God Has a Name: Part 3
Speaker: Pastor Pierre
Read: Exodus 34:6-7; Psalm 7:11-12; Proverbs 14:29, 16:32; Jonah 4:2-3; Luke 6:36; Hebrews 9:27, 10:31
God’s name is not just a label but reveals the personhood of who He is. He is compassionate and He is gracious towards us even when we are undeserving of it. He is also long-suffering in that He is slow to anger. He rules His Spirit, has tremendous self-control, and it takes a lot for Him to become angry. But although He is long-suffering, He will not plead with us forever and there are times when His mercy runs out and His judgment is swift.
We too become angry and our anger usually comes as a result of a wounded ego when we are hurt by something said or done to us. We say we want justice, but usually we want revenge. But God’s anger is different from ours. His wrath is directed to unrelenting, unremitting, uncompromising antagonism towards sin and evil in all its forms and manifestation. His wrath knows no mercy. This reminds us that there are consequences to unrepentant sin and evil and that although He is loving and kind, that it is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God (Hebrews 10:31). As God makes anger distant and brings compassion near, we are encouraged to also be compassionate as He is compassionate, to be forgiving as He is forgiving, and to be merciful as He is merciful (Luke 6:36).
DISCUSSSION QUESTIONS:
1. What resonated with you as you listened to this sermon and reviewed it?
2. Read Proverbs 14:29 and 16:32. What do these verses say to you?
3. Do you think it is wrong for us to get angry? How should we handle situations when we are hurt by something someone says or does to us?
4. Read Jonah 4:2-3. Nineveh represented to Jonah all the violent evil that the Assyrians had brought on his people. He wanted destruction to come to them for their deeds.
Who has is or has been your Nineveh, that in honesty, you have wanted something to happen to them as retribution for hurt they caused you?
5. What are your thoughts when you understand that God does get angry and will release His wrath upon mankind?
6. Who are the people that irritate or make you angry, and that you have opportunities to show mercy to?
