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June 24 - James 3 · A Chapter a Day Bible Reading

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  Hello, friends. It's shown here.
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  It is Monday. It is the 24th of June, and you
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  and I are starting a whole new week together.
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  Hello. Thank you for your company.
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  Good to have you with me as we are continuing to read through
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  the book of James. And today we talk about the
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  tricky old thing that we all have, the tongue that we can use
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  to great good or terrible evil, depending on how we use it.
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  Yeah. Yeah, I'm sure we all have
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  stories of the way other people have spoken words of deep,
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  profound encouragement and deep, profound hurt.
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  And here James encourages all of Jesus followers to use their
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  tongues kindly and gently and wisely.
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  Oh, we can all do with that encouragement.
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  So as the week ahead rattles around in our head, we're still
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  ourselves. We put it all down going to take
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  a deep breath and we say, come Holy Spirit, let these words not
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  just challenge us, but encourage us as saved children of the
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  living God. You ready meet who?
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  Let's do it. Let's read together James
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  Chapter 3. Dear brothers and sisters, not
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  many of you should become teachers in the church, for we
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  who teach will be judged more strictly.
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  Indeed, we all make many mistakes, for if we could
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  control our tongues we would be perfect, and could also control
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  ourselves in every other way. We can make a large horse go
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  wherever we want by means of a small bit in its mouth, and a
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  small rudder makes a huge ship turn wherever the pilot chooses
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  to go, even though the winds are strong.
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  In the same way the tongue is a small thing that makes grand
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  speeches, but a tiny spark can set a great forest on fire.
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  And among all the parts of the body, the tongue is a flame of
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  fire. It is a whole world of
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  wickedness corrupting your entire body.
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  It can set your whole life on fire, for it is set on fire by
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  hell itself. People can tame all kinds of
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  animals, birds, reptiles and fish, but no one can tame the
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  tongue. It is restless and evil, full of
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  deadly poison. Sometimes it praises our Lord
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  and Father, and sometimes it curses those who have been made
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  in the image of God. And so blessing and cursing come
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  pouring out of the same mouth. Surely, my brothers and sisters,
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  this is not right. Does a spring of water bubble
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  out both fresh water and bitter water?
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  Does a fig tree produce olives or Grapevine produce figs?
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  No, and you can't draw fresh water from a salty spring.
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  If you are wise and understand God's ways, prove it by living
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  an honourable life, doing good works with the humility that
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  comes from wisdom. But if you are bitterly jealous
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  and there is selfish ambition in your heart, don't cover up the
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  truth with boasting and lying. For jealousy and selfishness are
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  not God's kind of wisdom. Such things are earthly,
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  unspiritual and demonic, For wherever there is jealousy and
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  selfish ambition, there you will find disorder and evil of every
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  kind. But the wisdom from above is
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  first of all pure. It is also peace loving, gentle
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  at all times and willing to yield to others.
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  It is full of mercy and the fruit of good deeds.
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  It shows no favouritism and is always sincere.
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  And those who are peacemakers will plant seeds of peace and
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  reap a harvest of righteousness. Ah, thank you Lord Jesus for
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  this encouragement to hold our own ambition and will and weighs
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  more lightly. Ah, it says that your wisdom
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  encourages us to yield to others, but Gee, that's hard to
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  do. We've got our own thoughts and
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  and our own ideas of the way things should be done, and we do
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  not want to let go of them. Jesus, I pray that you soften
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  our hearts. Give us a love of peace.
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  Fill us with mercy and sincerity so that as we have a posture of
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  love toward each other, that that would indeed shape the way
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  that we relate to others, and that we would hold their wishes
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  with equal esteem as our own. No, this is not easy for us, so
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  we are going to need Your help. Holy Spirit, transform us.
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  Let your Kingdom priorities break down our stubborn hearts
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  so that we can be more like you. Jesus, you have shown us exactly
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  what it looks like to love and to live this way.
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  Thank you for your example and for empowering us each day to be
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  more like you. So we pray all of this in your
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  holy and precious name. Ah, man.