Unresolved Anger Is Quietly Destroying Your Relationships | HIGH GROUND

I'm glad we're together today in this space. My name is Mark Cummins. I'm the pastor at Church of Hope. And if you're a regular attender, welcome. So glad that week after week, we join together in this space. And if by chance, this is your first time, I'm really glad that we're beginning our friendship today. Understand that this broadcast literally goes around the world for free. See, we believe that life's at its best when people discover hope in Christ. There are people who give generously so this broadcast can be reached across every continent. If you've never given, I would invite you today to give. You can go to our webpage, HopeInOcala.com and drop down on the giving bar and give a one-time gift. Or you can give generously beyond just today. And if God's blessed you, help us as we give hope around the world. But for now, I want you to open up your heart and your mind. Let Jesus speak to you. Because what I believe is that when we open up our minds and let Jesus speak to us, life doesn't become perfect and all the problems don't go away, but you experience his presence in you, with you, and for you. Open up your heart. Let Jesus speak to you today. Peace.

Think about a time, maybe as recent as this morning, where you got angry. You know what I'm talking about? They got under your skin. They made you mad. Week ago, month ago, year ago, decade ago. Think about what you said. What was lost? What got broken? Now, I want you to think for just a moment, because you know, in life, it's not if we get angry, it's when we get angry. Anger is a human emotion. It happens. What if you had a tool to defuse it? See, I'm convinced that a lot of us, when it happens, when we get angry, we get mad, we're not really quite sure how to deal with this emotion. And if you're interested in this tool, I want you to stick with me, because in just a few moments, we're gonna unpack a tool right here from the gospel. You're in your copy of the Bible in Matthew chapter five, all summer long. We're gonna be going verse by verse, starting in Matthew five, all the way to chapter seven. And what we're doing, we're building building blocks. Jesus wants you and I to have the blessed life.

That's why for two weeks, right, we unpacked what we call the Beatitudes, but really it's how to have a blessed life. And I gave you this diagram that helps you understand the gospel, not just like a prayer. I mean, prayer is important, but too many times we think that the gospel is some prayer on a Sunday at a Billy Graham crusade at youth camp, Vacation Bible School, and kind of checked the box and kind of prayed that prayer just in case there's maybe a need for, you know, the hell insurance, I don't want to go there when I die kind of a thing. And then somehow we can kind of just walk out and live in the old way. And we're really like not feeling like we're living the blessed life. The gospel is the foundation. It's the foundation of our life. And then last week, Darrell, Darrell Black, right? He unpacked for us what it functions. When you and I are rooted on the foundation of the gospel, it looks like light and salt. When you walk into the room, you bring out the God flavors, the God colors, your presence that matters. Now, today in verse 21, Jesus is going to begin to show us

what your faith in action looks like. Have you heard it said sometimes maybe about an athlete? a politician, that's a person of faith. That's a man of faith. It's a woman of faith. What does that mean? You're a man, that actor is a man or woman of faith. It's undefined. What is even faith? What does it mean to have faith? What Jesus is gonna do on the foundation of the gospel, what you believe, or if you don't believe it yet, my prayer is today you will believe in the gospel of Jesus Christ. When we begin to see the function, okay, I wanna be light and salt, but how do I have this faith in action in everyday circumstances like anger? How does this gospel work its way out in our everyday life? So you're in your Bible, right? Matthew chapter five, notice verse 21. Jesus is teaching to the Jewish crowd of people. They're religious, they're interested in God, they're not atheists, they're not agnostic, they want to please God, they want a relationship with God, right? Notice what he says, he says, you have heard that it was said to those of old. You've heard it said. We even say that sometimes in our culture.

You've heard it said, measure twice and cut once. Jesus says, you've heard it said. A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down. You've heard, Jesus says, you've heard it said in days of old, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of care. They're like, oh yeah, absolutely. What did he say next? Look it, look it, you shall not murder and whoever murders will be liable to judgment. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, we've heard that. We know that, that's a part of the 10 Commandment thing. Like yeah, we know, and hey, we're not, we're not murderers. And even today, right, we often say that. You know when maybe you're in an argument with somebody or someone's not happy with you and they're really upset and you say something like this, my goodness, I don't know why you're so mad. It's not like I murdered somebody. I mean, and so they're like, yeah, absolutely. We got that one, check that box. We know, we ain't going around, we ain't slicing, dicing. We ain't murdering nobody. But then what Jesus does next, blows up the room. Look what he says. But I say to you that everyone who is angry, watch him take it to a whole nother level. Whoever's angry with his brother

will be liable to judgment. Whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council. And whoever says you fool, in our language today, what you posted on X, that Instagram post, that TikTok, that Facebook will be liable to the hell of fire. So if you're offering your gift, in other words, it's a religious group of people. If you're here to worship me, if you're here to offer your gift, they understood this, they would bring a sacrifice. They would bring a lamb, they'd bring a pigeon. They understood sacrifice. They understood religious duty and religious activity. So if you're here to offer your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, in other words, there's something between you and a family member, a coworker, a previous boss, a pastor from days gone by, you and them, you guys got angry sideways with each other. Verse 24, leave your gift there before the altar, pause your worship and go. First be reconciled to your brother, your neighbor, your parents, your kids, and then come back and offer your gift, then come back and worship. And Jesus is speaking about something that everybody could identify with because as humans, we understand anger. And it's not just explosive anger, it's not just violent anger,

it's that also hidden resentment, bitterness, contempt. Anger can get dressed up in sarcasm. I was just joking, what's your problem? Can't take a joke. Just angry at them. The silent treatment. Hostility and internal rage. See, anger is universal because hurt is universal. And anger and hurt go hand in hand. You know, sometimes we just get so angry with somebody. You said that, you make me so mad. You make me so, you make me so angry. You make my blood boil, right? I get that, we've all been there. I think about what's been lost in our life. What collision has happened because we felt angry but we didn't know what to do with it. We didn't know how to defuse it. I'm 16 years old, I'm working at Perkins Pancake House in Strongsville, Ohio. My parents had divorced, my dad lived in Pittsburgh. Unbeknownst to me, my dad was in town visiting and he decided to come that Saturday morning as the shift was ending to the Perkins where I was working. He made friends with the owners, Fran and Chester and said, hey, listen, I'm Mark's dad. Oh, are you? It's so good to meet you. Oh, we're glad that you, does he know? No, he doesn't know.

Would you mind kind of going and getting them? And they didn't know that my relationship with my dad was sideways, that I was angry. I was mad at my dad. So Fran came to the back where dishwashers clean all the dishes and she said, hey, your dad's out here. She's all filled with excitement. And I'm like, yeah, okay. Well, why don't you go out and see him? And I'm like, yeah, no. And then she kind of puts on the maternal posture and says, no, you need to go out there and see your dad. And I'm like, yeah, no, I'm not going to go see my dad. She says, you're on the clock. You do what I tell you. So I go and punch out. I still have my dishwashers of America apron on. I go out the back door and I get in my Volkswagen Dasher. Folks, that was the name. It was a Volkswagen Dasher. And I dashed out of that parking lot and I never saw the person to my left until they hit me and I totaled my car. I wonder how anger has you blinded. I wonder what collision, what accident, what are you totaling in your life? Because there's just not a tool. You're not sure, what do I do with this tool? In the Bible, we see anger sometimes in two different ways,

explosive and implosive. In the Old Testament, there's a guy named Moses. And Moses was picked by God to lead the children of Israel out of Egypt. He never wanted the job. He didn't sign up for it. He told God several times, God, I'm not your man. I can't speak eloquently. I don't want this thing. And finally he said, yes. And so he's leading the children of Israel out of Egypt. They're wandering through the desert and watch this. These are the most unhappy people in the world. You can't satisfy them. They're always complaining. At one point they say, my goodness, life would be better if we were slaves back in Egypt. I mean, it was just never good enough. Ever worked for somebody like that? Married to somebody like that? Know somebody like that, right? And so they come to this point where there is no clean drinking water. They're complaining. God hears the complaint and he says to Moses, hey, listen, what I want you to do, I want you to speak to this rock and I will provide for you and for all of the Israelites, I will provide water for you. Here's the story in the Bible.

Numbers 20, and the Lord spoke to Moses saying, take that staff and assemble the congregation, you and Aaron, your brother, and tell the rock before their eyes to yield its water. Speak to the rock. So you shall bring water out of the rock for them, give them a drink to the congregation and all their cattle. And Moses took the staff from before the Lord as he commanded him. Then Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock and said to them, clue number one, here now, you rebels, shall we bring water out of this rock? And Moses lifted up his hand and he struck the rock with his staff twice. What did God tell him to do? Speak to the rock. But all that anger, all that emotion was built up inside of him. And what did it cost him? He never got to go to the promised land. He wandered in the, hey, I wonder what promised land. Oh, you're praying. for it, you would love to be in that promised land, but that anger. In the New Testament, there's a story about a dad. He's got two sons, an older son and a younger son. Younger son's like, listen, dad, I want all my money now. I kind of wish you were just dead. I'm in my prime, I want to go out and get my party on.

So dad gives him all of the inheritance. And so the boy goes out and he starts partying. And I'm telling you, his Instagram's blowing up. He's showing pictures. They got their groove on. I mean, they're down at South Beach. They got the party going on. He's got the girls, they're all right. And you know it. You know the older brother, he checking in. He checking on Instagram. He's like, oh my goodness, look at my brother. Man, she could look in. My goodness, she's a hottie. Is that what money does for you? But he never complains publicly. He does the chores around town. He's got to do twice the chores because now his younger brother's gone. He obeyed internally while resenting internally. He obeyed externally while resenting internally. A lot of religious people do that. Oh, you're obeying on the outside. It looks really good. You got your behavior, you got the right, but inside you're just mad. You're just angry. I can't believe it. He did this, she did that. God, why would you allow this?

It's not fair. He served with bitterness. He worked with comparisons. When the younger brother finally came to his senses and realized, man, I have really screwed up, messed up my life. I'm no longer fit to be a son, but I could go back and maybe become one of my dad's employees. Maybe I could work for the family business. The dad comes home, says nothing to do with that. I'm going to kill the fatted calf. I'm putting a ring on your finger. I'm putting a robe on you. My son who was lost is now home. But that older son, that anger, quietly simmering on the inside, angry, holding on to it, stuffing it down day after day and week after week, month after month and year after year. Oh, you showed up to church. Oh, you could open up your hymnal and sing the hymns. You could raise your hands. Holy Jesus, oh, I'm all about it. You don't go to those kind of movies and you've done all the things, but deep down inside, you're angry and you're stuffing it. And that combustible, raw energy of anger is building. And then, right, you've lived this. You've experienced it.

Out of what seems like nowhere, but always on some day, special day, a holiday, a wedding, funeral, vacation, an anniversary. When your son who was lost comes home, they pick that day to let all that anger explode. And that older son's on the outside. If everybody knows he's on the outside, hey, where's his brother? Why isn't he in here? He's out there. They can look through the windows. They pulled the curtains aside and they look out there and they're like, man, what's he on, man? He's on, man. He's spoiling the party. He's angry. The Bible says it this way in Matthew 15 and 28. But he was angry. The older brother was angry and refused to go in. See, what's buried emotionally surfaces behaviorally. It's coming out. See, following Jesus measures more than actions. It reveals motives. That's why the Apostle Paul in Ephesians 4, he says, be angry and do not sin. And that's possible. You can be angry and not sin. Do not let the sun go down on your anger and give no opportunity to the devil.

See, anger itself is not sin. Anger becomes sin when it controls us instead of informing us. That emotion, God's given it in us that it begins to inform us. It's a red flag being hoisted in our hearts and in our minds, in our bodies, that something's not right. Something's wrong in this space. And it prompts us in the gospel, it prompts us to go back to him. That's why I gave you that image, that circle of the gospel, the blessed life. When you feel that anger, you go back to point number one and you say, I need to spend some time with God. I can't deal with this. I'm gonna let him love me in my loss. I feel lost, this anger, this is the gospel. The gospel is so much more than you playing dice at the foot of the cross and kind of like, I'm gonna roll the dice because I don't want to go to hell one day. I'm gonna have some little prayer. Well, prayer's important. But Jesus starts this entire message on the foundation of the gospel of Jesus Christ, this continual process. And in these emotions that you have in life, we go back to the gospel. It's the gospel of Jesus Christ that saves you

and sustains you in life. The gospel is not just a death insurance moment. The gospel is the foundation in which you live out your everyday life, including when we get angry. See, when we don't turn to God and we let that anger build up inside of us and we're convinced that we're gonna set it right, see, unchecked anger turns wounds into weapons. You've heard it said, right? Hurting people hurt people. That's what's going on. That unchecked anger, that wound that you got, you were hurt. The conversation isn't about what they did. What they did was wrong. That emotion, anger that's inside of you is letting you know that something is wrong. You're not wrong in having that emotion, but it's what you do next. And when you allow that hurt to simmer inside of you, what you end up doing is you weaponize the wound. And Jesus is raising the standard. He's saying, as you are followers of me, it's not just you physically, literally, going out there and murdering somebody. When you're angry with somebody, you are killing yourself. See, Matthew 21, it is true, Jesus, he got angry. Some of you have actually quoted or justified your own anger.

Matthew 21 and 12, in Jesus' example, when the Bible says that Jesus entered the temple and he drove out all who sold and bought in the temple. It wasn't right what they were doing. And he overturned the tables of the money changers in the seats of those who sold pigeons. See, here's the difference between us, you, and Jesus. Jesus overturned tables, he didn't flip over people. He flipped the table, but he didn't flip people. See, Jesus' anger created alignment, not alienation. Jesus never used anger to destroy people. He used righteous anger to protect people. So here's the question to ask yourself. This is so important. When that emotion is up inside of you, you feel it, man, your heart is beating. You're so angry, literally, my blood is boiling. Ask yourself, does my anger, the anger that I feel right now, is it about protecting people or punishing people? See, a lot of times our anger is an outlet to punish them. Oh, fine, big boy, okay, you're gonna shoot me that way? You're not gonna return my text, guess what? There's the couch, you in the doghouse. It's to punish them, it's to hurt them, it's to inflict damage on them. That's why when the apostle Paul says, be angry and sin not, do not let the sun go down on your anger, he says, and give no opportunity to the devil.

See, the devil does some of his best work in anger. When all that emotion of anger is up inside of you and you're all upset, he gets inside there to divide, to destroy, and to deceive. Does my anger protect people or punish people? Jesus never used anger, let me say it this way, Jesus used anger as a tool, he never used it as a steering wheel. Anger becomes holy when love stays in charge. My mom, many of you never got a chance to meet my mom. On Christmas Day, 2019, my mom took her last breath on this earth. Christmas is always just a little bit different for me. The death certificate says one thing of how my mom died, but for me watching my mom's life as a boy, a teenager, as a young man, is I think my mom died from a broken heart. My mom fell in love with my dad, and they eloped off a farm in Hartford, but my dad struggled with alcohol. And my dad was the kind of guy who could. Could own the room. He could make you feel great. He was that he was the salesman who could sell ice to an Eskimo But when the sauce got inside of my dad the same man who could own the room could blow up the room So my my parents divorced and I was 13 maybe 14. I know I wasn't driving yet Had some older friends and so I was out late and I was drinking I was with the older kids and and that became a pattern in my life and and I would usually drink too much and so you know you drink too much and you throw up and so you got a Little bit of you know, you got that smell you got the the alcohol on you I got the puke on you and I kind of and I wasn't careful of coming in You know kind of quiet and I'm sitting downstairs and I remember my mom came down probably to 2 30 in the morning

She put her hands on the the chair that I was sitting in and she looks me in the eye. She's she's five foot tall it's where I got my height from and And man, I'm telling you she just lit into me she'd make a marine proud I had never heard my mom swore until that moment and I never heard her swore again And she just said you know, you know, I lived this with your father and I took that abuse from my husband But do you think for a moment from you little snot black black black black black bla bla bla bla bla bla bla punk-ass kid bla bla bla bla bla bla bla you think I guess I got one of those words out. Sorry And I mean she she was letting me have it Now my story from there doesn't go like I you know, I said to my mama Okay, I'll never drink again and I got on my knees and received Jesus that didn't happen for another eight years But I never forgot. I never forgot see what my mom was doing is in her anger. It was to protect me from becoming like my dad So we go back to the text we go back to what Jesus is teaching us you've heard it said those days gone by You should not murder. Oh, yeah. Yeah God, we got that good. I would say most of us in you're you're right You're not a murderer, but what he says next He said but I say to you that everyone who's angry with his brother will be liable to judgment now right now Let's just pause for a moment. You've got a very important decision to make because everything is at stake here Because you have no problem believing the John 3 16 verse They ever got to love the world you're for that right or the Jeremiah 29 verse, right? Then he's got a good plan for me to prosper, right? We love cherry-picking different portions of the Bible, but either you take the whole Bible For what it says or you take none at all So right here what God is saying to us is that he says I know you ain't murdered nobody But if you're holding up anger in your heart towards your ex, oh my Towards that politician towards that pastor towards that previous boss, whatever it is He says you need to check it right now, and he gives us a strategy. He says you can't continue in this condition You can't claim to be a follower of Jesus You will never live the blessed life. You will never be salt and light and Carrying this anger and he doesn't just leave us there. He gives us a strategy. Look what he says in verse 23

so if you are Here to worship if you are offering your gift at the altar there Remember your brother you got that problem with that previous pastor You got that problem with whoever that person is your ex your your parents your your kids your your brothers your sisters Whatever it is leave your gift there before the altar and go first be reconciled to your brother your sister your neighbor Another person and then come and get your worship on then come and offer your gift. Jesus says Reconciliation matters so much That you should pause your worship until the relationships are addressed Imagine the shock of the Jewish listeners Leave it at the altar that they were told always that they're supposed to bring this sacrifice. They're supposed to Do these religious activities? Go make it right and then come back Jesus is teaching healthy relationships matter deeply to God. God's not so impressed By the worship from your lips as he is by the way you live from your heart. I Think somewhere along the way. I think it was good intentions. Don't get me wrong I think it was really good intentions, but somewhere along the way we were taught to put on our Sunday best, you know, I'm talking about You can fight cuss and feud in the car on the way to church, but once you got in the parking lot behave We're gonna put on the right kind of clothes People gonna greet you see coming through they're gonna say how you doing? You're gonna say I'm doing just good Someone's gonna say to you. God is good. You're gonna sit back and all the time. God is good, right? I mean we can't talk to put on Sunday best, but then we're kind of left to live, Monday through Saturday, in the human mess. We thought the gospel was the Sunday thing. We didn't see that the gospel is Monday and Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, that in the mess of our humanity, in the mess of anger, in the pain, in the trauma of anger, that God wants us to meet is there.

So he's saying, listen, I'm glad that you got your standards. I'm glad you got your morality. Leave that to the side and go make it right with your neighbor. I'm glad you're about worship and Sunday attendance, but leave that to the side. If you know that you got an issue with somebody else, you go and make it right. You go and have the conversation. Now hear me on this and hear me clear. You can go and talk to somebody and try to restore that broken relationship. There's anger. The Bible says that you, as much as it's possible with you, you be at peace with all men. It doesn't say that all men will be at peace with you. You can go home and say, hey, would you forgive me? Or, hey, listen, I'd really like for our friendship. They might look at you and say, yeah, thanks, no, bye. That you have done your, you've done your part. But he says, you leave it there. Hey, I'm glad that you'll wake up tomorrow morning to read your Bible. But here's what God's saying, is if you wake up tomorrow morning to get in the Word and you're like, I'm reading the Word because I'm all about the Word, but you know that you have an issue with your brother or your sister or your parents, you need to close the blessed book

and stop pretending and go make it right. That's what God's saying. Hey, I'm all about small groups. I was with a small group of men on Monday night. I love being in small groups. I love having Bible studies, but there are many of us, we are numbing the pain of disobeying God because you're angry with somebody else. We are numbing the pain of our hurt and we are pretending that we are pleasing God. We are numbing the pain almost like a crack addict would do with cocaine and someone with alcohol in your Bible study. You can use religion to numb the pain. And you walk away saying, well, hey, at least I'm studying my Bible. Oh, I know I got this issue with somebody, but what Jesus is saying, hey, listen, murdering them in real life and being anger at them, in heaven's eyes, it's one in the same. And I, listen, I'm for you. I'm praying over you right now. I'm asking the Holy Spirit of God to show up because I know in your mind, there's all these little bubbles and they're saying, you're saying, yeah, but in my situation, my circumstance is different. Oh no, no, no, no. Your circumstance and your life gets lined up to what God's word has to say.

I know you're doing great things with all the nonprofits. We got so many nonprofits in Ocala. I'm so grateful. Many of you are involved in nonprofits. Keep doing the good work, but here's the deal. If you're angry with somebody, don't go to your nonprofit this week. Go to the person that you're sideways with, make it right with him and then go back and do that nonprofit work. He wants us to wake up and to understand what's at stake. So let me give you some tools. I'm gonna give you just three tools, three tools right here from Jesus that you and I can apply. We don't have to be in a collision any longer. We don't have to try to run away from the anger. We don't have to lean in and explode in the anger. We can let God and his word diffuse the anger. So here's our action plan for anger. Number one is this, you've got to name it. That emotion, healing begins when denial ends. You, I'm angry, this person didn't do, I asked them to unload the dishwasher. What's so difficult about unloading the dishwasher? My goodness, I asked you, please, and you, whatever it is, you asked them not to share. You shared in confidence something that you did, something you were feeling, and you said,

please don't share this with anybody, and they went and shared it, and you're just angry. They didn't follow up with you. They didn't follow through with you. You followed them. You said you liked something on their social media, and they didn't follow you back. Your job is your job, your boss. I mean, you worked really hard. You came in early, and you stayed late, and you're doing a really good job, and you thought for sure that you'd get the promotion, and you didn't. You didn't even get recognized for it. Just name it. Stop disguising your anger as frustration, stress, sarcasm, silence, personality. Just name it. and be specific. Nobody named them hurt you. We're so elusive. The church, I've got church hurt. What? What church hurts you? A person at that church, a pastor, someone who attends, a deacon. I mean, somebody, there's a person, but you have to name it, you have to be specific. The government. The government has hurt me.

Who in the government? By the way, you elected that person to be your government. I mean, what are we talking about here? What's at stake is this. Accumulated hurt becomes relational debt. Many are bankrupt, not because you're on Amazon spending all your money. Now, that might be an issue, and we can talk about that in a different way. But many of us feel like we're at our end. We don't have enough energy. We don't have enough resources to meet the demand is because of the accumulated hurt has created a relational debt. I know the scale says that you weigh a buck 50, a buck 80, 210, but it's like you're walking around 780 pounds of relational debt on you. You gotta name it. And what's really behind this is when you begin to name it, you begin to see it's really not what they did, it's how I'm feeling. This anger is because right now my identity is being challenged. My security. This takes us back to the gospel because our identity is not outside somewhere, it's inside here. Our identity, my identity,

your identity has been established in the gospel of Jesus Christ. God said, I made you, I created you. You are fearfully made. I knew you in your mother's womb. I wanted you in the universe. Jesus says, I love you this much that I would die on the cross for you. And so what happens is you name it, and then you're able to begin to go below the hurt and say, wait a second, my identity is not what they did or what they didn't do. My identity is rooted in Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ who came back from the dead means I can come back from anything. I mean, I have potential and I have possibilities. You have to name it. Second is you've got to bring it to God. The safest place for your anger is in the presence of God. Anger is energy. It must be released. Anger is energy. It cannot, it will not be contained. It has to be released. The safest place to release it is to God. Anger leaks, it's gonna come out. Healthy expressions, healthy places to put that angers in prayer. Imagine how our life would go to a whole nother level

if all that anger that we feel, if we just take it to our prayer time. Our prayer time would go to a whole nother level. Confession, just go to God and say, God, I'm so angry, and let him begin to do the work inside of you. Let that identity and security and value be rooted back in your relationship with Christ. Having conversations with people, just going. I've never totally misunderstood, I think I understand the misunderstanding, but like in Matthew chapter 18, you can look at it this week. Jesus says, when you got a problem with your brother, you got a problem with your sister, it doesn't say go talk to your girlfriends about it. It doesn't say go talk to your babas. It doesn't say post it online. It says go to the person, go have a conversation. I will tell you, most of the time, when you go have that conversation, and you think they said this, you think that when clarity's brought to it, it's not exactly what you thought that it was. You can diffuse that anger. Counseling, there's good Christian counselors that you can go and talk to. They can help you come alongside. They open up those blind spots, they help us become aware. Community, right?

Being in community like this, being in a small group, being with people, you can talk, you can share. One tool that's been a big help to me is journaling. I'm just something about getting a pen and getting in a notebook and writing out How I felt matters, so you're gonna name it. You're gonna bring it to God and then finally let Jesus redirect it Let him redirect it the same fire that destroys can also refine You understand that where you're sitting today This local New Testament Church called hope God Took a fire that was intended to destroy And he refined it Because some people in 2008 felt like they had lost hope God bubbled up this expression This idea to partner with people us because we're all looking for hope Mostly we're looking at in all the wrong places and God birthed up inside of us that there is hope and hope has a name And his name is Jesus the government is not our hope Denominations are not our hope Being married or being single. It's not our hope more money in the bank is not our hope our hope is rooted in Christ alone That anger can become clarity and Advocacy God takes it any he turns our heart and what you saw as an injustice and you take it to him He can begin to redirect it and now that's why you care for a certain nonprofit It's why you lean in and you want to be a part of primetime. You want to work with middle school boys and middle school girls Gives you clarity of how much you need him. There's compassion that begins to boil up inside of you It's why we're such driven on missions here at Hope

locally and globally because someone who is a missionary navigator missionaries shared with me the gospel of Jesus Christ in Okinawa Japan on Foreign soil I met Jesus and so we want to equip missionaries Locally and globally to share the gospel of Jesus Christ God redirects Jesus redirects This is not just like this is not just a sermon from a guy named Mark God doesn't just remove anger he redirects it and Anger surrendered to Christ becomes passion with a purpose and I'm telling you what the enemy meant What the enemy wants? to use for division God can use for healing Remember I told you that I totaled my Volkswagen Dasher because I didn't want to see my dad I Didn't see him that day either by the ways I Didn't see him much. I Went on to the Marine Corps, I found they met Jesus And what I'm sharing with you today the Holy Spirit and the Word of God has worked out in my life of Naming my anger at my dad and the real issue was just my own identity my own security. I I Brought it to God. I said God I I can't do this. I need you. I let Christ redirect it now I'm not gonna tell you that my dad and I became best friends My dad came and was a big part of my children's lives I that never happened and there are a lot of days as a 60 year old man. I'd limp in life I'm thankful for some of you older guys who lean in and and and our real gift to me But there's times I wish I could pick up a phone and call my earthly dad and say hey Is this how it feels to be 60 What were you thinking at 60 or whatever I'll even think sometimes about The year that it is and what year was dad 60 and I tried to think about how he was living My dad never got free from alcohol

And it killed him And so in 2016 when I got the word that my dad had died My dad had never come to Florida When I lived in Clarion, Pennsylvania, he was about an hour south that was convenient but My dad never came to Florida Nobody in this room except for my my wife ever met my my dad. I Got the phone call that my dad had died My dad has others other children I've got a stepsister that I've never met I've got a stepsister that I've never met I've got a younger brother and younger sister. My dad's brothers and sisters still live, are alive, he has cousins, but when it came time to go to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania for his funeral, three people were there. There was a man there, maybe he was the custodian, I don't really know who he was. The second was a pastor that was on staff. That's common when you do a funeral at a church. Usually one of the pastors of the church is present. And then there was me, and I'm just telling you, there wasn't something that I did. I couldn't do this. That's what Jesus is trying to teach us. You can't do the Christian life. That's why the gospel is the foundation. That's why we keep going back. I let Jesus love me in my loss. I let Jesus become the one who showed me how to extend mercy to my dad. I'm going to tell you something. I stood. Linda didn't go. My kids didn't go. It was just me.

I stood on a platform with a big wood pulpit. There was a little urn of ashes and two people. I stood, and I promise you, I delivered the best funeral message in my life. I was free from that anger, and I was able to lean in. I do believe my dad made a decision for Jesus, lived a complicated life, died in pain. But there'll be a day, and that'll be a part of heaven. Jesus did not die because the people were calm. He died in the middle of betrayal, rage, injustice, hatred, violence, torture, rejection, an angry mob. Yet, the one… Now check yourself. The one that you say that you're a believer in, the one that you say that you're a follower of, the one who we say the world will be better and brighter because we become more like him on the cross, he prayed, Father, forgive them. That's what happens to your anger when you name it, when you take it to God, and you let God redirect it. The cross proves Jesus can heal what anger broken. But you got to lean in, you got to name it, you got to bring it, and you got to redirect it. Anger may explain your behavior, but it cannot excuse your sin. The higher ground begins. Life at its best begins when Christ becomes Lord over your reactions. I'm glad we're together today in this space. My name is Mark Cummins, and I'm the pastor at Church of Hope. And if you're a regular attender, welcome. So glad that week after week, we join together in this space. And if by chance, this is your first time, I'm really glad that we're beginning our friendship today. Understand that this broadcast literally goes around the world for free. See, we believe that life's at its best when people discover hope in Christ.

There are people who give generously so this broadcast can be reached across every continent. If you've never given, I would invite you today to give. You can go to our webpage, HopeInOcala.com and drop down on the giving bar and give a one-time gift. Or you can give generously beyond just today. And if God's blessed you, help us as we give hope around the world. But for now, I want you to open up your heart. heart and your mind. Let Jesus speak to you because what I believe is that when we open up our minds and let Jesus speak to us, life doesn't become perfect and all the problems don't go away, but you experience his presence in you, with you, and for you. Open up your heart. Let Jesus speak to you today. Peace.