How to live in an age of rage

Learning from King Saul and King David on how to handle your emotions and thrive in an age of rage.

Speaker:	Andy Moyle
Series:	Hall of Mirrors
Date:	8th Jun, 2026
Download:	How to live in an age of rage
Plays:	0
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Sermon notes:	PDF How to live in an age of rage How to Handle Living in an Age of Rage Series: The Hall of Mirrors  |  Scripture: 1 Samuel 20:30–34; Galatians 6:8; Matthew 12:34; Ephesians 4:31 (AI generated from spoken recording transcript) Introduction: The Age of Rage We live in a mad age of unrestrained emotion. Political leaders speak incoherently out of anger. Politicians stoke rage and riots follow. Social media algorithms are engineered to provoke fury. The media profits from keeping us angry. This is the world we inhabit. The chapter we have reached in Steph's book is titled 'Unrestrained Emotions' — and it asks how we navigate the traps the enemy sets for us through our relationships and emotional responses. A Masterclass in What Not to Do: King Saul 1 Samuel 20:30–34 gives us a vivid picture of what happens when emotions go unchecked. Saul had nursed jealousy — the girls sang that Saul killed his hundreds but David his tens of thousands — and he caressed that jealousy until it festered into rage. The result? He vented at his own son Jonathan, cursed his wife, demanded David's death, and hurled a spear at his own child. Venting, cursing, violence. Saul is the masterclass in how not to handle emotions. His unrestrained feelings ultimately led to his undoing — and, in the end, to his suicide. Many relationships break down because we simply believe whatever we are thinking and feeling in the moment — without pausing to ask whether our hearts might be getting it wrong. Three Patterns of Handling Emotions (and Why None of the Defaults Work) 1. The Stiff Upper Lip — Bottling It In The traditional British approach was to suppress emotion entirely — to be reserved and unexpressive. The Falklands War story says it all: 'I've lost my leg.' 'No, you haven't — it's over here.' While this avoided emotional explosions, repression is not the same as health. Pushed-down feelings do not disappear; they fester underground. 2. Numbness — When Trauma Shuts Feelings Down In deeply difficult or traumatic seasons, emotions can become inaccessible altogether — a protective numbness sets in and we cannot name what we are feeling. Sometimes we need a friend, a counsellor, or even a simple 'feelings chart' to help us identify and put language to our inner state. 3. Venting — The Age of Rage Default The modern reaction to emotional suppression is the opposite extreme: just let it all out. 'It's good for my mental health to vent.' But spewing emotions at others is not healthy - not for us, and certainly not for the people on the receiving end. We live in an age that profits from our anger, but that does not make unbridled venting good. What Emotions Actually Are: An Engine Warning Light Feelings come - that is simply a fact of being human. But they do not come first, and they should not rule. Emotions are a God-given means of discerning what is going on around us. They reveal our goals and motivations. They are like an engine warning light: the answer is not to ignore the light, nor to panic - it is to open the bonnet and check what is actually going on. The trouble is that our hearts, as Jeremiah reminds us, can be deceitful. We process things wrongly. We feel things inaccurately. That is why feelings cannot be allowed to rule - we must think and work things through. As Galatians 6:8 puts it: whoever sows to the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to the Spirit will reap eternal life. If we allow feelings to come first, we will give up just before the breakthrough. Many people quit five minutes before the blessing arrives. A Better Way: King David and the Psalms of Lament David was far from perfect, but he learned to process his emotions well. Read the Psalms — about half of them are laments. He told God exactly how bad things were, processing honestly what he was going through. And then, at the end of those psalms, he would arrive at praise. He processed his way through to a revelation of God's goodness. When everyone wanted to kill him, 'David encouraged himself in the Lord' (1 Samuel 30:6). A lament, perhaps — and then: but God, you are good. David used good friends too; Jonathan was one of his closest. The pattern: express the pain honestly to God ? process it through ? arrive at praise and breakthrough. Practical Steps for Processing Emotions Well 1. Name what you are feeling It can be genuinely hard to identify our emotions — especially in difficult seasons. Seek out a trusted friend or counsellor who can help you put words to what is going on inside. Do not go through it alone; isolation makes processing harder and distortion more likely. 2. Bring it to God — go for a walk, lament, pray Prayer walks, time outdoors, the Psalms — these are practical ways of processing with the Lord. Even when it does not feel like it is working ('I feel just as bad as when I left'), God is still working: 'Even when I don't feel it, you're working.' He may speak through the next day's Bible reading. Stay in the habit of daily Scripture. 3. Wait before you respond Before hitting reply, posting, or firing back — pause. Someone texts you to moan? Ring them. Someone sends a voice note? Go and see them in person. Go up a level relationally instead of down. Write the reply, then delete it. Sleep on it. The response you give the next day will almost always be better. Matthew 12:34 is a good filter: 'The mouth speaks what the heart is full of.' If that verse sat at the top of every social media feed, most posts would never be written. 4. Remember who is standing in front of you When someone vents at you, it is painful — words have power because people are made in the image of God. But that also means the person doing the venting is an image-bearer too: a precious, loved person, whether or not they love the Lord. Watch your heart in response. The Counter-Cultural Response: Ephesians 4:31–32 'Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.' When there is rage and bitterness around us, Paul's instruction is radical: be kind. Be compassionate. Show the opposite of what has just been done to you. And the engine of that kindness is forgiveness — because God has forgiven us so much, we are able to forgive others. We have well-rehearsed excuses for holding on to anger. Paul does not let us stop at 'be kind' — he adds 'just as in Christ God forgave you.' That redefines everything. Conclusion God is not calling us to the old British default of bottling everything up, nor to the modern default of letting it all out. He is calling us to a third way: process well, lament honestly, think before you respond, and treat others with the kindness that flows from knowing how much we ourselves have been forgiven. Do not give up just before the breakthrough. Lament your way through to the place where God breaks in. Closing Prayer Father God, thank you that we can live well in this age of rage. When algorithms around us are designed to increase anger, you have given us something radically different — the power of forgiveness, bought at the cross. Help us to be kind and compassionate, to lament well, and to reach the place of your breakthrough. In Jesus' name, Amen.

   

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God speaks to us in many ways.

Firstly and most importantly through Scripture. Nothing trumps that. In one sense everything we need for life and godliness is in these pages in timeless truth.
Prophecy is important too in two ways.
In foretelling – where God gives a now word for us of what he is planning to do. Amos 3:7 tells us “Surely the Sovereign Lord does nothing with our revealing his plan to his servants the prophets.”
In forthtelling – where God explains or gives revelation about what is already happening

Both of those can be really helpful in our personal lives and as a church and family of churches in our nation and the nations.
Habakkuk 2 gives us some very helpful instruction on how to seek for prophecy, hear God and what to do with it.

1) Listen to God – actively listen to God. “Stand at my watch”, “station myself on the ramparts” speak of going into battle in prayer for our nation and then looking to see what He will say.
2) God speaks and tells Habakuk to write it down. “Write down the revelation, make it plain on tablets so a herald may run with it”
I have a mantra, if it's not written down it won't happen. It'll get forgotten. Jan learnt that early in our marriage and leaves me endless notes!
The prophetic needs writing down so it can be remembered. It needs making plain so it can be acted upon, waited for, seen to be fulfilled.
Once it's been weighed – does it align with Scripture?, does it have a ring of truth? Does it bring us closer to Jesus? Is the prophetic person someone of godly character? Once we have been through that, then there’s 3 elements to a prophetic word's application that I like to main plain

i) What God says is true. Prophecy contains things that God says is already true – we need to believe it. I highlight those in red!
ii) Things I need to do. Prophecy often contains things that I need to do. Conditions for the promise to come to pass. I highlight those in yellow
iii) Then there are things that only God can do – promises we therefore need to pray in and wait on God for. Those I highlight in green.

3) The third Habbukuk 2 teaches is that we need to wait for the fulfilment.
How we wait is important!
We can passively wait, sitting doing nothing. Letting go and letting God. Then we get bored and forget. That kind of waiting is what Joyce Meyer calls “more wishbone than backbone”
We can also wait expectantly, getting ready, praying, hoping expectantly, believing in faith and looking for the fulfilment actively.
Like Elijah's servant who was waiting for the cloud to come – he looked seven times!
Like the parable of the virgins who kept their lamps trimmed and filled waiting.

What has God spoken over us as a Church and a family of Churches?

Over the Gateway

Multicultural
Initial call – South Gate – call it the Gateway for it will be a gateway for the gospel to go to the nations
Tony Thompson “A kaleidoscope plant different colours called together to produce splendour”
Julian Adams to me personally: There is something of an anointing to mix Gentile and Jews, something of an anointing to gather different nations and put them together even as Peter did and God is really going to release that on you as an apostolic got and Its going built into the foundations of the Church.
Karyn Romeis: Food is going to have a part to play, including Borscht
Jeremy Hazell: Do supernatural ministry and I believe that supernatural ministry is going to be key into breaking into some of those communities. The key. Actually the key to breaking upon some of these Eastern Europeans. Many of them, especially the Polish. I believe that there are some people who are Polish in that area that God is going to allow you to break into, They have known a form of godliness without the power. And the Lord just wanted to demonstrate something that is break some of the strongholds that are in those places. The same thing with the Russians – they have had that orthodox thing. The orthodox Church has mixed itself with the ancient Shamanism in the area and the Lord says that He is going to break that and there are actually going to be some power encounters that you are going to have.
Markus & Ellen Adolfsson: There will many colours in this place. People from many nations. Saying “Praise the Lord” in many languages. You may be thinking there aren't many colours in King's Lynn. God will carve them out of rock and build something beautiful in this place.

Size
Julian Adams: God wants to give you an anointing for a big church.A big church. I feel like God wants you to break the 500 mark in this church as you plant. I see God wanting to give you a sizeable percentage of the community as your inheritance.

Wave/Flood
Paul Thompson River Ouse regularly breaks its banks but it is contained in Kings Lynn. God wants to break the bank and flood the presence of God that will combat a lack of expectation in a deprived town. Prepare the ground and sharpen the plough – it needs to go deep and long to break ground from previously impoverished centuries.

Move of God
Julian Adams: You know the incredible thing about Peter, is that he was a herald of a new move of God. It's on you brother, the herald of a new move of God.
Tim Green: Be prepared for the unpredictable winds of God, like the Kite buggies on the beaches of Norfolk. Some surprising moves of God and stories will come out of Kings Lynn.
Jeremy Hazell: God gathers resources, pools for helping to reach into the rest of the region… the bottom of Lincolnshire and into the Northern part it and I belie that part of what is going to happen in Kings Lynn is that it will be a place where resources are pooled for the push and God is going to help bring them along.
Keith Hazell: I saw by the Holy Spirit that there is like water, there is like a wave that's gathering. I see a gathering wave. It's like the wind has got under it and it is gathering. And the Lord says that from where you to stand on the beach it looks not much more than like a ripple. But from where he stands, it is a wave that is beginning to flow. It is a wave that is going to being to flow onto this church into this church and God says that the cry of the heart of the people of this church has gone up to Heaven and has been heard. The Lord says that there is coming a time of the Holy Spirit in this church which requires you to prepare, which requires you to get ready. The scriptures say that Jesus said to the disciples “I want you to go up into the upper room and prepare a meal because I am going to eat with you” and God says there is a time of preparation for the church. God says don't just look at the wave. Get ready for the wave. Don't just say a wave is coming. Prepare for the wave. The Lord says that there will be an ingathering in this place that will cause you to be so busy that if you haven't prepared you will be swamped and overwhelmed. The Lord says: Don't try and make the wave happen. Don't try to drag the wave along. Just get in the wave as it comes. Allow the Holy Spirit to do this. There is going to be an outflow of evangelism into this community, says the Lord. I am going to stir up the gift of God that is in some of you. There is some of you that have never done anything for God and never heard anything from God and sometimes don't know whether God knows about you. I declare to you tonight that God is going to release you into active work in the kingdom of God. The work of the kingdom here is going to increase, says the Lord. The Spirit of the Lord is upon you. The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on you.
Sarah Vonk: I had a recurring dream in early 2013. (Around 4 x), before I returned to the UK for surgery.
The dream was of the KLA venue; in 2013 we were still in the Gaywood community school. Janet was on welcome . The glory of God filled the venue and as the doors opened it released into the streets. The next thing I saw were people coming into the church, a little bemused and overwhelmed but caught up with the glory. They weren't sure quite what was happening only that there was this presence calling them in. It wasn't ones and twos, it was many people.
The only other thing that I remember about the dream was the venue being full. It was standing room only full. People were on their knees or worshipping. The presence of God was over them like a tangible fog. I heard the words revival is coming!!

Wow!

Here are some recent highlights for our relational mission family

A shaken nation: I will shake the heaven and the earth and that which cannot be shaken will remain. It is a time for this nation to seek the Lord. My people I am for you, I am with you but I speak to you of a shaking in this nation.
Unprecedented: That which is unprecedented is the beginning of many unprecedented things in this nation. Great challenges will come; I am about to move in this nation in a way that hase bot yet been seen in your day.

A Church for a shaken world
Arise: this is the season of defining moments and giant steps. Hibernation is over. The church is to rise and stand up. Spirit and Word is coming together. Nothing will prevail against God's church.
Be prepared – be a prepared people in prayer, in your finances, to support the vulnerable, to speak and for the floodgates to open and for church as you know it to change.
Open floodgates 2 Sam 5:20 “The burst through like a raging flood”. A holy Spirit flood is coming. It will bring life; it will not discriminate between people. Nothing will be the same again. Broken people will be washed clean, lives restored, a massive baptism. This fresh powerful outpouring of the Holy Spirit will be characterised by love and demonstrated by supernatural signs and wonders and at its heart will be the preaching of the unadulterated gospel of Christ.
Rescuers: Therefore be ready, not with flood defences, but with first response teams. the church is going to be called rescuers. RM will be like a rescue cruise liner, combining rescue with laughter. Don't get distracted from your mission to be rescuers for a shaken world.
Holy Spirit dependence is vital: Leaders and churches must know in theory and more importantly in practice how to drink and keep in step with the Spirit. We need to know how to work with the Holy Spirit and to not limit or hinder what He is doing.

Ginny Burgin: God speaking through a series of hearing about houses that had hidden rooms suddenly opened up. Owners just hadn't realised they were there. All the houses suddenly had far more potential and capacity than previously without changing the basic footprint. As individuals and the corporate body, you are the house of the Lord and you are coming into a time of revealing of hidden potential and a time of enlarging. God will do it just like Isa 54:2, Psalm 127:1

So…
God is saying the same things to us as He is saying to our church family and from what I understand other church families.
Move of God on its way
Get ready
Rely on the Spirit
New capacity and ministry from within.

Three things we are going to do as a church to align with the prophetic.

Encounter 1st Sunday – soak in God's presence, be dependent on Him. Learning how to drink and keep in step with the Spirit
Engage 2nd Sunday – Keith's prophecy told us to prepare for the wave. We are going to engage with the prophetic in prayer on the 2nd Sunday. Praying in the promises, engaging with the prophetic. Not your usual prayer meeting! More an Acts 4:31 type gathering “After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.”
Emerge 3rd Sunday – if God is opening up new rooms and up to now hidden capacity, we need to call it forth. If God is bringing a wave that will swamp us if we are not ready then we need leaders, a lot of leaders.
One of the struggles in the recent Reading outpouring is that they were swamped by the “decisions” and not ready of follow up. When that happens here we will need dozens of small groups for follow up, bigger everything! So Emerge is leadership training open to everyone.