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“Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.” —Ephesians 4:31 We are in a culture that knows many different kinds of anger and even rage. You know, there’s road rage. Been there? Then there is sports rage! Listen to sports talk radio lately? There is voice mail rage. If you’ve ever been into the abyss of one of those voicemail systems, you have perhaps known voicemail rage. There’s work rage and office rage and, end of semester test rage, right? Maybe you wrestle like we all do with how to get a handle on your anger, on your temper and your temperament. If that’s you, and really that’s all of us, and you said, “Pastor, do you get angry?” Of course, I do. We all battle this. It is frustrating, isn’t it? In fact, I’m mad about it! Well, the Scripture is clear that anger must be laid aside. Let it go. If your goal as a follower of Jesus is to reproduce the righteousness of God, then you must be willing to lay aside anger. Anger can be an ally when we control it. We ought to be passionate about some things in life. But we know that so much of our anger today is not disciplined or directed by God, but it is misdirected. God cares about our personalities. When Christ comes to live in our lives, He wants to transform the way we think, and therefore, the way we act. And so we need to let go of any addiction we have to anger. How do you do that? We confront it, we confess it, we control it, and we conquer it.   YOU CAN, BY GOD’S GRACE, LET GO OF ANGER! The Priority of Cleansing Friday, March 08, 2019 by Dr. Paul Chappell “Thou shalt also make a laver of brass, and his foot also of brass, to wash withal: and thou shalt put it between the tabernacle of the congregation and the altar, and thou shalt put water therein. For Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet thereat: When they go into the tabernacle of the congregation, they shall wash with water, that they die not; or when they come near to the altar to minister, to burn offering made by fire unto the LORD:” Exodus 30:18–20 When God gave Moses instructions for the tabernacle that would be the center of worship for the nation of Israel, nothing was left to chance. God specified everything down to the smallest detail. The colors, materials, sizes, and shapes of each part were laid out exactly as God meant for them to be. And one of those was the brass laver, where the priests would wash their hands and feet. Along with the instructions for this large wash basin came a stern warning. If the priests did not cleanse themselves before starting the worship ceremonies, they would die. The picture is clear. We cannot bring sin into the presence of a holy God. It is possible to be in His family with dirty hands (though we will be chastened), but it is not possible to enjoy a close and intimate relationship with Him unless our lives are clean. David asked, “Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? or who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully” (Psalm 24:3–4). All of us sin. There is no such thing as a perfect Christian. Because He knows our weaknesses, God made a provision for us, just as He did for the priests in the Old Testament. But we must confess and forsake sin to be cleansed. Today's Growth Principle:  We cannot experience the joy of God's presence without first cleansing our hearts and minds.