2/28/18 “IS IT RIGHT FOR YOU TO BE ANGRY?” – Pastor Shane Idleman

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Complete Sermon Notes

Is It Right For You To Be Angry?

Jonah 4 But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he became angry. 2 So he prayed to the Lord, and said, “Ah, Lord, was not this what I said when I was still in my country? Therefore I fled previously to Tarshish; for I know that You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, One who relents from doing harm. 3 Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live!” 4 Then the Lord said, “Is it right for you to be angry?”

WHAT DISPLEASED JONAH? God’s grace and mercy.
HE FLED BECAUSE HE WAS ANGRY! We often miss God’s will when angry.
TAKE MY LIFE – I GIVE UP! Anger makes us want to quit.

Is it right when God saves or rescues others?

Is it right when God heals them?

Is it right when God blesses them?

Is it right when God blesses other ministries or promotes?

*How we act when others are blessed or spared reveals the true condition of our heart.

5 So Jonah went out of the city and sat on the east side of the city. There he made himself a shelter and sat under it in the shade, till he might see what would become of the city. 6 And the Lord God prepared a plant and made it come up over Jonah, that it might be shade for his head to deliver him from his misery. So Jonah was very grateful for the plant.

HE WASN’T READY TO REPENT – Let’s see what happens.
GOD, IN HIS GRACE, WORKED THROUGH THE WRONG HEART OF JONAH

7 But as morning dawned the next day God prepared a worm, and it so damaged the plant that it withered. 8 And it happened, when the sun arose, that God prepared a vehement east wind; and the sun beat on Jonah’s head, so that he grew faint. Then he wished death for himself, and said, “It is better for me to die than to live.”

GOD OFTEN USES DIFFICULTIES TO TEACH US

9 Then God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?” And he said, “It is right for me to be angry, even to death!” 10 But the Lord said, “You have had pity on the plant for which you have not labored, nor made it grow, which came up in a night and perished in a night. 11 And should I not pity Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred and twenty thousand persons who cannot discern between their right hand and their left—and much livestock?”