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Empowering multimedia ministry for bold Christian living: Weekend Messages, Deep End Podcast, Deep Dive Bible Study. Tim Hatch, Lead Pastor, Waters Church, 26 years of pastoral ministry, book author.
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0:00 You are listening to Waters Church podcast. Waters Church is a multisite, multigeneration community of faith on the East Coast of America. Now for a message from our pastor.0:13 Take out your notes. They look like this if you're in house. If you are not in house, we do have it available digitally at waters church dot guide, and it will look like0:25 that. Waters church dot guide, and then you can click on today's message, and it will look like that. You can fill in these blanks digitally. Wanna say hello to our pray dot com audience. I think something like 600000:37 or so people follow us there. Wanna say hello to those on YouTube and Facebook. Hello everybody watching this message by video. Everybody in house, could you welcome them in? 1 church, many locations. Glad that you are0:47 with us. And we're gonna get into the nitty gritty of our lives in this message because James is gonna talk about the fact that we all have a concealed weapon on our person0:59 right now. Not on our person, but in our person. Yeah. You don't have to have a license to carry. You don't have to have a permit for it. It was given to you at birth. It's called your tongue. And it can do1:10 incredible things. It can also cause incredible damage. And this portion of text, this one's a big 1. This one's this one's hard on me. And we're gonna see why in just a moment. I1:22 wanna talk to you about the power of your words. The power of your words. Here's the thing about words, you can't get them back. They leave and they're1:34 out there. And then they do their work for good or for bad. Heard somebody say it like this, that words are like toothpaste. Now now1:46 I wanna give you the scope of what I'm talking about here. That when words crest your1:58 lips, you see, I'm already in trouble with my words. These are terrible jokes. Okay. But how many know there's nothing better than a full tube of toothpaste? Oh, yeah. Isn't that great?2:10 But I I'm in the constant habit, well, my family, of not having enough toothpaste, and so, you know, the other end of this experience is hell on earth. Anybody know what I'm talking about? You're twisting. You're2:20 pinching. You're squeezing. You're folding. If you're like me, you unfold it just to think, oh, I'll refold it again and see if I can squeeze. And how many have ever done this and you squeeze that last bit and it's like2:31 Murphy's Law. You're squeezing so hard, your hand's shaking, and the toothpaste, the last bit that you need, just kinda misses the toothbrush that ends up onto the sink. You anybody know what I'm talking about? And how2:43 many come on. Let's be honest. How many of us have done the dirty deed? You know you've done it. You take the toothbrush and you scrape that2:55 bit of tooth. And I'm come on. Raise your hand if you've ever I'm just kidding. Oh my. That was a trap, you sickos. What's wrong with you? You don't how many germs are on your sink?3:08 Walked right into that 1, didn't you? Okay. I've done it. I have done it. I'm sorry to say. How many know though you should probably just go to work with bad breath that day? We wonder why COVID spreads so3:19 fast and so furiously. Alright. But I thought about it, and this is a picture for us. This toothpaste is like our words because like this toothpaste, when it comes out,3:33 there's no getting it back. How how how important is it to take real ownership of what we say?3:45 Because there there's and I have some plastic here to catch all that. Is anybody out of toothpaste? Is anyone? We gotta take ownership of what we say because there's no getting him back. James3:57 talks about the the tongue, and he opens this passage kind of interestingly. Actually, wish he didn't talk about it like this, but he actually just talking about people like me. In verse 1 and and 24:08 of our chapter, James 3, he opens by saying not many of you should be what? Teachers. Teachers. Let me put this in modern water church vernacular. You don't want pastor Tim's job.4:20 Uh-huh. Here's why. Because this thing is representing God right now. I'm speaking for God. There's a high calling on that. You understand that God takes his reputation4:32 very seriously. 1 of the top 10 commandments is don't take the name of the Lord your God, what? In vain. In vain. We we think that's about using his name as a curse word, and it is, but it's more than4:44 that. It's about our whole lives reflecting the re the the reputation of God around us. They will think of Jesus through how they see us. And4:55 how much more so for those who, like me, dare to stand on a stage, open my mouth, and and say, thus saith the Lord. High calling. And we5:07 know this is true. God holds his leaders, his speak those who speak for him in a higher accountability because there's a guy named Moses who leads the people of Israel out of Egypt with 10 mighty5:19 plagues through 40 years of wandering in the wilderness, and he doesn't get into the promised land because he broke God's word 1 time with the waters of Meribah when he smashed the rock5:31 with the rod. And God said, you did not hold me as holy in the sight of Israel. Therefore, you're not going all the way into the promised land. That's called stricter judgment. Centuries later, there's a guy named Eli.5:42 He's the high priest of Israel, but he's got unruly sons, and they are priestly leaders in the temple. But they're sleeping with women in the temple, and they're also stealing the best portions of the people's offerings.5:53 And God is thoroughly displeased, but Eli never corrects his sons. And and so God sends a prophet and says, Eli, because you haven't corrected your sons, all 3 of you, your sons and you are gonna lose your life on the6:05 same day. And Israel suffers a tragic battle defeat at the hand of the Philistines, and all 3 die on the same day. God holds his leaders accountable at another degree than other people.6:17 Secondly, people hold the leader accountable at a higher degree. I mean, I'm I'm starting to, like, look at my back because I'm seeing pastors fall left, right, and6:28 center. It's a sad day where we see those who would deign to speak for God, being filled with the most worst kinds of sin, and and that's why I'm asking you to pray for me that6:40 God's hand of protection would be upon me because I am a pastor, but I'm also flesh and blood, and I wrestle with the flesh just like you. But for that reason, Paul, James says, don't aim at being a6:52 teacher. It's a higher level of judgment. And this is why. Verse 2, because we all stumble in many ways. Circle many in your notes if you don't mind. We all stumble in many ways. Everybody stumbles. Your pastor7:03 stumbles. You stumble. Your wife stumbles. Your husband stumbles. Everyone stumbles. If we if we are perfect in what we say, we are a perfect person. Here's what James is saying. You7:15 get a hold of this, everything else is a cakewalk. But it is in many respects the last line of conquest for the Holy Spirit's work in our lives.7:27 It is the last territory that we need to take. Because raise your hand if you've ever said something that you regret. Oh, yeah. I think about the things that I've said from this7:39 pulpit that I regret. The things that I've said to my wife that I've regretted or my children. We are all in this same battle. That's why David says in Psalm 1 41 verse 3, the prayer is7:51 so powerful. Father, set a guard over what? My mouth. Set a guard over my mouth. Watch over the door of my lips. You know, the tongue lives in a wet place and that's8:03 why it often slips. In his wisdom, God put your tongue in a cage of ivory, but it still gets out of jail once in a while. Anybody know what I'm talking about?8:15 Proverbs 21 23 says, whoever keeps his mouth and his tongue keeps himself out of what? See, some of you don't even realize this. You're blaming everybody else for the trouble in your life. It might be your8:27 mouth that's getting you there. As Abraham Lincoln famously said, better to keep silent and let people assume you're a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.8:39 I mean, you know, that's what it is. We have foot and mouth disease. We have foot in mouth. Foot not and foot in mouth disease. And we get ourselves into all kinds of trouble. And yet, God8:51 uses people who fail him. And yet God uses the apostle Peter to be the leader of the church in the in the first9:02 century, in the first day of the church's life on the day of Pentecost. Peter who could not control his mouth on several occasions said the wrong thing9:14 at the wrong time regularly. God sanctifies him. God changes him. God uses him to bring thousands to Jesus through his preaching. So9:26 there's 6 visible illustrations in this text. I don't know if you saw them, but I'll I'll I'll list them for you. That James uses to talk about our tongues. He calls them like a bit in a horse's mouth, a rudder of a9:38 ship. He refers to them as a fire, an untamed animal, a spring, and a tree. 6 illustrations. But I've broken these up into 3 categories, and I wanna talk about those9:49 categories in your points. I wanna talk about the potential of your tongue, the problem of your tongue, and the prescription of your tongue. Write this down, number 1, the potential of your tongue. My tongue or my words10:00 determine the course of my life. Your life will be driven by the words that come out of it. You've got potential inside of10:12 you. Right here. Right here inside of you. And there are 2 pictures, first off, about potential of our tongue that James talks about. They are similar, and they are different. They are similar in that10:24 they both are transportation pictures. He call he talks about a horse, and he talks about a ship. And these are 2 transportation objects. You ride a horse, you get somewhere. You ride a ship, you get somewhere10:36 further. And I think what James is doing under the guidance of the Holy Spirit is talking about this, that your words can shape your immediate moments, and your words can shape your10:48 long term reality. Your words can shape your immediate Somebody say immediate. Immediate. And then somebody say long term. Long term. Both realities about your life are shaped and11:00 driven by your words. Let's talk about the first 1. Letter a. The tongue as a bit directs my moments. You could change your moment by changing your mouth. You11:12 could change your reality in the immediacy by changing the language that comes out of your words. So for instance, there are some powerful words that you can say.11:25 1 word, 1 statement, 1 phrase can well, at least not everything, but could start the process of changing your atmosphere immediately. Amen. Husbands and11:36 wives, I got 1 for you. This is this is so good. Your marriage is about to start the process of getting healed by 2 simple words. Are you ready? Here they are. I'm sorry. You11:48 could start the process of getting over that angry argument, that fight that just was so simple started over something stupid and now you're not talking to each other, but you could start to change the immediacy of your12:00 moment by saying, I'm sorry. Or maybe you're arguing. Maybe you've just drifted and you could rekindle the romance by saying, I love you.12:13 3 words. Changing the tenor of the environment immediately. You you could change your atmosphere at work by12:24 complimenting someone else. How many know when you compliment someone else, they start to think well of you? And maybe you've got all this angst at work because you're the 1 always saying12:36 negative things, bad things, derogatory things. And you think about my work. I can't stand it. Nobody likes me. Well, what if you went there and said, I'm gonna make them like me. I'm gonna love others12:48 with my words. You could change your job starting tomorrow. Now, some of you, you might have a long history. You've gotta undo that for a couple of months. But it's12:59 possible. The potential is there. And a horse, you think about you pull the the bit on each side of the horse, it makes an immediate impact. That's why I think James starts with the horse illustration.13:11 You can start changing your immediate moments right now. Verse 3, we put bits in the mouth of horses and they obey us, and their whole bodies go wherever we direct. So I want you to write a couple points down under this13:23 is number 1, or the first thing there is a short word can determine a day of my life. Like, I'm sorry. I love you. You look good13:34 today. Proverbs 15 verse 1 says, a soft answer turns away what? Maybe some of you got some angst and and, you know, contrarian relationships in your life13:46 because you keep lashing out. They lash out at you. You lash out at them. Here's the way to fix it. You turn the tables upside down and you say something13:58 nice, encouraging, edifying. See what happens. Like really mess with them. This could be fun for someone. Like you14:10 could totally mess with someone tomorrow and they coming at you and you could just feel the tension start to rise up and be like, hey, I really like that shirt on you today. That looks good. And they don't know what to14:20 do now. They are disarmed because a soft answer turns away wrath. Likewise, a stupid word, write this down, can destroy a day in my life. A stupid14:32 word can destroy a day. Hey, if you're a parent, you should never say the words to any 1 of your children. Why can't you be more like blank? You are destroying a day in their life. You might be14:43 destroying their entire life by constantly comparing them to someone else. Here's another, another terrible way to speak, and this is gonna be healing for some married people14:55 and some parents and children right now. Words like always and never about the other person. Can I tell you that you should always try to never say15:07 either of those words? Why are you always like this? Well, they're not always like that. You never come through from Well, that's not true either.15:18 You never say anything. No. No. No. Stop it. Stop. These extreme words can destroy the environment of your life. You15:30 gotta understand that your words have potential. Somebody say potential. Potential. Jesus took this seriously in Matthew chapter 5. Right up there with looking lustfully and,15:42 right up there with, you know, hating somebody and and swearing falsely, he says this, that if you look Matthew 5 23, if you say to your brother, you fool. Verse 22. You say to your brother, you fool,15:54 you'll be in danger of the fires of hell. Your words can do irreparable harm, and they are going to hurt somebody or heal16:05 somebody in the short term. So good news. Okay? Good news, bad news. Bad news is sometimes it's hard to do. Good news is that if you start to get, you know, some humility in your life and you start to build up others and16:17 you start to encourage, there's some good days ahead. And listen, this is the best part. Are you ready? It costs you nothing but your16:29 pride. You don't have to pay a therapist for this. You don't have to pay a family counselor to come in here and try to, you know, get you guys to harm. You could16:40 without paying anybody, just humbling yourself and saying something positive about someone or to someone else. Start the process of healing. Whoo. I'm so excited. We could end the16:52 message right there and be done and have a good word. But I got a lot more to say. Letter b, the tongue is a rudder. It determines my long distance future. So it's a bit in the mouth of a horse. Now17:04 think about the pictures here. A for a horse and a ship. A horse and a ship. The horse, you pull it and immediately it adjusts direction. A ship, here's how James says it, is large,17:16 verse 4, is so large and is driven by strong winds, but a small rudder can change its listen to this,17:28 long term trajectory. That's the difference. Horse, you yank the reins, it immediately turns. A ship, you turn the wheel, the rudder turns, but listen, we we make some pretty stinking big ships17:40 today. I mean, that's have you ever been on a cruise ship? It's like a floating city. Well, the the the rudder turns, you don't feel it immediately, and you don't see necessarily the trajectory change immediately. But17:51 over the course of a couple days, instead of being in the Bahamas, you're in Bermuda. Anybody know what I'm talking about? Well, I wanna ask someone here today, what words are you planting today18:02 that are gonna produce fruit 10 years from now in your life? See, even God's word in the gospels is referred to as a seed. Somebody say seed. Seed. Jesus says the word is like a seed goes into the18:14 ground and then it starts to produce. Well, that's what it is. That's how words are in your life. In fact, I would suggest that you are the result of your words words from 5 years ago, 10 years ago. You might be18:26 the result of somebody's words to you when you were a child that you're still living with to this day. So wake up and realize the potential of your words. And think about this.18:38 Parents, parents, parents, think about this. What are you saying about your children? Oh, you're just such a you're just such a stubborn child. Oh, you're just such a naughty boy. And I get it. Sometimes18:50 we need to correct our children, but but we need to encourage them. We gotta build them up. Look. Remember when it was you going to school and just trying to19:02 avoid getting beat up for 8 hours that day? Anybody remember that? And then you come home and mom and dad beat you up too? How damaging that can be. And I think about parents. You got so19:13 much potential because your kids are gonna be here when you're gone. Like, if all goes well, they'll be here, and they're gonna still be able to tell people what you were like when you're dead. Wow. I want my19:25 kids to say good things. Anybody with me on that? I want them to be able to get up at the funeral and say, my dad, I loved him so much. I don't want them to get up and say, let me tell you the truth about my dad.19:35 Alright. I don't want that. So I made a commitment when when my children were first born that I was gonna say a phrase over their life. And some of you have heard me say this many times. I'll say it again because it19:47 bears repeating, and I want you to do this for your children. And I would pray over them, and I would say, father, I pray that this daughter of mine will become the greatest woman of God in her generation.19:59 When my son was born, I'd pray the same thing. And my second son was born, I'd pray the same thing, and I'd pray it over them. They gotta listen parents, they gotta hear you. They have to hear you because those seeds are20:11 gonna go into their souls. And and and here was the greatest thing I had ever experienced with parenting. I remember when it got too weird for me to pray over my daughter alone. You know what I'm saying? But I she would20:22 pray over herself alone. And I remember I was walking around the outside of her door of her bedroom, and I heard her quietly praying to God on her own. Father, I pray that I become a mighty woman of God in my generation.20:35 You see, the words that you're saying today are gonna bear fruit 10 years from now. Same thing goes for your marriage. You might have to say, I'm sorry20:47 today, but you've just begun. That's just the immediate impact. Okay. The horse the horse has been turned, but the ship, that's gonna take some time. So you're you're gonna have to start20:59 being diligent on a daily basis to let them know that you love them, to let you know to let them know that you're glad you married them, that you're glad you have them,21:12 that they are still a wonderful blessing to your life. And you say, pastor, you don't know what I'm dealing with. No. I don't. I21:24 don't. But I will suggest this, and this is gonna pinch. They aren't the person you married. The person you married was the product of21:36 their parents, but the person you are now married to is the product of you. Stop blaming their mom and dad for what you made them to be.21:47 After 10 years of saying the same thing and talking the same way. At some point, right, at some point, we gotta take ownership of the chance to change the trajectory of this cruise21:59 ship. Peter says in first Peter 3 10, I love this phrase. I love this verse. He says, for whoever desires to love life. Anybody anybody right there, like, I desire to love life.22:11 I don't wanna get up in the morning and say, I hate life. I wanna wake up and say, love life. Oh, life is good. God is good. I am on I am on fire today. This life is a blessing. I want that.22:23 Well, good good news. It's very simple. Peter says, here's what you gotta do. Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from lying. And good things will result if you wanna love your life.22:35 And again, this costs nothing. This costs you no money. You don't have to pay a therapist. You don't have to buy a prescription. You just22:47 have to use this to the potential that God has given it. Write this down. Words change worlds. You can change your family's world with words starting now.22:58 You can change your child's world with your words starting now. Someone in this place, you're yet to found find the 1. You're looking for the 1 who was the 1. I'm waiting for23:10 the 1. When will my 1 come? Open your mouth23:23 to 1 of these beautiful single people at Waters Church and say, what are you doing after church today? Amen. Right?23:36 I wish I said It could it could But I know it's not that easy, but you gotta start somewhere. You gotta see right there, words that just kinda put you back a couple of23:47 She said it's not that easy. No, it's not. Oh my god. Yank the reins, turn the ship's wheel, and see it happen over the long term.24:00 Who who who could change? 10 years from now, you'll be looking back at that message saying, wow. Pastor was right. Words change worlds. Like this24:11 country is still the greatest country in the world. But there was a time where we had the stain of slavery and the the the scourge of segregation. And we treated24:23 people in the color of the skin. We treated them like they were less than human. How did that Do you ever think about how did that change? Because a man named Martin Luther King Junior got up on the National Mall and24:35 said, I have? You know the words, don't you? The words changed the world. Amen. Amen. And then in the last generation, there was something called the Cold24:47 War. This, you know, latent hostility between the US and the USSR and and the fall of communism. Pretty much the last The straw that broke the camel's back was when Ronald Reagan stood before24:59 the Berlin Wall and said, tear down this wall. Words change worlds. And, you know, Winston Churchill, he he saved the west from Nazi25:10 fascism because he stood before parliament and said, we will never surrender. Yeah. We will never surrender and change the world. Yes. And then even this country for all of its faults and failures, still25:22 the greatest country in the world. But it was born because a guy named Patrick Henry stood up and said, give me liberty. Give me that. Oh, give me. Isn't it amazing how we almost all know all these phrases? Because words25:33 change worlds. Yeah. What How are you using this incredible weapon? So when it comes to the church, when it comes to your life group, if you're in life25:45 group or small group or whatever or whatever you're communicating with other Christians, here's what Paul says in Ephesians chapter 4. Look at these absolutes in this text. He says, let no. Somebody say no. No.25:57 No what? Corrupting talk come out of your mouth. Now the Greek word for no is no. It26:09 means none. Zil let no corrupting talk come out of your mouth. But only again, another absolute. Only such is good26:20 for what? Building up. As fits the occasion that it may give grace. Another phrase could be another way of saying that could be that it may benefit those who hear.26:33 See, some some people, you're just victims of everybody else's actions towards you. You're victims of everybody else's words, but you could change the conversation by being the proactive life speaker.26:44 And if you've got God, the Holy Spirit living inside of you, can I tell you, you've got a creative you've got a creative genius living inside of you? God the Holy Spirit is a genius.26:56 He knows exactly what to say at the right moment. These are the what what what what scholars call the manifestation gifts of the Holy Spirit. Know, if, first Corinthians 12 and 14, and27:08 and 1 of a couple of those gifts are words of wisdom, saying wise things at the right time. Words of knowledge, knowing what to say at the right moment, and just speaking. And then27:20 there's something called the gift of tongues, which I practice and many of you practice, and not everybody has it. No. Paul says that at the end of first Corinthians 12, but I think that tongues is a spiritual language27:31 God gives you because you would never pray what you would pray in tongues if you knew what you were praying for. That's good. Yeah. That means that tongues are for the stubborn Christians among us. That's God's way of27:43 circumnavigating your intellectual will and getting you to pray what you need to pray for. Amen? And and so I think about how much potential is in is in your mouth27:54 and take it seriously because God does. Jesus says in Matthew 12 verse 36, he says, I tell you that on the day of judgment, everyone will give an account for every careless word28:06 they speak. And then he says, by your words, you will be justified. What does that mean? You'll be saved. You'll be saved by your words. Really? Pastor, really? Yeah. Because the scripture says28:18 in Romans 10 9 and 10, it says, for if we confess with our mouth, Jesus is Lord, and believe in our heart God raised him from the dead, we will be saved. For with a mouth, a man professes and is28:30 justified. Amen. Okay? So we are saved by our confession. Amen. This is how you get saved. You acknowledge I am a sinner. Lord Jesus, forgive me through your shed blood on the cross28:41 2000 years ago. I declare today that you are my Lord, and you are justified. Yeah. That's it. You're justified. But conversely, you're condemned28:53 with your words when you reject Christ. When you say, I don't need you to die for my sins. I'll do it on my own. I'm a good person. No. You are not. Come on, somebody. And the thing that shows that29:05 you are not a good person more than anything else is this. So there's the problem. And there I'm sorry. There's the potential of of the tongue. Likewise, there's a29:17 problem with the tongue. That's number 2. The problem is this, that my tongue can destroy the chronicle or the story of my life. It can destroy it. It cannot only destroy the chronicle of my life, it can29:29 destroy the chronicle of other people's lives. So I wrote a book called ending emptiness, and and I opened with the story about Ernest Hemingway. Ernest Hemingway, probably 1 of29:41 the greatest writers of the last century, but he was a womanizer. He was a pagan. He was, an adulterer, but he had I mean, the life of dreams,29:53 found out that it wasn't enough, and at the age of 61 blew his brains out. And he had a couple of notable friends. One's one's 1 of his friends was f Scott Fitzgerald. F Scott Fitzgerald wrote The Great30:04 Gatsby, 1 of the greatest, you know, novels of American history. But you know what F. Scott Fitzgerald said about Ernest Hemingway? He said that when he was struggling with writer's block, he couldn't produce anything.30:15 And that and and this is a sad case for a lot of writers is that they write 1 seminal work, they can't come up with anything to match it, so they never write again. And he says that what destroyed him was the day that30:24 Ernest Hemingway came up to him and said, you once did something great, and now you're nothing. And f f Scott Fitzgerald died just a few years later in absolute despondency. Words30:36 destroyed his life. Conversely, words can empower your life. Before Gabby Douglas, before Flo Jo, before Jackie Joyner30:48 Kersey, there was a woman named Wilma Rudolph. And she was born and raised, but she had polio. And doctors told her mother that she would never walk on her own strength ever in her31:00 whole life. And she cried tears all the way home. Her mother sat her down on the couch and said to Wilma, honey, you will walk again31:12 because we are going to believe it. Wilma credits that word, that sentence with the courage and the confidence she needed. Eventually, she taught herself to walk31:24 and no longer needed braces on her legs or crutches. And she not only learned how to walk, she learned how to run and became 1 of the fastest runners in our country. In fact, she was the first female Olympian to win31:36 3 gold medals in the 19 sixties Olympics. From from polio to the top of the podium. Come on somebody. What made the difference?31:47 Words. Words from her mother. Wow. Who whose whose life is about to get on the road to a gold medal in some environment because of the words that31:59 you're gonna start saying? But but but it's not easy because there's a problem. Here here's the problem that James addresses. Alright? Verse 5. How great a forest is set ablaze by a small fire. It doesn't take much to32:11 get a fire roaring. It's kind of interesting because a drop of water can't flood a city, but a spark can burn it down. And, the 19 the 18 71,32:23 Chicago fire, a very notable disaster in American history, It it actually destroyed 17000 buildings. It burned for 2 days, and it caused 400000000 dollars worth of damage in 18 hundreds32:34 money. That's annihilating an entire city because of a fire. The fire started when a cow, that's right, a cow kicked over a lantern in somebody's barn.32:46 A lantern. A lantern fell and a city burned. This is the strict warning. The the ominous warning that James is making here in this text,32:58 and and he's gonna go on with some word pictures again. And I wanna give you some some some more points under this. Write this down in letter a. My speech creates a system for my life. My speech creates a33:09 system, a an order, if you will. A machine. The machine of your life is being run on the gasoline of your words. Here's what he says33:21 in verse 6, and the tongue is a fire, a world. Circle the word world. A world of unrighteousness because the word world in the Greek here is cosmos. That that refers to the system of our33:33 universe. The solar systems and the galaxies and all these. And what he's saying is your world your words create an a universe, a33:45 cosmos, a structure, a system to your life. Are you the person that people come to you with gossip about other people? Do you know why? It's good. Come33:56 on. Because they know they've got a listening ear. Guess what you are? You're a gossip. Do do do people come to you with the dirty34:08 joke at the job? Guess what that makes you? The dirty person. I mean, I I hate to say it, but it's true.34:20 But your environment, you understand? You've created that environment. You gotta hear their heart before you get the healing. Because some of you, again, your victim34:32 mentality is, why are all these people so negative around? Maybe it's you. Good. Maybe you attract negativity because they hear negativity coming out of you. Wow. Maybe you attract hate because they hear hate34:44 coming out of you. What is what what are you planting in your life? Here, you're creating conversely, you could create an environment of praise. Amen. An environment of encouragement. You could you34:56 could create an environment of thanksgiving in your life. Like, starting now. You can go home with your husband or spouse or if you're alone. And you can go home and you can just sit down in the couch. You can just say,35:07 thank you, Jesus, and start to list all the things that he's given you and he's done for you, and you could change the entire system of your life. Does anybody have a friend that you just love hanging around because35:18 they're always positive? Not many hands are up. Man, we gotta change this atmosphere. Okay. I wanna be that person. I wanna be that person. Like attracts35:30 like, and your words are attracting the same kind of speakers back at you. Letter b, my speech stains my life. Now stain in this text,35:42 James says it like this. In verse 6, he says that your word is a fire staining the whole body, setting on fire, the course of your life. And and and here's the truth about stain. There's good stain, there's bad stain.35:55 Because if you got any kind of colored fabric on your person right now, a staining process went into the fabric to make it that color. That's a good stain.36:07 But you squeeze the ketchup bottle a little too hard in the wrong direction, you got a bad stain. Same is true with your words. What what what colors are you putting on your person?36:20 And I think about the word fire in this text is so important because when fire burns something, how many know there's no getting the smell of smoke out of that thing? You36:32 ever rent a car and you immediately know if the person before you was a smoker? That's because smoke stains. Yeah. Your words stain your life and you can't36:44 get out of it. You can't get it out of your life. This is why it's so important to guard your mouth. Guard what comes out because all that's coming out is staying, staying, staying. And and the36:56 Lord doesn't want your life stained in bad ways. He wants your life stained with good things. And so number 3, the prescription because that tongue is gonna get you in trouble. Here's the37:07 prescription. My tongue needs the direction of Christ. Now, James is gonna make this point, although it's gonna be vague. So that's why I'm here. Let me unpack it for you and37:19 how he talks about you need Christ to do this for you because all of us are susceptible to saying stupid things and and harmful words at the wrong time.37:31 Yeah.37:31 Here's how he says at verse 7. Every kind of beast, bird, reptile, sea creature, they could all be tamed, and they have been tamed by mankind. Now what I find fascinating is that James wrote this 2000 years ago before we37:43 had circuses, before we had zoos, before we had Shiamu. Right? Well, we can all go to the circus and we can see the guy open the lion's mouth and stick his head in it. We can all go37:55 to the zoo and see the animals caged up. We can all go to SeaWorld and see the killer whale jump up and entertain us. They have been tamed. Bad news though. Verse 8. But38:07 no human being can tame the But no human being can tame the38:18 tongue. Okay. Pop quiz. It's an easy 1. Are you a human being? Yes. You can't tame the tongue. Come on, somebody. I can't tame my tongue. You know what James is38:30 doing here? He's diagnosing the real problem. The real problem is not your heart. I mean, it's not your tongue. The real problem is your heart. The real problem is that your38:42 heart is coming out of your mouth. My heart, write this down, is the thermometer. My tongue, sorry, is the thermometer of my heart. I can't The thermometer, wouldn't38:54 it be wonderful if you could take the thermometer and change the weather? How many were like that? I'll take 73 degrees and sunny. Amen. Right? But no, a thermometer just reveals the temperature. Your tongueShow more
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