Slow To Anger

In this episode, Sean talks about James 1:19 and how we can be slow to anger in a world filled with rage. He shares an amazing example of supernatural forgiveness than changed our world.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:10):
Good morning everyone. This is Sean Copeland. Today is Sunday,
September the twenty eighth, and welcome to another brand new,
life changing edition of the ninety four X Kingdom priven CEO.
Thank you, thank you all so much, so I'm really
excited to be with you all today. It is a

(00:32):
beautiful time of year in Oklahoma. I mean, we don't
get a whole lot of fall, but the fall that
we get is just spectacular. Cool mornings, beautiful days. Lee's
are starting to turn. Oh, it is just wonderful. I
had a great week. Although my OSU Cowboys lost another game,

(00:52):
we at least scored that was positive. And my son
had a sixty five yard interception return for a touchdown
on Friday night, which was super super fun. We were
I was in the office all week, which was really nice.
Gave me the opportunity to really catch up on some stuff.
So it was a great week. And one of the

(01:13):
things I did this week was I filled in on
our morning devotional for a couple of our members because
they were out of town or busy or whatever. And
one of the messages I shared, I'm gonna tweak it
a little bit, but I want to share the gist
of it with you this morning because it got an
enormous response from our listeners. And it is about being

(01:37):
slow to anger. And I want to ask you how
many of you have ever gotten angry, said or done
something and then really regretted it. I have done this
a lot. I've done it recently with a good friend
of mine who I felt like kind of did the
bank wrong, put us in a bad position between me

(01:59):
and his wife during a divorce situation. I got angry
with a family member who was making some public comments
about Charlie Kirk that I thought were really wrong if
you go back a little further, I even got mad

(02:21):
in the Little League Championship. I was coaching Little League
World Series regional championship game and Oklahoma was known for
our amazing sportsmanship. Isaiah Jarvis had hugged the pitcher. I mean,
we were known all over the world, and I didn't
feel like we were getting fair calls in that championship game.
And the ESPN literally had to calm me down and

(02:44):
tell me that I was about to ruin my entire
platform out there of great sportsmanship and being able to
love your competitors if I didn't calm it down a
little bit. I mean it is. I've got one buddy
who's they've started literally long much a sportsmanship foundation, and
he has gotten thrown out of multiple of baseball games.

(03:07):
So it's hard to be slow to anger. But we're
going to talk about what the Bible says and frankly,
how to do this because it is not easy, but
it's a very, very very important part of our witness.
It's a very unique time in our culture. Okay, we're
living in a world that seems addicted to outreach, excuse

(03:31):
me outrage. People are angry on social media, angry in traffic,
angry at their boss, their spouse, their kids, and sometimes
even angry at the past or for preaching too long.
The Charlie Kirk assassination seems like a boiling point. Some
are offended by him, others are offended by the response

(03:52):
after he died. But here's the problem. Anger controlling us
is a sin. Emotions are deceitful, and when anger drives us,
it destroys relationships and blinds us to the Holy Spirit's
leading in our life. There is a tremendous danger in anger.

(04:14):
Iphesians four point thirty one says get rid of all bitterness,
rage and anger, brawling and slander along with every form
of malice. Anger destroys marriages, friendships, churches, even nations. Who
here has ever said something in anger and then immediately thought,
oh no, did that really just come out of my mouth?

(04:35):
The enemy uses anger to divide us. I will just
tell you right now that I believe that the enemy
uses politics to divide us. The media and social media
knows this. Anger sells outrage keeps people glued to their screens.
But what God's remind us word reminds us of is

(04:58):
this anger does not produce the righteousness of God. It
says that in James one point twenty there is a
call to be slow to anger in the Bible. James
one nineteen says everyone should be quick to listen, slow
to speak, and slow to anger. Notice the order here
quick to listen? Number one, we never listen. We go

(05:23):
straight for our own opinions, never listening to the other person.
Number two slow to speak again wrong, We do not
do this. We are very quick on the trigger to
jump out there and defend our position and tell the
other person how they are wrong. And then finally slow
to anger. And this is the opposite of our culture.

(05:44):
Most people are quick to anger, quick to post, and
slow to listen. Have you ever argued in the comments
section of Facebook? I want you to know that no
one has ever said, you know what, that angry all
caps comment just change my mind, my whole life. I
told my team this last week. I don't think anyone
has ever had their mind change by Facebook. I'm convinced

(06:09):
now building a relationship listening, you know, having a logical discussion,
that that could change somebody's thinking. But I've never seen
it happen yet on Facebook. There is tremendous power in
our words. Proverbs twenty five to eleven says, a word
fitly spoken is like apples of gold and settings of silver.

(06:33):
Words can build up or tear down. One sentence can
change a life or ruin one. So one one verse
three says, set a guard over my mouth, Lord, keep
watch over the door of my lips. Now, they didn't
have social media, texting, email, et cetera back there. So
as we go through this, as I talk about communication

(06:57):
from our mouth from our lips, it's the same sact thing.
When we text or post something that is improper. Some
of us we don't need to guard over our mouth.
We need a lockdown with a barbed wire fence and
security cameras. We need to stop talking so much, stop
posting so much, listen more, focus on loving more. We

(07:22):
have to understand offense many times. Remember that anger comes
from being offended, but offense is often just a reaction
to a loss of power or control. When we feel disrespected, overlooked,
or misunderstood, the enemy whispers, get angry, strike back. I
have an unfairness gene that gets me as well, But

(07:45):
the spirit whispers, stop listen. Trust in God. Listening matters.
To listen says you are worth my time and my effort.
Proverbs fourteen nine and says whoever is slow to anger
has great understanding. But he who has a hasty temper

(08:05):
exalts folly. Lowering the heat not only saves relationships, that
literally lowers blood pressure, stress, and anxiety. Some of us
would live five years longer if we just turned off
cable news and talk radio and social media. By the way,
we have to trust in God over the world. The

(08:28):
world runs on fear, it runs on heat, and runs
on anger. But two Timothy one point seven says, for
God gave us a spirit not of fear, but of
power and love and of self control. Self control. Please
hear that social media and the news are not our
source of truth. They're not balanced, They're designed to stir division.

(08:53):
Excuse me. Our true source of truth is the Holy
Spirit who lives inside of us. We have to walk
by the spirit. Galatians five sixteen says, so I say,
walk by the spirit, and you will not gratify the
desires of the flesh. Palm thirty four fifteen says the
eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his

(09:13):
ears are attentive to their cry. When you feel angry,
give it to the Lord. Don't hand it to social media.
Hand it to God. Now. There are some great examples
of how self control can change lives, and let me
give you a big one from the Bible. Stephen was
stoned because he confronted the leaders about the rejection of

(09:38):
God's messengers, and Stephen was really the first known true
martyr in the Bible. He was stoned because he accused
them of murdering Jesus the Messiah. He declared a vision
of Jesus at God's right hand, which the religious leaders
considered to be blasphemy. He became the first Christian martyr

(09:59):
and and his death marked the beginning of great persecution
against the Church. Now Stephen was in the right. But
in Act seven, when Stephen was being stoned, he didn't
lash out in anger. And this is just remarkable to me.
This is what he said in Acts seven, verse sixty.
Then he fell on his knees and cried out, Lord,

(10:21):
do not hold this sin against them. When he had
said this, he fell asleep. He said, Father, forgive them,
as he is being pelted and literally killed with huge rocks,
huge blows to his body and to his face, to

(10:42):
his head. Oh, and he said, put, Father, please forgive them.
Now here's what I want you to hear today. Saul
was there that day watching. Later, Saul became Paul, the
greatest missionary of all time. And I want you to
imagine that Steven's calm spirit in the face of anger

(11:04):
helped shape the apostle Paul's destiny. He watched what he
did that day, and it changed his life. There is
no doubt about it. When you look back at the
chronology of events, what Stephen did that day has had
an impact through society that you and I cannot imagine.

(11:29):
So I'm going to give you some practical steps to
be slow to anger. Okay. Number one pause before responding,
ask is this going to build up? Or is it
going to tear down? Number two pray before posting. If
Jesus wouldn't hit send, neither should you. Number three look inward?

(11:51):
Why am I angry? Am I anxious? Am I trying
to control something that only God can handle? Number four?
Release it to God, Tell him how you feel, trust
him to handle it. Number five value relationships over arguments.
We're going to disagree, Okay, nobody feels the same way
about every single issue, but don't let disagreement end a

(12:15):
valuable relationship. The battle isn't between you and your spouse,
your neighbor, or the person online. It's between you and
the enemy. And here's the good news. God isn't in
a battle. He's already won. We just need to walk
with him, guided by his spirit again. James one nineteen

(12:38):
and twenty says, be quick to listen, slow to speak,
and slow to become angry, because human anger does not
produce the righteousness that God desires. There's a little boy
who asked his dad, Dad, why do Christians get so angry.
The dad thought for a moment and said, maybe because
we forget that God has already won. Let's not forget

(13:01):
Jesus has the victory. We don't need to fight for it,
an ancher, we live from it in peace. So please
bow with me today, dear heavely Father, this is a
very very important message. I pray that you will share
this out through our listeners all over the world, that
people will, particularly Christians, will understand that fighting and getting

(13:26):
rabbid about one end of the political spectrum or the other,
and alienating other people is not the way to bring
people to you. And the only reason we are here, Father,
is to live and glorify you and bring people to
your kingdom. So Father, put a guard over our mouths,
slow our anger, and fill us with your spirit. Help

(13:49):
us to be peacemakers in a world filled with rage.
We love you so much in Jesus' name a man,
and I want to thank you all so much for
joining this edition of the ninety four ex Kingdom Driven CEO.