Don't Let Your Emotions Drive Your Life

Jesus came so lost people could be saved. This church is not a cruise ship where we lay by the pool. This is a battleship and for 23 years we've been on mission for Jesus. For 23 years we've been worshipping Jesus, preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ, reaching lost people, baptizing people, helping people know God and grow in God, discover a purpose and make a difference. We've been on the mission of Jesus. For one reason, to see more changed lives. Welcome to People's Church everyone and welcome to all you joining us online. Come on we invite you to stand to your feet. You can put your hands together. Let's celebrate Jesus our King. Come on. I can't describe it, but I can contain it. Can't keep it to myself. There aren't enough colors to paint the whole picture, and not enough words to ever say what I've found. Come on we sing. Wonderful and beautiful and glorious and holy. He is merciful and powerful. Who we talking about? That's my King. We declare the glory. Give Him all the honor. All together worthy. Who we talking about? That's my King. There's no one before you. Yes we will adore you. All of this is for you. Who we talking about? That's my King. Hallelujah. Thank you Lord. Come on we sing. I'm not getting the rocks right without you in the chorus. There aren't enough notes to make the harmony. It's the song of the ages. Oh they're all of the ages. It's on the earth and heaven's symphony. Wonderful and beautiful and glorious and holy. He is merciful and powerful.

Who we talking about? That's my King. We declare the glory. Give Him all the honor. All together worthy. Who we talking about? That's my King. There's no one before you. Yes we will adore you. All of this is for you. Who we talking about? That's my King. Hallelujah. Thank you Lord. Come on we sing. That's my King. Come on sing. That's my God. That's my shepherd. My protector. Sing. That's my King. Come on tell Him, sing. That's my rock. That's my anchor. My defender. That's my King. That's my God. That's my shepherd. My protector. That's my King. That's my rock. That's my anchor.

My defender. Who we talking about? That's my King. Come on. We declare the glory. Give Him all the honor. All together worthy. Who we talking about? That's my King. We declare the glory. Give Him all the honor. All together worthy. Who we talking about? That's my King. There's no one before you. Yes we will adore you. All of this is for you. Who we talking about? That's my King. Who we talking about? That's my King. Who we talking about? That's my King. Who we talking about? That's my King. Who we talking about? That's my King. Who we talking about? That's my King. Who we talking about? That's my King. Who we talking about? That's my King. Who we talking about? That's my King. Oh give God some praise. Hallelujah. That's my King. Come on, keep those hands together. ♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah ♪ ♪ Hallelujah ♪ ♪ Your Word is a lamp unto my feet ♪

♪ Your way is the only way for me ♪ ♪ Your way is the only way for me ♪ ♪ It's a narrow road that leads to life ♪ ♪ But I wanna be on it, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪ ♪ It's a narrow road, but the mercy is wide ♪ ♪ Cause you're good and you promise it, come on we say it ♪ ♪ I'll take you as your Word ♪ ♪ I've seen how good it works ♪ ♪ If you start it, you'll complete it ♪ ♪ I'll take you as your Word ♪ ♪ You spoke and the chaos fell in my heart ♪ ♪ But I know, cause I've seen it in my life ♪ ♪ It's a narrow road that leads to life ♪ ♪ But I wanna be on it, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪ ♪ It's a narrow road and the tide is high ♪ ♪ But you're part of the water ♪ ♪ I'll take you as your Word ♪ ♪ I'll take you as your Word ♪ ♪ If you start it, I'll believe it ♪ ♪ I've seen how good it works ♪ ♪ If you start it, you'll complete it ♪ ♪ I'll take you as your Word ♪ ♪ If you start it, I'll believe it ♪ ♪ I've seen how good it works ♪ ♪ If you start it, you'll complete it ♪ ♪ I'll take you as your Word ♪ ♪ Cause you're good on your promise ♪ ♪ Oh, I know, you're good on your promise ♪ Yes, you are, love! Oh, you said your love would never give up

You said your grace is always enough You said your heart would never forget or forsake me Thank you, love! Oh, you said I'm safe when you call me yours You said my future's full of your love You never fail, so I know that you'll never fail me You said your love would never give up You said your grace is always enough You said your heart would never forget or forsake me Oh, you said I'm safe You said I'm safe when you call me yours You said my future's full of your love You never fail, so I know that you'll never fail me I'll take you as your Word If you said it, I'll believe it I've seen how good it works If you're starting, you're completing I'll take you as your Word If you said it, I'll believe it I've seen how good it works If you're starting, you're completing I'll take you as your Word Cause you're good on your promise You're good on your promise I'll take you as your Word I'd like to invite our prayer team to come forward at this time We are a church that believes in the power of prayer No matter how big or how small your need is, it matters to God And we would love the opportunity to pray for you All you have to do is step out of your seat if you like prayer

Let's believe God for a miracle in your life Christ is my fire foundation The rock on which I stand, when everything around me is shaking, I've never been more glad that I put my faith in Jesus, cause he's never let me down, he's faithful through generations, so why would he fail now, he won't, I still got joy in chaos, I got peace that makes no sense, so I won't be going under, I'm not held by my own strength, cause I built my life on Jesus, he's never let me down, he's faithful in every season, so why would he fail now, he won't, he won't, he won't fail, he won't fail, he won't, he won't fail, he won't fail, he won't fail. Oh Lord we thank you God, you are a rock that we can build our lives upon, you never fail, you're a firm foundation, so no matter when the storms come, we can put our trust in you God, oh rain came with blue, my house was built on you, and I say with you I'm gonna make it through, yes, oh rain came with blue, my house was built on you, and I say with you I'm gonna make it, rain came with blue, say rain came with blue, my house was built on you, yes, I say with you I'm gonna make it, I'm gonna make it, I'm gonna make it through, I'm standing strong on you, I'm gonna make it through, my house was built on you, Christ is my firm foundation, the rock on which I stand, when everything around me is shaking, I'll never be more glad, I put my faith in Jesus, cause he's never let me down, he's faithful through generations, so why would he fail now, he won't fail, oh yes God, you're so worthy God, so worthy God, so worthy Jesus. All my words fall short, I got nothing new, how could I express all my gratitude. I could sing these songs, as I often do But every song must end, and you never do So I throw up my hands, and pray to again and again Cause all that I have is a Hallelujah, Hallelujah And I know it's not much, I've nothing else fit for a king Except for a heart singing Hallelujah, Hallelujah I got one response, I got just one move With my arms stretched wide, I will worship you So I throw up my hands, and praise you again and again Cause all that I have is a Hallelujah, Hallelujah

And I know it's not much, I've nothing else fit for a king Except for a heart singing Hallelujah, Hallelujah Oh Hallelujah Come on my soul, oh don't you get shy on me Lift up your song, cause you've got a lion inside of those arms Get up and praise the Lord Oh come on my soul, oh don't you get shy on me Lift up your song, cause you've got a lion inside of those arms Get up and praise the Lord Oh come on my soul, oh don't you get shy on me Lift up your song, cause you've got a lion inside of those arms Get up and praise the Lord Praise the Lord Oh we praise you, we glorify your name You are everything we need, Jesus Oh we thank you Lord, we thank you for all your time It's no lie, it's no lie Come on church will you lift your hands and let's sing So I'll throw up my hands, praise you again and again Cause all that I have is a Hallelujah, Hallelujah And I know it's not much, I've nothing else fit for a king Except for our hearts singing Hallelujah, Hallelujah Yeah come on let's give the Lord a hand clap of praise He's worthy of all of our praise Would you pray with me, Heavenly Father we thank you for your goodness And your grace which is new each and every day And today Father I lift up to you every need of every person joining us online or in person And God that you would move in our behalf And Father we invite your Holy Spirit to do what only you can do Do miracles today, in Jesus' name we pray, Amen

Come on let's give him one more hand clap of praise He's worthy of all of our praise Well church family before you're seated we're a friendly church So let's take a moment to connect with two or three people We don't know let's go right now and get a few people's names Well it's so good to see you today my name is Pastor Sean and I'm an associate pastor here at People's Church and whether you're joining us online or in person I want you to know we're family. I want to take a moment to give a big welcome to all of our first-time guests come on can we celebrate them today We're so glad you are here. At People's Church we have a huge heart to show the love of Jesus locally nationally and around the world. People's Church family you recently showed up in a strong way and served the OKC Dream Center. Check out this video of how you're impacting our city. Today we are cleaning this gymnasium for whenever they have any type of events as far as playing basketball or any type of youth type kids stuff. We're helping with the food pantry. I've had foster kids in my lifetime and when I first got my foster kids I went to a food pantry and a clothing pantry just like this. Nothing insignificant when we serve I feel like that's like most exciting part because we're helping people we may never meet but we know we're having like a real impact it's just very exciting. For 15 years we have been serving south side of Oklahoma City and beyond everything from hunger relief programs clothing closet You guys are going through and just helping us clean in all of the areas and this is where the community is coming together and we greatly appreciate you. People's Church we are better together and you guys are the heart of that saying and we just appreciate you how you guys link up with us and basically go out and be the hands and feet of Jesus and unleash hope into the community and throughout the year I'm in at Christmas and and during serve days you guys are awesome and keep being the church on mission. Yeah thank you to everyone who showed up to serve our city and show the love of Jesus you know People's Church our serving our prayers and our giving are truly impacting the hurting

the broken and the lost in our city. I know some of you today would like to as you prepare to give I know some of you today would like to give to help the tornado victims in Enid Oklahoma who lost their homes this week and you can designate your giving to Dream Builders and this week we will be sending a check to our ministry partner Convoy of Hope you're helping everyone who lost their homes this week in Enid. God we lift up to you and pray for the OKC Dream Center and all the local organizations who are doing an incredible job at touching lives and meeting needs and Father really preparing hearts to receive your forgiveness. God we also lift up to you all those impacted by the tornadoes in Enid Oklahoma this week and we just pray God that you would draw them close to you and Father that you would help them rebuild their lives and God we pray for all of these people to come to know you and experience the love and forgiveness that only you can give. In the mighty name of Jesus we pray amen. Hello church family it is so good to see you today I'm Tiffany Cooper and my husband Herbert and I started People's Church 24 years ago and we can say honestly that it is our joy and our honor to pastor this beautiful church family we just love y'all so much and I have to tell you we have some really exciting things happening in the life of our church and May 10th is Mother's Day and we are so excited to celebrate all all the mothers on that day. So bring your moms, bring the special women in your life because we have a small gift we wanna give to every mom to show our appreciation. We also have giveaways that day. We're gonna have photo booths for you to take pictures together. And then that day we are celebrating water baptisms. But not only that, it is our 24th anniversary as a church on that Sunday. So you'll wanna come

because we have so much going on on Sunday, May 10th. And I wanna welcome all of our locations today. If you're at Midwest City, you wanna keep your eyes open because Pastor Herbert is there today and he wants to see you and shake your hand. So keep your eyes open. And then next week, Pastor Herbert is back and he is continuing our series with a message about demolishing mental strongholds. It's gonna be a great message. But today I am continuing our series with a message titled, Don't Let Your Emotions Drive Your Life. So in this current series, we have learned that when you give your life to Jesus, when you invite him to be your Lord and savior, that your spirit goes from death to life, that you are born again, that you are a new creation. But although your spirit is a new creation, your soul and your body are not yet a new creation. And we read last week in 1 Thessalonians 5.23 that our soul and our body have to be sanctified. They have to go through this sanctification struggle. And when you go through this sanctification struggle, you are allowing for your emotions to be aligned, to be whole and to be led by the Holy Spirit. We need for our emotions to be sanctified. And we all have emotions, whether we feel them deeply, whether we deny them or whether we dismiss them, we all have positive, negative and neutral emotions.

I still remember a day in 1990, when I let my emotions get out of control and explode in a fight with my younger brother. So I was a sixth grader. My younger brother was a fourth grader. I still remember we were standing on the stairs of our split level home in Menominee, Wisconsin. And we were fighting over a CD. Now, CDs were the cool thing before we had all these online platforms like Apple Music, Google Music, Spotify. And so the thing about a CD is because there was no internet we had to actually go to a physical store to buy the CD or join one of those like shady mail order programs. If you know about those, you know what I'm talking about. And so because there was no internet or no family share plans, we had to take turns listening to the CD. So my brother and I were fighting over whose turn it was to listen to the CD. And in that moment, my brother said something to me that he had never said before, something he's never said since. And he said, I hate you. Oh my goodness, y'all, my brother and I are so close. And this is honestly the only fight I remember us ever having. And I was crushed when he said those words. I was shocked. And I looked at him and I said,

how could you say that to me? And I ran downstairs to my room. Well, my brother instantly felt regret. He felt so bad. And I remember that he came downstairs and he apologized. And in all transparency, I'm sure that I said something too, but I just don't remember. But when it comes to our emotions, reacting without reflection creates regret. And just like my brother, you can probably think of times when you reacted in your emotions without reflecting and it created regret. And regret isn't only about what was said or done when our emotions are heightened, but it's also about what we don't say and don't do when our emotions are heightened. So today I want to share the five W's of emotions. Because Emotions, they can help us in life or they can hurt us in life. So the five emotions are who, what, when, where, and why. So who created emotions? Emotions are God-given, Genesis 127. So God created mankind in his own image. In the image of God, he created them, male and female, he created them. God created humans in his own image. And he experiences emotions and he designed us to experience emotions.

In both the Old and New Testament, you can read about God experiencing emotions. You can read about Jesus walking the earth and experiencing emotions. In John 11, 35, the shortest verse in the Bible, it simply says, Jesus wept, Jesus experienced grief. In Luke 10, 21, it says, at that time, Jesus full of joy through the Holy Spirit, Jesus experienced joy. Ecclesiastes 3, 1 says that there is a time for everything. And then in verse four, it says, a time to weep, a time to laugh, a time to mourn, and a time to dance. Scripture tells us there is a time for emotions. So what are emotions? Emotions are God-given indicators. If you look at your vehicle's dashboard, you can see that it is full of gauges that signal to you things that are happening inside your vehicle. So it can tell you how fast you're going as you're driving down the road. If your oil is low, it'll signal to you on your dashboard that it's time to change your oil. And for some of you, you really like to live on the edge and you like to wait till the very last moment to gas up your car. And your dashboard will signal to you, you have waited too long and you better gas up now. And these signals are important because they tell us the health of our car. They indicate what's going on in our car.

They tell us how our car is performing. And just like our car dashboard signals what's going on in our car, our emotions are signals to us indicating what's going on in the inside of us. They report the state of our heart. They report the impact of our life circumstances. So when something good happens, our body might signal joy, happy tears, laughter. When something unexpected happens, our body might signal shock, surprise, or confusion. When something scary happens, our bodies might signal fear or adrenaline. Author Lisa Turker says, feelings are indicators, not dictators. They can indicate where your heart is in the moment, but that doesn't mean they have the right to dictate your behavior and boss you around. If we're going to sanctify our emotions, we can't let them boss us around. We need the help of the Holy Spirit to help us manage our emotions. So when should we manage our emotions? Oscar Wilde said, I don't want to be at the mercy of my emotions. I want to use them, to enjoy them, and to dominate them. We need to manage our emotions so they don't manage us. And if we're not careful, our emotions will deceive us, they will dominate us, and they will lead us down the wrong path.

Unmanaged emotions can often lead to destructive patterns. In 1996, I was a college freshman, and I met a guy named Cooper. I invited Cooper to this girl ask guy event, and he took me on a date to Applebee's. Hello, Oriental Chicken Salad. That was my favorite. We had such a good conversation over dinner, and we drove back to campus in his teal green Mazda MX3. Y'all, it was the coolest car I had ever been inside. And so we're driving back to campus, and as we arrive, He says, may I hold your hand and pray for our friendship? I was like, of course. So he prayed for us and I immediately went back to my dorm room and I told my roommate, I am going to marry that man. I wrote letters home to my mom and dad telling them all about this guy that I met and I spent so much time hanging out with this guy named Cooper whose first name was Herbert. And we became an official couple. So that's why I was so shocked when one night I got a phone call from said man, my future husband, and he told me that the devil was using me to distract him. I was shocked. The devil is using me to distract you? How dare you say that? I was so shattered.

I was crushed. And that one night created so many emotions in me and those unmanaged emotions almost changed my life forever. Beyond feeling shocked, I was so sad. I was hurt. And prior to that time, I had never been a partier. I didn't go to parties, but I was so in my feelings and I just was gonna let my feelings lead me that I was like, I'm going to a party tomorrow night. And so I told my friends, tomorrow night, I'm going to the party. And they were so excited and I was just like pumping myself up like, how dare he? I'll show him, I'm going to the party. And so that night, I'm with my girlfriends and we start walking from our side of campus to the other side to meet the guys at their dorm. While we're walking to the other side of campus, I start feeling unsettled. I started feeling the Holy Spirit telling me to turn around and every time I felt the Holy Spirit tell me to turn around, I just re-stoked my anger. How dare he? I can't believe he did that to me. I'll show him, I'm going to the party. And so we finally made it to the other side of campus. And as we were talking to the guys, there was just something in me that knew that I was not supposed to go to this party. So I told my friends, I'm actually not going tonight.

And I turned around and I walked alone back to my dorm room and I sat alone in my dorm room. I laid down on the couch in the dark alone in my dorm room and I just prayed and I processed what had happened throughout that previous 24 hours. It felt like a whirlwind. And as I was processing, I got a phone call and it was Herbert. And he apologized and asked if I would get back together with him and I said, no, you jerk. But then, just kidding. But we just talked, we talked it out. I asked him, how will I know that you're not going to do this again? How do I know that we're on the right track? And we got back together. But I say all this to say that I was letting my emotions take the lead. They were managing me. They were driving my decisions and I almost let them lead me down a destructive path. And as I was talking to Herbert that night, I told him about what had happened and that I almost went to the party. And he told me that if I had gone to the party, he would not have been interested in getting back together because the number one thing that was attractive to him about me was my heart for the Lord and my commitment to live for him. If I had gone to the party

and let my emotions take the lead, we would not have gotten married. We would not have had our four children. We would not have started People's Church. We would not be living this beautiful life that we're living now. Reacting to our emotions has the power to alter our life for good or for bad. And I almost let my emotions manage me that night. And if I had gone to the party, I would have invited destruction into my life with the decisions I made that night. And if I had a testimony verse for that night, it would be Proverbs 29 11. Fools give full vent to their rage, but the wise bring calm in the end. I started that night being led by my anger. But I'm thankful that I listened to the Holy Spirit and I was led to a better outcome. Ephesians 4.26 says, be angry and do not sin. Do not let the sun go down on your anger. This scripture doesn't say that anger is bad or that we shouldn't feel anger. It does tell us not to sin in our anger. And we will feel emotions. We will feel some of them very strongly. But according to scripture, the key is that we do not sin in those feelings and we can follow the word of God with the help of the Holy Spirit.

We can manage our emotions. I almost let my anger lead me to sin that night, but thank the Lord he led me to a better future. And where should we position emotions in our lives? When we feel these emotions, where should they be positioned? Although feelings reveal, they should not rule. Feelings can be in the car with us as a passenger, but we can't let them in the driver's seat dictating where we go. And there was a season of my life that I didn't do so well. And I let my emotions in the driver's seat leading me. As I said, I've been married to Herbert for 28 years. And early in our marriage, when we had disagreements, my heart would just race. My body would get hot. I often felt like my brain just froze and the words would get stuck in my throat. And I just, I didn't know what to do with these emotions. And sometimes, because I didn't know what to do, I would just cry or I'd apologize really quick to just try to get over it, to get through it. And when I felt like the disagreement was over, pain had left its mark. And I started to create these unhealthy cycles for future disagreements in our marriage. Hebrews 12, 15 says, see to it that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many. I had a bitter root and I just let it grow

and grow and grow. And this bitter root, it led to resentment. It led to insecurities. It actually led to health challenges in my physical body. But thankfully, the Lord heals from the root up. And as I sought the Lord in prayer, as I sought His word, I began to view my emotions as a helpful passenger, as a tool to help me instead of hinder me. And there's something that I learned in elementary school that actually helped me grow in my emotions. So you may have had the same experience, but when I was in elementary school, the teacher taught us what to do in the middle of a firestorm. And she said, if you're caught in a fire, you stop where you are, you drop to the ground, and you roll to safety. And as I thought about my emotions, I thought that when I am caught in a firestorm of emotions, I can pause, I can process, and then I can respond. James 119 through 20 says, my dear brothers and sisters, take note of this. Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry,

because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. When we look at this scripture, you can see that the word slow is used twice. Slow to speak, and slow to become angry. And one of the greatest ways that we can get our emotions out of the driver's seat is to slow down. When you feel emotions, and our emotions were created by God, but when we feel those emotions, we can actually slow down. We don't have to react right in the moment. We can let our emotions help us and not hinder us. When we slow down, here's the key, we're able to pause, we're able to process, and then we're able to choose a right response. So first, pause to identify the emotion. King David, a powerful prayer in Psalm 139, 23 through 24. Search me, God, and know my heart. Test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me and lead me to the way everlasting. And just like King David, we can pause to pray. We can ask God to search our hearts, to reveal what is inside of us,

to reveal our emotions and lead us to godliness. Several years ago, I was seeing a Christian counselor and she asked me this question. Tiffany, are you an angry person? Immediately, I was like, no, I'm not an angry person. She didn't say anything. And I went home that week and I continued to pray and ask the Lord to help me in my emotions, to reveal to me things that he wanted to heal in my life. And that week, I came across a box that held all of my old junior high and high school journals. And so I just, I started reading through these pages of the journals and I was shocked at how many times I actually wrote out and used the word angry to describe how I was feeling. Outwardly, I was a peaceful person. I never wanted to say something that would hurt somebody. I did not like conflict. I didn't want to fight. I always tried to keep the peace. And yet, when I read the pages of my journals, I realized I was angry. And once I was able to identify my anger, I was able to process why I felt so angry. And today, some of you, you just need to pause and process and you need to ask God why you're feeling an emotion so strongly. And then, you need to ask God to reveal why you're allowing that emotion to drive your life, to lead your decisions.

Pause and pray the prayer of David. Lord, search me and know my heart. Then, process why we're feeling the emotion. In another portion of scripture, David was processing his emotions. In Psalm 42, five, why my soul are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? David questioned his own soul. He questioned why he felt downcast. And after my counselor helped me to identify that I had anger on the inside, she helped me to be able to process why I felt that anger. And what we discovered is that I walked around under an umbrella of shame. I made decisions through the filter of shame. I viewed myself through the filter of shame. I had these expectations for myself that were unattainable. I never felt like I could be good enough or do enough. It just, shame followed me and covered me. Shame was my filter. When there was a disagreement, I felt shame and that led to anger. When I let someone down, I felt shame and that led to anger. Shame was my filter and anger was my unwanted friend. But once I processed the root of my emotion, I was able to better surrender it to the Lord. I was better able to give it over to the Holy Spirit so that he could begin the sanctification process in my emotions.

So I changed my filter from shame to the filter of God's word. Psalm 34, five, I would say this to myself. Those who look to him are radiant. Their faces are never covered with shame. Thank you, Jesus, that I am not covered in shame. I would read 2 Corinthians 5, 17. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come. The old is gone. The new is here. I would say, thank you, Jesus, that I am a new creation in you, that I can rightly respond in my emotions with godliness. And some of you are allowing your emotions. to define you and to drive your life and to make your decisions. And you need to change your filter. You need to let God's word define you. You need to let God's word speak into your life and sanctify your emotions. And when you feel whatever that emotion is that you may be struggling with, I encourage you to have a couple of scriptures that you can hold on to. That when that emotion comes to the surface, you can repeat over and over again God's word over your mind, your heart, and your life. Talk to your emotions. Tell them you will not drive my life.

What God says about me will drive my life. And then respond to the emotion with godliness. Immaturity reacts. Maturity responds. Years ago, I reacted. And now I do my best to respond. Now when I let someone down or I have a disagreement with somebody, or even if something is said that might trigger the shame that I used to feel, my body still responds the same. So my heart still races. My body can get hot. Oftentimes I feel like my brain freezes, like I can't quite think my thoughts clearly. But instead of responding and freezing in that situation, I take time to pause and to process before I respond. Now sometimes I can pause, process, and respond within that interaction. But there are times that I need to stop. I just need to give myself a minute. In fact, there have been times when Herbert and I are having a disagreement or a conversation, and I tell him, Herbert, right now, what we are talking about, I agree with. Like what we're discussing, my mind is in alignment with, but right now my body is responding, and I just need a moment to let my body catch up before we continue our conversation. And this helps me so much, because basically what I'm saying is I need a moment

to put my emotions in the passenger seat. Because if I don't take a moment, they're gonna take over in the driver's seat, and it's not gonna be the outcome that God desires. James 1.20, human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. And when I process, I'm able to respond, and to choose a response that pleases the Lord, and avoids regret. So today, I've highlighted my struggle with anger, but this is true with all emotions. And the next time you might find yourself with emotion that is feeling heightened, where it's trying to take over the driver's seat, it's trying to take over your life, I just encourage you to take a moment to pause, and to process, and to choose a good and godly response. Even if it feels awkward, because isn't it better to feel awkward than to feel regret? And even if you feel like you don't know what to do, it's okay, we're all growing, we're all in process. You just do your best to follow God's word, and His instruction. And yeah, we may stumble along the way. I still stumble along the way. We may feel, again, unsure. But aligning our emotions with God's word is always the best option. When we align our emotions with God's word, we are sanctifying our emotions,

and becoming more like Him. Emotions aren't good drivers, but they are good passengers. So why do emotions exist? Why do they exist? They exist to connect us to God. God made us with emotions so that He can connect with us in deep ways. Throughout this message, I read scriptures to you from Psalms. And King David wrote over 70 Psalms. He was a man of many, many emotions, and he felt his emotions intensely. And you know what? He expressed them freely to God. We see this in the beginning in Psalm 29. He cries out, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me? He feels forgotten by God. He feels abandoned, alone, and hopeless. But by the end of the chapter, he is declaring the goodness of God. David freely expressed his emotions, the ups and the downs, and through it all, he's described as a man after God's own heart. And when we freely express our emotions to God, we connect with him, we grow in him, we invite him to sanctify us, but God can't sanctify the emotions that we keep hidden, like the anger that I kept hidden from myself for years. But God can sanctify the emotions that we do bring to him.

In Psalm 56.3, King David wrote, when I am afraid, I put my trust in you. And church, when you're afraid, you can put your trust in him. When you're happy, you can put your trust in him. When you're discouraged, you can put your trust in him. When you're hurting, you can put your trust in him. God is not intimidated by your emotions. He wants you to bring them to him. He wants to meet you in your emotions. He wants to connect with you and help you, and he wants to sanctify you through and through. Listen again to the words of 1 Thessalonians 5.23. May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul, and body be kept blameless at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. And may our emotions be sanctified. Lord, I thank you for every person here today. I thank you that you created emotions, that you created us with emotions, that we could connect with you deeply. And God, I pray that you would help us to come to you, God, to ask you to search our hearts, to know us, to reveal the things in us that we need to bring to you for sanctification. And God, as we bring to you our emotions, I pray that you would do a work, that you would do a healing, God, that you would help us to thrive and be healthy and whole.

In Jesus' name I pray, amen. With your eyes still closed and your heads bowed, just for a minute today, if you are here, you're joining us online and you've never given your life to Jesus, and today you want to give your life to Jesus, or maybe at one time you did, but since you've gone back to your old life, I wanna just you to know that you don't have to have it all figured out. You don't have to be perfect. The Bible says that today is the day of salvation. If you'd like to give your life to Jesus and you're in this room or you're joining us online, when I count to three, would you raise your hand? You say, pastor, today I wanna make things right with my heavenly Father. When I count to three, please raise your hand. One, two, three. All across the room, raise your hand if you wanna give your life to Jesus. Thank you, thank you. Any other hands before we pray? If you raised your hand today, thank you. Just say a simple prayer like this. Say, God, here I am. Today I give you my life as you gave your life for me. I confess that you are the Lord of my life. Forgive me for living life apart from you. And today I promise to serve you all the days of my life.

In Jesus' name I pray, amen and amen. Come on, can we give God praise for all of those who said yes to Jesus today? Wasn't that an incredible message by Pastor Tiffany? So, so encouraging. You know, one of the best things I've ever done to anchor my emotions is to practice the art of gratitude, to say thank you, God, and just turn my attention from what I'm worried about or what I'm focused on to what God has done in my life. And today I know we're all growing and anchoring our emotions biblically. And I'm so thankful that we have a God who will help us. In fact, all across this room, would you stand up with me? And if you feel comfort, would you lift your hands? Let's just ask God to help us anchor our emotions in a biblical way. Come on, Shannon, would you lead us? Come on, let's worship, family. So I throw up my hands And praise you again and again Cause all that I have is a Hallelujah Hallelujah And I know it's not much I've nothing else before me Except for a heart singing Hallelujah Hallelujah So I throw up my hands So I throw up my hands And praise you again and again

Cause all that I have is a Hallelujah Hallelujah And I know it's not much I've nothing else before me Except for a heart singing Hallelujah Hallelujah If you're a guest of ours today And you're looking for a home church I want you to know that you're amongst some of the nicest And kindest people in all of Oklahoma In fact, if you would give us a year of your life Go to Newcomer's Lunch Go to Growth Track Plug into a small group and join the Dream Team And just watch what God will do in your life Well, church family, we are family We end every service with it If you would, shout it with me on three One, two, three We're family See you next week, family So I throw up my hands Praise you again and again