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Worthy Of Honor And Praise | Guided Prayers · Central Christian Church

• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: There's a strange kind of whiplash that happens when we sing praises to God on Sunday morning, but then tear someone down in a group chat by Sunday afternoon.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_00: We don't usually notice the contradiction in the moment.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: It just feels like two separate parts of life: worship over here, everyday reactions over there.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: But James refuses to let us compartmentalize like that.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: Today he holds up a mirror to a divided mouth and asks us to consider how something so wrong could feel so normal.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: James 3, 9-12 says, With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings who have been made in God's likeness.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_00: My brothers and sisters, this should not be.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring?
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives or grapevine bear figs?
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: Notice what James is really pointing out here.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: It's not just that we sometimes say unkind things.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: It's that the very mouth that lifts up God's name also tears down people made in his image.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: James says this should not be, because it goes against the basic order of creation itself.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: A spring doesn't produce two different kinds of water, and the tree doesn't bear two different kinds of fruit.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: Consistency in how our lives honor God is the natural evidence of a heart that actually belongs to God.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus, you never lived a divided life.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: Your words to the Father and your words to hurting people flowed from the exact same heart of love.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you that you don't ask us to achieve this consistency on our own, that you offer your spirit to unify our hearts.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: Ask the Holy Spirit to bring to mind any places where your speech doesn't match your worship.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: Where has praise for God on one day given way to gossip, criticism, or cutting remarks toward others soon after?
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_00: Think about specific people you find it easiest to speak poorly of, whether a coworker or a family member or someone you only know from a screen.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: Ask God to help you see them the way He sees them, made in His likeness and worthy of honor.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: Is it pride, insecurity, or old habits of comparison?
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_00: Invite Him to do the deeper work so your words can finally line up with your worship.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: Pray that the Holy Spirit would bring healing to the hurt caused by that kind of hypocrisy.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_00: Ask God to raise up a community of believers whose praise and everyday speech genuinely match so that the watching world sees the credibility of the gospel and how we talk about each other.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_00: God, thank you that you are patient with us as you untangle the inconsistencies in our hearts.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_00: We ask that the same mouth that blesses your name would also bless the people around us today and every day this week.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.