The Power of the Tongue

0 (0s): As you can see where we're doing something a little bit differently this morning, there are only three of us up here. We just have a guitar and we're actually only going to be singing hymns this morning. So in Ephesians five, it says we're going to sing Psalms hymns and spiritual songs. So that's what we're going to do on my cheetah. Stand with us. 2 (29s): Come now from every bus to my 1 (35s): Heart, to 2 (37s): Seeing nine grade streams of the sea, never ceasing call for 1 (46s): Songs, 2 (50s): Teach me Fixed up now. and I hope by good safely 1 (1m 31s): To 2 (1m 36s): Geezer 1 (1m 37s): stranger 2 (1m 41s): Laundry 1 (1m 42s): And all the 2 (1m 47s): from danger, Andrew crashes. to be, find my 1 (2m 22s): One dream 2 (2m 24s): Car to the Prone 1 (2m 32s): To the 2 (2m 37s): Here's my heart Lord take and see 1 (2m 48s): here's 2 (2m 60s): My heart. 3 (3m 50s): I see the stuff to Dre. 3 (4m 29s): how, when and I'm on a CRA yeah. 3 (5m 27s): how prey, how we in Christ? 3 (6m 10s): We need to shout then I shall we and then day how great, how great, how great 4 (7m 53s): Meditate on the Lord. Display the object of our praise and worship. Give him the glory. Surrender your hearts before. Put your focus on 2 (8m 37s): Was I see And gray. 2 (9m 18s): My chains. My God. My 1 (9m 27s): me. 2 (9m 46s): Amazing. to me, his 1 (10m 4s): Word, 2 (10m 6s): My whole And as My chains, My God. 2 (10m 44s): the Chelsea snow. we'll be . 2 (11m 38s): You are my chainsaw. My God. 2 (12m 26s): My God. 2 (16m 33s): Madigan. 5 (17m 19s): We bless you. We thank you for the incredible blessing. It is to surrender everything to you, surrender everything we have to you, God, I just pray that there would be that every heart in this room would open themselves up to you. God, we pray that as we surrender all, we know that we know that you will, that you'll guide our lives, that you are a trustworthy and good father. And so we surrender everything to you. God, this room is full of people who are surrendering everything to you. Jesus. And so pray for those who have not surrendered all to you, that they would see the incredible beauty that it is to surrender to the king of Kings unto the Lord of Lords. 5 (18m 9s): Thank you, Jesus. Amen. Amen. Thank you. Worship team. Awesome. Give him a round of applause here. All right. Yeah. So I am Curtis. My name is Curtis and I'm going to be inviting Brager up. He's going to help me out with some announcements today. So, and yeah, so we just, it was awesome to spend some time in some hymns this week, just to reflect on the heritage of our, of our faith and also just to the richness of, of the songs and the lyrics and everything. So beautiful. So yeah. 5 (18m 50s): W it's it's we're glad to be here. Right? Right. Beggar. We are. Yeah. Take us away. Breaker's got some announcements for us. So 6 (19m 1s): Why? Hello there I am burger Wade. I do not have a job here. Unlike most of the other people doing announcements. So that's a bit of a twist. So today's family Sunday where everyone first grade and above will be in here with their parents. We will be going over a great message with pastor Steve. It's just a great time for the family to learn about God. Also, if you are new here, we have some welcoming in information back at the info center by Jeremy. Raise your hand. There we go. 6 (19m 40s): And also we are having an open house on Sunday, July 10th. Yes. There'll be barbecue and cake. And it's also another family Sunday. So everyone first and up will be in with their parents. 5 (19m 57s): Yeah. It's going to be fun also today because it's family Sunday. We've got donuts out on the patio. So help yourself to that. We're gonna greet each other and have a, have a minute mingle. So everybody get up and greet somebody. Yeah. 5 (21m 47s): Great job everybody. Excellent. Mingling. Great mingling. All right. If you want to find a seat, head back to your seats. Yeah. We're gonna have pastor Steve bringing us the word today. So let's give him a warm welcome and prepare your hearts for the word. 8 (22m 11s): There we go. Thank you. Thank you, pastor Curtis. So it's all this formality. This is my kid. You know, my, my daughter, Leslie, she will, she refuses to call me dad. She calls me Steve or pastor Steve. I don't understand. I thought I raised my kids better than that, but they, but the truth is I don't ever answer the dad, but she says, Steve, then I listen. Right? So I pay attention. So Hey, welcome to family family Sunday. It's good to be back. My wife and I, and not just us. I mean, so many people have had COVID so many people have been sick with stomach stuff. 8 (22m 51s): I think I'd rather have COVID than stomach stuff any day. I mean it's anyway. So there's been a lot of sickness going around and so glad you're here. That means hopefully you're feeling healthy. If you're not feeling healthy, you shouldn't be here, but it is family Sunday. And then a ton of people are just traveling on vacation. I know like a dozen families right around there who are traveling on vacation right now. So it's just, it's been kind of a crazy season, but it's summertime. So here we are. So family Sunday. So the, the promise every family Sunday besides teaching is that we'll give a, some jokes. And the, the, the deal is that I pay five bucks to kids who give me jokes. 8 (23m 32s): And so my grandkids heard the five bucks and of course they wanted to make sure they got in on that deal. So they gave me some jokes and I've got some other jokes from another little precious girl, Tessa. And so Levi and Jen, they were here first, but they, they made sure I got some jokes and of course I needed to give them five bucks now, but they said some of these jokes, they made up others, they just found. But first one is what are you, what do you call a chicken cross with a monkey? Chunky chipmunk makes no sense to me. Either chipmunks chip, mark chipmunks. I don't know. I think he has one. They made up, it didn't make any sense to me, but it wasn't the grass say to the earthquake. You crack me up. 8 (24m 14s): What is a winch put on his, her bagel scream, cheese scream. She's screamed. Ah, good, good, good, good. So from middle Tessa, Emma ass, Ken, February, March, Leah said no, but April, may John said, I am really bright. And Jane asked, well, how bright are you? And John said, I'm so bright. My mom calls me son. There you go. There you go. Hey, next week, we're going to be talking a lot about why we have a family Sunday. 8 (24m 54s): I was going to talk about it today, but then I thought, nah, it's more appropriate maybe to talk about family Sunday when it's not family Sunday. So next week, we're going to be talking about why we do a family Sunday at harvest shirts. So come back next week for that, I've got, I'm going to fast forward through all my notes regarding that. So I can just teach through James chapter three today. And so we're in James chapter three, we're talking about the power of the tongue with that. Let's pray. Thank you, Lord. Thank you for your grace Lord. Thank you that you've given us this little muscle called a tongue Lord and we know that it can be used for great, good. And so Lord help us to use it for great, good. 8 (25m 36s): We pray. Thank you for the ability to speak words of life, to speak words of encouragement. It's you speak words of truth, to speak words of love, Lord God. So help us to do that and not tear people down with our tongue to speak harshly to people, to be critical Lord, but help us to love people. The words that we speak, God, knowing that out of the abundance of our heart, the mouth speaks. Lord, help us to have, keep a tender heart. Lord, thank you for your grace and your love in Jesus name. Amen. Did something happen on the Supreme court recently? 8 (26m 17s): What happened? I guess right now a lot of us are really happy about that. Some people will write me an email and tell me I shouldn't be talking about politics and church and that sort of thing, but that's okay. It's a moral issue, not a political issue. So let me just tell you that much. Jesus loves the little children. All the children of the world. Psalms tells us on 1 39 and tells us that we've been knit together in our mother's womb to have been fearfully and wonderfully made. And so thank you Lord for life in Jesus name, thank you for life. 8 (27m 1s): The power of the tongue. It's got power for great, good and great evil this morning. When I walked in before first star, I walked in and we were worshiping and somebody next to me, looked at me big smile and said, are you feeling okay? I'm so glad that you're back. And you know that those words of love and grace and affirmation, they just, they can just fill you up. You know, another friend walked in and he put his arm around me. He says, Hey, sorry, I'm late. You just gave me a big smile. And he came to the front row and just sat there or just worship from there. And I thought, man, that's the, the beauty of the power of this little muscle that we have in our mouth. 8 (27m 45s): I've got the power to build people up in their most holy faith to encourage them. When they're discouraged, you speak life. When they're devastated to encourage with truth. When people are struggling with hard stuff, there's an old song. Maybe it's familiar to you. Oh, be careful little tongue. What you say? Oh, be careful little tongue. What you say for the father up above is looking down in love. So be careful little tongue. What you say? Somebody said, you learn everything you need to know about life in kindergarten. 8 (28m 26s): So when we sing little songs like this, they're true when we're five and they're true when we're 105. And so I just want to challenge us today to make sure that we're speaking from a tender heart, from a broken and contrite heart from a gracious heart when we're communicating with people. So number one in your notes, be careful, little tongue. What you say, it's easy to let things just flow. I've noticed too. It's easier to be critical and harsh through a text message or through an email. 8 (29m 6s): Cause we can just kind of vomit through our keyboard, right? We just kind of get everything out and yeah, it feels good for about a minute. And then we hit Sandy and we're like, oh no, maybe I shouldn't have said all of that because I found that we won't say nearly as many critical things when we're face to face, because now you see the person in front of you and there's the humanness of that interaction. And so I tell my staff and team, I say, Hey, if you're ever going to have a hard conversation with somebody, don't do it over email or text message, just get with them because they won't be able to hear your heart. They won't be able to see your countenance and a further step. 8 (29m 49s): If I'm ever going to have a hard conversation with somebody, I'll make sure I've got a, an associate with me and elder with me so that we've got accountability for the way that we're communicating things. And so we make sure that we communicate with grace and with truth and with, with real love that our words are seasoned with grace. We often will just speak harshly out of anger, out of frustration. And those words that we speak are never healthier, never redeeming, be careful, little tongue. What you say, James three one speaks specifically to people in my role in the church and people who teach in the church. 8 (30m 34s): And so that's speaking to Sunday school teachers to small group leaders. It's speaking to anybody who is proclaiming and teaching the truth of God's word. James writes, dear brothers and sisters. Not many of you should become teachers in the church for we who teach will be judged more strictly we, you teach will be judged more strictly. So we have to be careful that what we're teaching is accurate and consistent with the word of God, but also accurate and consistent with the heart of God and the intention of God when he's communicating this true, sometimes truth can be communicated in a harsh way. 8 (31m 20s): Sometimes truth can be communicated in an unhealthy way. And we just need to make sure that the way we're communicating would reflect the author. So often I'll say, Jesus, will you help me to teach with your countenance? Would you help me to teach with your hearts with your mind? I wanna, I wanna teach this passage like you might teach this passage and none of us could ever do that perfectly because we're not Jesus. But if our heart is hopefully in the right place, we'll at least maybe get in the ballpark. Right? And could we will stand before the Lord, as teachers, as leaders and give an account for what we've communicated. 8 (32m 6s): And I don't think it's just the words that we communicate, but it's the attitude and the hearts behind what is communicated. I think Jesus, anytime we'll read some times in Jesus' life where he had to challenge people with very hard words, but as he did, his heart was for truth to be communicated so that a person might be reconciled to him. So they might hear the truth, repent of their sins and come into right relationship with Jesus. Do brothers and sisters, not many of you should become teachers in the church for we who teach will be judged more strictly recently, somebody said, Hey, I want to, I want to start teaching in the church. 8 (32m 50s): I said, are you sure? I said, why? I said, you know, the truth is you don't want to jump into that prematurely because it's your number one. You're gonna be held accountable by God for what you teach. And, and you're just entering into the fray. I mean, it's just a spiritual battle that you're entering into when you choose to do that type of work. And so I try to discourage people who want to go into the ministry and less, less, they know for sure that they've been called by God to do a specific work. If they don't feel called specifically, I just tell them to stay, put, stay where you are and just keep honoring the Lord with your life right now. 8 (33m 32s): It's like when you're about to marry somebody. And, and I did some premarital counseling with a couple of years ago and they came into my office and my goal is to talk people out of getting married. It's hard work, right? I mean, I've been at for 32 years, my wife, we were talking about it yesterday. Like this is hard work. It's like just hard to stay on the same page to keep loving each other decade over decade and just, you know, all of that stuff. And so I'm always trying to talk people out of it. So I I'm doing premarital counseling with this couple and they're like so angry at each other. I looked at him. I said, you guys don't even like each other. Why do you want to get married? They're like, what are you talking about? I said, you guys bicker and complain and fight about everything. 8 (34m 12s): I said, it's better that you don't get married. And that was the one and only session that I had with them. And they broke up and they didn't get married. And I'm so grateful that I did my job. I did my job to keep them from getting married and further wreaking havoc in their own lives. We need to be careful that we use our words to challenge people in the right way to speak the truth in love. Sometimes we're tempted just to go along with people because it's easier. We're tempted to just kind of agree with people's plans because we don't want to be confrontational or tell them that what they're doing isn't healthy or right. 8 (34m 53s): Or a good godly direction. And there's sometimes where we just have to stand on the truth of the word of God and speak the truth in love. I didn't tell him not to get married. Cause I was mad at him. I told him, man, you're, you're entering into world war three right here. If you do this, I mean, it's gonna be bad for you, right? It's going to be really, really bad. You're not even married yet. You're fighting like cats and dogs. So we just have to be careful. Verse two says, indeed, we all make many mistakes for if we could control our tongues, we would be perfect and could also control ourselves in every other way. Isn't the hardest thing in the world that control this little muscle in our mouse. I mean like we so often watch a react out of anger or commits out of excitement or whatever it may be stopping and thinking and praying and giving opportunity for whatever emotion you're dealing with does settle down a little bit. 8 (35m 46s): Sometimes we're just filled with anger or excitement. If we over commit under what we do, all kinds of stuff, we all make many mistakes. We all make. But if we can learn to control our tongues, we can control every area of our lives. And it's illustrated here. We can make a large horse go wherever we want by means of a small bit in its mouth. So you can be out on this huge horse, but you got a its mouth. You can just move that thing wherever you want it to go. Right? Because it's just a little tiny thing in its mouth. And a small rudder makes a huge ship turn wherever the pilot chooses to go. Even though the winds are strong in the same way, the tongue is a small thing that makes grand speeches. 8 (36m 31s): We have to be careful what we're saying, that we're speaking words that are seasoned with grace that are honest. We're even talking about lying here in a moment, but we we've got to make sure that what the words of our mouth are filled with integrity and truth. Then we can only do that as we just allow the holy spirit to fill us in, to speak through us and to minister through our lives. A tiny spark verse five continues, but a tiny spark can set a great forest on fire and among all the parts of the body, the tongue is a flame of fire. It is a whole world of wickedness corrupting your entire body. 8 (37m 16s): You can set your whole life on fire for it is set on fire by hell itself. Very strong warnings that James is giving us today that we need to be very cautious about the words that we speak. Once they're out, we can not get them back. And it's a whole bunch of work to make amends, to apologize, to get back into a good relationship with somebody who has been hurt by the words that have been spoken. And so we're told in James one 19, understand this, my dear brothers and sisters, you must all be quick to listen quick to listen, slow, slow to speak and slow to get angry. 8 (38m 3s): Human anger does not produce the righteousness or the justice that God desires. And so we're given very clear instruction. Just listen quick to listen, slow to speak. Just slow. Just listen, listen. Sometimes when we're listening, we can hear the intense more than the words. Sometimes we don't communicate very well and we say dumb things, but if we just listen, sometimes we were able to get past the hurtful things. If we can just hear the heart of the person, communicating it, if we just stop and listen and not react out of anger and frustration and disappointment, but just listen often. 8 (38m 46s): My wife and I, well, we don't, we're not at odds very often, but sometimes we're at odds and she'll say, Hey, we're on the same team. I'm like, ah, that's right. We're on the same team. She's she's got great wisdom for me. So, so it reminds me that she's not my enemy and it needs to remind us within the church that we're not enemies of one another we're brothers and sisters in the Lord. So it's best to give the benefit of the doubt in your relationships with your kids, with your spouse, with people within the church and the ministry ministry can get messy and you know, people get their feelings hurt, but we just need to give each other the benefit of the doubt, praying for one another, loving one another, making sure that our reactions are godly, that our words are seasoned with salt, with grace and filled with the love of God. 8 (39m 37s): You must be quick to listen. We've got to listen and slow to speak often when we're speaking, it's out of anger because we're allowing our emotions to get the best of us. And we're just reacting and responding in an unhealthy way. So be careful, a little tongue. What you say, number one, number two, be careful to bless people with your words. Be careful to bless people with your words. You've got the power to bless people with your words. You've got the power to encourage people with your words. We nobody knows what we're all going through in this room. But if, if we make it our effort to bless with our words, speaking, grace and kindness and truth to one another, it just builds us up and encourages us and reminds us that we're among the family of God. 8 (40m 31s): This is a safe place. It's a good place. It's a place that we want to be. And so if we can model that to our kids and model that to our family members and our friends, if we can just love one another through the words that we speak, James, three, seven through 12 says people contain all kinds of animals, birds, reptiles, and fish, but no one contained the tongue. It's a, it's a restless, it's restless and evil, full of deadly poison. So James is telling us, Hey, you're not gonna be able to control it. But I, I remember making this point when I was about 17 years old, re PA preaching this first passage for the first time and remember making the statement that I didn't fully understand them, but I've kind of getting it now that we can not control our tongue, but the holy spirit can control our tongue where we're given the power of God through the presence of the holy spirit. 8 (41m 23s): And through that power and presence, we're able to operate with self control, allowing God to control the words that we speak. And it makes sure that we're operating and communicating in a way that honors the Lord. No one contained the tongue. It's a restless, it's restless and evil, full of deadly poison. And this is what happens. Sometimes it praises our Lord and father, and sometimes it curses. Those who have been made in the image of God. I mean, isn't that curious? Something like where sometimes it's your silently praise. The Lord, we're all sincere. We're very sincere in our worship, right? We're all sincere. But then we step out and we get bad service at a restaurant. We're like, no, we're just like chewing the ear off of the server because we got bad service, right? 8 (42m 6s): Sometimes we're out, you know, we come away from a prayer meeting or whatever worship session church or whatever it is. And we get on the road and somebody cuts us off and we give them an inappropriate wave, right? Or we say something that's inappropriate, right? We, we act out of the carnality of our flesh instead of extending grace to the people who have been made in the image of God. So we need to be careful that our expression, the things that come out of our mouth are consistent and that they're godly as we move forward. So blessing and cursing comporting out of the same mouth. Surely my brothers and sisters, this is not right. 8 (42m 46s): I mean, does that spring? There's a spring of water bubble up out with both fresh water and bitter water. No. Does a fig produce olives or a grapevine produce figs? No. And you can't draw fresh water from a salty spring. So what makes a salty spring? What is the spring of our life? It's our heart, right? This is from this heart of ours is the spring. And depending on what's going on with our heart, it will, it will dictate what's coming out of our mouth. How do we know that? Because Luke tells us that the good person, Luke 6 45, the good person out of the good treasure in his heart produces good. 8 (43m 32s): And the evil person out of the evil treasure produces evil for out of the abundance of the heart. His mouth speaks. So whatever is going on in here will come out of here. So maybe you're having a bad day and you're just mad at everybody. You can just stop. You can pause and say, Lord, why am I mad at everybody? What's going on in my heart? You know, because I know if I'm angry and worried and angry words are coming out, there's something unhealthy in my heart. And so we can say, Lord, I, I, I feel angry at so-and-so. I want to forgive that person. I want to just let that go. And then all of a sudden, our countenance changes our hearts, different, our hearts, more tender it's molded into the image of God's will. 8 (44m 19s): And we're able to speak words of life, speak words that give life, instead of words, that cause pain, Proverbs 4 23 tells us, keep your heart with all diligence. I did that first service to keep your heart with all what's the word vigilant. Thanks. I don't know why I'll read stuff. And my wife said, that's not what it says. I'm like, what are you talking about? She, you, you you're read it and that's not what it says. So I go back and read it again. I said, yeah, it's not village ins. It's vigilance. Keep your heart with all vigilance for, from it flow the Springs of life. And that's why the Psalmist rotes let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight. 8 (45m 8s): Oh Lord, my rock and my Redeemer. So sometimes we have to say hard things to people. Jesus did. And we're going to read about a portion of scripture in Matthew, where Jesus spoke some hard things. He said, you brood of Vipers. In other places, he called the Pharisees. He said, you're you're you're whitewashed tombs with dead men's bones inside. Now he probably didn't say it with a smile. You brood of Vipers. You're you're dead means you're whitewashed tombs with dead, dead, dead men's bones. I think he said, you are a brood of Vipers cause he wanted to get their attention, right? 8 (45m 51s): Why did he want to get their attention? Because they were a lost in their understanding about who God is about who Jesus was as the Messiah. And he wanted to get their attention. So they might accept the grace and mercy of the Lord, Jesus Christ. So they might come into a real relationship with God. And so they needed some hard truth. And so he said, you brood of Vipers. How can you speak good? When you are evil for out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good. And the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil. I tell you on the day of judgment, people will give an account for every careless word they speak. 8 (46m 42s): We talk about standing before the Lord and giving the account for our lives. Every careless word that is spoken is recorded. And we will give an account for that. I don't know what that looks like, but we will give an account for that. For your words, you will be justified for, by your words, you'll be justified. And by your words, you will be condemned who think it matters. What we do with this little muscle in our mouth, man, it matters. And it's got eternal consequence or eternal blessing depending on how we use it. It's a tool. It's a muscle that we can use for God's glorious purposes. 8 (47m 22s): Or we can be used as a tool of the enemy and speak all kinds of vile things. This almost this he said, create in me a clean hearts, oh God. And renew a right spirit within me. This was, this was the heart of the Psalmist. David he's create. Lord created me a clean heart, renew a right spirit within me. He understood the power of a pure heart and the result of a pure heart, his life would be different. It would be blessed. It would be, it would be an inspiration to be good. It would be wholesome and good and godly if he would just make sure his heart was right, Ephesians 4 29, Paul challenges us. 8 (48m 8s): Let no corrupting talk, come out of your mouse. So whatever is corrupt, don't let it come out of your mouth. Whether it be harsh words or bad jokes, let no corrupting talk, come out of your mouth, but only such as is good for building up for edifying. The body of Christ for edifying people as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. If we can just be committed to make sure that the words we speak are seasoned with grace and love and kindness, God will use what we say to encourage people, to challenge people, to bring people along to disciple people, to help them know what it means to trust and follow Jesus in John 8 44, addressing liars says you are of your father, the devil and your will is to do your father's desire. 8 (49m 16s): He was a murderer from the beginning and has nothing to do with the truth because there is no truth in him when he lies. He speaks out of his own character for, he is a liar and the father of lies. And so we'll talk more about lies in a moment. But when we lie, we are agreeing with the devil. We are speaking his native tongue. So I was at that landfill yesterday. I had a bunch of cardboard that I was trying to get rid of. And then I realized I had this little mini fridge and I needed to get rid of that. It was broken. So throw all the stuff in the back of my truck and cover it all up. And then I get to the landfill. I'm reading in line, I'm reading the charges for all of these things. 8 (49m 58s): And they said, cardboard, $5, no five basket, right appliances. I think it's at $27 or $37. I'm like, oh man. So I got to pay 20 so that whatever, the, all this money I, you know, it's all covered up. I could just tell him I got cardboard, right? They're not going to know the guys in the guard house over here. And I'm going to be driving over here out of sight. He's not going to know. Right. So, so I could say, oh yeah, we just got a bunch of cardboard and, and just pay the five bucks and move on. He's just a little white lie. It's not, it's no big deal. Right? It's no big deal. It's a big deal. So I told them I got cardboard, ND mini fridge. 8 (50m 42s): He said, you know what, I'm just going to charge you for the cardboard five bucks. I gave him the five bucks. I said, really, thank you so much. And I gave him the five bucks and I pulled around and he said, yeah, just take your little mini fridge and throw it in the aluminum Sprite pile over there and we'll call it good. I'm like, well, thank you very much. So instead of telling that story today, if I would have lied, I would have been, I'd be confessing right now. So I went to the landfill, lied about what I had my truck so I could get a deal. And, but instead my conscience is clear. You know, when we lie, we got to remember what we said, try to recount it later on. So somebody asks us, you know, a month later, Hey, what happened that day? You got to do, what did I say happened that day versus what really happened that day? 8 (51m 25s): If you just tell the truth all the time, you never have to remember what you said, because all you're doing is recounting the truth. That's a lie. It's just so much easier to just tell the truth. Yeah. We lie about all kinds of stuff. We, you know, we get pulled over for speeding and the officer says, well, how fast were you going? 55 officer. He said, I actually had clocked you at 75. Impossible that I was going 75. Why don't you just say, yeah, I was kind of in a rush. I was going 75. I'm sure. At least 75, maybe even 80. Right. And so I really apologize that I was running late. So just go ahead and write me a ticket. Why don't I just do that? 8 (52m 6s): Just take, take your lumps. You know, it might be so refreshing to the police officer that he just let you off with a warning or he may write you a ticket. You can't be sure what's going to happen, but I can guarantee you that if you just take your lumps in the moment, let the chips fall where they may, then you'll be much happier. You'll be much more. At peace years ago, I filed my taxes and there was a error on the taxes and some interesting things that happened that year. And there were some error on the taxes and I had to come clean about it the following tax year. And it costs me $8,000. So I had to pay $8,000 for my honesty, but that's a cheap price to pay for a clear conscience, eight grand it's cheap, right? 8 (52m 57s): Some of us will lie about a couple of bucks though. You know, some of us will lie about all kinds of stuff. And so we just need to be careful that the words that we speak represent the truth, that they are the truth in any, and every circumstance Jeremiah 17, nine says the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick or wicked who can understand it. So don't let your heart guide you. Your heart is deceitfully wicked sick, right? Your heart will say, Hey, you can get away with it. Or, Hey, it's not that big of a deal. Just let the word of God direct you. And you'll have a clear conscience. You'll be able to move forward. And even if it cost you a few bucks, it's worth it. 8 (53m 39s): It's worth it. The hardest deceitful above all things and desperately sick and wicked who can understand it. Jesus said, it's not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth that defiles a person. So the lies that we speak, the partial trues, the anger that bubbles up out of us, that defiles us and it hurts people deeply. So Paul tells us in Philippians four eight, this is how you kind of remedy that. Think about the right stuff. He says, finally, brothers, whatever's true. Whatever's honorable. Whatever is just, whatever is pure. 8 (54m 22s): Whatever is lovely. Whatever is commendable. If there is any excellence, there's anything worthy of praise. Think about these things. We can't put this into practice of our lives are filled with compromise. If we're lying and cheating and speaking harshly, if we're not living our lives above reproach, we will never be able to think about these things because we're always thinking about how we might get out of what we've just lied about or avoid being found out about what we've just said or lied about or have done. 8 (55m 4s): I love what Peter said to Anna. Niaz remember Anna niacin Safira and acts five, three, Peter said an IAS. Why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the holy spirit and to keep back for yourself? Part of the proceeds of the land. So Anna Naya, since the fires, they sold some, some land and they were going to give the proceeds, but they decided to lie to the holy spirit, lie about what they had taken in and only give a portion of what they committed to give what happened to Anna niacin. Safira all right. We don't understand the judgment of God at times, but they both fell dead under the judgment of God. 8 (55m 52s): You think God cares about what we say? Like he's very serious about what we say think is very serious that we pay attention to the words that come out of our mouth and make sure that we're not just speaking flippantly because every careless word we'll be judged. Every careless word will be judged. So let what you say be simply yes or no. Matthew 5 37. Let what you say be simply yes or no. Anything more than this comes evil. So if somebody asks you, were you speeding? Yes. I had to go on at 75. Now it's probably going 80. 8 (56m 33s): Right? You just speak the truth in love. Just say yes or say no, but just leave it at that in our own strength. Again, we don't have the capacity, the strength, the power to do to control our tongue. But Galatians five says the fruit of the spirit is life and joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness gentleness. And the last one is control, right? So through the power of the holy spirit, the presence of the holy spirit, we are able to have self control, controlling those words that come out of our mouth, controlling what we say, how we say it, speaking the truth in love king. 8 (57m 18s): David understood this and he understood the power of the word as it impacted his life. Psalm one 40 verses one through three, he says, oh Lord, rescue me from evil. People, protect me from those who are violence. Those whose those who plot evil in their hearts and stir up trouble all day long. They're their tongues sting like a snake, the venom of a Viber drips from their lips. Then that word interlude or say lie. It means to ponder, to think, to pause and to think about what has been said. There are tongues, they steam like a snake and the venom of a Viber drips from their lips. 8 (58m 0s): It's deadly, it's dangerous. It's hurtful. It's divisive the words of our lips. Some sometimes. So be careful, be careful. Number three, be careful never to boast or lie. And we see that in the balance of James three, 13, and 18, we've talked about lying. We'll talk about us some more. James 13, 3 13 through 18. If you are wise and understand God's ways, prove it by living an honorable life, doing good works with the, with the humility that comes from wisdom. 8 (58m 40s): So, so appreciate Ron's message. From last couple of weeks, as he went through James chapter two, he's talking about works faith and works. How without works. Our faith is dead. Like the body without breath is dead without works. Our faith is dead. So James is challenging us to make sure that our faith actually means something in the way that we live our lives and the way that we communicate with one another, our faith should form show it, inform our minds and the way that we speak and communicate with people. If you're a wise and understanding God's ways, privet by living an honorable life, doing good works with the humility that comes from wisdom. 8 (59m 28s): But if you are bitterly jealous, and these are the, some of the things that we get harbored in our heart, bitter jealousy, we allow ugly things to take root and to camp out in our lives. And it's never ever a good idea, but if you're a bitterly jealous and there is selfish ambition in your hearts, don't cover it up with the truth. Don't cover up the truth with boasting and lying for jealousy and selfishness are not. God's kind of wisdom, such things are earthly. This. We need to hear this because there are things that we entertain and allow in our lives that are not from God. 8 (1h 0m 8s): They're not anywhere near what God's plan and desire for our life is these things are they, they are earthly. They are of this world unspiritual. And then he says and demonic. So sometimes we've got stuff going on in our hearts, unforgiveness, jealousy, selfish ambition, all of these things where we're allowing to be in our hearts and their earthly unspiritual, and they're even demonic. They are not from God. And so we need to allow those things to be challenged in our life. We need to arrest those things and not allow them to control our lives. And I know a lot of us have been through really hard stuff and I get that and it's a process to begin to let all that stuff go and you can't let it go without the power of the holy spirit in your life. 8 (1h 0m 57s): I say it all the time. We can not do anything that God asks of us or expects of us unless we've got the power of the holy spirit at work in our lives. And so it's a, it's, it's a futile attempt to try to rid those things of our lives without the power of the word of God, the power and the grace of the spirit of God, that the goodness of God welling up within our lives, jealousy and selfishness are not, God's kind of wisdom there. So those things are earthly, unspiritual, and demonic for wherever there is jealousy and selfish ambition. There, you will find this order and evil of every kind, but the wisdom from above is first of all, pure pure. 8 (1h 1m 43s): It is also peace, loving, gentle at all times, and willing to yield to others. It's full of mercy and the fruit of good deeds. It shows no favoritism and is always sincere. And those who are peacemakers will plant seeds of peace and reap a harvest of righteousness. And I want that second part. I don't want the first part. I don't want all that ugliness in me and I don't know some days how to get out of it or get away from it. But when I begin to open up the word of God and be real with God and say, am, I've got some stuff in my heart. 8 (1h 2m 24s): That's not pretty, I don't know what to do with it. Would you just help me and just begin to pray through it and read through the scripture and just allow the holy spirit to minister, to me, there's healing and grace that washes over and I'm able to have a wholly different perspective. My words become more tender. My countenance, more sincere. The actions of my life are good, but when I'm filled up with all this junk, all this darkness, all this evil, all this demonic stuff, it's just the opposite, but we've got a choice. We've got a choice to leave. God's not going to come along and make us get rid of it, but will he'll make us miserable. Why w while we're hold on to it, that's kind of a blessing to us to help us realize that you got to get rid of that junk, right? 8 (1h 3m 7s): It's like, if you got, you know, fishing the trash overnight and you wake up the next morning, you're like, holy cow, this house smells right. Why does the house smell? Well, we got fish from the night before that never got taken out, right? So a lot of us are carrying that fish, that stinky little fish smell around, and we don't even realize, and we wake up the next day. I'm like, whoa, Matt got a smell. God wants you to just get rid of that. It's take out the trash, take out the trash. The apostle Paul wrote in second Corinthians, 1130. He says, if I must boast, I would rather boast about the things that show how weak I am. 8 (1h 3m 48s): Wow. Is in his weakness. God's strength is made perfect. And he knows everything of his good works. It's like dung, it's like dirty rags, filthy rags, and compare it to the righteousness of God. There was nothing that he wanted to glorify in that he did. And he did it a lot, but he said, you know, I'd rather just boast in my weakness. It's just better that way. No, we got social media in our world. And I've said from the beginning, it's a big fat waste of time, right? Like when Facebook first came out, I said, don't waste your life on Facebook. What happens on Facebook or Instagram or all these places? You know, you have a great meal. 8 (1h 4m 29s): And so you take a picture of your steak or your lobster or whatever. And you know, it's all look what I'm having. Where are you on vacation? You're like, aren't we just perfect. Just having the greatest time for our life. And we're posting all this stuff. And people never post the hard stuff in their lives. They want to just boast about all the good stuff. And so I, this happened to me a number of years ago, and this couple, they came to me and their, their lives were just in total disarray, but you'd never know by their social media because I'd go back and look. And I'm like, they seem like they're all good, all this perfect family stuff, you know, it's just a big lie and a big facade, right? 8 (1h 5m 13s): So spend your time doing something else. Read a book, read the Bible, go for a walk with your spouse, go on a date with your, with your spouse, turn off your phone. I was at the beach yesterday, a couple of days ago, doing a prayer walk. I like to go on prayer walks before I get ready to preach. So I'm on this prayer walk in Pismo. And you know, there's all, it's overcast and cold and all, but all these valley people are over there and having a great time and bless them. I wouldn't want to live where they live. They come over here to enjoy our beaches, even if it's overcast and cold, they're having a great time. So I'm like, wow, that's awesome. But this guy is standing in the water up to his ankles and he's got his phone and he's just like on his phone. 8 (1h 5m 56s): And I'm just watching him for the longest time. He's just on his phone the whole time, leave your phone, leave it in the truck, leave it in your car and just go enjoy life. We, we need to be careful how we live our lives and how we spend the time. And, and ultimately how we speak and communicate. It's the, the tongue has the power of life and death. Be careful, a little tongue. What you say, be careful to bless people with your words, and finally be careful never to boast or lie. That's enough to get us thinking for the rest of the week. And so with that, why don't we go ahead and stand up and I'm gonna invite the worship team up and we're going to sing some more and worship some more. 8 (1h 6m 40s): And if you've been challenged today, which I know I get challenged every time I preach a message. Every time I read the word I get challenged. So if you've been challenged today, use it as an opportunity to just go before the Lord and clear your account and just say, Lord, I, I want to keep short accounts with you. And I know I've had some bitterness. I know I've said some things, whatever it may be, just say, Lord, forgive me, Lord, heal my heart and help the words of my mouth. Honor. You glorify you and build people up at a five people all the days of my life. So Lord, help me to do that. 8 (1h 7m 21s): I pray in Jesus name. Just get, go before the Lord and do that. Let's worship. 2 (1h 7m 49s): I have to follow. Jeez, jeez. I have to follow Jesus. No turning back. No turning no, no 10 3 (1h 9m 14s): Cheese, cheese. I have 2 (1h 9m 23s): Decided to phone , 4 (1h 9m 40s): But we've decided to follow. We don't take that lightly. That claim would Lord let that be the prayer of our heart. Every day as we get up in the morning, we decide to put aside our will our desires. Look, we surrender our thoughts to you and seek for you to fill us with your holy spirit. Well, I do that as we go about our, we learn, fill us with your spirit so that we can share you in your love and your grace with everyone around us. 4 (1h 10m 24s): Jesus name, Lord let's. Let's sing that one more time. I have decided 3 (1h 10m 29s): to follow. Jeez. to follow Jesus. I have decided to follow Jesus. No 2 (1h 10m 51s): Turning 4 (1h 11m 0s): Glorify you. Jesus. Amen. Have a good week. Prayer. Please feel free to come up front. We love to pray with you.