Be Ye Angry ...

by Mervin Yoder

As a Christian, I would never talk about the cross of Christ if there is nothing like resurrection. But because there is resurrection I can gladly talk about a cross. Because there is a power to be saved I can gladly talk about the cross and a death. If I couldn't promise resurrection through Jesus Christ, I would stay away from death. But because of that we can joyfully look forward, so it increases.

Possibly there are some crosses here for you today that you need to take up and die to. Possibly some ideas and ways and thoughts and attitudes, whatever they might be. Many times the cross is something that is despiteful. It is painful, but it causes a death.

I know that many times Christ comes in a way that you and I do not expect Him. He came to this earth, to His own, and His own did not receive Him. He came to this earth, to those who were His own kindred, His own brothers, and they couldn't discern Him. There were times when there were things about Him they liked, but mostly they disliked Him, and at the end, they crucified Him.

If you go through the book of Act, at least eight times one of the apostles stood up to a group of people, and he said this, "You killed him. He was this man, and he came and did this, and he was delivered up, and you killed Him." I guess if I was asked to write a tract, the title of it would be 'You Killed Him.'

I think that the sooner that you and I can come to the point that we will realize that we killed Christ, the quicker we can come to repentance. We blame it on the Jews. We blame it on other people. We blame church problems on other people. We blame it on the preacher. We blame it on someone who is a trouble-maker in the church. But when we realize that we killed Christ, that we shut Him off, that we nailed His hands that did miracles, we nailed His feet that walked this earth to preach the gospel, when we realize that we put a mockery on His head, then we can sooner find deliverance in freedom.

One of the greatest things in a Christian's life is to obey God. Jesus said, "If you love me, you will keep my commandments." Many people today talk about loving God and worshipping Him and honoring Him and saying beautiful and wonderful things, but Jesus said, "If you love me you will keep my commandments." You can say you love God a thousand times a day, but if you don't do what He says you don't love.

You can preach His Word. You can sing His songs. You can say how lovely His is, but if you don't keep His commandments, you don't love Him. You are a liar. I pray that God would show us another one of His commands.

What I am going to be teaching from, I believe, is something that the church world has put down. It is a command of God that the church world has tried to preach out, because it doesn't fit into modern society. It doesn't fit into psychology. It doesn't fit into many teachings.

There is a place in the Bible that I believe we need to stand, and that place is in all of God's Word. People today, we hear the word balance. Let's seek for balance. Let's be balanced. That word, to me, is a dangerous word because it speaks of complacency.

When you are balanced, you are standing at one point, so you don't go one way or you don't go the other. You are standing still. I believe when you have all of God's Word you don't need to worry about heresy. If you preach all of God's Word, you don't need to worry about going off on a tangent. When you preach all of God's Word, obey all of His commands, you don't have to worry about being narrow minded.

There is a command that is in God's Word that I believe is being preached out of the church. "Be Ye Angry," is a command in God's Word.

I have been in many revival meetings where it has been preached about anger. I have seen people coming to altars, trying to repent from anger. We know all about that. We have heard a thousand messages on anger. I am not saying that anger is right in cases. Proverbs says that an angry man stirs up strife. We know that anger is many times used wrong, but there is a place and a time for anger. The Bible commands us to have it, to be angry.

I believe that in the church today, we are watered down. We are lukewarm. We are complacent. We are loving sins. We are loving sinners. We are loving new times, and new ways, and there is no anger in us against what is killing the Word of God in the light of God. There is no anger about it.

We are trying today to Christianize things. We Christianize Rock and Roll Music. We Christianize Country Music. We Christianize psychology. We Christianize anything that seems to come along. It is the new thought. It is the new way, and so we go out, and we don't want to embrace sin so we put Christian on top of it. Then we bring it in the church.

I wonder if, in our churches today, we have got doctrines and ways of the world that God calls sin, but we have Christianized it. The Bible says there is one thing that is in God's kingdom, and it is that which has been born again. It is that which has been made new. It is not that which has been reshaped, but it is that which has been made new..

I wonder if we have anger? I believe that sometimes as parents you have felt an anger coming on you about something that your children have done, but you have heard these messages that you dare not have anger, so you quick try to put that away. Mothers so often feel under condemnation because all day long they are with the children. They tell them many times to quit doing something, but they won't quit. Then an anger comes up within them, but then they fall under condemnation because they got angry.

My question is, Did God put that there? Is that the nature of God? The Bible says we are made in His likeness and in His image. I don't think God is some white shadow up in Heaven. I believe that He looks somewhat like you and I do, only without imperfections. We are made in His likeness and in His image. We are fearfully and wonderfully made. I believe our shape and our form, I believe our emotions, I believe our desires and so on, were made in the likeness and the image of God. And I believe that today there are doctrines of devils that are coming in and trying to put down what is in us that is godly. And that the Spirit of God would want to work through us, but we don't allow Him.

Let's go to the Scriptures. The Bible says in Ephesians 4:23, "And be renewed in the spirit of your mind." "Be renewed in the spirit your mind." And I pray, church, that the Holy Ghost of Heaven can come upon us, and that He can do a work in our hearts that you don't have to, tonight, take a bunch of notes and try toput it in a book form and go back and read it and read it again and try to memorize what is right to do.

But I pray that we have a work of the Holy Ghost, that we break in our hearts, that we crumble before God and the oil of the Holy Ghost can come down upon us and do a work in us. And when the Holy Ghost does something He does it for eternity. We don't have to go back for another seminar. We don't have to go back for another work on the same thing. But we go back for more of God. We have tasted Him and He was good, so we go back for more.

And I pray that we can be renewed by the Holy Ghost. Not renewed by my words. Not be renewed by my examples. Not be renewed by what I have seen in the past but be renewed by the Holy Ghost.

If the Holy Ghost isn't in the church, the church is dead. Though we quote Scripture, though we sing songs, though we have ideals, if the Holy Ghost is not in the church, the church is dead. And the only place the Holy Ghost lives is in broken people, hearts that have been made open.

Now verse 24, "And that you put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness, wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth to his neighbor, for we are members one of another."

Verse 26, "Be ye angry and sin not. Let not the sun go down upon your wrath, neither give place to the devil; let him that stole, steal no more, but rather let him labor, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth. Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearer. And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby you are sealed unto the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamour and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you."

And I want to just settle something from the very beginning. Anger is not the answer to all man's problems. It is another part. It is another finger of the five of the many that are in God's hand. Understand that tonight. It is a prong. It is a part of it. Love is a part of it.

But there is so much of this funny kind of love today that people are embracing sinners and okaying them and patting them on the back and they are going in deception in the wrong way and the church won't stand up and deal with them.

Yes, we need to have love. Yes, we need to go down and minister to people. But I believe also anger works out of love. The Bible says faith works out of love. But I believe anger does also.

A parent who looks at a child who is in rebellion or that is misbehaving, and looks upon that child and something rises up within him to the point that they go with a rod and they beat this child. And as the Bible says, they spare not for his crying. I believe that parent is ordained of God to stand in front of that child, and as the leaders of the church look out for the souls of those there, I believe also the parent looks out for the soul of that child, and he wants to do what the Bible says. That foolishness is bound in the heart of the child but the rod drives it far from him. And the rod is not a popular thing today.

I am not even talking about the world. I am talking about the church. The rod is not a popular thing. And I see foolishness still bound in the heart of many children. But I believe it is the father of love who sees this is a one way road to destruction if this foolishness doesn't go from his heart. And out of love, he goes and ministers the rod of correction. But it is anger that does it. It is anger that does it. Can you beat, you spank if there is no anger there? Can you do this? Does kind of righteousness rise up in you if there is no anger?

And we have seen anger that has destroyed homes. But the anger of God, and the anger of the Spirit of God, I believe brings righteousness. It works righteously.

My father is here tonight, and I am going to speak clearly about some things happened at home. And I know that I can because my father and I love each other. We have a relationship. There are many times I can think of instance after instance after instance at home, when my father, in anger, took a rod and beat me. And there were times that it left welts. There were times that it hurt. There were times that I ran to my room. And I, in anger, wondered why this happened. But there were things that I did that were wrong. And my father, when we were at home, didn't count one, two, and then three, and then if I was still doing it spanked me. When I was wrong, I was wrong immediately.

I believe sometimes when we count, and we wait and we wait, we are telling our children that wrongs and sin are okay for awhile. But where is that immediate reaction when there is wrong.

I remember that my father had to take me out of church only one time. Because when he took me out, he beat me. And I knew that what I was doing in church I never wanted to do again. And this anger that was working in him, and he will admittedly tell you today that there were times that he was out of control in anger. And we were talking about this today, and I know there were times that it was that way. But neither was he perfect, but he was still after my soul. He was after his children to work righteousness in them. That was the goal, that was the purpose behind it.

And I can remember when I was 16 years old and I got my driver's license and going to a public school. And all my friends who weresinners, that I would go along them. I would join in their converstaion. I didn't want to be left out. I wanted to be a part of what was going on. And when 16 came and driver's license came, what came with it was partying and let's go drinking and so bad, and I didn't want to drink but there was something in me. I so badly wanted to be with them. I didn't want to be denied. I knew persecution would come if I said I am a Christian and I can't. But I felt bad. And I worked and worked and tried to see if there was a way that I could. But I was afraid. And I finally told them no, I can't go. It wasn't because I didn't want to be with them. There were two things that I feared. One was God and the second was my dad. And I think I feared my dad more than I did God.

I knew that I didn't walk home that way. I knew that I couldn't. And you say, but is that the right way? Let me tell you this much, I didn't die in a drunken accident. I have had time to repent. I had time to seek the Lord. And I believe that there is rebellion in the hearts of children today, in the hearts of youth, because they have never seen authority. They have never seen their soul dealt with.

And I believe that God wants to deal with us, and He wants us to deal with situations in this life. In the Garden He created Adam and Eve, and He put Adam in the Garden. He said, "Adam, you are the keeper of it. You are to watch this. This is my domain. This is my place. But I put you here and you are the keeper of it." And He brought all of His animals and He set them before Adam, and He said, "Adam, you name them." And whatever name Adam gave, that was their name. God settled for it. God used it.

And I believe that God, today, is putting situations in front of us, as men especially. I believe we have a lot of lazy men in this church. We have a lot of complacent men. We have women standing up in the church and carrying the load because men won't. And men are afraid to stand up for what is right. But God is putting situations in front of us, and He is wanting a reaction from us. He is wanting us to move. And the sorry thing about it is when man does nothing, or when man does do something that is the end result of it.

God has said it is up to you. You can call on Me. You can seek my face. I am here. I will help you. But if you don't call, if you don't seek God, then nothing gets done.

And He gives us this command, "Be ye angry and sin not." And there are many times when there is anger in the wrong place. We are not talking about that tonight. I believe there are things we have let go in our churches, with our children, with our wives, with our homes because we refuse to get angry. And one of the reasons we refuse to get angry is because there is so much teaching out there today that a person who is filled with the Spirit never gets angry, that a Christian never gets angry, that everything has to be in love. And a lot of times, when we think of love we think of great quietness and tenderness in walkingalong. And I see Christians today loving homosexuals, and I see them loving drunkards, and I see them becoming members of churches because all in the name of love. And I wonder what would happen if we were to deal with their souls. But we say we drive them far from us. God will do that one day. It is better for them to be driven out in the cold today and feel alone and come to their senses, that they might repent.

Is there not a place in the Bible that says, "If any man among you be called a brother, calleth himself a brother, and he is in fornication, it says deal with him. And the reason that God says deal with him is that he might be saved. He goes as far as to say, "Give him over to Satan, that his flesh can be destroyed so that his spirit might be saved." But as soon as there is somebody who is a sinner in their way, falls upon something, we run quick and we try to prop them up and we try to build them up. And we doo all that we can to take the conviction away. And I wonder if we are taking salvation away when God is beginning to work a deliverance. God is wanting to work with our lives.

My wife told me recently of a preacher whom she heard preach on the radio. And he was talking about the phrase that I have said, that you said, that we have all known. He said, God hates sin but he loves the sinner." And we all say that, and we know that and we try to work that through our minds. God loves the sinner, but He hates sin. And this preacher said, "I don't know where that Bible verse is in the Bible." That God loves sinners and that He hates sin. And one thing that we can look at is John 3:16. "For God so loved the world." And that is true.

But yet, I believe there is an attitude we have taken on, that somehow we harbor sin and sinners together. And this preacher went on to say, "If God loves sinners, why doesn't he send them to hell? Why doesn't He just send sin to Hell?" But He deals with people.

And I see that in our churches, we sit. We are quiet. We have become lazy and we have used the name of Love to justify it. And brothers, I believe in love. I believe in going into a ditch and pulling someone out. I believe in being forebearing and tenderhearted. We read that tonight. But I also believe that there is an anger that God has given us from Heaven, and the church doesn't have it. The church doesn't have it because somehow it has been preached out the back door. And the Spirit of God can't move in it.

Look at verse 26 again. It says, "Be ye angry" at the command of God. And then it says, "Sin not." We have often thought that "Be ye angry and sin not" means that we are allowed to get angry or have this feeling about something, but we never dare raise our voice. We never dare let our clothes or our hair get a little dishelved as it rages in us. We can be angry, but we have to be calm and quiet and mellow. I don't know how you can do that. I don't know how anger and that calm quietness can work together,if it is really anger. It says "be angry and sin not."

Could it mean this, tonight, brothers and sisters? If God is in us, and Christ the hope of glory is in us, and righteousness is in us, and sin comes to our family or sin comes to our church or unjustice or something happens in us, and I am not talking about anger tonight that marches in Washington carrying signs. I am not talking about that. I am talking about anger that brings down the power of God. Anger that works righteousness, not anger that sits on TV. Not that makes a name. Not anger that shoots abortion doctors. I am talking about anger that brings down the power of God, and it brings salvation.

It says "be ye angry," and if there is a situation that happens and the Spirit of God rises in us and we don't get angry, could that be the sin that it is talking about? Getting complacent instead. Quenching the Spirit of God. Quenching the Holy Ghost. When He is grieved over a situation and no I can't get angry because he preached about that one time and I can't get angry and we start renouncing the Devil. We start putting it down. We start shutting if off and we don't deal with the situation. Now have we sinned. The Bible says "be angry and sin not."

Then it says this. "And let not the sun go down on your wrath." Many times we have looked at that as if we have lost it. And have got an anger, and we have to say we are sorry to the one we are angry with before the sun goes down.

Let me ask this question. If the Holy Ghost, and there is a godly anger in us, and the Bible says "Be angry and sin not." It says, "let not the sun go down upon your wrath." If there is the wrath of God in us, I believe, Church, that it needs to be seen. Fathers, if there is a wrath in you concerning your children and what they are doing, I don't believe you should let the sun go down with that wrath in you. I believe it should be seen. I believe it should be seen. And I am not talking about abuse, but I am talking about something that spares not for the crying. I am talking about something that saves their souls from Hell. The Bible says in Jude, "On some having compassion making a difference, on others pull them out of the fire, hating even the garments that are spotted with the flesh."

There stood Lot, looking at his beloved city and his wife and his two daughters. He tried to get his sons-in-laws and they mocked him. He tried to tell others, and they laughed at him. And after seeing all this, and the hardness of their hearts, and the angels of God said, "Come, we must flee because the wrath of God is about to fall." The Bible says, "There stood Lot, loitering." Standing and not sure. Looking at the city and hearing what was said and not sure. What did the angels do? They took hold of the hands of him and his wife and his daughters, and they took them out of the city. You have just seen the mercy of God, the Bible says.

There are some times when we need to get ahold of something. And it is the anger. And I believe that we shouldn't let the sun go down on it. I don't believe we should quench the Spirit. We have all talked about things like this. I was out in the work place and I heard someone doing this and I felt the Spirit of God giving me a word to speak to them. But I quenched, and I didn't do it. And now we go back and the opportunity isn't there anymore. We have let the sun go down and we have missed an opportunity.

Possibly the anger of God is upon us and we try to put it down in us. We try to quench it. The Bible says, "don't let the sun go down on your wrath." It says, "Be angry, and don't sin." Be angry. Let it be seen. Don't quench the Spirit of God, and by that sin. The Bible says to Ezekiel, "you are the watchman on the wall. If you see the sword of the Lord coming, the judgment of God, and you don't tell the people, their blood will be on your hands. Their blood will be on your hands," he says. "But if you tell the people and they don't listen to you, then are your hands clean and it will be upon their own hands."

How many times have you and I sinned because we have not disciplined our children? I remember when our son first came to us, and as he was growning older, I had this idea of how my son would be. I had an idea how he wouldn't be like other children. He would walk in my steps. He would be what I would want him to be. And I remember when that old man came up in him. And when he would look up in glare and defy what we told him. And I realized one day when I was sitting in my chair and reading a newspaper, there he was, and he was crying and throwing a fit. What I wanted to do was give him a bottle, give him something to appease him. What I wanted to do was find something to quiet him down. I didn't want to put my paper down. I didn't want to get out of my place, and I knew that I had to get down. And I realized for the first time that ministering discipline and correction is hard work. It takes effort. And after a bit I saw that there was an anger, that God will give us also to deal with situations.

And I want to say something a marriage for a moment. And I use examples of things that I see every day, because I believe the Bible is full of things like that. We say don't talk about people. Don't use people. And I don't think people need to feel bad about this when we use them as examples. The Bible talks about David, and it talks about Samuel and it talks about all these men. Some things were wonderful and some things were mistakes. And I believe we can see life living now.

I know a man that I appreciate very well. And I appreciate his character and wish I could be like him. I am talking about marriage relationships right now. And he was talking about a situation that had happened at their home one time. And his wife got upset with him and with what was going on. And I said to him, "Well, did you set her straight? Did you take care of it?" He said, "No, I wanted to go to sleep. So I just let her talk and Irolled over, and I wanted it all to be over so I could just go to sleep."

I said, "Brother, don't you love your wife anymore than that? To deal with" He said, "Well, then she got upset with me that I didn't love her enough to put her in her place."

And I wonder if sometimes, husbands, we would rather take a walk in the woods than deal with what is in the house. We would rather go out and start the chain saw up and make some noise rather than stand there and face what is going on at home. The anger of God doesn't come up within us to deal with situations in our lives and with our children.

"Be ye angry, and sin not; let not the sun go down upon thy wrath." And I believe that this is the right interpretation. You take it to the Lord and let Him tell you. But look what it continues to say in context. "Neither give place to the Devil." And I believe it falls right in line with this. "Be angry, and don't let the Devil have place in your children. Don't let him find room in their hearts. Don't let the Devil have place in your home. Don't let him have place in your church. Be angry and give no place to the Devil. Be angry and do not sin.

He goes on and says, "Let him that stole steal no more." Today we say, well we have just got to be patient with them. We just have to love them more.

This past weekend I was down in Virginia. And they were telling me about a family, a Christian family, who has a wayward son. He is nearly 25 years old, or something, but he still has a place at home. He still lives at home. But there is one problem with him. He is a sinner. And He steals and he cheats and he lies. He has stolen literally thousands of dollars, and he, well I say he's from a BT family, from the Amish background. And he has stolen literally thousands of dollars from every church that he has been in as his family has moved around from members in the church. He has stolen credit cards and checks and he has his way with it. And he sat in jail one time, but his parents continually go back and bail him out. They have even asked other people to take out loans to bail their son out of jail. And recently I heard of an incident that he went to a local store and he bought a wrecking bar and a crow bar and he put it on the preacher's account. And then he used that bar to go and rob the preacher's house. And what did they do? They brought him home and said, "Oh, please, please pray for him. Please don't press charges. Please let's just work with him." And he has been doing this for years and years and years. And a brother told me that he had worked for him one time, and he took that man and put him in a truck and said, "My check book is under the seat." And this man was known for writing out false checks. He said, "My checkbook is under the seat." And he said, "If you write out one check, I am calling the police and you are going to jail."

And he looked at him and said, "Oh, you wouldn't do that? YOU would never do that. What about Christian church and nonresistence." He said, "I don't know if it is right or if it is wrong. But I am telling you, if you write out one check, I am calling the police." And he said, many times that young man drove his truck home with his check book under, and he never once wrote out a check. He was afraid. There was a fear.

The Bible says, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. It is the beginning of knowledge." And I believe that we have no fear in us. People can walk into churches and they will deceive everybody. They will walk in and they will become a part of it. We put our arms around them because we don't look. We are so happy to get new people and new members that we don't look. Could this be a wolf? Is there something in this man's heart that needs to be dealt with?

And remember while I am preaching this message, remember all your messages on love and compassion and all of that. That's a part of it. But there is also a godly anger.

Now I want to go to many Scriptures. Matthew 5, "Be ye angry and do not quench the spirit." Matthew 5:21. "Ye have heard that it was said of them of old time thou shalt not kill. And whosoever what kill shall be in danger of the judgment. But I say unto you," and this is how many of us read this verse, or at least think about it, "that whosever is angry with his brother shall be in danger of the judgment." That is not complete. The Bible says that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment."

So that leaves me with a question. Is there a reason sometime to be angry with a brother? Is there a reason sometimes to have something stir within you because of what is going on the in church or what a brother has done? It says, if you are angry against your brother without a cause then you are in danger of the Judgment. So I guess the opposite is true. If you are angry with him, and there is a cause, then you are not in danger of the judgment.

And I believe we are going to see in the Bible tonight why the Lord would allow that. Because it works righteousness. It works righteousness. It brings a conversion. It brings the Holy Spirit down. Sin is put out. The Devil has no place to work anymore. So that he that is angry with his brother and there is no cause. Maybe the reason you are angry with him is because he has more money than you. That's not a cause. Maybe you are angry with him because his children all walk in a row and yours are a mess. That is no reason to get angry with him. But if he brings doctrines of devils into the church, if he is complacent and lukewarm, if he doesn't care, if he doesn't become a part of the church, maybe there is a cause. And maybe the Lord would have you to deal with it.

Titus, chapter 1. If preachers were supposed to be examples, we're supposed to walk before the people, not giving any offense to the ministry. Do preachers get angry? Are preachers allowed to get angry? Does the Bible have anything to say about it?

We read these verses every time we talk about ordaining someone or appointing someone to deaconship. And I don't know if I have ever heard anyone bring this point out. Because we are touchy about it. We have heard so many messages.

It says, verse 7, "For a bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God, not self-willed, not soon angry." It does not say not angry. It says not soon angry. Not just because something doesn't go right. Not just because people don't show up on time. There are times when that gets a preacher angry. And I believe that we ought to get up and tell people sometimes. I believe we ought to speak it.

It says, "Not soon angry," but he can be angry. Because he sees what happens in the church of those who are supposed to be living for God, filled with the Holy Ghost, examples to the world, helping other people. But we walk in late. We walk in when we feel like it. We walk in with a casual spirit. We just kind of settle down. We kind of fit in. We hope that the preacher has got it together tonight because I have had a bad week. Haven't had time to pray. Haven't had time to study. So he better have a good message so he can lift me up. Maybe he ought to get an anger sometimes, to tell them about their lifestyle and the way that they work.

Luke chapter 14. Again will I say that anger is not the answer in every case. But I believe it is in some. Luke 14:15, "And when one of them that sat at meat with him heard these things, he said unto them, Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God." Blessed is that man. Happy is that man who will sit down and eat in the kingdom of God.

Now this is the example that He is bringing. We all say we want to be in the kingdom of God. We all say we want to sit at the table of God. We all say that we want to be a part of what is going on. And then he goes on and gives us a parable in that context.

Verse 16, "Then said he unto him, A certain man made a great supper and bade many; and sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden, Come, for all things are now ready. And they all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it. I pray thee, have me excused. I am a businessman. Please don't ask me to get so involved in the church, I'm a businessman. I've got things to do. I've got involved and I've got commitments. Please have me excused. Hey, I believe in the church. Go forth. Go all the way forth. I want the church to go on. I'll give my tithes. I want the church of Jesus Christ toprosper. But I've got a few things. Have me excused.

It goes on. Another said, "I have bought five yoke of oxen and I go to prove them. I pray thee have me excused. Another said I have married a wife, therefore I cannot come. You see, I have married a wife and I am busy now. We are having children. The kids are fussy. They've got bellyaches. There are all these types of things going on. Please don't ask me to get involved. I want to be in the kingdom. I want the church to be there when they become teenagers. I want Sunday School to be alive. I want it all to be there. But I am busy right now. I've got things to do. Please don't ask me to come."

Verse 21, "So that servant came and showed his Lord these things. Then the master of the house, being angry." Now remember, he is talking about eating bread in the kingdom of Heaven. He said, "I have invited all these and they are giving me excuses." The master of the house, being angry.

The says, "He said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and the lanes of the city and bring in hither the poor and the maimed and the halt and the blind. The servant said, Lord it is done as thou hast commaded, and yet there is room. And the Lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and the hedges and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled." And he says this, "For I say unto you that none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper." None of those men who have been bidden shall taste of my supper. There are times in your life when something happens with someone and you feel an anger come up in you, and words come out of your mouth, and an action is seen. And you do it to your children, and then you go off and you start thinking about this anger thing, and you get condemned and condemned and condemned because you feel you don't have a right to be angry.

And do you know what to do? You walk back to that person and you say your sorry and all this and all that. And pretty soon you take right away from them all the conviction that might now be resting on them.

And this message doesn't give you a license just fly off the handle and do what you want to do. Because if your anger doesn't work righteousness, it isn't from the Holy Ghost.

This man said go out and get the ones that world doesn't like. Get the ones who don't have it together. Get the ones who are blind and can't even walk right. Go to them and make my house full. He said, "Lord, they are here but it is not full." He said, "My house must be filled. Go. Go get some more. Go look for them." And he went out, and then the master of the house said this, "Those that were bidden aren't going to .

Does that man have love? Does he have forgiveness? Is he tenderhearted? Talking about the kingdom of Heaven. Talking aboutthe Kingdome of Heaven. We make excuses. We look at our matters as being very important. And we say no to the Lord.

I wonder if this ever happens in your life? You get down and you pray, "Oh, come Holy Spirit. Lord, send your holy Spirit. I want to be filled with your Holy Spirit. Give me direction in my life. Give me guidance. Send the Holy Spirit."

Where does the Holy Spirit exist in a brother or sister? That brother or sister comes. He says God has given me a word for you, and you resist it. Or maybe in anger something happens, and he speaks. And what do you do? You don't respond right. You don't listen to it. You turn your heart off, and you get upset with him. And you say he is an unruly man. On and on, you come up with all these excuses. Maybe now you have just quenched the Holy Spirit.

Do we ask for the Holy Spirit on one hand and then shut Him of on the other hand? Here these men wanted to be a part of the Kingdom of God, but they were busy. And you know what? Anger. Anger in the man of the house caused the supper to be given to the blind and the needy and the halt.

Let me give you an example. If this man said, "All right, if they are not coming I'm slamming the door shut and there will be no supper." Possibly that would have been anger that did not work righteousness. But you know what his anger did? It allowed the blind and the maimed and the halt and the ugly in the world to eat the supper. And his house was filled. And it was filled with those who not normally have been bidden. It was righteousness.

John 11. I wonder sometimes, brothers and sisters, if we have those amongst us who refuse to get involved in the work of God. And so you know what? Instead of us all being a church moving along and pulling in sinners, some of the faithful in the church are dragging along dead saints. And that spot that they are occupying, God would have that somebody else alive would be there. But you know what we would have done? We would just suffer. We would call a board meeting and maybe can we make a better supper so they come? Can we have it at a different time so it will suit everybody? Can we change something because we want everyone to come in? And we would work and we would work and we would work and fit in everybody else's schedule. He said, "No. Go out and get one's who will come." And this opened up the gospel.

John 11, talking about the death of Lazarus. Verse 32, "Then when Mary was come where Jesus was, and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying unto him, Lord if thou hadst been here my brother had not died." I don't know if she was saying this in a quiet voice. I don't know if it was in trembling and in fear and in shaking, but I believe there was some kind of a grip on her heart. "Lord, we sent for you, and why didn't you come? Why didn't you come. If you would have come he would be living. But now he is dead."

Jeremiah, the prophet, came to the Lord one day and he said, "Lord, you deceived me. You deceived me." You know, those words, speaking to the Lord like that, scares us. And I don't believe that we need to be clouds without water that go around shaking our fists at God and speaking great swelling words. But I believe that sometimes God would want to stir our hearts. He would want to agitate us. But we come to God and then we put on, get down and put on some holy prayer, not praying what is in our hearts, not saying what's there.

She fell down at his feet and said, "Lord, if you had been here he would be alive." And I believe this is what began to move Jesus. It began to move Jesus. But many of us today say, Well, I guess it must have been the Lord's will, because nothing happened. And we just settle on down and expect more of the same. Not so in her heart. She got ahold of Him. "Lord, Lord, if you had been here." And I wonder if the Lord is waiting for us to cry out to him, if He doesn't allow situations to come to us so that we cry out to Him. But instead we just hang our heads and accept it and try to smooth out the wrinkles. And we just go on and nothing came. Nothing came.

I believe the trials God sends to us are so we would be change. On the other side of the Rockies, coming over yesterday, my car that had been working perfectly stopped working perfectly. I put it in drive to go and nothing happened. There we sat in Browning, Montana. And the rest of you don't know, who were traveling with me, but I found out tonight that is the murder capital of the Montana. If there is any place you don't want to break down it is there. And there we sat at the intersection, and the car wouldn't go. And my dad came back and Brother came out and said, "Let's pray and get this thing going." And that was the last thing on my heart. I was hanging my head. I was thinking about trying to get a phone number and call on Brother Ray and say well you have got to get somebody else to preach. Got to get somebody else to do it. And I was thinking, I might as well go back into town and get someone. But I daren't say this because I am supposed to be a preacher, supposed to be spiritual. And my dad said, "Come on and pray. I heard Jimmy Swigart prayed one time and a car went. Let's go." And men always prayed, and the Lord said come on, let's pray. Let's lay hands on him." And that was furtherest thing from my heart.

And so we came and we prayed and nothing happened. My father said, "Come on. Get the women out here. Let's pray. Let's all pray." And so we prayed and still nothing happened. And then I felt the need in my heart to begin to repent. And so we prayed, and it feels so foolish to stand on the highway, and you know everyone is looking because your wives are covering and going . And there you stand, holding hands with the hood up, around the car. And you pray. And it seems like complete foolishness. But that is what God uses. That is what He ordains. And we prayed, and we went up the road a little bit. And it quit again, and my wife got angry and started rebuking the Devil. Andwe prayed again, and we went up the road again. And we see these big Rocky Mountains standing in front of us and wondering how we will get through. And I imagine the road narrowed as we got in the mountains . Let this thing go. And I kept praying and I kept praying. And we came all the way through those mountains. And that car didn't stop one time until we got over here on the other side. And if somebody wouldn't have, if we had all said, "Well, you know," if they had all acted as I was feeling, we would probably still be over there in the murder capital. I didn't know that. If I had known that, I would have been praying too.

But I believe sometimes it is the anger of God that would motivate us, brothers and sisters. Motivate us unto righteousness. But we accept things too easily. Well, he's dead. It's too late now. It's too late to do anything.

And I wonder how many times God pulled Himself to the edge of His throne. He allowed a situation and said "Angels, stay back. Let it happen." He said everything stay back and He pulled out to the edge of His throne, waiting for this cry that would come from the earth, that never came. Sitting there. Michael get ready. Angels stand ready. There is going to be a cry that comes from Heaven. My glory is going to be seen on earth again. I am going to have a chance to move on mankind. They are Christians. They know how to pray. And someone stood up and said, "Well, probably the Lord's will. Let's just accept it as it is." And everything became quiet. The cry that never came to Heaven.

God moves when men's hearts are moved. God moves when compassion wells up, when anger wells up, when men are tired of situations being the same. And man cries to Heaven. Then God will move. He said, "Pray that the harvest will come in." He didn't just say, "Well, you all are going to do what you want to do. I am going to bring the harvest in." He said, "Pray for it." And then He said, "Go into the streets. Go and preach the gospel." And another thing He said was, "If you go into a town and they don't receive the gospel, shake the very dust on you feet, and let it be as judgment against them."

That's not in us today, brothers and sisters. We go in and nothing happens. And we run back to our prayer closets and say, "Well, I guess I wasn't full enough with the Holy Ghost. And we make some kind of prayer, and we fall under condemnation. And there is nothing that rises up in us because they reject the God of all creation, because they turned their hearts cold.

That one hymn that we sing, it just startles me every time that I think about it or I quote it. And the chorus goes: "Oh, what a weeping and wailing when the lost were told of their faith. They cried to the rocks and the mountains. They prayed but their prayer was too late."

And I wonder, if they could only tremble now. But we don't bringit to them. We don't bring that to them. We close our mouths. We come into our four walls, and we hang down. We don't want to go out, and we don't want to go tell them. It is like one preacher I heard say one day, "Today in church we become tenders of aquariums instead of fishers of men." We like to keep the water clean. And it should be clean. But we like to work in here and work in here, and out there they are dying. And what a weeping and wailing there will be one day. And maybe it is because we never went to them. We were never stirred.

Back to Lazarus. Verse 33, "When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her." Here Jesus was moved by what Mary was doing. He was moved. Can we move the Lord? I believe we can. I believe we can. I believe it is ordained upon us to move.

The Bible says that Satan is the God of this world. And he has blinded the minds of men so they cannot see light. Who is going to make the difference? I do not believe that God comes and works in this realm unless men pray. Yes, He is supernatural and omnipotent and He has His way, and He can do things. But I believe He is waiting on the church. He has given us the mind of Christ. He has given us the Holy Ghost. He has given us authority. He has given it all to us, and He is saying, "Now do it. Do it."

But we wait and we wait and we wait. And He is waiting. Souls are going to Hell. The Devil is coming into the hearts of our children. Our marriages are breaking up. The church is growing cold. And we wait and we wait and we wait. If someone gets stirred under the Holy Ghost, we tell them, "Brother, calm down now. Let's not get this way."

I wonder if we would accept Elijah if he walked in here tonight. I wonder what we would have done to John the Baptist. I wonder what we would have done to such men. They didn't have eloquence. I don't think they had transparencies and overhead projectors. They just had the Holy Ghost. And they had the power of God. And they were hated. They were hated. John the Baptist preached against sin, and they took his head. They were hated. Elijah preached against false worship. All these altars you've got around here. All these little things you bow down to. He preached that, and he killed the prophets, and a woman said, "I'm going to kill you." And he ran from fear when he should have stood up against her. God would have had him delivered.

Jesus, when He saw her weeping, and He saw the Jews weeping, He got moved. And look what it says, He groaned in the spirit and was troubled. Do you know what groaned in the spirit meant? What it means in the Greek? When I looked at this and I looked it up, I was shocked. You know what I usually think of Jesus. We always think of that picture we see on the wall. This long haired, feminine-looking guy cuddling a little lamb.

Now I am sure there are times Jesus could be the most compassion and tender, wonderful man on the face of the earth. I don't believe He was ever feminine. He was a man. And I believe the man probably had callouses on his hands and muscles under his . He was a carpenter. He was a man. He wasn't some little thing that floated along. He was a man.