I love collecting sermon illustrations, as you have noticed reading this blog. My all time favorite is a true story told by heavyweight boxing champ Muhammad Ali, then known as Cassius Clay. In his own words:

“When I was a kid in Louisville, my parents gave me a brand-new bicycle. Proud and happy, I parked it outside a gym one day. Then somebody stole it, and it just about broke my heart. Someone told me there was a policeman in the basement, and when I found him, I told him that I’d find the guy who’d stolen my bike and beat him up. When he discovered that I didn’t know how to fight, he offered to teach me. That’s how I got into boxing. To this day I never found the thief. But every time I got into the ring, I looked across at the other fighter and told myself, “Hey, that’s the guy who stole my bicycle!”

Getting good and mad can be a real motivator. Popeye used to get pushed around by Brutus until he finally announced, “That’s all I can stand. I can’t stands no more!” When pushed to the brink he ate his spinach and took action.

In our spiritual development, there must be a time when we say, “That’s all I can stand. I can’t stands no more,” and get mad enough to take action to change the situation. What are you waiting for? Get good and mad and do something about it.

Tags: anger, bicycle, fights, Muhammed Ali, Popeye, stealing

NEWS FLASH: Due to the abundance of rain we are moving the Family Fun Fest indoors tonight. Its still on and we have all kinds of food and fun activities for the kids. Bring your appetites. It all begins at 6PM. Don’t let us down.

As a teenager, I worked for a produce farmer near Newville. One of our jobs was to feed and bed down cattle in a couple of locations. Several times an electric fence would short out and a buddy and I had to walk the fence and find out where the break was. It was usually a fallen branch, but on one occasion we found a bull had tried to cross a fence to get to the females and had become tangled up in electric and barbed wire.

The barbed wire had enraged the bull, which only caused him to dig the barbs deeper into his legs. No one could could get near him to free him. So we just waited. The farmer arrived hours later and walked up to him with wire cutters. By then the bull was exhausted and broken. His fight was gone. Patience paid off.

Sometimes that may be a picture of us. Things don’t go as we want them, and the problems of life get worse and worse. The more we try to extract ourselves, the more it hurts. We won’t let God near. Finally, we are exhausted of the fight and give in to God, Who steps in to set us free. How can we be so stubborn?

Tags: anger, deliverance, snare, trials, trouble

Two construction workers sat down at noon to eat. One opened his lunch box and began to scream angrily, “Baloney again! I can’t believe it! I hate baloney! This is the third time this week that I’ve had baloney. I can’t stand baloney!”

His friend tried to settle him down, “Take it easy. Why don’t you just tell your wife that you don’t like baloney. Ask her to make something different.”

“Wife?” replied the first, “I make my own lunches.”

Much of our misery we bring upon ourselves. Perhaps there’s an area of your life that makes you angry. Could you be your own worst enemy?

Tags: anger, blame, humor

The Proverb writer penned: “A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger” (Proverb 15:1).

Meditate on this thought today. If you reply with a gentle answer, anger is turned away, whereas if you reply harshly, you are the one stirring up anger. What does that say about how you should respond to your spouse? What does that say about how you should treat your children?

I remember a elderly man at Betz’s Nursing Home that was always pursuing the ladies and would get irate whenever the aides tried to redirect him. One time when I was there he exploded in anger and yelled at another resident. As his rage increased I walked up to him, sat down next to him and calmly asked him questions. He railed away to me and his voice got softer and softer as we talked. I dispelled his anger by just giving him attention. Afterward an aide thanked me for helping with him.

Is it possible you can do the same thing at home? Just remain calm and ask questions. Don’t escalate the conflict. A harsh word will always escalate the situation. Let’s apply biblical practices to our personal lives.

Tags: anger, conflicts, peace

A preacher noticed a little neighbor boy trying to sell a lawn mower. “How much do you want for the mower?” asked the preacher.

“I just want enough money to go out and buy me a bicycle,” said the little boy. After a moment of consideration, the preacher asked, “Will you take $20 for it?”

The little boy said, “Mister, you’ve got yourself a deal!”

The preacher took the mower home and began to try to crank it. He pulled on the string a few times with no response from the mower. The preacher called the little boy over and said, “I can’t get this mower to start.”

The little boy said, “That’s because you have to cuss at it to get it started.” The preacher said, “I am a minister, and I cannot cuss. It has been so long since I have been saved that I do not even remember how to cuss.”

The little boy looked at him happily and said, “Just keep pulling on that string. It’ll come back to ya!”

Self-control is not an easy thing to achieve. There will be tests all along the way. What has recently frazzled you to the brink?

Tags: anger, humor, self-control

One day, when Vice President Calvin Coolidge was presiding over the Senate, on Senator angrily told another to go “straight to hell”! The offended Senator complained to Coolidge as presiding officer, and Cal looked up from the book he had been leafing through while listening to the debate. “I’ve been looking through the rule book,” he said. “You don’t have to go.”

Why do we get so offended when someone says something we don’t like? Isn’t it healthy for us humans to disagree with someone else’s opinion? I’ve learned that every time I feel like getting offended, that was a test from God. How will I deal with my emotions? I can be merciful and forgive on the spot, or I can crank up the debate a notch and insult them back. And then I have to live with my decision. I will reap what I sow!

The next time someone tells you where to go, just smile and tell them you don’t have to. You’ll win that round.

Tags: anger, Coolidge, hell, offense