Are Your Emotions Running Your Life? How to Take Control Before They Take Over

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Lashon Brown Jr. (00:00):
Foreign.

Pastor Brent McQuay (00:10):
Welcome to another episode of Between Sermons.
We are already having fun. You should
have heard us before the cameras went
live. Just having so much fun today
because we kicked off a brand new
series on Sunday called Red Flags. Red
flags. Almost like red letters. I got
like, I'm such a Bible nerd that
it just, it almost came out red

(00:31):
letters. No. So red flag. So we're,
we're looking at ourselves really is what
we're doing in the series. And so
we're gonna have a good time talking
about that as we kind of move
from the monologue from the stage into
some actual dialogue. Kind of a glimpse
of a small group happening. If you
haven't been a part of Between Sermons
before, that's what we're doing. We're gonna
get a little practical, get into each

(00:52):
other's lives and kind of help. Help
all of us just get better in
this area.

Ti'heasha Beasley (00:56):
Yes.

And to do that, I got other
hat wearing people.

Yes.

In the room to. To help have
this conversation out the.

Text this morning we were on.

It was hot day.

Yeah. I'm excited to be on this
show because we get to talk about
emotions and I feel a little out
numbered because I have two guys and
one girl.

Yeah. I think we are just expecting
you to do all the talking.

No, no, no, no. But I don't
know, you guys could be a.

Have God.

I definitely can reveal to you some
emotions during this whole studying.

A lot.

A lot.

Sure.

Okay. You know what? Okay.

I have all the emotions.

You have all the emotions. Okay. So
why don't you kick us off? Well,
first, Lashawn, thank you for joining us
today. We gotta make you more of
a regular. I feel like all of
our other guests, they've been on here
12 times. So pretty.
So. But thank you for joining us.
It's gonna be a fun conversation about
Red Flags and. And I like how

(01:57):
you did the spin off, Pastor Brent,
because when I first heard the sermon
series, I was like, oh, we get
to point out red flags and other
people. I was ready for it.

You were, you were already thinking about
who you needed to be.

I was ready.

I like, I got this guy and.

This lady I had.

Was it mostly family members or friends?

Family, it's the holidays too. I was
like, oh, we going to.

Be on one of those too.

We going to be at they spot.

We had a conversation with somebody after
the service and they're like, you, you
chose this timing, didn't you?

Yeah.

I was like, what? Right after you
were having Thanksgiving dinner with all your
family and Right before you're gonna have
Christmas. Yes. Yes, we did. This was
intentional.

Yes. But you put a spin on
it. You are challenging us to look
at our red flags. And so, I
mean, I'm here for it. That's what
we do at Disciples Church.

Yeah.

Yeah. I kind of wish I had
like a big prop, like, mirror and
a prop window on the stage. Just
kind of like hammer that home. But.
Yeah. So the, the, the thing usually
with red flags is you're, you're judging
other people.

Yeah.

Right. Like, it's, it's just, it's. It's
so much fun. It's so much easier
to look at other people's problems.

Yeah.

Than to address our own. And so
instead of looking out the window at
everybody else, we're looking in the mirror
to see, okay, what's going on here.
Like, if somebody else is looking at
me, what are my red flags?

Yeah.

Like, what are the things that I
need to be working on? And, and
honestly, you could, you could take this
into, like, relationship advice for sure. But
really, I think that this just comes
down to, as disciples of Jesus Christ,
as we go out in the world,
we're supposed to be a representation of
him. But a lot of times the
red flags in our lives, it makes
us a poor representation. So we need
to do some, some self work in

(03:39):
order to get into that. That place
where we can be better disciples.

So you kicked us off with out
of control emotions. Why did we land
with out of control emotions?

It actually, it started with we were
calling it extreme.

Yeah.

And the more I was like, developing
the message, the more I was like,
it's not just that these emotions are
extreme, it's that they're out of control.
Because, like, you can have an extreme
emotion and still keep it in control,
but it's actually, it's when that, when
you let that emotion, whether it's extreme
or mild, when you let it be
in control, that's when the problems happen.
Yeah.

Yeah. So before I get your. Your
thoughts, let's try on how the message
rocked you. Yeah. Pastor Brown, why don't
you give those who didn't have an
opportun opportunity to watch that message, which
I encourage you to do because it
was all up in your business. If
you are an emotional person, or I
won't even say if you're an emotional
person. I feel like I'm an emotional
person, but I feel like this was

(04:37):
more like very solid, dig deep type
of addressing emotions.

Yeah.
Yeah. It's interesting. So over the weekend,
we had, you know, A nasty snowstorm.
So there's probably more people watching the
podcast today that didn't see the message
than usual, but.
To give the, like, rapid fire version
of the message. Emotions are from God.
They're good. He designed us, he built
us so that we could feel and

(05:05):
experience emotion. But when we misuse those
emotions, where we allow those emotions to
control us, it always leads us to
bad places. So, like, if we look
at emotions as, like, like the warning
lights on your car, like the, the
warning light isn't a problem. It's whatever
the warning light is indicating. It's an
indicator of a problem. And our emotions,
the emotion itself is probably not the

(05:26):
problem, but it is an IND indicator
of something that's going on in you
or how you're processing something that we
need to address. And so basically, the
three, three advices that I gave was,
first of all, feel, feel your emotions.
And I felt like that needed to
be said to a Christian audience because
we walk around with the whole, I'm
blessed and highly favored.

Yeah.

And so, like, there's like, a lot
of repressive emotions in Christian circles, I
think. I don't know why I'm laughing
at that, because it's really not good,
but.

Right.

It's just kind of. I don't know,
it becomes almost stereotypical for a lot
of church culture. And so just taking
cues from David and Jesus, who we
see in the Bible, like, actually feel
very strong emotions, ups and downs. And
you see them feeling it, but you
also, you see David processing it with
God. You see Jesus being in control

(06:14):
even when his emotions are extreme. And
so. Yeah. So we need to feel
it.

Yeah.

But the big thing, the hard work,
is after you feel it, you got
to challenge it. Because just because you
feel something doesn't make it make it
true, doesn't make it, like, healthy, doesn't
make it correct. And a lot of
times we're actually, our emotions are built
off of, like, a wrong story, like
a bad narrative where, like, we jump
to conclusions or we see something. We.

(06:42):
We think that this is what's going
on. We try and explain it. We.
We create this whole narrative in our
head.

Yeah.

And all of a sudden we're experiencing
an emotion that's actually technically built on
a lie.

Yeah.

And we need to address the lie
and not just believe the emotion.

Yeah.

And so we got to challenge those
things. And we gave a few practical
ways where you can, where you can
challenge stuff. And then after you've challenged
the emotion, you got to do something
with it. And the Biblical way is
to either channel it or correct it.
So either we're going to use that
emotion for good, or we're going to
swap out that bad emotion for an

(07:16):
appropriate emotion. And so that's, that's really
when you take control and you say,
okay, I'm not being driven by my
emotions. However, I can use this emotion
the way I'm feeling right now. I
can use this for God's glory.

Yeah.

So I could get. I could get
really frustrated with an evil I see
in the world, and I could. I
could choose to just be depressed about
it.

Yeah.

Or I could choose to do something
about it.

Yeah.

And so when we're channeling the emotion,
that means that we're going to do
something about it. The case study for
that, if you don't know the story
behind Mothers Against Drunk Driving mad the
organization, a mother lost her daughter to
a drunk driver and was like, we
have to do something to, to stop
this. It's like an entire movement, entire,
like advertising and, and campaigns and all

(07:58):
kinds of stuff took place because one
mom was like, I'm. This is. This
is not okay.

Yeah.

Like, I'm upset and I. I need
this to stop. I need other parents
to not have to go through what
I've gone through. And so she took
that emotion.

Yeah.

She channeled it for something good. And
you see that with a lot of
different organizations, a lot of different people
out there doing great things. But then
you also have some emotions that just
need to be corrected.

Yeah.

Because just. It's the wrong response because
it was built on a lie or
you've just. You've got something going on.
You need to address it. And so
our, Our, our example from the Bible
was. Was Jonah.

Yeah.

Who. It's four chapters. You could read
through it in a few minutes. It's
an amazing story, and it is the
most like, it is. It is such
a backward story. Like, everything that takes
place in Jonah is like the opposite
of what every other prophet, every other
book of the Bible. It's literally like
the bad people keep doing the good
thing, the good person keeps doing the

(08:57):
bad thing. Like, everything is just, like,
kind of flipped on its head. And
it's. It's just a really, really fascinating
story. Like, there's so much just depth
to this little story, but essentially it
boils down to Jonah the prophet gets
angry that people repent. It's like, that
is not the appropriate response to repentance.

Yeah.

So, like, clearly he had an emotion.
He had a response that was not
appropriate for the circumstances. It needed to
be corrected, and Jonah refuses to correct
it. And so the whole message is
kind of built on one line where
God confronts Jonah after he's being an
idiot and. And says, do you do
well to be angry?

Yeah.

And for me, like, that. That verse
just rocked me. Like, it was. It
was the weird language of it. Like,
we don't go around saying, hey, do
you do well to be angry?

Right.

It was just a weird phrase, but
it, like, it stuck with me. And
I think that it really was that
mirror moment for Jonah to say, hey,
this. This emotion is that you're feeling
is not the right emotion. We need
to challenge this emotion, and then we
need to do something with it. And
Jonah just refuses. So he's. He's our
example of what not to do.

Okay.

Yeah.

But, yeah, so, yeah, I guess that's
the. That's kind of the sermon.

Yeah.

Five minute window.

I think he did good. I'm like,
man, it's like spoiling the movie. And
now hit the highlights. Right?

I think some people are listening to
this and be like, dude, you. You
preach for like 50 minutes. Like, couldn't
you have just done the five minute
right.

Now? You laid out a lot of
good points in your message. But what.
What's. What this is making me think
about is for you, Lashawn, what is
that moment where God is God said
to you, do you do well to
be. Fill in the blank.

What.

What was that emotion for you? Because
it may not be anger. It could
be another emotion.

Well, I think this message related to
me in such a way because I
actually dealt with anger. Really, like, really
bad anger. So, like, my. Anytime I
go around my family, just by them
seeing how I grew up, I was
not the smiling guy like I am
now. Cheerful starting conversations. I was just
hiding the corner, frowning all the time.

(11:07):
So this message was a. For me,
was a reminder of where God brought
me. So it just. Yeah. Dealing with
emotions.
I feel like some emotions, yes. Are
things that we kind of take on
but can be taught too. And so
what I found myself doing was kind
of taking on emotion of anger by

(11:29):
seeing my dad being angry.

Wow.

You know, so way he would walk
and like, that it was through my
freedom that he was made free. So
it was. Yeah. So it's the message
yesterday. PB was like, wow. It, like,
took me back in time. I was
like, wow, this is crazy. I used
to deal with anger. I used to
just be mad. I was one of
those people like Jonah, like, man, why.

(11:51):
No, I'm. I'm I'm a Christian. I'm
better. Like, hey, you know, just having.
Having that. That. That. That type of
attitude and stuff. And I just think
the series was timely.

Yeah.

I just bought a book. The Beta
Satan.

Yep.

So. And that book is literally. It's
about emotions. And so I don't know.
I'm like, man, is there something still
in me? I need to.

Why you say that?

Oh, no, I was just saying, like,
I just felt led to get this
book. I don't know if it was
because PB is going to the message
or. Yeah, but. Yeah, just how all
things are just coming together. But yeah,
I hope to answer your question. Yeah.
Yeah.

What about upbeat? What was your. Do
you do well, too?

Yeah. So in the past, it was
same as lashawn. And we've talked about
this on the show before, and it
always surprises people when I. When I
talk about, like, how angry of a
young man I was. Like, my football
coaches, my nickname on the field was
Smiley, and it wasn't. It was one
of those, like, you call the really
short guy.

(12:49):
Really big guy short.

Yeah.

Yeah, it was one of those. So
they called me Smiley because I. I
was never happy. Just chip on my
shoulder, just always trying to get in
a fight.

What.

Definitely had that. What do they call
it? The. No, the polling complex. They're
like, you know, the little guy just
has to stand up more. And so,
yeah, I was very angry as a
young man. And, yeah, anger controlled every.
Every movement, every decision, every phrase, every.
Everything. And so definitely felt like I

(13:21):
got delivered from that radically at about
19, 20 years old. Just kind of.
It's almost like the holy spirit just
flipped the switch and, like, the anger
just left.

Wow.

So, yeah, same age. It's kind of.
Kind of, kind of a similar. Similar
story. I think for me now. I
think that less than a. Like a.
Like an overtly extreme emotion, I think
my struggle now would be more with
like, an apathy. Like, there's. There's times
when, like, there's just so much happening,

(13:54):
and maybe this is a guy problem.
Like, there's so much happening that I'll
just shut down. And so it's. It's.
I'm still letting the emotion control, even
though there's no. Like. Like, I wouldn't
say that I'm sad or depressed or
anything like that. It's just. It's like
there's too much happening, and so it
just kind of shuts down.

Yeah. Wow.

But it's still. It's still an issue
that I've been looking in the mirror.
Like, okay, how do, how do we
fix this?

That's good. Well, thank you for sharing
that recent thing.
Where do you think the anger. It's
really funny that both of the men
on the show dealt with anger. I
can't say I can relate.

You don't have any anger issues?

I don't think I, I'm just very
highly, I was very highly emotional. See
how I switched it?

Where did you swing though? Because you,
you had us get honest and vulnerable.

So do you do well to be
emotional?

Like just in general?

Just in general, like high emotions. And
maybe it was anger because you did
mention this in your message yesterday, how
a lot of things are just like
symptoms of like other causes. So I
feel like maybe it was times I
was like fearful or I was angry,
I was disappointed and it just came

(15:07):
out. It's just very emotional. And so
I also like how you said sit,
like sit with those emotions. And, and
what was the first point?

So you gotta dig deeper.

Dig deeper.

That's because, because, yeah, because like emotions,
they're a lot of times. And, and
part of the, the message on Sunday
felt like a counseling session more than
like a sermon. And it was like,
and it was weird because like first
service, the head of our counseling department
is on like the second row just
staring at me and I'm like, am
I stepping on your toes too? Saying
something wrong? She didn't come correct me.

(15:41):
So I think we did all right.
But yeah, like there. Cuz there's so
much in the counseling department, in the,
the realm of counseling that, that this
played into with the emotions. But yeah,
so like sometimes we, we. How do
I phrase that? Like we misdirect an
emotion.

Yeah.

So like you get frustrated at work,
so then you come home and you
yell at your kids.

Right.

And it's like, well, yeah, the kid
did something, but it was like the
kid did something minor. Like your response
was not proportional to what they did.
Yeah, but because you took all of
the anger that you were feeling at
work, anger exploded out of you at
home. Yeah, but our emotions are so
complex that sometimes it can be a
completely different emotion, but it's, it's just
masking something else. Like sometimes our anger

(16:27):
isn't really anger, it's actually fear.

Yeah.

Or sometimes that fear is actually insecurity.
And if you could, if you could
solve the insecurity problem, you. It would
fix the fear problem. It would fix
the anger problem. And so you keep
kind of digging lower and lower into
the depths of your emotions and that's
the kind of thing that, like, I
talked to a few people after service.
Like, that's the kind of thing a
sermon doesn't fix.

Yep.

A therapist can. Could fix that. Like,
the Holy Spirit can start a work
in you, but then go see a
therapist. See a counselor. Like, talk through
this stuff, because you might have some
repressed emotions from when you were a
child that are coming out now at
40 years old, and you're like, I
don't even know where this came from.

Nice.

But you need those conversations. You need
that other person to kind of help
dig that out for you.

Yeah. Because triggers are real.

Yeah.

But you.

You did a little hallelujah dance. You
got delivered from insecurities, fear. Which one
was it?

So if. If we're saying the deep.
Cause, I think mine was just. I
was thinking as you was talking, P.B.
i think mine was rejection. That's what
it's stemmed from. So rejection, birth, fear.
It birthed anger and, you know, resentment,
all these types of things. And so
when I was able to deal with
those problems, I felt like everything else

(17:45):
started to clear. And it was funny.
You brought up the mirror thing. Shout
out to my mom. My mom was
a real.
Help in my deliverance of anger. And
I remember one moment I was just
frowning. She was like, son, you're too
nice looking to be frowning all the
time. I was like, man. I said,
I'm not. It's just my arresting face.

(18:05):
That was my excuse. It's just my
arresting phase. And so she was like,
no, come. So she took me to
a mirror.

Wow.

She said, do you see how you're
looking? And I just remember, like, my
eyes was like, wow, I look terrible.
Like, I don't look approachable. I look
mean, like, this far. I met Lee.
I'm like, how am. I found my
wife looking like this.

Asking the real questions. What are the
important things?

Right.

So, yeah. So. And it just opened
my eyes. But I think my real
deliverance took place when I was able
to forgive my father. I think that's
when everything was like, okay.
That was the root of everything. Feeling
rejected, feeling like I was overlooked because

(18:50):
he was more. So. My dad's a
pastor. For those who don't know, I'm
a pk. So I felt like he
was picking a church over me. I
got a basketball game. You got to
go see a sick member, you know,
so, like that. So just constantly balling
in, you know, that emotion up. And
over the years, you know, it started
getting tense, and he start putting that

(19:11):
on. God, I Don't want to get
my word today, you know what I'm
saying? Like, you know, stuff like that.
So. But yeah, man, I think my
real deliverance happened when I realized it
was the root was rejection. Dealing with
that rejection and forgiving the person who
I felt rejected me.

Yeah.

So, yeah, that's good.

That's healthy.

Yeah.

Yeah. It's so crazy, because I think
I share with you, Pastor Brent. I'm
reading a book on emotions, and there
was a chapter about rejection, and it
goes all the way back to, like,
when people were living in communities and
huts and stuff like that. Like, you.
When you were excommunicated from communities, like,
rejected, that was your survival or whatever.

(19:52):
And so you felt like you had
to survive on your own. And so
when we feel rejected, it's like a
sense of like, I'm on my own,
no one loves me. You know, it's.
It's all of those things.

So that's how pride starts.

Yeah.

We get real pride.

Yeah.

About me.

Nobody.

Only nobody.

Intense, man. That's good. All right, what's
your story? And I was.
So what I think I always like
to find questions. I think that's, like,
my new thing with the podcast, because
I feel like there's a lot of
people who watch and have real questions
about, like, these topics, and I feel
like emotions can be. Can be a

(20:32):
heavy topic. I remember expressing that. And
so let's just go through a couple
questions, and you guys can kind of
answer it based on what the Holy
Spirit is leading you to. And then
I know, Pastor Brent, you want to
give us some nerd out moments with
Jonah. You want to do that now
or.

When we go into the question, I
gave a lot of nerd moments on
Sunday. If you were paying attention.

How did you. Even before we go
into the questions, how did you choose
Jonah a story to reflect emotions?

So it was actually. It was. It
was interesting. We were in sermon planning.

Okay.

And I. I had an idea to
really build a whole message around Jesus
in the Garden of Gethsemane, because it's
like this. This strong emotion. But I
kept coming back to. The problem is,
like, we don't actually get an insight
into what's going on in his head.
Like, to. To know, like, here's how

(21:22):
he did this, or here's why he
did this. Like, all we can see
is just a few moments of what
he did.

Yeah.

And he did some great things. So
we. We still brought that into the
message. Like, he brought his friends closer,
and he submitted that emotion to God
like, he's. To his father. Like, he's.
He's feeling overwhelmed. He's feeling this sweat
and blood. Like, it's. It's an intense
emotional moment. And then he ends it
with, but not my will, but your
will be done. Like, so we learned
some great things from Jesus, but it

(21:48):
still just felt like I, I need.
I need somebody that we can actually,
like, see a little bit more of
the psyche for it. And. And that's
when we started talking about Jonah. And
so I brought him up as, like,
a secondary option. And it was like,
honestly, I think the deal. The. The
tiebreaker for it, because we saw great
things in Jesus, we saw horrible things
in Jonah. And like, the good model

(22:10):
or the bad model, the. The tiebreaker,
hilariously or randomly, is next year we're
going to be walking through the Book
of Luke.

Yes.

And everybody's like, we're in the New
Testament for the next, like, 15 years.
It'd be nice to get an Old
Testament story. And I was like, all
right, done.

Right.

And so that's when we just started
really just focusing in on Jonah and
his story. It was. It was partially
just because we're going to be in
the New Testament so much that it
was like, yeah, an Old Testament story
would be great to kind of close
out the year.

Yeah, I thought it was dope.

I want to be honest, I don't
know if I'm the only person who
grew up in church that didn't know
the full story of Jonah. Like, it
stopped for me when he was spit
out and he obeyed God.

Yeah, that's because.
Like, the kid friendly version is Jonah.

Jonah, hey, you did it. You obey
God. I know this man.

The story of Jonah, he's. He's depressed,
suicidal, angry, resentful, and the story ends
crazy. Like, there's. There's literally like. So
there's a repentance moment for Jonah in
like chapter two or chapter three, like
in that, that space. But at the
end of the story, no, he's just
sitting there mad, right?

Just looking.

It's.

Yeah, but it's.

No, it's. So Jonah's story is so
short, but, like, there's so much depth
to it. So, like, one of the.
The first things I did is I
pulled up. We've talked about on the
show, the Bama podcast. So I pulled
up their episode on Jonah, just kind
of listened through some stuff. Then I
read some commentaries about Jonah and just
started to discover just how deep the

(23:40):
book of Jonah for only four chapters.
Like, it's. It's a fascinating, like, piece
of literature. Like, if you want to
just take it from that standpoint, like,
the way the book is balanced, where,
like, chapter one reflects chapter four, chapter
two reflects chapter three. Like, there's all
of this stuff that's happening the way

(24:00):
God describes the great city. The great
city. The great city, then a great
fish. And it was the exceedingly, exceedingly
this and exceedingly that. Like, there's all
this language stuff that's happening that's just
really, really fascinating. And then I pointed
out a few things in the message.
Like, the Hebrew phrase they believed God
is same Hebrew phrase that Abraham says

(24:21):
when God promised him all the stuff.
And it says it was counted to
him as righteousness. Like, his faith in
that. Like, it's the same phrasing, but
now it's being given to this wicked,
evil people. So, like, yeah, the. The
whole story is just so backwards. I
think we said this before. Like, the
good people are doing the bad thing.
The bad people are doing the good
thing. Like, they're quick to repent. They're

(24:42):
quick to say sorry. Jonah takes three
days to repent. Like, and then at
the end story, he doesn't repent at
all.

Like, Right.

Like, it's just. It's a. It's a
very, very fascinating story. And then. And
then at the end, Jonah quotes one
of the most famous passages in the
Old Testament, but stops the quote halfway
and doesn't actually share the rest of
God's character and God's nature because it's
like, it's screaming out of the page.
Like, Jonah doesn't want God to be

(25:07):
God to these people. He's like, no,
he's mine.

Right. I was gonna say selfish.

Yeah, it's that insecurity. It's. Yeah, it's
that pride. It's that nationalism. It's like,
it's. It's fascinating, like, reading through, like.
But it's one of those stories. Like,
you can read it to a kid,
and they'd be like, yay, big fish
swallowed. Swallow the guy. And then you
can also read it as, like, an
American mindset, like, this Western mindset of
going, well, how did he survive for
three days in a fish?

Yeah.

Like, how's that even scientifically possible? But
if you read it from, like, the
Eastern mind, from the Jewish context of
it, it's all of a sudden, it's
poetry. It's. It's beautiful. It's fascinating. There's
all these balances that are happening. Like,
it's just. You got to dig deeper.
Like, it's a cool story.

So, PB do you think that the.
Him being an ability of a whale
and so, like, that is poetry. You
don't think he was actually in.

I don't have a strong opinion at
this point. There was a time in
my life when I would have had
a strong opinion that this was literal.
And I can give arguments for why
it'd be literal because it's actually referenced
in the New Testament as a literal
story.
But I could also make arguments for
why this could just simply be allegory.
Like, it's a lot of Jewish stories.

(26:21):
The story is meant to teach you
something. Whether it actually happened or not
doesn't really matter in the Jewish mindset.
And so, like, that's where it becomes
complicated of whether or not this is
a real guy that really happened in
this. In this real way. And honestly,
I'm at a point in my life
where I am smart enough to know
that I'm too stupid to know the
answer.

(26:43):
Because there's people way, way smarter than
me that have debated this and argued
over it. And then the other argument
that a lot of people have is,
was he alive in the fish or
dead in the fish? Because. Because one
of the arguments is that.
He actually. He dies and then he's
resurrected. And it's paralleling. It's paralleling. Jesus

(27:06):
is dead for three days and then
is resurrected. And actually the New Testament
refers to Jesus, like Jonah in that
same way. And so, like, there's. Yeah.

This is insane.

Right? It's crazy.

Now I want to do a whole
Bible study.

These are the things that, like, you
can argue and you can be fascinated
on it. And I would say at
the end of the day, some of
those things don't matter.

Yeah.

Like, at the end of the day,
did Jonah really get eaten by fish?
It doesn't really matter. Like, what you
have to take from this story for
today is what actually matters. And so
you see a prophet of God, the
man of God, doing all of the
wrong things. You see him getting jealous
and frustrated and upset and angry at

(27:50):
people, repenting. Like, it's a. It's a
reflection of our own lives.

Yeah.

When all of a sudden we start
acting like Jonah.

Yeah.

And it's. It's this judgment that God
had against him. And even the way
the story ends with. You know, I
love that we were talking about emotions
with Jonah's story because his emotions caused
him to say dumb things and do
dumb things and. Hello.

Yeah.

Like, when's the last time your emotions
caused you to say something stupid? Or
do something stupid.

Sure.

Chances are the answer for all of
us is way too. Yeah. But we
see that repeated. Like, he. He goes
inside the mountain. It literally says, he
builds a shelter. And then it says,
he sat and waited, and then the
sun came out and was beating down
on him. He built a shelter.
Why isn't he in the shelter? Why

(28:39):
is he sitting in the sun when
he just built a shelter? It's because
he's all up in his feelings.

He's gone.

Like, he's so frustrated. He's so angry.
He would rather feel the. The intensity
of the heat on him and complain
about the heat than just walk three
feet over and sit in the shelter
he already made. Because his emotions are
controlling him. He's doing dumb things because
of his emotions. And then he, you
know, he curses the. The worm because
the. The. The worm comes out and

(29:05):
eats this plant that God caused to
miraculously grow. And. And he's. He's so
upset, he's ready to die again. And
God's like, why are you upset that
the plant died, but you're not upset
that the people of Nineveh would die
if I didn't?
Like, yeah, like, what about the. And
like, God even basically tells him, like,

(29:26):
you did nothing to create that plant.
I created those people. I have the
right to be upset at their death.
You don't have a right to be
upset at the death of the plant.
This is like.

It's like.

It's like mic drop moment, right? Like,
every time God speaks in the story,
it's like, whoa, right? And then Jonah
still acts like an idiot the entire
time, and the story just ends.

And I was just thinking, you know,
I feel like it ended like that
because God is trying to show us,
like, okay, you will become a slave
to your emotions. Just sit there in
your pity, in your mess.

And that's a very Jewish way of
teaching. Yeah, the Jewish way of teaching
is I don't give you the answer.
I take you on a journey so
that you can discover the answer for
yourself.

That's deep.

And so, like. And that. That's the
problem, though, when we read the Bible
as American 21st century Americans, because we're
like, just give me the answer. Like,
just tell me what. What I'm supposed
to do. Tell me how it ends.

Are you gonna teach Luke like, that?
You're just gonna give us these powerful
messages that leave us sitter, like, right.

What do I do now?

What do I do?

I don't know. Maybe. We'll see. We'll
see how it goes.
Luke, though, he's. He's a Gentile, so
his mindset is a little bit different
than the Jewish. So we'll get a
little bit more direct with Luke.

Yeah, yeah.

Was that enough of a nerd out
moment?

No, that was. That was great, Jonah.

Like, it's fast. We could stay there,
get some commentaries on Jonah and just.

I was just thinking that I'm going.

Home today and, like, just die because
how many times? Like, it's just a
hard thing. It reminds me of the
prodigal son's brother, how when he came
back and he had this whole attitude,
and it's like, why is it that
sometimes believers are in position where we
don't want to see other people come
to true freedom?

It's messed up.

Wow.

Something to sit with. Like, why do
we struggle with that, man? Okay, wait,
you got something? You getting a revelation
over there, worship leader?

I'm getting.

I'm just along for the ride.

You got a song for this moment,
so good, man.
All right, here's some questions because people
probably are really struggling with, like, this
whole emotion things. I saw people wrestling
with it. I wrestled with it. I
do feel as a testimony that God
healed me and my emotions. Actually, the
Sunday you called me out on stage.

But no, God called you out.

God called me out. He. It was
a God thing because I could be
kind of like, oh, my gosh, in
my head so much so sometimes I
need to. Somebody like Taisha.

Yeah. That's kind of like in the
story of Jonah, Jonah gives this prophetic
word, doesn't mention God at all. But
they believed God.

Right, Right.

Like, it was. You heard. I heard
Lashawn, but it was God.

No, I know it was God. I
know. And so, no, seriously, love how
we can connect everything back to God.

It was.

And so just. I'm starting my healing
process with emotions because I didn't even
realize I was emotional. I mean, I
think it's something like maybe anger. I
don't know if you just realize you
were angry until someone had to put
that mirror in front of you and
say, why are you not smiling? I
don't know.

David never said. Babe, why. Why are
you so emotional?

You know what it is? Because if
he did.

He's a good man.

He. He has in so many ways.
But I feel like.
What. I just feel like it was
a thing of, like, women are emotional,
obviously.

Sometimes you could just tie it to.

Yeah. Like, women. All women are emotional.

Yeah. Like, you're on par with everybody
else.

Yeah.

Like, this is on Brand, like, if
you leave me and go to somebody
else, she gonna be emotional too.

Yeah.

So like that's how I was taking
it until really I had that moment
where God was like, no, like a
lot of the sicknesses you're dealing with,
like you've been sick all year, emotionally,
spiritually, mentally. And I'm healing you from,
from some things. I'm healing you. I'm
saying you free. And I feel, and
I felt that instantly. I didn't feel

(33:34):
the healing of my body so quickly,
but I felt free in my mind.
In my mind and in my emotions.
So it is a real thing, It's
a real process. But people may be
struggling. You hear people tie in like
emotional to like spiritual warfare. Like, how
could you explain to someone that there's

(33:54):
a difference? They're like, I'm just depressed
because the enemy's coming from me or
whatever. How could you encourage someone to
maybe take a look in the mirror
and say, maybe this isn't a spiritual
warfare. Maybe there's some emotions you need
to deal with because I, I was
a part of that. Like, yeah, the,
the devil just been messing with me
all year. My assignment must be great.

(34:14):
No, babe, like, you need to get
your emotions under control.

Yeah.

So how can you encourage someone in
that?

Man? I just, I just think.
It all ties back to our relationship
with God. And are we able to,
to hear, to hear God. And even
as we read the Bible, it's a
big mirror. So like when I read
the Word.
It'S life, it's. It's what it says,

(34:41):
the Bible. The scripture says the word
of God is sharper than 20, any
two edged sword. And so literally when
I read the Bible, I'm just convicted.
I'm just like, man, like I could
do.

Yeah.

It just really like cuss you. And
so I think that that's pivotal and
understanding. Is this just me or you
know what I'm saying or is this
just a, you know.

Yeah.

So I, I would encourage to, I
guess take your relationship with God to
another level so he can reveal the
things to you can, so he can
start helping you. Because yes, I shouted
at my mom and it's like that.
But I also did start getting in
my word a lot. Okay. I went
to this season of just strictly, like

(35:24):
I really want to learn God for
myself.

Yeah.

And not just based off my, you
know, my parents and stuff. So. And
I feel like a lot of people
do know that it's them, but.

They rather blame somebody.

Yeah. But it's easy to just to
Just to just point. Point the finger
at somebody and stuff. And so I
think the more and more you with
God, that part of you kind of
can be softened.

Yeah.

And you will start being able to
reckon. Okay, I need to just accept
this is me. This is, you know,
emotions. Like, this is not just my
resting face.

Yeah.

I really am a mean person. I
really am a mean person.

This is who I am.

Yeah, man. You know, and so. And
I just feel like as the body
of Christ, we have to do better
with our emotions because.
I'm gonna just be real. Like, I
can't accept a prophecy from somebody if
they don't. Well, not saying I can't,
but it's hard for me to. If
you're not showing the fruits of the

(36:19):
spirit, if you're not joyful, you're not.
You know what I'm saying?
Nice to people if you're a liar.
You know what I'm saying? Just doing.
It's just like, man, okay, it's kind
of really hard for me to receive
this. And I feel like us as
believers, it's really important for us to
check that so that I feel like

(36:40):
we can reach more. Way more people.

Yeah.

In his world by, you know, checking
our emotions and stuff, because now they
will have a better perspective of who
God is. We're saying God is love,
but we're not. But we're not loving.

That's very true.

You know, so, yeah, I think that.

The danger for charismatic churches is want
to blame the devil for everything because
it's an easier problem to solve. Like,
for. For a lot of us, it's
like, well, if this is demonic or
this is a spirit on my life,
then when I get delivered, when. When
God removes that spirit from my life,
then I'm good. Whereas if this is
just like, I've got some repressed trauma,

(37:17):
I've got some. Some emotional scars. I've
got. I need to go to counseling
twice a week for the next six
years and work through this thing, man.
I would much rather just pray, one
prayer, have somebody lay hands on me
and be delivered of that evil spirit.
And it's like, so we. We will
tend to gravitate towards the easier path.

(37:39):
And I think for charismatics, a lot
of times the easier path is to
just blame the devil. And so this
is where maybe I have overbalanced in
my own personal life, and that's something
that I'm. I'm having to wrestle with
in the season. But I'm. I'm in
a place where I'm like, okay, it's
90 me 10 devil. Like if, if

(38:00):
I, if I own the 90, like
I let, let me work on this
90 and if there's anything else that's
going on that's, that's, that's spiritual, then
let me, let me get in church
and let me get around some believers
and let me pray and let me
solve this spiritual problem. But I think
that the vast majority of the stuff
that I deal with and I go
through it's of my own making. And

(38:20):
sometimes, you know, we give credit to
the devil for stuff that he didn't
even have anything to do with and
he's just sitting around going, man, that
was all you, bro. You woke up
today and you chose that and you
decided you were going to say that
to your wife. I didn't even have
to get involved.

Well, you did my job like you're.

Doing it for me. Why would I,
why would I mess with what's working?
And so yeah, I think that for
me personally in this place, my default
is not to go to a spiritual
problem or classified as a spiritual problem.
I'm going to classify it as a
natural problem. And the exception of the
rule is yes, there are spiritual things

(38:58):
happening. So yes, and we've talked about
this before. Yes, the develop the devil
is behind some bushes. He's just not
behind every bush. And so yeah, that's
kind of where, where I'm at personally.
But I, I, I will admit that
I may have over corrected and I
need to come back to a. Maybe
it's a 60, 40, not a 90

(39:19):
10.

You may get to that when you
get in Luke. I was just reading
about that whole.

Luke does have a lot of deliverance.

It does a lot of that. So
I don't know, it'd be fun to
hear your perspective.

And for the record, like I, I
believe, yeah. Ministry and all that I'm
not anti that, I'm a little bit
anti making that the priority and the
focus of everything.

Yeah.

Like every problem is not the devil.

No, I agree.

Sometimes it's the flesh.

Yeah. So lack of self control.

I was one of those.

Man, man.

Lack of self control.

No. Just blaming everything on the devil.
Oh, you need deliverance.
You just, you just need to be
nicer. But I was over here just
thinking like even while you was talking,
PB.
Of our prayer should be for God
to not necessarily take all of our
emotions away, but how to navigate them.

Yeah.

Because he literally gave us those emotions.
And you see God literally in the
Bible, have anger, have jealousy, have all
you Know, saying these. We say we're
made in his image. I just think.
We just have in a way distorted
how our emotions are supposed to be.
Be. So I was just, even while
you was talking about like, man, God,

(40:34):
help me navigate.

No, that's a real thing.

My emotions. Better.

Yeah.

Where you're not taking them away. Cuz
I don't want to be no heartless
person.

Could you be.

So I want to feel, I want
to still feel, but to do it
in the way that, that you intended
it to be, you know?

So I agree. That was one of
the questions I had. I'm like, okay,
why did you create emotions? Because clearly
they were put here for a reason.

Yeah.

And I know you, you mentioned in
your lesson yesterday that your message that
it was for a guide to, for
us to stop and pause and be
like, okay, what is this saying about
where I am?

Yeah, it's indicating what's going on inside
of you in relation to what's going
around you. So like, things are happening
and your emotions are a way of
you processing what's happening. And so, yeah,
I think that the only alternative to
no emotion would be for God to
have no free will, for us to
just create robots. But at that point,
like.

(41:28):
Man, there's some philosophers that are gonna,
man, have brilliant things to say about
this, but it's this idea that like,
some emotions, you can't even understand the
good one. And I hesitate to say
good, because a counselor would be like,
there are no good and bad emotions.
But if we were to categorize certain
things, like, you can't really appreciate joy

(41:50):
unless you have an understanding of sadness.
Like, because there's, there's a contrast there
that when, when you understand joy or
when you understand like sorrow and sadness
to a deep level, it gives you
a greater appreciation of joy.

That's true.

And so like, in order for you
to fully understand joy, there has to
be the opportunity to not have joy.

Yeah.

So I think that that's why emotions
are so complex. And there's, there's kind
of polar opposites to some emotions and
you've got to be able to experience
all of them in order to be
fully human.

He preaching to you, huh?

I'm in the middle of counseling session,
man.

And I preface this, I think in
the message, like, I am not a
counselor. Like, you do not want me
for your counseling session. Because my, my
solution in counseling is to just figure
out what stupid thing you did and
then tell you not to do that
stupid thing.

Good.

Because that's marital counseling. You said what
to your wife? Like, stop saying things
like that to your wife and your
marriage will be better. Like, I. You
do not come to me for counseling.
That's why we have a team that
is so skilled and so qualified to
be able to do those things. That's
who you want.

I was. I would. I'm sorry. No,
go ahead, Officer. I would say, man,
pb The Holy Spirit definitely anointed you
for this series even yesterday, because.
It was a gracious holy rebuke. Like,
I feel like people were like, dang.
You know what I'm saying? He was
really talking to me. But it was

(43:25):
done with love. And it made you
want ultimately, and that's our goal every
Sunday, is to people to want more
of Jesus and to want to be
more like God. So I would say
I just wanted to commend you on
that. Like, man, I appreciate that. Just
the grace that you did it in
was. Was amazing. Yeah.

I mean, that. That's the. It's tied
back into Jonah. Jonah delivers this five
word sermon and the people's response is
to cry out mightily to God.

Yeah.

Like, man, every. Every time I get
up on that stage, every time I'm
giving anybody a word, like, my. My
desired result of that is for you
to cry out to him.

Yep.

Like, I'm not the solution to the
problem. Yeah, but he is, so you
need to get connected to him.

Yeah, yeah.

No, I agree. And I do think
you have the gift of counseling. I
don't know. Aren't we all ministers? Ministers
of the gospel? Don't that put you
in the same category?

A pastor definitely has to operate in
counseling. And I do have counseling appointments
with people, but it's usually a last
resort. Like, I'm.

Like I'm the only one available.

So this is not my gift set.
This is not where I shine. My
mother was a licensed counselor, got a
degree in it. She's great at it.
I've. I've read some counseling stuff and
I've sat in some counseling sessions.

I've learned enough to get you through.

To get me through one session with
somebody.

After that, I'mma write that prescription to
the real counselor.

After talking with you last hour, you
really need to talk to somebody.

And I've probably made it worse, cuz
I've called everything you've done stupid. I'm
just.

Yeah, I do try and control my
tongue a little bit more in that
setting to not just say, well, that
was stupid, but I don't know if
my face ever betrays me. Yeah.

Sometimes it's a real thing. Yeah, it's
a real thing.
All right, a couple more. Is it
a lack of faith if you feel
overwhelmed?

P.B.

P.B.

That's a hard one to just answer
with a blanket statement. I think that
there are situations and seasons where you're
being. You. You're feeling overwhelmed because you're
not trusting God with the outcome. So
then, yeah, it could be a faith
issue. I think sometimes, though, just the
reality of when you're first confronted with
all the stuff, like. Like, we've talked

(45:47):
before, like, if I'm facing one huge
thing, I'm fine. If I'm facing 100
small things, like, I'm like, I can't
even function. Like, it's. It's Death by
a Thousand cuts is like, Is that
the movie? Just go and go ahead
and stab me with, like, a big
sword. Don't give me a thousand paper
cuts.

Yeah.

And so, like, for me, that's when
it becomes overwhelming. I also think I'm
trying to remember who. Who I heard
first talk about this. It might have
been, like, Mark Batterson or Craig Rochelle
or somebody that basically just talked about,
like, for some of us, it's easier
to have faith in certain areas than
it is in other areas. Areas. And
so, like. Like, you can have super

(46:28):
strong. I. I know some guys, like,
anytime they get sick or somebody they
love gets sick, their faith for healing
is, like, it's huge. And, like, they're
immediately, like, praying and delivering people, and,
like, they're like, God's gonna heal you.
And then at the same time, that
same person, all of a sudden, they
can face, like, a financial struggle, and
they're like, I don't know what I'm

(46:48):
gonna do. And, God, I just don't
know where you are in this.

Wow.

And so it's like, we've got faith
in different areas, which is part of
why you, like, you need the body
of Christ to come together. Like, it's
so that when I'm facing an area
of weakness, I've got somebody that I
can take that to, and they can
say, hey, I've. I've got the faith
for you in this situation. And so,
like, yeah, I think being overwhelmed can
be an indication of a faith issue,

(47:13):
but I wouldn't just necessarily, like, diagnose
that for everybody.

I think. I think God accounted for
us lacking or, like you said, having
a lot of faith in this area
and this. Because, you know, it goes
back to that scripture. It says you
have faith the size of a mustard
seed. God, like, man, if you just
show me a little bit, like, it
may. It may be hard, you know,
in this area compared to this area.
I just need you to believe me

(47:38):
a little bit, you know? So I
just think it's just. Yeah, man. Thankful
to God for grace.

Yeah.

To even still be able to see
us in those little moments like that,
like, man.

Yeah.

All right. It's small, but it's something,
you know, so mighty. Yeah.

Yeah. I. I preach a sermon just
about in every country that I go
to. It's. It's one of those that
I keep in my back pocket just
for when I'm going someplace new. And
the message is called Faith the size
of a maybe. And it's built off.

That's a book, bb. It's a book.

It's built off of. Jonathan has this
moment with his armor bearer when, like,
it's a moment of Israel's history where
there's literally only two swords in the
entire nation of Israel because the Philistines
have, like, conquered them so severely that,
like, they. The. The, like, farm workers
have to go to a sanctioned blacksmith
to get their tools, like, sharpened. Like,

(48:32):
like they're just not allowed to have
weapons. So there's only two swords in
the entire kingdom. Jonathan has one and
Saul has one. So the king and
the king son have. Have a sword
each. And Jonathan wakes up one day
and he tells his. His armor bearer.
He's like, hey, let's just go over
to the. The enemy's camp and. And
just see. See what happens. It may
be that God will deliver us today.

(48:54):
Like, and it. That literally, like, that's
the story. It's so fascinating because, like,
there's no, like, an angel. The Lord
came to Jonathan and said, hey, today's
the day I'm going to deliver you.
I need you to go do this.
Literally, he just wakes up, looks over
at his arm bear and says, hey,
maybe today, man. Maybe. And so they
go, and it. God shows up, they
kill like 20 guys in this garrison.
And then, like, it sets panic throughout

(49:14):
the entire army.

Wow.

Like, God's people come out of their
caves and it's just this awesome moment,
but it's all built on him waking
up and saying, maybe.

That is a book.

That's a book.

That is a book. I think you
need to pray on that.

You should write that. No, I'll give
you the sermon notes to a book.

That is a book. That is good.

Wow.

Wow. That just set some people free.
That maybe could get you through.

Maybe that's all you need. And what's
funny to me is there's a maybe
in the. The Jonathan in the Jonah
story too. Cuz, like the. The. The
people of Nineveh are fasting. They're crawling
out to God. They're putting on sackcloth.
And I think it's in, like, verse
five or somewhere in there where it

(50:03):
says, maybe God will relent his destruction
against us.
Their entire response was based on maybe.
Because. Because Jonah didn't promise them anything.
He didn't even say God was involved.
He said, 40 days, you're gonna be
destroyed, turned around and walked off.

No, that is a book. You know
why? Because there are so many people
who feel like it's either yes or
no, and they lean on one of
those. But that makes a lot of
us wake up with that maybe. Like,
maybe this is the day and they
feel convicted because it's not a fool.

Yes, but that maybe I'll just tell
the maybe to. I'm putting it in
his hands.

Yeah, exactly.

And for me, like, maybes are safe.
Like, that's. And what I mean by
that is, like, when my kids are
asking me for something and I'm not
ready to give them a yes or
a no, I just give them a
maybe.

Yeah.

Yeah, maybe. And so, like, when. When
I wake up with a. With a
maybe faith, what I'm saying is I'm
putting this in God's hands and I'm
gonna. I'm gonna try. I'm gonna do
something. And if God shows up, man,
that's awesome. If God doesn't show up,
no big deal.

I was just.

I was operating off of a maybe.
Like, I don't. I didn't have this,
like, super strong conviction that, yes, it's
gonna happen. And so now when it
doesn't happen, now I'm devastated. Yeah, no,
it's safe. Maybes are safe. I like
maybes.

I like maybe.

I like maybe. All right.
Pretty.

Gonna make the shirt.

It's gonna mean nothing to anyone except.

Like, that's a radical shirt. Maybe the
Lord said yes.

Let your Y sbs. Who's this preacher
coming in with a maybe? Sacrilegious.

Shut up.

Down, man. You can use the Bible
to just slam anybody on anybody.

Oh, my gosh. All right, let's do
two more. How do we know if
we are processing our emotions or just
suppressing them?
This is a counseling question, baby. Just
give it your best shot. How would
someone know if they are processing or

(52:14):
suppressing?

I think it goes back to what
you were saying, how you were even
going through. If it's Starting to affect
your body.
Maybe it's something going on emotionally. So
just to give a backstory, when you
told me this last week about how
you felt healing in your body, he
was like, man, it wasn't what I

(52:35):
was going through, but it was emotionally.
I instantly told my sister, gave her.
I'm like, muffin. I think I have
a sister in Christ at church. She
went through this. You know, I really
feel like you should see God. Maybe
you're suppressing something and it opened up
can of worms. Like, man.

Oh, my God.

You know, so. So, yeah, man. So
I think seeking, man. I think that's
a good sign. Am I sick? Am
I just automatically, you know.
Feeling, like, weird in my body and
because again, people try to tie that
back to the devil as well. Oh,
the devil is attacking me, which he
does. He can attack your health and

(53:14):
stuff like that. But what are you
allowing him to attack you? Attack you
in? So I would say that that
would be a good. For me instantly
when I heard that, when you told
me, that was a wow. What am
I. What am I suppressing that can
affect me naturally? Like, affect my physical
health? You know, am I dealing with

(53:35):
headaches? Am I dealing with, you know,
you know, stomach, Stuff like that. So,
yeah, so, yeah, that.

That headache one is. Is real. I
experienced that in my own life. So
I get headaches all the time. Like,
I'm constantly having headaches, but they. They
like, migrate depending on where. Like, what's
the cause. So, like, when I get
a headache, like, in the back of
my head right here, I know it's
stress. Like, I know immediately, like, when
my head starts hurting, but it's in
the back. I know that it's because

(54:02):
I'm not. I'm not processing through something.
And so, like, yeah, headaches can. For
me, at least, they're a huge indicator.
But I think that you don't even
have to get to, like, all the
physicality and stuff. Like, just ask yourself,
what are you doing? Like, if you're
suppressing, it means you're not doing anything.
And if you're. If you're processing, it
means you're doing something that's good. And
so maybe you're processing by talking with

(54:23):
somebody. Maybe you're processing by thinking through
situations and stuff. So, like, I think
there's just a clear line between processing
and suppressing. Suppressing is basically just saying,
I ain't. I ain't touching it. I'm
putting the. Or we use the example
in the message. Putting the electrical tape
over the. The warning Light in your
dashboard, like, literally knew somebody that did
that, by the way. Like. Like, there's,

(54:44):
like. I just didn't want to see
that.

Oh, my God, like, do yours.

Please get your car fixed. I don't
want to drive with you anymore. But,
yeah, it was so. So, yeah. What
are you. What are you doing with
those emotions? And if you're. If you're
talking with somebody, you're processing through, you're
thinking through things, you're asking questions, you're
digging deeper, you're taking those things to
God, man. You're processing your emotions. And

(55:09):
if you're just trying to push through
and move on, you're suppressing.

Yeah, I just feel like we all
can get better every day.
Because again, like I said, I've been
delivered from anger and stuff. I'm like,
man, you know, can I get. Can
I even grow even more. Yeah. In
it. You know what I'm saying? It
will. Will it be something later on
in life that come up, that trigger
it again? You know? So I just.

(55:36):
I think it's an everyday.

You're gonna deal with your emotions every
day. Every day you're gonna hear an
amazing message about dealing with your emotions,
and three days later you're gonna be.

Yep. Be tested just right in that
place.

Yeah. Like. Like, for me, you know,
we share that whole anger thing. For
me, like, in my maturity now, I
don't have an anger issue, but I'd
still have a frustration issue. Like, I
can get frustrated, like, super easily. Like,
where somebody does something wrong or says
something wrong, the baby.
Like, my frustration just gets up. But.
But it's like I've. I've matured, and

(56:06):
so I. It's not anger. It's not
like I'm yelling and screaming, but it
is very internal and it is very
like. Kidding me?

Yeah.

Driving home yesterday, a car, like, did
something stupid in front of me. Like,
snow all over the ground. And a
car cut us off and almost rammed
in the car in front. I had
to slam on the brakes and I
mean immediately. You know what I said?
Idiot.
Literally just finished preaching about control emotions
and how your emotions. Emotions make you
say dumb things. And here I am

(56:34):
yelling at this guy for no reason.
I mean.

Yeah, but that is the question. Okay.
Because I had this conversation with David.
I said, people do upset you. What
do you do? What do you do
with those emotions? When. When something real
does happen, what do you do with
those emotions? Is it just the response
that. That really takes it over?

Control the response. So if you're saying
something to them that you have to
go back and apologize for later or
you regret later, and there's conviction. Then
clearly you let your anger get the
better of you in that moment. So,
yeah, I think that the reality is
they're. You're feeling that emotion for a
reason. Right. Like, and so first I
would start with figuring out, okay, why

(57:18):
did that bother me so much?

Yeah.

Like, there are some things that bother
us a lot, and we don't really
know why.

Yeah.

And so that's part of that whole
digging process.
Okay, why did that set me off
that way? And it's. Man. Sometimes you
find that in marriages where it's like,
your wife can do the same thing
a million times and doesn't bother you
all you. At all, and then she
does something else, and it's like the
end of the world. But, like, if
you were talking to somebody else, they'd
be like, those things were like, not

(57:47):
that big of a deal. Like, why
is this affecting you so much? And
so that's where I'm not qualified to
solve that problem on a podcast. That's
where. Talk to a therapist. Like, talk
to a counselor. But, yeah, I think,
yeah. Figure out why you're feeling the
way you're feeling, what's actually the. The
root of it, what's actually the cause
of it. And then how are you

(58:07):
responding to that emotion? Are you immediately
yelling at people? Are you immediately raising
your voice? Are you rolling your eyes
and looking at them with judgment? Yeah.
I don't know if that helps or
not, but.

No, that was good. It was. I
was thinking again about that book I'm
reading. It was talking about how our
frustrations is tied to, like, ego. So,
like, if there's an area which is
like, our identity, so if there's an
area in our life that we feel
like we are the superior. If someone's
challenging us, it's like a trigger. It's
like, you're saying that. That I'm a

(58:44):
horrible person. No, I just said I
didn't like this one particular thing. It
challenges everything. So, like, working on your
ego and ultimately anchoring your identity in
Christ is the biggest thing to really
help with those processing. And it's so
funny. One exercise I did yesterday, as
we land this plane, I was on
my way to sleep, and God was
like, start yelling out names of people

(59:05):
you need to forgive. And I'm like,
I forgive everybody. And then three people
came to me randomly.

Wasn't my name.

Don't worry about that. No.

David's like, why do you keep Yelling
Brent's name last night.

And so I started saying the names,
and then I kept going, and then
one of the names ended up being
mine. I'm like, I didn't even know
that I needed to forgive myself.

And.

And so I would just say, when
you're processing, like, just have honest conversation.
Like, honesty, honest conversation. Sit with the
Lord, ask him to show you your
heart, because he knows things that you've
been suppressing that you never let go
of, even little things. That's not even
like. It's not like, big on the
scheme of things, but it impacted you,

(59:53):
and you just wiped it away. Just
start. Start there.

Yeah. So, yeah, we need to have
that self awareness, too. To know that
just because I feel something doesn't mean
it's right.

Ti'heasha Beasley (01:00:02):
Yeah.

Pastor Brent McQuay (01:00:03):
To feel that way.

Like, yeah, that.

That's that, man. If we could just
all learn how to challenge our emotions
better, I think we'd be all right.

Yeah, that's good. How do I mean,
how you challenge your emotions, Pastor?

It's the.

Be self aware.

Yeah, I. I don't know how to
teach self awareness. And that's. Maybe that's
something. I'll do a. A deeper dive
on it. It's interesting. We used to
do a. This is years and years
ago. We had like a staff evaluation
kind of process where the staff member
had to do an evaluation and there's
direct report. Did an evaluation of them.
So it was like, you're evaluating yourself

(01:00:39):
and your boss is evaluating you. And
it was always fascinating because I. I
was working with our executive pastor at
the time directly, and so I was
part of the process. And just the
number of people that, like, they would
rank themselves like a three at something,
and their boss would be like, you're
a one. Or they'd be like, I'm
a five, and their boss is like,
you're like a two at best.

What's this empowerment? Like, but.

And then like, even the opposite would
happen. Like, we had several employees where
they're like, I'm a two in this
area. I really need to improve. And
their boss is like, you are literally
the best one in our department at
that. You're like a four or five.
Like, and. And just going through that
process, what I learned above everything else
is we are not self aware. Like,
I don't know if it's self criticism
for some and then this whole savior

(01:01:24):
complex for others where it's like, I'm
the greatest thing ever, or it's, I'm
the worst thing ever, but in either
balance, like you're, you're off.

Yeah.

Like you're not being self aware. And
so I recognize it as a problem.
I don't know the solution to that
one yet, but when you figure it
out, let me know.

Yeah, you guys should write that book,
man. I don't know.

Self awareness.

Self awareness.

But yeah, no, I think, I think
the challenging it is asking questions and,
and I feel like we've talked about
this a lot in the last few
weeks. Weeks is just the, the need
for curiosity with everything. Like, why did
I say it that way? Why. Why
did I. Why did I feel that
way when they did that thing?

Yeah, that's good.

And in that curiosity, that's when you're
digging a little bit deeper and then
not just re. Preach the message. But
I think you need people in that
process. I think it's really hard because
we're not very self aware. I think
it's hard for us to process some
things alone. I think there's a lot
of places where we just. Even just
for somebody to hear us. Not even
to give us the answers, but to
just hear us. Like, it helps us

(01:02:26):
process out loud and then finally take
it to God that there's. There is
a submission process in all of this
that's saying, look, this is how I'm
feeling right now. I don't know if
it's good or bad. God, I just
need you in it.

Yeah, that's good.

Lashon Brown Jr. (01:02:39):
That's really good.

Well, let's land this plane, guys. What
was your takeaway from this message and
how can. It might be an encouragement
to those who are watching.
Who wants to go first?

I'll go first.

Okay.

Do you do well to feel this
way? That's. That's it. Like, I think
if we just started questioning ourselves asking
that question. Do I do well to
feel this way? I think it, it
starts that whole process. And I think
sometimes we just take our feelings, our
emotions for granted. It's just like, well,
I feel that way. Okay, moving on.

(01:03:12):
Yeah, it's like, no, no. Why? And,
and is it good? Like, do you
do well to feel this way? And
please just don't be like Jonah at
the end of the story when he's
like, I do do well to feel
this way. I, I gotta, I gotta
pull it out. We didn't read it
on Sunday. Okay. But this verse just
cracked me up so much. I gotta

(01:03:32):
pull it up.
This is the end of Jonah's story.
It's chapter four.
God said to Jonah, do you do
well to be angry for the plants?
And he said, yes, I do well,
to be angry, angry enough to die

(01:03:52):
like this, it's got to be one
of the dumbest things I've ever.
Like, God's questioning him, challenging his emotions.
And Jonah's response is, yeah, yeah, I
do well to being angry. I'm angry
enough to die. Kill me.

Like, this is insane. This is the
man of God.

Obviously, your emotion is not appropriate. Like,
that is not good. So don't answer
like Jonah. But you got to answer
the question, do I do well to
feel this way?

I just thought it was crazy that
the same thing he wished on those
people, he wished on himself.

Yeah.

He wanted them to die. He was
so caught up in his emotions that
he literally.

Yeah, because he's flipping it. He's like,
I want to live, and I want
them to die. But if you're gonna
let them die, I guess that means
I need. Or if you're gonna let
them live, I guess I need to
die.

This man had a lot of issues.
Well, I want to know his backstory.
Why are you so messed up?

Stop looking out the window, Taisha. Look
in the mirror.

Was that a preventive woman?

No.

Okay, go ahead. Go ahead, brother.

PB pretty much was saying the same
thing, man. It was a real heart
attack. And I think, for me, again,
even though you're. You think you're here
for something, that you could always just
grow and get better.

Yeah.

And so he said, asking questions. It
really had me yesterday. 1. Reminiscing and
being grateful for what? You know, the
growth. The growth and my emotions. But
it's like, okay, man. But I can
still do better, though. I can get.
I can grow and do better. So
I would just encourage anyone watching, you
know, if you're like me or PB

(01:05:43):
and you feel like you've arrived, it's
like, nah, I can still grow. I
can still get better.

Yeah.

And stuff. So that's what I would
say.

That's good.

Yeah, man.

You prophesied what? I need to talk.
I'm just playing.
I think it was a couple things,
but one that's standing out to me
right now is the patience that God
had with Jonah even in the midst.
And it wasn't God that necessarily rejected
him or even in the midst of
his stupidity. I'll take your word. It
was his emotions that separated him from

(01:06:18):
even receiving God's love and grace and
mercy. And God just kept trying to
show him, like, hey, you need to
check your heart, giving him all of
these chances. And he's still. Because of
his Emotions. And so it even makes
me wonder, like, we. We talk about
sin and how that could be so
heavy. I feel like your emotions could
be just as high as, like, sin

(01:06:40):
to keep you from really receiving God's
love and all that he wants from.
For you. And even when God asks
him those questions, like, do you do
well? Like, that word well keeps sticking
out to me because wellness is just
so important. Like, he was clearly mentally
gone, and God was like, you're not
well. Do do this moment. Do you

(01:07:01):
do well to continue to be angry?
And he still didn't get it. So
I just think, man, take some time
to, like Pastor Bren said, sit with
those. Those emotions, because God really want
you to be set free from it.
Like, that's a. It's a real thing.
He's patient. He sees you, he understands,
and he's with you. He want to

(01:07:22):
walk with you. He didn't leave Jonah
in that moment. He was like that
father looking over. I'm like, do you
want to go into the house you
built or do you want to sit
here? It was just like a whole
daddy son moment, still providing.

Still bring a plant to cover the
flight. And Jonah's just missing all of
this.

Missing it because of his emotions. So
it just makes me wonder, like, what
are we missing because of our emotions?
So that was my takeaway. Yeah, I
pray that this message encourage you to
man just go deeper because God wants
us to be well, especially for 2026.
And, yeah, I encourage you to go

(01:08:02):
watch the message and join in on
the rest, because we. We're talking about
emotions. We're talking about lack of communication,
savior complex. I think I'm just gonna
exit. I'm gonna come back after this.

Of course, I did have a couple.

People be like, I can't come to
the rest of the series.

I'm gonna come back when it's Christmas.
That's what I'll be back. So, yeah,
go ahead and watch that. And if
you have any questions, let us know.
I like to slide in some questions
at the end of the. The podcast
episode, so let us know and we
can feature your question until next thing.
Until next time. We love you and
God bless.

(01:08:39):
Sam.

All Episodes

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang

The Joe Rogan Experience

Stuff You Should Know

.css-15opob5{left:0;position:absolute;top:0.8rem;} All Episodes

.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Are Your Emotions Running Your Life? How to Take Control Before They Take Over

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

.css-r6mb8g{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:1;overflow:hidden;}Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang

The Joe Rogan Experience

Stuff You Should Know

All Episodes

Are Your Emotions Running Your Life? How to Take Control Before They Take Over

Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang