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The Power of Words and True Wisdom 0:03 Welcome to the men's global livestream in session 3, of our walk through the book of James, where James, the half brother of Jesus, is encouraging us0:15 where God is creating in us as his men a faith that works. In this series, we're being encouraged to be men who are who are consistent to live out truly what it0:26 is that we say, that we believe, that we'd be a people whose words and whose actions line up, that our hearts and our hands would be heading in the same direction,0:38 that we would not just be people who who talk about the things of God or who admire and look up to Jesus alone, but that we would be people who follow after him. We would not be people0:50 who sit in judgment of God's word deciding which parts of it we agree with, but there would be people who were changed by God's word. That we would have a faith that works.1:03 We would be people who were who were consistent. You hear a lot about the word integrity. Comes from the word integer, meaning a whole. Sailors would also use this word to describe the1:14 integrity of a line that was the same strength and composition all the way through. And that's what we want. That's the type of faith we're praying God creates in you and me through1:26 this series in James that we would have a faith that's the same all the way through no matter what it is that's in front of us. Alright. Let's go. Let's jump right into the text.1:38 Grab a Bible and turn with me to James chapter 3. I'm gonna be reading and teaching from the New Living Translation. This is God's word for you and me. James chapter 3 beginning in1:50 verse 1. Dear brothers and sisters, not many of you should become teachers in the church, for we who teach will be judged more strictly. At first, you2:02 know, following the thread of chapter 1 and chapter 2, you might read an exhortation towards teachers and think, random? Where where is James going with this? I thought he was talking to this big group of believers and2:14 now he's calling out teachers. This seems to be 1 of James' tangents that we talked about. But hang with me for moment. Okay? Remember, James is talking to the believers who have been2:25 scattered. Right? Jewish followers of Jesus living under Roman rule. And apparently, a large number of them has decided that they wanted to become teachers, which is a great thing2:37 except for the motivation. See, many of them desired the prestige that being a teacher of the law provided for them. That was why they wanted to teach. And so James is telling them, hold on guys. You don't know2:49 what you're signing up for. See, these people were either, right, not qualified, maybe they lacked the natural ability or maybe they lacked a practical understanding of the law. And so what they were teaching was3:01 questionable. But their desire to teach was for how it made them appear. Right? For what they would gain from it. And so James is warning them. And I love that James starts off by saying,3:13 hey, we, including himself, we who teach should be careful because God's expectation for us are higher. And now3:25 this introduction to teachers, right, starts to connect to everybody in the audience at this point because what is a teacher's primary instrument? What is the primary tool that a teacher3:37 uses? It's their tongue. It's their mouth. It's their it's their words. And so it's not that verse 1 comes out of left field, but rather starts you and I off on a long3:48 journey to understand the potential power and impact of the tone. James starts off by correcting and challenging the words of those who teach to the greatest number4:00 of people. That's why he starts with teachers. And like I said, James is very focused on how our words and our actions are supposed to line up. So today, we're diving into the impact of4:12 our words. Right? That our words carry the potential for incredible good or terrible evil. So while he starts off with teachers, by verse 2, he brings everybody in. And he4:24 says, indeed, we all make mistakes. For if we could control our tongues, we would be perfect and could also control ourselves in every other way. I love that James just laying it out there. We all make mistakes.4:36 Okay. I'm I'm with you, James. But then he sets the stage for how serious and how challenging controlling our words is. James says, if we could control our tongues, we would be4:48 perfect. We would lack nothing. What he's saying is, it's almost impossible to control the tongue. James said back in chapter 1. Right? When he urged you and5:00 I to be quick to listen and slow to speak. And now he starts to unpack a little more as to why. James is gonna go into the impact and the effects that the words that5:12 you and I use so frequently and so casually can have on the lives of the people around us. And it's more important for us today, I would argue. Because today,5:24 our words go further and last longer. Our words go out further to a larger audience. They are far more reaching, and they're far more permanent.5:37 Instantly. The invention of technology of Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, heck, even simple messaging means that the words that you use and the words that I use5:49 even digitally go out at greater speeds into a larger audience than ever before to a much farther reaching audience than maybe we intend. And our words are immediately6:01 permanent. The speed at which we fire off messages, text of how fast we treat or post, it's it's unbelievable. We are moment by moment sending our thoughts and6:13 our opinions and our judgments out into this world. And my fear is, if you're anything like me, more often than not, that happens very carelessly. I know I'm guilty of this6:25 daily. I get a text. I send a text. I read a text. I respond to a text. And I very rarely pause to consider my tone, the content, how this is going to be received, what6:37 it is that I'm conveying to this person. I treat it as if it's a different type of communicating. And I think for us today, the encouragement is that let's consider all the words that we use,6:48 spoken, written, recorded as falling under the instruction of the Holy Spirit given to us through James. And here's 1 of the problems. With that receive a7:00 text, send a text is that our emotion has a chance to be arisen a lot faster than sometimes our own conscious thought or the control of the spirit. And as a7:12 culture, we are extremely reactive. We are a reactive culture. As a culture, we respond immediately and emotionally. If there's anything we've learned in the last7:24 couple of years, it's that we're extremely volatile. As a culture, we hold on to our opinions and we'll fight and argue to the death. We're easily outraged by everything, and we're very quick7:36 to respond. Even though we just said, James encouraged us to be slow to respond. And in that, we would be slow to get angry or the opposite, we're immediate to respond and immediate to become angry.7:49 We rarely listen to the people around us, their opinions, and especially if their viewpoints are in opposition to ours. What's strange? Jesus Christ was the very opposite.8:01 This is Jesus, the God man, the embodiment of all wisdom, of all knowledge, who knew all things, even the secret thoughts of the people around them. And yet, he chose8:13 to be a listener. He was slow to speak. He was incredibly slow to become angry. I love the story of Jesus', parents losing him. Right? 1,8:25 as a as a parent, it's nice to know that I'm not the only person who's misplaced a child for a time or 2. Can you imagine the argument between Mary and Joseph on the way home? Well, I thought you had him. Well, I thought8:35 you had him. This is God's son. He's not gonna be happy with us. But we find Jesus, he's hanging out in the temple. And listen to what it says about how even a young8:46 Jesus was responding, how he interacted with people. 3 days later, they finally discovered him in the temple. Sitting among the religious teachers. Check this out. Listening to them8:59 and asking them questions. Jesus was engaging in real and honest and humble conversation. He wasn't blowing the opinions of other people up even though he knew exactly what they needed to9:11 hear. He knew exactly where there was untruth in their understanding of even the scripture. He could have corrected it all. But look at what it says. The response was of the people who9:22 encountered this listening Jesus. All who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. You want to amaze people? Listen.9:35 Seek to understand before seeking to be understood. You want to amaze people in our culture? Be a person who listens. And then when you speak, weigh your words9:46 carefully. I mean, let's see just exactly how important words are according to James. We go back to the text, pick it up in verse 3. We can make a large horse go9:58 wherever we want by means of a small bit in its mouth. And a small runner makes a huge ship turn wherever the pilot chooses to go even though the winds are strong. In the same way, the tongue is a small10:10 thing that makes grand speeches. So James is starting to lay out another truth for us and he does so by giving us 2 word pictures. And in both of these illustrations, we see something incredibly10:22 small controlling something incredibly large. We see something that's seemingly insignificant that has incredible impact. He says that this large10:33 horse is directed by a small bit in the mouth or a giant ship is controlled by a small rudder and even says, even though the winds are strong And what he's saying like our words10:46 is that these things that are very small and seemingly insignificant, a text, a conversation, direct something much larger, our relationships and ultimately our lives.10:57 And the simple and incredible truth is this, words are incredibly powerful. Words are powerful, incredibly, and immensely11:10 impactful. But here's the question. Will our words be an incredible force of blessing, bringing life, or cursing, bringing death?11:22 Every year, for almost the last 10 years, my family and I have had the privilege of partnering with YWAM's Homes of Hope Ministry at, at their Baja branch, and and we go down there and we build a11:34 home. We take a ton of our friends, all of our kids, we go down, we start the weekend with a giant concrete slab in the ground, and 1 very excited family. We get to know them over the next11:46 2 days and with old school, a hammer and a bucket of nails, we turn a pile of wood into a home. It's tons of work. It's incredibly exhausting.11:58 It's incredible. Because what happens, right, at the end of the day, when we pray for this family, we hand them the keys to their home, the benefit that they're receiving is astronomical. I mean,12:10 the kids no longer have respiratory problems because they're not sleeping in the dust. Kids that come home to a home do better in school. Right? The family unit stays stronger. There's feelings of of strength and12:21 security and life is better. And I always sit back and look at the box of hammers as we're putting them away and think that tiny tool did12:33 that. That tiny tool did that. This hammer was incredibly powerful. But on those same trips, when they're misused, I've seen12:45 hammers do incredibly bad things. I've seen them split fingers when kids aren't paying attention and break bones. I've seen nails go through hands. We've used hammers to break12:57 apart wood that was wrong. We've seen kids carelessly put 1 right through fresh drywall. See the power of the hammer in the circumstances was the same. In both instances,13:09 the power was the same. The different was the intention and the outcome. The potential impact did not change. The hammer had incredible potential. And just like a13:21 hammer, our words can be used to build up or tear down. The difference is direction. And so we have that choice in front of us. Will our words be13:33 used to build up, to encourage, to admonish, to teach the very word of God? Or will they be used to criticize and judge and tear down? And James is just trying to get you and I to13:44 understand how gnarly and important this choice is. Look at verse 6. Among all the parts of the body, the tongue is a flame of fire. It is a whole world of wickedness,13:56 corrupting your entire body. It can set your whole life on fire, for it's set on fire by hell itself. Well, thanks, James. What an encouraging14:08 word. You might hear that and think, set on fire by hell itself? This seems a little bit extreme. I don't I don't feel like that. But if you look through that14:19 verse and you've lived for any amount of time, you know that it's true where it says that it can set your whole life on fire. Because I'm guessing, if you're anything like14:31 me, you can think of instances that you said the worst possible thing at the worst possible moment. We're all capable of it. We're capable of destroying14:43 our worlds with a word. Never forget, I was surfing with a good friend of mine. They had 4 young kids. We had been surfing all day. The surf was great. We get home, and his house is a nuclear14:55 war zone. Kids are, like, hanging from the roof. The house is just a disaster. His wife was desperately trying to clean up, and he strolled into the kitchen without thinking. I have to believe15:07 it was without thinking and said, hey. What's for dinner? I kinda slowly started looking for the exits and trying to back away because I did not wanna get caught in the crossfire that was about to15:19 come. The look on his wife's face said it all. He went white realizing his mistake and said, oh, I'm sorry. I I I shouldn't have said that. Right? Recognizing what15:30 was implied, the dinner should have been ready. That while he was out surfing, his wife not only was watching this brood of minions, but was also supposed to be making him dinner. A careless15:43 word can cause incredible hurt. It just says it can set your whole life on fire. And this is a funny example. Right? Kind of a laughable light hearted example, but we've all seen and experienced15:56 probably on both sides exactly what the tongue can do. We've all felt and been burnt by the fire that is the tongue. So just like that bucket of hammers,16:08 where our tongues can either be used to build up or tear down, our tongues can either be a fire that gives off warmth or burns up. It can give off the warmth or it can burn up.16:20 My family and I like camping. I know what you're thinking. Camping was great until they invented, you know, houses and the indoors, but I do like beach camping. I like camping where I can get up and I16:32 can surf and I can go to sleep and I can listen to the waves. But if any of you are campers. Right? If you're mountain campers, you're beach campers, desert campers. You know, nighttime is about 1 thing. It's about16:44 the bonfire. Right? You sit around the bonfire. You tell stories. You sing music. You laugh. You just zone out, mesmerized by the flames. Right? Cowboy TV. So whenever we go16:55 camping, we fill our car with wood, an insane amount of wood because we don't wanna run out. And as soon as we get there, we either look for the fire pit or if there isn't 1, we we build 1. We make sure17:07 that there's a fire pit. And then, we pile that thing up. Everybody's got their own strategy. Right? Build it. You're a teepee guy or you're a kindling guy or you're a small frame or you're just a lighter fluid guy. But17:18 either way, you get the fire going and inevitably, no matter what I tell them, my kids always do the same thing. Within the first 5 minutes, they found sticks, they've17:30 stuck them in the fire and caught them on fire, and now they're running around the campsites of dry Southern California with torches throwing embers. And I'm just waiting for the news story about17:42 how the Davis family burned down California. You see, fires can be incredible. Fun like places to talk, to tell stories, to review your day,17:54 to sing songs or just relax and have a meal. You can cook your food on the fire, but it can go real bad real quick. And you see, the fire is not the18:06 issue, but how we choose to use it. See, fire in a ring, amazing thing. Fire out of context taken and run about a18:18 campsite, it can do incredible damage. Our tongues are not the issue. The words are not the issue. It's how they're used. It's the content and the intention.18:30 It's something for us to remember with our words because oftentimes, like we said, we're reactive. Our words flow more out of emotion, out of the flesh and we all know how that turns18:42 out. As followers of Jesus, we should continually be narrowing the gap between the response of my flesh and the control of the holy spirit.18:54 That I should be coming less and less and less as he's becoming more and more and more. And now my actions and my reactions are being informed by the word and controlled by the19:06 spirit as followers of Jesus. This is the direction we should be going. Proverbs 13 3 says, those who control their tongue will have a long life. Opening your mouth can ruin everything. Can I19:18 get an amen? The writer of this proverb is now connecting the very quality of our lives with our ability to control and reign in our tongue.19:30 But in this, I don't want you to misunderstand me because the answer is not silence. The call then is not to just stay quiet. Right? If I don't remember, since the time you were 5, if you can't say something nice,19:42 don't say anything at all. That's not what we're being called to here. The entire encouragement is that as god's people, we would not become mute. We're not called to shut our19:54 mouths and just seethe with anger. No. No. No. No. There's a specific way we're supposed to use our words. Paul encouraged the church in Colossi, like this, Colossians 4 6. Let your words be20:06 gracious and attractive so that you will have the right responses for everyone. He's assuming that we'll speak. He's just telling us what it should sound like. As followers of Jesus, you20:18 and I are absolutely called to speak. The gospel itself is words. It's a truth. It's an idea to communicate about the nature of our sin and the20:30 free gift of salvation. We must speak, but we must do so in a manner that draws in rather than pushes out. Our words should be full of grace,20:41 he says. What if we did that? What if we actually did that? What if even with the people in your life and in my life that we most disagree with, who have the20:53 most opposing views religiously, politically? What if those who are least like us felt words from us that were gracious and21:04 attractive? What if conversations with friends or even complete strangers? What if everything posted on social media? What if every debate that we had in21:16 courtrooms or classrooms or boardrooms or coffee shops was informed by this? What if even your most opposing, political viewpoint friends? You21:28 know, the ones would say about you, you know, I know Dusty and I do not see eye to eye. I know we believe completely different things about this country and how it should be run. But you know what? He always listens to21:40 me. I always feel respected. His words are always graceful towards me. What if from the church that professes the name of Jesus,21:51 those who are living lives apart from him, those who are a part of the LGBTQ community. What if what if their response to us was, you know, those followers of Jesus, I know they22:03 believe differently about how it is that I'm living, but I always feel loved and cared for. But I always feel listened to. They are always so kind towards22:16 me. Maybe there's something to the teachings of that that Jesus guy. What if our coworkers and neighbors or roommates or friends or even the people who make us most angry22:29 said, you know, everybody in this world is so angry except for my buddy. That guy, Dusty. That guy was always talking about Jesus, man. There's something different about him. I think that there would be more people22:41 wanting to hear about the 1 we've placed our hope in. I think our witnesses would grow. I think Jesus would be glorified. I think if we spoke the truth in22:53 love, the people would be drawn to the sun. Because being loving, being slow to anger, weighing our words does not mean that we hide the truth. Love is23:04 not telling someone all of their decisions are right. Love is not agreeing and celebrating with every decision that sets itself up against the knowledge of scripture. That's not love. True love23:16 speaks truth. So we do not sit by passively why our friends hurt themselves or live in direct opposition to God's word. But the way that we reach out to them looks very different. Just23:28 look at the example of Jesus. Did Jesus allow untruth to go unchallenged? He did not. But he didn't show up to the woman at the well and criticize her and point out her sinful life. And what do you expect you're gonna23:40 get? He said, no, daughter. If you came to me, I've got something more for you. Holding the truth in incredible love. What if we did that? Let's do that. Let's match23:51 our deepest convictions with deep compassion. Our deep convictions about the things of God with deep compassion that flows from God. Truth in24:04 love. Guys, we need to be aware of how we're communicating, not just what we're communicating. And even the types of things that we talk about, our tone,24:16 the nature. Right? The way that we convey compassion and not just about what other people experience, but but what it would reveal about us. Look at John chapter 6 verse24:28 45. Jesus says this about how what we say reveals what's going on inside of us. A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil24:39 things from the treasury of an evil heart. What you say flows from what's in your heart. We're not just talking about white knuckled self effort. We're not just talking about24:51 reining in the tongue because here's a harsh truth for you and me. Harsh words are a heart problem. What's coming out of here is revealing what's in here.25:03 According to Christ's words in Luke, the things that you talk about and things that I talk about reveal what's really going on in our heart. It's a heart checkup. It's not just a discipline or a control25:15 the tongue thing. What I say reveals what I really believe, what's really going on in my heart. And so I have to listen. I have to reflect on the conversations that I have,25:27 the way that I talk to people. Do do my words convey a heart that's full of pessimism and fear? That things are not going to get better. That maybe God's not in control. Do my25:39 words convey that I've been hurt? That maybe people are untrustworthy as a whole? Do my words carry a tone that that tough things and tough situations are pretty much what we can expect and life's just25:51 not gonna get better? Or do they convey hope? Do they convey trust in the lord Jesus even when we don't understand? Do my words convey that god is who he says he is?26:04 That he's gonna do what he promised he's gonna do. If everything coming out of my mouth is negativity or burning other people, criticizing, pulling down, doomsdaying about the nature of our world and where it's going,26:15 then I need to pause and say, what is going on in my heart? I mean, how can the spirit of God occupy the same space as so much fear26:27 and doubt and worry? For us who are followers of Jesus, we should be experiencing transformation. Transformation of the heart26:39 that then works itself out in new words. Second Corinthians 5 17 reminds us that our salvation makes us new. That the spirit brings about a change in you and I that is tangible, that is26:51 actual, that is visible, that everyone around us can see. Look what the scripture says. This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is27:02 gone. A new life has begun. There's so much, this is so much more than than losing your temper versus not losing our temper or or swearing at somebody versus not or the occasional27:14 gossip. He's saying that this new heart produces a new pattern of speech. The things we talk about and the way that we talk about it, our our our words start to become influenced by27:26 the scriptures of God. And I love James's encouragement in the very beginning. Right? Like, guys, we all we all screw up. We all mess up. But where he's getting at here is, there's gonna27:38 be the occasional mess up, but what is the ongoing and constant stream of words from your mouth say is going on in your heart? I mean, James27:50 even talks about the inconsistency of a mouth that both praises Jesus and then curses the people that Jesus died in order to save. I mean, can we be a people who take28:02 seriously the way in which we talk? Who maybe pause before sending a text? Who in the the odd occasion hold our tongues and don't respond28:14 at all. And be a people who constantly revisit what it is that we're saying, what is revealing about our lives. Alright. James now turns his thoughts, in in28:26 the last few of our running vases of chapter 3 to talk about about wisdom. Right? Remember, this isn't new because right in chapter 1, James remind us that as followers of Jesus, wisdom is a promise. It's It's28:38 not something we're aspiring to or hope to achieve 1 day for the man of God. Wisdom is a promise that when we lack it, we seek the Lord and he will give it to us. But it's important to clarify28:49 something here, I think. Because when we're using the word wisdom, we're talking a lot more, talking about a lot more than just intelligence, than just factual knowledge, than just just29:01 being smart. Wisdom is about applying the truth of God in the situations of our lives. Because the wisdom we have is proven by how we29:13 live. I mean, you wanna see a man who is wise, you look at his life. You don't listen to only his rantings. Look at verse 13. If you're wise and understand God's ways, here's that29:25 connection, prove it. Prove it by living an honorable life, Doing good works with humility that comes from wisdom. I love it. It's29:37 the ongoing call of James. Do the stuff you say you're about boys. To live differently based on the fact that we believe differently. And look at this call out. Right? I love this.29:49 We're called to live this life out in humility. And then James says that true humility comes from wisdom. Isn't that interesting that so often30:01 knowledge puffs up, factual data puffs up. He's saying wisdom, wisdom is always humble. And if that's true, pride always arises from foolishness. If humility is the30:13 hallmark of wisdom, then pride is the hallmark of a fool. Pride is foolish. Wisdom, right, that applied knowledge,30:25 it's humble. We take the truth and then we put it into practice. I think our world has grown tired of followers of Jesus saying they're about certain30:37 things and then watching them live in direct contradiction to that. But I love it. James gives us a bit of the the kind of the other side of wisdom and reminds us that true foolishness,30:49 and and look at the outcomes where pride is allowed to to live. Verse 15 and 16 paints a horrific picture. For jealousy and selfishness are not god's kind of31:01 wisdom. Such things are earthly, unspiritual, and demonic. For wherever there is jealousy and selfish ambition, there you will find disorder of every31:13 kind. Here's the problem though. K? Our culture worships self. We're just told to be selfless, to not have31:25 selfish ambition or jealousy, and yet we live in a world that loves and serves and lifts up the individual. I mean, it's odd because we've redefined all of these selfish pursuits in our31:37 culture. Pride is now simply confidence. Arrogance? That's just having a good self image. That's healthy. Jealousy? No. That's just31:49 motivation. He's not jealous. He's just driven. Envy? I mean, that's just you wanting to get ahead. That's just you wanting to go out and achieve. Because we love32:01 celebrating the individual, and we love the individual that desires to be celebrated. And yet James is telling us point blank. Guys, that type of behavior, that type of thinking, it's got no place amongst God's32:12 kids. Because if we wanna look like Jesus, then we have to do like Jesus. We have to choose humility, and humility is not natural.32:24 It is not natural. Humility is always a choice. Humility is always a choice. It's always a decision. We choose32:37 to humble ourselves. We choose not to lift ourselves up. We choose not to desire to be seen or followed or respected. But I32:48 do want to encourage you all. This is not an invitation to abuse. Humility does not allow sin.33:00 Humility does not allow someone to treat you improperly. That's that's not humility. Humility is rightly seeing God for who he is. And in light of that, rightly seeing myself for who I33:12 am. And if I'm a child of God, I can't invite abuse. Humility is simply not trying to put my name at the front. It's trying not to steal the same glory that the enemy himself desired to33:24 steal from God. And I love it. We kinda bottom all this out in verse 17 recognizing what true wisdom looks like. What does it look like then, James? But the wisdom from above33:36 is first of all pure. It's also peace loving. It's gentle at times. It's willing to yield to others. It's full of mercy and good deeds. It shows no33:48 favoritism, and it's always sincere. And those who are peacemakers will plant seeds of peace and reap a harvest of righteousness. How contrary is that to those who consider34:00 themselves wise in this world? Like we said, knowledge puffs up. This is saying that that true wisdom is peace loving. No, it's not. True wisdom means you're right and it it's argumentative and it's demonstrative.34:12 This says that it's even gentle at times. You can see the person of Jesus, the embodiment of all wisdom. And yet he was he was peaceful and he was gentle and he was humble. It says it's even willing34:24 to yield to others where in our world, right, might makes right. And when you're right, man, you're you're worthy of being followed. You're worthy to win the conversation.34:37 And yet this whole verse is about being someone who is a peacemaker. I mean, our entire lives, our entire aim as34:49 followers of Jesus is to get the people in our lives in front of Jesus. Is to push them in front of the savior that they might have the same life changing encounter that we35:01 have. And I think this is a reality that we have to cling to. Depending on how I speak and how I act, how I love people, and even the motivation in my heart, I have35:13 to ask myself, does my life leave people saying, what a great and impressive guy or what a great God? Who gets the glory?35:25 Who gets the glory in my life? I wanna live so that people see my life and praise God. I don't I don't want their35:37 praise nor do I deserve it nor will that lead any of them to the foot of the cross. And I have that choice every day as do you. We can live for our own glory, for our own name, building our own kingdom, satisfying our35:48 own desires, or as a faith that works itself out of our hearts, we can live like James encouraged us to live a life of peace, showing gentleness,36:01 being full of mercy and good deeds. Right? From the other chapters, not showing faithfulness, being, sincere, not showing favoritism rather, being sincere. Being men whose36:13 words and whose deeds line up. That's our challenge. That's what's before us. Will we be men who weigh our words and36:24 then intentionally use those words to lead people to Jesus? Heavenly father, I thank you for your word, for the gift of your word. God, I pray as we go out this week, we36:36 would weigh our words that the truth of your holy scriptures would come out of our mouths and that they would bring life. That we would be like36:48 hammers that build homes in your kingdom, that we would be like fire that gives warmth to the people that you died to save rather than hammers to tear down and fires to burn. God, may we be37:00 men whose words speak life and truth and all of it in grace. In Jesus' name. Amen.In this video 0:00 The Power of Words and True Wisdom
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