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James 3:1-12 - The Untamable Tongue · Living Waters of Grace / Calvary Chapel of Westmoreland Sunday Services

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Good morning, Calvary Chapel. Are you guys ready for a fire
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and drill now? Everybody got that information
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down. Hey, man, thank you, Sister
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Karen and all those who put that together.
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Thank you for that. Sister Kerry, thank you so much
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for those very exuberant, exciting announcements.
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A lot's going on Calvary Chapel and we thank God that he's
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moving in this house. Going to ask that you would take
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your Bibles out. And if you would please turn to
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the second, I'm sorry, 3rd chapter of James this morning.
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We're going to cover verses one through 12.
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And while we're doing that, I would like to welcome everyone
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that's here this morning, all of you who are have come back to
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worship with us. If you were here recently for
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the first time, we thank you for coming back and worshiping with
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us. And, and of course, all of you
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who are here for the very first time, it's always a blessing to
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have you guys come in and just see what we're all about here at
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Calvary Chapel. We pray that your worship
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experience would be good and we pray that you feel God's love
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while you're here and that you feel welcome.
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And all those who are listening by way of the radio or listening
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by way of Grace FM online, those who are behind prison doors, we
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want to thank you for always being faithful and coming with
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us. Just want to say this morning,
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our brothers, Will and Hillary Thomas have been hit with a loss
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and they are dealing with the loss of Hillary's mother.
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They just recently dealt with the loss of her, of her father,
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and now they're dealing with the loss of her, of her mother.
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So we ask that you would keep Will and Hillary Thomas in your
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prayers, please. And hopefully maybe some point
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today. Pastor Clark and Cindy and I
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would like to try to get down there.
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My wife is under the weather so she won't be able to to come
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with us, but we thank God for that, that we'll be able to do
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get down and just have her spiritual family and many that
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will be going down to have her spiritual family support them in
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this time. I would like to thank also
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Sister Kerry for letting me know that today was Pastor's
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appreciation that I had no idea every now and then someone will
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come and tell me, hey, what today is doughnut day, your
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doughnut appreciation day or Starbuck coffee appreciation
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day. And I have no idea when these
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things happen. They just kind of come up, you
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know, today's hamburger day or whatever it is.
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You know, I like those kind of holidays though.
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But anyway, I want to thank you guys and, and what a just an
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awesome fellowship this is and just how much love is spreading
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around around this house. We always feel your support and
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we want to thank all of you on behalf of Clark and myself and
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our wives. We want to thank all of you for
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your service and your faithfulness to do what God has
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called you to do. We wouldn't be able to do what
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we do if it wasn't for you doing what you do.
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And I would like to spend out a send out a special thank you to
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our wives because without having the women that God has caught
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into our lives as helpmets, we will not be able to do this.
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So we thank God for Terry and, and, and for Cindy in many ways
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of supporting us to do what it is that God has called us to do,
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which is really important. Just like those of you who are
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in ministry, your spouses are also associated with that
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ministry as well because they help you to do what it is that
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God has called you to do. So thank all of you.
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OK, having said all that, let's turn to the Word of God.
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Amen. OK, as I said, we are going to
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be in the 3rd chapter of James and we're going to be looking at
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verses one through 12. Let's pray and let's get into
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the Word. Father, once again we come and
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we assemble together as per Your command, that we should not
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forsake the assembling of ourselves together as some have.
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We ask so God, that as we assemble that you be here with
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us, even as we know that Your promises are yay and Amen.
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You promised that if two or three of us, whenever we gather
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in Your name, that You are here in the midst of us.
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And I'm so glad you didn't say I will be there.
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You said I am in the midst of you.
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So, Father, we thank you for your presence with us this
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morning. And the topic that we have this
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morning, Lord, as you know, is a very tough topic.
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It's a topic of dealing with the tongue.
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But Father, we ask for the grace, we ask for the mercy, we
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ask for the wisdom, the understanding to rightly divide
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this word. Father, we need your Holy Spirit
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to reveal this truth to us. We need your Holy Spirit to help
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us Lord, to leave here and to be able to be doers of this word
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that we hear this morning. We ask you for these things in
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the name of our Savior and our Lord.
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In Jesus name we pray, Amen. I was told a story recently that
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said that there was a pastor who have been doing a series of
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things and. He came to the end of his sermon
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one Sunday morning and he looked out at the congregation.
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He said, come back next week because next week we're going to
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talk about the most troubling or troublesome and the most
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unsettled, the most evil, the most divisive member of our
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church. So I don't need to tell you that
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that next Sunday it was packed. People will wonder if they were
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going to, if they were going to be a slideshow on this person.
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You know me. Who?
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Who is it? And then, of course, he went on
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to talk about the untamable tongue, which is the most unruly
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member of our church. Throughout this section, James
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has been basically letting us know in very practical ways and
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we keep saying that because it's important.
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It's very important for me because he's very, he's very
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black and white about the things that he's talking about and very
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direct. As we said last week and, and,
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and last week, he talked about works and talked about the, the
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relationship between saving faith and our good works.
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Before that he talked about having, as we said, you know, no
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partiality in our service to the Lord in this week and all those
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things that he talked about the last few weeks.
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It was about the maturity, our spiritual maturity and how you
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can tell that one is spiritually mature.
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And as he talked about last week, good works is the evidence
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of one that is not only spiritually mature, but is the
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evidence of our saving faith. So is the word, or so are the
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words that we speak. So is our speech.
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How important it is to have speech that that represents and
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glorifies God. You see, our deeds in our words
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should reflect our faith in God. Our speech should be evidence of
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our profession of faith. So what I'm going to do, I'm
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going to read this all the way through 1st and then I'm going
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to go back and we're going to deal with it.
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Amen. So he says this in verse 1 of
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chapter 3. He says, my brother, let not
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many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a
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stricter judgment, for we all stumble in many ways.
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If anyone does not stumble in Word, he's a perfect man, able
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also to bridle the whole body. Indeed.
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And we put bits in horses mouths that they may obey us, and we
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turn their whole body. Look also at ships.
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Although they are so large and are driven by fierce winds, they
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are turned by a very small rudder wherever the pilot
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desires. Even so, the tongue is a little
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member and boasts great things. See how great a forest a little
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fire Kindles, and the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity.
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The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the
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whole body and sets on fire the course of nature, and it is set
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on fire by hell. For every kind of beast and
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bird, of reptile and creature of the sea is tamed and has been
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tamed by mankind. But no one can tame the tongue.
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It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.
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With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse
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men, And we have been who have been made in the similitude of
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God. Out of the same mouth proceed
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blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought
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not to be so. Does a spring send forth fresh
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water and bitter from the same opening?
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Can a fig tree my brother and bear olives or a Grapevine bear
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figs? Thus, no spring yields both salt
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water and fresh. I don't have to tell you that
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throughout our lives, many times we have experienced the
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devastation of the power of the tongue.
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We have experienced the the problems that someone has when
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they just use their tongue in ways that could be detrimental
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or ways that can be harmful. We've done it, I've done it.
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I've certainly used my tongue in ways that I should not have.
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And I'm sure people have used their tongues against me in ways
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that they should not have. The tongue is an untamable
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member. And when we look at this
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particular passage, we see that James in talking about the
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tongue, he starts first of all with the, you know, with, with,
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with teachers who uses their tongue to communicate God's
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word. So he says, he says, my brother,
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let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall
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receive a stricter judgment. James said, For we all stumble
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in many things. If if anyone does not stumble in
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Word, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body.
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But now when we look at that, he is saying to those, and he must
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have been in a place where there were many men who were trying to
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jockey for position to be teachers who were just motivated
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to go and teach. And James is saying to them, oh,
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let me slow up a little bit. First of all, you need to
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understand that teachers will have a stricter judgment.
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So before you decide that you want to go and teach the Word of
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God, you need to have something settled within yourself.
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First of all, are you called? As I told you before, my
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grandmother said that you can know a good preacher because
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there's some who were sent and there were some who just went
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and, and, and, and so we understand here what James is
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saying, that first of all, you need to be called.
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Were you called? Were you truly called?
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Do you have, do you truly have a heart to teach God's word?
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Or are you just interested in hearing your own voice?
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Or are you just interested in being in a position of
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authority, or you just interested in being able to have
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some semblance of control over what people are hearing and what
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people do? But you have to have a heart for
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God and for His word. Are you able to just stand flat
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footed and preach the truth regardless of the culture,
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regardless of what the, the, the saying is these days or what
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people accept these days, regardless of somebody talking
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about relative truth, Are you able to give the absolute truth
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and stand by it and not be swayed by what people think
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James is saying you need to slow down a little bit before you be
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become a preacher because you're going to be judged according to
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those things. You will have the stricter
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judgment. Teachers are held to a higher
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standard. Not only are they held to what
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they teach, we have to rightly divide what we teach.
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We have to make sure that there's time that we study and
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all of those things, but not only that, but to live what we
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teach, which is just as important.
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James is saying, are you willing to spend the time that's needed
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to rightly divide what you're teaching?
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Because there's some teachers enjoying that particular time.
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They were dealing with preachers who were teaching heresy that
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were leading the people away from Jesus.
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They were teaching things that were abominable.
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And James is saying that you better make sure that you
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understand because you're going to be held to a stricter
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judgment. And notice he said we will be
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held to a stricter judgment. He included himself in that.
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Then we go down here to verse 2. He said, for we all stumble in
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many things. If anyone does not stumble in
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Word, he is a perfect man able also to bridle or to control the
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whole body. James says here that we all
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stumble and I like the fact that he mentioned we in this, he
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didn't just say you all stumble. He said we all stumble.
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Yes, James. And we talked about who James
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was right? He said, you know, James was
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actually had the, the, the, the nickname of being James, the
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just He also had a nickname of being old camel knees.
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We talked about how he he prayed so much and so often that he had
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calluses on his knees. James was known to be a
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righteous man. James was the half brother of
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Jesus. Yet he says we all stumble in
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many things because we do. None of us are perfect and James
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realized that that included him as well.
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But we should also understand that when he that when he says
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that we're not saying he's not talking that, that, that when
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you you know, and he said, you know, when he says that we
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stumble in many things. If anyone does not stumble in
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Word that he is a perfect man, he's not saying that you're
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going to be perfect. He's talking about a mature
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Christian. He's talking about being mature,
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learning and, and, and becoming more and more like Christ.
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But if you are able to keep your tongue, if you are able to not
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stumble in Word, he says you're a mature man and you're also
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able to control your whole body. Doesn't mean that when we do
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stumble that we're not saved. It doesn't mean that we all do
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have times when we come short of God's glory.
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But when we stumble, it reminds us that we all need God's grace.
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We all need his mercy. We all need him because we can't
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do it in and of ourselves. We all need the Holy Spirit to
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help us in this because we're not perfect.
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Now, if, if we were perfect, you know, he talked about being
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perfect. If he was, if we were perfect,
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then we would be that person who would never ever have to take
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anything back that he says. He would never have to take
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anything back. You know when he, when he says,
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you know, he, he don't say words that are hurtful or unkind or
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untrue. He doesn't say words that are
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selfish, proud and rude or, or or have these momentary
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outbursts of anger. He doesn't do that.
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Just if he was a perfect person. Well, that's not me because I
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have had all of those things. I have said things that were
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hurtful. I have said things that were
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unkind, even untrue. I've said things that were
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selfish. I've been proud.
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I have said things that were rude and I have had outbursts of
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anger. So we all deal with these
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things. We're not perfect and we all
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experience these kind of things, but if this becomes your
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lifestyle, if this this becomes your, if this categorizes you as
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the person, the kind of person you are, if this is your norm
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and not just something that you deal with every now and then,
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then we have to consider whether or not we have had true
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conversion, that we have had that new heart.
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Did we have that change that takes place, that transformation
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that takes place whenever Jesus comes to live in your heart?
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But the fact is we're not perfect because if we were, we
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could control everything about us.
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So in verse three he says when we put bits and horses mouths
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that they may obey us. I enjoy that because I love
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horses. Anybody else out here like
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horses? Ah, there you go.
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OK, yeah, I love horses. I mean, I in fact, I think I
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told you guys before my first date with my wife, I took a
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horseback ride. I think that you can tell a lot
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about a person when you put them on a horse, but I do, I enjoy
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horseback riding. And it's not only you know,
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horseback riding is not only therapeutic.
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But it's also peaceful to me, you know, be, I mean, you're,
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you're out there in the woods. And I always did like Westerns
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when I was young, you know, couldn't wait to have a port.
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I lived in a project. I used to always tell my mom,
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could you, you know, can we get a horse for Christmas?
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You know, what in the world was I going to keep a horse in the
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projects? But I just wanted a horse, you
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know, So on Christmas morning sometime, I would go out back
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and look and see if there was a horse tied up out there
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somewhere. And of course, it never was.
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That was never going to happen. And then I got older and I
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started to, I had a relation, you know, a relationship, a
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friendship with this, with this guy who had a stable with new
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Alexandra was the first time I found out about where New
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Alexandra was. And man, he had like about 1213
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horses. And, and I would spend a lot of
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my days out there and a lot of my weekends, you know, helping
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them take, you know, first when I was just out there just riding
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and then I started taking rides out for him and just really
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getting. Kind of getting into that life,
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me and my family, my kids and we kind of got into it and we
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started learning a lot about horses.
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And I'm so glad that my mother never bought me one because.
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Man, it's a ton of work. It's a ton of work.
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But I think it's interesting here that James uses that
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example when he talks about, because he's now moving into
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talking about how the tongue can be used for control.
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And, and, and he says that indeed, we put bits in horses
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mouths that they may obey us and we turn their whole body.
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So if you think about a 14 or 1800 LB animal being under you,
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that you're, that you're, you're sitting on top of this animal.
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And the only thing that controls this animal is about a, a, a A5
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and 1/2 inch bit that's in his mouth that you turn to the left,
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to the right, or that you pull down and stop him or whatever
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you may do or release. So whatever you do, it's a 5 1/2
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inch bit that small controls the direction and controls this
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massive animal that is so strong there's no way we could ever be
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able to control him without it. You control the mouth.
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In other words, what James is saying, if you can control the
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mouth, you can control the beast.
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If you can control the mouth, you can control the beast.
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So James is saying we put these little small bits in the horse's
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mouth if we and they control him.
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And he also used another example, he said, And, and also
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the example of ships, he says although they are large and are
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driven by fierce winds, they are turned by a very small rudder
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wherever the pilot goes. So he's basically saying that
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you have this, this, this ship who's large, I mean very large.
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And it's, and it's very, another very heavy instrument.
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And with a small rudder, you can turn these things.
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You can direct them, you can guide them, you can steer them.
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I learned a little bit about ships.
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I, I, I learned that even today they still use rudders on most
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size, most large size ships. Now modern technology has
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advanced. So they now use something called
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the azimuth Azi myth. I don't even know if I'm am I
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pronouncing it? Where's where's my brother?
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Am I pronouncing it azimuth. OK.
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And as in the thruster or pods, a single which is a single
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propeller unit. So it's it's like the rudder and
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everything together. But typically like your large
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ships that has a propeller and it has a separate part that's a
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rudder, which actually controls the direction of the ship.
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So you got these large warships and these large cargo ships and
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they're being guided by a small rudder.
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It's amazing. But there's one other thing I
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wanted to tell you I want to share with you about the horse.
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Even with the bit when you, the more you develop, the more you
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develop the relationship with the horse.
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The more fellowship you have with this horse, the less
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resistance you will. Have in your direction of and
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when you're trying to guide them, the less resistance.
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And it's just like us, the more we have fellowship with the
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Lord, the more we have fellowship with the Holy Spirit,
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the less resistance that we give him when He's guiding us.
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So he talks about these small things that can be used to turn
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and guide and control these large animals and or this large
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animal and this large ship. So then in verse 5, he says, so
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even, you know, Even so the tongue is a little member and it
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boasts great things. And this and this boast here
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doesn't mean just not talking about bragging about great
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things. What he's saying is that this
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small thing, this small a member in our bodies, the tongue, it
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says that it is capable of a lot of influence and power and can
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do massive things. It can accomplish massive
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things. You see people who can speak and
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can move crowds. They can move people to tears.
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It moves. It can move people to anger.
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It can move people to action. It can move people to
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compassion, the tongue. And this is one of the things
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that we that you know, that we talk about, you know, when we
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talk about words or speech, you know, it's not just a matter of
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just words spoken, but even words written, words sung.
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When you think about some of the rap music, I used to work with
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gang bangers and I used to hear their testimonies and they would
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tell me before I would go and do a hit, I would go and drink some
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alcohol. I would listen to my favorite
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rap artist and that would pump me up enough to go out and do a
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hit. We're talking about 1415 year
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old kids moved to violence by words.
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What does our words move people to we should be careful about?
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What it is that we say out of our mouths because it can have.
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Power, it can have influence, it can move people to either
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compassion or destruction. So then he goes here to verse
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verse 6. I'm sorry, let's go to the
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bottom of verse 5. He says, see how great a force a
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little fire Kindles, and the tongue is a fire, a world of
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iniquity. So when you think about a lot of
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another, in other words, what he's saying here is that the
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tongue, even though it's still small, it can, it can, it can
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spark. It can spark a small Just a
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small spark from your tongue could cause great disaster,
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great destruction, just like a fire.
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You know, a match in someone's camp in the forest.
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A small match that starts just a little small campfire.
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That if out of control, can bring devastation to many, many
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miles of forest and homes and lives destroyed in their wake
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because of a small spark from a match.
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And he's saying, James is saying to us, our tongues can be like
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that. And we can start with one person
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to say something negative about another person and it can
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divide. Eventually it could divide the
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whole church. It could bring the church down.
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When I was younger I had a friend who one night his, you
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know her brother came home from being out late and he decided
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that he wanted to boil some hot dogs and go to sleep because
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before he was hungry, he was hungry.
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So he wanted to just boil some hot dogs and and eat before he
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went to bed. Well, while he was waiting for
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the hot dogs to to boil, he fell asleep and push the pan begin to
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burn. And you know, there, there was a
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small fire. And because he was sleep, he
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didn't know it. No one else recognized it.
28:45
I think he was home by himself. Next thing you know there was,
28:50
I'm sorry, he was not home by himself.
28:51
There were other people home, but they were all asleep.
28:54
Next thing you know, the whole kitchen was on fire.
28:58
And then eventually that fire spread.
29:00
By the time he woke up, that fire spread and had destroyed
29:04
that whole house. So for months a whole family was
29:08
homeless, separated and homeless from the spark of 1 pot burning
29:16
on the stove. And James is saying, you know
29:19
what? Our mouths with just one
29:22
negative. Evil word that we speak to
29:26
someone about somebody else can cause a major, major fire that
29:33
can destroy a church, destroy families.
29:36
How many times have we seen families separated, relationship
29:44
severed because of something someone said?
29:51
Maybe it was said with the purpose of hurting, maybe it was
29:54
said out of it was taken out of context.
29:57
But something that was spoken and it breaks a relationship
30:01
with family where people don't speak for years.
30:07
Sometimes they never speak again.
30:11
Marriages have been broken because of an outburst, and
30:15
someone said something that was so damaging that the other
30:20
person just could not forgive it.
30:24
Marriages end. So he talks about just how this
30:30
tongue can be a world of iniquity.
30:34
And then he says the tongue is so set among our members that it
30:38
defiles the whole body, and it sets on fire the course of
30:44
nature. It defiles the whole body.
30:48
A tongue. The words that we speak not only
30:51
define, not only our words themselves are defiled, but it
30:54
can defile the whole body. We used to hear this saying, and
31:00
I'm sure you heard it when you were younger, which says sticks
31:02
and stones can break my bones, but words will never hurt me.
31:06
Remember, that was actually like just, you know, quoted like back
31:10
in the the 1800s. And the purpose for quoting, I
31:13
mean, it had a good intention. I mean, the reason why someone
31:16
made this up is because they were trying to help kids.
31:18
They were trying to support kids who were being verbally bullied.
31:24
So someone said, hey, listen, you know, don't worry about it.
31:27
Sticks and stones may hurt, you know, may break your bones, but
31:30
words will never hurt you. But that is not true.
31:34
That is not true. Words hurt.
31:39
I I found a quote and I don't even know who the author of this
31:42
is it. It was anonymous, but it says
31:46
this. It says the tongue has no bones,
31:48
but it's strong enough to break a heart.
31:52
So be careful with your words because it can break a heart.
31:57
It can be destructive. And the other thing about words,
32:03
you know, sometimes, you know, we say something and we want to
32:05
turn around and take it back. You know, I'm so sorry I said
32:08
that. I didn't mean to say that.
32:10
But once it's out us out. Once it's out of South, words
32:16
like feathers. They're like feathers you.
32:19
Open up a pillowcase and and you got wind blowing and, and and
32:23
you release these feathers. You'll never get all those
32:28
feathers back. And our words are like that.
32:32
We can say things that we can just never take back.
32:39
We can never get it back. I found another saying that says
32:42
don't mix bad words with your bad mood.
32:46
You have many opportunities to change your mood, but you'll
32:50
never, ever get the opportunity to change the words that you
32:55
spoke. Never Proverbs 1821 says death
33:02
and life are in the power of the tongue and those who love it
33:06
will eat its fruit. And what that means is that when
33:09
you have spoken words to a person, whatever you speak to
33:14
them, that's what you're going to reap from them.
33:18
The way that you speak to them is the is what you're going to
33:20
reap for them. If you speak kindness in life to
33:24
them, you're going to get kindness in life back.
33:26
But if you speak evil to them, eventually you will turn this
33:30
person who may have been sweet at one time, but now you've made
33:34
them defensive and and now they've become more harsh
33:42
because of our tongues. But the good thing about our
33:46
tongues is that we can confess our weaknesses concerning our
33:52
speech, and we can ask for forgiveness from the Lord.
33:58
And the Lord over time works on hearts.
34:02
So yeah, I may have hurt you. I may have said something to you
34:05
that you may find hard to get over.
34:08
But the Lord, if he, when he doesn't work in me, he can do a
34:10
work in you too, and begin to soften your heart, just like He
34:16
softens my heart. And then it says here, the
34:22
tongue is so set among our members that defiles the whole
34:25
body and sets on fire the core and set on fire the course of
34:29
nature, or the the will of nature sets on fire the will of
34:34
nature. Our path is set by our tongues,
34:38
our, our, our, our, our, our will of our, the will of our
34:42
life is directed by our tongues. And the one thing we have to
34:46
understand is that without God doing a work in our hearts, we
34:52
can leave one place. That has become a problem
34:58
because of words that we spoke, because of things that we may
35:02
have said. But if, unless God doesn't work
35:05
in our hearts, we can go somewhere else.
35:07
We can change jobs, we can change locations.
35:10
We can do all kinds of things. But unless God does a work in
35:13
our hearts, we just take that same tongue with us and it
35:19
becomes a problem someplace else.
35:22
Our ungodly speech comes from an ungodly source.
35:25
Our uncontrolled tongue defiles or corrupts every part of us.
35:32
Matthew 1511 says not what goes in to the mouth defiles a man,
35:38
but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man.
35:43
So he says it defiles the whole body and sets on on fire the
35:48
course of nature or the will of life, and it is set on fire by
35:54
hell. So what he's saying here is that
35:57
all of this, this, this evil speaking, it comes from
36:00
someplace and we know that it doesn't come from the Lord, it
36:05
comes from hell. It comes from the evil one.
36:09
It's being fueled by the evil 1 So it's almost like we, we, we,
36:14
we know if we're constantly spewing out evil things and
36:18
we're, and if we're we're listening to somebody that's
36:20
constantly spewing out evil things, we have to understand
36:25
that's not coming from the Lord. We got to know the source.
36:27
We got to understand the source. It's not coming from the Lord.
36:30
It's coming from an evil place. And then in verse 7, verse 70
36:36
says every kind of beast and bird of reptile creatures and of
36:41
the sea is tamed by the tongue. I mean, it's tamed and has been
36:45
tamed by mankind, but no one can tame the tongue.
36:50
It's an unruly evil full of deadly poison.
36:54
So this tongue, you know, he's now talking about Genesis, how
36:58
he puts, he puts us, he put man over and made him dominion over
37:02
all the, the beast of the field. And also talks about that in
37:06
Psalm 8 as well. You know, when he says that he's
37:08
put all things under his feet, meaning under the feet of man.
37:12
And, and, and we have the dominance over the beast of the
37:16
other fields and the birds of the air and the, and the fish
37:19
that are in the sea. We have dominance over these
37:21
things. And, and it's amazing how we can
37:23
see throughout life that man has been able to tame almost
37:27
everything. I mean the most ferocious, the
37:30
most, the largest and the most dangerous animals.
37:33
We can go to different zoos, I mean not zoos, but the circuses
37:38
and to different shows. And we can see these man eating
37:41
beasts, you know, under the control of another man, of a
37:45
man. And they can control these
37:47
things. They can train these things.
37:49
I'm not saying they can domesticate them, but they can
37:52
train them. They can somewhat tame them.
37:57
But James said no one can tame the tongue.
38:01
No one can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil.
38:05
The only thing that can tame our tongues is the Holy Spirit is
38:11
the Holy Spirit. Jesus said that the words that I
38:17
speak, they are spirit, they are life.
38:23
The words that I speak, the law of the Lord is perfect.
38:28
It converts the soul. The Holy Spirit is the only one
38:34
that can control our tongues and it is like a poison, you know
38:38
it. It can strike and do damage like
38:41
poison and spread just that fast, just like poison.
38:46
And it can poison an entire community.
38:49
It can poison an entire group of people and cause them to all
38:53
have the same negative concept about a different point.
38:57
We see it now all the time when people come up and speak about
39:01
political things. They can say one thing and they
39:05
can have an impact and and and people will will will have a
39:08
negative a negative perception things because of things that
39:15
people speak. One of the things that I think
39:20
is really an issue and and then the church, you know, when when
39:24
James talked about everybody shouldn't be be teachers.
39:28
Anytime a teacher of the word of God begins to call sin.
39:34
OK, that's a major problem because people here, a pastor
39:42
say that this sin is OK and they leave their feeling that their
39:48
sin is OK. I'm sorry.
39:53
I don't care what Bible you look in, at least if it's the Holy
39:57
Bible. You will never see where it's OK
39:59
to be a homosexual. You will never see where it's OK
40:03
to fornicate. You will never see where it's
40:06
OK. To commit sexual immorality,
40:12
you'll never see that. It's not OK to be an adulteress.
40:15
It's not OK. You'll never see that.
40:20
So it's the it's the word of God and we have to stand on that.
40:25
But if you hear but if they hear that from the pulpit because of
40:28
the authority that a teacher has it can cause people to be
40:32
stumbled. Let's go on verse 9 says with it
40:38
we bless our our father and with it we curse men who have been
40:43
made in the similitude of God out of the same mouth proceed
40:47
blessing and cursing my brother. These things are not to be so I
40:52
I love the fact that James is saying here that you bless the
40:57
Creator, you worship God, you praise him with your lips, you
41:02
exalt him, you, you, you do all these things with your lips and
41:06
you and and you worship and praise him.
41:08
But then out of the same mouth you can turn from him, and out
41:12
of your same mouth you'll curse. Your brother or sister.
41:15
You'll speak harsh to or about your brother and sister after
41:20
worshipping the God. Not only do you worship the
41:23
creator and then you curse his creation and he says this should
41:27
not be so. This should not be so.
41:33
We can't that that that cannot happen.
41:35
It's not it's, it's, it's like, it's, it's like Jesus said when
41:39
he said your, your lips worship me, but your heart is far from
41:45
me. That's not the heart of the Lord
41:49
to do that. And then he makes this and we're
41:54
going to kind of bring this to an end.
41:55
Praise and worship team. You can come forward in verse
42:03
11. He says, does a spring send
42:05
forth freshwater and bitter out of the same opening?
42:09
Can a fig tree, my brethren, bear olives or grapevines or
42:13
Grapevine bear figs? Thus, no spring yields both salt
42:18
water and freshwater. The Lord is, you know, James is
42:23
saying here that there's no way that righteousness and
42:26
unrighteousness should be coming out of the same source.
42:29
It doesn't come out of the same source.
42:30
It just doesn't. It just doesn't.
42:33
We, you know, when, when you, when you know freshwater and
42:37
I've, you know, I've traveled, I'm sure many of you have
42:39
traveled and been to many things.
42:40
You've seen many scenic things, but I don't think there's ever a
42:45
time when I've ever seen a freshwater and bitter water come
42:51
out of the same source. I've never seen that.
42:55
And if I'm at home, if I'm at home, if I turn my water faucet
43:01
on and there's freshwater or there's good tasting water that
43:06
comes out. And then the next time I turn on
43:08
and it's bitter water that comes out, I'm calling the plumber
43:14
because something's wrong. There's something wrong with the
43:17
source. There's something wrong with
43:18
what's, you know, with the source.
43:20
I turn the water on. It's nice and clear.
43:22
I cut off. I cut it on again.
43:24
It's brown. Yeah.
43:26
I'm calling the plumber. I'm calling the plumber.
43:30
So we, if we speak words of life, if we speak words of
43:39
gentleness and, and words of love and words of kindness and
43:43
goodness and the next thing out of our mouths, and it's a habit,
43:48
we're doing this on a regular basis.
43:50
Next thing out of our mouths, we're speaking harsh words,
43:53
we're cursing against our brothers and sisters or we're
43:58
we're we're we're, we're, you know, we're we're gossiping,
44:02
slandering our brothers and sisters.
44:05
Then something is wrong and it's wrong.
44:08
There's something wrong with the source.
44:11
There's something wrong with my heart.
44:15
I need to go to the I need to call Jesus because there's
44:20
something wrong with my heart. James is saying here, and this
44:30
is a very, very important passage, passage of Scripture.
44:39
And this is something I had to repent of when I was studying
44:42
this time and time again because even suddenly our words that we
44:49
say can be a problem and can hurt someone.
44:57
And like we say, you can never get those words back.
45:02
Be careful what you say in front of your children.
45:06
Watch what you say in front of your children.
45:07
Watch how you speak to them. There are things that your kids
45:13
hear. You think they're not even
45:14
paying attention, and they'll remember for the rest of their
45:17
lives. I promise you they will watch.
45:25
Who you talk about in front of your kids because you may know
45:30
or be able to process those things, but your kids can't.
45:36
They start treating people differently based on
45:39
conversations they have heard. Be careful what we say in front
45:45
of our kids. When we talk about being careful
46:00
about our speech. One of the things that we
46:04
neglect to practice, that we neglect to do sometimes, is to
46:11
practice the holiness of silence, the beauty of silence,
46:18
this beauty in silence, being silent.
46:21
If you remember Jesus, when he was being threatened, when he
46:28
was being verbally abused by his enemies, he would just be
46:34
silent. When Pontius Pilate was
46:39
questioning him and was saying all these different things about
46:42
him, he would just be silent. And let us not forget King
46:48
Hezekiah back in Second Kings 18 and 19 when the Assyrian army
46:53
came upon him and they and, and, and they started to threaten
46:58
Judah. They started to threaten them
47:00
and talk about what they're going to do and how, you know,
47:03
we took other people's nations. We took other people's land and,
47:07
and their gods couldn't do anything about what makes you
47:09
think your God is going to do anything about it?
47:12
Oh, he could have just ran off. They could have just ran off at
47:14
the mouth and just jumped off and just talked about.
47:16
He was silent, and he gave commandment to his staff to be.
47:22
Silent. To just be quiet.
47:26
And they took it before the Lord, and the Lord dealt with
47:29
them. I'm saying that sometimes we can
47:34
just be silent when we feel that we're offended, when we feel
47:39
that we've been done wrong, when we feel that we've been verbally
47:42
attacked, when we. Feel that we have the right to
47:46
strike out. Sometimes it just be silent.
47:52
Allow the Lord to deal with it. Allow the Lord to speak to your
47:56
heart. Allow the Lord to tell you what
47:59
to say. Be slow to be quick to hear.
48:04
Be slow to speak and to be slow to wrath.
48:11
I don't know about you, but I know that.
48:20
I can be prone to reacting. And responding with my mouth in
48:33
ways that I shouldn't. And it doesn't have to be foul
48:38
language. But you know when your heart,
48:40
when you're saying something condescending to somebody, you
48:44
know in your heart when you're being what we call passive
48:47
aggressive and our response to people.
48:53
And I know that over the years, I myself have said things to
48:56
people that hurt them, just as people have said things to me
49:00
that has hurt me. And today I want to go to the
49:10
source that can help my heart. And I'm asking you if you would
49:18
join me, if that's you, If that's you, would you meet me
49:24
here? So we together can go before
49:27
their Lord Jesus Christ, the source that He can talk and deal
49:33
with our hearts so that we don't have to speak in ways that would
49:38
be detrimental. We don't have speaking ways that
49:40
are ungodly. We don't have to speak in ways
49:44
that hurt people. Lord, I've done that before, and
49:48
I don't want to do that anymore. Will anybody join me here?
49:59
You can come on up. Come on up.
50:12
I'm going to come down here with you.
50:15
Hey, man, we can all need to go to the source, the source of our
50:21
hearts. Anybody else?
50:25
We'll wait for you. Anybody else want to come?
50:29
Anybody else want to come? Jesus hears us.
50:37
He responds to us. He can touch our hearts.
50:41
Not man, not friends. He can touch our hearts.
50:49
Anybody else? You're welcome to come up even
50:53
as we're praying. Let's let's grab hands.
50:56
Let's come in agreement with him this morning, Father, we're
51:05
coming because we realize our weaknesses.
51:09
We realize our frailties. We realize.
51:13
That when we're not under control of the Holy Spirit, that
51:17
we are out of control. And when we're out of control,
51:22
we become under the control of an evil source.
51:27
We become under the control of the world.
51:29
We become under the control of our flesh.
51:31
We become under the control of demonic influence.
51:38
Father, we're asking you this morning as we come humble before
51:43
you, Lord. Lord, please forgive us of
51:47
things that we have spoken, things that we have said that
51:53
has come out of a hard heart, that has come out of an angry
51:56
heart, maybe even a hateful hearted times.
52:02
Father, we ask that you would forgive us of the times that we
52:06
weaponized our tongues and slandered or gossiped or said
52:11
something in in response, Lord, because we know that it will
52:15
hurt them worse than what they just hurt us.
52:21
Father, we pray today, Lord, as we come before you as a unit in
52:28
unity. Father, we together or saying
52:31
that we have sinned and have come short of your glory.
52:38
Father, we ask that you forgive us, that you will wash us, that
52:42
you will cleanse us, that you will purify our hearts and
52:46
purify our tongues, 'cause us, O God, to be a a a a a, a spring
52:53
of life to people. Cause us to be a spring that
52:58
speaks kindness and love and faithfulness.
53:02
Cause us to be a spring that brings joy to people and that
53:06
seeks peace. Lord and, and, and, and have
53:09
self-control. Father God, we're coming to you,
53:15
the only true source for true life.
53:20
You are the way, You are the truth, and you are the life.
53:31
Lord, open our hearts today, forgive us of our sins, and we
53:38
repent, and we ask that you give us the power to turn.
53:41
Away from them, Lord, that our words would be words of life.
53:48
We ask these things during the name of our Savior and our Lord.
53:52
In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
53:56
Amen. The Lord bless y'all.
53:58
Amen. I guess we should do communion,
54:09
shouldn't we? I am so sorry.
54:14
I am so sorry Clark is back there holding his communion
54:19
peace like one of Louis. Where you going?
54:27
Is it any wonder that the very one that would talk to us today
54:33
about speech is the one who came into nothing and he spoke and
54:47
said let there be light, and there was light ever since he
54:52
spoke? And there were stars in the sky,
54:56
there were a moon and sun. And he spoke and it was
55:00
vegetation and there was water that's separated from the land.
55:05
He spoke. And there was a development of
55:10
animals, fishes in the sea and birds of the sky, and four
55:15
footed beast that walked along the earth.
55:18
He spoke, the Bible says, by the word of his mouth, the word of
55:26
his mouth. He held up everything.
55:33
And the Bible also says that he put his word above his name.
55:46
So would it be any doubt that he has an interest in US speaking
55:51
things that are pure, things that are good, things that are
55:53
honest, lovely? And not only did he do it from
56:00
heaven, but then he sent his Son, Jesus Christ, who gave us
56:04
the example of one who spoke love and life in unity,
56:11
righteousness, goodness, and showed us the way of faith.
56:20
And for that He died for us because of our sins.
56:29
Father, we thank you that you loved us enough to be our
56:35
sacrifice. And this morning, Father, as we
56:40
look back on that day in which you were betrayed, and you took
56:44
bread, and after you gave thanks, you broke it.
56:49
And you said, take, eat, this is my body which is broken for you.
56:53
Eat this in remembrance of me, the same manner you also took
57:01
the cup. And after you suck, you said,
57:08
this cup is the new covenant in my blood.
57:15
And he shed His blood for all of us, and also for those who are
57:19
to come. And His blood is just as
57:22
evicacious today as it was 2000 years ago.
57:26
It still cleanses us from all sin.
57:32
You said drink this and as often as you drink it, drinking in
57:36
remembrance of me, for as often as you eat this bread and drink
57:44
this cup. You do show the Lord's death
57:47
till we come. Amen.