Sermon  August 9, 2015 Ephesians 4: 25-5:2  What About Anger? By June Fothergill An elderly lady was well known for her faith and for her boldness in talking about it. She would stand on her front porch and shout “ Praise the Lord”   Next door to her lived an atheist who would get so angry at her proclamations she would shout, “ There ain’t no Lord.” Hard times set in on the elderly lady and she prayed to God to send her some assistance. She stood on her porch and shouted “ Praise the Lord, God I need food. I am having a hard time. Please Lord send me some groceries.” The next morning the lady went out on her porch and noted a large bag of groceries and shouted < “ Praise the Lord.” The neighbor jumped from behind a bush and said, “ Ha, ha. I told you these was no Lord. I bought those groceries. God didn’t” The lady started jumping up and down and clapping her hands and saying, “ Praise the Lord. He not only sent me groceries, but he made the devil pay for them. Praise the Lord.” Can anger lead us to do the right thing?    Aldous Huxley once said, “ You shall know the truth and the truth shall made you mad.”  ( p. 143  1001 Quotes..)    Sometimes anger at injustice or evil can be a motivation for positive action.  Yet, too often anger just leads to trouble and harm In his autobiography Number 1  Billy Martin told about hunting in Texas with Mickey Mantle. Mickey had a friend who would let them hunt on his ranch. When they reached the ranch Mickey told Billy to wait in the car while he checked in with his friend.   Mickey’s friend gave permission for the hunt but also asked Mickey to shoot is old, sick mule for him.  When Mickey  came back to the care he pretended to be angry. He scowled and slammed the door.  I’m somade at that guy, he won’t let us hunt.  I’m going out to his barn and shoot one of his mules.” He ran inside the barn and shot the mule. As he was leaving though he heard two shots. He saw that Martin had taken out his rifle too. “ What are you doing Martin/” He yelled. Martin yelled back, face red with anger, “ We’ll show that son of a gun. I just killed two his cows.” Anger is an emotion all of us feel at some time or other. How do we deal with it in a way that will lead to positive outcomes rather than hurtful ones?   The...