Atlanta Bible Baptist Church

Guest (Male): Good morning. Can you take your Bibles and please stand? Turn to James chapter three. The reading will come from chapter three, verses one through ten.

My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment. For we all stumble in many things. If anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body. Indeed, we put bits in horses' mouths that they may obey us, and we turn their whole body. Look also at ships: although they are so large and are driven by fierce winds, they are turned by a very small rudder wherever the pilot desires.

Even so, the tongue is a little member and boasts great things. See how great a forest a little fire kindles! And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body and sets on fire the course of nature, and it is set on fire by hell. For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and creature of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by mankind.

But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so. Thank you. You may be seated.

Pastor Ray P. Smith: The power of words. I remember teaching a Bible study once, and I was making the point that words are so important to God that he used them to communicate his love to us. Apart from words, we would not really be sure of who he is and how wonderful he is. But he's taken the time to tell us.

Words are very important. This morning, we want to talk about words that come from the tongue. If you have your copy of the scriptures, after you put it on mute or silent, if you would turn to James chapter three again. I had ten verses read by the chairman. However, I only want to re-read in your hearing verses one and two. My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment. For we all stumble in many things. If anyone does not stumble in word, in what he says, he is a perfect, a mature man, able also to bridle the whole body.

Father, thank you again. Thank you for your goodness, your mercies, your grace. Now Father, having sung about it and talked about it and modeled it toward each other, we sit at your feet that we might learn a little bit more about how to walk in that word, walk in that will, walk in your ways, that we might bring glory and honor to your great name.

We ask that you might bind that evil one, so that only heaven will be heard from. Father, as we allow your word to penetrate our hearts, as your spirit drives it in, we will pledge to apply that word to our hands and feet and walk it out. Thank you for Jesus, who makes it all possible. Speak, Father, because your servants are listening. As always, we'll be careful to give you the praise and the honor and the thanksgiving. We ask all of these things in Jesus's name and for his sake. Amen.

I was reading this week a couple of instances. One concerning General Robert E. Lee. It says that General Lee had some very unkind words said about him. A reporter, trying to dredge up some controversy, asked him what he thought of that man. General Lee says, "Well, you know, he's a wonderful man." The reporter said, "Well, obviously you don't know what he says about you." General Lee said, "Yes, I do. But you didn't ask me that. You didn't ask me what he thought about me. You asked me what I thought about him."

Another instance involved President Abraham Lincoln. I remember Abraham Lincoln when he was a trial lawyer. He was competing in a patent case against Edwin Stanton. Stanton called him a useless, backwoods lawyer and didn't really have anything nice to say about him. However, later, when Lincoln won the presidency and he was putting his cabinet together, he had to pick a Secretary of War and he picked Edwin Stanton.

They were aghast that he would do that. They said, "Why did you choose someone like him? You know he called you a gorilla." He said, "Because he is the best man for the job." Using words to shape the atmosphere is an art form. It is very important.

This morning, we want to talk about the power of words. We've been talking, in fact, if we look back at what we talked about last week, we talked about faith that works. In fact, I'll tell you that when we look at James's treatment, James says in chapter one that your spiritual maturity looks like people who are able to be patient in trials. Then in chapter two, he says spiritually mature people are people who are able to practice truth. They don't just talk about it; they live it out.

When we get into chapter three, he's going to say that spiritual maturity looks like the power to control the tongue. He wants us to be mature people, and as such, he's calling us to a higher form of living and using our tongue. As I said last week, we talked about faith and those three different types of faith: dead faith, demonic faith, and dynamic faith. This week, we want to turn the corner and talk about the tongue, and the problem and the power of the tongue. Often it is like that little red wagon there in the middle.

I came across something in my archives this week. There were a couple of letters. In fact, there was an independent treatment in Business Insider. They ran an article entitled "Seven Brutally Honest Job Rejection Letters." I pulled out two of them. Sub Pop, an independent record label in Seattle, sent this rejection letter. It says, "Dear Loser, thank you for sending your demo materials to Sub Pop for consideration. Presently, your demo package is one of a massive quantity of material we receive every day at Sub Pop world headquarters.

Your material is on its way through the great lower intestines that is the talent acquisition process. We appreciate your interest and wish you the best in your pursuit. Kind regards. PS, this letter is known as a rejection letter in case you're too stupid to figure that out." Boy, that makes the heart feel good.

The New Delta Review, a literary magazine in Baton Rouge, sent this rejection letter. It said, "Thank you for submitting. Unfortunately, the work you sent is quite terrible. Please forgive the form rejection, but it would take too much of my time to tell you exactly how terrible it was. So again, sorry for the form letter. I'm trying to let you down easy." Sometimes we can use words in such a way that it injures others and we don't care. God does, though.

God traffics in words. In fact, the scripture says every word of God is perfect. He chooses his words carefully to make just the right impact and just the right statement that he wants to make. Jesus says, "Every careless, every idle word that men speak, you're going to give an account of it to the Lord." God cares greatly about words.

It's interesting that James starts out like he does in James chapter three, verses one and two. He says, "Let not many of you become teachers." Apparently, in that particular setting in the first century, churches would gather together and they would invite people to just stand up. If you have a word from God, stand up and share with us. In fact, Paul took advantage of that many times. He would go into a city, he would find the synagogue gathering of the Jews, and then when they saw them, they said, "Brethren, do you have a word of encouragement, a word from the Lord?" He would use that as an opportunity to share about Jesus.

People were used to popping up, and apparently, they loved doing that. They love to stand up and talk. Some people are in love with the sound of their own voices, and they never seem to be at a shortage for words. James says, "Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we will incur a stricter judgment." God holds teachers to a higher standard.

There are at least three things that you really want to remember about teachers. If you're going to be any good at teaching, first of all, you've got to know the material. There's nothing worse than getting up and not knowing what you're talking about. After a while, everybody knows that you have no idea what you're talking about. It's better not to talk than to expose the fact that you're ignorant of the subject. You want to know the material.

But not only that, if you're going to be any good at teaching, you need to have some methodology to your teaching. One of the reasons that we're going to have a teacher training in a couple of months and invite those who are teachers—in fact, we're going to require those who are teachers currently to attend that seminar and workshop—and if you are interested in teaching, we want to invite you to come and be a part of that. Because there is an art to teaching.

Teachers have to know their subject, but not only that. One of the things that I love saying to our teachers, I say it to our ministers, I say it to people that I'm coaching and counseling all the time: "Remember, guys, you are not teaching the Bible." I let that soak in for a minute. When they go aghast, I'm like, "Remember, you are not teaching the Bible. You are teaching people the Bible." There's a difference. You want to be able to not just spit out truth; you want to be able to communicate truth.

Did you ever wonder why Jesus used all these different teaching methods? Sometimes he was hands-on with people, sometimes he told stories, and sometimes he used illustrations. Sometimes he sent his disciples out on missions. He did all these different teaching methods. When I was taking Bible study methods in seminary, Dr. Mark Schmitz shocked us all. He said, "Listen, you know the worst teaching method to use is the one you used the week before." Everyone was just making a point that variety is the spice of life.

You have to know people. You have to know how people learn. For instance, when I was teaching teenagers, we did a lot of Q and A, stories, and had them do little dittos. We had them do some acting because kids love to act. I won't say act up. They love to act out truth. So we would put little skits together. In fact, sometimes I would just say to some, "You know what? I'm going to preach a sermon today on this, and I want you to take this. I'm going to put a skit together on the spot." They would put it together, and they enjoyed doing that kind of stuff. They love engaging like that.

But adults learn best by discussion so that they discover truth. That's why I used to love when I did small groups. I would give them a sheet of paper. I'd put in one column the text that we were going to be studying, and in the right column, I would just put a whole bunch of questions. Usually, only eight to ten because in 45 minutes, all you could do is discuss eight to ten, and usually we didn't finish all of those. Because once you ask questions about the text and let them talk about it, they discover, "Well, here's what Paul meant by what he said," and, "Here's the application of that," and then apply it to my life. It was so much fun.

I loved doing small groups. That's why we're going to a small group ministry in the not-too-distant future, because adults learn by discussion. Anyway, this is methodology in teaching, and I just love teaching. I love doing things off the cuff. But there's not only material and methodology. One of the things that teachers have to do is model truth. You've got to live it. If you can't live it, or you aren't living it, you really have no credibility in saying it.

Did you ever wonder why God has two versions of the Word of God? He's got the written Word of God, the Scriptures. We look at the material and we study the material. But then he's modeled it, because he's taken the Word of God and he's poured it into human form in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. Christ is the living Word of God, and the written Word of God describes the living Word, and the living Word of God models and explains the written Word. They go together.

As a teacher, if you're going to stand up and teach the Word of God, teach spiritual truth, you've got to not only know what you're talking about, but you've got to show what you're talking about. James is saying, "Don't let many of you be teachers. It's easy to talk, but you're just going to incur stricter judgment." Because the more knowledge you have, the more you're accountable for. So don't be in a hurry to be a big shot, because big shots get shot at.

It's very interesting. He says in verse two, "We all stumble in many ways." We're all prone to make mistakes. None of us are perfect. There's only been one perfect person that ever lived in the world who stayed that way. Adam started out that way, but it didn't take long. He fell. James says if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man. We all stumble in our speech.

Sometimes we get angry and we speak. Sometimes pride comes into our hearts and we speak. Sometimes bitterness fills our hearts and we speak. Sometimes jealousy fills our hearts and we speak. Sometimes impatience fills our hearts and we speak. Sometimes selfishness, many times selfishness fills our heart and we speak. Control demonstrates that we have maturity. I want to guard my tongue when I recognize the potential that it holds.

It requires more than knowledge. It takes those three things, and it brings a greater judgment. Hence, I make the statement that when you recognize the influence that a position carries, then you realize the importance of personal control. It's going to be really important for you to exercise personal control because you're in a position where it's critical. That's the point that he's trying to make here.

Let me ask you a question. It's not a fair question, but I never ask fair questions. How do I speak when I'm angry? When I'm disappointed? When I get corrected by someone? When I get mistreated by someone? What kind of words come out? I told you about the guy that had the cup of hot water and he dropped a tea bag into the hot water. Out of the tea bag came something dark. It discolored all the water around it.

The question is, did the hot water put that brown color into the tea bag, or did it just draw it out? Then the question is, have you ever been in hot water? What comes out when you're in hot water? Can you say, "Well, you made me curse"? No. The cursing wasn't in there; it couldn't come out. I just gave you an opportunity to expose it.

Anyway, our tongues are small, that's the point, but they can produce an enormous consequence. A word can encourage, or it can discourage. It can heal, but it can also wound. Words can unite, but they can also divide. A pastor once told about a member of his church who was a notorious gossip. She would get on the phone and hang on the phone most of the day, sharing her little tidbits with anyone who would listen.

One day she got convicted. She came to her pastor and said, "Pastor, the Lord has convicted me of my sin of gossip. My tongue is getting me and others into trouble." The preacher heard that before. He asked the question, "What do you plan to do?" She said, "Well, I'm going to put my tongue on the altar." Before he could think about it much, he calmly replied, "There isn't an altar big enough." And then he walked away.

We have to exercise control over our words. James goes on to say in verses three and four that he gives some illustrations. He says, "Now we put bits in the horses' mouths so that they obey us." Horses are huge things. But you put that little small bit in its mouth and you can turn it wherever you want it to go. Likewise, he says the ships in the ocean. In fact, my wife took that cruise, she came back, she's still talking about that cruise. She had that much fun.

She said that ship had 17 decks. She said that thing is so huge, you look out, you were on the water, but you couldn't even feel it. It was so smooth and had a lot of everything. By the time she got done, she was ready to talk me into getting on a cruise. She wasn't trying to do that, but I'm like, "I need to check that out." She was just talking about these big ships, and they're massive.

But you know, the rudder that turns the ship is a little bitty thing. In fact, you can turn the rudder this way, and it'll make that whole big ship turn that way, wherever you want it to go. It doesn't even matter if the waves are coming against the boat; the rudder will allow the ship to go against the grain because the rudder is controlling the ship, not the ocean.

James is talking about that. He talks about the power of the tongue. He says it has the power to direct. That's what these illustrations are: the bit in the horse's mouth directs the horse. It doesn't matter if the horse wants to go in a contrary direction; it's going to go the way the bit makes it go. It doesn't matter what the ship tries to do because of the water; the rudder controls what the ship does. The small controls the big. The tongue directs the activities of the body.

Dorothy Nolte put these words in, and I think maybe you've read this poem. I'm sure most people have. She wrote this poem "Children Learn What They Live." When I say the first part, you'll remember the poem, though you may not know all of it. It says this: "If children live with criticism, they learn to condemn. If children live with hostility, they learn to fight. If children live with ridicule, they learn to be shy. If children live with shame, they learn to feel guilty. If children live with encouragement, they learn confidence.

If children live with tolerance, they learn to be patient. If children live with praise, they learn to appreciate. If children live with acceptance, they learn to love. If children live with approval, they learn to like themselves. If children live with honesty, they learn truthfulness. If children live with security, they learn to have faith both in themselves and others. If children live with friendliness, they learn that the world is a nice place in which to live."

They live what they learn. The potential to direct the course of their lives is shaped by what we say. We have to be very careful what we say to the children. I remember a teacher down in Texas. In fact, one year when Bush was the president, he was Teacher of the Year. They had him on James Dobson's Focus on the Family, and he was talking about an instance in his classroom.

He said there were two boys in his classroom. We'll just call them Malachi. Okay, there's no Malachi here that I'm aware of. But in his class, there were two Malachis. One of them was a real good student, and studious and observant and did very well. The other was a troublemaker, fighting, and using language uncouth. He didn't really respect authority.

One day they had a PTA meeting and the parents came up. And one Malachi's parents, he says, "Well, no wonder Malachi does so well. His parents are here, they're participating in PTA." He said, "You know what? Your son is a great kid. I love having your son in my class." They went back and they told their son.

First thing Monday, the little mean Malachi came up and said, "My parents said that you enjoyed having me in your class. No teachers ever said that about me." And his whole attitude changed. He became compliant and obedient and a hard worker, and his grades improved because he got a little bit of praise and acceptance from a teacher. Words are powerful. Words make a difference. Words have the ability to direct. We need to pay attention to what we do with our tongues.

James says in verse five, "The tongue is a small part of the body, and yet it boasts great things." And then he says, "See how great a forest is set aflame by such a small fire." That idea of a flame, a fire, is a powerful one. The tongue not only has the power to direct, but it also has the power to destroy. Many people's lives have been destroyed by that little red wagon.

As it spreads, it destroys. Fire does that, and the words we speak have that same power to destroy others. It starts out small. You can spread a little rumor, and it just gets bigger and bigger and bigger. In fact, I read about the Boxer Rebellion in China back in the 1800s, 1899 I believe it was. The Boxer Rebellion started because there were four reporters in Colorado. They met at a bar.

They were supposed to see if any dignitaries got off the train and do a little interview and then write up a story. But nobody of note got off the train that day or the next day. They're sitting in the bar and they said, "This is not going to happen. We can't write a story." One of them said, "Well, you know what? I'm just going to make up a story."

The four of them decided they would make up a story. Now, they couldn't make up a local story because people could check that out. They said, "Something far away, like China." So they said, "Hey, let's make up a story that this American company is going to be hired to tear down the Great Wall of China." Now, nobody's going to believe that.

They put it together and said, "What we'll say is that there were four engineers that met here in Colorado, and we interviewed them and got the story." So four different companies. They sent the stories back to their respective newspapers. Each newspaper put it on the front page. And when they put it on the front page that these companies were going to blow up the Great Wall of China, the Chinese government heard about it and they got upset.

There were people who began to riot. In fact, it killed 12,000 missionaries as a result of that one article. And on and on, and it split the country. In fact, there was a movement to expel foreigners out of China, all because of one little lie, one little made-up story. Words have the power to destroy.

One spark can destroy thousands of acres. A fire can begin with just a small spark. You remember, of course, a fire reportedly started in the O'Leary barn in Chicago at 8:30 PM on August the 8th, 1871. Because that fire spread, over 100,000 people were left homeless. 17,500 buildings were destroyed. 300 people died in the city of Chicago. It cost them over $400 million because that one little spark set off that fire.

The tongue has the ability to start fires. One sentence can destroy. It can destroy a reputation. It can destroy a relationship. It can destroy a marriage. It can destroy a friendship. It can destroy church unity, if we're not careful. James says it starts out small but it grows, it burns, and it hurts.

I put Matthew 11:19, I just wanted to mention one thing about that before we move on. That's the fact that in Matthew 11:19, it talks about the things that the Pharisees and religious leaders said about Jesus. Jesus would eat with publicans and sinners, and the Pharisees called him names. They said he was a drunkard. They called him a winebibber and a glutton. All he's doing is eating with the riffraff.

They were constantly taking shots at Jesus. Constantly. I put that up there because I asked myself this question: how do I respond when people take shots at me? If they would take shots at my Lord, if they would hate on him because the only thing he ever did was teach truth and heal people and feed people. He could raise a man from the dead, and these jokers said, "We've got to kill him and that guy he raised from the dead." Just malicious people!

But they did that to Jesus. Why would I be surprised if they do that to me? And if they do that to me, am I going to respond as graciously as Jesus did? Spiritual maturity has power over the tongue. Verse six tells us the final thing that we want to say today. It says the tongue is a fire. It calls it "the world of iniquity."

The tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body and sets on fire the course of our life, and it's set on fire by hell. You see I underlined three words, which means Pastor Ray is going to say at least three things about that phrase. Amen, you figured that out. The next slide gives those three things.

First, the perversity of the tongue. It defies God's principles. When it says it's a world of iniquity, I've got to do at least one Greek word. I just can't help it. But you know, there's this word for righteousness, dikaios. But this is adikaios. The "a" is the negative. And it's a feminine adikia, which means unrighteous. The idea is not just that a person isn't doing what's right; the idea is that they are promoting exactly that which is wrong.

Second Samuel 13 is a classic case. You've got this guy Amnon. Amnon's got the Jones for his stepsister, but he can't put his hands on her. Then he's got a friend. There's always a friend. Do you know how many people are in jail today because they listened to advice of their friends? Some of them are dead today because of that.

But his friend says, "Let me tell you how to get your way." Because his friend spoke words that put in his mind an idea, the idea took shape and resulted in him raping his stepsister. This woman, virgins are married off, but if you're not a virgin, then there's no marriage in your future. She's desolate in her brother's house for the rest of her life because of what he did to her.

Not only that, but it cost Amnon his life because her brother killed him. He killed Amnon for what he did to his sister. And then of course, he was banished by his father, David. When he came back, he conspired to take over the kingdom. As a result of that one lie, that one unrighteous idea, you had the rape, you had the murder of Amnon, you had the killing of Absalom, and you had civil war that broke apart a kingdom, all because of that one statement of unrighteousness. There's power in the words.

It defies the principle of God. It doesn't matter what's right before God. "I can speak those words because I just feel like it, and I don't think about the consequences." It's like in the Christmas story that comes on 25 times every Christmas season. The boys are out there in the dead of winter's cold and the guy says, "I bet your tongue would stick to that pole." "Only a moron would do that." He says, "I'm not doing it, but I dare you. I double dog dare you." You can't say no to a double dog dare. Because of a double dog dare, he put his tongue on that pole and he couldn't get it back.

Some people just because of the words they hear, they act. Some guys have gotten the snot beat out of them because they wanted to defend the honor of their girlfriend because she said something to somebody. I won't get into that. It defiles, secondly, it defiles the person. Matthew 15 talks about how a defiled heart puts out those kinds of things.

After Jesus called the crowd to him, he said to them, "Hear and understand: it is not what enters into the mouth that defiles the man, but what proceeds out of the mouth. That defiles the man." "Don't you understand?" he says to the disciples later. "Don't you understand that everything that goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is eliminated? But the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and those defile the man.

Out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders. These are the things that defile the man. But to eat with unwashed hands, that doesn't defile anybody." Our tongue can speak words that defile our whole bodies. The tongue is perverse.

And finally, the tongue can be diabolical. The tongue can do some things and say some things. Look at the words there. This is "damaging as a madman shooting a deadly weapon is someone who lies to a friend and then says 'Psych! I was just joking, man! Come on, I didn't mean that!' after you trash them and hurt their feelings."

Fire goes out without wood and quarrels disappear when gossip stops. You know, the easy way to stop gossip is if somebody shares something with you about someone else, you say, "Oh, okay. Well, let's go talk to him about that." "Well, I don't want to do that." No? Okay. Why are you sharing it? You want to pray about it? You want to talk to the Lord about it? No. They won't bother you with that no more.

A quarrelsome person starts fights. Rumors are "dainty morsels that go so well." Yeah, but then it goes so well to the heart. Smooth words might hide a wicked heart, just as pretty glaze covers a clay pot. Words can be vitriolic, words can be damning, words can be condemning, words can be hurtful. That's why we need to pay attention to the words and be careful.

Before speaking, let's wrap this up. Ask yourself these five questions. Is it true? If it's not true, don't say it. Is it necessary? Even if it is true, do you really need to say that? No, then don't say it. Is it loving? If it's not loving, just be quiet. Will it build up or tear down? If it's not going to build up, what's the point in saying it? And number five: what would I say if Jesus was standing next to me? Never mind. I was going to say that Jesus was standing there, but you know what? He is there, isn't he? Practicing the presence of God. He hears every single word that I say.

Well, our time's gone. Let me give you my closing thoughts. What does God want me to know? What does he want me to feel? What does he want me to do? Number one: be careful what you carry along in that little red wagon. The wagon's wagging all the time. For you young kids, your parents will explain it to you when you get home.

Number two: keep those control-alt-delete tabs handy. Control what you say, alter it so it doesn't hurt feelings, or just don't say it. You've got to keep that handy and use it. Number three: recognize that a controlled tongue is evidence of a surrendered heart. Sometimes God allows people to come into my life who get on my nerve, who make me want to say things just so I can cry out to him to grant the strength to control the heart.

God just says that the tongue is a daily reminder to purify my heart. Although James emphasizes the danger of the tongue, the answer is not hopelessness. The answer's not to say, "Man, I can't help it. I'm hopelessly undone. This is just who I am." No, the answer is you need Jesus to change your heart.

You need to surrender your heart to the Lord who loves you, to the one who gave his life for you, the one who transforms and changes and fixes what's broken on the inside of you. That's the answer to the dilemma in your life. Listen, if you are here today and you've never surrendered your tongue to Jesus—well, I could have just said surrender your heart to Jesus. It's the same thing, though.

If he has your heart, he'll get your tongue too. He'll get your tongue, he'll get your wallet, he'll get your hands, he'll get your shoes, he'll get your eyeballs. He'll get all of it when he gets your heart. So you surrender to him. Say, "Lord Jesus, I'm nothing without you. I can't do without you. The most I can make is a mess without you." He knows that, and you know that too. Everybody else knows it.

Anyway, surrender your heart to Jesus. And listen, if you have surrendered your heart to Jesus but every now and then you step back into a lifestyle that you know doesn't honor him. A man in a small village was found guilty of starting a malicious rumor against another man. The rumor was not only untrue, but it seriously damaged the other man's reputation as well as his family.

In the village, they took him before the chief of the village, who served as the judge to decide the man's punishment if he was found guilty. After hearing the facts of the case, the chief found the accused man to be guilty. And for his punishment, he handed the man a large bag of feathers. He says, "Now I want for your punishment, I want you to go and I want you to put a feather on the door of every person that heard about what you did."

He said, "Oh, well, that's not so bad." So he went and he handed out all the feathers, and then he came back. The next day the judge said, "Okay, now that you've done that, go back and get them all up." He said, "Wait a minute now. It rained, it stormed, the wind was blowing. I have no idea where those feathers are."

He said, "Well, that's the point. Once you say it, it's out there. You can't unsay it. You can't get it back." Listen, we need Christ to be Lord of our mouths so that our words will be sweet and uplifting.

Father, thank you again for this day. Thank you for your Word. Father, the truth of the matter is verse eight says no man can tame the tongue. That's just another way of saying that apart from your grace, without you doing a work in us, then there is no deliverance from the power that destroys.

But in Christ, there is deliverance. And even next week when we look at the rest of this and we talk about remedies so that our tongues speak praise words and our word banks are filled up with that which builds up. Father, we just thank you for the potential to be sources of blessing and not poison. Strengthen us today.

We recognize the importance of guarding our hearts, surrendering ourselves fully to you. I ask again if there's anyone here under the sound of my voice who has not surrendered the heart to the Lord Jesus, I pray that today will be the last day that that's true, that they'll give their lives to you, Lord Jesus, in full surrender, allowing you to change them into that person you want them to be.

And for those of us who've received you, who say that you're Lord, but if the truth be known, our mouths don't always reflect it, we ask forgiveness. We ask for strength. We ask for the grace to surrender fully our mouths, our tongues, our hearts, our minds to you. Grant that it may be so, that you might be glorified. We ask in your name and for your glory. Amen.