16th Sunday after Pentecost, Morning Worship, September 28, 2025
Sermon Series: Rick Warren’s Transformed – Week 4 Emotional Health
Sermon: How to Deal with How You Feel
Accompanying Scripture: I Peter 5 : 6-9

Rick Waren’s Transformed: How to Deal with How You Feel.

I Peter 6:6-9

I wasn’t angry. I was in a rage. I was so angry that I scared myself.

How dare this happen to me!
Who’s to blame?
This is beyond the pale!

I couldn’t fix the problem, which increased my anger. It’s a wonder I didn’t burst like a balloon on the spot.

You might well wonder, what was the problem? What horrible thing happened to upset me that much?

Had I been mugged? Perhaps at gunpoint? No.
Perhaps I was molested? No.
Someone was passing dreadful untruths about me? No.

What could it possibly be? What had me to the point where I lost control of my emotions?

Here’s the truth: I was unable to adjust the sideview mirror on my car.

You might well ask, “Really? That’s what made you so angry you could burst? I hate to see what you do when something truly serious happens to you.”

And you’d be right.

Totally right.

I was wise enough to call a friend. I told her how angry I was and explained the cause. What’s wrong with me? I asked her.

She waited patiently for me to run out of steam. Then she quietly asked me, “What’s really wrong?”

Have you ever experienced that kind of anger? Anger at something inconvenient, but fixable. Anger that puts you out of control. Anger that scares you with its ferocity.

In my defense, I was still quite young. I didn’t understand my emotions, which is the first thing to dealing with how you feel.

In your bulletin, you’ll find some fill-in-the-blank statements. Let’s take a look at the first set:

Understand my emotions:

1. God has emotions.
   God created us in God’s image. We need relationships, just as God does. We get angry, just like God. We experience joy, just like God.
2. My ability to feel is a gift from God.
   Sometimes that doesn’t feel like a gift, does it? Stiff upper lip, holding it all in, not wearing your heart on your sleeve, isn’t helpful. Certainly, there is a time and a place for expressing emotions. And eventually, they’ll come out, either in a healthy way or an unhealthy, unhelpful manner.
3. Two extremes to avoid: emotionalism and stoicism.
4. God gave the book of Psalms to help us understand our
   emotions.

I’m yet to discover an emotion or feeling that a Psalmist hasn’t already expressed. I even write my own Lament Psalms to help me express my pain and hurt and to help me remember that God
cares for me.

When we’re emotional, we may not be thinking clearly. What we’re feeling in the moment may be unreliable. We can be manipulated by others to do the wrong thing.

We all want to please God. We all want to succeed in life. Extreme emotions or stoicism suppress the pain and keep us from offering ourselves to God.

And after all, isn’t that why we’re here? To honor God and love God?

So what’s the alternative?

I have three suggestions to offer you. But understand this: I’m not a therapist. In fact, the level of anger that I experienced with my sideview mirror was the catalyst I needed to get me into therapy. These three suggestions are only a beginning. They can help us navigate our day-to-day emotional ups and downs.

But, please, understand. If you’re level of anger, anxiety, or other emotions is high, get thee to a therapist. They are highly educated and trained to help you find a better life than what you’re experiencing right now. And if you need help finding one, call me.

1. Name it
   a. What am I really feeling?
   b. What are my triggers?
   c. ________________ it.

We can’t manage a vague emotion. Identify the feeling: loss, grief, hurt. What you’re angry with may not be the real source of your anger. Name it as clearly as you can.

Be careful of your triggers. A scent of perfume can send you back to a memory from years ago. A spoken phrase reminds us of something that occurred when the school bully went after us. The sight of a favorite restaurant may send you into a state of grief. The taste of a favorite cookie reminds us of another time.

Name it before it takes hold of you.

2. Challenge it
   a. Ask questions of it.

That’s when a friend can be helpful. Someone you trust can help you identify a feeling or memory that could be lurking there, waiting to pounce.

• i. What’s the real reason that I’m feeling this?
• ii. Is it true?
• iii. Is what I’m feeling helping me or hurting me?

3. Change it or Channel it
   Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus” (Philippians
   2:5)
   a. Change it if _Jesus wouldn’t do this.
   b. Channel it for good use.

Are you angry when you see social injustice? Channel it to a place where you can be a part of the solution. Are you angry because your sideview mirror is skewed? Settle yourself down and get to the bottom of it.

In your daily meditation, ask God to fill you with the Holy Spirit. Look for evidence of God’s activity in the world. As I wrote this sermon, my eyes were set on beautiful yellow sunflowers in my front garden. There are so many blooms on them that the stalks literally bend down and touch the ground as if they are praising their creator. This particular species of sunflower arrives late in the season, which reminds me that fall is near.

Every day, ask God to help you manage what you say and to identify what you’re feeling.

In these unprecedented times of great change in our world, our emotions may be more readily apparent. Seek God in those moments of extreme emotions. Give thanks for joy and identify
the pain.

The good news is that God is present to help us name, manage, and change our negative emotions. We resist because it’s difficult to identify how we feel, and we become easily
manipulated.

The incident of the side-view mirror didn’t end there. For the next five years, my anger and rage inflicted themselves on my body, and I was plagued by various ailments until I finally quit hiding and got myself the help I needed.

Don’t be afraid to learn more about yourself. You are loving and talented. Challenge those unwanted emotions by identifying them. Don’t bury them. They have an important message for
you.

All glory and honor be to God.

Amen.