The Most Powerful Muscle in the Body

ReCAST Church of Mattawan iconReCAST Church of Mattawan

0 views

Rob Konold; James 3:1-12 The Most Powerful Muscle in the Body

0 comments

00:20
You are listening to the podcast of Recast Church in Mattawan, Michigan. Well, good morning.
00:26
Hello, everyone. Welcome. Welcome. I am Rob Knold. I am not
00:32
Don Filsick. If you've ever met him, I am not him. But I'm here to preach to you in his absence.
00:39
He is on vacation, and what a privilege it is to bring God's Word. I've served as an elder,
00:44
I've been a longtime member, and again, just a privilege to fill in for Don. And share
00:51
God's Word to you this morning. We're going to be in the book of James, so we'll come to that in a minute.
00:57
I want to just introduce the sermon first, and I just have a question for you. Quick show of hands.
01:04
How many of you would say, I exercise regularly?
01:10
Quick show of hands. You know, and if you want to put an elbow up, because you sort of do, and I'll let you define regularly.
01:17
There's a good sampling there. We can always start an exercise ministry. That's not what we're going to do this morning, though.
01:22
How many of you, when you exercise, you know, some people think cardio, right? How many of you do some kind of cardio exercise workout?
01:30
Yeah, a few. Yeah, not so many. And how about weights? Who likes to pump iron? Big muscles, right?
01:37
Yeah, I see a few. Okay, so my question for you as we start off here this morning is, what is the strongest muscle in the body?
01:47
What is the strongest muscle in the body? The strongest muscle would be the muscle that can move the most amount of weight, the farthest distance in the least amount of time, right?
01:58
Power, the definition of power. So probably glutes, right? You know, squats and leg press.
02:04
I've seen people do crazy amount of weight, much more than I can. But those are big muscles we recruit in the body to do work.
02:11
But I'm going to submit to you this morning that power can be defined in a different way, and that is by influence and impact in people's lives.
02:21
And that kind of power is what I'm talking about this morning. And the most powerful muscle in the body, based on that definition, is the tongue.
02:28
It's our mouths, what we say and the words that we say. I think this morning, as we dig into James and dig into the passage, you're going to find out that he has some very amazing things, some amazing claims that he makes about our tongues that we're going to learn about.
02:47
It has an incredible power to impact. So as we dig into the book of James, I want to start also by, as we introduce the sermon, and Dave's going to come and lead worship in a minute, so I just wanted to just step back and reflect a little bit on the book of James and the author.
03:02
Who is James? There are a number of James in the Bible. Most scholars agree that the author of the book of James was the half -brother of Jesus.
03:11
So think about this, the half -brother of Jesus is growing up in a home where Jesus is big brother.
03:19
Can you imagine that? First of all, I can't. So that would be a hard act to follow. And yet, can you imagine interacting with Jesus as a kid, growing up and just seeing him live his life?
03:30
That was James. He saw that firsthand. The amazing thing about James is we learn something about him in the
03:36
Gospels. It shares that even Jesus' own brothers didn't believe in him during his earthly ministry.
03:42
So at that time, James was not a believer. He did not believe in Christ. Then, of course,
03:48
Jesus' death, burial, resurrection. James saw firsthand his brother come to life.
03:53
Can you imagine seeing your brother die and then seeing your brother alive? Like, it just kind of boggles the mind.
04:00
This was James. This was his experience. And so as we hear him in the
04:05
Bible, he then becomes a leader in the early church in Jerusalem. So we see him, you know,
04:11
Paul comes back to Jerusalem and there's some conflict and issues within the church. They're working out. And Paul comes and talks to James, James and Peter.
04:18
Like, these are the guys that he goes to. So this James that wrote the book of James was a leader of the early church in Jerusalem where believing
04:27
Jews were worshiping Christ right after his ascension into heaven. And then we see
04:32
James writing this letter. It says in verse one of chapter one, to the twelve tribes scattered among the nations.
04:39
Greetings. That's who James is writing to. He's writing to fellow Jewish believers who have been scattered among all of the known world, the
04:47
Roman world at the time. And so he's writing to encourage them, to exhort them, to build them up, to try to encourage their faith.
04:54
And what we find in James is some really hard hitting words. He does not mince words himself.
05:02
So I'm excited to get to the passage today. And we're going to turn now in our Bibles or devices to James chapter three.
05:10
And we're going to look at verses one to twelve this morning. James chapter three and verses one to twelve.
05:17
I'm going to read it from the ESV translation. Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers.
05:27
For you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. For we all stumble in many ways.
05:35
And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man able to bridle his whole body.
05:43
If we put bits in the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well.
05:49
Look at the 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.
06:00
So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things.
06:08
How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire. And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness.
06:17
The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body and setting on fire the entire course of life.
06:24
And it is set on fire by hell for every kind of beast and bird of reptile and sea creature can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind.
06:36
But no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.
06:43
With it, we bless God. And with it, we curse people who are made in God's likeness.
06:51
From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so.
07:00
Does a spring pour forth from the same opening, both fresh and saltwater? Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives or a grapevine produce figs?
07:11
Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water. Let's pray now as Dave comes and the band comes to lead us in worship.
07:23
Heavenly Father, I thank you for your word and just rereading it right now, it's so powerful and so convicting.
07:29
God, I thank you for your word that instructs us. I thank you for the fact that you have preserved it down through the ages.
07:39
What a gift to us, Lord. Your very words spoken to us through the pages of Scripture.
07:45
Father, I pray for our time of worship now as we come to just kneel before you and sing your praises,
07:53
God. May they come from hearts that are eager to worship a God who is so good to us, a
07:59
God who loves us and a God who has saved us. God, we thank you for what you're doing in our lives and in our church.
08:07
We pray right now that you would do that even now as we as we slow down and just think and ponder the words of these worship songs.
08:13
I pray, Father, that you would speak to our hearts and help us to rejoice as we sing in worship.
08:19
And we pray all this in Jesus' name. Amen. Thanks, Mark. Thanks, band, for leading us in worship with your tongues.
08:28
Way to go. And we all had a chance, didn't we? Just we just used our tongues to praise
08:33
God and worship God. That's what he created us for. And that's why he gave us tongues. What a great application there we just did of the message.
08:41
Good morning. As we dive back into James, I'd like to start with a little bit of context.
08:48
James, I've preached in the past, but it's like every year or so. So it's very infrequent.
08:54
And so I'm just going to back up in James for a second and touch on a couple of passages in James that actually tie into his passage that we're preaching on today.
09:04
James chapter one, verses two to five, is one of my favorite passages in all of Scripture, by the way.
09:11
It's an amazing passage that talks about joy and suffering. And you're probably familiar with it, too.
09:18
Consider it pure joy, my brothers, when you face trials of many kinds, because you know the testing of your faith develops.
09:24
What? Perseverance. And perseverance must finish its work so that you can be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
09:32
And that maturity is what God's going for. You're facing hard times. James says, be happy.
09:40
Rejoice. I know my tendency is to not do that. I think it goes against human nature and it's very difficult.
09:48
So I don't trivialize that. But I just want to point out that James exhorts us to rejoice in suffering because if we persevere through it,
09:55
God is working in our lives. And we can respond negatively or we can respond the way God wants and he can work through those things.
10:02
And bring about maturity. What does maturity mean? It means living and acting like Christ. That includes our tongue.
10:08
And that's why I touch on that passage, because I believe God is working in all of our lives right now to mature us and to help us learn how to use our tongues for his glory.
10:19
Another passage in James that touches and relates to the tongue is James 1 .18. It says specifically that God saves us by the word of truth.
10:29
The word of truth. Now, we know that Jesus Christ is the word made flesh and we know that Jesus came and saved us.
10:37
And so what I'm pointing to here is that words are so critical. They are so important.
10:43
That's what this book is full of. It's full of words, God's words to us. So again, what is the importance of our tongues?
10:49
They speak words. And how does that relate to this part? It's literally life. Your words can be about Christ and the gospel, and you can actually share the gospel per the great commission that the lakes were sharing with us about.
11:05
That's how powerful our tongues are. They're God's tool and instrument in this world for salvation for people.
11:12
And then another passage in James, James 1 .26. This one's kind of rough. James is pretty blunt,
11:18
I'll be honest. He says, He's just saying religion, your religion is worthless if you're not controlling your tongue.
11:34
Again, that tongue is that critical in our lives. You know, James is not alone in his emphasis on words and the tongue.
11:45
And I want to point to a couple other places in the Bible as a quick survey. This is not going to take long, but I just want to point out James is not alone here.
11:52
Passages in the Old Testament. Who remembers Isaiah and his encounter with God in his throne room?
11:59
Isaiah 6 .5. Well, first of all, what would you do if you had a vision and you were in front of God himself in all his glory, being worshiped by his angels on his throne?
12:09
I mean, really, what would you do? What would it be like? Well, we get a taste of it from Isaiah. He says,
12:16
He says, It's just interesting to me that Isaiah, when he is encountering
12:34
God in all his holiness, immediately comes to his lips and he realizes I am sinning with my mouth.
12:41
That's the first thing that Isaiah says. And I think that's a very interesting observation there.
12:47
You know, we can go through the Proverbs and there's many passages in Proverbs about the tongue and the importance of controlling it.
12:53
I'm not going to cover those, but I want to touch on a couple of things in the New Testament. First of all, Peter and Paul.
13:00
Peter says in chapter 3, verse 10, he's quoting a psalm here. He says, For whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit.
13:12
Paul also says something very similar, and he has in Ephesians 4 .29, he wrote these words that my wife actually wrote this verse on and put it on our dresser in our bedroom.
13:24
It's funny how you write that down and you see it like every day. You can't help but start thinking about a verse. And here's what it says.
13:31
I'll read it in the ESV. But only such as is good for building up, as it fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.
13:42
We should be using our tongues to build people up. Only those kind of things should be coming from our mouths. So I share those, again, just as a brief survey about what the
13:51
Bible has to say. James, in chapter 3, in the verses we're going to cover today, they are aligned with the rest of Scripture.
13:57
There is a wealth of challenge for our tongues and controlling those. So let's dig in.
14:05
James 3, verse 1. James starts this section by dealing with the tongue. He first addresses teachers.
14:11
Isn't that interesting? Starts off with teachers. He says, not many of you should become teachers.
14:19
Isn't that interesting? What do teachers do with their tongues? They speak, right?
14:25
They instruct. They give guidance. And what a tragedy if a teacher speaks falsely and misleads a congregation, right?
14:35
That is the concern here. He says, why should not many of you become teachers?
14:41
Because they will be judged more strictly. They are held to a higher standard.
14:47
It says right there. And I think this is rightly so. Again, because of the influence of a teacher on the congregation and the direction that a church is going, that is really, really critical.
14:59
They can influence and lead others astray. I'm reminded of a passage in the Gospels where Jesus says some very strong, harsh words.
15:10
Gentle Jesus. Yes, gentle Jesus says some pretty harsh things. And here's a passage.
15:16
It's in Matthew, Mark, and Luke. I'll just read one of those. Let's say Matthew 18, 6.
15:22
If you cause one of these little ones who believes in me to sin, it would be better for you, what?
15:28
To have a millstone around your neck and be drowned in the depths of the sea. What? Did Jesus say that?
15:34
That is crazy strong language. If you are misleading and misguiding and causing other people to stumble and deceiving them, and that is a horrible thing.
15:46
And Jesus is saying, has very strong condemnation for that. So a very stern warning here from James, and he's really mirrored by Jesus' own words as well, because of the criticality that teachers have in the life of the church.
16:01
But let's remember that all of us use words. We all have influence on the people around us.
16:08
We have people that we speak to, our families, our close friends, and even beyond that.
16:14
And so I think this warning really can be broadened and applies to all of us in the sense that we will be held accountable for the words that we speak.
16:26
Verse 2, he says that we all stumble in many ways. Isn't that true?
16:34
I think everyone, even those who don't believe in God and don't read God's word, recognize we're all fallible.
16:41
We've all messed up and we've all made mistakes. Romans 3 .23, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
16:47
You know, Isaiah 53 .6, for we all like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned away from God.
16:54
And it's just a hard reality. We all fail. He says we all stumble and we all fail.
17:00
But then James goes on to explore a hypothetical. He says, he just said everyone stumbles, but then he says, if you don't stumble in what you say, then you're perfect in all your ways.
17:12
What is James talking about? In other words, what he's saying is controlling your tongue is actually harder than controlling the rest of your body.
17:20
If you can get your tongue under control, the rest of the body, piece of cake. I mean, that is crazy, but that's how difficult it is to control our lips.
17:32
In verses 3, 4, and 5, we get three illustrations, very vivid illustrations.
17:39
And I really appreciate when biblical authors provide a word picture for us.
17:45
So the three examples we get here, verse 3 is bits in the horse's mouth, verse 4, rudders on ships, and verse 5, a spark that starts fires.
17:54
So let's pick the first one, verse 3, a bit in the horse's mouth. The illustration is pretty simple, right?
18:01
You have a bit in a horse's mouth. The rider can, by applying pressure on one side with the reins, can control the animal by steering it, by turning its head, and then the whole body follows that direction.
18:13
I think the interesting thing here is the bit is very small relative to the massive horse, and yet it can control the direction.
18:20
And so that size differential is emphasized here, similar way to our tongues and our whole bodies.
18:29
In verse 4, we see a similar analogy with rudders on ships. A relatively small rudder on the back of a ship directs this massive ship.
18:38
I like this illustration because I used to be in the Navy, and I have a little firsthand experience.
18:45
It's pretty obvious though, you know, the helmsman has a steering wheel, right? And you turn the wheel, and that basically applies through mechanics, controls the rudder direction.
18:57
And it's weird how a ship as massive, like think of a thousand foot vessel, you know, you just have this small rudder in the back.
19:06
But because it's in the back, and it's far from the center of buoyancy, it's able to pivot that ship with just a very small rudder.
19:14
So it's the right force applied in the right place has a huge impact on that ship.
19:19
Now think about this for a moment. If that ship takes a small course correction, but continues on that direction for miles and miles and miles, you end up on the wrong continent.
19:29
It can have a vast impact on the course of that ship, right? A small rudder movement.
19:34
So in these two illustrations, we see something very small impacting something very large.
19:40
And that's the example given here for our tongues. Just want to reflect here for a second about this.
19:53
You know, in your own experience, does this ring true? Does the tongue really have that kind of power?
20:00
I would say yes, as I've reflected on it this past week. Yes, over and over,
20:06
I would say. Think about words and what you do with words. They actually impact every area of your life.
20:14
I was really challenged to try to think of an area of life that wasn't affected by words in some way.
20:21
We think with words, don't we? Like we organize our very thoughts with words. And it's a challenging one right there.
20:29
How is your thought life? What are you thinking about and what words go through your head? Maybe you think words you shouldn't, but then you just don't say them.
20:36
Well, that's good. But the thoughts eventually come out your mouth. We communicate with words, don't we?
20:41
We explain, we logically sequence and figure things out with our words. We make a case with words.
20:47
We persuade people with our tongues, with words. We define everything we know is defined with words.
20:56
And our relationships exist because we have words and we can communicate with people, right? You couldn't communicate if you didn't have words in your tongue.
21:05
Then you...actually today, you think about the Internet, you think about social media and blogs and all of the explosion of information that we have with words.
21:15
We can communicate and impact so many more people now through technology. And the impact of words is just further expanded.
21:24
So, if you get your words right, you impact all these other areas of your life.
21:30
And if you misuse words, you're going to do a lot of damage. So, again, just emphasizing the points that James is making so accurately.
21:41
Verse 5, the third example is fire. The tongue is a spark, it says in verse 5, a small fire that creates a bigger fire.
21:51
It's interesting, as I thought about fire and how it's used, there are good applications of fire, right?
21:58
Like it's cold outside. I have a furnace. I'm really grateful for that furnace and it provides heat and I can enjoy the warmth in my home and it keeps me alive.
22:09
You know, fire has all kinds of good uses. Cooking and have you ever enjoyed a fireplace or a campfire and it's just warm and it's inviting.
22:18
So, a fire can be used for good things, but then how quickly does a fire get out of control? If you have an electrical short and it gets out of control and catches a house on fire or think about out west where there's either someone has a campfire that gets out of control or maybe a lightning strike and you just have devastating forest fires that are so difficult to contain, even with all the modern equipment that we have, we are unable sometimes to contain these vast forest fires.
22:54
And it all starts with some small spark. And that is a great illustration of our tongues.
23:03
You know, one of the things about fire that's really true is you can't undo the damage of a fire.
23:12
If you've ever had a fire break out and you've had things damaged by a fire, it's unfortunate.
23:18
They're charred. They're forever changed by that fire in a negative way.
23:25
In that case, it's the same with our words. We can do damage with our tongues that is irreversible.
23:38
So I'd like to just stop for a minute here and think about how words have impacted our lives. Think about your own life.
23:44
How have words impacted your life for good or for bad? I'd love to just let you let you ponder that for a second while I share a brief story from my own life.
23:56
When I was in middle school, so that's going back a few years for me, I had a new
24:02
Sunday school teacher come to town and just happened to be he was a basketball player and he's really good.
24:07
And I kind of admired him for that. So maybe he had some influence in my life there. But he's challenged us to memorize a second half of Romans chapter 8.
24:16
So there I was like an eighth grader and he's encouraging us to do that memorization. And at first, you know, it seemed daunting and I wasn't super excited about it, but it was something
24:27
I decided, OK, I'll do it. And so as I would ride the bus to school and I had like an hour bus ride,
24:33
I remember reviewing those verses and thinking about them. And it's amazing what happens when you take a section of Scripture and you start thinking about it and you spend time reviewing it, the impact that it can have.
24:47
I remember specifically reviewing these verses, Romans 8 and verses 31 to 32.
24:55
What then shall we say? If God is for us, who can be against us?
25:01
He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all, how will he not also along with him graciously give us all things?
25:11
Those two verses started to sink in to my middle school brain in a way like, wait a second, why am
25:19
I worried about all this stuff? If I really believe in God, if he really is who he says he is, why am
25:27
I worried about this thing or that thing in my life? I can trust God. And then thinking about his own graciousness toward us and not sparing his own son, but giving
25:37
Christ up so that we could have salvation. I mean, if he'll do that, what will he not do?
25:43
So if he's really in control and he's really that loving, why am I worried about piddly stuff in my life?
25:49
And I have to tell you, it was transformational. I started to actually think about that in the way
25:55
I was living my life. And I am so grateful for that. That influence so early in my life had an impact later in many different stages of my life as I went forward.
26:06
And I just point back to that one example in my life, a good example of a simple challenge from a Sunday school teacher, a faithful Sunday school teacher, that really influenced me.
26:18
So can you think back to a time when someone's breathed words of life into your life? Hopefully positive, maybe negative.
26:26
But words have a huge impact. And I think we can all say that as we reflect back on our own lives. Verse 6, we're going to move forward in the passage.
26:36
In verse 6 now, we see that James says that the tongue is a world of unrighteousness.
26:45
Yikes. How much damage we can do with our tongues. Proverbs 11, verse 9 has a very apt word for us here.
26:56
It says, There is one whose rash words are like sword thrusts, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.
27:05
Can you think of a time when you've used your tongue as a sword thrust? I hope not.
27:11
But I think again, we've all stumbled in this. It's easy to be careless with our words. Proverbs 10, 19 is very true.
27:20
Where words are many, sin is not absent. So, hence, you know, teachers, if you're speaking a lot of words, watch your words very carefully.
27:31
The problem is once we say something, we can't take it back. It brings to mind that children's rhyme.
27:39
Sticks and stones may break my bones, but what does it say? Words can never hurt me.
27:45
I think not. I think that's a false statement.
27:51
And the truth is words can do incredible damage. Your body can heal often a lot more rapidly than your heart and your soul can heal from words causing damage there.
28:03
Notice at the end of verse 6, James identifies the source of evil of the evil of the tongue.
28:09
It's set on fire by hell. James is saying here that our tongues can be influenced by satanic and demonic influences.
28:18
That was really sobering as I read this passage, a scary but real truth.
28:24
I think often when we think of demonic influences, I think we tend to think down the path of the occult and just horrific, terrible crimes against humanity and things like that, right?
28:35
Like that's satanic, that's demonic. Hold on a second. He's saying here your tongue, when you're saying words that are harmful, that's being influenced by demonic influences potentially.
28:50
So I want to just challenge us here. When we're deceiving and lying, when we're misleading others, when we're gossiping, when we're twisting the truth to make ourselves look good, when we're belittling someone, when we're intimidating people with our speech, that is ugly stuff.
29:07
It's influenced from the wrong place, and we need to be mindful of the words we speak.
29:13
They can have huge damage. Verses 7 and 8, we're going to get back into this.
29:21
It's interesting to me that here in verses 1 through 2, sorry, the verses 3 to 5, we saw some potentially beneficial examples of controlling the tongue by steering a horse, steering a ship, and a fire that can have good purposes.
29:35
But in verses 7 and 8, what we see here is that it says some negative examples for sure.
29:42
And he says in verses 7 and 8, no human can control their tongue. First of all,
29:48
I hear that, and then I read that, and then I'm like, what hope do I have? None of us can perfectly control our tongue.
29:55
But God can help us grow in that area. And that's really what the
30:01
Christian life is about, is growing in and being sanctified and made more like Christ.
30:06
And that includes the way we control our tongues. We're going to come back to that thought at the end, so I'll leave it there and move on to verse 9.
30:16
So verse 9 really shows us that our tongues are very inconsistent.
30:22
And I think we've all experienced this. How can we praise God and then turn around and curse a person that's made in God's likeness?
30:34
It's interesting, you know, we were singing praises this morning, and what a beautiful use of our tongues, right?
30:40
But perhaps, you know, we turn around and come unglued at our kid or something and are screaming and saying profane things.
30:50
God forbid. But that's how our human beings, that's how we're made.
30:56
We have a simple nature and we sometimes err, and we can do very right and good things with our tongue, and then we can do very horrible things with our tongue.
31:10
So what he says here is that how can the same mouth produce such vast and different things?
31:18
You know, verse 11 goes and expands on that point. It says, how can fresh water and salt water flow out of the same spring?
31:27
The answer is obviously no, it can't. It should not happen. He goes on to say with some agricultural examples, can a fig tree produce olives?
31:36
The obvious answer, no. Or a grapevine produce figs? Obviously, no.
31:43
The point is that what is in our hearts will eventually come out of our mouths.
31:53
The words that spew out is an indicator of the heart within, and it's an indicator of your thought life.
32:02
I talked earlier about how we think with words. Have you ever thought something over and over and over and never said it, and then all of a sudden it just popped out at the wrong moment?
32:12
I mean, that's how it's happened to me, at least. I just would challenge us with our thoughts.
32:17
Don't even allow your thoughts to go down that path, because as you think about things and dwell on things, those things become a part of you and they eventually come out of your mouth.
32:27
So that's a challenge for all of us. So how do we wrap all this up?
32:35
How do we apply all of this teaching from the book of James on the tongue? I want to touch on a couple of things this morning.
32:44
We clearly need supernatural help, but the two ways that I think that we can air with our mouths, one thing is saying the things we shouldn't say.
32:57
And I think that's pretty obvious. We know we shouldn't say the things we shouldn't say, and I think we know what those things are.
33:04
It's the hard part is doing it right. The second way that we can air with our mouths is failing to say the right things, failing to do the good things with our tongue.
33:13
For example, failing to give God praise, failing to share the gospel, failing to give words of encouragement.
33:21
So I think, again, there's two ways you can air, and you can evaluate your own experience in your own life.
33:28
I think we all air in both ways, but maybe you're more leaning on one side or the other. Let me just speak to both of those for a second.
33:35
So first, with saying the things we shouldn't, it's just very difficult sometimes to control our words.
33:44
I would encourage you, as with all sin in your life, when you're experiencing and wrestling with sin, just to confess, to go to God and pray and tell
33:54
Him about your struggle and ask Him for help. I think that's fundamental, that we confess our sin and He will enable us to overcome it.
34:03
But I would also just give you one practical piece of advice when it comes to wrestling with your tongue, and that is just memorizing
34:10
Scripture. I shared in my own life how Scripture impacted me, and I know that the Word of God is powerful.
34:17
But if we don't dwell on it, if we don't allow it to do its work, it can't influence us.
34:24
So I would just really challenge you and encourage you. Have you thought about Scripture memory? Have you thought about meditating on a passage?
34:30
It's very difficult to memorize a passage of Scripture without having it sink in deep into your brain.
34:36
And that is a really great way to allow God to speak to you. So I would just encourage you to do that this morning, perhaps just proverbs, just read through proverbs.
34:43
You'll find tons of passages there you can meditate on. And on the second point, the sin of omission, the sin of failing to say the right thing, we miss the opportunity to encourage.
35:00
We miss out on the opportunity to perhaps speak a hard truth into our friend's life that we need to.
35:07
And sometimes speaking the hard truth is not easy, right? But it needs to be done, and that takes courage.
35:16
We have extremely powerful organ, a very powerful organ in our body called the tongue, very powerful, and we can use it for good or for evil.
35:28
It can be very powerful in the lives of others, and it influences those around us, whoever you're talking to and interacting with.
35:36
So at this point, I just want to say one more thing, and as we're coming close to the end and wrapping things up,
35:45
I think I'm concerned that the main point that everyone might get out of my message is, okay,
35:53
I got to watch my words. All right, just buckle up and be careful, and I'll just be real careful to not say the wrong thing at the wrong time.
36:02
I don't want it to be that. I understand that that's a large content of the message this morning, but I don't want that to be the takeaway, and I'll explain.
36:10
There is no way any of us is going to be perfect, no way. And I don't want folks to just beat themselves up and just try harder, try harder, try harder.
36:21
What I desire for us to do is to realize that our struggle with sin, while impossible to beat in the flesh, is possible by the grace of God.
36:33
It's possible. And the first step is belief in God. Don preaches faithfully from God's Word every week, and he always brings it back to the gospel, always.
36:44
It starts with belief. It starts in simple belief in God. We put our faith in what
36:50
God has done for us. It's not in our effort. It's not in any kind of technique or self -help.
37:00
You're not going to be able to read a book and fix this problem that way. First is belief.
37:06
It's simple belief in God. We believe in what He's done for us. He sent
37:12
His only Son to die for us, that we could have everlasting life.
37:18
That is the good news. And it all starts with simple belief in that message and accepting
37:24
Him into our life as Lord of our life and submitting to Him.
37:33
You know, it's interesting, once you've been saved, you accept
37:39
Christ in, but He doesn't stop there, does He? He starts to renovate.
37:45
He'll start to convict you of sin. He'll start to move the furniture around, maybe knock out a wall over here, put some shiplap up over there.
37:52
But God starts to do a work in your life. He will make a change. And that's the power of the
38:00
Holy Spirit working in your life through the process of sanctification.
38:05
And that's what I'm encouraging you to do this morning. As the primary application, believe in God and then submit to the
38:12
Holy Spirit as He works in your life and brings about conviction. And certainly the tongue is a huge element of our lives and the influence that we have.
38:25
I want to talk about just one more thing. True belief results in a changed life.
38:31
So for those who are still seeking God, I would just encourage you to believe. For those who are believers,
38:37
I would just, again, ask you to examine your tongue. Has God started making changes?
38:43
Have you noticed a change in the words you say and the way you speak to those around you? Because there should be a change.
38:50
And I would encourage you to seek God's help in changing in your words to each other and to those in your life.
38:59
So as we wrap things up this morning, I am going to invite all of us to communion.
39:04
This is something that we do every week here at Recast because we don't want to stray too far from what
39:13
Christ has done for us. So we're going to invite those who believe in God.
39:19
If you're a believer today, you've put your faith and trust in God for salvation. We just welcome you to come to the table.
39:26
We have tables set up, by the way, here and in the back and over here. And you can go in a minute when
39:33
Dave comes to lead us in a song. We're just going to get up from our seats and at our own pace go and take the elements.
39:39
You can take them back to your seat and just take the cracker, which represents Christ's body broken for us.
39:47
And you can take the juice, which represents the blood of Christ spilled for us. This is our weekly reminder to not stray too far from the amazing work that Christ has done for us.
39:58
He gave up everything for us so that we could have a wonderful relationship with Him.
40:05
And that's what we want to do now. So if you're a believer, we would invite you to come take the elements as the worship team leads us in a song.
40:14
If you're not a believer and you're just not sure and questioning, no problem. Just enjoy the song.
40:21
And I would just want to express to you that I would love to talk to you further. If you have questions about the message today, about anything
40:27
I've said, about the gospel that I've shared, please come chat with me afterward.
40:32
I'd love that. Let's pray now as we wrap it up and Dave comes to lead us. Heavenly Father, I thank
40:41
You for what You are doing in our lives, what You are doing in this world.
40:47
I thank You for Your Word that is powerful and effective, God. It is so much more powerful than anything
40:53
I could conjure up. God, Your Word is an amazing force in our lives.
40:59
Thank You for speaking words of truth to us throughout history. Thank You for capturing those in the
41:06
Bible for us to contemplate and consider. And thank You for the words from James this morning that are convicting and powerful.
41:15
Lord, we all have a tongue. We all have words that we can share with those around us. We have a responsibility to use our tongues wisely.
41:23
God, we are not powerless. We are not helpless. You have given us an amazing gift of a tongue.
41:29
Help us to use it in wherever we work, in wherever we go to school, in whatever home we live in, whatever circle we run in.
41:38
God, give us Your courage and Your spirit to speak words of truth to those around us that need to hear it.
41:46
Lord, guide us, guard us from evil speech, guard us from saying things that would cause damage beyond what we would even intend.
41:56
And just give us Your grace this morning. And Father, we just thank You again for what Christ has done to enable us to have a relationship with You.