Latest / Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast / #20240918 - The Greatest Troublemaker in the Church - James 3

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#20240918 - The Greatest Troublemaker in the Church - James 3 · Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast

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Welcome to the study of God's Word recorded live at Calvary
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Church in Aurora, Co. To learn more about the many
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resources available through Abounding Grace Media or to tune
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into our live stream services, visit us online at Calvary Co
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dot Church or download our free Calvary Church app.
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Now let's open our Bibles and study God's Word.
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Let's turn to James Chapter 3, James 3, as we as we take
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another chapter here in the book of James.
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Again, if you're taking notes, we're going to divide this
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chapter into two parts. And then under each part we'll
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have a couple of points. We'll have a couple takeaways
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tonight. James Chapter 3, the title of
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tonight's message is the greatest troublemaker in the
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Church. And I'm not talking about my 13
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year old son, though he could be up there as one of the greatest
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troublemakers. He takes, he comes, Yeah, takes
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a lot after me, after his dad, but the greatest troublemaker in
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the church. We saw in Chapter 2 last week
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the importance of not just having a faith in name only, but
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a loving faith and a living faith.
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James talked about faith without works being dead.
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And so a genuine faith produces genuine works.
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We looked at last week and the central question that James is
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asking in this book is if you say you believe like you should,
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why do you behave like you shouldn't?
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And, and when I picked the book of James and thought about these
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chapters we were going to look at, I wasn't fully thinking
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about how much challenge and how many hard words would be in
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James. I was thinking, oh, there's a
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lot of great practical things in there, but James does hit at the
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heart of a lot of the things that we're battling and dealing
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with in our lives. Now here in Chapter 3, he's
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going to whittle down that question.
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If you say you believe like you should, why do you behave like
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you didn't? And he's going to whittle this
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down now to how we use our words, how we use our words,
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controlling our tongue. So this is going to be a
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challenge for some of us, myself included.
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The Bible does speak in many, many different places about the
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the words that we use, the the things that we allow to come out
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of our mouth. But there's nowhere that it
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addresses that with such clarity and such impact, particularly on
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the potential destruction that our words can have in the lives
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of those people around us as as the book of James.
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Now back in chapter 1, we already know he began to speak
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about this. He said it's important for us to
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be quick to hear, swift to hear. He says, slow to speak and slow
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to become angry. Chapter one, verse 26, he says
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if anyone among you thinks he is religious and does not bridle or
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control his tongue, but deceives his own heart, this one's
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religion is useless. And then last week in chapter 2,
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verse 12, he says so speak and so do as those who will be
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judged by the law of liberty. So the tongue, this small little
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member in our mouth has done more destruction and caused more
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death throughout human history than any weapon ever has.
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And the reason is because of the speech that has divided people,
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the speech that has brought forth words of hatred.
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James says that our tongues are set on fire by hell itself.
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Now that's a pretty, pretty startling image right there.
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It's where philosophies are of man are promoted.
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It's where communication happens.
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It's where ethics and morals and deception take place from our
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words. So in chapter 3, he's asking
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this question, but a little bit more specific.
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He's going to say here, if you say you believe like you should,
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why do you say things you shouldn't?
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And so Part 1, if you're taking notes, the first half of this
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versus one through 12, we're going to look at is taming the
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terrible tongue. If you like to write things
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down, you can write that down, taming the terrible tongue.
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He's going to say here that genuine faith produces a change
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in our words, in our words. So our first point here is the
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position of the teacher. If you're taking notes, point #1
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the position of the teacher. He starts here in verse one by
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saying this, my brethren. Now again, he's speaking here to
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us as Christians, not to unbelievers.
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He's speaking to those that need to be attentive to these things.
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So it's not tonight for those that are out there, it's for
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those of us in here. We need to incline our ear to
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what James and what the Holy Spirit is going to say to us
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tonight. My brethren, he says, let not
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many of you become teachers, knowing that we so James
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includes himself here as a teacher, knowing that we shall
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receive a stricter judgement. Now, it may, on the brief kind
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of cursory glance of this particular verse, look like
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James is somehow condemning the role of teaching, or somehow he
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is saying it's good for us not to teach, that he's not
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encouraging this gift. But what he's really trying to
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do here is he's trying to protect the role of teaching.
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What he is saying is don't run quickly to the pulpit, don't run
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quickly to becoming a teacher. So what it is, is it's more of a
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warning. It's not a condemnation of
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teaching. We know that teaching is a
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spiritual gift given by the Holy Spirit.
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We know that there is a gift of the pastor teacher that every
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church needs. And I'm so thankful we've got a
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gifted pastor teacher in pastor Ed in our church here.
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It's a beautiful gift to the church.
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And again, we wouldn't be here tonight if this gift of teaching
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wasn't an operation week in and week out.
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And I'm so thankful for that. But James is is warning here,
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those who stand in the pulpit, those who teach the word of God
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because we have a responsibility and we have a mandate to teach
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God's word accurately. So much so Paul would say to his
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his protege Timothy. He would say to him, it's
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important, Timothy, that you rightly divide or that you
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rightly handle the word of truth.
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And because of that, teachers are held, James says, to a
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stricter judgement or a stricter accountability.
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And what that means is when teachers of the word of God
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stand before the Lord Jesus at the judgement seat of Christ and
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they receive their rewards, they're also going to be held
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accountable for what they've taught, what they've taught.
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So if you would, please pray for your pastors, pray for those
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that teach you because there is a weight.
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There is a weight that comes with standing in this pulpit and
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speaking on behalf of God. Now you may be thinking, well,
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why is the teacher held to a stricter judgement as James
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would say here, and not the listener?
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Well, there's a bunch of reasons, but two in particular
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#1 because the teachers responsible for teaching you the
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truth, not his opinions or her opinions.
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It's easy when you're up here and you do this week in and week
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out, to move from what God says into your own opinion on the
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issue. And when you're in the realm of
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your opinion on the issue, you can start to get into that
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territory where you may regret saying something.
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And then afterwards, you're like, man, I really wish I
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wouldn't have said that because you understand that you're
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speaking on behalf of God. Hopefully tonight I'm not
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speaking on behalf of myself. I'm speaking on behalf of what
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He says. Also, when a teacher is up here
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teaching, it affects lives in a in a drastic way.
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It's an overwhelming sense of responsibility to think of all
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the lives that are at stake of those that are in this place,
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those that are listening online, those that are listening on
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Grace FM. And so this can't be taken
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lightly. And James just wants us to feel
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that you can't just come up here and wing it, right?
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This is something that that is going to take effort on on
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behalf of the pastor, the teacher.
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This doesn't mean, by the way, that a teacher is going to be
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perfect or a pastor's going to be perfect in everything that he
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teaches. I'm sure if you ask anybody
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that's been teaching for any amount of time, they would say,
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yeah, there were things. Maybe early on, if I could go
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back, I would have changed that. There were some things I said
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that man, now I look back and I cringe.
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The fact of the matter is, pastors can say wrong things at
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times. Pastors can offend, pastors can
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hurt someone else's feelings, but James addresses this here in
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verse two. He says this for we all stumble
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literally there. For we all offend.
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James again here is including himself, for we all stumble in
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many things. That includes all of us in this
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room, by the way, not just pastors, not just teachers.
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Every single one of us offends by the things that we say,
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including your pastors, by the way.
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So give your pastors some grace because they are.
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We are going to make mistakes. But he's speaking now to
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everybody here. If anyone he says in verse 2
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does not stumble in Word, he is a perfect man, or literally he's
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a mature man. And we know that's not true of
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any man. There's only one perfect man,
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Jesus. He is the perfect 1.
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So if anyone does not stumble in Word, he is a perfect man, able
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also to bridle or or to control his whole body.
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So we're going to see here tonight that words have great
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power to heal, and I'm thankful for that.
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A word of encouragement, just that word in season.
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I've had that several times from you guys here.
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I've come in feeling dejected, feeling down.
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Just a tough week. The warfare's been heavy, and
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then in a season of me needing a specific word, you guys have
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come to me and just said, hey, I want you to know I'm praying for
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you. We want you to know we're
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thankful. We want you to know we see the
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work of the Lord in your life. And I can't tell you what good
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words do when they heal, when they encourage, when they build
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up. But James is going to say to
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her, because we're all imperfect words also have great power to
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harm. So they can heal, but they can
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harm. How many of us have been harmed
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by words, perhaps by our parents, abusive things that
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they've said and done to us, or harmed by our husbands or our
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wives, harmed by those that have been closest to us by the the
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name calling or the slander or the gossip.
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There's an old saying that I like to remember.
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Put your braid in gear before you put your mouth in motion.
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Put your brain in gear before you put your mouth in motion.
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In other words, think before you talk.
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And the reason is because once it's out, it's impossible to get
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it back, right? A word goes out, and sometimes
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the word goes out that you wish didn't go out.
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The statement that you wish you could pull back in, but it's
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impossible. Once it's out, it's out.
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My wife will tell you, there's been so many times I wish that I
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could take back something that I've said often times in the way
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I've joked about things or something I've said and the Lord
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convicts me about it afterwards. This is why the psalmist would
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pray this, and this is a great prayer for us tonight.
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I'm going to read through just a few verses here.
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You don't have to turn there, but I believe they'll be on the
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screen. Psalm 19, verse 14.
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The psalmist there would pray this.
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Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be
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acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my strength and my
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Redeemer. Psalm 39, verse 1.
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The psalmist here would say, I said, I will guard my ways lest
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I sin with my tongue. I will restrain my mouth with a
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muzzle, or literally they're a bridle.
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We're going to get there in a moment while the wicked are
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before me, Solomon would say in Proverbs chapter 15, verses one
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and two, a soft answer turns away wrath.
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So when someone says something to you and you're so overcome
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with emotion in that moment that you want to give it right back
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to them, a soft answer, the Holy Spirit would say, is what turns
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away wrath. However, a harsh word stirs up
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anger. You see this in traffic all the
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time, right? He continues there.
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The tongue of the wise uses knowledge rightly, but the mouth
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of fools pours forth foolishness.
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And I'll be the first in line to say, I've been here more times
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than I would like to admit. Proverbs 16 Solomon would say
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this. The heart of the wise teaches
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his mouth and adds learning to his lips.
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Pleasant words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul
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and health to the bones. An ungodly man digs up evil, but
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notice this and it is on his lips like a burning fire.
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We're going to see that here in James chapter 3 as well.
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And finally, Solomon here in Proverbs 17 says he who has
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knowledge spares his words, and a man of understanding is of
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calm spirit. Notice this, even a fool is
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counted wise when he holds his peace.
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When he shuts his lips, he is considered perceptive.
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A paraphrase of that says it this way.
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It's better to keep your mouth shut and let people think you
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are wise than to open it and remove all doubts.
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And Matthew 15, Jesus tells us this.
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He says our primary problem is not really the tongue, our
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primary problem is the heart. And what happens is the tongue
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becomes the messenger that carries the words of the heart.
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And I'm sure James, as he's writing this, had in mind these
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words of his Big Brother Jesus. When he when Jesus says this in
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Matthew 15, do you not yet understand that whatever enters
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the mouth goes into the stomach and is eliminated?
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But those things which proceed out of the mouth, Jesus says,
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come from the heart, and they defile a man.
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For out of the heart precedes evil thoughts, murders,
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adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, and
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blasphemies. So if there's a problem tonight
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with our tongue, it reveals that there's a problem with our
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hearts. So moving from the position of
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the teacher, our second point tonight is the power of the
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tongue. The power of the tongue verse
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three and four, it says here in verse 3, indeed, we put bits
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into horses mouths that they may obey us and we turn their whole
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bodies. So here in verse 3 speaks of
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this bit in a horse's mouth. And I'm a Philadelphia guy, I'm
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not a Colorado cowboy, but I do know what a bit is.
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It's a it's a small piece of rope, a few straps of leather, a
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shaped strap of metal that can literally control the entire
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movement of a horse. And it's powerful, the small
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little bit. And James is saying that
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likewise, the tongue can steer an entire person's life.
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When's the last time you thought about that with your words?
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It can steer your entire life. Verse 4, it says, look also at
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the ships. Although they are so large and
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are driven by fierce winds, they are turned by a very small
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rudder wherever the pilot desires.
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So if you've been on a cruise ship at some point in your life,
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you know that this massive city on a sea that's huge is being
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steered by just a flap of metal behind it.
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And the tongue has the power to determine the course of our life
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in the same way that that rudder determines the course of the
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ship. If you think about it, those of
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you who are married here, 2 words change the course of your
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life forever. I do forever.
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Your life was changed from 2 words.
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Or you stand before a judge and the judge is to declare you
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guilty. That one word steers the course
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of your life for a long time. There's also one word, by the
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way, that can steer your course in the right direction as well,
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and that's the word no, no, if you think about it, no to
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adultery, no to drugs. One word, one word.
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How many of us wish we could go back at some point in time and
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just say no? How about this, those of us who
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have said, Lord Jesus, come into my heart, be my Lord, be my
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Savior. Bible says if we believe with
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our heart and we confess with our mouth, that confession has
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steered the course not just of our lives but of our eternities,
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hasn't it? So there is power in the tongue.
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Our Third Point here is the peril of the tongue.
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The peril of the tongue, it's dangerous.
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It tells us here in verse 5 and 6.
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Even so, the tongue is a little member and boast great things.
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See or consider how great a forest a little fire Kindles.
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Now we know this all too well with all the fires that we get
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here in Colorado. I saw it in California as well
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for the three years that we lived there, that a small ember,
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a flick of a cigarette, right, that lands drops in a forest in
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the wrong spot, can set hundreds of thousands of acres on fire.
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And we see it all the time. And James is saying that's how
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powerful and destructive a little spark can be.
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So he says this again, like a bit in a horse's mouth, like the
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rudder of a ship. The tongue can be very
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constructive. It can be helpful in steering a
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life in the right direction. But then he tells us here, or
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like a spark, it can let something loose that ignites and
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burns out of control. The tongue.
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It can assassinate a person's character.
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It can assassinate a person's reputation.
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A tongue is what gossips about people.
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It's what slanders about people. And James again, is speaking to
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the church about these things and these people in the church.
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And many of us tonight have done this about one another sitting
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in this room tonight. And the thing that's just as bad
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as gossip and slander is flattery.
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Flattery is the opposite of the spectrum.
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It's where you say something nice to your face, but you know
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that's as far as it goes because they don't really mean it,
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right? I heard someone say it this way.
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The difference between gossip and flattery is this.
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Gossip is when you say something about somebody behind their back
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that you would never say to their face.
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Flattery is when you say something to somebody's face
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that you would never say behind their back.
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Right. So all of this, all of this is
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the result of the tongue. The tongue has power to do
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incredible good, but it also has power and, and in this great
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harm as well. Proverbs 1821 tells us this.
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Death and life are in the power of the tongue.
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Death and life are in the power of the tongue.
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I also heard someone once say this regarding the tongue.
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It takes 2 years to learn to use it and 50 years to learn to keep
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it quiet. For some of us, maybe a little
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bit longer than that, right? So James says here, take heed
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because we all do offend with our words.
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James says Every single person in this room tonight that loves
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Jesus with all of their hearts, you're going to find yourself
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getting into a situation where something flies out of your
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mouth that offends unless you're a perfect man, right?
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It shouldn't be our lifestyle. I don't think James is saying
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that verse 2 is just an excuse to live this way because we have
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the power of the Holy Spirit in us, the person of the Holy
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Spirit in us. Our lives have been changed by
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Jesus Christ. But if you catch us in a bad day
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and we're tired and we're hungry, James says all of us
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will say things that we wish we wouldn't.
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And again, I'm guilty of that as well.
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And when we let it out, James says it's like a forest fire.
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It can burn. And when it begins to burn, it's
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hard to fix. And though our words may be
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forgiven by the people that hear it, they're not always
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forgotten. And that's the power of words.
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And I'm thankful again that we have a saviour that we can
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confess these moments to. And I have many times.
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Oh, Lord, forgive me. I shouldn't have said that.
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Lord, thank you for your grace. Thank you, Lord, for for this
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work that you're doing in my life.
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You're making me more like you. I realized sometimes with my
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words how how much like Jesus I'm not and I know he's doing
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the work. And then we have the benefit of
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asking forgiveness from one another.
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If we've said something to one another to hurt each other in
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this place, and there's forgiveness and there's mercy
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and there's grace that's extended.
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The Bible says that we can be long-suffering with one another.
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We can look at that person that said something that offended us.
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And when they ask for forgiveness, we can say, yes, of
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course I'll forgive you. I'm I'm far from it myself.
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And so grace extended, grace received is grace bestowed,
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right. So the tongue man, it's, it's
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hard. It's hard.
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And James continues here with this idea of the tongue being
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like a fire. And take note at what he says
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here in verse 6 about this tiny little muscle that hides behind
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our teeth. This is what he says.
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The tongue verse 6 is a fire. It's a world of iniquity.
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The tongue is so set among our members, notice this, that it
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defiles the whole body and sets on fire the course of nature,
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and it is set on fire by hell. I'm like, whoa, James, that is
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heavy, and he is pulling no punches there.
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But if you think about it, when you're really mad at somebody
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and you're at the point now where you're seething with anger
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and you've just about lost it with them, it's almost
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impossible to express that rage without using words.
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That's so hard, isn't it? You just want to say something
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and you can feel it in there. The words are what communicates
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what's in there. Bitterness, pride, hatred, it's
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all expressed through our tongue and it's just evidence, again,
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as Jesus said, of what's in our hearts.
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It's the deeper issue. That's why James says here in
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verse six that it is a world of iniquity.
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Of all the troublemakers in the church, the tongue is the
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biggest troublemaker of them all.
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It's the one that gets us in the most trouble.
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And it's pretty startling here to see James say that the tongue
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is on fire by hell at the end of verse 6.
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Here it can destroy is the idea. It's fuelled by the fire of hell
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itself. Is this picture startling
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picture James is wanting us to feel.
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So we see the position of the teacher, the power of the
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tongue, the peril of the tongue, and then #4 here the pride of
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the tongue. The pride of the tongue.
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Look at verses 7 through 12, for every kind of beast and bird of
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reptile and creature of the sea is tamed, and it has been tamed
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by mankind. Verse 8 But no man contain the
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tongue. It is an unruly evil or, or the
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idea there in the Greek is it is restless, full of deadly poison.
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So again, you can tame almost every single kind of animal.
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He's saying here, if you got a dog, you can teach the dog to
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sit. You can teach the dog to speak.
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You can go to the zoo and see an elephant lift its leg and put
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its leg on a ball. You can see a guy put his head
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in an alligator's mouth. It's all over YouTube or a
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lion's mouth. You can go to the zoo and get a
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camel ride. You can go on vacation and get a
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dolphin ride if you want to. You can teach a parrot how to
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talk. You can do all sorts of things
25:47
with the animals. But the tongue, this little
25:50
creature in here resists taming. Your dog doesn't, but your
25:55
tongue does. It says here in verse 8, no man
25:59
can tame the tongue. And the reason why is because
26:02
it's an unruly evil. It is restless.
26:06
It's full of deadly poison. The idea they're like a cyanide
26:10
pill. You put it under your tongue and
26:12
then at the right time you bite it and the poison is released.
26:17
James is saying this is what our words do.
26:19
Again, if you say that you have genuine faith, then why are you
26:24
talking as if you don't? Your words should be changed
26:28
because of what Jesus has done in you.
26:30
The word for poison in this verse is the word rust.
26:34
You can see it in different places in the New Testament.
26:37
The idea there is that our tongue can corrode and our
26:40
tongue can destroy. And again, I said it earlier,
26:44
but it can corrode or poison a marriage because I mean, have
26:48
you felt that as as a child, maybe you felt this?
26:52
It can corrode the self worth of children.
26:56
It can damage a relationship. That's why.
27:00
That's why James says it is an unruly evil full of deadly
27:04
poison. So again, James is saying here
27:08
that no human being, this is important.
27:11
No human being has the power or the ability to keep their tongue
27:16
in check. And we get in so much trouble by
27:20
this. We can control it just a little
27:24
bit. In a certain sense, any of us
27:25
with kids here knows this, right?
27:27
You're on your way to church on Sunday morning and you're
27:30
screaming at your kids and they're running late and you're
27:32
yelling at them and they forgot something and they're running
27:34
back into the house and you're still frustrated.
27:36
Then the moment you walk in the doors here, everything changes,
27:39
right? Praise the Lord, brother.
27:40
So good to see you. God bless you.
27:43
We're we can control it just a little bit, but the reality is
27:48
in a greater sense, we need much more power than that little bit
27:52
that we can control. And so the Bible tells us that
27:55
the person of the Holy Spirit, God himself, the helper comes in
28:00
and dwells us and lives inside of us.
28:03
And he is the one that can help us tame our tongue.
28:08
It says this, the tongue again receives the message from the
28:13
heart and it sends it out of the mouth.
28:17
It's not the tongue so much that needs to change as the heart,
28:21
because when the heart changes, it begins to bring good things
28:24
out of the mouth. And Jesus, again, through the
28:27
power of the Holy Spirit, who is alive in every single person in
28:31
this room tonight, He can transform our hearts.
28:35
You can't transform your heart. I can't transform your heart.
28:39
Pastor Ed can't transform your heart.
28:41
Your husband or your wife can't play the Holy Spirit.
28:44
There's only one Holy Spirit. He can transform your heart and
28:47
when he does that, then he can take full control of your tongue
28:50
as well. Remember, one of the fruits of
28:53
the Spirit that the God gives us is the fruit of self-control.
28:58
It's where you have the ability in the power of the Holy Spirit
29:02
to be able to control the tongue.
29:03
And the reason you can do that in the power of the Holy Spirit
29:07
is because He's changed your heart.
29:09
He's changed your heart. So James says here, the tongue
29:12
is like a fire. The tongue is like a wild
29:15
uncamed beast. The tongue is a deadly poison.
29:19
And then look at what he says here in verse 9.
29:21
With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men
29:28
who have been made in the similitude or the likeness of
29:31
God. Verse 10, out of the same mouth
29:35
proceed, blessing and cursing. How many of you guys feel that
29:40
tonight? James continues here, my
29:43
brethren, sisters, these things ought not to be so.
29:49
And man, I feel this. I was thinking about this, you
29:52
know, I can drive along in my car.
29:54
I like to do these prayer drives and I'll listen to worship
29:57
music. And there's times I'm just so
29:59
caught up with the presence of the Lord and I've got the
30:01
worship music playing and there's tears streaming down my
30:05
face and I'm just, I'm, I love you, Lord so much.
30:08
I will do anything for you, Lord.
30:11
And then all of a sudden this dude pulls in front of me, slams
30:15
on his brakes, and continues to drive way underneath the speed
30:18
limit, which drives me crazy by the way.
30:20
And then immediately, in my heart, at least I could be
30:23
thinking, yo dude, I got places to go, who do you think you are?
30:28
And the Lord reminds me how quickly I can switch gears from
30:31
praising God in one moment to cursing this guy in my heart in
30:35
another moment. It's amazing.
30:36
It could happen just like that. And sometimes, by the way, the
30:39
tongue pulls from my heart and puts out of my mouth what's in
30:43
my heart too. And I regret that.
30:45
I regret that. And thankfully the Lord is
30:47
doing. I don't want you thinking I'm
30:48
like constantly saying things I shouldn't say.
30:51
But the Lord's working in my heart.
30:52
The Lord is doing a work in me. James is saying this here, that
30:55
when we bless God and we curse men, there's inconsistency
30:59
there. That's his point.
31:01
There's something wrong with that.
31:03
It shouldn't be happening. I was talking to my youngest
31:06
son, Zach, today in the car. We were on a ride together and
31:09
he was telling me about a person that he knows who says they know
31:13
Jesus and and speaks of Jesus often, but at the same time uses
31:18
all sorts of foul language, all sorts of curse words.
31:21
And he's kind of trying to, like, figure out how can this be
31:23
possible. So I went to this verse and I
31:25
told him. James says, yeah, that it's
31:27
possible. Any of us can do that, but it's
31:29
not right. James makes it very clear here.
31:31
These things ought not to be so. And then James continues here in
31:36
verse 11, just to sort of flesh this out a little bit more.
31:40
Does a spring of water send forth fresh water and bitter
31:45
water from the same opening? It's a rhetorical question in
31:49
the Greek No is the answer. Verse 12, Can a fig tree, my
31:52
brethren, bear olives, or can a Grapevine bear figs?
31:57
Again, the answer is no. Thus, no spring yields both salt
32:02
water and fresh. Again, a spring doesn't produce
32:07
both fresh and contaminated water.
32:10
A fig tree doesn't produce olives.
32:13
A Grapevine doesn't produce figs.
32:16
And if our hearts are filled with the grace of God, then
32:20
shouldn't it overflow with goodness?
32:22
Shouldn't it overflow with gracious words that are like a
32:26
honeycomb? They're sweet.
32:28
Not cursing, not bitterness, not hatred.
32:33
Again, Jesus would say this in Matthew 718.
32:36
He would say a good tree cannot bear bad fruits, nor can a bad
32:41
tree bear good fruits. So again, the fruit of our lips
32:47
finds its source at the root of our hearts.
32:51
The fruit of our lips finds its source at the root of our
32:54
hearts. It pulls up and brings to the
32:57
surface what's deep inside. By the way, it's important to
33:01
note here, James isn't railing against those of us that have
33:06
used our tongue in the past because we've all messed up.
33:09
We've all said things we regret. We've all said things we wish we
33:13
wouldn't. Again, in Jesus, there's no
33:15
condemnation. So that's not what this is about
33:18
here in James chapter 3. He is wanting to prevent us from
33:21
allowing this behaviour to continue into the future.
33:25
So there's a challenge for us tonight in this and this is
33:28
where the Holy Spirit is speaking to us, I believe.
33:31
So our take away from this first part of James chapter 3 here is
33:34
this. To rule your tongue, let Christ
33:38
rule in your heart. To rule your tongue, let Christ
33:42
rule in your heart again because words come from the heart.
33:48
Now going on to Part 2 of this chapter, James is going to
33:52
continue to encourage us in our faith by speaking here of
33:56
wisdom, and he's going to speak of two types of wisdom as we
34:01
close out the chapter, verses 13 through 18.
34:03
He's going to let us know that genuine faith produces a change
34:07
in our wisdom, in our wisdom. So the two types of wisdom #1
34:12
there's the wisdom of self love. The wisdom of self love, verse
34:18
13, Who is wise and understanding among you?
34:23
Now, he's not wanting to test how much you know intellectually
34:26
here. That's not what he's asking.
34:27
Raise your hand and let me know and I'm going to quiz you.
34:30
He says this, let him show by good conduct, by his lifestyle,
34:35
as the idea that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom.
34:40
So he's saying here a truly wise person demonstrates the wisdom
34:45
by good behaviour and meek or gentle deeds.
34:51
It becomes obvious because as we observe your life, as we looked
34:54
at last week in chapter 2, if you talk the talk, you're going
34:57
to walk the walk. If you have genuine faith, James
35:01
could have said this. Let him show his wisdom and
35:03
understanding about how much he knows.
35:05
Let him show it by how smart he is or how educated he is.
35:10
But what he says here is this. Let him show it by good conduct,
35:14
by his lifestyle, by her lifestyle.
35:17
And these works are done, he says here in the meekness of
35:21
wisdom. And that word meek can also be
35:24
translated gentle. It doesn't mean weak in the
35:28
sense that we may think it means weak.
35:30
It doesn't mean I'll show my wisdom by letting people walk
35:33
all over me. That's not what he's saying.
35:36
It is literally strength under control, and it's tied closely
35:41
to the fruit of the Spirit, again, of self-control,
35:44
meekness. In the Greek, as you look into
35:47
it and dig a little bit into that word, it speaks of a
35:50
spirited or a wild horse that is brought under control, kind of
35:55
similar to the picture of our tongue here.
35:58
So the kind of wise person that James is talking about here is a
36:01
person who carries himself with gentleness and wisdom.
36:05
That's biblical wisdom. It's what God loves to see in
36:09
US. Now in verse 14, He speaks again
36:12
here of the wisdom of self love. If you have bitter envy and self
36:17
seeking self love in your hearts, do not boast and lie
36:22
against the truth. Bitter envy here likely refers
36:26
to jealousy that's harbored in our hearts that produces then
36:31
hard feelings in our hearts. It's the root word for the word
36:35
mercenary. That we get someone that is out
36:38
for their own gain is the idea. So this is the kind of person
36:43
that might be threatened by another person's success.
36:46
You know, you're the one at work and you're the one working hard
36:49
and you're putting in overtime hours.
36:51
You're not really getting the attention of the recognition.
36:54
But the dude next to you is the one that's taking his breaks way
36:58
longer than he should. His coffee breaks are going on
37:00
for hours. He's gone for lunch and you
37:02
don't know where he went. And then all of a sudden, he's
37:04
the one that gets promoted and you're the one putting in all
37:07
the work. And the idea here is that this
37:10
bitter envy is someone, though it's hard, that sees someone
37:16
else succeed when you're the one that wanted what they got.
37:20
They're ahead of you. They got the promotion, they got
37:22
the position. And that's going to reveal
37:24
whether or not there's this bitter envy in our hearts.
37:27
It's that kind of an attitude. And if it's there, then James
37:30
tells us here it leads to self seeking.
37:33
That's it's the drive to push yourself then up to the top.
37:37
I'm going to make this happen. I'm going to make people see me.
37:41
I'm going to make people acknowledge me.
37:42
I'm going to let everybody know all the overtime I'm putting it.
37:45
That's the idea. And James then here gives 3
37:48
characteristics of this wisdom of self love.
37:51
And it's not of the spirit, he says, but it's of our flesh.
37:56
And continuing here in verse 15, he says this wisdom that he's
37:59
Speaking of here, it's counterfeit wisdom does not
38:03
descend from above. But notice three things here.
38:07
It's earthly, it's sensual and it's demonic.
38:11
This wisdom of self love is earthly, sensual and demonic.
38:15
Earthly here in the Greek means specifically is of the earth.
38:21
James is using that in contrast to the wisdom that's from above.
38:26
And this wisdom that's of the earth is being more concerned
38:30
with the horizontal, what you think of me, than the vertical,
38:34
what God thinks of me. I'm more concerned about worldly
38:38
standards of success and material possessions.
38:41
That's this earthly wisdom. There's sensual wisdom here that
38:45
literally means soulish or fleshly.
38:48
So it, it speaks here, the inner motives of our heart, our
38:52
thoughts, our attitudes, our interests, our pursuits, they're
38:57
they're not of the spirit. It's not wisdom from above.
39:00
And then thirdly, he says it's also demonic, this kind of self
39:04
love wisdom. He's not saying that it comes
39:06
directly from demons, but that it more closely relates to the
39:10
way Satan would want us to think and behave and then the way God
39:14
would want us to think and behave.
39:16
So these three characteristics, the wisdom of self love,
39:18
earthly, sensual, demonic, it's the world, the flesh and the
39:24
devil. It's our great three enemies
39:27
that we read of. It is wisdom, but it's dark
39:31
wisdom. It's not wisdom from above.
39:34
And James summarizes this by saying this in verse 16 again,
39:38
for where envy and self seeking exist.
39:42
Notice this confusion and every evil thing are so this self
39:48
love, this pride and arrogance and envy like that jealousy that
39:53
eats away at us. It leads to all kinds of chaos
39:58
and confusion and disharmony and disunity and pettiness.
40:05
It's it's called the wisdom of self love.
40:08
James defines the kind of genuine wisdom in contrast to
40:12
that that he says is from above in chapter and verses 17 and 18.
40:19
And as we look at this, the wisdom from above, our second
40:21
point here. I pray that our lives look more
40:24
like this as we're being conformed into the image of
40:27
Jesus tonight as we're being made more like Him.
40:32
He says this in verse 17. The wisdom that is from above is
40:36
first pure, then peaceable, then gentle, then willing to yield,
40:44
full of mercy and good fruits without partiality and without
40:49
hypocrisy. I don't know, it just feels like
40:51
a breath of fresh air to me compared to the chaos and the
40:54
self seeking and the envy that eats away at us.
40:57
It's a beautiful verse again, when you're praying to God and
41:03
you're thinking about a decision that you need to make.
41:08
Maybe you've been asking about God's call on your life and
41:10
you've got an opportunity maybe to take a step of faith forward.
41:13
Or maybe you've got the opportunity to choose between
41:16
option A and option B. And you're at the place right
41:19
now where you're like, Lord, I just need wisdom from above.
41:22
I need to know how to move forward.
41:24
And there's an opportunity in front of you and you don't know
41:27
what to do. We can sit there and we've
41:29
probably all done this and we can say, Lord, is this really
41:31
you? Is this opportunity from you?
41:33
Is this my flesh? Is this the enemy giving me this
41:36
opportunity? How do I know whether or not I
41:38
need to move forward in this or not?
41:40
And there's a grid, I believe here in verse 16 to put some of
41:43
those decisions through. So if you're here tonight and
41:47
you're praying for direction, taking that next step of faith
41:50
forward, I think that the Holy Spirit would speak to you about
41:53
that tonight from from this James says here that this wisdom
41:56
that you're looking for that's from above is first pure.
42:01
So the question you can ask is, Lord, is this opportunity before
42:04
me? Is it pure?
42:06
Pure has the idea of being repelled from something filthy
42:10
or dirty or unclean. And James wants us to know that
42:14
wisdom from above, God's wisdom is never going to lead you into
42:18
anything that's unclean. Never, ever.
42:22
So that's the first grid you can put that through #2 wisdom from
42:25
the Lord is peaceable. It's peaceable.
42:28
That's a huge question. Do you have a peace about this
42:32
next step that you're praying about taking?
42:35
You're praying about making the decision?
42:37
And if your heart is genuine in this now, then do you have a
42:40
piece about it? And if your heart is genuine and
42:44
you really are wanting to follow the Lord, then I believe at that
42:47
point the ball is in the Lord's court.
42:50
Now. I believe He's going to lead
42:51
you. And the problem sometimes is
42:54
he's just trying to find a willing heart.
42:56
Sometimes our heart is just not willing.
42:58
But if you are willing and He is leading and there's peace about
43:03
the decision and there's a settledness in your heart about
43:06
it, then you can take the next step and trust that God is going
43:09
to go before you. It's a beautiful grid.
43:11
Now, this doesn't mean that you're going to have 100%
43:14
certainty about what you're doing.
43:15
Like I absolutely know this is exactly what God wants me to do
43:20
because the Lord always wants any decision we make for there
43:22
to be an element of faith in it. That's why He says we walk by
43:26
faith, not by sight, because He wants us to trust Him.
43:30
He wants us to know that when He takes the next step forward, we
43:33
can follow without knowing what's what's around the corner.
43:37
But it's important for us to know this tonight.
43:39
As you walk by faith, God is never going to lead you into
43:42
trouble. He's never going to lead you
43:45
into something unclean. Wisdom from the Lord is pure.
43:48
He's never going to lead you somewhere just to abandon you
43:51
there and leave you to figure it out.
43:53
He's never going to lead you somewhere to frustrate you.
43:57
He tells us He will be with you to the end forever.
44:01
He's with you and there's great peace.
44:04
And just knowing that his presence is there, it's
44:07
wonderful just to be able to say, I don't know why, Lord, but
44:10
I just have this, this peace, Lord, that you're with me in
44:14
this and that it's OK now for me to take the next step and see
44:17
what kind of doors you'll open from here.
44:21
Verses, as James says in in chapter 1, being back and forth
44:24
and up and down, being tossed like you're on a wave, right?
44:27
And unstable in all of your ways.
44:29
That's not peaceful. And if you're in that place, it
44:31
might be good for you to wait and pray a little bit longer
44:34
until the Lord gives you some more confirmation, some more
44:37
peace as we get ready to wrap up here.
44:39
He says wisdom from above is gentle.
44:42
It has the idea of being reasonable.
44:45
In other words, it's not contentious, it's not upsetting.
44:49
You can reason it out is the idea.
44:52
Wisdom from the Lord is willing to yield.
44:55
So you can say, OK, Lord, there's peace.
44:57
It is pure. And Lord, I can yield to this.
45:00
I can yield control to you. I can surrender, I can yield.
45:03
Lord, it is full of mercy and good fruits.
45:07
So it's good to know that wisdom from above, it's not harsh, it's
45:11
not hurtful, it's full of mercy from the God of mercy himself.
45:16
And then wisdom from above is without partiality and
45:20
hypocrisy. So again, you're not making the
45:23
decision based on pleasing people.
45:26
If you're a people pleaser, that's never the way to make a
45:28
decision. And it's not good to make a
45:31
decision based on the fear of man either.
45:33
If you're worried about what other people will think about
45:36
you, Wisdom is without partiality.
45:39
It's without hypocrisy. The Bible does say, by the way,
45:42
that there is wisdom tells us this in the Proverbs, in the
45:44
counsel of other godly people. So if you're going to make a
45:48
decision, a big decision, it is important to get a couple of
45:51
godly voices into your life to speak on it.
45:53
People that know you, people that are a little bit further
45:55
along in their walk with the Lord that can speak into that.
45:59
But at the end of the day, you make the decision and it's
46:02
between you and the Lord. And so you've got this here,
46:06
this grid. And if you're in that season of
46:09
life right now, or maybe you're listening online or you're in
46:11
the car listening on Grace FM and, and, and you're about ready
46:15
to make a decision or you're praying about making a decision.
46:18
I would encourage you to sit down with the Lord this week,
46:21
sit with this list in front of you and just pray through these
46:24
things and ask the Lord, are these things involved?
46:27
Lord, in this decision? Lord, would you lead me and
46:31
guide me through these things to know whether or not I should
46:34
proceed forward or continue to wait on you?
46:37
Here's our second take away. Our final take away here.
46:40
If you're taking notes, it's a quote from Corey 10.
46:43
Boom. And I love this when it comes to
46:45
wisdom from above, never be afraid to trust an unknown
46:49
future to a known God. Never be afraid to trust an
46:53
unknown future to a known God. That no matter what lies ahead
46:57
of you, God is already there. And in our final verse, verse
47:00
18, the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who
47:05
make peace. So as we close out this chapter,
47:09
and by the way, there's no chapter break.
47:11
So chapter 4 continues his thoughts because he moves into
47:15
are there quarrelings among you and wars among you.
47:17
But what he's saying here at the end of chapter 3, if we bear
47:20
good fruit, fruit of righteousness, of right living,
47:24
then when the God of peace gives us peace, we can become
47:28
peacemakers rather than using our tongues to gossip and
47:32
slander the blood bought sons and daughters of God, his
47:36
children. So with all of this being said,
47:40
again, this book of James is moving from one topic to
47:43
another. It's considered the New
47:45
Testament version of the book of Proverbs, full of wisdom, full
47:50
of practical Christian living as a worship team, which I think is
47:53
just Ian tonight comes back up here.
47:56
I just want to say two things. If you're in the midst of
48:00
needing wisdom today, I would encourage you, the pastors that
48:03
are going to come up front here at the end would love to pray
48:05
for you and would love to just seek the Lord with you to say,
48:10
Lord, this person is asking for wisdom.
48:12
You tell us there are two kinds of wisdom.
48:14
There's one, Lord, we don't want anything to do with that wisdom,
48:17
sensual and earthly and demonic. But Lord, you do say that
48:20
there's a wisdom that's pure. There's a wisdom that's
48:22
peaceable. And remember back in chapter 1,
48:25
James, there's a promise here, James says James 15.
48:28
If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all
48:33
liberally or generously and without reproach.
48:36
God's not going to be frustrated at you for asking him.
48:40
It says if you ask, it will be given to him generously, But let
48:45
him ask in faith with no doubting.
48:47
For he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by
48:51
the wind. For let not that man suppose
48:54
that he will receive anything from the Lord.
48:56
He is a double minded man, unstable in all his ways.
48:59
And that's not what the Lord wants for you.
49:01
He doesn't want you to be back and forth and trying to figure
49:03
out what I should or shouldn't do.
49:04
He, He wants stability in your life.
49:07
He wants peace in your life. He wants purity in your life and
49:11
good fruit in your life and full of works, full of mercy in your
49:15
life, bearing fruits of righteousness, as he says in
49:18
verse 18, to be a peacemaker. That's his desire for you.
49:23
So we'd love to pray for you tonight.
49:24
And then secondly, if you've been struggling with your
49:28
tongue, I didn't choose the topic tonight.
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It's a beautiful thing about going through God's word.
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You just pick up and, and let the Holy Spirit speak to
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whoever's listening and you're and you're struggling with your
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words and you feel the Holy Spirit just that that language
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of the heart that you can just feel him poking and prodding at
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this issue. Then you can ask the Lord
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tonight to come in and do the deeper work of changing your
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heart, changing your heart. You invite him in and he'll come
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in and and make us home in you. He'll dwell in that place that
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you're inviting him into again to rule your tongue.
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Let Christ rule in your heart. So James is saying here, genuine
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faith produces a genuine change in our words and a change in our
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wisdom. And I believe that's God's
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desire for us tonight. So if we need to do some
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business with the Lord, this last song is a great, great time
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to do that. Lord, just fill me with your
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spirit. Lord, would you help me?
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Lord, you, you know, my struggle with my anger, struggle with the
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things I say. Maybe we need to go home and
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apologize to our wives for some things we've said or our
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husbands. Maybe we need to sit down with
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our kids and just say, you know, dad said some things that you
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heard, and I'm sorry for that. Please forgive me, I should have
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never said that. Maybe there's a Co worker that
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heard you lose your patience and you said some things.
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Maybe you can honor the Lord just by going back from saying
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hey look man, I know it's probably not a big deal to you
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but but this was all my heart just to ask for your
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forgiveness. I spoke in a way that wasn't
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representative of Jesus. Would you forgive me?
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That'll blow their minds by the way.
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And again, maybe you're here in your needing wisdom asking the
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Lord for those next steps. God is good.
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He's gracious to us. Again, these things that James
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is Speaking of, though they are heavy, they are weighty, they
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are convicting. We're not under condemnation.
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This is the spirit of the living God that's wanting to move us
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forward in Christ like this. The whole point of the book of
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James is that we'd walk and grow in maturity.
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He just wants us to grow up when it comes to the way we talk,
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because the way we talk reflects what's in US.
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So again, let's just sing this song.
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Let's pray. Let's ask the Lord whatever it
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is that He's doing in our hearts tonight to continue that work.
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And if you need prayer, come forward at the end.
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We'd love to pray for you tonight.
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We pray that you've been encouraged by this Bible study,
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delivered live from the sanctuary of Calvary Church.
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For prayer, call us at 87730 Grace that's 877-304-7223.
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To listen to this message in its integrity or to join us for our
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live stream services, visit us online at Calvary Co dot Church
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or download our free Calvary Church app.
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Be blessed as you worship Jesus this week.