The Church of Eleven22 - Wk 4: Watch Your Mouth

Episode Date: January 27, 2019

“for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.” – Jesus (Luke 6:45) 29 Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. – Ephesians 4:29 Should I say it? Is it gospel (grace-filled) truth? Is it timely? Is it helpful?

Amen and amen. Isn't that awesome folks? Hey, if you got your Bible, I hope you do. Grab it, go to Second Timothy. As you know, we are in this journey. We call the One Initiative, where we're really just rooted in the Shema. The Lord, our God, the Lord is one. And we're asking ourselves this question over and over and over. Is he the one thing that drives everything?

And the way that plays out for us is that we're one church. We exist to reach one more and especially one more generation. And we believe God has laid on our heart as a segment of that one more generation that it is God's calling in our life to roll out the red carpet for families that have children with special needs. And so a big part of what the one initiative is in regards to families with special needs is this night to shine. And so I need you to be there. I know all the campus pastors just announced that, but join me because just like you heard in that video, man, there have been people that looked at these children or folks with special needs and said some very, very terrible things.

and we are going to stand face to face with these folks, eyeball to eyeball on the red carpet and say some very wonderful things. We're going to say God loves you and God has a plan and a purpose for your life and we love you and we are glad that you are here tonight. Amen? That's what we're going to do. And so a part of what we're going to do too, like the campus pastor just mentioned, this Friday we're going to go watch a hockey game together

where people say very terrible things to one another. for the glory of God to raise money for this thing. So please be there for that, which leads us to our text. We are going to talk about the power of words. Now, I'm going to be honest, man. I'm the worst in the room at what I'm about to preach. I mean the worst. Now, I will also humbly confess, I can rock the first three weeks of this series so far.

I mean, passing on the faith one more generation, crushing it. Been doing it for 20-something years, all right? No fear, no problem. I really don't operate in fear, all right? Making disciples, literally been doing it for a long, long time. Get to this, watch your mouth. Uh-oh. Houston, we have a problem.

Would anybody join me in confessing saying, I think I got a mouth problem, all right? Now, let me just warn you real quick. I'm not talking to you about your wife's mouth. I'm not talking to you about your husband's mouth, your dad's mouth, your kids' mouth. We're talking about our own mouths. This is all we're concerned with in our time here together, because I know what you're going to do. You're going to begin to think, my boss should hear this, all right?

This is probably going to be one of the most shared sermons of all time. And if you're not careful, you'll miss the point that God may have something for you. You know you've heard this phrase growing up. Sticks and stones may break my bones, but what a lie. Is that not a lie? Man, I remember, I grew up in a house where my daddy spanked me, often, okay? And I know some of you didn't grow up that kind of house. It's obvious, we know, okay?

Part of a problem. That's a different sermon. I can remember this day. I was sitting, he would do the, it was pretty good. He had like a whole process to it. It was, you know, he'd say all the dumb stuff. It's going to hurt me, morning it hurts you, all that. He had this one belt move, ninja.

And it would all come out, and he would fold it in half and give it a couple of pop pops. And when he did, you know, you'd be like, come on, man. But he would always send me to my room first to think about it. I didn't realize what he was doing was calming down. So it, you know, so it was appropriate. it. And I remember the day he walks into my bedroom, and I just, at this point, I was good at receiving. I'd been through this drill so many times. I got it, man. He would make me tell him why I was getting a spanking, and then I would assume the position. So he comes in and I said, I'm sorry. And I just

immediately went to take the position. And he goes, no, no, no, sit right there. And I thought, and he sat down on the bed next to me. And I thought I was getting punked or something. Like I was, Is this being recorded? Is this a joke? What is Jesus coming back? That is a sign of the end of times. I'm pretty sure. And then he says to me, son, I am so disappointed in you.

And I thought, oh, dear, just hit me with a stick, please. Don't tell me that. By the way, parents in the gospel, you should never tell your kids you're disappointed to them. You should say, that was wrong. These are the consequence. It's no problem. But remember, Jesus is the propitiation for your sin.

Therefore, that's the payment that's satisfied. so God is not dissatisfied in you. So you don't want to look at your kids and say, you didn't live up to the expectations. In fact, you should expect them to be wretched, wretched little sinners that will fail often. And you should whip them until they don't. No problem. But just don't connect those two things.

But I remember those words were exponentially worse than any spanking I had ever received in my life. Words are so, so powerful. And so what Paul is doing with Timothy, now is as he's talked to him about faith is not just something that happens to you but happens through you and he lays his hands on young timothy and speaks words of life into him for god did not give you a spirit of fear but of power and of love and of self-discipline or self-control and self-control and then he says now timothy be about the business of making disciples and make disciples and make

disciples now what he's going to do is he's going to settle in on a specific area of discipleship that according to the Apostle Paul is going to be one of the most important areas of discipleship of his whole life, of his whole career, of his whole pastorate, of all the church at Ephesus, and he's going to talk about the power of our tongues. He says this in verse 4, remind them. Now the them are the people that he's disciplesing. The them here are that check this out from last week, 153 people last weekend that surrendered their life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Amen?

And the them included in that number is our campus at Baker Correctional, where 23 men last Monday surrendered their life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Amen. So he says, remind them of these things. And in case you don't remember last week, these things are the gospel. Remind the Christians of the gospel. And now here's a new subject as a result of the gospel. Charge them before God not to quarrel about. words. I don't even know this. There was a time in church history where church people used to quarrel.

Can you believe that? Some things never change. Which does no good, but only ruins the hearers. In other words, watch your mouth because your mouth can have collateral damage. The things you say are not just evidence of what is in your heart. But the things that you say have the potential to ruin the people that hear the filth coming out of your mouth. And I'm not just talking about bad words. He says, do your best to present yourself to God as one approved. And you would look at that and you go, okay, Paul, how? How am I supposed to present myself to God as one who has been approved by God? And he's going to say, well, it's going to start with your mouth.

to which you may have said, are you serious? Do words really matter? I mean, are words really that important? How many times have you caught yourself saying, well, it just slipped? Does that count? Or, well, I'm just saying. By the way, if you ever find yourself saying, I'm just saying, you probably shouldn't just say it, okay? Do you know Jesus says, you know, this verse scares me to death. Jesus says that we will be held accountable for every word that we speak. Every word. Like when your husband left the room, but you continue the conversation as if he were still in the room. That's one.

Okay? Every word. Do words matter? Well, think about it biblically. In the beginning, God. Creates the heaven and his earth. How? He speaks by one word of his mouth.

He speaks into existence everything that is. The earth and the moon and the solar system and the stars. He speaks it into existence. Or John chapter one tells us this, that in the beginning was the Word. And the Word was God and the Word was with God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. This is how important words are. That when Jesus is in the boat with his disciples and the wind and the waves come and he was taking a nap,

like every Christian should, and the disciples are paralyzed in fear, and so they wake him up, and they're like, Dear Jesus, save us. Do you remember how he calms the wind and the waves? He doesn't go with a hand motion. He speaks peace to the waves, and the wind and the waves calm down. When he resurrects Lazarus from the grave in John chapter 11, he does not roll away the stone, go into the tomb, and tap the dude on the head and be like, come on he stands outside of the tomb and with a word he calls Lazarus back to life words matter like crazy I mean think about this Hitler split the world in half with words Churchill defeats Hitler

with words they never physically fought one another when you stood in an altar and you said I do you didn't just say something but your words did something. Your words were covenantal towards one another. Martin Luther King Jr. changed our country forever. Not with an army, but with

words. Man, words matter so much. And you and I were created in the image of God. And he spoke this world into existence. Do you realize that you and I speak new worlds into existence every day? And we either speak words of life or words of death.

speak them into existence every day. Jesus says this, for out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. Words matter. In fact, Jesus would say, you don't have a mouth problem, you've got a heart problem. Or my grandma would say, you don't have a potty mouth, you have a potty heart. You see, what he's saying is this, okay, this is a water bottle, and if I shake it up, what comes out of it? Everybody's always nervous.

They're like, Jesus. No. Water. Why? It's not because I'm shaking it. It's because water is in there. When you get shaken, what Jesus is saying is what comes out of here can only, only reveals what is deep down in your heart. Jesus would say words don't slip. Words spill out, but words don't slip. Words matter. I don't have time to go through all of this. I'm going to just read most of it. But if you go to the book of James, the book of James, James talks a whole bunch about words. And we'll put them on the screen. But the crazy thing about this is that James, did you know that James is the brother of Jesus? By the way, if you're kind of on the fence about this Christianity thing,

I think this is pretty compelling evidence that you should consider Jesus is who he says he is. And here's what I mean. James became a follower of Jesus after he saw Jesus resurrected from the grace. Anybody here have a brother or sister if you do raise your hand? What would it do? What would they have to do to convince you that they were the son of God? Think about that first. I have a brother.

He attends our church. He's a deacon. He's a great dude. But if he came up to me and he was like, behold. I don't think so. Okay. But James believes. believed his brother Jesus is who he says he is.

And then James writes a letter, and it's preserved for thousands of years. It's in our Bible. Here's what James says. James says this. He's talking about words. Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers. For you know that we who teach will be judged with a greater strictness. I don't like that verse.

I wish it wasn't in there. I didn't get to write it. For we all stumble in many ways. If anyone does not stumble in what he says, is a perfect man able also to bridle his whole body. Is there anybody here that would say, I've never stumbled in what I've said ever once. I've never said a thing and went, I wish I could take that back. Ever? Right. James is right. What he's saying is so goes the mouth, so goes me. He says, now if we put bits into the mouth of horses so that they obey us,

We guide their whole body as well. It's an illustration. Just like, you ever taking your kid, like horseback riding? It's kind of a weird sight, is it not? Your little tiny, you little girl, she's this big, and she's on this monster animal. And she says go this way, and a thousand pounds goes exactly where she tells it to go. James says it's like this. You get control of this thing, hooked to the front of your face.

You can control everything about your body. And he goes, look at ships also. Though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. So also the tongue is a small member, and yet it boasts great things. That the tongue, relatively speaking to your whole body, is kind of little. There are eight muscles in your tongue, and they never get tired. And every husband said, amen.

All right, so they never, you could talk nonstop and your tongue never gets worn out. It's this tiny little thing, and yet it's a small little member, and it boasts great things. It says this, how great a forest fire is set ablaze by such a small fire. Now, I don't know that people in the first century had seen a forest fire before, especially like in Jerusalem, not a lot of forests. But we see, we see it on the news week after week after week, of the people. out west that are losing their homes and cities are being wiped out. And it all started with one person with one match, said, this isn't that big a deal. And it turns out to be a really, really big deal.

How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire that just with the power of your mouth, you could change everything for the worst quickly. I have been in ministry full-time ordained for 25 years. Just by the words that I speak during this sermon, I could ruin my entire career. You get that? I could just decide to say, you know what, forget this, and just tell you what I think sometimes.

And guess what would happen? Next week when you'd show back up, the elders would be up here. They would be like, you remember Pastor Jobi. That's how that would go. Relationships have been burned to the ground because of words. Opportunities have been burned to the ground because of words. This is what a big deal we're dealing with here. And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness.

The tongue is set among our members staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life and set on fire by hell. That's a pretty strong language, isn't it? it's like you know how when your mind gets connected to your tongue and there's some thoughts in there and you want to say these things James is saying hey man you're just like everybody else that the enemy has cursed you and is trying to get you to spit fire this is what a big deal it is he goes on to say for this is crazy

for every kind of beast and bird of reptile and sea creature can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind. Every kind. Like none of us are running from the saber two tiger anymore or that kind of thing. Okay. We catch the most dangerous animals in the world, put them in cages, put them in the zoo, pay money to go by and look at that and be like, wow, look at that. There's one of those. That people used to run from rhinos and all of that now, you know, back in the day, and lions. And now you can just go, you can pay eight bucks and go, look at one. We could do this with any animal on the planet, is what he's saying, but no human being can tame the tongue, that our tongues are untamable. To which you say, well, okay, James,

so what about that? He's like, I'm not finished. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. are words. You see, words are like, like once they go out, they just do stuff. They just do stuff. My daddy used to say words are like toothpaste. You can't put them back in the tube. No, I promise you, some of you're going to try that

tomorrow morning. You're going to be like, it won't go. How many of you have ever been, you've got this thought, and you hear your mouth, you feel your lips start moving, and your tongue start wagging, and the words are coming out, and you are trying to grab them,

and they just won't come back. They are a poison. He says with it, with our words, we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. That's crazy, isn't it? And he's especially, he's talking about us. Like in the next two hours of our lives,

we will simultaneously sing, we'll use this thing hooked at the front of our face to say, praise God from whom all blessings flow. And then we will look at people created in his image and say, what is wrong with you? And James is saying, there's a problem. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing.

My brothers, these things ought not be. Does the spring pour forth from the same? opening both fresh and salt water. Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives or grapevines produce figs, neither can salt pond yield fresh water. He's saying, listen, from the same mouth come blessing and cursing. And listen, and I'm not going to get into like what words are appropriate and what words are inappropriate because a lot of it has to do with motive.

Did you know that you can bless people with cuss words and cuss people with bless words? Do you realize this? I mean, I can't tell you. tell you the number of times that, especially at 1122, man, I mean, you know, this church is a movement for all people, and I've had people come up to me multiple times at down here, at the end of the service, I'm down here shaking hands, hey, how are you doing? And people, a guy multiple times, not the same guy, different people come up to me and say, that was an effing great sermon.

God bless you. Thank you. You know? And that's a dozy, isn't it? I mean, that's like a, whoa, okay, just went all the way to the one. All right, cool. Now, honestly, now I'm not for that word. I'm not saying you should, whatever. What I'm saying, though, is the brother literally is trying to bless me. And yet, if I preach a sermon and my grandma comes up to me and she says this, we'll bless your heart. Do y'all know that's a curse? If you're not from the South, that just means, oh, you're just too dumb to talk to. So just bless your heart. It is, man. It's just true. It's just true. So all of this, according to Jesus, according to Paul, according to James, all throughout the scriptures, we see over and over and over the power of words. And so Paul to Timothy says, all right, Timothy, do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth, talking about the scriptures, but avoid irreverent.

Bible for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness. He says, Timothy, as you pastor the church at Ephesus, we need a whole lot more of this Bible and a whole lot less of this, your opinion. And I'm telling you, man, in pulpits all over the world, we need a whole lot less copy and paste and a whole lot more prayer and study. This is why, by the way, if you're new here. I mean, I for sure share my opinion, but we primarily just go through books of the Bible. We just go verse by verse, by verse, by verse. Because this is the truth. This is the truth. And so Paul has given Timothy this great warning. A part of what he's saying here is you need to get in the habit of rightly handling the word of truth that we as a church, you as a Christian,

need to get in the habit of it being normative for you to be speaking Bible verses. In fact, on your way out, when we get finished, we're going to put this cool little card, says Timothy on this side, and it's got three Bible verses for you, so that what I want us to be in the habit of doing is not just repeating the chatter that we hear from our world, but literally speaking God's word over yourself and over people. because the Bible tells us that this is the living and active Word of God. It has a supernatural power to do things in your life that you just can't do.

And oftentimes, the truth of God's Word and the feelings inside you do not line up. So what you do is you speak the truth of God's Word over and over and over. And over time, not necessarily overnight, what will begin to happen is you, will begin to line up with the truth of the Word of God in your life. This is why you know this. When Jesus was tempted in the desert, what did he say to all three temptations that the enemy throws at him? He doesn't throw back, well, I think.

And he could have because he's Jesus. But instead, he throws back, it is written, it is written, it is written. So when the world tells you that you are not enough, then you need to tell the enemy, it is written. no, I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful. I know that full well. When the enemy begins to whisper the lies of condemnation,

then you need to tell the enemy. Romans 8 1 says, therefore now there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ, Jesus. That we need to begin to get in the habit of rightly handling the word of God. That doesn't just mean when the preacher preaches. That means when you're preaching the sermons to you, because you realize you always hear everything you ever say. And so you need to rightly handle the word. word of God and get a whole bunch of words of God coming out of your lips.

And it also means you need to watch the words that come out of your mouth and don't say the wrong things. You want to know another scary verse? Maybe that's what I should have called this sermon. Scary verses. Proverbs 1821. Death and life are in the power of the tongue. And those who love it will eat its fruit.

If you ever heard the phrase, you'll eat your words? This is where it comes around. That every time you speak, what we do is like planting a seed. And that seed bears fruit, and there will come a day when you eat of that fruit. In other words, you either speak death or you speak life when you talk. And straight up, there's a bunch of us that have killed opportunities with our language. There's a bunch of us that have killed relationships with our mouth. There's a bunch of us that have killed hopes and dreams and futures with.

our mouths. I'm telling you what, man? Parents, your children will either live up to the blessings that you bless them or they will live down to the curses that you have cursed them with. There is life or death in the power of the tongue. And this isn't just, this isn't just like hypothetical or figurative. Do you know that the teenage suicide rate is steadily increasing in our country, not because depression rates have increased, but because of online bullying and social media. This used to be a verse. You'd be like, well, what does that mean?

And literally now there are people that have decided to take their own life because of words that they have heard over and over and over. And this also includes your own self-talk. Some of you speak lies over yourself over and over and over. You see, the dangerous thing with the way you talk about yourself is yourself will hear yourself talk about yourself and start believing what yourself said about yourself and that ain't good. I mean, in fact, some of you, like I'll just tell you in my house, man, especially early on we got married, this didn't go super good, but I don't care. I just do it anyway. When Gretchen would say negative things about herself, in my mind it doesn't make sense.

She's beautiful. And I'm not just saying that because every preacher has to say his wife's pretty. I'm talking about she's extra pretty she just is okay and she would say negative things she'd be standing in the mirror and she'd just say things I'd hear them I'd go whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa nobody talks to my wife that way she's like what I was like even you okay nobody talks to my wife that way because what I don't want to happen is if her mouth says it and her ear hears it and her brain believes it her heart might feel it and there's power in words there's power in words It's the same reason.

Every night when I tuck my little girl, Reagan Capri, into bed, I've been praying it, I don't know how many days there are in nine years, but if I just go, all right, let's pray. Without me, just immediately, she goes, Dear God, I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful. I know that full well.

Because I know this world is going to lie to her and it's going to try to equate you're not lovable unless you're beautiful and beautiful equals a computer image now. It's not even a real human being. And I need her to know the truth that she is, fearfully and wonderfully made. Words have power. Words also bring life, man.

Words bring life. I mean today, so sweet. This lady that sends our church, I don't even know her that well. Our kids go to the same school. I think we were on a mission trip together a few years ago, and just out of nowhere, she's been listening to the sermons, and she texts me, I know you're preaching today, so if you begin to hear the whispers of the enemy, know that they are a lie. And then she says some very encouraging things, and then it just says, because if God is for us, who could be against us? Man, that just brings life. I got that thing like 3.30. Couldn't wait to come preach. You understand? That in the tongue are the power of death and life. Here's another one. Proverbs 12, 18. Careless words stab like a sword, but wise words lead to healing. careless words

the Hebrew for careless words you might want to write this down the Hebrew is Twitter is how you pronounce it Twitter the Greek is Instagram the Latin is Facebook I tell you man we have like this

people think words don't matter people say some stuff on social media you would never say somebody's face because they might just punch you in yours I'm not advocating that but it would help and then here's the thing

Listen to this again. Careless words stab like a sword. Careless words stab like a sword. But wise words lead to healing. You see, a stabbing is instantaneous. Healing takes a really long time. And what happens with most of us when we have careless words, this is where I'm going to start confessing some of my terribleness,

is we try to hide behind our intentions. So today's prop day. I brought a sword. because I have one. Actually, I have three. Because I think they're awesome. Now, the sword, you know, it's neither good nor bad, right? It just kind of depends on who has it in their hand. And what he's talking about here is careless words, careless words. So if I were showing the whole church my sword, and I was very careless with it, and I was slinging it all around and not paying attention, and it accidentally, not on purpose. It's not like I looked at you and threw it at you because I don't like you,

No, no, no, no. I love you. I think you're awesome. But if I was careless with the sword, and it went braveheart style out into the third row and just impaled you, it would be a stabbing. A stabbing. We would be in the news today. Stabbing at the Church of 1122 by former pastor, Jobie Moore. And if I were to go over to you and very lovingly say, but I didn't mean to, how much would that help your wound? Zero. Zero. Why? Because swords stab. I'm telling you, my wife taught me this better than anybody else. I would use careless words and it would hurt her. And then I would try to tell her how to feel. there's no that's the dumbest thing we do husbands is we go hold on hold on hold on oh I have assessed the situation I have run it through my man grid here's why you should not feel

the way you feel you're welcome okay that's what we did as they're just bleeding out and she told me she gave me the illustration she's like if you accidentally backed over my foot with your truck even though I know you're not trying to run me over it would still be a broken foot. When we're careless with our words, I'm telling you, it's a stabbing. I bet every single one of us in the room can remember a moment where probably somebody that we loved or somebody in authority. They were careless with their words and they said a thing to you and they could have just been kidding or like me and my own insecurity go for the easy laugh at the expense of you. And it's a stabbing. If you got stabbed in church today, you would not forget it for the rest of your life.

And then, if I said, I'm sorry, it doesn't just instantaneously heal up. There's a process of wise words over a long period of time that lead to healing. And so, be careful. The opposite of careless is be careful. Be careful with your words. Be wise with your words. that we, especially if you're in any position of authority, if you're a boss, be careful with your words. If you're a parent, be careful with your words.

Because the other thing is just true, man, words have different weights to him depending on who's saying it. You know? I mean, like here at 1122, I'm the lead pastor, and there are times where I'm like, I'm going to go talk to that person. And somebody, Pastor Ben, will be like, let me go first. My words is If your words weigh 150 pounds And you're going to squish them

Let me just kind of ease them into it And I'm like, all right And listen at home It's just the way God designed it You can argue if you want to You just be wrong Dad Your words weigh the most

They just do The words of a father weigh the most So be careful With your words I'm not saying you don't say hard things I'm saying that you are careful not only in what you say, but in how you say it.

You see, there's this Old Testament where Isaac had Jacob and Esau, and he was going to give a blessing to his oldest son, and Jacob steals the blessing from Esau. I don't have time to get all into it. If you grew up a Sunday school, you know what I'm talking about. And Jacob steals it. He tricks his dad, who can't see that good,

and he receives the blessing, and then Esau, who had been out hunting, so it's obvious he was God's favorite, And then when he comes in and Isaac's like, oh, I've been tricked, I already gave your younger brother the blessing. And then Esau goes, well, just give me one. And Isaac's like, you can't take it back. You see, words do what they're going to do. And the words of a father, man, they weigh the most.

They just do. So a few weeks ago, I had to call a little family meeting. And it was the beginning of the year. and I'm a goal-oriented person. And apparently my 13-year-old, my 9-year-old, and my wife aren't as goal-oriented as I am. But that's all right. They have me, so how lucky are they? So I ask them, so what are your goals for the year?

Not resolutions, okay, but what are your goals? Man, what are you going to accomplish this year? What are we going to be about? Got anything? Got them two or three chances nobody ever responds to anything. Then we were talking to our neighbors. And our neighbors said, by the way, we got puppies. for Christmas. Yeah, bless us. And so my neighbors say, oh man, you know, your kids were out walking

the dogs and one of them was just telling the other one what to do the whole time. And I went to get on them and like, why do you have to be like that? And then I thought, uh-oh, I think they're just replicating me. Because all I do is instruct and correct and rebuke. Would somebody be honest? Make you a great preacher. Make you a great preacher. You know why you like coming here? I tell the truth.

You know why you like coming here? I tell it like it is. You know why you like coming here? Because I make fun of not you individually, but we laugh, okay? And I began to think, oh no. Oh, no. What makes for like a really good preacher can make for a pretty horrible dad and husband. I mean, sarcasm has no place in a fan.

family. It's fine, you know, 11,000 people at a time, come on, because we're just, yeah, ha, ha, ha, ha. But four at a dinner table, and three of us are going, ha, ha, ha, that's not fun. Or if you're always right and you have a Bible verse to go with it, that's not a lot of fun. And if it's not a whole lot of way to go, and it's a whole lot of, hey, you should do this better, that's not a whole lot of fun. And so we sat at my dinner table, me and my three, and I said, I, repent. I am so sorry. We have to change the way we, the Martins, talk to one another and it's my fault because I have not modeled for our family a very good example of being careful with our words, of speaking life into one another. And it's not just what we say. I don't think I'm like

verbally abusive. We're not saying cuss words. I'm not like calling people names. It's more in how we say it to one another. So as a family, this year, that's our goal. We're changing the way we talk. each month we're going to memorize a verse and then we talk about that verse Proverbs 151 a soft answer turns away wrath but a harsh word stirs up anger a soft notice in that verse it doesn't say anything about right or wrong because that's where I like to hide but I'm right the Bible would say I don't care you can be right or you can build a relationship with your family you choose No, I'm not saying we lie to one another, and we do speak the truth in love without a doubt,

but we together as a family have decided that that is what we're going to do. We're going to change the way we talk to one another. That we're going to avoid irreverent babble, for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness. And here's why. Look at this next verse. Verse 17. You're going to hate this part, which is why I want to do it so much. And their talk will spread like gangrene.

You guys know what gangrene is? I got a picture. Look at this. Show it. Show it. A little bit faster. That's gangrene. Leave it up. Look at it with your face. That's nasty, isn't it? It makes my... Those are toes. We're gang green. We went through two dozen pictures looking for the perfect one. It primarily attacks extremities like fingers, toes, and privates. We are not going to show those pictures. Okay? Just look at it, man.

How terrible is that? That is, like you didn't come to church for that, right? Nobody wants to see that. Leave it up. Don't take it down. Look at it. Look at it. The Mayo crew is like, whatever, I got this, all right?

The rest of us are, it's not awesome. Man, the Spirit of God tells Paul to tell Timothy, write these words down. When we are careless with our words, when we argue and we, and when we are a part of irreverent babble, when we gossip, when we talk about people instead of two people, this is what happens in our body, in the body of Christ. The only way to get rid of this is you have to cut it off. So in order for us not to cut it off, we have to cut it out of our speech and be careful with our words. All right, you can take it out.

You'll never read that verse again the same, right? and their talk will spread like gang green. Among them, Paul calls them out. Can you imagine if I did that in this church? I'm like, you know who's not good at this. Rusty, Paul, stand up. These guys, that's what he does. Those are some elders.

They're awesome. Among them are Hamanais and Felitas, beautiful baby names, if you're looking, who have swerved from the truth saying that the resurrection has already happened. They are upsetting the fate of some. They're spreading lies. Theological lies is what they're doing.

Now, at this point, I think a lot of us would be like, well, it's hopeless. I mean, what do I do? James said, you can't control your tongue. I got a problem. What am I going to do? Well, see, the beauty of the gospel is the gospel does not really start at the cross. The gospel starts at our sin. The diagnosis for every single one of us, as you examine just,

this part of your body is, uh-oh, I need help. Uh-oh, I need someone to do for me what I cannot do for me. And so this is where Paul goes, but God, because that's the only hope. But God's firm foundation stands bearing this seal. The Lord knows those who are his, and let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity. The crazy thing is, it's that our mouth that gets us into so much trouble is the same mouth that cries out to the Lord to be saved. I mean, isn't it just like God to use the thing that is most out of control to declare God that you're turning over control to him?

This is what he says. And so here's the point, man. The battle of the mouth, it does not start in the mouth. It really starts in the heart. Jesus says this, for out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. So the reason I think that Paul goes at the mouth is because it is, it is, is the manifestation of what's in your heart. It's the manifestation of what's in the heart. Paul writes another letter called Ephesians. In Ephesians 429 is a very famous verse.

If you're into memorizing scripture, which you should be, I would highly encourage you to memorize Ephesians 429. Because what Ephesians 429 does is Ephesians 429 helps us understand, should I say it? Should I say it? Let it be the filter for your mouth. It's says this. Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouth, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion that it may give grace to those who hear. There's so much here. First of all, look what it says. It says let, let. It doesn't say say, it says let no. In other words, it's like this. It's like your mouth needs a gatekeeper. Because what happens is these words, begin to rush the gate. You ever have that happen?

Like these words begin to like form up in your head and if you're not careful, you'll let them come out of your mouth. And what Paul is saying here is don't let them come out of it. You've got to take every thought captive. That you have to be in control of this thing. You've got to be on guard because it's untameable. And if you don't pay attention to it, it will get you in big time trouble. So let no corrupting talk. It doesn't say let no corrupt talk, but corrupting talk. Literally, in Greek, that word here translated, corrupting is rotting. That's what it means.

Rotting. It was the kind of word that would describe like a dump, or the kind of word that would describe like a fish going bad, a rotting fish. In other words, your words don't just say something, your words do something. And don't let words proceed out of your mouth that are going to be like gang green amongst the body, whether it's the body of your family, whether it's the body of your marriage, whether it's the body of the church, the body of your business. Watch your mouth because your words do a thing and corrupting words will cause the thing that you're trying to build up. It will cause

them to rot. So let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up. Here's what Christians will most often say. Yeah, but it's true. Paul says, if it's untrue, you for sure shouldn't say it. But just because it's true doesn't mean you have license to say it. I think we all experience this in that great theological documentary Tommy Boy, remember that? Where Tommy Boy says, does this suit make me look fat? And he, truthfully, says, no, your face does.

It is true. Chris Farley, it wasn't the suit that was doing it to him. But it's not building up. This is prop night, I'm telling you. I'm like carrot top for Jesus. I'm sitting on my back porch this week working on this. And I thought about this, man. A claw hammer like this has two sides, right?

It's got one side that's construction. It's got one side that builds up. It's got one side where you take the raw goods that you have and you put them together in a constructive way that builds things up. This same hammer, a claw hammer, has a destructive side. This side of the hammer tears things apart. This side of the hammer destroys.

This side of the hammer takes things that were put together and undoes those things. What if I told you every single conversation you have is either constructive or destructive? every single one, every single conversation. You just think it's nuts. You know why you like to go to Chick-fil-A? First of all, God has anointed the peanut oil and it's special.

But it's just different at Chick-Fleigh. It's a five-second interaction with the person at the window, and you most often hear this. It's my pleasure. It's just constructive. What I began, what God has convicted me of is, uh-oh, the people that matter most in my life, I'm telling them to truth. but if you don't use the right side of the hammer, it could be very, very destructive.

You could tear people apart with all true words and be used not as a tool in the hand of the Almighty God, but literally we could be used against one another as a tool in the hand of our enemy that wants to kill, steal, and destroy you, your family, your business, everything that God has called you to. Just in the power of your words. Now, this doesn't mean that you're wimpy. If you use a hammer, you don't just like rub the nail in. Come on. Because I know some of you think, you're CEO types, you know, your leaders.

Look, man, I'm a leader. I get stuff done. Some of us, we've got to watch our words. Got to be careful. Got to be constructive, not destructive. Might have to check the tone and tone it back a little bit. There's some of you, honestly, from the same verses, you've got to turn up the noise a little bit. You got to love somebody enough to tell the truth, but you speak the truth in love, but it must be constructive and not destructive.

Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as good for building up. This is important, as fits the occasion. Time and place matter. Time and place matter. What's said in a locker room It's probably going to be different than what's said in a courtroom And it's okay What's said amongst in a really close relationship

Maybe a different conversation that you have in public I had a procedure at Mayo this weekend this week Very personal The conversation I have with my doctor The conversation I have with my wife And the conversation I have with you about it Are very different conversations because it would be inappropriate for me to talk about such procedure here.

Why? Because it doesn't fit the occasion. This is why oftentimes, let me tell you what else doesn't fit the occasion. Social media. Let me highly encourage you to not have conversations that are serious or sensitive with one of these things. It doesn't fit the occasion. God created us to like see each other. and watch facial movements and understand body language. And oftentimes we're saying the right things.

It doesn't fit the occasion. Then he says this, that it may give grace to those who hear it. So here's the question. Should you say it? Does it give grace to those who hear it? Is it timely? And is it helpful? Like does it build up or does it tear down?

Now, let me ask you this. How many of you would say, I need some serious help? If that's you, in regards to your language, your mouth, the way you talk, if that's you, raise them. Come on, look around. If it's you, if it's not, if you're crushing it, God bless you. Maybe you could teach the rest of us later, okay? How many, okay, you say, I need serious self. Now, what I want you to do is I want you to think about that person that is prayer.

that you would get that help. I want you to think about that person in your life that is most often on the other end of the misused tool of your language. I want you to think about those person or those people that maybe carelessly you have stabbed them like a sword. And the way we are going to close

is hopefully very, very practical. This is not the end-all-be-all to the conversation, but you can get a conversation going here. I dare you. In about 30 seconds, I'm going to start praying. And as I'm praying, I dare you to take out your phone to find that person that you think, boy, I bet they hope I apply some of this message. And you begin by saying what I said around my kitchen table. I am so sorry. I need to apologize for my words. I repent. I think I have been careless. I think I have caused pain. I need you to forgive me, and I am praying that God would do a thing in me so that my words would be constructive and not destructive.

If you use whatever words that you need to use. Now, you know what's going to happen. If you do that, I'm telling you, if you're a teenager in here and you send your mom, by the way, if you're a teenager, it's your mom. That's who you need to text, okay? I prayed about it. That's who it is. And they're going to reply back, what did you do? What do you want?

If you text your wife and she's sitting right next to you, they know, okay. By the way, wives, don't screw it up. You know what the claw hammer of that conference? The only reason you're doing that is because he made you, okay? Man, man, y, y, y, y, y, ain't. Don't do it. Don't do it. If you're the boss, you've been sharp with your tongue this week,

I'm not saying that people aren't held accountable and all that for sure, man. But if you know, I have been careless with my words, I have let corrupting talk proceed out of my mouth. It did not build them up. It did not fit the occasion. It did not give them grace. It did not help them. Then I dare you, I dare you, man, to say, I am sorry.

And when they say, what is going on? Then it will give you an opportunity to say, God Almighty is doing a thing in me. God Almighty is doing a thing in me. Because when I cursed him, when I rejected him, when Filt came out of my mouth, he did not respond in the same way. He responded in love.

He responded with, it is finished. He responded with Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. He responded with, this is my son in whom I dearly love. May we, church, use our words to build up, to bless, to speak life into. May people that we work with, may people that we go to school with, may people that we ride around in neighborhoods with, even if they never believe what we believe, may they be blessed because they get to hear the words that God speaks through you.

Would you please stand and pray with me? I fully give you permission to not close your eyes, to not bow your head, but to start that conversation with whoever needs to hear it right now. Our good and gracious Heavenly Father, God, we love you more than anything because you first loved us.

And God, I thank you that your word says that you sing over us. You speak words of blessing over us. God, we thank you for the word of God that is living and active is true. God, would you plant your words so deep as an anchor in our soul that when the enemy begins to flood the gate of our mouth with fiery words, God that we would guard that because we have the spirit of God in us

who gives us not a spirit of fear but of power, power even over our words, of love that we would speak love to one another and gives us the spirit of self-control, or self-discipline. God, may you use my accounting of our own words to just reveal our hearts. And God, we thank you and we praise you

that it's by our mouths that we can cry out. I'm a father. That is by our mouths that we can cry out. Lord, save me. And you hear the prayers of your people. God, may our words be different because of what you're doing differently in our heart. We pray it in Jesus' name.

Amen.