Angry Mind

Message Notes:

Opening story about a family devastated by a mysterious sickness:

•Moral to Story: Consuming small doses of toxic waste over a long-enough period of time is fatal.

•This is true with physical / chemical ingestion (as in the story)

•This is true with mental / spiritual ingestion, too

•This was the major point from last week’s message from Romans 8:5-6.

God cares about:

•your mind

•your thoughts

•your attitude

•what you feed your mind

•development of your soul

•And, this idea is all over the Bible (last week: Romans 8 & 12)

This week Ephesians 4:22-32; focus on v. 26-27. Notice three ideas that flow from these two verses:

•Anger is not always wrong; Not all anger is sinful

•There are some things we ought to get angry about

•Sometimes when evil / bad happens, good people get motivated by anger (story of Ron Fazio’s family; post 9-11)

•See Romans 12:21

Two primary ways that anger is expressed:

•Exploding

•Ignoring, Stuffing, Suppressing (the second part of Eph 4:26 allude to this)

One way to describe depression (or certain parts of it) is to call it: “Frozen Anger.”

In Ephesians 4:31, Paul lays out a series of “anger cousins.” Address these before they contaminate your soul.

Discussion Questions:

These ideas flow from Byron’s message and deserve some contemplation; Ephesians 4:22-32; focus on v. 26-27. 

•(1) Anger is not always wrong; Not all anger is sinful

•(2) There are some things about which we ought to get angry

•What would be some good examples of healthy or righteous anger? Where is the line between righteous anger and sinful anger (when does righteous anger become unrighteousness)?

(3) Sometimes when evil / bad happens, good people get motivated by anger.

•Can you think of a time when you were motivated by evil to do good? Have you ever seen someone else do this?

Think about “exploding” anger and/or “suppressed” anger. Which of these do you fall into most often?

Is your anger bad enough that….

•you need counseling help?

•you need to initiate a conversation with someone in order to find peace and healing?