On the Outside Looking In: When Anger Gets the Best of Us

The following message from Pastor Greg Laurie is made possible by Harvest Partners, helping people everywhere know God. Check out Virtue, our website for Christian women. Go to harvest.org forward slash virtue. Jesus says, by this shall all men know you are my disciples, that you have loved one for another.

Listen to this. When Christians love one another, it's a powerful witness to a lost world. This is the day, the day when life begins. The Bible tells us believers are ambassadors or representatives of Christ. Each of us is a walking, talking billboard for the Lord.

What does your billboard say? Today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie continues his series Water, Fire, Stone, an inspiring look at the life of Moses. And today we'll see how Moses actually demonstrated how not to behave as one of God's children. We'll see what happens when anger gets the best of us.

Good insight is coming up. This is the day, the day when life begins. We had another couple that were over there with us as well. So the girls went shopping at Macy's department store. And it was raining like crazy. And they didn't want to get wet. And I very valiantly said, I'll go get you a cab. And I went out in the horrible rain. And finally a cab stops and I said, hang on here one second. So I opened up the back door and I gestured to them, come on, come on.

And the girls are in high heels so they're walking like this fast, you know. Come on, come on, come on. And while I'm waiting for them to come, some guy starts to step into my cab that I hailed. And I said, sir, hold on, this is my cab. And this guy, he, I don't know how to put it delicately, he flipped me the bird.

I mean like within three inches of my face. I was so mad I shoved this guy. I said, it's my cab.

And this guy, whoa, that guy's a psycho. So the girls got in. My other friend got in. We shut the door. We're driving off. I was feeling really good about myself. I showed that guy. And then the adrenaline wore off. And I realized how insane that was, what I had just done. And ironically, I was in New York City to preach.

I thought, what if this guy shows up at the meeting and I'm preaching that. Says, hey, that's a guy that shoved me when I was trying to steal his cab. Basically, I lost my temper. And you know what, there's a lot of that going on right now in our culture. We all seem to have short fuses, don't we? Maybe it's all this time that we have spent cooped up because of the coronavirus.

People are yelling at each other, debating one another. I heard about a guy that went to his doctor. He said, doc, I am so stressed out because of COVID-19. I keep losing my temper for no good reason. The doctor said, well, why don't you tell me about it?

And the patient said, I just did, you stupid fool. See, just short fuse, right? And then there's politics.

Oh my goodness. So everybody's in their political corner and we come out fighting and we come out debating and it just seems to get more intense. If you take COVID-19 and combine it with the economy along with the politics of the day, that creates almost a perfect storm of anger for a lot of folks. According to psychologist Joshua Morgenstien, the country is now dealing with three disasters superimposed on top of one another.

The pandemic, the economic fallout, the civil unrest. He says certainly a common way of responding is anger. So we get that. We know people lose their temper. We know people are uptight.

But wait a second. Are you a Christian? If you're a Christian, you should be different than that.

We should not be caught up in all of this anger that is being expressed by so many people. The Bible says a person who loses his temper is a fool in Proverbs 29, 11. Scripture tells us as followers of Christ, we're to love others and we're to be at peace. In fact, Jesus said in John 13, 36, by this shall all men know you are my disciples that you have loved one for another.

Listen to this. When Christians love one another, it's a powerful witness to a lost world. Let me add, when Christians are fighting with one another, it's a poor witness to a lost world. Oh I know, we feel justified in unloading both barrels and giving someone a piece of our mind.

But if you give too many pieces of your mind away, you won't have any left for yourself. We justify this anger because we know, at least we say, we're in the right on this subject. Okay fine, let's just say for the sake of a point, you're right, you don't have to scream at someone.

You don't have to turn it into a major conflict. And we may rationalize this by saying, well we're more spiritual than them and we need to set them right. But if you're really a spiritual person, if you're really a godly person, you'll be a humble person and you'll be a loving person, not someone who is filled with anger and rage.

We as believers should be showing love and forgiveness. And if we don't listen to this, we grieve the Holy Spirit. The Bible says don't grieve the Holy Spirit of God. Listen, the Holy Spirit is God and the Holy Spirit can be lied to.

The Holy Spirit can be resisted. The Holy Spirit can be insulted and the Holy Spirit can be grieved. You only grieve someone you love. If some random stranger comes up to me and insults me, it doesn't grieve me, it just bugs me.

But if someone I love says something hurtful to me, it grieves me. So we can grieve the Holy Spirit. You say, well what does that even mean? It means to make sad or sorrowful.

How do we do it? Ephesians 4.30 gives the answer. It says don't grieve or bring sorrow to God's Holy Spirit by the way that you live.

How would that be? He continues on, get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander as well as all types of evil behavior. Listen to this. Be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another as God through Christ has forgiven you. Be kind to each other. And I have no doubt that social media is feeding this frenzy.

I think we spend way too much time looking at phones and tablets and following our favorite website that inflames us. And speaking of tablets, I want to talk about a guy who really lost his temper. We are in a series on the life of Moses.

We are calling it Water, Fire, Stone. And Moses had quite the temper. Because when God gave to him the Ten Commandments and he descended from Mount Sinai and saw the Israelites who were left under the charge of Aaron dancing naked before a golden calf, he was really ticked off. And Moses took the commandments and smashed them on the ground.

Now that's crazy. I mean I know he's mad. And I know there's a place of righteous indignation but to smash the commandments hand written by the finger of God on the ground, that's crazy. Moses had that temper. Hey don't forget that the reason he was in exile in the wilderness is because he lost his temper when he saw an Egyptian slave driver mistreating a Jew. The Bible says he looked to the right, he looked to the left and he killed the guy. I mean I'm not saying it would be a good idea but punch the guy maybe but literally he killed the man and then he buried him in the shifting sand and he was sent into exile and God gave to Moses a long time out. You know that's what you do with kids today when they're being naughty.

Alright. Time out. And they have to go sit in a room by themselves. The Lord said to Moses, time out. Go to the wilderness. For 40 years he tended a flock of sheep. He was off the grid. He was off social media. He killed his Twitter account, Facebook, and Instagram.

He didn't even use TikTok. And he just waited and the Lord recommissioned him. Now you would have thought this would have been a new and improved Moses free of anger issues but he goes into the Pharaoh to demand the release of the Israelites and the Pharaoh refuses and we read that Moses went out in fury.

So let's just say Moses had some anger issues. Pastor Greg Laurie will have the second half of his message in just a moment. Whenever you send us a letter, an email, or post a comment on social media, we read every word. Dear Harvest Christian Fellowship, 24 years ago I lost my three children in a divorce. Not knowing the Lord I was as hurt as an active everyday parent whose kids had just been taken away from him can possibly be. I'm an avid radio listener and accidentally turned my dial to a Christian radio station.

I was unaware of this type of broadcasting at that time. I heard Pastor Greg explain God's word day after day for months in a soothing and loving way. He explained the God of second chances.

Perhaps more than any other radio preacher it was Pastor Greg who led me to drop to my knees and receive Christ as my Savior July 12, 1997. This is a long overdue thank you. God's best to you all. What an encouraging story of how God's word touches lives. And you know it's only through the support of listeners like you that we're able to reach people in this way. So thanks for your investment here at the end of the year. You can make a donation at Harvest.org.

That's Harvest.org. Well today Pastor Greg is presenting a study in his series on the life of Moses called On the Outside Looking In. Let's continue. So let's fast forward now many years.

The people of Israel are on the very brink of the promised land. And by the way they had been complaining every step of the way. They did not believe that God would let them go into this land.

It would be too hard. Remember in our last message with the title of taha you look at things. There was the majority report and the minority report. Twelve spies were dispatched.

None of them were 007 I don't think. But the ten spies the majority gave a very discouraging report. They said all the people that are in the land are huge and were like grasshoppers in their sight and will never succeed. And then the minority report which was made up of Joshua and Caleb said yeah things are big but check out the size of these grapes we brought back.

It took two of them to bring the grapes because they were so huge. And they said the Lord will give us the land but the people believed the majority report instead of the minority report. And they just complained and whined. And Moses put up with it. You know the Bible says that Moses was the meekest man on the face of the earth. By the way understand what meekness is. Meekness is not the same as weakness. Let's say that you're a scrawny little dude and you're on the beach building a sandcastle.

The sad thing is you're in your 30s. But still there you are building your sandcastle. It's a muscular aggressive guy comes along and kicks sand in your face and you don't respond. Why? Because you're weak.

You have no options. What are you going to hit him with? Your little plastic shovel?

Now let's change the scene. Let's say that you are an expert in mixed martial arts and you're building your sandcastle and that guy comes along and kicks sand in your face and you choose to not respond. Is that because you're weak? No it's because you're meek. Meek is power under constraint.

It's controlling your temper. Moses had a temper but he put up with this. He was meek. The meekest man on the face of the earth. But there comes a point when enough is enough and Moses was fed up.

He couldn't take it anymore and he literally just loses it. Because the Israelites seem to have spiritual amnesia. They seem to be forgetting all that God had done for them over the many years. How God provided them food every single day right outside of their tent door and it was called manna. How God directed them with a fire by night and a cloud by day. How God watched over them.

How God parted the Red Sea for them but they forgot. Sometimes we get discouraged when we forget the faithfulness of God in the past. My wife keeps a prayer journal and sometimes she'll say Greg look what I wrote in my prayer journal two years ago. Look at what we were facing and look at how the Lord got us through it. And the point of that is it's good to reflect back on the faithfulness of God because when you're going through something in the moment you wonder am I going to get through it. Has God not been faithful to you in the past? The answer is yes. Therefore will He not be faithful to you in the present? Whatever conflict you're facing right now the answer again is yes.

And will He not be faithful to you in the future? In Psalm 107 we have a record of all that God did for the nation Israel. How He provided for them. How He protected them. And then we read in Psalm 107 31 oh that men would praise the Lord for His goodness and for His wonderful works with the children of men.

They just keep repeating that refrain. But the Israelites had forgotten what God had done. So they were thirsty. And they said we're thirsty Moses. And you know have you brought us out in the wilderness so we would just die of thirst and so Moses and Aaron go and pray in the tabernacle.

That's a tent that they set up to meet God in. And by the way it's always a good thing to do when you're stressed. Pray. When you're frustrated pray. When you're angry pray.

Pray that God will give you wisdom. So they're praying Lord just help us now. And the Lord gives them a clear direction. The Lord says Moses I want you to go to the rock and I want you to speak to it and water will come out. Now on another occasion God had directed Moses to go to a rock and strike it with his staff and water came out. But this time the Lord said don't strike it. Just speak to the rock and the water will come and satisfy the thirst of the people.

You know what. Moses was not in the mood to speak to some rock. He wanted to hit something.

Have you ever been so mad to hit something then hurt yourself. Moses said I'm not only going to whack that rock once like last time I'm going to hit it twice. So he grabs his staff and he goes to the rock.

Well let's see what happened. Numbers chapter 20 verse 10. He and Aaron summoned the people to come and gather at the rock and he shouted listen you rebels must we bring you water from this rock. Then Moses raised his hand and struck the rock twice with his staff and water gushed out.

So the entire community in their livestock drank their fill. There's a number of things that went wrong here. Some big mistakes that Moses made.

If you're taking notes here's point number one. Moses was taking personal credit for what God had done. Moses was taking personal credit for what God had done.

What did he say. You rebels must we bring you water as we did before. Excuse me Moses. You didn't bring water out of a rock before. God did that. You're taking credit for what the Lord has done.

And then he whacks the rock not once but twice. Sounds like Moses is beginning to believe his own press. But here's the thing. God wants the glory in your life.

And listen to this. God wants to use you. God wants to speak through you. God wants to use you as an instrument to bring comfort and help to people who are in need.

I just talked to a lady yesterday and she told me she works in hospice care. So she is with people who are on the brink of eternity. And she was talking with a man who was close to death's door. And so she went out and got him a copy of my book Jesus Revolution. And had read it to him. And it impacted this man.

And he ended up coming to Christ. And so she told me about all the opportunities she has to minister to people. I thought what a wonderful thing this is. I mean she is in a position where she can reach people that I could never reach. And you are in a position to reach people that no one else can reach. So God wants to use you. And God will use you.

Listen to me. If you will dare to pray this prayer you will find the Lord will answer it. Just pray this. Lord use me today. You could even pray it right now. Lord use me today. But listen.

God may answer that prayer sooner than you may expect. Because God loves to use us. But when he uses us make sure you give him the glory.

Because sometimes people want to give us the glory. In the book of Acts chapter 14 there is a story of Paul and Barnabas who were in a city called Lystra. And they were preaching. And there was a man who had been disabled.

Unable to walk from his birth. And as he was listening to Paul preach they could see that this man had faith to be healed. So Paul said to the man, stand up. And right there this man who had never walked before jumped to his feet and began to walk and leap. And he was so excited.

And the people watching they freaked out. They said, these men are gods in human bodies. And then they started to bring sacrifices to them. And Paul and Barnabas are like, guys what are you doing? And they say to them in Acts 14, 15, friends why are you doing this?

We are just human beings like you are. We have come to bring you the good news that you should turn from these worthless things to the living God. So immediately you say, hey guys don't give us the credit. Don't give us the glory. We are here to tell you to turn away from putting your faith in people or idols or anything else. So Moses was taking credit for what God had done. Don't touch God's glory.

Or just call us for a CD at 1-800-821-3300. You know Pastor Greg, a number of years ago we lived in a rural area and our house was set back away from the road with a very long driveway. And I used to have to take the trash can out once a week. And you know it seemed like that driveway got longer every week. And that trash can got heavier every week. Well 2020 has sort of felt to me like I've been carrying a heavy trash can on a never-ending driveway. But the thing is once you empty the can it feels like a reset. It's no longer overflowing and smelly. As we approach January 1st, it's a good time to reset and get an infusion of hope about what's coming up in a fresh new year.

Yes, oh boy. You know we're all hoping 2021 is better than 2020, right? But it's all in God's hands.

But here's the thing. There have been a lot of setbacks and hardships in 2020. And sadly lives that have been lost in this pandemic that swept our nation. And of course I myself got COVID-19 and came through it thankfully.

And I'm in good health now so I give God the glory for that. But it's been hard times for our nation. A lot of restrictions. A lot of difficulties. A lot of challenges. But yet it's been a glorious time as well.

Sort of reminds me of the book A Tale of Two Cities or the opening line. It was the best of times. It was the worst of times. Yeah, it was the worst of times but we had some good times too because this has been one of the most fruitful years in the history of Harvest Ministries and seeing people come to Christ. Because there's so much uncertainty because of the political season that we've come through.

Because of the anarchy and chaos in our streets and of course the pandemic. A lot of people despondent, searching, hurting, needing answers. And that's where we step in because listen, here at Harvest Ministries we distribute hope. And we do so for free. We give hope for free because people are looking for hope and they're looking for purpose and they're looking for perspective.

And I think deep down inside they're looking for God. And as we've shared with our listeners many times now, this was a banner year for us with our outreach ministry that we call Harvest at Home. We saw over 100,000 people come to Christ and thousands more came to faith after watching our special cinematic crusade that we did called A Rush of Hope. So we're thankful for that and now we want to encourage our listeners to help us finish this year strong with a financial gift. And as a way of saying thanks to you, I want to send you a copy of a brand new resource called A Rush of Hope.

You saw it online most likely. Now you can own your own beautiful DVD copy that you can show wherever you want, whenever you want, to whoever you want. And this special DVD that we're offering, A Rush of Hope, also has some special added features like a little booklet.

You can call it an evangelistic track with the title Life's Most Important Questions that you could give to someone to read. There's also a little flyer in here telling you how to host a watch party and show A Rush of Hope in your front room, in your backyard, or wherever you want as an outreach to people that are in your family or in your neighborhood. There's also a special digital download code we will provide for you. What that means is you'll have the DVD to show to whoever you want to show it to, but you can download it to your phone.

You can download it to your tablet device or to your computer and then watch it or show it whenever you want, carry it around with you even. And you can have an evangelistic crusade in your pocket. So we want to send this special copy of A Rush of Hope to you for your gift of any size to help us finish 2020 strong. And let me say in advance, thanks so much for believing in this ministry. Thanks for investing in this ministry, and my hope and prayer is that some of you might become partners with us for the next year. Because when you partner with us, it enables us to reach even more people.

Yeah, that's right. And so we hope you'll ask about becoming a Harvest partner when you contact us. And with your first gift as a Harvest partner, we'll thank you with a copy of the DVD of A Rush of Hope along with all the extras Pastor Greg mentioned. So write us at A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, California 92514. Or call 1-800-821-3300.

That's 1-800-821-3300. Or go online to harvest.org. Hey everybody, Greg Laurie here inviting you to join me every weekend for what we call Harvest at Home. It's a church service, it's a worship service, it's a Bible study, and it's wherever you want it to be.

In your home, in your car, sitting on a beach, walking down the street, watching it on your phone. Wherever you are, you can take it with you and be ministered to every weekend. Join us for Harvest at Home at harvest.org. Well next time, more from Pastor Greg's enlightening study based on the life of Moses called Water, Fire, Stone. Join us here on A New Beginning with Pastor Greg Laurie. This is the day, the day when life begins. The preceding message from Greg Laurie was made possible by Harvest Partners, helping people everywhere know God. Sign up for Pastor Greg's free daily email devotions at harvest.org.