Sermon Central
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How To Get Angry [taming Your Temper]
Contributed by Jerry Shirley on May 5, 2004 (message contributor)
Summary: It is possible to be angry and yet not sin. These Biblical and practical helps will cool ’hot heads’ and yet are great for all believers in some way or another. Link included to formatted text, audio, and PowerPoint Template.
How to Get Angry
Eph. 4:26, 27
http://gbcdecatur.org/sermons/HowToGetAngry.html
-Andy came to work one day, limping something awful. One of his co-workers, Josh, noticed and asked Andy what happened.
Andy replied, "Oh, nothing. It’s just an old hockey injury that acts up once in a while."
Josh, "Wow, I never knew you played hockey."
Andy, "No, I don’t. I hurt it last year when I lost $100 on the Stanley Cup Play-Offs. I put my foot through the television."
-After spending 3-1/2 hours enduring long lines, rude clerks and insane regulations at the Department of Motor Vehicles, Glenn Vaughan stopped at a toy store to pick up a gift for his son. “I brought my selection - a baseball bat - to the cash register,” he said. "Cash or charge?" the clerk asked. "Cash," He snapped. Then apologizing for his rudeness, he explained, "I’ve spent the entire afternoon at the motor vehicle bureau." The woman sweetly replied, "shall I gift-wrap the bat…or are you going back there?"
-At one point during a game, the baseball coach said to one of his young players, "Do you understand what cooperation is? What a team is?"
The little boy nodded in the affirmative.
"Do you understand that what matters is whether we win together as a team?"
The little boy nodded yes.
"So," the coach continued, "when a strike is called, or you’re out at first, you don’t argue or curse or attack the umpire. Do you understand all that?"
Again the little boy nodded.
"Good," said the coach.
"Now go over there and explain it to your mother!"
-Have you ever heard this expression, "It’s enough to make a
preacher cuss." It reminds me of the story about little boy trying to
sell a lawn mower. The local pastor walked up and he was able to
persuade him to buy the worn out lawn mower. The pastor pulled on the rope several times to make sure the mower would start, but
nothing happen. Not even a spit or a sputter.
The boy told the preacher that he would have to kick the
mower and say a few cuss words before the mower would crank. The preacher said, "Son, I can’t do that. It’s been years since I
said a cuss word." The little boy replied, "Just keep pulling and
it will come back to you."
What does it take to set you off? Do you have a temper? Believe it or not, the Bible says it’s possible to be angry, but not be a sin. So, how can we tame our temper?
Road rage is common today, and dangerous, because what we’re driving is a deadly weapon. Ever heard of air rage?...
-As a passenger boarded the Los Angeles-to-New York plane, he told the flight attendant to wake him and make sure he got off when they set down at the mid point in Dallas. The passenger awoke just as the plane was landing in New York. Furious, he called the flight attendant and demanded an explanation. She mumbled an apology and, in a rage, the passenger stomped off the plane. "Boy, was he ever mad!" another crew member observed to her errant colleague. "If you think he was mad," replied the flight attendant, "you should have seen the guy I put off the plane in Dallas!"
An estimated 1 in 5 Americans has issues w/ uncontrolled anger. 28% of homicides start w/ a domestic dispute in the home, only 7% were gang related!
How Do You Keep Anger From Exploding Into Sin?
1. Do not let the sun go down on your anger.
2. Do not give the devil an opportunity.
How to Tame Your Temper:
1. Learn to be patient and ignore petty disagreements.
The discretion of a man deferreth his anger; and it is his glory to pass over a transgression.
You must be saved to have access to this power:
A woman testified to the transformation in her life that had resulted through her experience in conversion. She declared, "I’m so glad I got religion. I have an uncle I used to hate so much I vowed I’d never go to his funeral. But now, why, I’d be happy to go to it any time."
Patience [it’s all about stepping back, breathing, and praying!]
Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself … [8] Cease from anger, and forsake wrath: fret not thyself in any wise to do evil.
A wrathful man stirreth up strife: but he that is slow to anger appeaseth strife.
Eccles. 7:8
Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof: and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.
Eccles. 7:9
Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry: for anger resteth in the bosom of fools.
