Tag Archives: anger

Sermons

Built to Last

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When Heidi was born, Natalie and I decided our little four door Saturn compact car wasn’t going to cut it for a family of four with all the baby and toddler gear in tow. There was only one thing to do. It was time to take the plunge and enter the minivan world.

We searched for used cars online and visited a couple dealerships, then settled on a 2005 Toyota Sienna. It was a great van. We bought it with just under 40,000 miles on it, and put another 200,000 miles on it. We drove it to work, to church, to doctor’s appointments, hospital visits, camping trips, and cross country road trips.

Over time, the van began to break down. Hubcaps rolled off. The automatic door broke. The back windshield wiper snapped. The axel and suspension went bad. Emissions needed repairs. The engine was still purring like a cat, but the van was showing its age and other repairs began to add up. Eventually, it just didn’t make sense to keep pouring money into it. After driving that minivan for almost fifteen years, we agreed it was time to trade it in for something newer. A mechanic at our church said any other model would have died a long time ago, but these vehicles were “built to last.” We eventually bought another minivan, another Toyota Sienna but eleven years newer with less miles on it. We like our “newer” van, but nothing will replace that 2005 silver Toyota Sienna in our hearts. It was like part of the family.

There’s a parallel here with marriage. Marriage is not always easy. As you get more miles, little things may start to break down, and there may be some bumps along the way. What’s important is that you keep Christ at the center of your relationship. Marriage is God’s idea, and any husband and wife who depend on the Holy Spirit and follow the instructions in God’s Word can have a marriage “built to last.”

Some time back, I preached on Colossians 3:18-19, which gives excellent counsel to husbands and wives. Together we learned…

  • The secret to a lasting marriage
  • Does a wife really have to “submit” to her husband?
  • How husbands can learn to love like Jesus
  • An important caveat – “do not be harsh”

Here’s the sermon audio if you’d like to follow along. Consider it a “tune-up” to keep your marriage running smoothly for years to come!

Thanks for listening. For a complete list of all my sermons, please visit the Sermon Hub on my blog.

Sermons

Anger Management

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You’ve heard of trampoline parks and escape rooms, but there’s a new trend called the “rage room.” Rage rooms have grown in popularity in recent years, especially due to COVID, and they continue to pop up across the country. Basically, you pay money to go into an enclosed space and smash things to release all that pent-up anger.

One customer described the experience of going with her husband,

“At first, we were a little timid, but it didn’t take long before we were going full-out. We discovered that TVs are surprisingly hard to break, even with a metal baseball bat. …The best surprise? The old-school computer printer. I’d forgotten how much I hated printers for all the times they’d run out of ink, mangled my papers in college, or got jammed. That printer became a symbol for years of frustration, and it felt great to just destroy that thing….

“The most satisfying items to break [were] the glassware. My husband would “pitch” me a beer bottle or glass, and I’d hit it with the baseball bat. We laughed and cheered and smashed stuff until every last thing was unrecognizably destroyed. It was such a huge adrenaline rush. For the first time in what seemed like forever, I finally felt in control.”

This may all sound like fun and games, but these rooms illustrate a deeper problem in society. We have anger issues. Temper tantrums, road rage, campus protests, street riots, cyberbullying, hostile work environments, even assassination attempts on national leaders. People are angry, and most of them don’t know how to get help.

According to one recent report, 30% of adults struggle to control their anger. And 64% of teens and young adults admit they have uncontrolled anger. In this study of Colossians 3:8, we learn…

  • Why anger is so dangerous
  • Getting to the heart of the matter
  • Is it ever OK to be angry?
  • Five strategies to overcome anger
  • How Jesus can give you peace

Thanks for listening. For a complete list of sermons organized by book of the Bible, please visit the Sermon page.