1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:11,000
I come, I come.

2
00:00:11,000 --> 00:00:13,000
Do you see me?

3
00:00:13,000 --> 00:00:18,000
Just right to me, Billy Graham, Minneapolis, Minnesota.

4
00:00:18,000 --> 00:00:23,000
Somehow those words all kind of fit together just as I am.

5
00:00:23,000 --> 00:00:32,000
Last week as our ushers were doing their, or our maintenance men were doing their cleaning here in the auditorium, they came across a note

6
00:00:32,000 --> 00:00:37,000
that had been written during the service on Sunday. I don't know by whom or which service,

7
00:00:37,000 --> 00:00:42,000
but it was obviously from one end of a row to another.

8
00:00:42,000 --> 00:00:45,000
The first person wrote,

9
00:00:45,000 --> 00:00:50,000
what are you doing down there? Something wrong?

10
00:00:50,000 --> 00:00:55,000
The note came back and it said, no, I just have a lot of forgiving to do.

11
00:00:55,000 --> 00:00:58,000
Then it was sent back and it said, so do I.

12
00:00:58,000 --> 00:01:03,000
Well, how's it been going this week on your project of forgiving?

13
00:01:03,000 --> 00:01:08,000
We've been looking at some themes that are important to the Christian life.

14
00:01:08,000 --> 00:01:12,000
None of them surpasses an importance that of forgiveness.

15
00:01:12,000 --> 00:01:17,000
Forgiveness is a freeing thing.

16
00:01:17,000 --> 00:01:25,000
This week, I hope that if it's been needed, you've worked on either giving or receiving forgiveness

17
00:01:25,000 --> 00:01:29,000
and that that has been a liberating experience for you.

18
00:01:29,000 --> 00:01:35,000
Today we want to look at the matter of emotions.

19
00:01:35,000 --> 00:01:41,000
How we feel controls so many of us.

20
00:01:41,000 --> 00:01:44,000
I was talking with a friend of mine yesterday about this and he said,

21
00:01:44,000 --> 00:01:48,000
well, what text are you going to expound?

22
00:01:48,000 --> 00:01:55,000
And I shared with him the frank problem that there are very few texts in the scripture that one can expound just on emotions.

23
00:01:55,000 --> 00:02:01,000
The whole book of Psalms is about emotions, the expression of them.

24
00:02:01,000 --> 00:02:08,000
Where do you find a text that one might expound to say what you want to say about emotions?

25
00:02:08,000 --> 00:02:14,000
I believe the book of 2 Corinthians is one of the most emotional books in the Bible.

26
00:02:14,000 --> 00:02:19,000
I invite you to turn there with me to a passage that will at least give us a starting point.

27
00:02:19,000 --> 00:02:24,000
We won't be expositing this text verse by verse,

28
00:02:24,000 --> 00:02:34,000
but we see some of the emotion of the Apostle Paul as he writes in 2 Corinthians 4, beginning in verse 7.

29
00:02:34,000 --> 00:02:42,000
We have this treasure, talking about the treasure of the ministry of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

30
00:02:42,000 --> 00:02:47,000
We have this treasure in earthen vessels.

31
00:02:47,000 --> 00:02:54,000
That the surpassing greatness of the power may be of God and not from ourselves.

32
00:02:54,000 --> 00:02:59,000
We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed.

33
00:02:59,000 --> 00:03:03,000
Perplexed, but not despairing.

34
00:03:03,000 --> 00:03:06,000
Persecuted, but not forsaken.

35
00:03:06,000 --> 00:03:09,000
Struck down, but not destroyed.

36
00:03:09,000 --> 00:03:14,000
Always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus.

37
00:03:14,000 --> 00:03:19,000
That the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.

38
00:03:19,000 --> 00:03:26,000
For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus' sake.

39
00:03:26,000 --> 00:03:33,000
That the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.

40
00:03:33,000 --> 00:03:39,000
I have before me this morning a cartoon drawn by Gary Larson.

41
00:03:39,000 --> 00:03:45,000
He is the cartoonist for The Far Side.

42
00:03:45,000 --> 00:03:53,000
Those of you who enjoy that cartoon know what it is, and if you don't know what it is, you probably won't enjoy what I'm going to say next.

43
00:03:53,000 --> 00:03:57,000
It's one of those cartoons that you either get or you don't get.

44
00:03:57,000 --> 00:04:05,000
I have a whole calendar of them, a new one for every day of the year, and have saved my favorite one since January.

45
00:04:05,000 --> 00:04:14,000
I went out to lunch with a friend of mine this week and eagerly handed him my pile of favorite Far Sides and he would...

46
00:04:14,000 --> 00:04:22,000
He didn't get a single one of them, so much for his sense of humor.

47
00:04:22,000 --> 00:04:34,000
In this cartoon, a rather forlorn, neglected, disheveled man sits on the end of his bed in what can be best described as a flop house room.

48
00:04:34,000 --> 00:04:43,000
There's a bare light bulb hanging from the ceiling, cracks in the walls, the picture is crooked and it's broken.

49
00:04:43,000 --> 00:04:48,000
Clothing is strewn on the floor along with some cans of I don't know what.

50
00:04:48,000 --> 00:04:58,000
As he sits on the end of his bed, he looks out a window and perched in the window is a chicken looking at him.

51
00:04:58,000 --> 00:05:10,000
The caption underneath says, the bluebird of happiness long absent from Ned's life, he is now visited by the chicken of depression.

52
00:05:10,000 --> 00:05:18,000
Well, I suppose all of us have from time to time known the bluebird of happiness as well as the chicken of depression.

53
00:05:18,000 --> 00:05:24,000
I want today to talk about emotions, learning to live with our feelings.

54
00:05:24,000 --> 00:05:35,000
My concern is how we who name Jesus Christ as Lord can learn to live with our emotions in a spiritually healthy way.

55
00:05:35,000 --> 00:05:45,000
Some Christians are as dependent upon their feelings as a drug addict for his next fix.

56
00:05:45,000 --> 00:05:59,000
Others, however, consider emotional expressions unspiritual or immature and pride themselves in a rather igloo like existence, frigid and frozen.

57
00:05:59,000 --> 00:06:08,000
It would be good for all of us to recognize the legitimacy of having feelings and being emotional.

58
00:06:08,000 --> 00:06:17,000
And yet, to keep that in balance so that our walk with God is not similar to a roller coaster ride.

59
00:06:17,000 --> 00:06:24,000
We must learn to live with our feelings, but not allow them to dominate us.

60
00:06:24,000 --> 00:06:30,000
That is my proposition this morning and I invite you to think hard with me about it.

61
00:06:30,000 --> 00:06:37,000
We must learn to live with our feelings, but not be dominated by them.

62
00:06:37,000 --> 00:06:40,000
There are three facts I want to talk about.

63
00:06:40,000 --> 00:06:47,000
If you and I can grasp these facts, I believe we will go a long way toward handling our emotions.

64
00:06:47,000 --> 00:06:54,000
Fact number one is simply this, emotions are a part of being human.

65
00:06:54,000 --> 00:07:03,000
God created us with the ability to have feelings and to express them.

66
00:07:03,000 --> 00:07:12,000
In the book of Genesis, the very first chapter, we observe something interesting about God that is at least suggested to us.

67
00:07:12,000 --> 00:07:25,000
At various points in the creation narrative, the writer Moses states, God saw that it was good.

68
00:07:25,000 --> 00:07:32,000
He says that, for example, in verse 10, he says it again in verse 12.

69
00:07:32,000 --> 00:07:35,000
He says it again in verse 18.

70
00:07:35,000 --> 00:07:43,000
He says it in verse 21, and God saw that it was good. Again, verse 25.

71
00:07:43,000 --> 00:07:49,000
Believe me, this is not just a rational statement regarding God.

72
00:07:49,000 --> 00:07:55,000
This is not a mechanical response on his part, oh, that is good.

73
00:07:55,000 --> 00:08:04,000
This is a statement of the heart of God as he saw the creation that he brought into being by his spoken word.

74
00:08:04,000 --> 00:08:10,000
It was good. In fact, he says it was very good.

75
00:08:10,000 --> 00:08:17,000
I observe from this that God himself has emotion.

76
00:08:17,000 --> 00:08:25,000
Holy, pure, sovereign, infinite emotion.

77
00:08:25,000 --> 00:08:36,000
God is emotional, and he created mankind in his image to also experience emotions.

78
00:08:36,000 --> 00:08:46,000
In chapter 2, verse 18, the Lord God said, It is not good for the man to be alone.

79
00:08:46,000 --> 00:08:49,000
I will make him a helper suitable for him.

80
00:08:49,000 --> 00:09:01,000
You see, God admits that man can feel lonely, and he says it is not good for him to feel lonely, to be alone.

81
00:09:01,000 --> 00:09:06,000
I am going to create something as his counterpart.

82
00:09:06,000 --> 00:09:14,000
And he did that in verse 23. The man responds, This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh.

83
00:09:14,000 --> 00:09:21,000
You see, all of the animals have come before Adam. He has named them appropriately.

84
00:09:21,000 --> 00:09:27,000
But nothing has been found for him to be completed with.

85
00:09:27,000 --> 00:09:35,000
And he responds by saying what he does. She shall be called woman because she was taken out of man.

86
00:09:35,000 --> 00:09:39,000
You think that that was merely a rational statement on his part? Not in the least.

87
00:09:39,000 --> 00:09:46,000
If you want to reduce that statement of Adam's to just one word, it would be the word, wow.

88
00:09:46,000 --> 00:09:58,000
When he saw what God had prepared for him, that perfect counterpart, bone of his own bones, flesh of his own flesh, taken from him, it was terrific.

89
00:09:58,000 --> 00:10:05,000
It was wonderful. He recognized this as woman, his completer.

90
00:10:05,000 --> 00:10:15,000
He felt deeply regarding this. It says in verse 25, the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.

91
00:10:15,000 --> 00:10:23,000
But then in chapter 3, the record states that sin entered through the temptation of the serpent.

92
00:10:23,000 --> 00:10:27,000
And Eve and Adam fell into sin.

93
00:10:27,000 --> 00:10:38,000
And the eyes of them were opened, verse 7, and they knew that they were naked, and they sowed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.

94
00:10:38,000 --> 00:10:44,000
And in verse 10, Adam is responding to God who is searching for him.

95
00:10:44,000 --> 00:10:52,000
And he says, I heard the sound of thee in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid myself.

96
00:10:52,000 --> 00:11:06,000
And so after the fall, we still see emotion being expressed. Now negatively, they are feeling ashamed and they are feeling afraid because of the effect of sin.

97
00:11:06,000 --> 00:11:16,000
My point in coming here to Genesis is simply to underscore the fact that when God created man and woman in the beginning, emotion was part of it.

98
00:11:16,000 --> 00:11:22,000
Emotion is not a result of sin, although sin affects our emotion.

99
00:11:22,000 --> 00:11:32,000
Emotion was present before sin and certainly present after sin. Emotions are part of being human.

100
00:11:32,000 --> 00:11:39,000
To deny our emotions is to deny our humanity. And that results in problems.

101
00:11:39,000 --> 00:11:48,000
Suppressed emotions will surface somehow, some way, some day.

102
00:11:48,000 --> 00:11:59,000
When God entered his creation through the incarnation, he was a perfectly healthy and balanced man.

103
00:11:59,000 --> 00:12:06,000
Jesus Christ experienced the gamut of feelings and emotions which a holy person could.

104
00:12:06,000 --> 00:12:16,000
It is interesting to go through the Gospels as I did quickly and in a cursory way this week, just looking for the emotions that Jesus expressed and felt.

105
00:12:16,000 --> 00:12:25,000
Here are some of them. In John 15-11, he speaks about his joy. Jesus knew joy in his feelings.

106
00:12:25,000 --> 00:12:32,000
On the other hand, in Matthew 26-38 in the garden, it says that he was grieved.

107
00:12:32,000 --> 00:12:41,000
Literally it says he was surrounded by sorrow, fulfilling what Isaiah said, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.

108
00:12:41,000 --> 00:12:51,000
That's what the Messiah would be like. It says in John 11-33 in two interesting words, in the first place he was troubled.

109
00:12:51,000 --> 00:12:56,000
You recall this is the death of Lazarus and all the wind accompanied that.

110
00:12:56,000 --> 00:13:03,000
It says he was troubled. The word literally means disturbed or to shudder. He was troubled.

111
00:13:03,000 --> 00:13:09,000
It's the same word used in John 14-1, let not your heart be troubled, Jesus says.

112
00:13:09,000 --> 00:13:13,000
But he himself experienced trouble of heart.

113
00:13:13,000 --> 00:13:22,000
It also says in John 11-33, he was deeply moved. A significant word, deeply moved.

114
00:13:22,000 --> 00:13:31,000
Literally it means to snort as an expression of anger. I'm not going to try to illustrate that for you, but I think you get the idea.

115
00:13:31,000 --> 00:13:42,000
He uttered a sound that was generated by anger inside of him and what he was seeing.

116
00:13:42,000 --> 00:13:48,000
Then Matthew 9-36, he felt compassion for the multitudes.

117
00:13:48,000 --> 00:13:56,000
In John 6-66, he says to his disciples, and you, you won't go away too, will you?

118
00:13:56,000 --> 00:14:03,000
Jesus knew the meaning of loneliness. He's felt that.

119
00:14:03,000 --> 00:14:11,000
I'm told that we are capable of more than 600 emotions as human beings.

120
00:14:11,000 --> 00:14:18,000
All of those that would be consistent with a holy person Jesus felt.

121
00:14:18,000 --> 00:14:24,000
It's important to remember that emotions are not inherently sinful.

122
00:14:24,000 --> 00:14:28,000
Feelings are not sinful in themselves.

123
00:14:28,000 --> 00:14:35,000
How we express them may be righteous or unrighteous, good or bad.

124
00:14:35,000 --> 00:14:39,000
But the feelings themselves are not inherently sinful.

125
00:14:39,000 --> 00:14:49,000
Our emotions are always in flux because our emotions respond to our circumstances and our circumstances are in continual change.

126
00:14:49,000 --> 00:14:51,000
Here's the process.

127
00:14:51,000 --> 00:15:08,000
A change in my situation produces a change in my feelings, which in turn produces a change in me biochemically and in my relationships with others.

128
00:15:08,000 --> 00:15:19,000
And because my situation is constantly changing, my feelings are constantly changing, and so I am constantly changing chemically and in my relationships to others.

129
00:15:19,000 --> 00:15:24,000
It's something very dynamic and it's not static. It is changing all the time.

130
00:15:24,000 --> 00:15:29,000
No wonder we need to learn to live with our feelings.

131
00:15:29,000 --> 00:15:35,000
But I have occasionally lamented, as maybe you have, if only I didn't have feelings.

132
00:15:35,000 --> 00:15:39,000
My feelings get in the way of my service for God.

133
00:15:39,000 --> 00:15:43,000
I just wish he would take away my feelings.

134
00:15:43,000 --> 00:15:46,000
Really that's a very stupid statement.

135
00:15:46,000 --> 00:15:51,000
Because what we're saying when we say that is that we don't want to be human anymore.

136
00:15:51,000 --> 00:16:01,000
Emotions provide variety to life, just as color is provided by the beautiful strands in a tapestry.

137
00:16:01,000 --> 00:16:06,000
Feelings and emotions are a wonderful gift from our Creator.

138
00:16:06,000 --> 00:16:13,000
We should thank God for our emotions because emotions are part of being human.

139
00:16:13,000 --> 00:16:19,000
But that brings us to a second fact that's important for us to think about.

140
00:16:19,000 --> 00:16:27,000
And that is, emotions are subject to abuse and to manipulation.

141
00:16:27,000 --> 00:16:37,000
Turn with me again to 2 Corinthians, chapter 1 this time, and notice how Paul's emotions changed.

142
00:16:37,000 --> 00:16:47,000
If we had time to look more fully at 2 Corinthians, I could show you how his emotions were changing a great deal regarding them in particular.

143
00:16:47,000 --> 00:16:58,000
In chapter 1 verse 8 he says, We do not want you to be unaware, brethren, of our affliction which came to us in Asia, a change in his situation,

144
00:16:58,000 --> 00:17:08,000
that we were burdened excessively beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life.

145
00:17:08,000 --> 00:17:14,000
Hey friend, this is perhaps the greatest saint in the last 2,000 years speaking.

146
00:17:14,000 --> 00:17:26,000
And he says his emotions were such that he despaired even of going on with life, beyond his strength, excessively burdened.

147
00:17:26,000 --> 00:17:35,000
That's how he felt. Our emotional states and our response can be affected by a number of things.

148
00:17:35,000 --> 00:17:43,000
We've talked about change of circumstances, but let's think also about our physical conditioning.

149
00:17:43,000 --> 00:17:51,000
That can affect our feelings. Fatigue affects the way that you feel.

150
00:17:51,000 --> 00:17:57,000
When you are rested you may feel one way about a circumstance, and when you're fatigued another way.

151
00:17:57,000 --> 00:18:07,000
Likewise we are affected by medications, by hormones. Particularly females are affected by this.

152
00:18:07,000 --> 00:18:13,000
As they enter into that mid-period of life that's called menopause and the change of hormones at that time,

153
00:18:13,000 --> 00:18:22,000
many women go through a difficult crisis with their feelings, and it's hormonal primarily.

154
00:18:22,000 --> 00:18:32,000
Men also can face a mid-life kind of crisis, not so much because of hormones, but because of the aging process, it affects feelings.

155
00:18:32,000 --> 00:18:40,000
Abuse can affect feelings. I have talked to people who have been abused as children.

156
00:18:40,000 --> 00:18:47,000
Oh my, how that causes feelings later in life to be complicated.

157
00:18:47,000 --> 00:18:56,000
Feelings can be affected by plan and manipulation. There are those who study how to manipulate others.

158
00:18:56,000 --> 00:19:06,000
Often sales techniques involve this. Television is just one case of manipulation after another.

159
00:19:06,000 --> 00:19:16,000
Trying to get you to feel certain ways about certain issues, or certain products that they want you to feel like going out and buying.

160
00:19:16,000 --> 00:19:25,000
When you and I sit down before the television, we are sitting down before the great manipulator, and we need to be on guard.

161
00:19:25,000 --> 00:19:38,000
Our feelings are affected by nutrition. Those who eat a lot of junk food sometimes have difficulty with their emotions because they are not eating a balanced diet.

162
00:19:38,000 --> 00:19:49,000
Somebody who is high on sugar can because of that feel certain things that normally he or she would not feel.

163
00:19:49,000 --> 00:20:02,000
Nutrition is important. Stress affects our feelings. Habit, whenever you and I act upon an emotion, we reinforce it.

164
00:20:02,000 --> 00:20:07,000
And that then can become a pattern. So habit affects our emotions.

165
00:20:07,000 --> 00:20:15,000
How do we know whether our emotions are healthy or not? What are our feelings and what they ought to be?

166
00:20:15,000 --> 00:20:25,000
Let me begin by saying there are two extremes that need to be avoided as we face changes in our circumstances.

167
00:20:25,000 --> 00:20:32,000
The one extreme is the emotional response. Everything is visceral. It's all in the surface.

168
00:20:32,000 --> 00:20:43,000
And everything is very high or very low. The emotional response. That's an extreme that needs to be avoided.

169
00:20:43,000 --> 00:20:47,000
The other extreme is the purely rational response.

170
00:20:47,000 --> 00:21:02,000
Where one reasons and approaches the situation logically and it's all mechanical, and any feelings are deeply held down, not allowed to surface, it's got to be rational and reasonable.

171
00:21:02,000 --> 00:21:10,000
When you get two people who are on extremes married, you've got a real household.

172
00:21:10,000 --> 00:21:16,000
What we need to strive for is a balance, somewhere in between.

173
00:21:16,000 --> 00:21:23,000
It's very difficult for me to tell you what your balance ought to be because each of us is a little different.

174
00:21:23,000 --> 00:21:31,000
But the fact is we both need, we need both to be emotional and rational as we face our changing circumstances.

175
00:21:31,000 --> 00:21:41,000
A healthy emotion is one that is working in balance with reason, with logic.

176
00:21:41,000 --> 00:21:53,000
Now the fact is that sometimes all of us need assistance from another person who can help us sort through what we're facing and how we're feeling.

177
00:21:53,000 --> 00:21:59,000
It may be a good friend that we sit down with. Maybe we're out fishing and we just start talking about it.

178
00:21:59,000 --> 00:22:06,000
Or maybe we actually go over to the house in tears and we say, oh, can you have a cup of coffee with me? I need to talk about this.

179
00:22:06,000 --> 00:22:12,000
It may be to the point that we need to go see a counselor who's professionally trained to help us sort through these things.

180
00:22:12,000 --> 00:22:17,000
But the fact is that every one of us probably, a week doesn't go by.

181
00:22:17,000 --> 00:22:24,000
What we seek out somebody to help us sort through what we're facing and how we're feeling about that.

182
00:22:24,000 --> 00:22:28,000
There is nothing wrong with that that is good, it is normal.

183
00:22:28,000 --> 00:22:34,000
We need to find the kind of godly friends who will help us with it.

184
00:22:34,000 --> 00:22:43,000
That brings us to a third fact that we need to talk about and that is emotions are a part of your Christian experience.

185
00:22:43,000 --> 00:22:50,000
They're not just a part of life in general, but emotions are a part of your Christian experience.

186
00:22:50,000 --> 00:22:59,000
Hear me. An emotion-less Christianity is unhealthy.

187
00:22:59,000 --> 00:23:12,000
To attempt to worship God and serve him without any expression of emotion is to practice a form of godliness without the life.

188
00:23:12,000 --> 00:23:21,000
That kind of Christianity is as cold as marble in a mausoleum. It's dead.

189
00:23:21,000 --> 00:23:27,000
On the other hand, an emotion-filled Christianity is unstable.

190
00:23:27,000 --> 00:23:42,000
To base one's faith or one's walk with God on mere emotion is to live, shall we say, in a world of bubbles. Bubbles that burst and pop easily.

191
00:23:42,000 --> 00:23:54,000
That kind of Christianity leaves one on a dangerous religious joyride that must always seek a greater thrill to be satisfying.

192
00:23:54,000 --> 00:24:09,000
A healthy and balanced Christian life will embrace and express true emotion while finding its basis to be truth and not experience.

193
00:24:09,000 --> 00:24:25,000
I want to repeat that. A healthy, balanced Christian life will embrace and express true emotion while finding its basis to be truth and not experience.

194
00:24:25,000 --> 00:24:32,000
We need to understand the proper place of emotion. Three statements I want to make about it.

195
00:24:32,000 --> 00:24:40,000
Emotions are not the foundation, but the fireplace.

196
00:24:40,000 --> 00:24:50,000
Obviously, I'm comparing it to a house, the house of your life. Emotions must not be the foundation of it. It's the fireplace.

197
00:24:50,000 --> 00:24:59,000
The foundation is not feeling. If the foundation of your life is feeling, it's going to be a rough one.

198
00:24:59,000 --> 00:25:08,000
The foundation must be fact, primarily the fact, the truth of God's Word.

199
00:25:08,000 --> 00:25:17,000
But feeling is nice, like a fireplace. It provides warmth. It provides decoration.

200
00:25:17,000 --> 00:25:23,000
But it's not always necessary any more than your fireplace is always lit in your home.

201
00:25:23,000 --> 00:25:30,000
Or your home may not have a fireplace. But a fireplace is nice. Emotions are nice.

202
00:25:30,000 --> 00:25:35,000
They're the fireplace, but they're not the foundation.

203
00:25:35,000 --> 00:25:43,000
Second thing I'd like to say about emotions and their place is this. Emotions are not the master, but the servant.

204
00:25:43,000 --> 00:25:48,000
To be dominated by your emotions is to be a slave to them.

205
00:25:48,000 --> 00:25:55,000
We ought not to be a slave to our emotions and just follow around wherever our feelings lead us.

206
00:25:55,000 --> 00:26:01,000
Emotions are not the master, but the servant.

207
00:26:01,000 --> 00:26:08,000
And thirdly, emotions are not the locomotive, but the caboose.

208
00:26:08,000 --> 00:26:16,000
Appropriate feelings will always follow when we act in loving obedience to Christ's commands.

209
00:26:16,000 --> 00:26:23,000
And yet how many Christians there are who are just following their feelings around, making the caboose the locomotive.

210
00:26:23,000 --> 00:26:28,000
It doesn't work very well that way.

211
00:26:28,000 --> 00:26:31,000
The caboose comes along at the end.

212
00:26:31,000 --> 00:26:39,000
That which pulls the life must be the locomotive of faith in the facts of God's Word.

213
00:26:39,000 --> 00:26:48,000
With the locomotive, with the caboose rather, coming at the end in emotions.

214
00:26:48,000 --> 00:26:53,000
There are people who have come to me and have said, I don't love my wife anymore.

215
00:26:53,000 --> 00:26:57,000
I don't love my husband anymore.

216
00:26:57,000 --> 00:27:03,000
And they are stating something they genuinely feel.

217
00:27:03,000 --> 00:27:08,000
That is an emotion that is true about them.

218
00:27:08,000 --> 00:27:15,000
But the fact is that God commands us to love our wives, our husbands.

219
00:27:15,000 --> 00:27:24,000
And if we lovingly obey Christ's commands and we act lovingly, therefore, toward our spouse, the emotions will come along.

220
00:27:24,000 --> 00:27:29,000
Now I recognize that things happen in a marriage that can crush those feelings of love.

221
00:27:29,000 --> 00:27:33,000
Those too need to be dealt with and can be.

222
00:27:33,000 --> 00:27:44,000
But my point is that those who get a divorce saying, I don't love him anymore, I don't love her anymore, are making a tragic mistake.

223
00:27:44,000 --> 00:27:47,000
A tragic mistake.

224
00:27:47,000 --> 00:27:53,000
There are those today who are taking their vows of marriage.

225
00:27:53,000 --> 00:28:04,000
And what they say at the end of the vow is something like, until we love no more, instead of until death we depart.

226
00:28:04,000 --> 00:28:13,000
When you and I do what God tells us to do, the emotions will come along like a caboose.

227
00:28:13,000 --> 00:28:26,000
There are those who are reluctant to do God's will in their lives because they feel that for some reason it won't be good for them.

228
00:28:26,000 --> 00:28:29,000
Or that they're not able to do it.

229
00:28:29,000 --> 00:28:32,000
Or that's too far away from home.

230
00:28:32,000 --> 00:28:34,000
Or whatever.

231
00:28:34,000 --> 00:28:41,000
When you and I lovingly obey what Jesus tells us to do, the emotions come along like a caboose.

232
00:28:41,000 --> 00:28:46,000
There are some of us who have not been in the garden with God lately.

233
00:28:46,000 --> 00:28:51,000
We started out the summer, our project, you know, the journaling and going to the garden.

234
00:28:51,000 --> 00:28:59,000
And now as time has gone by we've let that slip and weeds have grown up in the garden.

235
00:28:59,000 --> 00:29:05,000
And we have not gone to the garden every day because we haven't felt like going to the garden every day.

236
00:29:05,000 --> 00:29:06,000
That's right.

237
00:29:06,000 --> 00:29:11,000
None of us feel like going to the garden every day.

238
00:29:11,000 --> 00:29:16,000
But when we go to the garden, the feelings come along later.

239
00:29:16,000 --> 00:29:20,000
You see, feelings must not be the locomotive.

240
00:29:20,000 --> 00:29:24,000
They must be the caboose.

241
00:29:24,000 --> 00:29:30,000
Your emotions are a wonderful part of the God-designed you.

242
00:29:30,000 --> 00:29:42,000
Despite the fact that they can be manipulated or abused, they add a great deal to the experience of living.

243
00:29:42,000 --> 00:29:45,000
And they're important in your Christian life too.

244
00:29:45,000 --> 00:29:51,000
The problem that you and I have is how do we control our emotions rather than our emotions controlling us?

245
00:29:51,000 --> 00:29:53,000
Do you ever feel that way?

246
00:29:53,000 --> 00:29:56,000
It's okay, I'm human. I'm going to have feelings.

247
00:29:56,000 --> 00:30:01,000
I need to express them, but how do I control them?

248
00:30:01,000 --> 00:30:09,000
The fact is that when we are dominated by our feelings, it's easy for us to make shipwreck in our Christian lives.

249
00:30:09,000 --> 00:30:14,000
So how do we control our emotions so they're healthy and they're in balance?

250
00:30:14,000 --> 00:30:18,000
I have a thought about that.

251
00:30:18,000 --> 00:30:25,000
When you find yourself being overwhelmed by some emotion, dominated by it,

252
00:30:25,000 --> 00:30:34,000
seek to discern what the thought or the attitude is that lies underneath that feeling.

253
00:30:34,000 --> 00:30:39,000
You see, that feeling is coming from somewhere in your life.

254
00:30:39,000 --> 00:30:43,000
It's not just floating around.

255
00:30:43,000 --> 00:30:45,000
It's got an origin.

256
00:30:45,000 --> 00:30:52,000
So when you find yourself struggling, being overwhelmed with a feeling,

257
00:30:52,000 --> 00:31:00,000
then seek to find out what the attitude or thought is that's at the basis of that.

258
00:31:00,000 --> 00:31:08,000
And once you have isolated that, see yourself as a soldier of Jesus Christ, which you are,

259
00:31:08,000 --> 00:31:18,000
that takes captive and makes prisoner that thought or that attitude that is creating the feeling.

260
00:31:18,000 --> 00:31:24,000
Take that prisoner to the Lord Jesus Christ, your commander in chief,

261
00:31:24,000 --> 00:31:28,000
and present that prisoner to him to deal with.

262
00:31:28,000 --> 00:31:30,000
That's what you should do.

263
00:31:30,000 --> 00:31:37,000
Now, I'm basing that upon a passage of Scripture in 2 Corinthians, chapter 10.

264
00:31:37,000 --> 00:31:38,000
Paul says in verse 4,

265
00:31:38,000 --> 00:31:47,000
The weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses.

266
00:31:47,000 --> 00:31:51,000
We are destroying speculations.

267
00:31:51,000 --> 00:31:52,000
Look at this.

268
00:31:52,000 --> 00:31:57,000
And every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God,

269
00:31:57,000 --> 00:32:06,000
and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.

270
00:32:06,000 --> 00:32:11,000
That's what Paul is saying, and we're applying it to emotions.

271
00:32:11,000 --> 00:32:18,000
When you are overwhelmed by an emotion, find out what the thought or the attitude is that underlies that.

272
00:32:18,000 --> 00:32:26,000
And once you're able to isolate it, to name it, to see it, then make it a prisoner.

273
00:32:26,000 --> 00:32:30,000
And in your mind, just take that to Jesus Christ, your commander in chief, and say,

274
00:32:30,000 --> 00:32:34,000
Lord, I present to you this prisoner.

275
00:32:34,000 --> 00:32:37,000
You take him.

276
00:32:37,000 --> 00:32:42,000
And then, once you've done that, turn around and walk away from it.

277
00:32:42,000 --> 00:32:45,000
That is, that thought or that attitude.

278
00:32:45,000 --> 00:32:48,000
But you can't stop there.

279
00:32:48,000 --> 00:32:52,000
You've got to put something in its place.

280
00:32:52,000 --> 00:32:56,000
What are you going to put in its place?

281
00:32:56,000 --> 00:33:05,000
Well, turn to Philippians, chapter 4, a minute, and notice what Paul tells us in verse 8.

282
00:33:05,000 --> 00:33:18,000
Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, right, pure, lovely, of good report,

283
00:33:18,000 --> 00:33:28,000
if there's any excellence, if anything worthy of praise, let your mind dwell on these things.

284
00:33:28,000 --> 00:33:31,000
Here's what we are to do.

285
00:33:31,000 --> 00:33:36,000
Once we have taken that prisoner to Jesus Christ and committed that thought, that attitude,

286
00:33:36,000 --> 00:33:44,000
that we've taken captive to him, we are then to replace that thought with a good one,

287
00:33:44,000 --> 00:33:52,000
one that is pure, one that is honorable, one that is lovely, one that is a good report, one that is true.

288
00:33:52,000 --> 00:33:58,000
Let's suppose for a moment that we are feeling fearful.

289
00:33:58,000 --> 00:34:02,000
There is anxiety in our lives.

290
00:34:02,000 --> 00:34:13,000
And as we look at that feeling, it's coming from a doubt in our minds whether God is really going to see us through this situation.

291
00:34:13,000 --> 00:34:16,000
Is God able to do that?

292
00:34:16,000 --> 00:34:20,000
Well, we should never doubt that God's able to do it and that he will do it.

293
00:34:20,000 --> 00:34:23,000
That's a wrong thought. That thought is a lie.

294
00:34:23,000 --> 00:34:26,000
To ever think that God wouldn't see me through it.

295
00:34:26,000 --> 00:34:32,000
Therefore, I need to take that thought captive and take it immediately to the Commander in Chief.

296
00:34:32,000 --> 00:34:36,000
And once I've committed the lie to him, then I need to think in my mind the truth.

297
00:34:36,000 --> 00:34:39,000
What is the truth?

298
00:34:39,000 --> 00:34:43,000
Faithful is he who calls me, who also will do it.

299
00:34:43,000 --> 00:34:50,000
Or some other verse that God would give us that's true and planted in its place.

300
00:34:50,000 --> 00:34:52,000
You know what happens when we do that?

301
00:34:52,000 --> 00:34:58,000
That new thought, that new attitude will produce the right kind of feeling.

302
00:34:58,000 --> 00:35:01,000
That's how we handle our feelings.

303
00:35:01,000 --> 00:35:06,000
And you know when you and I take those thoughts captive and bring them to Christ,

304
00:35:06,000 --> 00:35:14,000
and we begin to meditate and to think on the things that we ought to think about that are true and lovely, good report and so on,

305
00:35:14,000 --> 00:35:21,000
when we do that, the Holy Spirit begins to bring the Lordship of Jesus Christ into our lives.

306
00:35:21,000 --> 00:35:27,000
He begins to produce the fruit of the Spirit, which is love.

307
00:35:27,000 --> 00:35:40,000
That's in part a feeling, and joy, and peace, and long-suffering, and gentleness, and goodness, and faithfulness, and meekness, and self-control.

308
00:35:40,000 --> 00:35:45,000
And he will begin expressing in our lives those healthy things.

309
00:35:45,000 --> 00:35:58,000
Because Jesus Christ is Lord, our minds are focused on good things, and our emotions are right and balanced.

310
00:35:58,000 --> 00:36:04,000
What is the emotion that you're struggling with today?

311
00:36:04,000 --> 00:36:13,000
I challenge you, change your thoughts, change your attitudes, and you will find your emotions following along.

312
00:36:13,000 --> 00:36:22,000
Because feelings follow where we, by the Holy Spirit, consciously lead them by our thoughts.

313
00:36:22,000 --> 00:36:28,000
Our thoughts determine how we feel and what we become.

314
00:36:28,000 --> 00:36:33,000
Let Jesus Christ be Lord of your thought life.

315
00:36:33,000 --> 00:36:40,000
Let him feed your thoughts with what is true and lovely, of good report and pure.

316
00:36:40,000 --> 00:36:45,000
The things that are worthy of praise and excellence.

317
00:36:45,000 --> 00:36:48,000
And your feelings will come along.

318
00:36:48,000 --> 00:36:52,000
It's time for us to bow together.

319
00:36:52,000 --> 00:36:54,000
I'm glad you're seated.

320
00:36:54,000 --> 00:37:09,000
What is a feeling or an emotion that has dominated your life in recent days, perhaps even this morning?

321
00:37:09,000 --> 00:37:19,000
What is the battle with emotions that you are facing, or some unhealthy, sinful response perhaps to an emotion?

322
00:37:19,000 --> 00:37:22,000
What are you feeling today?

323
00:37:22,000 --> 00:37:27,000
The second question is, why are you feeling it?

324
00:37:27,000 --> 00:37:37,000
What thought or what attitude lies beneath that emotion, giving it strength?

325
00:37:37,000 --> 00:37:40,000
Maybe you're not able to isolate that quickly.

326
00:37:40,000 --> 00:37:43,000
Would you ask the Lord to help you to understand it?

327
00:37:43,000 --> 00:37:57,000
To see clearly, to focus on that thought or that attitude that's producing that overwhelming emotion?

328
00:37:57,000 --> 00:38:11,000
If you're able to isolate it, would you right now take it prisoner and present it to Jesus Christ, your commander in chief?

329
00:38:11,000 --> 00:38:22,000
And having done that, will you choose to walk away from it and no longer harbor that attitude or that thought?

330
00:38:22,000 --> 00:38:35,000
And in its place, will you right now put what is true or what is pure or what is of a good report?

331
00:38:35,000 --> 00:38:44,000
Some appropriate, contrasting, righteous thought or attitude, will you put it in your life?

332
00:38:44,000 --> 00:38:59,000
Now all of this is an act of faith and obedience in your part. As you do it, you will find your emotions changing, coming under control of the Holy Spirit.

333
00:38:59,000 --> 00:39:06,000
Oh God, I pray that all of us today will learn something about how to live with our feelings.

334
00:39:06,000 --> 00:39:16,000
May we no longer be led around by them and may we no longer ignore them and wish them away.

335
00:39:16,000 --> 00:39:29,000
May we learn by the Spirit how to control them so that the beautiful fruit of the Spirit will be evidenced in our lives

336
00:39:29,000 --> 00:39:38,000
and we'll be balanced and healthy, maturing children of God living under the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

337
00:39:38,000 --> 00:40:06,000
In His name we pray, Amen.

338
00:40:08,000 --> 00:40:23,000
Amen.

339
00:40:38,000 --> 00:40:53,000
Amen.

340
00:41:08,000 --> 00:41:23,000
Amen.

341
00:41:23,000 --> 00:41:38,000
Amen.

342
00:41:53,000 --> 00:42:08,000
Amen.

343
00:42:08,000 --> 00:42:23,000
Amen.

344
00:42:23,000 --> 00:42:38,000
Amen.

345
00:42:38,000 --> 00:42:53,000
Amen.

346
00:42:53,000 --> 00:43:08,000
Amen.

347
00:43:08,000 --> 00:43:36,000
Amen.

348
00:43:36,000 --> 00:43:51,000
Amen.

349
00:43:51,000 --> 00:44:06,000
Amen.

350
00:44:06,000 --> 00:44:21,000
Amen.

351
00:44:21,000 --> 00:44:36,000
Amen.

352
00:44:36,000 --> 00:44:51,000
Amen.

353
00:44:51,000 --> 00:45:06,000
Amen.

354
00:45:06,000 --> 00:45:21,000
Amen.

355
00:45:21,000 --> 00:45:36,000
Amen.

356
00:45:36,000 --> 00:45:51,000
Amen.

357
00:46:06,000 --> 00:46:21,000
Amen.

358
00:46:21,000 --> 00:46:36,000
Amen.

359
00:46:36,000 --> 00:46:51,000
Amen.

360
00:46:51,000 --> 00:47:04,000
Amen.

361
00:47:04,000 --> 00:47:19,000
Amen.

362
00:47:19,000 --> 00:47:34,000
Amen.

363
00:47:34,000 --> 00:47:49,000
Amen.