Phil Beach Jr. emphasizes the critical need for families to return to Jesus amidst the crises affecting both the church and the family unit. He highlights that the root of these crises often lies in unthankfulness and discontentment, which can lead to sin and destruction. Beach calls for a revival that begins at home, urging families to confront heart issues and allow the Holy Spirit to transform their lives. He stresses the importance of accountability to God and the need for parents to model humility and repentance to their children. Ultimately, he encourages believers to seek a deeper relationship with Christ to overcome the challenges of modern life.

Thank you Lord for your presence. Once again he's here and as we see him what can be said. He alone is worthy. He alone is deserving. His eyes are so pure. His words are like a sharp two-edged sword. His ways are perfect. As far as the heavens are above the earth, so far are his ways above ours and his thoughts above ours. And he longs to change us and transform us. That we might be enabled by his Holy Spirit to bear, to reflect his heavenly image. Oh Jesus do this for us we pray. Do this Lord we pray. The answer to your crisis this morning is the one who stands in our midst as the Son of God. He's the answer to your crisis. You know the older I get, the older my kids get, the more I meet people I'm realizing that the crisis in the church is simply a sign of the crisis in the family. You know when I was younger, 21, 22, didn't have any children, was only married for a year or two, I used to hear a lot of people talk about the crisis in the family and it would sort of go in one ear and out the other. But I'm coming to realize a very significant strategy that Satan is implementing against the church in this hour that we live in is very simple, destroy their families. The fact of the matter is that's what the church really is. It's just simply families. Families that want Jesus to be Lord. You know what the answer to the crisis in the family today is? Coming back to Jesus Christ together, eyeball to eyeball, turning off the TV, turning off the radio, turning off the PC, turning off the videos, turning off all the entertainment, all the excitement, all of the stuff that has successfully, listen, that has successfully separated the family and looking at each other eyeball to eyeball and saying, it's time we deal with heart issues and let Jesus come and change our hearts. The family is in a crisis. And what happens is the family is in a crisis and we hope that somehow, some way, when we come and gather together, God will make things right. Don't we? We hope somehow God will make things right. Well, brothers and sisters, the Lord is merciful and he certainly does minister to us. But you know, we got to get to the root of the problem. And the root of the problem is the rest of Sunday and all day Monday and all day Tuesday and all day Wednesday, all the way through the week. This is where revival has got to come. So many people are looking for God to somehow move in a sovereign way when we come together. And oh, praise the Lord. He can do that. But brothers and sisters, that's a bandaid on the problem. You know where you need revival? At home. You know where we need the Holy Spirit to control things? At home. You know where we need the headship of Christ? At home. Can we come to the Lord and really focus our prayers, really focus our hearts' cry on moving in our hearts? Not just when we gather together here, because it's important that we come to be taught and encouraged the word of God. But oh, are we praying, God, come into my life Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday. Establish your reign in my heart and in my home. That's where Jesus wants to reign. Father, I pray as we prepare our hearts for your word that you would speak to us by the Holy Spirit. Lord, speak to us now. We thank you, Lord, for the great gift of salvation. We thank you, Lord, for the mercy and the grace. Lord, we pray that you would draw us, give us ears to hear. We pray that your word would reveal strongholds in our heart and in our mind and in our homes that need to be uprooted and destroyed by the power of the word of God. We pray, God, that you'll give us meek hearts, meek hearts, so that we might be able to receive the engrafted word and be able to grow thereby. Oh, Father, we pray. We pray, oh, God, that you would shine light in. To the eyes of our heart and enable us to see the Son of God in our midst. The unseen guest at every meal, the unseen guest listening in on every conversation. Young people, listen carefully. Young people, listen carefully. Don't ever think if mommy and daddy don't see it, that you're scot-free. Because there is someone greater than mom. There's someone greater than dad. There's someone greater than the teacher who is the unseen person. Beholding everything you do. Listening to everything you say. Watching everything you watch. Did you know that? Well, nobody sees me. Nobody's listening. Nobody's watching. That's a lie. That's a lie. Someone is watching. Father, help us to remember Christ is the one to whom we are all ultimately accountable. I pray, God, you'll renew this revelation and put a holy fear back in our heart that we might live with the awareness that we shall all stand before you one day and give an account. Oh, God, please bring us back to these realities, Lord, in Jesus' name. Amen and amen. We live in a culture, brothers and sisters, listen carefully, please. We live in a culture that promotes the idea that I'm not accountable to anybody. We live in a culture that promotes the idea where if I want to do it, I'm going to do it. And guess what? That attitude, that spirit, that mentality has come into our homes. It's come into the way that we think as Christians. That attitude should be shunned and feared by every blood-washed child of God who is seeking to live a life of pilgrimage on earth. You should fear and tremble at the thought, if it ever comes to you, that you're not accountable to anyone. Every single person in here should fear if you ever are tempted to do something and say, well, nobody is watching me so I can get away with it. Nobody's watching me so I can get away with it. My mom doesn't know, my dad doesn't know, my husband doesn't know, my wife doesn't know that I've got this problem. You see how that way of thinking has crept so much into our lives that we're even tempted to think that way, aren't we? But all we need to stand against such thinking and as God's children, we need to affirm that we stand before God and shall give an account to Him. Remember this, young people. We have Children's Church. Remember this, young people, before you go to Children's Church. Listen up here. All the young children, please listen. Please listen. Remember this, you are accountable to God. God sees what you do in your room by yourself. He sees what you do with your friends. He listens to every lie that's told. He hears every cuss word that comes out of your mouth. He sees everything that you look at, that you shouldn't be looking at. He sees it. And the Bible says just because He doesn't act quickly and judge us quickly, we begin to think, well, nothing happens. Nothing happens. Everything's all right. Well, you know, 30 years ago, there was only two sexually transmitted diseases, gonorrhea and syphilis. And they both are bacterial, which means they can be treated with antibiotics and controlled in measure, but the damage can't be cured that those two diseases do. And so there was a whole community of people saying at that time, it's not that bad. There doesn't seem to be consequences to our actions. Only two, we can manage that. Now in the year 2001, they estimate over 40 sexually transmitted diseases that are currently floating around the world. And the number grows from 2 to 40. Be not deceived, God is not mocked. Though He doesn't quickly judge and though He doesn't quickly move, He's beholding what's going on. And brothers and sisters, we need to be aware of the idea that we can escape, that we can do something and be free from consequence. That is a dreadful, dreadful way of thinking. And it has to be uprooted out of our homes, out of our church, out of the way we think. Parents, I want to admonish you to teach your children this. Drill it into their little heads and into their little hearts. Let them know, let them know that it's a lie. Society is deceiving us by telling us that we can get away with doing wrong. It's still wrong to lie. It's still wrong to cheat. It's still wrong to covet. It's still wrong to set your eyes on things that are not wholesome. It's still wrong. So remember, young people, the Lord wants us to walk, remembering that He sees everything and that He invites us to come to Him because He alone can satisfy our hearts. I don't want to take any more time for the children's church. If they need to go, I'm asking the children if they would quietly stand. Now, listen, brothers and sisters, by the grace of God, we're going to get in to First Corinthians. We're looking for the Holy Spirit's empowering this morning because we must be given extra grace this morning. Father, we pray for our children, that the eyes of their heart will be opened and that the words spoken to them will be planted in good soil and that these words will preserve them from evil and the wicked one. We pray in Jesus' name. Don't ever forget, brothers and sisters, that our families are in a spiritual war right now. We are in a battle. The thief cometh to do three things. Kill, rob, and destroy your life. He has no affection for you or for your children or for anything that is holy or sacred. And He will do everything in His power to contaminate and pollute and destroy the good thing that God is trying to do in your life and in your family's life. How many believe that's true? How many believe that there is a wicked spirit in the world that is set on defiling and destroying everything that has to do with the beauties and perfections of Jesus Christ? And that's why we must be alerted by the Holy Spirit. There is an alert call going on today among the body of Christ everywhere. The Holy Spirit is alerting the church, don't fall asleep in this culture. Don't fall asleep. Don't allow the night to make you sleepy. We must be alerted to God's call to keep our eyes focused on the beauties of Jesus and not to tolerate or allow anything in our lives that would bring shame or reproach to the name of the Lord. It's time now. Listen, it's time by the Holy Spirit. It's time now to say, Father, I've allowed these little things to go on long enough. I've been deceived by the wicked one. Listen, there are footholds in our life, footholds in our life that the enemy has secured and it's been a source of torment, a source of grief. God's Word and God's Spirit is telling us this morning that now is the time, now is the accepted time to cry out to God for mercy, to cry out to God for deliverance. Though God is merciful and though God has delivered us from the wrath to come as we trust in His Son, Jesus, yet that does not excuse us to continue in those things that are not pleasing in His eyes. That doesn't excuse us. God is pleading with us to be alerted, to be aware of the spiritual warfare going on, to let Him search us and to search our homes and to search our ways and to search our practices, to search everything. Oh God, oh God, I want to live before You in the presence of Your Son and I only want those things that are pleasing in Your eyes wrought through the power of Your Son walking and living in my life. This is not a call to legalism, it's a call to love, it's a call to walk before God in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation so that we can shine with the light of Jesus Christ. We need to wake up. God help us and see that God is true and that only a life ordered by His Word through the power of the Holy Spirit will stand in the late apostate hour that we live in. It's time to take a stand. It's time to say, Lord, I want to align myself with You. I want You to take a searchlight and shine it into all the areas of my life, in all the areas of my family, in all the areas of all my relationships. Lord, I want that which is pleasing in Your eyes alone to be secured. This is the kind of daring, bold faith that we need in the hour that we live in. And parents, we need to stand strong in the Lord and in the power of His might and through prayer, real Holy Spirit born prayer, we need to wrestle for our children and ask God to lay hold of them. Ask God to preserve them. Ask God to give them hearts that love Him. Well, brothers and sisters, I trust the Lord will help us to hear the urgency within His heart and that He will enable us to respond by His grace. Now listen carefully before we get into 1 Corinthians chapter 13. There are two heart conditions that we must be very alerted to this morning. Listen, the presence of either of these two heart conditions is a sure sign that we are on the road to fall somewhere into some kind of a sin that if not corrected by the grace of God, will work ruin and destruction in our life. These two heart conditions prevail in the world today. They prevail in society today. Matter of fact, everything that we see with our eyes and hear with our ears promote and feed these two heart conditions. If you become aware after hearing about these two heart conditions that they significantly are in your heart and affecting you, I would admonish you by the love of God and by the Spirit of God to pray this morning that Jesus will speak a word into your heart and heal you and correct it so that these do not lead to destruction. I'd like to read a Scripture in Romans chapter 1. Guard your hearts by the power of God's Spirit from this condition. Guard the hearts of your children. Romans chapter 1 beginning in verse number 21. Because that when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful. Number one, an unthankful heart. Number two, Hebrews chapter 13, verse number 5. Let your conversation, or another translation would say, let your entire life. Actually, you could read this if you go into the meanings of the words, let the entire revolution of your life. If this is your life here, and all of this represents everything that has to do with your life. The entire revolution of your life. The sum total of what is inside. The total revolution of your life. The total circumference of your life. Everything inside. This is what God says. Let your way of life be without covetousness, content with such things as you have. And so, the second word that we want to look at is, first of all, unthankful. And secondly, discontentment. The man who falls into adultery falls because he became unthankful. For the wife that he's got, unthankfulness is the beginning warning sign. An unthankful heart will always be led into some kind of sin. Are you exceedingly thankful? Interestingly, the word thankful has to do with two ideas. Number one, gifts of grace. And number two, gratitude. So the essential meaning of thankfulness is recognizing God's gift of grace and then being grateful for it. Thanking God for his provision. And so, the absence of recognizing God's provision and not having a grateful heart for it is the seed of unthankfulness, which will result in you and I grasping for something else. May I say that apart from the grace of God working in your life and my life, we are held prisoners to unthankful, ungrateful, discontent hearts. How many have found this to be true? Unthankful, discontent hearts without the grace of God working in us. Young entrepreneurs are not taught to be thankful with what God has done for them, but they're unthankful. They want more. We're not thankful in being promoted to sergeant. We want lieutenant. And then when we become lieutenant, we want captain. And then after captain, we want major. And then after major, we want chief. Then after chief, we want mayor. Then after mayor, we want governor. Then after governor, we want to be a GOP candidate for the presidency. Unthankfulness. Discontent. Let me ask a question. What areas of your life have you become unthankful about? You know, this present emphasis on how we look and the continuous desire to try and look differently than how we actually look springs out of, there it goes, seven pieces. It springs out of unthankfulness. Are you thankful for your husband? Are you thankful for your wife? Are you thankful for your children? Are you thankful for the provision that God has made in your life? I admonish you, beware of unthankfulness. Grumbling, complaining, bickering, anger, wrath, jealousy, strife, greed, contention. Guess where all of these things grow? The seedbed of unthankfulness. Oh God, heal our hearts from unthankfulness. Lord, make us grateful, people. Grateful for the gifts of grace that you've given us. Grateful for the provision that your hand has so kindly granted. Lord, I pray that you will heal our homes from unthankfulness and discontentment. We recognize unthankfulness as an unhealthy heart condition that leads to all kinds of sin and degradation. Have mercy upon us, Lord, we pray. Listen, how many here know the Ten Commandments? If you thought about them, right? Trace the root cause of any of the commandments being broken and guess what you come up with? Unthankfulness. You wouldn't dishonor your parents if you were thankful for them. You wouldn't want your neighbor's car if you thanked God for the one you had. You wouldn't lie and cheat if you were thankful. All sexual immorality occurring today can be traced to unthankfulness. If you're single and fall into fornication, it's because of unthankfulness. Unthankful for the provision that God promises to make. You say, well, how can I become thankful? How can I be healed from this condition? Listen, God's grace, God's word, ask and you shall receive. Seek and you shall find. Ouch, huh? I know. But I'm thankful that the Holy Spirit is committed to do in us what we can't do. If we'll ask him. First Corinthians chapter 13. You expect the Lord now, beloved, to begin to put his finger on everything in your life that's springing out of unthankfulness and discontentment. And be prepared. Lord. Be prepared to be honest. I want to make a prediction. Listen carefully. Listen, I want to make a prediction. If you will honestly go to God and make this a serious matter of prayer in your life. Unthankfulness and discontentment. Listen closely, please. And you will ask God to show you things in your life that you have become unthankful for. And you will confess that to God. Confess it to God. Tell him the truth. Say, Lord, your word once again has found me out. But Lord, I ask you to change my heart and give me a thankful heart. I predict that you will know a joy and a peace and a healing in your life that you've never known before. If you will ask God to heal your heart from unthankfulness and being discontent with God's provision. Some people are driven. And it's ruining their life. It's ruining their family's life. And it ruins everyone they get around. Guess why? Unthankful. The only way you can clearly hear God lead you is if you've got a thankful heart. Other than that, there's always that mixture. There's always that mixture. You don't know if it's God or if it's that drive within you because you're unthankful. You're discontent. I tell you, it's a dangerous thing to be pursuing to know what God is saying in your life while your heart is in the throngs of unthankfulness. It's a dangerous thing. And I recommend against it. I recommend that everyone would pray, God, settle this issue in my heart of unthankfulness and then begin to teach me to hear You and to lead You with a thankful heart. A thankful heart. 1 Corinthians 13 Last week, we looked at several qualities of love. And this week, we're going to move into the quality of love that speaks of seeketh not her own. That's 1 Corinthians 13. Seeketh not her own. Verse 5. Love does not behave itself unseemly. Seeketh not her own. Now, in Titus 1, verse 7, we find that the Holy Spirit shows us Titus 1, verse 7. For a bishop... The word bishop here is a word that means oversight. And so, what the Scripture here is referring to is simple. Those who aspire oversight in the house of God. That is, those who desire to care for the flock. Those who desire to shepherd by example and by care and by compassion and by praying. Those who desire to walk among the body of Christ and watch over the souls of men and pray. Here's what it says. A bishop must be blameless as the steward of God. Not self-willed. Verse 5, 1 Corinthians 13. Seeketh not her own. Not self-willed. This quality of divine agape love is contrary and opposite to our natural tendency, which is to be self-willed. To be self-willed is simple. I want what I want. To be self-willed is to be driven after the things that I want. Self-will doesn't consider what's the best interest for my sister or what's the best interest for my wife. Men, self-will has one person in the equation. The unholy trinity. Me, myself, and I. Listen, self-will leads to selfish ambition. Now, we have that in Ephesians. Or, I'm sorry, Philippians chapter 2. You know one of the most devastating experiences that the apostles had when they walked with Jesus for three and a half years? It was His influence over their life that continuously made them to see how self-willed they were, resulting in they were so filled with selfish ambition. It devastated them. But that's a good thing. Let me tell you, if you get close enough to Jesus, He is going to devastate your selfish ambition. Beginning in verse 2, it says, Fulfill ye my joy that ye be like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord and of one mind. Listen, let nothing, not even one thing. That's what that word nothing means. Not even one thing. Let nothing. That's all inclusive. Every area of our life. Oh, brothers and sisters, this is a tall order. Every area of our life. Let nothing be done through strife or vain glory. Another translation. Let nothing be done through vain glory. Another translation. Let nothing be done that springs out of selfish ambition. Love seeketh not her own. 1 Corinthians 10. Verse number 24. Paul is referring to how Christians should walk together with other Christians. How Christians should walk together with other Christians. Verse number 24. 1 Corinthians 10. Let no man seek his own. Or let no man seek his own interests alone. But every man another's. Love seeketh not her own. Let no man seek his own interests. Verse number 31. Same chapter. Listen carefully. Whether therefore you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. Give no offense, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God. Even as I please all. That is, I conduct my behavior in a fashion. I conduct my behavior in a fashion that is well pleasing. That's what Paul meant there. He wasn't saying he was a people pleaser. He wasn't saying that he compromised his Christian testimony to make people happy. No, he was saying that I allow my behavior to be conducted in such a manner that it is pleasing to God. Even as I please all, in all things, not seeking my own profit, or my own benefit, or my self-will, or selfish ambition. This alone. This one word alone. This is what amazes me about 1 Corinthians 13. This one phrase alone. Love seeketh not her own. If that one truth was understood and made real within the Christian home today, perhaps 99% of all the problems going on in the Christian home would go away. Because so much of the conflict, and the contention, and the envy and strife, and what we're going to see next, bursts of anger. So much of it, if not all, is springing out of selfish ambition, self-will, which doesn't care how its actions affects another person. All it's concerned about is doing its own thing. This is one of the major crises when young couples begin to consider getting married. This is a crisis. It's no longer just about you. But the fact is, a healthy single person shouldn't be living for himself. The gift of being single is not license to be unaccountable, so I can do what I want. No. Single people have a greater opportunity than married people to be committed to the service of the Lord. To others. But that's a lost revelation today, for the most part. There are some single people, and I thank God for them. But for the most part, being single is now just a great lifestyle. I'll never forget when I was training as a police officer. Ricky Cook was my training officer. And he marveled at the fact that I had, at that time, how many children? Six children or so. And he said, I can't believe that, Phil. He said, Boy, you must not have a life. And then he looked at me. And he demonstrated in honesty, listen carefully. Here's a man who doesn't claim to be a Christian. He's a good Southern boy. Now, he doesn't claim to be a Christian, but he's a good Southern boy. He demonstrated and manifested more honesty in the statement that he made to me that I'm about to tell you, that I have heard from most Christians. See, the problem with us Christians is we've abandoned being honest. We live in the world of pretense. I tell you, if you could make money putting on a show, Christians would be wealthy because we're actors. We've bought into the lie that to be vulnerable and transparent somehow means that we're weak. But you know what this young man said to me? He said, Well, you know, Phil, I've lost the ability to talk like a Southerner. I'm not sure I even really had it. Where's David Higgins when you need him? He could demonstrate. Him and Rachel can still talk like Southern folk. He looked at me and he said, You know, Phil, my wife and I have been married for quite a while. I'm not sure how long they were married. Many years. He said, Neither of us want children because we're both too selfish and we know it. I looked at this guy and I held back my tears. I did. You know, you don't want to sit there bawling when cops are trying to train you to be a tough police officer. So I had to hold back those tears. But can you imagine that? Can you imagine this man looking at me saying, We both don't want children because we're too selfish and we know that when you get children, you lose your life. Love seeketh not her own. Problem with a lot of married couples today is they want to be married but yet live single. Do their own thing. Being married is not a call to live single lives and then have the benefit of each other. Being married is the two become one. And we suffer the pain of dying to self and self-interest and selfish ambition. We die to the pain of not being able to move by impulse. We come under the hand of God so that character can be built, so that we bear the burden of one another. We stay under the burden of inconvenience and we stay under the burden of not being able to just abort the mission. We let God build character in our life. We learn through the fire how to become patient, how to be long-suffering. That's why there's so many problems today in the family because people don't want to come under the God-ordained discipline that marriage and commitment involves. It means you've got to die. Through the grace of God, through the provision of God's Spirit, love seeketh not her own. Oh, brothers and sisters, I pray that we will ask the Holy Spirit to make this revelation of love seeketh not her own working in our life. Have you seen those selfish tendencies? Listen, have you seen what they have caused with your brothers and sisters? See? You say, oh, God, what do I do? Humble yourself just like the song that we were singing. That's why Jesus is our Savior, to make us through Him what we are not in ourself. We could go on and we could develop this, but I won't. Next, if there's such a thing as number one among equals, what I mean by that is each one of these qualities are important. They're all equal. But if there could be such a thing as number one among equals, this one that we're about to touch on could be considered the most important among the important. Father, I pray that You will give us grace to hear, humility to receive, mercy, as we look at this next quality. Love is not easily provoked. The word provoked means to be aroused and excited, agitated and irritated. Oh, my. Oh, my. Does that describe you? To be aroused and excited, agitated, irritated, angry, indignant, indignation or action toward God or another human being. Proverbs 16, 32. He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty. And he that ruleth his spirit, in context, ruling one's spirit means is not easily provoked. So a man who is slow to anger is better than the mighty. Now, I want to ask you a question. Who do you perceive to be the mighty? I don't care who it is. Whoever you perceive to be the mighty. If God gives you the grace of being slow to anger, you are mightier than the mighty. Better, mighty. And he that ruleth his spirit or he that is not easily provoked than he that taketh a city, you are mightier than the mighty and stronger than the one who takes a city. If in your spirit you are ever increasingly experiencing the quality of love that is not easily agitated, not easily provoked, the Bible has a whole lot to say about anger. First, I want to say a few things about the word anger. Don't think that an angry person is simply someone who lets their emotions out. You can be an angry person and be a real quiet, melancholy kind of a person. Because the Hebrew words plural for anger cover both a quiet, inward, boiling disposition as well as the outward, monstrous, emotional outbursts and everything in between. The words for anger cover the verbal, emotional outburst. They cover the slow, boiling, seething, inward stewing. They cover the glowing heat that you would see on coals if you turned the lights out. This anger is a deadly cancer that will destroy our lives, that will hurt and wound and devastate those that we manifest it to, and it will affect our children. Are you easily provoked? Are you easily irritated? How much damage has that done in your family? Are you prepared to deal with it? Proverbs 14, He that is soon angry dealeth foolishly. Every time we are easily irritated and are moved to anger and indignation, we are acting foolish. We are playing the fool. And we need to identify ourself as such. How is iniquity purged? Mercy and truth. The Scripture says in Proverbs, By mercy and truth, iniquity is purged. You know, I recommend strongly, every single time you fall prey to anger, you become irritable. You would confess to God and to the one that you are hurting with it and look at Him square in the eyes and say, I have played the fool. Forgive me. I have played the fool. The day of lifting the carpet and sweeping this stuff under the carpet is over, brothers and sisters. At least it's over for those who are hearing the Spirit of God call the spiritual maturity. We might be able to put this under the carpet and God just might continue to bless us, but I'll tell you, brothers and sisters, he that covereth his sin shall not prosper, but he that confesseth and forsaketh. It's time that we learn to identify things the way they are. We mustn't let these things go on. This is why our families in the church is so spiritually impotent, weak. Because Christians get just as irritable and angry as non-Christians do. We need to pray, God, give me humility. Listen to this. Proverbs chapter 22. Verse 24, chapter 22, Proverbs. Listen to this. This is how serious anger is. I knew a preacher many years ago. This guy had an anger problem that was so bad, he would let it go anywhere. And I got to the point where I was actually concerned about going to public places with this guy because all someone had to do was pull the wrong cord, and this guy let loose. And he did it one time. We were at a used car garage and he was looking at a car or something and one of the salesmen was talking with him and I can't remember the specifics, but the salesman said something, got him really angry, and he began to unload verbally on this guy. It was so disgraceful. They knew he was a preacher. I mean, I turned pale. I turned blue. I said, oh my God. And I actually had to confront this dear brother and say, listen, I am not going to hang around with you anymore if you don't get your act together. And he repented and acknowledged he was wrong. Listen to what the Bible says. Verse 24, chapter 22, Proverbs. Make no friendship with an angry man. And with a furious man thou shalt not go. Listen. Lest thou learn his ways and get a snare to thy soul. Listen, dear beloved of God. Anger is a snare to your soul. And the Bible is so clear about this sin of anger that it warns people not to closely associate with those who have fury and anger. Lest you learn their ways. Lest it rub off on you. Lest your quiet, gentle way of dealing with things begins to turn into the furious, angry way. Proverbs 15.1. A soft answer turns away wrath. But grievous words stir up anger. The way to deal with an angry person. Or should I say this? The way not to deal with an angry person is don't get angry. Because when one person's angry and then you get angry, I'm telling you, that's the 4th of July. Don't get angry at an angry person. But a soft answer turns away wrath. Look to God. Look to Jesus. Look to Jesus to birth in you a softness. So that when you are confronting an angry person, you are able by the grace of God to speak softly back to them. Nine times out of ten, that will discharge their anger. It will quiet them down. If someone's angry at you because they think you did something wrong, don't come back with a loud angry word and say, I did not. You're just looking for a fight. Come back with a soft answer and say, I'm sorry. What did I do? I'm sorry. Verse 18, last Scripture in Proverbs. A wrathful man or an angry man or one who is given to outbursts of rage stirs up strife. But he that is slow to anger appeases strife. Brothers and sisters, Jesus wants to conquer these things in our life by His grace. Do you believe that? James 1, we've all read it. James says that the wrath of man does not work the righteousness of God. James 1, verse 20, For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. The sin of anger is not a display of God's righteousness. Are we prepared this morning to let the searchlight of God's Word and the searchlight of His Holy Spirit go deeply into our hearts and let it uproot these dreadful sins of anger and rage? The worst thing parents that our children can see is anger. Anger. It gets into their hearts. It gets into their minds. It gets into their dreams. It gets into their emotions. And it programs them. You know what it programs them to do? Act the same way in the same kind of situation when they grow up. That's not the heritage that we're to be passing on to our kids, beloved. That's not the heritage. And we will weep before God when we see this stuff come to maturity in our children and we get angry and we hear God say to a son, daughter, what are you angry about? You're just following daddy's example. Because that's just what the Lord will say. He doesn't play any punches. He doesn't play games. And so brothers and sisters, I want to strongly recommend by the grace of God that you deal with these things. And when you do, have bursts of anger, I recommend that you simply go to your wife, go to your children and tell them, teach them, say, you see what daddy just did to mommy? Or you see how daddy just handled older brother or older sister? I was wrong. Forgive me. Daddy shouldn't have done that. And if you do that, then you'll teach your children the redemptive part of our fallen sinful nature. You'll teach them how to respond properly to sin. So that when they're older and they fall prey to sin, they'll remember daddy's example. And they'll say they're sorry to their wife and to their children. And that gives God a place to work when we acknowledge. Remember what God asked Jacob to do? Jacob said, bless me. And what did God say? What's your name? Confess your sin. So don't be swallowed with grief right now. Don't be overcome with grief if you see these things or if you see the damage. Start today. Start with a simple, I'm sorry. But I thank God for Jesus. And let's look to Him. The road to spiritual maturity. Wow! We're going to stop here. I'm tempted to go to the next one, but I'm not going to. Love thinketh no evil. Oh, is that powerful. But I'm not going to go there. We're going to just wait before the Lord for a few moments. We basically dealt with two heavenly qualities that are only found in the Lord Jesus Christ that God desires to form and etch into the center of our being through the transforming power of the Holy Spirit. Love seeketh not her own and is not easily ticked off. Father, I pray for divine healing right now. I pray for divine healing toward all of the hearts and emotions and minds that have been wounded and hurt as a result of selfishness in our life and as a result of anger and irritation and wrath in our life. Lord, You are able to heal. And I pray that by the power of Your love and the power of Your grace, this healing would be released. And secondly, Lord, I pray that You would help us in Your presence to be able to acknowledge our need for You, to confess our faults to You and to one another. Father, I pray for all the children here listening that You would give them the grace to confess their faults of selfishness and anger to their parents when they get angry and when they are selfish. I pray for every father that is hearing this that You would grant a grace that every father would set the example in their home and take the lead in this matter and that every father would clearly teach these things properly in the home and take the lead in confessing sin, take the lead in asking for forgiveness, oh, the power of a father who takes the lead and humbles himself, oh, the power, Lord, I pray that You will empower fathers to do this once again, that we might be able to humble ourselves, every wife, every mother. And lastly, Lord, we look unto Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith, the author and perfecter of these virtues. We pray that by the transforming power of the new covenant You would secure in our inner heart more and more and more of the qualities of this divine love and that they would grow and become stronger than the kingdom of flesh as the kingdom of David grew stronger and stronger and the kingdom of Saul grew weaker and weaker. Even so, oh God, by the power of Your Word and by multiplied grace, the kingdom and reign of Jesus Christ might grow more and more strong in the body of Christ and the kingdom of flesh and sin might grow weaker and weaker and weaker as the ascendancy and power of Jesus becomes more and more real in our lives. We align ourselves with the Word of God, with the risen Christ, with the ascended Savior. We pray, oh God, that You would deliver us from those things in our life, oh God, where there are footholds, where the enemy has gotten afoot. Empower us, Lord, to say no to ungodliness and worldly lusts and yes to You. Empower us, Lord, we pray. Send revival in our homes. I ask, Lord, for the glory of Your Son. And now, Lord, we just wait upon Thee in these closing moments. Speak to us that Word in each one of our hearts, I pray. Remember the cry of the prophet Jeremiah to the nation of Israel. It was his cry from the heart of God. And this is what God is saying to you and I who are partakers of grace. He's saying this, only acknowledge your sin. That's all God wants us to do. Acknowledge our condition. When His light shines, His Word shines, acknowledge it. Acknowledge it to the ones closest to you, brothers and sisters. And God will heal your soul then. God will heal your soul. Thank You, Lord. Thank You, Lord. Listen, parents, talk to your children about this stuff. Talk to your children. Okay, talk to your children. It affects your children. Anger, selfishness, it affects your children. Talk to your children. Deal with it. Let's let God wash us with His grace and His power and cleanse us by His power. We can be changed. Thank You for healing. Thank You for grace. Thank You, Lord. I didn't get saved until I was 17 years old. And then shortly thereafter, the Lord graciously brought my whole family, my father, my mother, and my two sisters in to the Ark of Safety. I got saved early on in life, but I can remember times when our family didn't know the grace of God, when our family didn't know about the power of Jesus. I can remember times where there was anger, bursts of anger and yelling and fighting. And as a child, beloved, I can remember going to bed having nightmares, nightmares, hearing the angry words, seeing angry faces. It affected me. It affected me. Oh, oh, beloved, don't take lightly these things. I beg you. In the love of God, don't take lightly these things. Pray. This is where the devil's power is to destroy us. But oh, there's a God in heaven and a Savior who is able to empower us. So let's keep looking to Him and deal with these things. Our lives will never be the same. Amen.