sunday scuds (april 22, 2007)

Today Dwight continued the No Strings Attached series with a powerful, thought-provoking message titled The Usual Suspects. It centered around what we should do about those who keep making us angry--and how to respond to this powerful, God-given emotion we have called anger. Here are the scuds:

• "Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me is a lie from the pit of Hell."
• "Most people would rather take a physical beating than a verbal beating."
• "Paul tells us: Because you are living as one who's forgiven, you have no reason not to forgive."
• "One of the reasons we have a hard time dealing with anger is because we lie about about it--I'm not hurt...I'm okay... Liar, liar, pants on fire."
• "We tend to talk to everybody else about the issue that makes us angry but we rarely or never talk to the offender."
• "Legitimate anger is a God-given emotion. It's okay to feel angry."
• "Don't practice sin in your anger...don't allow your anger to control your tongue, your actions, or your decisions."
• "Don't prolong anger...We must learn to deal with our anger in a timely manner."
• "Unresolved anger increases the potential for sin in a huge way."
• "Unresolved anger will eventually work its way out into our lives."
• "Don't provide Satan an opportunity....If you prolong anger, you've thrown out the welcome mat for Satan.
• "It's not that Satan has taken territory in your life, you have surrendered it to him.
• "If you prolong anger, eventually you'll forget what mad you angry in the first place--you'll just be an angry person in general."
• "Forgiveness is the first step...it's not the only step, it's the first step."

He concluded by asking: Who are the usual suspects in your life--the repeat offenders--who regularly need to be forgiven?