Free My Soul!: From Triggers
Lead Pastor: Rollan Fisher
Focus: We will be freed from our triggers when we go to Christ to heal our pain.
Quick to Listen
Slow to Speak
Slow to Become Angry
What is it that triggers you in life?
Pictures of an old friend or romantic interest?
Bro Thor and the mention of Thanos - PTSD is real
Quick to Listen
We should be quick to listen so that God, rather than our triggers, can guide our relationships.
Why do you think that those triggers exist?
From whence do triggers come?
Experiences - whether positive or negative
Unmet Expectations
Offenses
Violations
PAIN
While positive triggers often stem from pleasant experiences, negative triggers derive from some sort of offense or pain in our lives.
Why should we want to be free from destructive triggers in our souls?
It is essential to the health of our relationships with God, our families, the church and the world.
It enables us to have the emotional space and clarity of thought to be loving disciples who make disciples of Jesus Christ.
Why does it matter?
Triggers can many times stand in direct opposition to engaging our community with the gospel of Christ.
Triggers can be a great emotional obstacle to overcome.
If I am free from triggers, it gives me the ability to engage anyone in my community with far greater care, fervency and frequency.
If I am free from triggers, I am able to listen with greater compassion and intentionality.
If I am free from triggers, I have the ability to overlook common offenses that divide relationships because I am living by the gospel of grace.
If I am free from triggers, I have the emotional space to look to understand others, be understood and help build bridges that others might understand Jesus.
James 1:19-21
Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.
The saving of our souls begins as we come to Jesus at the cross in repentance and faith for the healing of our souls.
How to build bridges in the midst of triggers:
In any conversation, define the terms
First find areas of agreement
Where there is disagreement, strive for empathy to build towards a mutual understanding
Share God’s truth found in his word, not merely my opinions
Slow to Speak
We should be slow to speak to hear what the Holy Spirit wants to say and do.
To be slow to speak, we must ask ourselves several questions.
Who is your primary counsel?
Who do you quote the most when attempting to make a point?
These things tell you a lot more about who or what is ruling your life than you realize.
Ways to avoid missing the wisdom of Christ in the midst of triggers:
Be slow to agree with everything that you have heard (Acts 17:11)
Be slow to dismiss others’ experiences and perspectives
Give those with whom you are engaged the freedom to ask questions
Don’t be intellectually lazy or dishonest - respond with God’s word in love (Ephesians 4:11-16; 29-32)
Make sure that the identity out of which you are speaking is primarily a Christ-centered one (Galatians 3:25-29).
4 things God says to do with offense/provides as solutions to triggers in our lives:
Proverbs 10:12 : Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all offenses.
Proverbs 18:13 : If one gives an answer before he hears, it is his folly and shame.
Proverbs 19:11 : Good sense makes one slow to anger, and it is his glory to overlook an offense.
Proverbs 26:16 : The sluggard is wiser in his own eyes than seven men who can answer sensibly.
The only antidote to engaging a world that produces triggers is an ardent pursuit of love that covers over offense for a greater, Kingdom good.
In any issue, it is important to acknowledge and understand what both sides are feeling before you attempt to speak.
At the end of the day, as disciples of Jesus, we are commissioned to hear and then speak only that which God would speak (John 8:28-30).
This means both in person, in the virtual space and on social media.
Galatians 2:20
I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Slow to Become Angry
We should be slow to become angry so that others might experience the grace of God dispensed at the cross of Christ.
God himself gets angry over sin.
In the same way, it is God-given that we should have a righteous anger towards sin.
Yet how we deal with sin needs to begin with the perspective of God and end at the cross of Christ.
How does Jesus deal with our triggers?
He clarifies what’s really going on in our hearts and then frees us through the power of the cross.
We will be freed from our triggers when we begin to interpret the world as Christ sees it.
Matthew 15:1-20
Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat.” He answered them, “And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? 4 For God commanded, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ 5 But you say, ‘If anyone tells his father or his mother, “What you would have gained from me is given to God,” 6 he need not honor his father.’ So for the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God. 7 You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said: 8 “‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; 9 in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’” And he called the people to him and said to them, “Hear and understand: 11 it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person.” Then the disciples came and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?” He answered, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up. 14 Let them alone; they are blind guides. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.” But Peter said to him, “Explain the parable to us.” And he said, “Are you also still without understanding? 17 Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled? 18 But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. 19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. 20 These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone.”
Those things that trigger you are an indicator of that which God wants to heal.
The more enamored with God I am, the more thankful and the less impressed with myself I am.
The less impressed with myself I am, the less I am clinging to my own rights being freed to love and serve others.
SO WHAT SHOULD I DO TO BE FREED FROM MY TRIGGERS?
4 things that God says to do with our pain:
Come to the Father for understanding (Isaiah 40:28)
Come to Christ the Son at the cross for forgiveness and healing (Acts 3:19-21)
Come to the Holy Spirit for the power to live daily in that healing
Come to the safety of his church to learn how to flesh out this freedom in a loving environment with other believers
Second City Church - Pastor Rollan Fisher 2021