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So our teaching Scripture this 
morning comes from Mark chapter 

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3, beginning in verse one again.
He entered the synagogue and a 

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man was there who had a withered
hand, and they were watching him

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to see whether he would cure him
on the Sabbath so that they 

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might accuse him. 
And he came to the man, he said 

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to the man who had the withered 
hand come forward. 

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And then he said to them, Is it 
lawful to do good or to do harm 

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on the Sabbath, to save a life 
or to kill? 

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But they were silent. 
And he looked around at them 

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with anger. 
He was grieved at the hardness 

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of their heart. 
And he said to the man, stretch 

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out your hand. 
And he stretched it out and his 

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hand was restored. 
The Pharisees went out and 

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immediately conspired with the 
Herodians against him and Hound 

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to destroy him. 
This is the word of the Lord. 

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Gee, thanks for that warm 
welcome. 

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No, it's cool. 
I I'm obligated to remind you 

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that next week the time changes.
You will set your clocks back. 

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45 minutes so that you can be on
time for church. 

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The people who needed that one. 
Aren't here yet, so I I I at the

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last church that I pastored 
before. 

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My family and I moved to 
Columbus in Oxford, OH. 

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There was always a a. 
Woman. 

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At the. 
Sort of time change moment in 

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the year, who would miss it? 
Like consistently with for the 

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whole 10 years that I was there.
Her name is Linda and we joked. 

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About this a lot so you know I I
actually hope that she catches. 

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Wind of this Linda would arrive 
in the room every week, just on 

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a normal week, looking like she 
had sort of been dropped out of 

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a whirlwind into church. 
Like her hair is just, you know,

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everywhere. 
But then the two. 

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Weeks a year that the. 
Time had changed when she showed

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up to church an hour early or an
hour late. 

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The look of bewilderment on her 
face, as though this had never 

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happened before, was one of my 
favorite things. 

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To see so I haven't. 
Been here long enough yet to 

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know if. 
There is a Linda. 

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Among us. 
But I'm I'm watching, I'm paying

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attention. 
So in the 19. 70s psychologists 

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started. 
Studying what happens in the 

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body when we get angry. 
I have a cartoon. 

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For you there, there's this, you
know, series of. 

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Brain scans and what? 
They found was as they hooked 

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people up to. 
Monitors and sensors, the The 

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brain is flooded with energy 
when people become angry. 

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And I don't know if you know 
this about me, but I love New 

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Yorker cartoons. 
There's just something about 

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like the aesthetic of New Yorker
cartoons. 

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And they're kind of. 
Clever wit that that just. 

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Does it for me so here you know 
the doctor's pointing at the 

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brain scan and says and this is 
the part that we'll never forget

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the time you called your third 
grade teacher mom I'll I'll 

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bring more cartoons in the 
future It's fine and if if you 

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if. 
You don't get it. 

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You just need more social 
anxiety in your life I guess. 

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I don't know. 
The body is getting ready to do 

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something when we're angry. 
To fight, to protest, to protect

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and. 
It's not just in your head, it's

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a fully embodied alarm that 
something you love or something 

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you. 
Care about feels threatened and.

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The strange thing is that the 
same burst of energy that can 

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lead someone to punch holes in 
the drywall can also lead 

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another person to pull someone 
from a burning car. 

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Anger, and this is very counter.
To the way that a. 

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Lot of us have been taught to 
think about anger. 

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Anger is morally ambidextrous. 
Anger can serve all sorts of 

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functions in our personal lives,
in society. 

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It can destroy or it can heal. 
And that's what. 

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Makes it so tricky to. 
Understand we live in a. 

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World that both feeds. 
On anger in the most unhealthy 

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way possible and fears it at the
same time indignation has become

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a kind of currency we. 
Reward whoever can be the. 

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Most enraged. 
Enraged the quickest and we also

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don't know. 
What to do with our? 

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Own anger, we swallow it. 
We apologize for it. 

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We. 
Pretend it's not there and then 

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every once in a while. 
It kind of leaks out sideways. 

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And some of us express anger in 
loud, obvious, kind of 

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obnoxious. 
Ways sometimes others carry it 

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like a low grade fever. 
And sometimes it erupts in 

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traffic or in politics or in 
family life. 

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And for other people it can just
seep out slowly as cynicism or 

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detachment. 
Sometimes the people who seem 

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the calmest on the. 
Surface are actually the 

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angriest. 
People in the room, they have 

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learned to translate their anger
into something more socially 

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acceptable. 
And it's not all bad. 

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Anger has built hospitals, it 
has launched reform movements, 

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it's overturned oppressive 
systems, it's given ordinary 

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people the courage to stand 
against quiet injustices, and it

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has driven profits into the 
courts of kings. 

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There's a true kind of anger 
that tells. 

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The truth about the world and 
about everyday life. 

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A kind of moral. 
Clarity that refuses to accept. 

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Cruelty and refuses to accept 
indifference. 

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So last week we talked. 
About despondency and how 

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despondency is just sort of like
the turning down of kind of any.

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Sort of hope. 
For the future, anything that 

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might happen, you know inside. 
Of us that would cause us to to 

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really. 
Feel anything on an emotional or

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spiritual level and this week 
we're. 

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Kind of talking about. 
Despondency's counterpart on the

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other side of the spectrum, the 
the sort of outsized feelings of

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sort of one thing or another on 
an emotional or spiritual level.

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That would cause us. 
To potentially even do harm in 

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its worst form to the people 
around us. 

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So we all know this one, the 
last. 

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Two weeks we've talked about 
Acedia. 

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And despondency and kind of, you
know, had to make the disclaimer

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like, well. 
If you read the Bible. 

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You're not going. 
To find the word acedia. 

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Anywhere you're not going to 
find despondency. 

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There's plenty of mentions of 
anger in the Bible. 

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And I think that's actually part
of the. 

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Reason that some of us have so 
much kind of mental architecture

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around this word that keeps us 
from understanding it properly 

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in its proper. 
Setting. 

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This is something that is so 
familiar to us. 

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Even when I say the word anger, 
something or someone probably 

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comes to mind for us. 
A moment, a voice, a face. 

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And yet, for something so 
familiar, we find that we may 

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not actually know what it is 
that we're dealing with when we 

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talk about the passion of anger.
What is really at work? 

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Underneath what we feel when we 
experience anger, we know what 

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it looks like. 
We know sort of the signs to 

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watch for. 
But. 

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What are the forces? 
That are being unleashed inside 

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of us and what does it? 
Reveal about what we love. 

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And what we fear and what we 
ultimately believe should be 

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made right. 
We tend to think of anger as a 

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negative emotion, something to. 
Get rid of or control or 

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apologize for. 
And I am not a therapist. 

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I just want to provide that 
disclaimer for you. 

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Once again, I'm a pastor. 
I'm speaking as a. 

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Pastor, there are lots of. 
Good therapists who can help you

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to understand what's happening 
in your body and in your nervous

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system when anger shows up. 
Some of those deeper. 

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Questions of of why? 
But what I want to talk about is

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the deeper spiritual. 
Dimension the life of the soul 

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and what's impacted inside of us
when when we talk about anger. 

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So we've been saying throughout 
this series on the passions of 

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the. 
Soul that these are deep. 

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God-given capacities to feel and
desire and respond to what's 

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good. 
And the early Christian writers 

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didn't see the passions as 
anything to be. 

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Suppressed or sidestepped or? 
But they're they're impulses. 

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To be sort of. 
Healed and reoriented. 

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By grace, they have a. 
Healthiest and best expression 

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in our life is maybe a helpful 
way to think about that. 

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And so each passion when it's 
touched. 

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By God's. 
Love can become a place where 

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real transformation begins 
inside of us. 

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Even anger, even this raw 
disruptive energy, can become. 

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Sort of a doorway. 
Into. 

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The work. 
Of God inside of us. 

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If we let the. 
Love of God get underneath 

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what's at work in us when we 
talk about our own anger. 

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So in literature and film and 
art and so on, anger, as well as

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passion more generally often 
get. 

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Depicted as fire. 
And so today I want to talk 

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about two. 
Fires. 

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That we can find throughout the 
scriptures and we can find in 

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our own lives the fire of 
resentment and the fire of love.

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Anger, untended curdles into 
resentment. 

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Resentment is anger that's 
devoid of any kind of hopeful or

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redemptive energy. 
It's what happens when we keep 

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replaying a moment. 
That hurt us. 

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We. 
We sort of nurse it and we keep 

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it alive in our imaginations 
long after it stopped being 

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useful. 
To us. 

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Anger in the redeemed sense 
wants movement, wants action, 

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wants repair. 
Resentment wants to stay mad. 

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Resentment revels in the the 
reliving of the experience of 

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the anger. 
And so I know that in my own 

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life, there are moments where 
I've caught myself stewing over 

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something small. 
I don't know if you can relate 

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to this. 
Maybe I'm the only person 

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someone didn't follow through, 
or someone misunderstood me and 

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I find myself replaying that 
conversation on a loop in my 

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head. 
Or or sort of. 

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Looking. 
Back through the the text thread

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and I realized. 
Eventually that it's not about 

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that person anymore. 
It's actually. 

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About me It's about the ache of 
not being seen or the fear of 

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being taken advantage. 
Of or or just. 

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Craving, being right. 
And that's when anger turns 

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inward and becomes resentment. 
It stops looking for healing and

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it starts looking for 
justification. 

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And I want to acknowledge 
something here, especially for 

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many of the women in the room. 
In our culture, and often in 

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church, women are taught that 
anger isn't becoming that. 

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It's it's. 
Good to be agreeable. 

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And it's not good to be angry or
to express anger and sort of the

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typical ways that we would 
think. 

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And so anger often gets 
disguised as sadness or guilt. 

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Or. 
Exhaustion. 

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And so I would just invite you 
to even consider that as we move

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through today. 
You know, you might find 

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yourself thinking, well, I'm not
an angry person. 

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I don't really experience anger,
but I would just encourage you 

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to be open to. 
The possibility that there 

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could. 
Even be some ways that you've 

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been conditioned in your church 
life or in your family life to 

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allow your anger to come through
in ways that might be. 

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A little bit disguised. 
Or a little bit more. 

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Culturally appropriate for where
you. 

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Found yourself in life. 
Over time, tamping down 

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something like anger or forcing 
it through a particular channel 

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kind of creates grooves in the 
soul. 

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And so when anger shows. 
Up it could look like. 

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Weariness or it could look like 
shame, but underneath it's still

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anger and it's a signal that 
something that you love has been

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has been violated or feels 
threatened in some way. 

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And so I just want to say this, 
your anger matters. 

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I'm aware that there have been 
countless sermons preached in 

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church. 
That sounds something like, you 

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know, don't be angry. 
You ought not feel like that, 

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and if you are, something's 
wrong with you. 

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Here are some Bible passages. 
To sort of. 

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Scaffold that claim and I just 
want to be really. 

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Clear about the fact that. 
That's not what we're doing 

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today, does. 
That help? 

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Great God isn't threatened by 
human anger, and it actually 

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might be. 
The very place where the. 

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Spirit wants to heal something 
in US. 

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The. 
Spark that when it's touched. 

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By the grace of God, actually. 
Becomes courage, becomes 

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compassion, becomes a powerful 
impulse for truth telling. 

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And so I want us to just 
imagine. 

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Together what what the healed? 
Passion of anger in our lives 

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might look like not this thing 
going away, but this thing being

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transformed and sort of crafted.
By the love of God. 

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Into. 
A powerful work of the Spirit. 

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In your life, that might. 
Cause you to show up. 

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In a way that's actually more 
courageous and more authentic to

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the person that God is shaping 
you into. 

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So this fire of. 
Resentment. 

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It doesn't just stay personal, 
it also becomes cultural. 

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We live in a. 
World that's addicted to. 

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Outrage and is completely 
allergic to repentance. 

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There's an entire economy built 
on keeping us angry. 

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And I don't want to, you know, 
harp on this unnecessarily. 

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But we've brought up. 
You know, sort of some of the 

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ills of social media and cable 
news and so on in the context of

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the series. 
And I just want to return again 

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to say that, you know, if we're 
not constantly putting in front 

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of ourselves the very fact that 
those things feed on anger, feed

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on outrage, feed on an outsized 
emotion that keeps you coming 

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back to them, we're missing an 
important part of what it means 

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to live in this world. 
And so if you scroll through 

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social media or you turn on the 
news, we'll see it. 

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We're not being sold 
information. 

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We are being sold indignation. 
We're being sold something 

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inside. 
Of us that keeps us. 

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Coming back, that keeps us 
hungry. 

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For whatever it is that. 
That thing triggers inside of us

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and we feel like we need more. 
Outrage. 

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Has become entertainment, and 
resentment has become the 

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identity of large swaths of the 
population. 

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It reminds me of Gran Torino, 
the 2008 film with Clint 

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Eastwood. 
It's not for the faint of 

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hearts, so I'll just give you 
that. 

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Disclaimer right now. 
But what happens is, you know, 

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Walt Kowalski, this grizzled old
Korean War veteran. 

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Who treats his southeast? 
Asian immigrant neighbors 

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incredibly poorly, has built a 
wall around his heart. 

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He has. 
He has built a a. 

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Personality and a persona that 
depends on this kind of 

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resentment. 
Resentment for his family, 

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resentment for the other, and 
ultimately resentment for 

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himself because of the things 
that he's experienced and 

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internalized and never had the 
opportunity to heal from. 

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It cuts him off from everybody 
until he finally faces. 

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The choice to let that. 
Anger be redeemed. 

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And as his heart softens to his 
immigrant neighbors, he 

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ultimately makes a choice that 
is self sacrificial in their 

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favor. 
And so there's there's this 

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spiritual moment that I think 
we're invited into each one of 

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us. 
Will our anger continue to build

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walls in our lives, whether it's
in our relationships, our 

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personal lives, or just some 
aspect of our inside? 

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Life that's a little bit walled 
off, or will we let it? 

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Become something that heals our 
public anger. 

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Often sort of disguises itself. 
As righteousness. 

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You've heard the phrase 
righteous. 

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Indignation. 
And it's really just resentment 

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in disguise. 
We are not always fighting for 

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what's right, as much as we 
might want to think we are as 

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right as we might be. 
And that's the danger when anger

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completely. 
Loses sight of the love of God. 

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It it calcifies, it stops. 
Hoping for change in other. 

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People, it stops. 
Hoping for change, even in 

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institutions it becomes 
bitterness. 

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And when it stops being honest 
about pain, it becomes 

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self-righteous. 
There's been this thread all 

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the. 
Way through this series that. 

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I think there's an invitation 
from God. 

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For us to just be. 
Honest about what's true about 

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our lives. 
And this is just another 

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00:18:00,880 --> 00:18:03,080
invitation to say, you know 
what? 

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00:18:03,080 --> 00:18:07,120
This this thing that I feel 
particularly angry about, this 

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righteous indignation that I 
carry with myself all the time. 

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00:18:10,560 --> 00:18:14,680
It might actually have something
to do with some pain, with some 

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brokenness, that God might 
actually want to talk to me 

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00:18:18,160 --> 00:18:22,200
about. 
South anger for all. 

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00:18:22,200 --> 00:18:25,880
The ways that it gets. 
Twisted into resentment has a. 

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00:18:25,880 --> 00:18:28,320
Proper use. 
The church father said that 

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00:18:28,320 --> 00:18:30,640
anger. 
Was the soul's watchdog. 

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00:18:31,120 --> 00:18:34,120
Meant to guard what's good. 
Isn't that an interesting 

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00:18:34,120 --> 00:18:38,240
thought? 
Properly directed, it defends. 

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Our love from harm. 
And misused it turns on us. 

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00:18:43,600 --> 00:18:46,640
In the 4th century, John Cashin 
taught that anger. 

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00:18:46,800 --> 00:18:48,960
Can serve a holy purpose. 
When it's aimed. 

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00:18:48,960 --> 00:18:51,520
At the destructive. 
Forces of our own. 

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00:18:51,520 --> 00:18:54,200
Thoughts and habits that 
corrode. 

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00:18:54,280 --> 00:18:58,160
Love, that's a dense thought, so
I'm going to say it again. 

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Anger can serve. 
A holy purpose. 

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When it's aimed. 
At the destructive forces. 

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00:19:05,600 --> 00:19:09,560
Of our own thoughts and habits. 
That corrode love. 

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00:19:10,800 --> 00:19:15,120
When Jesus enters the synagogue 
in Mark Three, I realized 

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00:19:15,120 --> 00:19:16,040
nowhere in that. 
Passage. 

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00:19:16,040 --> 00:19:18,440
Did it say that? 
Jesus was the man that I was 

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00:19:18,440 --> 00:19:20,320
talking about. 
So Jesus is the one who comes, 

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00:19:20,680 --> 00:19:22,080
comes into the place and heals 
the guy. 

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00:19:23,560 --> 00:19:27,680
A man with a withered hand 
stands in the center of the 

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synagogue. 
And you know, commentators will 

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00:19:30,760 --> 00:19:34,680
say that this man. 
Sort of serves as a a a 

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00:19:34,680 --> 00:19:38,160
physical. 
Reminder that even in holy 

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00:19:38,160 --> 00:19:42,960
places like the synagogue, even 
in the presence of Jesus walking

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00:19:42,960 --> 00:19:46,400
into that holy place, suffering 
still lingers. 

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00:19:47,400 --> 00:19:52,000
And the Pharisees are watching 
this man with the withered hand,

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00:19:52,320 --> 00:19:57,520
not with compassion, not with 
any concern for what's happening

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00:19:57,680 --> 00:20:00,960
in his life. 
They're watching with suspicion,

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00:20:01,440 --> 00:20:03,120
and they're not hoping for 
healing. 

335
00:20:03,360 --> 00:20:07,120
They're hunting for a reason to 
accuse Jesus. 

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00:20:08,000 --> 00:20:09,640
So that's just the setting of 
this story. 

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00:20:09,640 --> 00:20:12,640
When we read what's beginning to
happen, I want you to just kind 

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00:20:12,640 --> 00:20:14,160
of start to paint the picture in
your mind. 

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00:20:14,160 --> 00:20:16,800
Why is this person here? 
Why are they watching? 

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00:20:16,800 --> 00:20:18,960
Why is everyone paying attention
to this interaction? 

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00:20:19,200 --> 00:20:22,280
It's a setup. 
And the Pharisees in question, 

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00:20:22,280 --> 00:20:24,880
their anger has hardened into 
resentment. 

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00:20:25,680 --> 00:20:28,120
It's not hoping for any kind of 
restoration. 

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00:20:28,120 --> 00:20:29,960
It's not hoping for any kind of 
healing. 

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00:20:30,240 --> 00:20:33,840
And So what unfolds isn't. 
Just a miracle story. 

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00:20:34,400 --> 00:20:35,680
You know, we're, we're a 
Vineyard church. 

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00:20:35,680 --> 00:20:37,840
We. 
Love like the stuff? 

348
00:20:37,840 --> 00:20:40,080
That God does in our meetings 
the ways that people can be 

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00:20:40,080 --> 00:20:42,520
healed and the ways that. 
You know the Holy Spirit shows. 

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00:20:42,520 --> 00:20:46,960
Up and and acts sovereignly on 
people's bodies, on their minds.

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00:20:46,960 --> 00:20:50,480
Like beautiful stuff can happen.
And so we can often just sort of

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00:20:50,480 --> 00:20:52,480
immediately think, OK, Jesus 
heals a person. 

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00:20:52,480 --> 00:20:54,960
This is a story about. 
Physical healing. 

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00:20:55,360 --> 00:20:58,920
But this is a wider. 
Kind of confrontation that's 

355
00:20:58,920 --> 00:21:02,560
getting set up in Mark's gospel.
This is a confrontation over 

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00:21:02,560 --> 00:21:07,680
what kind of world God wants for
God's people. 

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00:21:09,680 --> 00:21:13,600
It's this beautiful test case of
the. 

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00:21:13,600 --> 00:21:19,720
Redeemed passions in action. 
So Jesus, the Jesus way of life.

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00:21:20,360 --> 00:21:24,640
The Sermon on the Mount 
demonstrated he he knows the 

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00:21:24,720 --> 00:21:26,680
the. 
Hearts of the people who are. 

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00:21:26,680 --> 00:21:30,720
Watching, and he asks a question
that slices right through sort 

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00:21:30,720 --> 00:21:35,080
of the religious veneer. 
Of this whole story, he says, is

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00:21:35,080 --> 00:21:37,880
it lawful? 
To do good or do harm on the 

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00:21:37,880 --> 00:21:40,800
Sabbath to. 
Save life or to kill? 

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00:21:41,920 --> 00:21:46,920
And it's a question that exposes
the hollowness of the sort of 

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00:21:46,920 --> 00:21:52,280
moral calculus of the people who
are trying to trap Jesus. 

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00:21:52,760 --> 00:21:57,600
They've become so protective. 
Of a system of a particular way 

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00:21:57,600 --> 00:22:01,120
of doing things that they have 
completely. 

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00:22:01,120 --> 00:22:04,400
Lost sight of the. 
Purpose of that system. 

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00:22:04,720 --> 00:22:09,680
Which is to do good. 
And to save life and to reflect 

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00:22:09,680 --> 00:22:14,360
God's mercy for humans. 
All of the law, all of the 

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00:22:14,360 --> 00:22:16,160
scriptures that that the 
Pharisees are. 

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00:22:16,160 --> 00:22:20,600
Depending on to accuse Jesus in 
this moment exist for those 

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00:22:20,600 --> 00:22:23,960
reasons, but they've missed it. 
And then comes the line that 

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00:22:23,960 --> 00:22:27,320
sits at the emotional center of 
the passage. 

376
00:22:27,600 --> 00:22:29,720
He looked around at them with 
anger. 

377
00:22:29,920 --> 00:22:32,720
He was grieved at their hardness
of heart. 

378
00:22:32,960 --> 00:22:34,880
And said to the man, stretch out
your hand. 

379
00:22:36,640 --> 00:22:40,680
I just want to pause. 
What a beautiful picture of the.

380
00:22:40,680 --> 00:22:47,040
Redemptive potential of anger. 
What a perfect sort of display. 

381
00:22:47,080 --> 00:22:50,040
Of what it might look like when 
what's inside. 

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00:22:50,040 --> 00:22:54,400
Of us is actually courage is 
actually a refuse refusal to. 

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00:22:54,400 --> 00:22:57,120
Accept a kind of way of being in
the. 

384
00:22:57,120 --> 00:23:01,200
World that perpetuates harm and.
Holds people down. 

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00:23:01,480 --> 00:23:06,960
Jesus experiences anger. 
He looks around at the people. 

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00:23:06,960 --> 00:23:10,880
He's angry with them, and the 
action that's born of that 

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00:23:11,080 --> 00:23:16,160
anger, of the truly righteous 
anger of Jesus himself, is to 

388
00:23:16,160 --> 00:23:18,320
say to the man. 
Stretch out your hand. 

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00:23:18,680 --> 00:23:21,040
And his physical body is healed 
in an instant. 

390
00:23:21,960 --> 00:23:23,360
He stretched it out. 
His hand was. 

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00:23:23,360 --> 00:23:25,400
Restored the Pharisees. 
Went out and immediately 

392
00:23:25,400 --> 00:23:28,280
conspired with the Herodians 
against him. 

393
00:23:28,600 --> 00:23:33,360
How to destroy him. 
So it's one of the few moments 

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00:23:33,360 --> 00:23:36,560
in the Gospels where. 
We're told outright that Jesus 

395
00:23:36,800 --> 00:23:37,800
was. 
Angry. 

396
00:23:39,240 --> 00:23:42,800
And I just think it's important 
to notice what kind of anger 

397
00:23:42,800 --> 00:23:45,760
this is. 
His His anger and his grief are 

398
00:23:45,760 --> 00:23:48,960
intertwined. 
He's angry because he loves. 

399
00:23:49,720 --> 00:23:51,680
He's angry because he loves 
humanity. 

400
00:23:51,680 --> 00:23:54,360
He's angry. 
Because he loves the. 

401
00:23:54,360 --> 00:23:57,600
One who's being singled out, 
who's being taken advantage of 

402
00:23:58,240 --> 00:24:02,200
in this situation. 
His anger is not the opposite of

403
00:24:02,200 --> 00:24:04,640
compassion. 
It's compassion's heat. 

404
00:24:06,320 --> 00:24:08,560
You know, I think that's 
something that we've maybe even 

405
00:24:08,560 --> 00:24:10,040
walled. 
Ourselves off a little bit. 

406
00:24:10,040 --> 00:24:13,000
From is compassion ought to. 
Have a little bit of heat on it.

407
00:24:13,760 --> 00:24:16,160
Because compassion kind of 
implies that there's an 

408
00:24:16,160 --> 00:24:19,960
injustice at work. 
And so to really be moved by 

409
00:24:19,960 --> 00:24:22,800
compassion, the way that I think
the scriptures invite us to be 

410
00:24:22,800 --> 00:24:26,560
moved by compassion, to engage. 
Suffering as a church. 

411
00:24:26,560 --> 00:24:30,800
The way that we say we want to, 
I think to some degree that can 

412
00:24:30,800 --> 00:24:37,640
be animated by the healed and 
redeemed passion of anger in our

413
00:24:37,640 --> 00:24:39,120
lives. 
When we look out in the world 

414
00:24:39,120 --> 00:24:42,280
and we see injustice, when we 
see things that need to be set 

415
00:24:42,280 --> 00:24:45,880
right, that's what's underneath.
And so. 

416
00:24:45,880 --> 00:24:47,840
The early Christian teachers 
said that. 

417
00:24:48,240 --> 00:24:51,880
Holy anger is the souls 
watchdog, It's guarding love 

418
00:24:51,880 --> 00:24:53,360
from harm. 
And that's what's happening 

419
00:24:53,360 --> 00:24:54,800
here. 
That Jesus anger is not 

420
00:24:54,800 --> 00:24:58,560
explosive, it's not petty, it's 
not reactionary. 

421
00:24:58,560 --> 00:25:04,640
It's the fierce sorrow. 
Of love that's unreceived. 

422
00:25:05,680 --> 00:25:08,360
It's Jesus seeing. 
The love of God. 

423
00:25:08,360 --> 00:25:11,600
Extended to humanity. 
Sort of held. 

424
00:25:11,600 --> 00:25:16,120
At arm's length. 
By this legalistic religious 

425
00:25:16,120 --> 00:25:19,560
system sometimes. 
I think this is important to 

426
00:25:19,560 --> 00:25:22,920
note while we're talking about 
Jesus anger, divine anger. 

427
00:25:23,200 --> 00:25:26,720
People point to Jesus cleansing 
the temple, another instance 

428
00:25:26,720 --> 00:25:30,280
where Jesus is angry as 
justification for some kind of 

429
00:25:30,280 --> 00:25:35,000
righteous violence, as if divine
anger must somehow eventually 

430
00:25:35,000 --> 00:25:38,880
spill out into physical force. 
But Jesus anger. 

431
00:25:39,040 --> 00:25:41,080
Never. 
Takes life, it gives it. 

432
00:25:41,080 --> 00:25:44,320
Back and even in the. 
Temple, His protest is 

433
00:25:44,320 --> 00:25:48,480
prophetic. 
It's not punitive it it disrupts

434
00:25:49,240 --> 00:25:52,240
exploitation, but it doesn't 
harm anyone. 

435
00:25:52,680 --> 00:25:55,960
His anger clears space for 
prayer. 

436
00:25:56,320 --> 00:25:58,240
It clears space. 
For communion it. 

437
00:25:58,240 --> 00:26:04,240
Clears space for freedom. 
And so those same hands that 

438
00:26:04,240 --> 00:26:09,080
overturn tables will soon be 
nailed to the cross. 

439
00:26:09,960 --> 00:26:12,120
And I think it's. 
Important to to sort of set in 

440
00:26:12,120 --> 00:26:16,400
mind and actually even reclaim 
what anger might mean for us, 

441
00:26:16,400 --> 00:26:19,360
what anger might mean for God 
from those. 

442
00:26:19,360 --> 00:26:21,200
Who would say that? 
God. 

443
00:26:21,200 --> 00:26:23,520
Is an angry God. 
God is a punitive. 

444
00:26:23,520 --> 00:26:26,640
God. 
In this story we see. 

445
00:26:26,800 --> 00:26:29,040
The effect of God. 
'S anger, and it's saying to the

446
00:26:29,040 --> 00:26:31,120
man with the withered hand, 
stretch out your hand. 

447
00:26:32,200 --> 00:26:34,880
It restores and it brings life 
and it brings healing. 

448
00:26:35,760 --> 00:26:39,960
The Gospels give no picture of a
violent Messiah, only a 

449
00:26:39,960 --> 00:26:44,480
suffering one whose power is 
found in love and surrender and 

450
00:26:44,480 --> 00:26:47,680
service. 
His anger is never divine 

451
00:26:47,680 --> 00:26:50,960
violence. 
It's divine sorrow that breaks 

452
00:26:50,960 --> 00:26:54,680
open into mercy, that breaks 
open into action in a moment, 

453
00:26:55,280 --> 00:26:57,640
that changes the circumstances 
around him. 

454
00:26:58,360 --> 00:27:00,800
Rowan Williams, The former. 
Archbishop of Canterbury said 

455
00:27:00,800 --> 00:27:02,640
that. 
Anger in the presence of love 

456
00:27:02,640 --> 00:27:07,480
becomes lament. 
It's God's fierce no? 

457
00:27:07,880 --> 00:27:12,720
To what distorts creation? 
That's the kind of anger that 

458
00:27:12,880 --> 00:27:16,800
we're invited to sort of embody.
That's what we're seeing in 

459
00:27:16,880 --> 00:27:19,200
Jesus. 
His anger doesn't burn people 

460
00:27:19,200 --> 00:27:20,920
down it. 
Restores what's broken. 

461
00:27:21,280 --> 00:27:25,600
And he channels the fire of love
toward healing rather than 

462
00:27:25,600 --> 00:27:28,080
destruction. 
Stretch out your hand. 

463
00:27:31,120 --> 00:27:35,280
And the man does. 
The withered hand comes alive 

464
00:27:35,280 --> 00:27:36,560
again. 
And the anger. 

465
00:27:37,400 --> 00:27:40,120
Of Christ restores. 
What's been broken? 

466
00:27:40,120 --> 00:27:44,880
It mends rather than memes, and 
I think we've been given a 

467
00:27:44,880 --> 00:27:49,240
picture of anger, whether it's 
in our family life or in our 

468
00:27:49,240 --> 00:27:51,240
church life. 
That sort of suggests. 

469
00:27:51,240 --> 00:27:55,680
That the only context for anger,
the only sort of use for anger, 

470
00:27:55,680 --> 00:27:59,080
is destructive. 
It's to burn things down. 

471
00:27:59,520 --> 00:28:03,680
It's to. 
Sort of create more adversity. 

472
00:28:04,320 --> 00:28:06,800
For so long, we've been. 
Sold a story about what's. 

473
00:28:06,800 --> 00:28:11,000
Happening in the scripture when 
God gets angry and listen. 

474
00:28:11,000 --> 00:28:15,160
This is so with so many things. 
Throughout the long. 

475
00:28:15,360 --> 00:28:18,920
Narrative storyline of the Bible
When we read from beginning to 

476
00:28:18,920 --> 00:28:21,560
end, there are just some things 
that are. 

477
00:28:21,560 --> 00:28:25,880
Said about God toward the. 
Beginning that find some 

478
00:28:25,880 --> 00:28:30,440
resolution, some clarity in the 
person of Jesus and So what I 

479
00:28:30,440 --> 00:28:34,440
want to suggest to you about 
anger in particular is when you.

480
00:28:34,440 --> 00:28:36,440
Read some of that stuff. 
Toward the beginning of the 

481
00:28:36,440 --> 00:28:40,960
Bible about God's anger, what 
that might mean, and how people 

482
00:28:40,960 --> 00:28:45,800
understood that in that time and
place, allow that understanding 

483
00:28:46,600 --> 00:28:50,960
to be filled in, to be informed.
By a story like this. 

484
00:28:52,360 --> 00:28:58,040
Jesus anger causes the man with 
the withered hand to stretch out

485
00:28:58,040 --> 00:29:00,840
his hand and then look. 
At the story how the. 

486
00:29:00,840 --> 00:29:02,840
Story ends. 
The Pharisees went out and 

487
00:29:02,840 --> 00:29:04,480
immediately conspired. 
With the. 

488
00:29:04,480 --> 00:29:06,920
Herodians against him? 
How to destroy him? 

489
00:29:07,960 --> 00:29:11,000
The contrast here is deliberate.
What? 

490
00:29:11,000 --> 00:29:13,400
The author of the Gospel. 
Is trying to do is give. 

491
00:29:13,400 --> 00:29:18,200
You a picture of these. 2 fires.
There are two different sort of 

492
00:29:18,200 --> 00:29:23,200
manifestations of anger at work,
One that's redeemed and complete

493
00:29:23,200 --> 00:29:27,520
and whole and holy in the way 
that Jesus responds to the man 

494
00:29:27,520 --> 00:29:33,320
who needed healing, and the 
unhealed passion of anger in the

495
00:29:33,320 --> 00:29:36,560
way that the Pharisees respond 
at the end of the story. 

496
00:29:37,120 --> 00:29:40,440
One shows us the fire of 
resentment, the self-righteous 

497
00:29:40,440 --> 00:29:46,280
anger that can't bear to see 
mercy break its rules, and the 

498
00:29:46,280 --> 00:29:51,040
other one the healing and kind 
and redemptive and Invitational 

499
00:29:51,920 --> 00:29:54,200
anger of Jesus against 
injustice. 

500
00:29:55,560 --> 00:29:58,480
Paul sort of echoes. 
The same truth in his letter to 

501
00:29:58,480 --> 00:30:00,520
the Ephesians, and I think. 
These two scriptures work. 

502
00:30:00,520 --> 00:30:04,160
Really nicely side by side. 
So then putting away falsehood, 

503
00:30:04,400 --> 00:30:05,840
let. 
Each of you speak with. 

504
00:30:05,840 --> 00:30:09,160
Truth with your neighbor, for we
are members of one another. 

505
00:30:09,400 --> 00:30:13,560
Be angry and do not sin. 
Do not let the sun go down on 

506
00:30:13,560 --> 00:30:16,760
your anger and do not make room 
for the devil. 

507
00:30:17,160 --> 00:30:19,480
Those who? 
Steal must give up stealing, 

508
00:30:19,480 --> 00:30:21,280
rather let them labor doing 
good. 

509
00:30:21,280 --> 00:30:23,960
Work. 
With their own hands so as to 

510
00:30:23,960 --> 00:30:26,000
have something to share with the
needy. 

511
00:30:26,320 --> 00:30:29,680
Let no evil talk come out of 
your mouths, but only what is 

512
00:30:29,680 --> 00:30:32,040
good for building up as there is
need. 

513
00:30:32,360 --> 00:30:35,160
So that your words may give 
grace to those who hear. 

514
00:30:35,600 --> 00:30:38,400
And do not grieve. 
The Holy Spirit of God with 

515
00:30:38,400 --> 00:30:40,040
which you were marked with a 
seal. 

516
00:30:40,040 --> 00:30:43,640
For the day of redemption, put 
away from you all bitterness and

517
00:30:43,640 --> 00:30:48,560
wrath and anger and wrangling 
and slander together with all 

518
00:30:48,560 --> 00:30:51,560
malice. 
Be kind to one another, tender 

519
00:30:51,560 --> 00:30:54,400
hearted, forgiving one another 
as God in Christ has forgiven 

520
00:30:54,400 --> 00:30:58,440
you. 
When Paul writes Be angry and do

521
00:30:58,440 --> 00:31:02,680
not sin, he's making the same 
move that Jesus makes in the 

522
00:31:02,680 --> 00:31:05,360
synagogue. 
That scripture by itself. 

523
00:31:05,360 --> 00:31:07,880
Can be a little bit confusing. 
You know, I don't know if any of

524
00:31:07,880 --> 00:31:11,880
you good Christian people ever 
had this experience, but when 

525
00:31:11,880 --> 00:31:17,640
Brie and I first got married, we
knew that the Bible said don't 

526
00:31:17,640 --> 00:31:19,640
let the sun go down on your 
anger. 

527
00:31:20,800 --> 00:31:23,440
And so the number of times. 
That we were up until. 

528
00:31:23,440 --> 00:31:26,200
One or two or 3:00 in the 
morning, arguing with each other

529
00:31:26,520 --> 00:31:30,320
because listen, we're not going 
to go to sleep until we figure 

530
00:31:30,320 --> 00:31:34,160
this out, you know, because the 
Bible says, listen, that's not 

531
00:31:34,160 --> 00:31:36,840
what it means. 
OK, I don't maybe. 

532
00:31:37,040 --> 00:31:38,640
Maybe you all figured that out a
lot. 

533
00:31:38,640 --> 00:31:42,360
Faster than we did. 
But guys, this is what? 

534
00:31:42,840 --> 00:31:46,160
We're talking about don't let 
the sun go down on your anger. 

535
00:31:46,160 --> 00:31:49,080
This is a metaphor for like when
this thing stays inside of you 

536
00:31:49,960 --> 00:31:51,680
and and it. 
Just is this sort of? 

537
00:31:51,680 --> 00:31:56,360
Seething like kind of almost 
contemplating your own anger, 

538
00:31:56,360 --> 00:31:58,280
letting it take root inside of 
your. 

539
00:31:58,520 --> 00:32:01,280
Physical body like the Apostle 
Paul. 

540
00:32:01,280 --> 00:32:06,640
Is trying to say, listen, that 
is when the passion of anger is 

541
00:32:06,640 --> 00:32:10,520
distorted into resentment. 
That's the kind of thing that 

542
00:32:10,520 --> 00:32:14,400
like, cultivates in us this, 
this attitude. 

543
00:32:15,200 --> 00:32:18,720
Of. 
Indignation toward the world. 

544
00:32:19,160 --> 00:32:22,320
And so, you know, you don't have
to stay up late at night. 

545
00:32:23,280 --> 00:32:29,280
To figure it out the. 
Point is, deal with it when you 

546
00:32:29,280 --> 00:32:30,760
have the opportunity to deal 
with it. 

547
00:32:31,040 --> 00:32:33,320
Because later. 
It's a little bit more painful 

548
00:32:33,320 --> 00:32:37,560
and a little bit more 
complicated anger. 

549
00:32:37,560 --> 00:32:40,880
Is the soul. 
'S energy for naming what's 

550
00:32:40,880 --> 00:32:44,600
wrong and seeking what's right. 
But inside of us, there is a 

551
00:32:44,600 --> 00:32:49,840
need for this kind of clarity. 
For this this truth. 

552
00:32:49,840 --> 00:32:54,720
That God might give us, and so 
we we don't. 

553
00:32:54,880 --> 00:32:58,520
Let it grow roots. 
We know that what's left 

554
00:32:58,520 --> 00:33:03,320
unattended in the dark begins to
rot, and it's not the feeling of

555
00:33:03,320 --> 00:33:05,800
anger that ruins us. 
It's the refusal to. 

556
00:33:05,800 --> 00:33:07,760
Bring anger into the light of 
love. 

557
00:33:09,760 --> 00:33:12,520
He says put away all. 
Bitterness and wrath and malice,

558
00:33:12,520 --> 00:33:15,280
and be kind to one another, 
tender hearted, forgiving one 

559
00:33:15,280 --> 00:33:17,680
another as God in Christ. 
Forgave you. 

560
00:33:19,320 --> 00:33:24,360
The spirit does not extinguish 
the fire of anger. 

561
00:33:25,560 --> 00:33:27,760
And so, you know, this is sort 
of a theme. 

562
00:33:27,760 --> 00:33:28,960
Throughout the series, but 
we're. 

563
00:33:28,960 --> 00:33:31,480
Going to turn to prayer ministry
in a moment. 

564
00:33:31,760 --> 00:33:33,120
And I just want to encourage 
you. 

565
00:33:33,120 --> 00:33:38,360
I, I don't think the answer for 
us, you know, particularly those

566
00:33:38,360 --> 00:33:41,960
of us who might have something 
that's kind of hooked into us a 

567
00:33:41,960 --> 00:33:45,080
little bit that we feel angry 
about, I don't think the answer 

568
00:33:45,080 --> 00:33:47,840
is that God's going to make it 
go away or God's going to make 

569
00:33:47,840 --> 00:33:49,040
you. 
Feel happy about that. 

570
00:33:49,040 --> 00:33:53,200
Thing I think the answer is. 
Something a little bit closer to

571
00:33:54,360 --> 00:33:58,280
you know, the Spirit would give 
us courage. 

572
00:33:59,360 --> 00:34:01,800
Courage to tell the truth. 
Courage to stand up for the 

573
00:34:01,800 --> 00:34:03,920
hurting. 
Courage to forgive. 

574
00:34:05,160 --> 00:34:08,000
But not some sort of balm for 
our soul. 

575
00:34:08,000 --> 00:34:11,239
That would cause us to just kind
of sidestep the real issue. 

576
00:34:11,679 --> 00:34:14,000
So if Mark. 
Three shows us what the fire of 

577
00:34:14,000 --> 00:34:15,159
love. 
Looks like in the person. 

578
00:34:15,199 --> 00:34:16,679
Of Jesus. 
Ephesians. 

579
00:34:16,679 --> 00:34:20,320
Four shows us what that. 
Same fire looks like when it 

580
00:34:20,320 --> 00:34:22,480
burns within the life. 
Of a church. 

581
00:34:23,320 --> 00:34:25,760
My hope is that. 
We would hear those words. 

582
00:34:25,760 --> 00:34:29,639
And even when we think about the
the conflicts, the frustrations 

583
00:34:29,639 --> 00:34:34,040
that we have one with another, 
What do you mean everybody's 

584
00:34:34,040 --> 00:34:35,600
like. 
Perfectly happy with each other.

585
00:34:35,639 --> 00:34:38,480
Here right? 
That we would like let. 

586
00:34:38,480 --> 00:34:41,639
That, you know, sort of settle 
in and go, OK, I think. 

587
00:34:41,639 --> 00:34:45,600
There's a there's a way. 
That we might operate as a 

588
00:34:45,600 --> 00:34:49,120
family, it could be a little bit
messy, could be a little messier

589
00:34:49,120 --> 00:34:52,760
than just sort of stuffing that 
stuff away and pretending like 

590
00:34:53,000 --> 00:34:55,920
there's nothing between myself 
and my brother or sister. 

591
00:34:58,200 --> 00:35:01,720
But I think there's real wisdom.
Here the difference between 

592
00:35:01,880 --> 00:35:08,960
resentment and restoration, 
between a kind of consuming heat

593
00:35:09,680 --> 00:35:12,840
and a refining flame. 
And I think that's the 

594
00:35:12,840 --> 00:35:15,480
difference between. 
The two fires the fire of. 

595
00:35:15,480 --> 00:35:17,520
Resentment and the fire. 
Of love, the fire of love. 

596
00:35:17,520 --> 00:35:23,560
Refines the fire of love, burns 
away what's not of God? 

597
00:35:24,600 --> 00:35:27,600
It deals with the. 
Stuff inside of us that's in the

598
00:35:27,600 --> 00:35:30,280
way of having a full experience 
of. 

599
00:35:30,280 --> 00:35:31,880
The love of God, both for 
ourselves. 

600
00:35:32,120 --> 00:35:33,720
And in community with. 
Other people. 

601
00:35:34,560 --> 00:35:37,760
And so my my prayer. 
For this church this week as I 

602
00:35:37,760 --> 00:35:39,840
thought about. 
Talking about this is. 

603
00:35:39,880 --> 00:35:44,600
God, would you? 
Turn up the heat on the refining

604
00:35:44,600 --> 00:35:47,480
fire of love. 
That would really. 

605
00:35:47,480 --> 00:35:53,120
Give us a clear understanding of
what in US is not of you, what 

606
00:35:53,120 --> 00:35:57,000
in our church family, what in 
our community is not of you, and

607
00:35:57,000 --> 00:35:58,480
would we? 
Would it actually be dealt? 

608
00:35:58,480 --> 00:36:01,440
With and burned away. 
By the. 

609
00:36:01,440 --> 00:36:04,280
Healed passion of anger and so 
when anger is. 

610
00:36:04,280 --> 00:36:06,160
Touched by grace. 
It does not go away. 

611
00:36:06,160 --> 00:36:10,680
It changes course. 
And I just feel obligated to add

612
00:36:10,880 --> 00:36:13,560
here at the end, not every anger
is holy. 

613
00:36:14,360 --> 00:36:16,640
And so if you've got some things
that you like are feeling angry 

614
00:36:16,640 --> 00:36:19,040
about and you're starting to. 
Even feel a little justified. 

615
00:36:19,440 --> 00:36:21,000
You know, like. 
OK, well, maybe God's got a 

616
00:36:21,000 --> 00:36:22,440
good. 
Direction for this thing that 

617
00:36:22,440 --> 00:36:27,760
you know, some of what stirs in 
US is not born of love. 

618
00:36:28,400 --> 00:36:32,480
It is borrowed outrage last. 
Week we talked about 

619
00:36:32,480 --> 00:36:34,240
despondency. 
We talked about the idea of 

620
00:36:34,240 --> 00:36:37,560
false fire. 
That when we're not feeling much

621
00:36:37,960 --> 00:36:39,480
inside of us. 
We sort of look. 

622
00:36:39,480 --> 00:36:42,760
Out at the world and we go, 
well, they seem to really be 

623
00:36:42,760 --> 00:36:44,960
feeling something. 
I'm going to hitch my wagon to 

624
00:36:44,960 --> 00:36:48,240
that and I just think it's 
important for us to keep in 

625
00:36:48,240 --> 00:36:50,400
focus that. 
We. 

626
00:36:50,400 --> 00:36:52,680
We. 
Absorb anger. 

627
00:36:52,680 --> 00:36:55,720
We absorb indignation from the 
culture around us, from the 

628
00:36:55,720 --> 00:36:59,720
endless churn of headlines and 
arguments and interpersonal 

629
00:36:59,720 --> 00:37:02,840
conflict, until we can't. 
Tell what has. 

630
00:37:02,840 --> 00:37:06,600
Genuinely grieved us and what 
we've just inherited from the 

631
00:37:06,600 --> 00:37:10,280
environment that we're living in
and. 

632
00:37:10,320 --> 00:37:14,360
The spirits work. 
Is not just to purify anger, 

633
00:37:14,600 --> 00:37:15,760
it's. 
Also to sift. 

634
00:37:15,760 --> 00:37:18,600
It and to. 
Sort of let love separate. 

635
00:37:18,960 --> 00:37:24,920
What's worth keeping from what's
not worth keeping and sifted 

636
00:37:24,920 --> 00:37:31,960
anger is what remains after 
pride and fear and tribal 

637
00:37:31,960 --> 00:37:35,960
loyalties have kind of fallen 
away from the equation. 

638
00:37:36,760 --> 00:37:41,600
It's the kind of anger that 
still burns clean because it's 

639
00:37:41,600 --> 00:37:43,880
not rooted in in some kind of 
contempt. 

640
00:37:44,320 --> 00:37:47,160
It's rooted in compassion. 
And so we can. 

641
00:37:47,200 --> 00:37:49,000
We can hold our anger up to the 
light of. 

642
00:37:49,000 --> 00:37:55,320
Love and say Lord. 
Is this grief that. 

643
00:37:55,320 --> 00:37:58,280
Belongs to you or is this just 
me? 

644
00:37:59,640 --> 00:38:01,560
And would you? 
Help me to know. 

645
00:38:01,960 --> 00:38:05,520
Which is which? 
When the. 

646
00:38:05,520 --> 00:38:08,280
Spirit gets a hold. 
Of anger, it becomes fuel. 

647
00:38:08,280 --> 00:38:11,040
For repair and it stops. 
Being a weapon and it starts 

648
00:38:11,040 --> 00:38:15,120
being a tool, it becomes 
strength to face what we'd 

649
00:38:15,120 --> 00:38:18,320
rather ignore and. 
The courage for us to tell the. 

650
00:38:18,320 --> 00:38:21,200
Truth and the energy that we 
need to continue. 

651
00:38:21,200 --> 00:38:25,040
To advocate for what's right. 
And some of us carry anger 

652
00:38:25,040 --> 00:38:30,640
that's been sitting for a long 
time and it's grown quite heavy,

653
00:38:32,000 --> 00:38:36,880
but also quiet and complicated 
and. 

654
00:38:36,880 --> 00:38:40,840
For some others of us, it flares
up quite easily and it lives 

655
00:38:40,840 --> 00:38:44,480
very close to the surface. 
And I just want to encourage 

656
00:38:44,480 --> 00:38:47,840
you. 
That it shows us what we care 

657
00:38:47,840 --> 00:38:52,480
enough about to grieve. 
And that it's not something to 

658
00:38:52,480 --> 00:38:54,520
hide. 
From God, it's something to. 

659
00:38:54,520 --> 00:38:58,440
Bring into the presence of God. 
With others who we. 

660
00:38:58,600 --> 00:39:00,320
Love and trust. 
So. 

661
00:39:00,960 --> 00:39:03,360
Want to invite the worship team 
back up? 

662
00:39:05,640 --> 00:39:11,360
And I encourage you to bring 
your anger before God. 

663
00:39:12,920 --> 00:39:14,800
Don't hide it. 
Don't. 

664
00:39:15,000 --> 00:39:22,600
Justify it, offer it, and ask 
the spirit to burn away whatever

665
00:39:23,120 --> 00:39:25,320
is corrosive. 
Whatever. 

666
00:39:25,320 --> 00:39:30,800
Is not of God and only keep. 
The stuff that. 

667
00:39:30,800 --> 00:39:34,560
Longs for love that longs for 
justice that longs for the. 

668
00:39:34,640 --> 00:39:37,160
Jesus way of life because. 
Anger is not the. 

669
00:39:37,200 --> 00:39:39,320
Opposite of love, it is Love's 
heat. 

670
00:39:39,960 --> 00:39:43,920
When something precious has been
profaned or has been threatened,

671
00:39:44,160 --> 00:39:48,360
the gospel doesn't extinguish. 
That fire, it purifies it until 

672
00:39:48,360 --> 00:39:51,560
all that's left is the holy love
of God. 

673
00:39:53,160 --> 00:39:55,840
So, friends, I'd invite you to 
stand and we're going to. 

674
00:39:56,160 --> 00:40:00,080
Just read that little. 
Confession that we started with 

675
00:40:01,880 --> 00:40:03,560
again. 
In the first person together. 

676
00:40:03,680 --> 00:40:05,960
I forgot this last week, so 
sorry. 

677
00:40:07,720 --> 00:40:13,280
I am infinitely loved by God, 
and God's infinite love is in 

678
00:40:13,280 --> 00:40:17,240
the process of healing 
everything in me that clings to 

679
00:40:17,240 --> 00:40:19,760
false things. 
The invitation. 

680
00:40:19,760 --> 00:40:23,520
Of God is to allow. 
God to be the divine physician, 

681
00:40:24,200 --> 00:40:27,640
the medicine. 
Of God is God's own love poured 

682
00:40:27,640 --> 00:40:28,520
out. 
Into my. 

683
00:40:28,520 --> 00:40:32,760
Heart through the Holy Spirit. 
Amen.

