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Well, good morning.
If you've got your Bibles with you, go and open them up to James chapter 3.
When I came back from India, I learned a valuable lesson.
Before I left to go to India, I kind of gathered a staff together the week before.
We had a lot of things that were going on.
We weren't able to meet together as a staff, and I said, hey, while I'm gone, here's what
I'd like for you guys to do, kind of work out all of the details of the Harvest Hangout.
And then when I get back, you can update me on what I need to know and what I need to
be aware of and all those things.
And so they did a wonderful job of figuring out all of the details, and I knew that they
would do this, we've done something like this before.
And so I sat down afterwards, I believe it was me and Dave and one of the Joels.
It wasn't both Joels, it was one of them, so it kept communication simple, right?
I just had to say Joel, and they knew which one I was talking to, right?
And I said, well, let me know, like, what am I responsible for?
That's what we want to know, right?
What do I need to do that night?
And I heard the wonderful word, nothing.
Like, we got taken care of.
There's nothing for you to do.
And then Dave, and y'all know how Dave is, right?
Dave can talk you into anything, you know?
He's got that voice, right?
And he said, well, you're going to judge the car competition part of it.
And I said, so what you're telling me is, I have nothing to be responsible for other than
making everyone else who's there who doesn't win mad at me.
Like, that's the burden that I get.
Like, yep, yep, that's where it lands.
So, in spite of all that, we are looking forward to, and if you haven't been a part of one of
these, it is a wonderful time.
The community comes out and joins us with this.
And so, I just want to encourage you.
We would obviously love for you to come out and to have a game and to have a car set up
and to serve and to do those things.
But we also want you to come out with your family and participate in the night.
We want you to invite your friends.
We want you to invite your neighbors.
We want you to have an opportunity where we can come and bless them and bless our community
and engage in conversations and in relationships.
And then at the end of the night, I'll make 95% of you angry with me when I don't choose
yours, right?
And I will say this, on the night of it, I am going to ask two people to join me in being
the judges so that I'm not the only one getting dirty looks, all right?
So, we'll go from there.
I do want to mention yesterday was Man Camp.
It's been years.
Man Camp was something that happened here at Willow Ridge when I got here.
And for a lot of different reasons, it was time to take a break from Man Camp.
And God really led Jared and his team to bring it back.
And we had that yesterday.
And it was a blast.
And I shared this with Jared as we all went out, a large group of guys onto him and Gwen's
property.
And they invited us out there.
And it was just a wonderful time of fellowship.
And the activities were great.
And the food was wonderful.
And the fellowship was even better.
But the best part, and this is what I loved, and Jared shared from his heart as God gave
him the vision for this, about keeping the main thing the main thing.
And so, after lunch, Jared got up and he spoke.
And Jared's been a part of a team singing up here for a long time, taking a break, busy
with kids, right?
We all know what that's like.
And Jared said, you know, I can get up and sing in front of 10,000 people and be good.
But they come up here and stand before just a small handful of people and speak.
It makes me nervous.
But he got up there and crushed it.
And here's what he said.
I just want to give you the cliff notes because one day, man, like, I'm going to be out of
town and I'm going to need you to come and preach because they need to hear this message,
right?
He said, what does it mean to be a man?
There's a lot of ways that a lot of different people are defining that.
He said, what does it mean to be a man?
And he went and he said, let's see what scripture says.
And he read, and it's on the screen, and I apologize, but 1 Corinthians 16, 13 through
14, be watchful, stand firm in faith, act like men, be strong.
Let all that you do be done in love.
Just a wonderful picture of what it means.
So, Jared, I just want to say thank you for all that y'all did, your team, everybody, y'all
crushed it yesterday.
But the best thing is, man, you listened to the Lord and the Lord shared this with you.
And we're going to find bigger audiences for you to share that with, right?
We're going to keep going with that.
And wonderful, wonderful job.
So, thank you, man.
Well, we're going to jump in this morning in James chapter 3.
And before I do this, I want to say something.
When you become a parent, and the longer you are a parent, the more you recognize all the
stuff that your parents went through with you, right?
Amen.
That's what we realize.
And here's what I've come to know, both in my study of scripture, my being a parent, and
have been parented in my life.
That when you hear a correction more than once, you need to draw at least two conclusions
from that.
So, if someone corrects you over and over again with the same thing, there's two things
that immediately need to resonate in your mind.
Conclusion number one, what they're correcting me about is important.
It is valuable to the person who is saying it.
And so, if the correction is with your child, clean your room, clean your room, clean your
room.
What you're communicating to them is, it's important for me that your room is clean, so
clean it.
When your boss at work says, don't be late, don't be late, don't be late, right?
They're saying that because you coming to work on time is important for them.
So, as the hearer, we need to recognize that the one speaking that places value on that
behavior that they're giving you, that the correction that they're giving you.
Now, conclusion number two is this.
When you hear correction more than once, what needs to resonate in your mind is this.
Oh, I struggle with that.
I struggle with that.
Continually, when I was small, my parents said to me, clean your room.
Why did they say that?
Because it was important to them, number one, and number two, I was really bad at it,
right?
And they wanted a better version of me from when I got married one day, right?
So, they would say to me, because it was important to them, and I struggled with it, back to being
late, right?
I guarantee you, your boss has never gone to the person who gets there five minutes early
and says, make sure you're here on time.
Why?
Because they don't struggle with it.
But if you are one who thinks, I've got to be at work at five minutes, and the line
at Starbucks is only 12 deep, I think I can make it, right?
If that's you, and I get you, right?
I understand you, right?
If that was you, you probably hear that, because not only is it important to your boss, but
you struggle with it.
Now, what this is leading us to this morning is this, Scripture does this for us.
There's repetition in Scripture.
Oftentimes, in certain books, one of the authors will seem to harp on a point over and over again,
or it will be a consistent theme of Scripture.
In fact, one of the things that I teach people, as I have taught before and will teach again,
teaching people how to read the Bible, study techniques that we can use.
I say, when you see things, when you see words that are repeated, underline them, and then
after you've read back, come back and look at those words that are underlined, and ask yourself
this question, why is the author repeating these words over and over and over again?
Well, because it's important to the author, and as something that you probably struggle with,
that humanity struggles with.
So when we see repetition, we need to take note, because it's important.
And one of the things of repetition in the Bible is the tongue, the mouth, our words.
It's something that we consistently see from Scripture.
And so we're going to look at that in the entirety of Scripture here in just a moment
to give some context for James 3.
But what I wanted to paint a picture for you in your mind like this.
The tongue, your mouth, your words are like a hammer.
Like a hammer.
What did you think about a hammer?
A hammer is a tool.
A hammer is an instrument that when given to someone can become a great source of power and
blessing and goodness, right?
A hammer can be used to build.
A hammer can be used to create.
And a hammer can be used to provide in the same way that a tongue can.
But also, a hammer in the hands of a wrong person can do great harm.
It can be used to destroy.
It can be used to attack.
And even a hammer given to the hand of a person who's ignorant about the proper things to do with
a hammer, even though not intentionally, can be used not for benefit, but for harm.
And this is what the Bible teaches us about the tongue.
This is what the Bible teaches us about our mouth, about our words, and all the way through
Scripture.
So I'm going to kind of hit some high points.
This is not all the Bible verses, but it is a lot of them that I want us to see this about
the tongue.
In Proverbs 12, verse 18, there is one whose rash words are like sword thrust, but the tongue
of the wise brings healing.
Proverbs 18, 21, death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will
eat its fruits.
Proverbs 13, 3, whoever guards his mouth preserves his life.
He who opens wide his lips comes to ruin.
So in Proverbs, in this book of wisdom, what we see is this contrast of death or life, of
good or bad, of help or harm that can come from the tongue, both to those who stand in
the way of it and to the person who uses it.
And Jesus also speaks to the tongue as well, at least in two different times.
In Matthew chapter 12, starting verse 34, Jesus says, 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 account of every careless word they
speak.
For by your words, you will be justified.
And by your words, you will be condemned.
Matthew 15, 18.
But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person.
It's continued on in the New Testament.
Paul communicates this with some of his churches that he writes to.
Ephesians 4, 29.
Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as
fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.
Colossians 3, 8.
But now you must put them away, all the way.
Anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth.
Later on in Colossians 4, verse 6.
Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought
to answer each person.
And then bringing us to James.
James has already addressed this in James 1, 26.
If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart,
this person's religion is worthless.
So from Old Testament wisdom to the teachings of Christ, to the writings of the apostles, what
we find is this, that our words matter and that they matter greatly.
Now, when we're going to talk about the tongue, when I say the tongue, we're just going to say
the tongue over and over again.
Think your mouth, your words, the intent of this.
What I want us to kind of understand that some of us, right, we use this word oftentimes in
our culture.
I think I've heard it more recently in the last maybe five years than I ever heard is, you
know, this person or that person needs to develop a filter.
Right?
Some of us, we don't have a filter, we have a basketball goal hoop, right?
There's something that's there, but there's holes all in it, you know?
And it's just going through whatever's there, right?
And so we think that we just need to develop a filter.
We just need to stop saying what we are thinking.
We need to process through that and think through that, right?
But instead, I don't want us to come with the simplicity that they or me or you need to just
develop a filter.
And instead, what I want us to get to is that what we're talking about is a spiritual discipline
that changes who I am.
It transforms us through the power of Christ, and now it transforms how I think and then transforms
then how I use my words.
So it's not just the manifestation of what we say, but it's the heart of the person who
says it.
So it's not just enough to say, oh, I'm going to sit there and swallow that.
All right?
There's a part of that.
There's a part of wisdom and timing in our words that matter.
But for more so for us is what's coming from the heart that leads to the words that we say.
Right?
And that's what we want to get to.
That's what we want to understand.
So let's look.
Start in James chapter three.
Start in verse one.
We'll read all the way through verse 12.
James writes and says, not many of you should become teachers, my brothers.
For you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness, for we all stumble
in many ways.
And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he's a perfect man, able also to bridle his
whole body.
If we put bits in the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as
well.
Look at the ships also.
Though they are large and driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder,
wherever the will of the pilot directs.
So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things.
How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire.
And the tongue is a fire in a world of unrighteousness.
The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course
of life and set on fire by hell.
For every kind of beast and bird of reptile and sea creature can be tamed and has been
tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue.
It is a restless evil full of deadly poison.
With it, we bless our Lord and Father, and with it, we curse people who were made in the
likeness of God.
From the same mouth comes blessing and cursing.
My brothers, these things ought not to be so.
Does the spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water?
Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs?
Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water.
And so what I want us to look at of what James is pushing his audience to is this.
It's pursuing vocal holiness, right?
Look back to verses one and two.
Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will
be judged with greater strictness.
For we all stumble in many ways, and if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect
man, able also to bridle his whole body.
So the Bible is clear, right?
That you and I are to, as followers of Jesus Christ, as those who say that I identify in
his death, burial, and resurrection, I've been saved by him.
I'm a son, I'm a daughter, I'm a child of the living God.
That you and I are to pursue holiness.
And we are to desire what's set in us is to no longer hold on to the sinful characteristics,
traits, and patterns of our life, right?
But instead, replace them with the desire for holiness, right?
When Peter writes in 1 Peter chapter 1, he reminds his audience of Leviticus 19 and 20, where God
says to his people, be holy as I am holy.
So there's this desire within us, even though you and I, in our own ability, cannot achieve
perfection and holiness, to have the desire to do this.
And what James does is he kind of sets a warning in verse number 1 that's important, that it's
something that they're dealing with, when he warns about teachers or those who desire to
become a teacher.
And he says, and here's the reasons why.
Well, two reasons, teachers use words, and teachers' words are of great weight and great
influence, right?
And so he gives this warning, he's saying to them, what comes out of your mouth as you teach
matters, but then he's going to continue on that what comes out of your mouth, not only
as you teach, but as you live your life matters.
Whether it's a word spoken in a moment or a word spoken that carries for eternity, right?
That's what Jesus says.
What comes out of the heart and what comes from the heart is going to come out of the mouth
and that it's an accurate index of our spiritual health.
Here's the thing that helps kind of resonate in me of what our words reveal about us, right?
Typically, every day when Erin's leaving work, she calls me, right?
And within the first five seconds of that phone conversation, we can tell who's had the bad
day, right?
I can't see her.
She can't see me.
We can't read each other's body language.
We don't know the ins and outs of the details of that day.
But simply by the words and the tone that we use, one of us, if not both of us, can realize
and recognize, right, the difficulty or the ease of someone's day.
Why?
Because our words, the manner in which we speak, even in conversation between a husband and a
wife, as something as trivial in the scope of eternity about the events that have happened
during that day, we can tell in each other's conversation.
And the same thing can be said about your and my relationship with Christ, right?
What do you say?
How do you say it?
Because it's going to come from the heart.
Because for a time, we can mask things.
For a time, we can flow things through a filter.
But what's going to come out over the course of a person and who they are will reveal this,
right?
I read this quote this week.
It says, spiritual maturity is evidenced by the use of the tongue.
Tongue mastery is the fruit of self-mastery.
So let's look at the tongue.
Why is the tongue so destructive?
Why is the tongue so harmful?
Why is it important from Proverbs to the teachings of Jesus to the writings of the apostles?
Why is it so important that we see this and that we come to wrestle with this?
Why does James take a moment to speak to those who wish to teach and then draw back from that and talk about the power of words for all of us?
So the first thing I want us to look at in verses 3 through 5 is the power of the tongue.
James says, and James continues on in painting beautiful pictures to help us understand.
If we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well.
Look at the ships also.
Though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs.
So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things.
So James here gives us two pictures to describe the power of the tongue.
He talks about horses and ships.
Now I don't know anything about either one of those, but God gives us a wonderful tool called Google, right?
So compare to the bit given to the horse, right?
I didn't know this.
I Googled what's the average weight of a bit.
The average weight of a bit for a horse is one pound, right?
Well, yeah, I'm going to take a pound of metal and stick that in my mouth.
That's not going to be fun, right?
So what's the average weight of a horse?
A thousand pounds.
So what's one pound can determine the direction of something that's a thousand pounds.
James continues on.
He says the rudder of a ship controls the direction of the ship.
Even though the ship is large and even though the winds that push the ship are powerful.
So here's what I found out.
It has always kind of amazed me, right?
When you, my experience with boats is usually something called a John boat and a trolling motor.
You know what I mean?
Like that's, that's, that's where we're at, you know?
Um, and it, but it always has amazed me that when I get into a John boat to go fishing, that there's like the little tiny part right there on the trolling motor.
And it's going to direct, you know, usually me and somebody my size or close to, right, around in this body of water.
But then I got to thinking about what James is talking about.
And James is talking about these massive boats with these large sails that's going to be pushed by the winds out on the ocean and out on the sea.
And so I thought like, well, what would a size of one of those rudders look like, right?
We're not talking about two guys from South Carolina sitting in a swamp fishing, right?
We're talking about cargo and we're talking about a crew and we're talking about moving across large bodies of water where you can't even see land.
So you've got to make sure that the ship can go in the direction in which the pilot is directing it.
So, so what does that need to look like?
And here's what I found out in the boats that, that James is describing that the rudder must be 2% of the underwater profile of a boat in order to control it.
So not the entire size of the boat, not the entire square footage of the boat, but when you go to make the rudder for the boat, you take the part of the boat that's going to be underwater, you find out the size that that is, and you take 2% of that number, and that's the size that the rudder needs to be.
So if a boat has roughly 2,000 square feet of an underwater profile, then the rudder only has to be 40 feet, right?
From thousands to 40.
And so what we see here is that small items can be impactful items, and the same is for the tongue.
In all my years of ministry, coming close to 20 years of ministry now, in all the times that God's given me the ability and the opportunity to sit down and counsel with men and women and kids,
the number one area of hurt that people share.
It's not about something physically that's happened to them.
It's not about something financially that's happened to them.
It's not about something that's been taken from them.
When I look back over 20 years, more conversations than I could even count.
The number one area that rises to the top of the hurt that people struggle with and can't seem to move past in their life are the words of destruction that are spoken to them.
I'm not talking about words of correction.
I'm talking about words of destruction.
Words of hurt.
Words of pain.
Paul says that just as, right, this, I'm sorry, James says, just as this small bit, right, can determine and can move and can change a horse, right?
Just as powerful as it is that a small rudder can move a ship loaded with cargo and crew and going against and with the winds that are there.
As much power as you can imagine in that, so too is the tongue.
Especially when the tongue brings words of destruction.
So let's look at the destruction of the tongue.
He continues on painting pictures in verses six through eight.
He says, and the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness.
The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, sat in on the fire the entire course of life, and sat on fire by hell.
For every kind of beast and bird of reptile and sea creature can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind.
But no human being can tame the tongue.
It is a restless evil full of deadly poison.
So two illustrations that I want us to look at that he does about the destruction of a tongue is, as James says, the tongue is a fire.
You know, what starts a fire?
A spark.
So a couple months ago, we were cleaning in our garden and cleaning out some tree limbs and some things were dead.
And I had a burn pile that needed to be burned in the backyard.
So I called a neighbor of mine and said, hey, one of the best conversations I've had in a long time.
I said, hey, you still got that blowtorch?
He said, yeah.
I said, could you bring it down?
All right, I need to burn some stuff.
He said, absolutely, right?
So he comes down and brings this blowtorch.
And I'm not talking like one of those welding ones, right, that you get at Lowe's.
I'm talking like the full blowtorch, you know?
And we hook it up to a propane tank.
And I'm like a kid in a candy shop.
It's like Christmas morning.
I get a blowtorch.
Don't play with fire, kids, right?
We're using this as trained experts, but I've got to set this burn pile on fire, right?
And let's do this quick.
So I get there and we turn on the propane.
And then he says to me, well, you know, we've got to start it, right?
Yeah.
How are we going to do that?
And he says, well, you're going to have to take a lighter and get really close to that
and just get a spark and get your hand out of the way.
And I said, okay, have you done this before?
He said, yeah.
I said, well, why don't you do it?
He said, because it ain't my yard, right?
And so I walk over there and I got the lighter and I'm clicking the lighter trying to get it to work.
And it's just spark, spark, spark, spark, spark, spark.
And I'm getting kind of nervous now, right?
Because I don't, I like my hands, you know?
And so he's like, that'll be enough.
That'll be enough.
And so we get it over there and it sparked, right?
And then the torch was lit and we lit the fire and we burned up all the limbs and branches and things that needed to be burned, right?
But just from a simple spark that was created, all that needed to be destroyed was destroyed.
And in the same way, the words we use can destroy a life, right?
If you've ever talked with someone who's experienced verbal abuse in their life
and ask them what that was like.
On a rare occasion do they say, you know, I lived in a home where I was constantly yelled at.
Like that happens.
But more times than not, the verbal abuse that people experience are not the deep cuts that come at them,
but instead they're the small cuts that increase over time and over time and over time and they matter, right?
And what we begin to see are these small moments of words matter because it's a spark that starts a fire and then destroys as it consumes what lies in its path.
And James says, this is what we can be.
And he also says that the tongue is as a world of unrighteousness.
Here's the picture that we get.
Hell.
You want to experience hell on earth?
That's not a place that we can go to, but it can be a culture created by the words that we speak.
And James says that this is what this begins to look like, a place where nothing good comes from, a place where nothing of God is present,
a place of nothing of love, nothing of peace, just a place of death.
And this is the destruction that can come, not only to those who stand in the path of the words,
but the person who speaks them as well.
Bruce Waltke said this,
a fool's tongue is long enough to cut his own throat.
A fool's tongue is long enough to cut his own throat.
It's not just about the destruction that it brings others, but it's also the destruction that it brings on itself.
And so what's the spiritual approach that we take to this?
Where is being that we begin to work, right?
Well, James says, you know, every creature of the earth can be tamed by man,
but the tongue cannot be tamed by man.
So then we just give up.
Well, I can't tame it.
I can filter it, but I can't tame it.
So do we chalk this up as this is just something we've all got to bear through in life?
This is just how I am.
This is what it's going to be like to be around me.
Is this is the pursuit that we have?
No, no, no, no, no, no.
Because see, this isn't a conversation about being better.
This is a conversation about being holy.
Right?
And when I pursue better,
I can chase better.
You can chase better.
Why?
Because the standard of measurement is ourself.
Where am I at?
Then I want to get better and I want to get better and I want to get better.
And every single time in the movement of the journey and the pursuit of the journey of better,
I am the standard.
But when I move off of better and I pursue holiness and I pursue godliness, I begin to realize that I don't need more of me to get better, but I need more of God to get holy.
And in that he's the standard and he's the means and he's the power.
So we see the power of the tongue.
We see the destructive nature of the tongue.
And I want us to look at the inconsistency of the tongue as we look at this in James 3, 9 through 12.
With it we bless our Lord and Father and with it we curse people who are made in the image and likeness of God.
From the same mouth come blessing and cursing.
My brothers, these things ought not be so.
Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water?
Neither can a fig tree my brothers bear olives or a grapevine produce figs.
Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water.
So the tongue in all of this shows the inconsistency of what we say we are to who we really are.
He says, with this you bless the Father, but you curse his people who are made in his image and in his likeness.
You can't do that.
You can't praise God and curse one another and say you're good.
James says, these two truths, they cannot align.
I cannot claim love for God yet hate his people.
He says, can a spring have fresh and salt water?
No.
Can a salt pond produce fresh water?
No.
Can a fig tree produce olives?
No.
Can a grapevine produce figs?
No.
It shows who you really are by what comes from your mouth.
So what do we do?
Where do we walk out from here?
Should we just look at these muscles that reside in our mouth and shake our fist at God for even giving him to us?
Like, what do we do?
What do we do?
I think it's important for us to understand the purpose of the tongue.
In Psalm 51, it's my favorite psalm in scripture.
David, who, I get David, right?
We were talking in my men's group on Thursday at lunch about the guys in the Old Testament and different ones that we identify with and so much of David's struggle in life.
Like, I get David so often, so I love to read his psalms that he writes.
But David, after Nathan the prophet, addressed David's sin with Bathsheba.
David experiences this great amount of brokenness.
David's brought death and destruction and hurt and pain to some of the closest people to him, to some of the most loyal people to him.
And in Psalm 51, David begins to write about his interaction with the Lord as David goes through the reality of what he's done.
And in Psalm 51, in the earlier verses, David asks God to forgive him and to cleanse him.
David shares his desires to be transformed by God and given a clean heart.
And then he says this in verse 13 in Psalm 51.
He says,
Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you.
Deliver me from blood guiltiness, O God.
O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness.
O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise.
So David paints this picture.
He says,
As a person who stood in the overwhelming beauty that is the forgiveness of God,
who desires transformation,
who desires cleansing,
that God in your faithfulness,
I'm going to do something.
And it's going to come from my mouth.
David says that from my mouth,
I'm going to teach transgressors your way.
As one who's been saved,
I'm going to bring the gospel to those who haven't heard.
That I'm going to see that sinners return to you.
That out of what you've brought me out of,
I'm going to share the story of God and his faithfulness.
And his people will return to him.
David says that from my mouth,
my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness.
Oh, Lord, open my lips and my mouth will declare your praise.
You ever wonder why we gather in here and sing?
And that all throughout scripture,
God has his people do that.
Consistently throughout scripture,
God doesn't say,
gather together and build me stuff.
We see it,
not consistently.
We can do it,
not every time.
You ever wonder why we gather together and sing
and don't gather together in here and write?
We see God call people to write
and they do it
and God calls us to write
and we do it,
but consistently throughout scripture
is we sing.
Why?
Because God wants to hear it.
God wants to hear it.
I love
when my kids talk to me.
I love
when my kids tell me
how their day's going.
Good
and bad.
I love
when my kids
tell me
they love me.
I love
when my kids
tell me
thank you.
I love
when my kids
tell me
they're sorry.
I love
when my kids
open up their heart
and bring me
into the journey
that is their life
so that I'm a part of it.
And God says,
so too for us.
I want to go back
to what we started off with.
Your tongue
and my tongue
it's like a hammer.
It can bring life.
It can bring protection.
It can bring provision.
It can bring encouragement.
It can take sinners
and point them
to the holy God.
It can bring us
into confession
before him.
Or our tongue
can be like a hammer
and be used
for destruction.
For pain.
For hurt.
I'm going to close
with this.
Are you building
or are you destroying?
Because what's in your heart
is going to come
from your mouth.
Would you pray with me?
God, we come to you
this morning, Lord.
In the grace
and the goodness
of who you are.
Lord, we thank you
that as you took us
and as you put
our bodies together
and as you made us,
you gave us a tool.
You gave us a mouth.
You gave us a tongue.
Lord, that we could use
to share life
and to share hope
and to share truth.
To use for correction
and for purpose
and for meaning.
To sing praises to you.
To offer prayers to you.
To tell others of you.
Lord, we thank you
for that.
We thank you
that we're able
to communicate
with one another.
We thank you, Lord,
that we're able
to talk about
the hope
that we have in Christ.
It's not simply
a thought
that resonates in us
or a feeling
that we have,
but we can communicate it.
We can share it.
We can praise you
for it.
And so, God,
I thank you.
But like so many
other things
that you've given us
to all use them
for your glory
and for your renown
and for our good.
Lord, we've perverted it.
We've manipulated it.
We've taken it
not to be used
as the instrument
that you've given us
as an instrument of life,
but we've taken it
and we've used it
as an instrument
of death
when we gossip,
when we cut others,
when we slander,
when we speak ill-willed,
when we delight
within the misery
of others,
when we speak
of things
that we long
other than you,
when we abuse,
when we lie,
when we turn
what you gave us
intended for life,
we turn it into death.
Lord, we've all done it.
Today, Lord,
I pray
that we would see
the error of our ways.
Lord, that we'd repent of it.
We'd make the commitment,
Lord,
to stop just trying
to find a filter
that works
in the big mouth we have
and start desiring
for a pursuit
of holiness
that resonates
in our heart
and shows
in our mouth.
And so, Lord,
in myself,
Lord, forgive me
for every word
of hurt,
every word
of gossip,
every word
of violence,
every word
of vulgar nature,
Lord,
every word
of destruction,
Lord,
and put within me,
build and grow
and strengthen
within me,
Lord,
a word of hope,
word of life,
word of peace,
word of purpose,
word of truth
that is found
in you
and in you alone.
And that, Lord,
when we go from here,
may the songs
that we sing
to you
match the lives
that we live.
May our words
be sweetness
to those we encounter.
May our words
bring them hope.
May our words
bring them life.
May our words
share with them
who Christ is
and what Christ
has done,
what you have
saved us from,
what you have
redeemed us from.
May the testimony,
Lord,
of what we've said
you've done
match what we say.
And we'll give you
all the praise
and all the honor
and all the glory.
And it's in Jesus' name
we pray.
Amen.
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