The Church of Eleven22 - Jesus Clears the Temple - In The Arena: Wk 6

Episode Date: July 13, 2025

In the final week of the In the Arena series, Pastor Joby unpacks what it means to be angry like Jesus and what to do about it. In John 2, we see Jesus flip tables in the temple, not out of sinful rage but with righteous anger that leads to right action. What stirs your anger? Is it about defending yourselves or protecting what God loves most? 📌 Supplemental Sermon Resources: • This Week's Story https://youtu.be/1HLHbMqaZeU • This Week's Deepen https://youtu.be/Ha9ZkWJ8qno • In The Arena Sermon Series https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLG692pIhVPakxkVKipdHtHcEIRdRYQGy9 - The Church of Eleven22® is a movement for all people to discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus Christ. Eleven22 is led by Pastor Joby Martin and based in Jacksonville, Florida, with multiple campuses throughout Jacksonville and the surrounding areas. To find out more about how God is moving at Eleven22, go to CoE22.com

Amen and amen and amen. That may say, you can't touch me. I'm a child of God. How about that? Hey, I talked to Paul on Thursday night and his cancer is 100% gone. Praise God for that. If you've got your Bibles, and I hope you do, John Chapter 2 is where we are going to be. We're on the sixth and final week of this series called In the Arena, and we've been talking about fights.

This whole year we've been focused on men standing firm and acting like men. Because when men lead in love well, every body flourishes. and we've been talking about fighting. And so if you're going to be a follower of Jesus, let me just give you a baseline definition. To be a Christian, to be a follower of Jesus, means that we are to follow in the footsteps of Jesus, that we are conformed into the image and likeness of the Son of God,

which means sometimes you've got to fight. Now, if you're a pacifist, you're not here. You left a long time ago. You may be watching online, you're critical. That's fine. Actually, nobody's a pacifist. They just outsource their violence to other people, but I don't have time for that. Anyway, but sometimes you've got to fight.

Sometimes you fight theological. We do that a lot, right? Sometimes you fight spiritually. We talk about that a lot. Sometimes you fight politically, which, by the way, remember when that evil amendment forward tried to creep into our state? You fought. You went to the battleboxes.

We fought for life, and I've never told you this. I probably should have. After that happened, we, you received a letter from the gun. governor's office saying thank you for getting in the fight. And because of the actions of 1122, we had a significant part in voting that thing down. And what they have told us is that 40,000 babies will be born every year because we said no to that evil in our state. Amen. Way to go. So we fight. We fight. Sometimes you fight relationally and sometimes you've even got to fight physically. The Bible says the Lord is a warrior. The Lord is his name. It's an old feather of Jesus.

his hair. We're going to talk about how to fight like Jesus. Jesus gets in a physical altercation. If you've been around Bible study, you already know what's going to happen. In our time together, we're going to study when Jesus clears this temple, all right? John chapter 2 beginning of verse 13. The Bible says this. It says the Passover of the Jews was at hand. Remember last week, Pastor Adam did an amazing job explaining to us what the Passover was. That the nation of Israel was captive to Egypt, they cried out to God. God said, Moses to go before Pharaoh and said, let my people go. God said 10 plagues.

The last plague was called the plague of the Passover or the angel of death passes over whoever's got the blood of the lamb on the doorpost of their heart. And what was ultimately the point there is that was pointing to the greater Passover that Jesus is the lamb that would be slain and whoever has the blood of Jesus on their heart, the angel of death passes over and that you are taken into the ultimate promised land, which is heaven. And last week, 117 people in our services

and 28 middle schoolers at middle school camp passed from death to life and trusted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. Praise God for that. So that's the context of what's going on. So typically in Jerusalem, it would be a couple hundred thousand people, but at the Passover,

it's like Georgia, Florida in Jacksonville, everybody that's got any sense shows up. So it swells up to a couple million people. So the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. If you ever get to go with me, Jerusalem's always up, because it's the highest place in Israel.

And the place is packed. Verse 14. In the temple, Jesus found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons and the money changers sitting there. Spoiler alert, Jesus is going to get ticked. It's going to get angry. He's going to get, I'm not going to say the other words that I would usually say there.

That's what happens. Now, the question is going to be why. Why does Jesus get so angry? So what's happening is that what you had to do is on the day of the Passover to remember what Jesus did to get his people out of Egypt into the promised land. If you were a believer in Yahweh, whether you were Jewish or Gentile, you would come to Jerusalem and you had to make an offering. And you would offer that bull or goat or dove or whatever it was there at, the temple and they were selling these things at the temple now is jesus mad because they're selling things at the temple the answer is no because in duneeronomy chapter 14 god makes a provision for people

god's like listen so the the size of your offering depends on the size of your sin so some of you big sinners like you you'd probably have to have like a you know cape buffalo or something i don't know and then some of you people that don't sin much like you mr gary you'd probably just like a half a dove You'd probably be good to go, all right? Now the problem is, what if you live way, like, what if you live in Palacca? How are you going to drag a cow from Palacca to Jerusalem? You can't do that. So God's like, I got you, dude.

Don't worry about it. This is Deuteronomy 14, very loose translation, but this is what it says. So it's like, sell your goat in Palacca, because you probably got plenty of them, and then get your fold money, and then bring it all the way to Jerusalem, and then we will make a provision for you, and then you can re-buy a goat for sacrifice in Jerusalem. No problem. So why is Jesus so angry? Well, there's three reasons why Jesus is angry.

He walks in, he checks this thing out. He actually does it the night before. And what he sees is they have turned the house of God into a flea market. And they're treating something that's supposed to be holy and reverent, the temple, and they're treating it as common. And so the first reason that Jesus is angry is because they don't fear God. And woe to the person, and woe to the church. and woe to the denomination that loses its all for God, that loses its fear for God,

that forgets that God is almighty and holy and just and worthy of our worship, and woe to the person that just tries to treat Jesus and the king of glory like the neighbor next door. And that's what they're doing. And the second reason that he's angry is because the people of God, the religious leaders, are using God's system not to help people, but they're using God's system to take advantage of God's people. Because what they're doing is they're not just selling the goats. They're upcharging everybody.

And not only that is they only allow temple money to be used in the temple. So you show up with your Roman money or you show up with your whatever kind of money. And then they go, no, no, no, no, you've got to exchange that money for temple money. and then they would charge people for the exchange. You ever been to Chuck E. Cheese? You know how you can walk in Chuckie Cheese with Benjamins? And they're like, we don't do Benjamins.

We don't do Jenkins. We don't do Washington. We do Chucky. And you've got to exchange your money for Chuckie, right? And you know, you get hosed on the exchange. Or you ever been to Dave and Busters? Do you ever do that? They do it digitally.

They don't take money. So you get one of those digital cards. And you play those games, and you play those games, and you play those games, and you accrue those points, and then you go to the prize section, and you think, I got 10 million points. How about to back up a dump truck? Daddy's about to take home some stuff. What you want, bro?

I want a spider ring. They're like, all right, you got two points left, and you're Dave and busted. You understand what I'm saying? It's like that. And then not only that, they had sacrifice inspectors, and people would come in with that goat, and they'd be like, yeah, that ain't it. Yeah, that goat's not going to work. You put that goat over there.

we're going to sell you one of our goats and they would charge you three times. Like you ever buy a Coke at Disney? What's in that thing? Who's got an $11 Coke? It ain't magic in there. There's corruption and deception. That's what's in there. Or you go to TSA and they make you pour out your $1 water to sell you $11 water on the other side.

That's what's going on here, all right? And so listen, man, anytime people with the banner of God abuse the people of God to line their own pockets, Jesus gets angry. And then the third reason that he's angry is because of where this is all happening. I don't have time to fully explain the architecture of the temple, but God set up the temple, and the point of the temple is that people can meet with God. And what happened is they put this, the money changers were selling these things in the court of the Gentiles. You see, in the temple there was the Holy Holies on the high priest could go there.

The priest could get into the holy place, and then Jewish men could go in. to the inner courts, and then Jewish men and women could go into the inner and outer, to the outer courts. And then there was one court, especially for people like us, Gentiles. And the whole reason that God chose Israel was not that Israel would be chosen. The whole reason that God has this chosen people is not for their sake, but that they would be the light of the world, a city on the hill, so that the whole world would see God's law and God's relationship with these people and that they would want to have a relationship

with God. And so God instituted what was called the Gentile courts. So for people from every tribe, every tongue, and every nation would be welcome in there. And now what's happened is the religious people have pushed out the outsiders and just made room for the insiders and said, this place didn't here for you. It's here for us. And that makes Jesus angry. And he's going to whip people.

I mean, he's going to get physical. And I love it, man. I read so many commentaries. They tried to tone it down. Well, he didn't, maybe, the reason is, if you met somebody that wrote a commentary, they ain't never been in a fight in their life, okay? I'm telling you, when I went to seminary and looked around, I thought, dear God, the future of church, we're in trouble, man.

I mean, they're smart, but that's all. Okay, so anyway. So is it okay to get angry? apparently because Jesus gets angry. So what does it look like to get angry in the right way? Ephesians chapter 4. The apostle Paul is going to tell us how to rightly be angry. Ephesians 426 says this, be angry.

That's a command. Some of you're like, finally, a command that I can do. Man, I'm nailing that one. I wish you just stop there. It doesn't. It says be angry and do not sin. So you're like, yes. No.

right here back to back. Be angry and do not sin. Do not let the sun go down on your anger and give no opportunity to the devil. This means that the moment the anger stirs up, you need to begin to resolve it and do something about it. And he says, give no opportunity to the devil.

The new international version says, give no foothold to the devil. Because if you give a foothold to the devil, a foothold becomes a stronghold, which will become a chokehold and it'll kill you. It actually, the word opportunity here is toco. It means room. Because you don't want to give room for the enemy in your life.

You don't want the devil in your house. You don't want him in your marriage. Don't want him in your church. So you've got to pay very, very close attention to this. Because undelt with anger will begin to fester and ferment. And you know what happens when something ferments? It stinks and you can get drunk on it. And if you begin to get drunk on the emotions of your anger,

then you will begin to do things that are not in line with the character and nature of who God called you to be and you'll act a fool. So he keeps going. Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor doing honest work with his own hands so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. In other words, don't take things that aren't yours just because you're mad. Then he goes on to say, and let no corrupting talk come out of your mouth. You ever get mad and say something you didn't want to say? Well, I got some terrible news for you. that nothing can slip. You ever do that? You ever try to blame what you've said on the fact that somebody else made you angry?

Well, Jesus, you know, that pesky Jesus and his sermons, he said that out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. So the only thing that can come out of you is what is in you. So when you say vile things, that means you've got vile stuff in your heart. I've used this illustration a hundred times.

Somebody always gets it wrong. Okay, this is a water bottle. If I shake it up, what comes out? Somebody's always like, Jesus? No, no, no. Water. The only way, and if I hit it, it's not my fault. Water comes out of here.

It's because water is in there. The only thing that can come out of you is what is in you. So your problem is not that you have a potty mouth. The problem is you've got a potty heart. You got a anger deep in here. It goes on to say, so let no corrupting talk come out of your mouth, but only such as is good for building up as fits the occasion.

Just because something's true doesn't mean you're supposed to say it. We learned this from the prophet, Tommy Boy. Does this suit make me look fat? No, your face does. Remember that? Is that true? Maybe, but that's not what you're supposed to say. Then it may give grace to those who hear,

and do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, and forgiving one of, another why God here's why as God in Christ forgave you so are you supposed to be angry yes you are it's a command be angry be angry and do not sin and don't let the sun go down on your anger and give no opportunity for the devil so when you get angry for the wrong thing that's wrong but when you don't get angry for the right thing that's also wrong you see Jesus is going to clear the temple did

He get angry? Yes, did he sin? No. Why? Because righteous anger always results in right action. Righteous anger always results in right action. And the things that anger God should also anger us. Here's a prayer we should pray all the time. God, would you help me love what you love and hate what you hate? But before you start with all the evil things out there and the list is long, we should first hold up the mirror and say, God, but let me start with me. me. The things in my own life that you despise, may I also despise. So what makes you mad? What makes you angry? What gets you fired up? There ought to be some things that break the heart of God, that break the heart of God's children. I can tell you some things that made me angry. There's a lot. The mutilation of children in the name of health care, that makes us anger, should. The taking

of innocent life in the womb, that should make you angry. The trafficking of boys and girls and the most vulnerable, not just around the world, but right under our noses in Jacksonville. That ought to make you angry. Government corruption around the world while their people are starving to death. That ought to make you angry. Any injustice against any image bearer of God ought to make you angry. Church people playing games with God instead of worshipping him. That'll make me angry.

The church pushing out the Gentiles or those people far from God to make room for the insiders ought to make you angry. Men in my position twisting the Word of God for their own popularity. and gain, that ought to make you angry. Or a government that oversteps its bounds and lies to people and tells the church what it can and can't do, that ought to make you angry. And righteous anger always results in righteous activity. And so Jesus is going to do something about it.

Listen, my daughter right now is preaching over at our middle school service, okay? Yeah, let's go, right? And I'm going to go. At the 1122 service, I'm going to go. So I might be late to the service, so don't talk. nobody all right so and if i'm over there at the 1122 services she's on stage preaching and somebody stood up and began to attack her on stage what do you think might happen you think i'm gonna pray for him i'm gonna pray the cleanup doesn't last long you understand and those of you at baker or union or

columbia i might be pastoring this thing with you from the inside all right no problem why because i love her i love her so much i got a son too but he could probably be you up. But my little girl, I am going to provide for her and I'm going to protect her. Why? Because I'm her dad. And ain't nothing special about me. Every dad worth his salt out here knows that you would do whatever it takes. And if me, an imperfect dad can love my daughter with that kind of zeal, then how much more does our heavenly father love his children? And Jesus, in his father's house, sees the religious people that were called to be priests and they're supposed to be serving the people, and instead they're taking advantage of the people for their own gain.

And Jesus gets angry. That's what happens. And he's going to clear the temple. That means he's going to whip. He's going to drive out people with a whip. Now, let me give you this one little caveat because I do get a little fired up. Theologians argue about whether this happened once or twice. In the Gospel of John, it happens early in Jesus' ministry.

In the synoptics, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, it happens late. I'm in the can. I think it happened two times. I think it's two different events. But I will tell you this, in all of Jesus' ministry, at most, he made a whip and drove people out twice. So, let me just warn people like me, if Jesus making a whip and turning over tables and clearing the temple, if that is your go-to Bible story, you've missed the narrative, okay? Jesus did not primarily come to kick butt. he came to take a butt kicking so that you and I could be rescued and redeem from this broken

and corrupt world, right? Tim Keller, God rest his soul, super smart pastor passed away a couple years ago. He said this. Here's his definition. He's so smart. He says anger is love in motion to protect what you love most. That anger is love in motion to protect what you love most. Let me ask you this. When you get angry, a great question to act. ask to see if this was righteous or unrighteous is this, what am I protecting? What am I defending? Now, I do want you to know, this might make some of you uncomfortable. You just pray about this. If you bring your first and best to the Church of 1122, then we put those dollars to action. Like one of the things a part of every single dollar that comes in here goes to is that we partner

with the Tim Tebow Foundation. And they have hired a group of men and women with a very specific skill set. And they're little boys and little girls being trafficked all over the world. And they cry out, dear God, if you're there, will you please help? And your money, our money helps fund with equipment and training and vehicles and all kind of things. And these men and women kick down doors and run into that place and they work with local government so that those folks, those traffickers will see justice.

And occasionally they fast track them straight to the ultimate justice. And the reason that we do this is because we love. every single one of those little image bearers of God, and to feel something on your couch is kind of irrelevant. To do something about it is what we have been called to do. And that's the kind of church you're out, all right? So that's what we do. Why?

Because anger is love in motion to protect what you love most. Now, when you get angry and you ask the question, okay, so what am I actually trying to protect and defend? Well, most often, when we get angry, are we not just trying to protect something like me? in my reputation and my ego and my wants. I mean, be for real. I know this church.

There's no place for honesty, but just don't tell anybody. But what are you doing when you're screaming at your kids? Like, what is that? I mean, one of the things I'm challenged with is this dads. How in the world are our kids, our sons and daughters are going to know that God is love? If every time their earthly father calls their name, it's with that kind of tone of voice. Or when you're yelling at the person in the left lane in first, of you who is clearly idiotic and wrong.

What are you actually protecting? Or when you're screaming at your cable news station, or you give your spouse the silent treatment, what are you actually trying to protect? Most of the time, we're actually trying to protect our own ego. I mean, the real question when it comes to anger is this, do you actually trust God? God says vengeance is mine. Here's something that you have to understand. There's a lot of evil in this world, and the cross will come.

cover it all. The cross will either cover it by the grace of Jesus for anybody that believes, and you can trust him for that. Or the cross will cover for those who do not believe Jesus did not take their place, and one day they will stand before a holy God, and they will give an account. So be angry for the right things and do not sin. James, chapter one, talks a lot about anger. The Bible talks about anger over 200 times in the New Testament. James chapter one, beginning of verse 19, says this, know this. He's actually a transition verse. He wants you to know verse 18 so that you'll do verse 19. And verse 18 says, of his own will, Jesus brought us forward by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures. In other words, we should be like Jesus. And that we should

know his word. And when we know his word, we'll be shaped to be more and more and more like Jesus. But he says this. He says, know this, my beloved brothers. He's going to talk about anger. but before he talks about activity, he wants to talk about identity. And a part of the reason some of us are so angry is because we don't know who you are. We don't know who we are. Because if we really knew who we were, then we would act more in line with who that is. And the Bible uses this phrase a lot. The Bible calls us, if you're a believer in Jesus, the Bible calls us Beloved, that you are beloved.

I don't use the word beloved. Do you ever use the word beloved? I'd ever seen Pastor Britt and be like, What's up, beloved? Like, it's not a word. It's kind of a grandma word, right? But it's an incredible word. If you knew that you were beloved,

it would change everything about your whole life. I mean, if you look at the atomology of the word in English, it's be loved. First and foremost, if you could be loved, then you would be loving. Then we could be a conduit of the love of God. Not only that, I don't know if you know this, but God's covenant name in Hebrew,

is B, to be. Like Moses bumps into the burning bush, and God tells him to go, tell Pharaoh, let my people go, and Moses is like, who should I say, send me? And God says, my covenant name is this. It's Yahweh. It's translated, I am that I am. In English, that is to be.

Why? Because there's no past, present, and future for God. He is the eternal I am. That Yahweh is supposed to sound like breath. You breathe in, you breathe out. Yahweh, that God is as close as our next breath. And B loves. you, and if you could receive the love of God, if you knew that you were loved by God,

then we would be able to love one another. A.W. Tozer says, the most important thing about you is what you think when you think about God. He's a super smart theologian. There's another super smart theologian, I know, me, and I say the second most important thing about you is what you think God thinks when he thinks about you. And if you are in Christ Jesus, he is not frustrated with you, he's not disappointed with you, He's not angry with you because Jesus is the propitiation for your sin. Propitiation means a payment that satisfies.

So if you put your trust in him, then God is fully satisfied in you because Christ paid the penalty at the cross. And he actually loves over you, delights over you. Baptist, the Bible says he dances over you. Settle down. And so the reason that we should treat people the same way is because that's how he treats us. He says, my beloved brothers, let every person, underline that, let every person, Let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger. For the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God,

therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word which is able to save your soul. First and foremost, let every person do these things. Let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger. You know what this means? That means you don't get a pass. I don't get a pass. around here we are obsessed with personality exams you take these personality exams

boy our church loves a personality exam the elders make me take see there's glen makes me take personality exams there he is right and they're fine they're fine there can be a useful tool and so one time i've told you this before don't tell anybody i got in trouble on thursday for saying this but so i'm going to say it again for sure i'm sitting uh i'm sitting on the couch one day doing this little personality thing, you know, you answer these questions. The questions don't make sense either, you know? They're like, would you rather stab a baby or kick a puppy, right at one to five? Like, what? But everyone I get always comes back the same, you know? And so I'm taking the exam, and Gretchen looks at me, and she's like, what are you doing? I'm taking a personality exam,

and she goes, huh. That's how she, she's, huh, that's what she says. She's what you mean, huh? She says, well, they're just going to give you a new word for a-hole. That's what she said. Now pray for her. She got an, I don't talk that way. I would never use that kind of language. She's got a heart issue, right? But she's right. I mean, every time it's like, you're an eight, you're red, you're a rhino, you know, my Myers-Briggs is J-E-R-K, that may be true. But regardless of how God has wired you, every, you don't, we don't get an excuse to pop off.

Because we are beloved brothers. So let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to tweet, slow to comment, slow to repost. maybe I added a few, but I think it's in line, and be slow to anger. So let me ask you this. Are you quick to listen and slow to speak, or are you quick to defend and slow to understand? It is almost impossible to simultaneously sympathize with somebody and be defensive. And he says the reason is for, here's why, the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. So we see in Jesus that there's an anger of God that produces right activity, but there is a man-centered anger that does not produce the righteousness of God.

And here's what this means. That means when it's wrapped around the axle of you. In James chapter 4 verse 1, James, the brother of Jesus, asked this very direct question. And then one of the craziest things in the Bible happened. He's going to answer his questions. Not with stories. He asks the question and gives an answer. And I think it's because he grew up with Jesus this whole life.

and I'm sure Mary was like, Jesus, did you clean your room? And he was like, well, there was a farmer with six birds. And she's like, what? Okay, so James is like, you know, he's very linear. And so James says, let me ask you a question. What causes fights and corals among you? Now, if I were to ask you that question, now if we're in church, you'd make up some kind of dumb answer. But if you were being honest, and I was like, all right, you, you, last fight, I want you to tell me your last fight.

Oh, you'd be like, give me that microphone. All right? So there I was. here's what happened. And immediately, here's what we would do. We would be like, my coach, my boss, my roommate, those foolish little kids are driving me, right? That government, whatever it is,

every single one of us would have a tendency to say there's a thing out there that made me angry. Well, James says, what caused the fights and quarrels among you? And then he has the audacity to say, is it not true that the fights and corals that you have been in? it began inside of you?

You know what the common denominator of every fight that you've been in? You. And then he makes it worse. He goes, the problem is you want something and you don't get it. That's what makes us angry. Then when we have a gap between what we expect and what we experience, there's a big old space in the middle. And what a lot of us do is we put us in the middle. And the key is how do we respond to this?

I mean, can you imagine the next time you're in, robust dialogue with your wife? I mean, you're really angry, and you know you have the right to because you're right. Can you imagine if you just translated James 1 and say, hey, you know what the problem is here? The problem is, I want something, and I'm not getting it. You sound like a two-year-old. And James says every single time, that's the problem. Now, the danger of anger is that, see, we're convinced ourselves that all of our problem is out there somewhere, but the gospel demands that we first hold up the mirror to ourselves. It starts with what's in here.

And so the Bible says, be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger. And the reason I think James says that we are to be slow to anger, I think he's quoting Exodus 346. In Exodus chapter 34, Moses very famously says to God, God, show me your glory. And God's like, dude, I can't show you my glory. Because if I show you my glory, it's

much, you can't handle it, you'll burn up like a marshmallow in the campfire. It's a very loose translation, but this is what he means. Jesus has not yet paid for our sin, so if you are exposed to my perfection and you don't have a mediator for your sin, you're going to die. But I'll tell you what I'm going to do. I'm going to put you in the cleft of the rock, and then I'm going to pass by, and I'm going to let you see the afterburners. That's as close as you're going to get.

And then God defines who he is in Exodus 34-6. It says, the Lord passed before Moses and proclaim the Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger. and abounding and steadfast love and faithfulness. But what's neat in Hebrew, it doesn't actually say slow to anger. It says long of nose. That's what it says. You're like, what in the, yeah, God says, when he comes to you, I got a huge nose.

You're like, what does that mean? Well, that's why you pay me to explain these kind of things, okay? You see, Hebrew is like a picture language. And the picture here is that when anger begins to happen, the Hebrew thought was it started in the gut. You know, when you get really angry, like down, they call it the bowels. Like it began to generate down here. And then it begins, I mean, it's like a crock pot, right? And you get more and more angry, and it begins to work up, and then your heart starts beating fast.

You know what I'm talking about? And you ever see somebody getting mad, and it gets to the neck, and then veins start popping out? That's why I grew a big beard, too, can't tell, like sneak up on you. All right? So, and then it gets like that, and then what happens? And your cheeks get red, and then eventually you look like a horse, and your nose is like that big. And you're like, that brother's angry. And God says when it comes to you, there's plenty to be angry about.

But as that anger begins to work its way up, I make sure I make my long, my nose really, really, really long for you. And so I'm going to be slow to be angry at you so I don't smite you. This is what he's saying we should do. That we should be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger. And then he goes on to say, therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive. with meekness the implanted word which is able to save your soul. So are we supposed to be angry? Yeah, the Bible says, it says, be angry and don't sin. It says be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger. It says the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. You see, Jesus was going

to fight for the name of God, the renown of God, the people of God, and he was going to fight for the outsiders that he was about to go die on the cross for it. That's why he was fighting. That righteous activity leads to right activity. A righteous anger always leads to right activity. So James says be slowed to anger. He doesn't say no anger. And he doesn't say blow up anger. He says be slow to anger.

You know, God gets angry at some things. Do you know there's a list in the Bible of what makes God angry? You should read it. You might be on it. You might want to know this. Proverbs 6, 16. The Bible says this. There are six things that the Lord hates.

Seven that are an abomination to him. The first one, haughty eyes. You teenagers, that's haughty, not haughty, not like, oh my God look at our eyes. That's not that. It means when you think too highly of yourself, God doesn't like that. A lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among the brothers.

So if God gets angry about stuff and we are supposed to be conformed to, to his image and likeness, what makes you angry? And then the next question is maybe more important. And what are you going to do about it? Because to do nothing about it is out of step with the character and nature of God. This is what this whole series is about. It's not the critic who counts,

but we are supposed to get in the arena and do something about it. So how do we make sure we're doing anger God's way? He says you've got to put off some stuff. You've got to put away filthiness and rampant wickedness. you've got to put off ego, you've got to watch your mouth. And then he says you've got to receive some stuff, you've got to put on some stuff.

He says, receive with meekness the implanted word of God. This matters a lot. I've taught us this many, many times. This word meek is so often understood. Jesus, in the sermon on the mount, and the beatitude says, Blessed are the meek, for they'll inherit the kingdom of God, or they'll inherit the earth. And most men, listen, we're really focused on men this year, okay? And ladies, we're not ignoring you because who do you think needs the most help?

Exactly. And I don't know the man. I thought, you know what? At my funeral, I hope they get up. But, boy, we love Ted. He was meek. Who wants to be meek? It's because we don't understand it.

Meek doesn't mean weak. But in Greek, I know it sound like Dr. Seuss. It's not my intention. That's not what it means. Meek literally in Greek means a bit bridled horse. That's what it means. It's not that you don't have any power, but when you tame on it. horse, or some people call it, when you break a horse, did you know that the horse lives longer?

Did you know that a broken horse can carry 10x what an unbroken horse can carry? Did you know that one cowboy on a broken horse, on a tame horse, can round up two dozen wild horses? That when the horse finally is broken and turns the reins of its life over to a different master, everything else gets better. It doesn't get weaker, it gets stronger. And when you are a meek person, you take the reins of your life. You're like, Lord, this stuff makes me mad.

When I hear about injustice, when I hear about people killing innocent, when I hear about these things, I get this emotion. It gets all stirred up in me. But I can't trust me with this. So I'm going to take all this energy and all this emotion and all this righteous anger. And I'm going to hand you the reins. And I'm just going to say, God, will you do something about it? And if you would, would you use me?

Because my yes is on the table and I want to do what you want me to do. That's what it means. And it's in alignment with the Word of God. He says with meekness, let us receive the implanted word of God. Here's what ticked Jesus off. He looked at the word and he looked at the temple and he says the temple doesn't look like the word. I'm going to do something about it. So I got a bunch of verses about anger.

They're easy to look up in the Bible. And I've told you this 10,000 times. For every mile of road, there's two miles of ditch. Okay? And a lot of people either, they're quick to be angry. That's not good. or they're apathetic, also not good. So if you have a tendency to be angry, like me, pay attention to this.

Ready? Proverbs 14, 17. A man of quick temper acts foolishly, and a man of evil devices is hated. You ever do something foolish when you're angry? Yeah, that's why he's saying, slow it down. A man of quick temper acts foolishly. Now the Bible, there's a difference, a fool is somebody that knows better and does it anyway. That's different than simple.

Some people just don't know better. Let me tell you. We've had a ton of Yankees move here. We love you. We're a movement for all people, even you. Okay, so glad you're here. Just remember why you came. Okay, anyway.

So sometimes, you know, like, you'll be like, people here are so nice. I was in Walmart and this lady said, bless your heart. It's not a blessing. It's not a blessing. They mean you're too dumb to talk to, okay? That means you're simple. You just don't even know better. But a fool is somebody that tries to disconnect activity from consequences.

A fool is somebody that knows better and does it anyway. My favorite example to use is if you smoke cigarettes in 2025, you're a fool. You're a fool. Now, I'm not saying you're going to hell. You smell like it. But listen, back in World War II when they're handing these things out, everybody's like, man, this is awesome. You know, no problem. But today, you know, when you buy a carton of it, there's a dead guy on the front.

There's some lipless guy going, you don't not do that. Now, here's what I love about cigarette smokers, okay? They're not going to email me. because they're the best, they're tough. If you're going to be dumb, you better be tough. And they're real tough. So they're probably like, you know, you're right. I mean, they are, okay?

So, but you know it's going to kill you. So, whatever. And then every time somebody's going to email, Pastor, I heard you smoke cigars. Yeah, but that's cool, so that's different. That doesn't count. All right, so don't be a fool. Proverbs 51, a soft answer turns away wrath,

but a harsh word stirs up anger. Husbands, you might want to memorize that. Proverbs 151. A soft answer. answer turns away wrath. How many you've learned? It's not just what you say, but how you say it. It's not just the song you sing, but the tone you bring, you understand? So if you constantly find yourself going, whoa, hold on. Okay, stop crying. Listen, I was just saying, then you got to pay attention to your tone. And I'm just going to give you this for free, husbands. You ready?

And if your wife is talking about feelings, you answer with feelings. And if she's talking about facts, you answer with facts. And if you confuse the two, you're going to be dumb. Like if your wife says, honey, I feel fat. It's a feeling. And you say, well, don't eat so much. That's a fact. It's just dumb. Don't do that.

Proverbs 1429. Whoever is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who has a hasty temper exacts folly. You ever say something? He wish you could take it back? You can't take it back, man. A hot tempered man is in Proverbs 1518. A hot tempered man serves up strife,

but he who is slow to anger, quiet's contention. Proverbs 1632, whoever is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes the city. Proverbs 1911, good sense makes one slow to anger, and it is his glory to overlook an offense. We live in a culture that overreacts to every offense. We're walking around. Did somebody say that? What did you mean that?

Oh, my gosh, I'm so offended. And the Bible says, punch up your brakes here, snowflake. It is to your glory to over look an offense. Being offended is a choice. We're addicted to offense. Clesiasty 7, 8, 9, better is the end of a thing than it's beginning. And the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit. Be not quick in your spirit to become angry for anger lodges in the heart of fools.

And I'm telling you, undelt with anger becomes bitterness and bitterness, ferments. And fermenting things make you drunk and they stink and you'll get drunk on your emotions. So pump the brakes. Be slow to anger. And the reason that we are slow to anger is because God is slow to anger to us. But on the other side of the church needs a big warning too. Because the apathetic Christian, the apathetic church is also unrighteous.

There's a lot of people that think the 11th commandment is be nice. Now, we are to be kind for sure, but nice ain't in the Bible, man. and if you don't get angry about the things that anger is God, then you're not being conformed into the image and likeness of his son. Revelation 316, so because you are lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I'm going to spit you out of your mouth. You realize that?

Jesus says, listen, man, if you're just comfortable in your Christianity, and you're just doing things to appease yourself and you're just sitting on your couch and you're not doing anything about it, that makes me sick. That's what he says. You don't want to make Jesus sick.

He says, come on. Do something about it. Romans 12, 11. Do not be slothful and zeal, be fervent in spirit. Serve the Lord. Revelation 3-2, wake up and strengthen what remains that is about to die for I have not found your works complete

in the sight of my God. I think a big part of my job is to wake up the American church. Because we're asleep, man. I mean, we go to, so many Bible studies, of course I'm pro Bible study, and people do their quiet times, of course I'm pro quiet time. But if you think the extent of your Christian life is your big cup of coffee and your Instagram picture of your Bible and sitting around in a group of people,

and be like, how does that verse make you feel? Honestly, make you feel that way? It makes me feel that way. That's so good. All right. High five. I'm not going to do anything about it. I'll see you next week. I'm such a Christian. You have no idea what you're doing. Or you show up to church and worship God with your hands up and live like hell all week long. Wake up. up. This man, I was in Africa doing a pastor's conference years ago. And honestly goodness, every one of those pastors that I was supposed to be training, we ought to ship them all here to train us on have zeal for God. And this brother comes up to me and says, he's a pastor. He's got like six jobs and one of them is a pastor. And he's like, it must be impossible

to be a pastor in America. And I was like, huh? And I do this awesome. I mean, we turn Walmarts into amphitheaters and people show up. We had baptisms and you could be YouTube famous. Are you kidding me? It's awesome. What do you mean? I mean, you brought me all the way here to teach you how to do it.

And he goes, well, my understanding of the gospel is that you have to lay down everything to follow Jesus. In America, it cost you nothing. Wake up, wake up, wake up to the things of God. It's fine. I hope you have all kind of feelings. Feelings are fine. But what we have been called to is action. Wake up and strengthen what remains and it's about to die.

For I have found that your works are not complete in the sight of God. How about this one? 2. Timothy 4. Versus 2 through 4. It says, preach the word. Listen, I like when y'all send me emails. I get a new tattoo every couple weeks or so, just keep you on your toes. People are like, what did you get?

What'd you get? Okay. That's what this one right here is. It's a sword because it's the sword of the spirit. And in Greek it says, preach the word from this verse right here. And you know I got it? And I'll put it right there because when I grabbed this pulpit right here, I don't want to be tempted to do what the rest of the verse says.

Listen when it says, preach the word, be ready in season and out of season. Reprove, rebuke. So me yelling at you. I'm just doing what the Bible says. sense, rebuke and exhort with complete patience. Got a lot of work to do on that one. With complete patience and teaching, for the time is coming, I'm going to say it's already here.

For the time is here when people will not endure sound teaching, but have itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers who suit their own passions and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. So if you get offended by the word, okay, two things. Jimmy Crass Corn, I don't care. I have not called to entertain you. I've not been called to be popular. I have been called to preach the word.

So when I stand up here and the enemy whispers at me and says, who do you think you are? You don't deserve to be up there. I'm like, I know, right, but look, it is finished, paid in full. So you can go back to hell. I'm going to stay right here and preach because Jesus shows me. I didn't choose this. And then I'm going to look right there and go preach the word.

Because there's a whole bunch of places and churches and denominations that are afraid to teach the Word of God because they're afraid to fend people because they'd rather people to just be comfortable and don't mess up the giving and don't mess up the activities to do. to just lullaby people to sleep on their way to hell. That's not what we're going to do here. We're going to preach the Word of God, and we're going to do what it says.

Wake up, church, that's what we're here to do. We've been called to action. James 4.17, so whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it. For him, it's a sin. So when you get all stirred up about whatever, whatever that thing, whatever that injustice is, and you don't do anything about it,

the Bible says that's a sin. So how are we to be angry like Jesus? Jesus gets angry and he doesn't sin. That his righteous anger leads to right activity. So here's what he does. Back to John 2, 15. And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple

with the sheep and the oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money changers and he overturned their tables. And he told those who sold the pigeon and take these things away and do not make my father's house a house of trade and his disciples remembered that it was written zeal for your house will consume me that's psalm 69 and so the jewish leaders say to him what sign do you show us for doing these things and jesus answered destroyed this temple and in three days i will raise it up he wasn't even talking he was saying this

he's like when i get done with the cross you're not even going to need these goats or this building because it will be irrelevant because i am the lamb that will be the lamb that will be we're will give my blood to take away the sin of anyone who would believe. He's saying, you don't need an updated system, you need a savior. And so they replied, the Jewish leaders then said, it's taking us 46 years to build this temple. And you're going to raise it up in three days? But he was speaking about the temple of his body when therefore he was raised from the dead. His disciples remembered that he said this. And they believe the scripture and the word that Jesus has spoken. Listen, Jesus doesn't just cleanse the temple. He becomes the true temple.

And rather than manipulating others in their pursuit of God, he's going to give himself as the meeting place between God and man. His death and resurrection demolishes every barrier of sin and self-interest, and he's going to offer a new way to worship through him. You don't get to buy access. That Jesus came for every single person. And what should have happened at the temple is they should have rolled out a welcome mat and instead there was a toll booth. And he said, fine, I'm tearing the thing down. And so Jesus was not merely a Jewish reformer. He's not just a protester that Jesus came.

This isn't just rage. He is a redeemer and he's a rescuer. And this is what righteous anger looks like. When you love God and you love people and you say, I'm going to do whatever it takes to connect those. And if anybody is getting in the way of that, I'm going to do something about it. So let me ask you, where is God calling you to make a whip and turn over some tables? and before you flip on cable news

first of all flip on your selfie camera and look deep into our own selves so that we could be prepared to do what God has called us to do get in the arena some of you need to go home and fight for your marriage quit fighting with your spouse

and start fighting for them all of the adults need to join together to fight for this upcoming generation because we have an enemy that's trying to steal, kill, and destroy. And we've got to say not on our watch. We're not going to put up with it. We've got to fight for the least of these.

Listen, we want to make it very, very practical for you. If you start it up and you want to do something, if you text the word serve to 44-11-22, we will reply and it will take you to a place on our website where we have partnered with all kinds of organizations inside the church, outside the church, around the world, that you can get active with. And you should do that.

And if you don't see one that stirs your heart, then let us know so we can connect you with somebody. Most of the ministries that we partner with started. They were started not by 1122. They were started by the people of 1122 that had a stirring and a call of God. And then we just want to fan the flame of what God is doing in you.

And you can't do everything, but do something. so you can serve with your time and then you can give do you realize every single time you bring your first and best that you are fueling the war against the enemy and his evil ones you realize

that to save babies to protect veterans to reach out to the first responders to keep seniors in the game to take the gospel to the ends of the earth to care for single moms to reach high school students when every single time

you bring have you noticed that's how we end our service and the third thing you do is you can pray we need to pray like the world depends on it because it does and prayer's not doing nothing prayer is the power source by which we're going to make some whips and flip over tables so at the end of our service we sing in the old testament they said sing a new song that was a song of victory that the nation of Israel would get together before they went to fight and they would

sing we won they haven't even fought yet. Then they go win. They'd come back and be like, yep, we won. That's why we sing. And we pray, man. Some of you need to run down in here and say, God, I'm all stirred up right now. But you realize that pep talk for me is worthless if you don't do something about it. And we bring, I mean, we give sacrificially to be a part of the advancement of the kingdom of God. I've told you the story a hundred times, so I'm not going to tell you the full version again. But if you've been around a minute, you've heard me talk about this several, a few years ago. My kids were on their way to school.

JP was 17, a junior in high school, and he witnesses a car wreck right out here. Like Beach and Cunning, or Beach and Hodges. Car flips over, he runs to it, and he drags a couple of nurses out. They were on their way to Mayo. Meanwhile, a group of adults stood around and were the phone's out videoing it

for their YouTube channel. You know how hard it is to explain to your 17-year-old boy why the adults won't act like adults? now how hard that is we better not ever be that kind of church that stands around and just criticizes everything with the world but doesn't run to the mess

and run to the glass and the blood and it's willing to get dirty let me tell you if you're 25 and younger will you raise your hand I know you're scared too because I make fun of you all right there all the way come on you got it girl right there in the blue keep it up keep it up

I'm going to start yelling at you too everybody 25 and under just look around for a second keep it up for a second Okay? Your generation is different. You still believe you were put on this earth to make a difference. Don't you let the world that we've created

numb you to the things that God has called you to. And so we believe in this church, I know I'm gonna pick on you because you still gotta grow up a little bit, but we wanna be the kind of church that fans the flame of what God has called you to do. Cause don't let the old people like me get in your way. Because there's some old people around you

and they're like, I wanna do something, but I have a boat. Oh, help you. Help you. May we be the kind of church. And when we read the word of God and it looks different than the world we're in, may we say, God, I'll do something. Here I am. Send me. My yes is on the table. I can't trust me because I'm getting a little fired up. So I'm going to put the reins in your hands, Lord. And I'm going to do whatever you call me to do. And then I'm going to trust you. I'm going to trust that you can do immeasurably more than anything I ever dreamed of if I would just put my yes

on the table and get serious about making some whips and flipping over tables for the glory. of God and the protection of his people. That's the kind of church we are. And so when we respond, that's what that thing is about. This thing is for us to be prepared to go and do whatever it is he's called us to do. We're going to sing. We're going to sing a song of victory because he has won and he has called us into the battle. And we're going to bring because we're going to fuel the resources that God is going to use

to flip over tables and to drive out the demonic. and for the glory of God, we're going to rescue image bearers of God all over the place. And we're going to pray, God, I can't do this on my own. I need to receive with meekness your implanted word. Lord, here I am. Sin to me. Would you please stand? Let me pray for us.

Our good and gracious Heavenly Father, Lord, we love you more than anything because you first loved us. God, I thank you that you came on a rescue mission for us because we were just like the ladies in that car wreck, that we have been run over by sin. and we're hanging helplessly upside down in the car wreck of our life, just saying, Lord, help me. And you didn't have opinions. You sit in your only begotten son on a rescue mission. And the moment we get rescued, we become a part of the rescue team.

God, none of us can do everything. But all of us together, you could use us to do exceedingly more than anything we've ever imagined. God, I pray for courage. I pray for boldness. I pray against the spirit of fear and a spirit of apathy. I pray that people would be willing to risk what people think about them, risk the status quo. God, may we risk and even just reject American Christianity,

and may we just follow in the footsteps of Jesus wherever you take us. We pray it in Jesus' name. Amen. So church, we're going to sing together. We're going to bring ties and offerings like the world to be. pens on it because it does and we're going to pray if you want to get in the arena i would invite you to come and pray and also don't do it alone man grab somebody and say let's go get in the arena let's sing let's bring let's pray let's respond