusted people out there this Gen Z Starbucks, you know
Generation that can't handle a joke
I just don't like it when people talk about Mexicans or something like that.
Why?
What's the issue?
For in Christ there is neither Jew nor Gentile.
Neither bond nor free.
I just don't like it when people talk about black people.
Why?
What's the issue?
This is not a BLM church.
This is a Christ-centered church, and you know what?
We accept people of all nationalities,
as long as they believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and uphold the doctrines of the faith.
You know, we have more in common
with someone who's not of our shade of color of skin
than someone who is our shade of color skin,
but doesn't agree with us doctrinally.
And that should be the attitude, my friends.
You know, don't be a person who's just easily provoked.
You can't take a joke.
You just, oh man, we just got to walk on eggshells around you
because we just don't know if you're just having a bad day
or something like that.
And you know, you're going to blow your fuse.
The Bible says in James one, you're in Proverbs,
James chapter one, verse 19.
Wherefore, my beloved brethren,
let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak,
slow to wrath, the Bible says.
For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.
Ecclesiastes 7, verse 9 says this,
Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry.
What does that mean?
You're just, you're fast to get mad.
You quickly get angry, you're hasty,
you just get upset immediately.
It says here, for anger resteth in the bosom of fools.
And so it's warning us against being the person who's just easy.
Well, I don't like the way that person looked at me or something like that.
You know, I used to have a friend who like, you know, it was hard to hang out with him
just in public because he just thought everyone was mad talking to him.
It's just that we're just out in and he's just like...
That's the guy looking at him, like, maybe because you're looking at him? I don't know.
The guy has eyes he uses them to look at things and you're you're in his path
So what's the issue and he's just we would be driving in the car and then he's and then he's in the passenger side
He's just like
He's just looking for a fight
And look we shouldn't have this that's like a
Masculine complexity or something where people just like feel men have feel like they have to prove themselves and you know
I can't have anybody look at me cock-eyed or something like that.
And if they do, you know, then it's on or whatever.
That's nonsense, my friends. That's foolishness according to the Bible.
And look, if you need to, if you need that in order to feel masculine, then you're actually effeminate according to the Bible.
Because if effeminate according to the Bible is a person who's
unable to restrain themselves in their anger.
It's a person who just blows up, they just have a short fuse.
The world looks at that and is like, don't mess with this guy, this guy is super manly
or something.
This guy is just crazy.
But the Bible, God looks at that and is saying, this person is just emotionally weak.
They can't handle, they can't even be a functioning member of society because they think everyone
is out to get them or something.
And look, how about this, if you don't like people looking at you in public, don't be
Pull up your pants. How about that?
Don't look like a gangster and no one will look at you, right?
Don't look like a hoodlum and no one's gonna stare at you.
Have a pleasant disposition and people won't stare at you and be suspicious of you. How about that?
Now look, I'm not a gangster, obviously.
But I get looked at all the time, but it's not because I look threatening because I don't it's because I am a spectacle
Because I got like six kids or I'm about to have six this is six one
You know so if we're out in public everyone's always staring at us, you know, but I'm just not like what are you looking at?
You know, huh?
Take a picture last long, you know, I'm not
It's just like yeah, this is just how it is you know, but I'm not gonna get upset just because people are looking at me and
You know thinking that I'm still in high school or something like oh, I need to prove myself because this guy is calling me out
He's making me feel like you know, I'm a threat or something like that
So we got to handle business. It's not the way it works my friends as a Christian. Don't be easily provoked
Have a long fuse. Don't be hasty in your spirit to be angry.
The Bible says to be slow to wrath.
An example that I think about in the Bible in this regard is King Nebuchadnezzar.
And King Nebuchadnezzar, if you remember in Daniel chapter 2,
he has this dream and obviously God gives him the dream in order to give him
the prophetic events of what's going to take place in the future.
But the problem is when he wakes up he forgets the dream.
And he wants to know the interpretation of the dream,
but he also wants to know what he dreamt as well.
So he calls all the astrologers,
all the magicians to come,
and he's like, all right,
I need to know the interpretation of my dream,
but I also need you to tell me what my dream is.
And if you don't tell me,
I'm gonna make your house as a dung hill.
Just immediately gets angry.
He's just like, if you don't do it,
then I'm just gonna kill you and your family.
That's a hasty person.
And he's just like, well, if you could tell us the dream,
then we could make an interpret,
and obviously these guys can't,
but they're like, if you could just tell us what the dream is,
he said, no, I'm not gonna tell you what the dream is,
and if you can't tell me that, I'm just gonna kill you.
The Bible says in part 16 verse 14, look what it says,
verse 14, the wrath of a king is as messengers of death.
but a wise man will pacify it.
And obviously in that particular story,
who's the man, who's the wise man
to pacify the anger of the king?
It was Daniel who came and was able to pacify him
because the Bible says that a soft answer
turned us away wrath.
I think also of Balaam.
Now Balaam is a false prophet
and Balaam is writing on a donkey
because he wants to get unrighteous gain
by cursing Israel.
and God opens up the mouth of the donkey
to start speaking unto Balaam, right?
Now, this is a notable miracle in the Bible.
When an animal begins to speak,
that's pretty crazy, right?
Now, if I was in his position,
and I was riding a donkey,
and a donkey started talking to me,
I would forget whatever I was about to do,
and I'd be like, hold on a second.
How about we like, make some money together, you know?
We go right around, you talk, you know what I mean?
And this has never been done before.
This animal's talking.
But what does Baylor do?
He just starts beating the donkey.
He's like smiting the donkey because the donkey crushes foot up against the wall
He's smite him and he's just like why are you smiting me for and he's like cuz you crushed my foot
I would have been like, you know what? I'm sorry, you know
You're speaking to me either. I took some drugs previous to this and I'm hallucinating or this is just a notable miracle here
But he can't even see beyond the miracle because he's so what angry
And you know, there's people out there that become so angry. They kind of lose all reasoning
Lose all logic and then two hours later. They actually regret everything that they did in their season in that
You know time of anger. Okay, the Bible says in Proverbs 12 verse 16 a fool's wrath listen to this is
Presently known
But a prudent man covereth shame. This is saying that a person who's soon angry who's easily provoked everyone knows it
They know when they're mad, they know when they're upset.
Why? Because they presently display their emotions of anger when you come to the church
and you got anger on your face, you're angry with people, your behavior is angry.
You just have those characteristics and attributes of just being an angry person.
It's presently known.
But the Bible says that you're a fool for that.
Because the Bible deems a person who cannot control his emotions as being a fool, okay?
Whereas a prudent man is able to cover listen to this his shame
Why because to display anger in such a way is shameful according to the Bible
Therefore we should seek to be prudent and cover that up look at Proverbs chapter 14 if you would Proverbs chapter 14
Proverbs 14 and verse 16 says this a wise man feareth and departed from evil
But the fool rages and it's confident
man, you know, I'll mess that fool up
You know how many videos are out there on Instagram of people who were raging they were confident and then they lost their lives because of it
Verse 17 says he that is soon angry dealeth foolishly and a man of wicked devices is
Hated. What are these verses telling us? It's obviously trying to cause us to avoid
Being a person who's just easily
Provoked, you know, you're gonna have people who push your buttons all the time especially as a Christian
You might have family members who do that and if you don't have any of that we'll do it for you
We'll push your buttons.
Why? Because we want to develop Christians who are thick-skinned.
We want to develop Christians who aren't sensitive
and easily provoked and soon angry.
They cannot take any form of criticism.
And look, as a Christian, in order for you to just grow as a Christian,
you have to take some criticism.
You have to take reproof.
You have to take rebuke.
You have to take some form of correction in order to get better.
So, don't get angry at me when I'm preaching against you.
Don't become soon angry because I preach against your belief, against your devices, against
your behavior.
Why?
Because the Bible is telling us here, it's showing us that a prudent man takes that criticism,
takes those rebukes and becomes better because of it, okay?
Don't be a person who rages and is confident.
Look at Proverbs chapter 21, if you would,
Proverbs chapter 21.
Proverbs 21 and verse 23 says this,
who so keepeth his mouth and his tongue,
keepeth his soul from troubles?
Proud and haughty, scorner is his name,
who dealeth in proud wrath.
So here's a way that we can lengthen our fuse
as Christians so as to not be easily provoked.
Just keep your mouth shut.
That's one of the best ways to do it so let's say you're just struggling you're just like man
I'm just an angry person. I get upset very easily. I do have a short fuse and you know, I often regret
The decisions I make when I'm angry, you know, what should I do? Well, here's one of the best things for you to do
Is when you're angry just zip it
Just determine, you know what I'm not gonna say anything until I've cooled down
And folks, let me say this, that's probably one of the best decisions that you can make as a Christian.
Because why? The Bible tells us, in a multitude of words, they're wanted, not sinned.
The more you talk, the more likely it is that you're going to sin with your mouth.
And if you add on top of the fact that you're wrathful, you're angry, you're upset,
you're going to say things that later on you are going to regret.
This is why, folks, look, if you're arguing with your spouse,
You know you guys are going at it because you're upset at each other the best things the best thing to do is just say
You know what let's just go take a walk. Let's let's let's you know
Separate not separate as a divorce, but just kind of go I go take a walk over here
You go to the room over here or something like that just create some space between each other
Because if not you might say something you might later regret
Sticks and stones may break your bones, but yes words can hurt you actually
It hurts the recipient and it hurts the person who says it because later on they come to the realization
That was a stupid thing that I said
Okay, so here's one way that you can avoid that
Here's one way that you can lengthen the fuse is just don't say anything
When you are in a state of anger a state of wrath you say well, hold on a second. I got a good comeback though
She needs to hear this
He needs to hear this
You know, he doesn't know this information.
I need to tell him, I need to put him in his place.
I need to put her in her place.
You know, yeah, you're gonna create more damage
in the long run with just one sentence.
You know, not only in your marriage,
but even, you know, to your children as well.
You know, because sometimes people who are wrathful,
their wrath is presently known not just before their spouse,
but even before their kids.
And you know, people who don't have self-control,
who are easily angered, who are easily provoked,
they don't care who's present,
even if it includes their children, okay?
Don't be a person who just, you know,
it doesn't take much to upset you.
You're easily provoked.
Make sure you just zip it until you can cool down.
And look, when you do that, you'll realize later,
like, man, I'm glad I didn't say anything.
I didn't say what was up here.
What was in here because I could have really messed things up by doing so
Lengthen your fuse also by conceding or coming to a reasonable conclusion
Look folks, it should be that within and obviously I'm talking about in the context of marriage, but this applies to every every area of life
We should ask Christians not have to have the final word
Right and pride, arrogance, ego
Pushes us to have that final word. Well, I got to have the final say so on this
I got to let them know this how about you just concede and just say you know, you're right
Well, because they're not right and I want to be right, but who cares?
It's better to maintain a healthy relationship with the person that you love by conceding
by submitting
To that particular criticism rather than just escalating that thing just because you need to prove to them that you're right
It's not worth it
And so, come to a reasonable conclusion. Look at Proverbs 15, if you would.
Proverbs 15 verse 18 says this, a wrathful man stireth up strife.
What does it mean to stir up strife? It means the conflict is already bad enough as it is,
and then the wrathful man just makes it worse. He just adds gasoline to the fire.
You know, just more criticisms. They just want to fight. They stir up strife. He is she is a
What's the word I'm looking for not an agitator an instigator
They instigated they just make the situation worse, right?
But it says but he that is slow to anger a
peasants strife
Meaning that the person who has a long fuse
wants to defuse the situation, not escalate it.
Appease the strife.
Meaning, you know what?
And look, let me just say this.
One of the best ways to just resolve a conflict,
I'm telling you right now, and the vast majority of you
are probably not gonna agree with me,
but I'm telling you, it works.
99, 9, 9, 9, 9, 9, 9% of the time.
Just apologize.
Say sorry.
You're like, well, no, I'm not going to say sorry.
Why don't you just say sorry?
Just admit your fault and just say sorry.
Look, if and when I'm fighting with my wife,
I make sure apologies are done.
I go up to her and say, is there something
you want to tell me?
Don't you feel like you need to apologize to me?
No, I'm just kidding.
I've learned over the last you know a couple of years of being married is just one of the best things to do
When if I met conflict with my wife, and yes, I do have conflict with my wife
Believe it or not. We don't have a perfect marriage. It doesn't exist
Okay, like oh, yeah, you say that because you married a pastor's daughter. She's still a sinner though
She still makes mistakes. So do I and we have conflicts
But we've resolved them by placing up guidelines that when it gets to a certain point
We just come to each other and we say I'm sorry
And I'll tell it like I was a jerk to you
And I'm sorry for being a jerk to you because I know I can be a jerk
Please forgive me and you know what she does she quickly forgives me. She's just like
Sorry for what though
You know
She doesn't rub it in my face.
She's just not like, get on your knees.
She's just, no, she's just like, I forgive you immediately.
And you know what?
Vice versa, if my wife offends me and she comes to me
and she says, please forgive me,
I say forgiven and forgotten.
Why?
Because I want to have peace with my wife.
This is, we're not in competition one with another.
She's not my adversary.
She's not my enemy.
She's my wife.
Trying to have peace we want to be happy and we we have found that the times that we're the happiest is when we
Forgive one another and then we just move on so we don't have this dark cloud of conflict looming over us
Because we're too proud to ask for forgiveness
But you know what this applies to every area of life if you have a strife with the brother or sister in Christ just go apologize
What's the deal?
Well, you know we're not kids here. We're grown adults just go to someone and say you know what?
I know I've offended you and I'm really sorry for that and I want you to please forgive me
And if you're the recipient of that message be the person that says I forgive you give me a hug. Let's go eat in and out
Let's go out and hang out for a little bit or whatever and just forget the whole thing. Why not?
That's a far better resolution. That's a far better ending to that conflict than just escalating the situation becoming bitter
becoming angry and you know just
Shortening your fuse that much the more because you don't know how to resolve conflicts in your personal life. Okay?
Look at Proverbs 19 if you would Proverbs chapter 19
And verse number 11 says this, Proverbs 19 verse 11 says,
the discretion of a man defereth his anger
and it is his glory to pass over a transgression.
Now let me explain what this is referring to.
Discretion is referring to just like appropriateness, right?
A person who's discreet is a person who has decorum.
They have appropriateness about themselves.
And it says that that man will defer his anger,
meaning that he will postpone his anger.
So this is showing us that there might be an instance where it's right for you to be angry
But if you are a discreet person, you'll say to yourself
You know what? I'm gonna deal with the situation later when I'm not as wrath or angry in my heart right now
This situation has to be dealt with
We have to resolve this conflict, but I'm just too angry at this moment
I'm too upset to resolve it right now.
Well, the discretion of a man deferred his anger,
meaning he will postpone his anger for later, okay?
And here's a great way to explain this.
Sometimes our kids are in public,
they misbehave and they need whoopens.
Yeah, you heard right.
They need to be disciplined.
But you know what, sometimes in a certain public setting,
it's just not appropriate, right?
So you're just like, you're gonna get it
when we get home, right?
You might realize you know this can't wait, but sometimes it has to wait
The discretion of a man deferred his anger and you know what recognizes later on when you go home
Maybe you're not as upset about it, but the discipline still has to be instituted though
Right it still needs to be dealt with and by the way parents be the person who keeps his word when it comes to that
Make sure you consistently discipline your children don't let them off the hook when they need to be disciplined obviously
There's instances where we got to be gracious where we need to be merciful
But we need to be consistent in our discipline of children because children can sniff out when we are compromising
The discretion of a man puts off his anger and deals with it later
This is showing us that the that the discreet man has control over his emotions
He's not just blowing up on his kid just yanking the hair
Slapping them across the face or whatever just blowing up
It shows that this person is like this is making me really upset right now
But I can't deal with it right now because I'm an adult
I have discretion, therefore I shall postpone my anger for later.
This shall be resolved at a later time."
And in fact, it says in the second half,
it is his glory to pass over a transgression.
Meaning, he's just like, you know, he's kind of proud of himself that he's able to just kind of not blow up, not have a short fuse, not just be soon angry.
He's able to pass over that transgression and not allow that transgression to get a foothold on him where he does something stupid, something that he's going to regret later on.
And so, be a discreet person, lengthen your fuse.
Look at Proverbs chapter 20 if you would.
We're going to be in Proverbs for the majority of the time.
Verse number three says,
Proverbs chapter 29, you don't have to turn there, says this,
Verse 20, says this,
Now, let me say this, you know, this applies to everyone, but especially to pastors, right?
Pastors, part of the qualification of being a pastor is that we can't be soon angry.
Now, this does not mean that we cannot be angry because God expects us,
and he has an expectation of pastors to become angry when it's called for.
You know sometimes I got to get up here and just you know scream and yell and preach against sin and
Preach against false ideologies and the veins got to pop out and I got to you know do the I thing and all that you know I
Got to get angry and God has that expectation of me, right?
But here's the thing though is it that's discretion because it's planned, right?
I'm deferring that anger, you know, I hear about something, I'm like, man, that makes me really upset,
but I have to deal with that at a different time. That's what a discreet man has to do.
Titus 1.7, you don't have to turn to say this, regarding a pastor,
for a bishop must be blameless as a steward of God, not self-willed, not soon angry.
Not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre, meaning the pastors can have short fuses.
If you are a pastor or you're striving to be a pastor,
you want to be a pastor of a church,
you got to be able to have some control over your emotions.
Not be a brawler, not be a striker, right?
I can't be up here like, man,
I wish I could just beat up Hike, man.
I just, that guy makes me so angry.
Just want to slap him.
Even if I feel that way, you know what I mean?
I'm just kidding.
You know, it'd be very inappropriate for a pastor to have any kind of emotions like that towards his congregation.
Now, you know, am I gonna stand up here and say that I've never been angry towards our church members?
Of course, I've been angry towards our church members.
You know, I've had church members offend me. I've had church members say inappropriate things towards me.
I've had church members, you know, you just see in a way a different behavior in a church setting,
but it's normal behavior among sinners and you know, I'm not shocked when it happens, right?
But it would be another thing for me to experience those situations and be like
Just let me catch this guy after church in the parking lot and it's on right now
Let me say this is that when the Bible says no striker
I don't believe it's referring to the fact that a pastor can't defend himself or his family or I would even say his church
members as well
Okay, and I'll give you this example and this only happened once
But I remember years ago when we were in El Monte,
you know, it was around the fall time
and I was taking pictures with my wife and my daughter
and my son and Kyla I think was like a little baby
at the time and we had a pumpkin and we went to the park
and we're taking pictures and this random lady
just walks up, right?
And you know, she says, what are you doing with my daughter?
And I'm just like and I kind of looked at her and I said all right Sarah it's time to go
You know, it's just a weird thing to say, you know, so I grabbed my I was like let's go
So we start walking the ladies following us and add a pumpkin
in my hand and she's like that's my daughter
You took my daughter away from me
And I'm just like this lady's lost her mind
But you know, she's getting close and she's just like, you know, give me my daughter
And I say, you take one more step,
I'm gonna bash your face in with this pumpkin.
And then she just like snapped out of it.
I don't know why, she's just kinda like, oh.
That's what I said, and you know what?
You said, did you mean it?
Of course I meant it.
You wouldn't do that?
That's not an inappropriate,
you know what I should have done, oh I'm sorry.
And just give her like.
What was I thinking we're just taking pictures
No, I mean there's appropriate times and it's not like I blew up on her immediately
We were trying to walk away. I'm walking away from the situation
You know, I'm not trying to get into any kind of conflict or anything
But you know sometimes people need to hear it
And there's appropriate times to become angry.
There's appropriate times to physically defend yourself
against someone or defend someone who's incapable
of defending themselves, okay?
I don't believe that a person who does that
is a striker or a brawler.
A striker or a brawler is synonymous with a person
who is soon angry, can't control their emotions.
You know, they get angry and they just start throwing hands
or something like that.
You know, that is inappropriate.
And you know, a pastor who's like that
should not be a pastor.
You know, there's this phrase out there called an onsite, you know, when I see you, onsite, right?
What does that mean? It means like, if I see you because we're enemies, we're throwing hands immediately when I see you.
That's obviously super wicked.
No, there's no Christian virtue in that.
You know, that's absent of the Holy Spirit. That's absent of the Word of God.
But you know, you have pastors saying stuff like that.
Talk about the fact that they have an onsite list.
Right like literally they have like a list of people that they would attack on site and
This pastor specifically said that some of them were in his church
But you know I heard that I was just like I don't know if this person knows what on site means because if they're in his church
They'd go throw hands then right because on site means like as soon as I see you and they're like right there in his church
He's not throwing hands, you know
I'm not saying you should, I'm just saying
if you're gonna call it on-site list
and they're on-site, you know, that's what it means, right?
For, you know, my Bonnix people, am I correct?
Is that correct?
On-site means that what I just said, right?
All right, just wanna make sure.
That is a person who's soon angry.
They're a striker, they're a brawler.
What a weird church service to be a part of.
If some of you were a part of my,
well, first of all, it'd be weird
to have an on-site list, period.
And look, I've had some serious enemies in times past
who've done me much evil.
But I don't just, you know, go to sleep
and I thinking about them.
I don't spend my days just meditating on people
who hate me or have done my wife evil,
my children evil, myself evil, my church evil.
I don't, that's just not my personality.
Number one, because I'm a Christian,
but number two, I'm a pastor.
And you know, I like to think upon things that are lovely.
Things that are true, things that are of good report.
I'm not trying to, you know, anger does not rest in my bosom.
Right?
And so it's strange, it would be weird for me
to just have an on-site list, but even weirder
if you were on my on-site list.
I'm looking at someone right now.
You know?
He's like, worry, you know, he's on my on-site list,
and he's, you know, brother Bill's on my on-site list,
and, you know, sometimes Damien's on there,
and, you know, it's just a weird situation.
That's a person who has no control over his emotions, okay?
And look, young man, if you are striving to be a pastor,
that's one quality you can never have.
because a pastor is to be characterized by self-control, okay?
You're to have control over your emotions, not act like a high schooler, acting like you.
And let me just say this, from what I remember growing up in high school,
those who are constantly talking about fighting like that are often the ones that couldn't fight.
The dangerous ones are ones who just didn't talk about fighting.
You know, the dangerous ones were actually the long-suffering ones.
The ones who had just took a long time to kind of provoke them, the quiet ones, they were the dangerous, the ones who were always yapping their mouth about being able to beat up everybody were often the ones who actually got beat up.
That's just how it was.
And look, you know, we as a church, we don't need to identify as a man, we're just really
good at fighting, and you know, we're just manly in that area, and we don't need to do
that.
We just, how about we just identify as Christians, fundamental Baptists who love the Lord, we
love the Bible, and you know, we don't need to prove ourselves to anybody.
It's nonsense, okay?
You don't have to have an onsite list, okay?
And, you know, another thing I've noticed is that, you know, often the people who can
do the most damage, like, as I mentioned before, you just never hear about it.
There's people in our church that are like black belts, and you're like, who, exactly.
You wouldn't know it, because they're not walking into church with their black belt.
You know what I mean?
Oh, what, this?
You know?
You know, they're not walking in with their blackbills.
They're not talking about, they're about other things.
They don't need to like address the fact
that they're like really good at what they do, you know?
Why? Because they don't, they have self-control.
And obviously when you do martial arts,
that kind of teaches you
to have some self-control about yourself.
The point that I'm making here is that
Christians should not be people who are soon angry,
but pastors for sure.
And look, I've had pastors slander me,
throw my name under the bus, drag my name through the mud,
and just criticize me and say all manner of evil
against me falsely.
But you know what?
I'm not just thinking like, man,
if I see this guy at an airport,
I'm just gonna beat him down.
It's just not in my mind.
I'm not thinking about things like that because.
I'm busy doing the work of the Lord and at the end of the day
I know that behavior would not be pleasing unto God. I know he's not pleased with that
I know he doesn't want me to behave that way and so I just let it go
Okay, be a person who's able to just let things go go to Matthew chapter 5 hold your place there in Proverbs
And look, you know, some of us have been offended
in times past to the point of violence, possibly, right?
That does happen.
I'm not saying that's not the case.
And I'll tell you right now, you know, in 2021,
when we were being persecuted,
I was angered to the point of violence.
I didn't commit violence,
but you know, I was tempted to be violent, right?
You know, people are protesting your church and saying all manner of evil and perverse things.
They are, you know, camping outside of our house.
They are harassing us when we're going so-and-ing with my family.
That obviously angers me and causes me to become wrathful inside.
But even then, you know, there should be no sense of device or imagination that would say,
you know what, I'm going to do something about this.
I think anger and having that type of anger is natural, it's do you actually try to work it out?
Are you trying to do something about it?
You know, are you actually imagining or planning to do something with that anger that's sinful or evil or wicked at that point, it becomes wrong.
Okay, look at Matthew 5 or 38.
You have heard that it had been said in eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth, but I say unto you that you resist not evil.
But whose service shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also?
Now, this isn't even necessary referring to self-defense, it's just referring to someone who's trying to provoke you.
Right because when I think of this verse I think of like people who used to fence back in the day
Right, and they would call your honor into place and just you pull out their glove and you know
I challenge you whatever you know I challenge you to a duel or whatever
You know with the little frills and all this
And you know what it's saying here is that if someone is trying to provoke you into a fight
They're trying to make you angry
You should just turn the other cheek and just walk the other way and just you know not get involved in that
You know anybody who's actually trained in martial arts will tell you it's better to just flee from a from a street fight a
Conflict didn't actually stay there and fight. Why because there's no rules in the street
So the guy can say put them up you put them up and he's like hot psych suck up
Ah and just shoot you in the stomach and you're done
There's better to just say I don't want to fight walk away and that's it
There's more honor in that why because I don't know because you keep living
Turn the other cheek go back to Proverbs if you wouldn't I
Know that was a long point, but it was necessary the point that I'm making here is that we as Christians should strive to lengthen our fuse
Lengthen your fuse in your marriage
Practice this week, not just being easily provoked,
soon angry.
If your wife says something to you,
if your husband says something to you,
Lord, help me to lengthen my fuse
and not be easily provoked.
Help me to forgive.
Help me to concede.
Help me to come to a reasonable conclusion.
Or the easiest one is just,
help me not to just say anything.
Show me just shut up.
Help me not to criticize.
Help me just not to escalate the situation
by the things that I say.
How to lengthen your fuse, number two, don't associate with angry, short tempered people.
Proverbs 22, verse 24 says this, make no friendship with an angry man.
And with the furious man thou shalt not go,
lest thou, listen to this, learn his ways,
and get a snare to thy soul.
You hang around violent angry people,
you'll become angry and violent yourself.
That's just how it is.
Because he that walketh with wise men shall be wise,
but a companion of fools shall be destroyed.
Obviously we have our own will,
but at the end of the day,
we are influenced by the people who are around.
That's why it's important that you're in church.
Why? Because God knows that when Christians are in church,
other Christians exhort them in the faith.
They become like the Christians around them. That's why we all kind of share almost the same personality to a certain degree
Not the same temperament, but the same personality. We are interested in the same things. Why because we're part of the same church
Well, if you're costly around angry people, you're around
Furious individuals, violent people, you're gonna be tempted to become that type of person
Whereas the Bible tells us in Proverbs 27 verse 17, iron sharpeneth iron, right?
So, man, sharpened the countenance of his friend.
You know, I'm a firm believer that believers have a great responsibility to help sharpen
the countenance of their fellow believer.
What do I mean by that?
You know, some Christian comes into the church, they've been here for a while and they're
just always angry.
You know, I think a brother in Christ would say, hey, man, what's up?
Why has that countenance fallen?
You know?
Let's, let's, what's going on?
Let's talk.
You know?
I'm just really upset.
All right, well, you guys, stop being so emotional though.
You know, you could be upset, but you know,
can you, you know, can we change this?
You're in church.
You're around other Christians, other believers.
People are looking to you as an example.
You're a man.
You have, you know, the word of God.
You have the Holy Spirit dwelling within you.
You have a local New Testament church.
You got a pastor, you got people that love you.
There should be no reason why you're coming to church upset.
You plan to come to church upset.
So fix it.
You know, iron sharpened with iron, right?
And here is an example of this, and I believe it works.
But when we got married, I took my wife to the San Diego
Zoo, Wild Animal Park.
And I don't know if they still have this system, so don't
tell me if they don't, because it'll ruin the
illustration.
But back in the day, they used to have this thing called
the buddy system.
with the cheetah exhibition, okay?
So you go to this place, it's a cheetah exhibition,
and you go there and it's just like,
how come there's not like a fence?
And it's just, there's no fence.
And I'm like, whoa, you know?
So then they bring out the cheetah,
and it's not on a leash.
And it's just like, what in the world?
But they have what's called the buddy system.
So this cheetah essentially grew up
with a very mellow, tame dog.
And because it's with that dog all the time,
it just kind of, it chills out.
It's not very aggressive.
It does whatever the dog does.
It's like the dog,
I don't know if the dog is like the alpha or whatever,
but because it's always paired with this particular
chilled out, mellow dog,
the cheetah's kind of chilled out too.
So it doesn't act aggressive, it's just cool.
And so anytime they bring it out,
they just got to make sure they have that dog with them.
Right?
And so I thought about it, I was like, man,
that's a great illustration regarding Christians, you know?
We need buddy system sometimes
And you know I think the buddy system is already implemented here sometimes because you know Christians have a tendency to code switch sometimes too
Right they act like a Christian when they're here, but then when they're around their other friends they act like their other friends
You know, that's why it's important that if you go visit an old friend because you want to witness to them bring someone with you
So you don't start acting like your old friends again
You know you can do a little code switching there and you stop acting like a Christian and then you start acting like a worldly
Individual and then you just fail at that mission. Why don't you bring brother Geo with you?
Bring brother Mori with you get that buddy system going
So that you know it kind of mellows you out and keeps you being a Christian
The point that I'm making here is don't associate with angry short-tempered people
If you have anger issues, then you probably need to get away from people who are likewise angry, short-tempered,
because they can often influence your disposition.
How to lengthen your views.
Don't be easily provoked. Don't associate with angry, short-tempered people.
Number three, don't dwell on previous offenses.
Part of the reasons people are so short-tempered is because they're constantly festering old offenses.
She's constantly thinking about how you offended her 30 years ago.
Ecclesiastes again says this, the anger rested in the bosom of fools.
Go with me if you would, you're in Proverbs.
Go to Proverbs, let me see here actually, go to Proverbs 16.
Folks, we need to make sure that we as Christians are not constantly thinking about that offense, that traumatic experience,
that thing that your husband said, that thing that she said, that thing that they did.
That causes you to be angry.
Part of being a bitter person is a person who's just constantly thinking about the past.
There's a lot of bad stuff that happened in my past that I'm grateful for because it made me the man that I am today
but I all you know, I often
illustrate the past like a room that has a small little window and
What I often do in my Christian life is when I need to feel more grateful
When I need to have
Gratitude and look at what God's done. I just kind of go over and I peek into that window every once in a while
And we just remember where I came from
Remember how things used to be but once I take a look then I walk away and I go do my thing
You know some people are just constantly there
Like I can't believe she said that I can't believe you just say they live in the past
And what happens when you live in the past,
you just become a bitter person, an angry individual.
And look, you and I both know people
who can talk about an event that took place 30 years ago
as though it just happened yesterday.
You bring them one situation, it's like, oh yeah,
and it's just like, when did this take place?
Oh yeah, like 50 years ago, 30 years ago,
it happened 10 years ago, it's just like,
you were able to recall that thing
like it just happened yesterday, right?
Why is that? Because they dwell on that past and again, we can't change our past
We can't change the actions of others towards us
We can't change the traumas the offenses that took place
You can peek in there every once in a while to help you to gain some gratitude over what God's doing now
But don't live at that window though
And maybe some of you just need to board up that window period so you could just never revisit it ever again and part of boarding it up
It's just better think about it ever again
Make new memories.
Think about other things.
Forget those things.
Don't dwell on previous offenses.
And you know what?
That'll help you to lengthen the fuse of your temperament.
How to lengthen your fuse.
Number four, and I've mentioned this already,
but it's worth noting,
have self-control over your emotions.
Look at Proverbs 16 verse 32.
He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty.
And I want you to notice this.
And he that ruleth his spirit,
then he that taketh a city.
Go to Proverbs chapter 25, Proverbs 25.
The Bible places a heavy emphasis
on being able to rule over your own spirit.
And make no mistake about it, friends.
Listen to me, this is a spiritual battle.
And in a spiritual battle, the spirit has to lead the flesh.
You have to be able to rule over yourself.
And look, maybe you're really good
at ruling over your diet.
Maybe you're really good at ruling over your regimen every single day. Well, here's a new challenge rule over your spirit, too
Rule over your emotions. Don't wear your emotions on your sleeve
Now I will say this, you know, that's permissible for women every once in a while though
You know women can sometimes they just you know, they're women so
Hormonal and they can be emotional sometimes and you know, we kind of need to give them that pass
But men can we not act like women though?
Is that too much to ask?
You're a man.
Women experience a wide range of emotions.
What men experience, as far as emotions and hormones
over a span of a year, a woman experiences every single month.
Just think about it that way.
So let them cry.
And let them cry and be emotional.
That's permissible for them because they're women.
That's how God made them.
It's part of the curse.
But you don't have that curse
You don't have that curse
You have testosterone
You're a man
You have you know you have that which is necessary to control yourself and to be a leader in your home and not to wear
Your emotions on your sleeve when you come to church when you go home from work when you do this that and the other
Don't behave like a woman. Don't be feminine
And I'm not trying to offend you,
oh wait, maybe I am trying to offend you a little bit.
So I can motivate you to not be that way.
You know, it's a destructive home
when both are acting like women,
when only one is supposed to be.
You know, we need to make sure
that we rule over our own spirits.
And let me be frank with you,
we don't have the luxury to be emotional like women are.
We got things to do we got things to take care of we got bills to pay we got mouths to feed
We got people to lead we got projects to do we got you know, we're making the future a man
So we can't just be like
Sucking your thumb, you know what sometimes you just got to get up and say I had a bad day, but you know what?
Tomorrow, yesterday's past, tomorrow's not yet here.
I need to make sure that I just fulfill my responsibilities.
I need to go walk with God.
I need to go lift some weights.
I need to go eat some protein.
And may I say this, okay, sometimes it's not even
a spiritual reason why you're feeling that way.
Sometimes it's because you just have a bad diet.
Can I just say that?
Sometimes you just need to increase your protein intake men. I'm talking to the men
Now obviously this is for the women too, but ladies, you know, you could be emotional. It's cool
But you know guys, you know, sometimes you just need to eat more red meat
Just a little bit more red meat and may I recommend so I'm not I'm not I'm not a doctor
I know but may I recommend to eat at least your body weight of protein?
You're like, oh man, I'm just so depressed.
I'm just so angry all the time.
This is what I prescribe.
Eat red meat for two weeks and call me in the morning
at the end of those two weeks and tell me how you feel.
More often than not, when you do that,
you're gonna be like, damn, I was acting like a little girl.
I don't know why, I feel a lot better.
Yeah, because you need meat.
And obviously, primarily it could be a spiritual problem,
right?
But did you know we're mind, body, and spirit?
And if you're walking with God, you're winning souls to Christ,
and your emotions are still like this, it could be just a physical fix that you need.
You need to just eat some red meat.
And can I also recommend another thing?
Can you go like lift some weights too?
Is that okay for men to do here?
You know, can you go do some squats?
You know, I didn't say run, although if you wanna run,
that's fine, but you know, I'm saying go lift some weights,
go do some presses, go do some lunges,
go do bench press, go do some squats,
go do some deadlifts, in fact, only do deadlifts.
You know go do barbell squats go do something where you're lifting weights
Why because it releases endorphins?
It's building muscle it helps you feel accomplished, and I'm just telling you right now when you do that give it about two weeks
Once the soreness wears off
You really you know I feel great, and I don't even know why I was being so emotional
And it's not because you don't love God
It's not because you're not reading your Bible. It's because you're eating too much junk food
And hey, hey, hey, I like junk food, by the way.
So I'm not getting, I like Taco Bell, believe it or not,
I know, I got converted.
I like McDonald's, I know, I got converted.
I'm such a hypocrite when it comes to that
because I preached against it so many times.
I like the junk food, but you know what?
Sometimes, not sometimes, a lot of the times
we need to make sure our protein's getting in though.
To just function as a man.
We need to make sure that our protein is high,
and that we are mentally stimulating ourselves
but not just reading the Bible, but just learning things,
reading other books, doing so doku or something,
do something to stimulate your mind
and not just be a couch potato,
watching reels and YouTube all day long,
staying up till two o'clock in the morning,
three o'clock in the morning,
and for sure don't be playing video games
to three o'clock in the morning,
telling me why are you depressed.
Get at least, look, and I'm telling you this,
don't do what I do, do what I say.
Get eight hours of sleep.
I would like to have eight hours of sleep,
but I got kids, so that's just not possible sometimes.
But if you can, get some eight hours of sleep,
and get eight hours of good quality sleep,
meaning turn off the video games.
You got the video game eyes today.
Meaning it's possible you're up to like three o'clock.
You're playing Call of Duty or something like that.
You got that look on your face.
I just don't know why I'm so sad.
Because you're not sleeping when God made you sleep.
I just feel so emotional.
Yeah, because you're just sitting in front of a screen
all day long, and then you're getting
minimal amount of sleep, you're not working,
you're not eating protein, you're not lifting weights.
I'd be depressed too.
And then you wonder why you're so emotional.
It's just like, oh, I don't know what's gonna happen to me.
I just, just like, dude, let's go get a four by four.
Let's, the weight room's right there.
Tonight, after church, let's do a sesh of squats.
We won't go too heavy, okay?
And you know, go get a good night's rest
and call me in the morning.
Often that's what it is and this is not at the exclusion of memorizing scriptures walking with God reading the Bible
But folks that could only go so far because of the fact that we're still in this corruptible flesh that needs to be led by the spirit
You know, I often tell people like, hey, you know, we got to make sure we live healthy to live longer and someone told me
Yeah, but the joy of the Lord is what really what we need to though
You know what I mean if you have the joy of the Lord
That's very reason why people live longer and I'm thinking myself
I know a bunch of old IP pastors who have the joy of the Lord and they died early
Because they never took care of themselves
Point that I'm making here is that we need to have self-control over our emotions
If you have all that in check have self-control. All right, let me move on here because I'm running out of time
Let's see here, man, I got a lot to go over still.
Go to Ephesians chapter four, we're done.
Let me just breeze through these points.
How to lengthen your fuse and endeavor
to be a peacemaker at all times.
We should endeavor to be peacemakers.
Now, let me just say this is that in our church,
the brotherhood in our church is exactly that.
They're like brothers.
Sometimes the wives are like man these guys are so mean to each other, but no no don't don't we should you know
It's good for them
It's good for them. You know they insult each other
They make racist jokes against each other
You know, I'm all for it. I
Encourage it
Why because of the fact that first of all I don't want our young I don't want our men to be little weenies
Okay, toughen up a little bit
First and foremost, but secondly, you know insulting each other and bagging on each other is actually healthy
and I personally think that the men in our church love each other a lot and
They're like brothers and that's really what brothers do
You know the only factor that we don't involve here when it comes to brothers. They don't we don't let them fistfight. Okay, and
So, you know obviously and sometimes, you know after service like on a Sunday night guys will be arguing with each other
over some trivial thing or whatever,
just some dumb interpretation or something like that,
you know, and they'll fight about it,
but then when we all go home, we all go home
and then we meet back again in the next service
and everything's A-okay.
So I'm not referring to this kind of peacemaking, okay?
Let the guys duke it out verbally spar,
scripturally spar with one another, let them hack it out.
I'm talking about when there's actual strife though.
We need to make sure that we endeavor to be peacemakers.
Okay, over the essentials of the faith, over Christianity, we need to make sure that there
should be no resentment between one another, and we should seek to make peace and reconciliation
with others when there is conflict.
And you say, well, I have conflict with someone, then go resolve it after church.
Don't just sit on that conflict and just let it fester, go resolve it.
Okay, I have a ton of scriptures to go over here, but I'm going to skip a lot of this.
How to lengthen your fuse lastly and this is probably the best way to lengthen your fuse
Above all else if you get nothing else get this one
Practice the virtue of forgiveness
That's best way to lengthen your fuse and just consistently practice how to forgive
Because you know what you can't stop people from offending you you're definitely not gonna stop me from offending you
We're not going to tone down the racist jokes here.
No, I'm just kidding.
We're not going to tone down how we are.
People are going to be what they are here, OK?
And on top of that, we're going to love you, too, though.
So you can't say that we don't love you, OK?
People are not going to change for you.
All you can do is change yourself.
And part of changing yourself is learning to forgive people
Obviously, gotta have some thick skin
and do these other things,
but at the end of the day,
sometimes people will offend you
and it will be a legitimate reason
to be offended at what they said.
Right?
It's like, wow, that was really offensive.
That freaking hurt my feelings, you know?
And you know what you have to do?
Forgive.
No, I think I should go to a different church.
Oh, you mean a different church
where they're gonna do that too?
You know let me just give you a reality check all churches have people that offend people
That's just it you might as well get it here because at least we're good at it, and I'm just kidding. I
Least you'll laugh a little bit before you cry, you know
You know this is something I've had to learn over the years. I just have to learn how to forgive people
Because, you know, again, like I mentioned, I've been offended by people in our church
over the years, but what if I just let that fester in me, you know, and I'm just like,
man, people don't love me.
I'm just putting all this work.
No, I'd rather just say, you know, I just forgive, forget, and move on with my life,
and I don't dwell on it because I want to practice the virtue of forgiveness, and you'll
be a lot happier in your Christian life if you just learn that.
Just learn how to forgive look at Ephesians chapter 4 now. Let me just say this is it when I say forgive
I don't necessarily mean that you have to forget
Sometimes that's possible too, but sometimes it's not
There's offenses that I've experienced in my life that I've forgiven, but I just can't forget
It was such a traumatic experience. It's such a horrible event. There's just like it's just there, right?
And you can't get rid of it, but that's okay.
You know, sometimes those things need to be there.
We live in a corruptible world.
Doesn't mean I can't live a normal Christian life.
It doesn't have to handicap me in the things that I do.
It doesn't have to ruin my marriage.
It doesn't have to, you know,
interfere with my relationship with other Christians.
Why? Because at the end of the day,
as long as I can get the first part in,
which is to forgive, I'm good.
Look at Ephesians chapter 4 verse 29,
Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth,
but that which is good to the use of edifying,
that it may minister grace into the hearers.
And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God,
whereby you are sealed into the day of redemption.
Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor
and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice.
And I want you to notice this,
and be kind one to another, tenderhearted,
forgiving one another.
Even as God, for Christ's sake, has forgiven you.
You know, part of me lengthening my fuse
is that when I've been offended at others
in my past, BC, or AD,
when I've part of lengthening the cord
of the fuse there, is that when I struggle to forgive someone,
I gotta remember like, man, God actually forgave me
for a lot worse though.
And it's wrong for me not to forgive this person
when God has forgiven me so much.
And then, you know, I feel humiliated to a certain degree.
I'm just like, man, I'm just so prideful
that I would be so offended that I wouldn't be willing
to forgive this person when I've offended God so much
throughout my life, you know?
And so we need to keep a tender heart
by exercising forgiveness.
And let me just say this.
Forgiveness is not you forgiving the person,
but you just keep bringing it up, right?
I'm glad the Holy Spirit just gave me this right now
because I think this is important.
When you forgive, yeah, you can't forget,
but don't keep bringing it up though.
It's not fair to the person you're forgiving.
What's the point of even saying you forgave that person?
I forgive you, but you did do it though.
I forgive you, but, and then you just keep bringing it up.
No, forgiveness means like let's move on from here.
This event is embedded into our relational history,
but it doesn't mean it has to, like, come with us
everywhere we go.
And the only way it comes everywhere we go
is if you just keep bringing it up.
And I'm not excusing the offense.
I'm just saying I'm just trying to help you to move on from the offense and part of that is just saying I forgive you
Because I love you. I forgive you because God forgave me
And I forgive you to the point that I'm willing to leave this traumatic event
Here and let's just walk away from it and never bring it up ever again
And you know what you'll find when you do that you look at the stick of dynamite
You're like wow the fuse is growing a lot
Since I started putting this into practice and you realize that now when people offend you
You know, it just takes a really long time for you to blow up. You're more patient you endure. You're able to
Suffer along now
Because you're able to forgive. Let's pray father. We thank you so much for your word
We're thankful that you are long suffering towards us and
Lord
Your mercy is us not getting what we do deserve
Lord help us to be merciful to others and in fact one of the greatest ways I
think that we can extend mercy to others is recognizing that when we do we
actually receive the benefits of your mercy towards us you'll be merciful to
those who are merciful and I pray that Lord you'd help us to to be forgiving
help us to lengthen the fuse of our emotions Lord help us to apply the
principles that we learned today and not to be soon angry we love you we thank
Please turn your song books to song number 44
Song number 44 will work till Jesus comes
All together nice and strong on that first verse
Oh
Land of rest for the high sign when will the moment come
at home will work till Jesus comes will work till Jesus comes will work till
Jesus comes and will be gathered home to Jesus Christ I fled for rest he made me
Till Jesus comes, we'll work, Till Jesus comes, we'll work,
Till Jesus comes and we'll be gathered home.
I sought at once my Savior's side, No more my step shall roam.
will work till Jesus comes and will be gathered home. Amen. Wonderful singing, you are dismissed.