Well, it's great to be here, and it's been great getting to fellowship with everyone
here the last 24 hours. I really appreciate the kind introduction that Jason gave me.
Obviously, we've been friends for a long time. Some of you I've known for a while. I've known
Brother Joey for a long time and his family. It's great being here. It's great to know
that there's a great church here in West Virginia, like when I do come and visit from the Philippines
sometimes. My family lives like an hour and 40 minutes from here or so. It's great to
know that I have a church that I can come down to. And I'll tell you this, Jason and
I have both. Pastor Robinson, I'm still getting used to that. We've both wanted to be pastors
and do something big in our lives for a long time. And I'll tell you one thing. There's
one difference between me and your pastor is that he's always had a burden for West
Virginia. If you could talk to him and talk to his family, I'm sure they'd tell you that.
It's not really the burden that God laid on my heart. And the reason why that's so exciting
is the fact it's great to have a pastor that you know is invested in your local area. He
really cares about this local area. He wants to do something big in this area, and that's
exciting because of the fact a lot of people don't necessarily have that sort of mentality.
But you've got a pastor who really cares about this area. He wants to see it grow. And obviously
I'm leaving, but at the same time, I think of the areas around here, seeing things that
I haven't seen in a long time. And I would love to see a lot of churches get started
and great soul winning this church to grow and everything. Now there was something this
morning that kind of inspired me for my sermon, but I can't fit into my sermon at all. And
you can ask Brother Jeff. He's got a picture of it because I was like, man, I felt like
I left California, and then we were at Cracker Barrel, and they had like this little picture,
I mean like a Christian store, right? And it said our family had had a picture of two
women with a young little baby in Cracker Barrel. And I was just thinking, man, I thought
like I just left California. And it's like, man, a lot is changing very rapidly, and you
need churches like this in a world like this because this is going to get worse and worse.
And so we're here in James 3, and we're going to be talking about the sermon, The Tongue
is a Fire. The Tongue is a Fire. That's the name of the sermon. And I want you to notice
what it says in verse number six. And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. So
is the tongue among our members that it defileth the whole body and seteth on fire the course
of nature, and it is set on fire of hell. For every kind of beast and of birds and of
serpents and of things in the sea is tamed and hath been tamed of mankind. But the tongue
can no man tame. It is an unruly evil full of deadly poison. This sermon is useful for
anyone in this room. And I know that because the Bible says the tongue can no man tame.
This is something we all struggle with. I'm not standing up here saying, man, I don't
struggle with this at all. The Bible says the tongue can no man tame. And we don't realize
sometimes how powerful what we have in our mouth is and how much destruction it can cause.
But the Bible says the tongue is a fire. Now, you know, some people try to criticize the
Bible, and they say the Bible's confusing and hard to understand. They say, well, I
can't tell if it's being literal or figurative. Obviously, when it says the tongue is a fire,
it's not a literal fire. It's obviously being figurative. It's obviously being metaphorical.
But you have to understand, when God's being metaphorical, there's a reason why He's using
the example He's using. It's not like it's just vain words He's repeating. When He says
the tongue is a fire, we're going to see that the fire is a great representation of what
the tongue is. We're going to see four points that show us that a tongue is very much like
a fire. Now, the first point we have is this. When it comes to the tongue, when it comes
to a fire, when it comes to a wildfire, wildfires start off small and insignificant. They don't
start off as being massive. They start out small. That's what the Bible says about the
tongue. Look at verse 4. Behold also the ships, which though they be so great and are driven
of fierce winds, yet are they turned about with a very small helm whithersoever the governor
listeth. Even so, the tongue is a little member and boasteth great things. Behold how great
a matter a little fire kindleth. And so what the Bible says is before you have a great
fire, before you have a great matter and a wildfire that spreads, it starts off with
a little fire. It starts off with a small flame. It starts off being kind of insignificant
or seemingly. They say up to 90% of wildfires start from humans. You say, well, how do humans
start wildfires? Well, they have a small little campfire. They're just roasting marshmallows.
And before they know it, the wind just blows that campfire and you end up having a wildfire.
Or they're just kind of burning debris, nothing major, and it ends up being a wildfire. Or
somebody's smoking a cigarette. They just kind of throw it on the ground. I mean, it's
only a cigarette, right? I mean, it's so small. It could never cause any problems, right?
It was just about four years ago right near where my parents live. Pastor Robinson's been
to my parents' house before that's right up there by the woods. And somebody was just
camping up there by the woods. I can't remember if it was a cigarette or a match. But basically
they just threw a cigarette or a match on the ground. And there ended up being a major
fire up there. And it's not really in an area where you can just bring the firemen to fix
the problem. Because you've got to hike up like 30 minutes to get there. And so for my
grandmother's house, which is a couple miles away, you could smell the flames. And it was
going for days and days. You say, well, how did that start? It started because of something
small. It started because of a cigarette or a match. It started very small and it became
a big fire in the area. And you have to understand, when it comes to wildfires, they start small.
It's the same thing with the tongue. Turn to Proverbs chapter 19. Proverbs 19. And so
when you think about the tongue, you think about massive destruction that can happen,
you have to realize that's going to start with something small. You know, the two areas
I really want to look at in this sermon are kind of with your marriage and your family
that you have. Like your kids and your spouse. And also with church. Now obviously this is
going to apply to our jobs as well. But when I look at jobs, you know, obviously I work
for Verity Baptist Church so it's a little bit different. But when I think of like a
secular job, I kind of think it's just like a way to get money so you can live your life
that's more important. You know what I mean? Church and family are more important than
your work. You need to work hard because God says you need to work hard. You need to provide
your bills. But I don't want my whole life to be about work. I want my life to be about
building church, winning people to the Lord, being close to my family. That's more important
to me than a secular job. And so obviously this is going to apply to the workplace as
well but it's really pertinent for a church that we control our tongues. Because so many
problems start as a result of the tongue and in church you see each other all the time.
When you have someone that you just root to all the time and you're going to end up disliking
them, you're going to see them a lot. And it's going to cause problems if you don't
get along with people at church. And when it comes to your family, obviously you look
at marriages and we need to have strong marriages. And first looking at marriages, look at what
it says in Proverbs 19 verse 13. It says,
A foolish son is the calamity of his father, and the contentions of a wife are a continual
dropping. A continual dropping. Turn to Proverbs 27. Proverbs 27. What does it mean by a continual
dropping? It's talking about rain. It's talking about water just continually dropping
down. Okay? Just imagine if you were in your house, you're studying for a big exam in college.
You want peace and quiet. And like every three seconds you just have that little drop. Just
over and over again. Now is that that big of a deal, one drop? No. But it just constantly
is annoying. It constantly distracts you from what you're doing. And eventually you just
want to snap. You know, you have this small little leak in your house and you just keep
hearing that drop over and over and over again. And it ends up getting obnoxious. It
ends up getting annoying. It says in Proverbs 27 verse 15,
A continual dropping in a very rainy day. So we're talking about rain and a contentious
woman are alike. So the Bible is likening the continual dropping rain and the contentious
woman. Now one thing I want to say, and look, I'm not trying to offend anyone here, but
I'm just being honest. If I was preaching on the sins of the eyes, I would mainly direct
this towards men. Because the Bible likens it more towards men as being a problem that
they have. But if you look throughout the Bible, the truth is when we're talking about
the sins of the tongue, this is something that women struggle with more than men. When
it talks about women being busybodies bouncing from house to house, and you can get offended
at me if you want, but if you read the Bible you're going to know that's the case. Most
of the Bible is about men, and like I said, if we're talking about the sins of the eyes,
I would mainly be directing towards men. Because I believe men struggle with that more. I believe
women are a tad bit more spiritual than men, if you look on average throughout the world.
That's what I believe. I think they're more interested in going to church and the things
of God than men. So this is not being insulting, but obviously men and women are different.
We're not liberals here, right? There's differences between men and women. When it comes to gossiping,
if you're a guy and you struggle with gossiping, it's like I might have more questions about
you than that. That's a big problem for guys. If you have a struggle with gossiping, that's
weird. But that is something that women kind of tend to struggle with. And the Bible talks
about them being safe and childbearing to help protect them from these things and things
like that. And so I'm not being offensive, but when we read verses that are talking about
this subject, you're going to see it likens it to women more than men. That's what it
likens it to in Proverbs 19 and Proverbs 27. Now that doesn't mean that if you're a guy
in this room, you can just tune me out and say, well, no big deal. Because obviously,
you know, this is going to apply to us and it's very important. And when we're talking
about marriage, we need to realize that women are the weaker vessel. And so your words are
going to really hurt if you say them harshly to your spouse. It's going to really hurt.
But obviously both men and women, we both need to apply this, but the Bible does direct
this more towards women than men. And you think about the continual dropping. Think
about in a fight, okay? Let's say, for example, there's two guys fighting and a guy's doing
a jab over and over again. Now is a jab going to knock somebody out most of the time? No.
A jab's not meant to knock somebody out. But it's meant to just sting a little bit, right?
If you watch two guys fight and the one guy keeps jabbing the other guy, he stays at distance
and keeps jabbing him over and over again, the other guy ends up panicking and just kind
of rushing and then he gets knocked out, right? The jab is just meant to over and over again
slowly wear them out, maybe draw a little bit of blood, and it's more annoying and just
a little stinging than the fact that it's going to knock you out. That's kind of the
same thing with a raindrop, but eventually it adds up over time. And if you get jabbed
100 times, it's really going to start to hurt over and over again. One jab by itself doesn't
hurt that much, does it? But once you add those up over and over and over again, it
starts to hurt. And you have to realize with our words that one statement is not that big
of a deal. You say, well, it's only one little rude comment I made. But when you add those
up over and over and over again, it ends up getting annoying. It ends up getting obnoxious.
It ends up getting to be that continual raindrop and you just can't take it anymore. Eventually
it gets to the point where it's a huge thing. Turn to Genesis chapter 2. Genesis 2. So when
it comes to your marriage, having to lay an insult to your spouse, we need to cut that
out of our marriages, all of us in this room, myself included. If your spouse makes a mistake,
if they screw up, you don't have to let them know they screwed up. You don't have to mock
them and say, oh, you're an idiot or whatever. Just pass over that transgression. Don't worry
about it. They made a mistake. No big deal. We all make mistakes. We don't always have
to criticize the person we're married to. And one thing I know is this, that we have
a tendency to say things to our family and our spouse and people that are close to us
that we wouldn't say at other places. You wouldn't make that backhanded comment to your
boss, would you, at work? That's a good way to get fired, isn't it? But see, with your
spouse, they're going to end up forgiving you. So then you feel more comfortable being
able to say that insult. But man, that's a foolish fire you're starting. Because that's
just going to be a fire that goes back and forth. Think about Samson in the Bible. We're
going to look at him later on. That fire that just keeps going back and back and just escalates.
Do you really want to do that? I mean, do you want to hate your life? Then we need to
probably control our tongues when it comes to our marriages, because it's going to make
your life miserable all the time. If you're always fighting, you're always bickering.
Another way, not just laying that insult into your spouse, but another way you can harm
your marriage with your tongue is when you complain about your spouse to your parents.
In Genesis 2, the Bible says, verse 24,
Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife,
and they shall be one flesh. See, the Bible says when you get married, you leave and you
cleave. You leave your parents, you cleave onto your spouse. That's what the Bible teaches.
Which means, you know, a month into your marriage when you're having problems, you don't call
up your mom or your dad on the phone and just say, well, this is what my wife did. This
is what my husband did. What a foolish thing to do. Because what's going to end up happening
one day is you'll forgive your spouse, and your family never will forgive your spouse.
That's what's going to happen. You know, it was a small little fire, you say. I just made
one phone call. Behold how great a matter a small little fire kindleth, right? It's
a small little statement, but it ends up causing major repercussions. Turn to Song of Solomon,
Chapter 5. Song of Solomon, Chapter 5.
So when it comes to the sins of the tongue and the tongue being a fire, the Bible shows
us that in marriage this is very applicable. This is something that if you're married in
this room, we need to apply this to our lives because it can destroy our marriages. It can
cause you to start to hate your spouse and not to want to spend time with your spouse,
not to want to spend time with your family. And obviously you don't want to act this way
towards your kids either, just being really mean to your kids all the time and cause your
kids to hate you. Obviously we need to control our tongue when it comes to our personal life
and our marriage and our family. It says in Song of Solomon, Chapter 5, verses 8 and 9.
In Song of Solomon, Chapter 5, here's a woman who misses her husband. Obviously she's very
emotional at this point. This is her opportunity to criticize her husband to other people. But
notice what it says in verse 8. I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if you find my beloved,
that I am sick of love. She's basically saying, I can't take it anymore. It's just too much.
And notice what it says in verse 9. What is thy beloved more than another beloved,
O thou fairest among women? What is thy beloved more than another beloved, thou dost so charge
us? Basically they're saying, what is so special about your husband? What is so great about him
more than any other guy? He's just any other guy. Nothing special about your husband. Why is it such
a big deal? Well, I want you to notice in the rest of Song of Solomon, Chapter 5, she spends
the whole chapter complimenting her spouse about how he looks and how great of a guy he is. She
has nothing negative to say. She doesn't say, wow, he's gone all the time or anything. All she has
to say is positive things. That's a great example for us being married. You should never criticize
your spouse to somebody else. Never do that. You should never criticize your spouse to another
friend of yours or a church member. I mean, this is the book that shows us basically the perfect
marriage, right? Two people that really love each other and care about each other. And what do we
see that you should not criticize your spouse to somebody else? And she says, this is my beloved.
She said, this is my friend. She looked at her spouse as a friend. But I want you to notice Song
of Solomon, Chapter 6, Verse 1, because one mistake we make sometimes when we read the Bible, we think
that the end of the chapter is the end of the thought. Oftentimes that's not the case. Song of
Solomon, Chapter 6, Verse 1, we are still in the exact same context. Nothing's changed. Notice what
their reaction is after she compliments her husband. Whither is thy beloved Gano thou fairest
among women? Whither is thy beloved turned aside, that we may seek him with thee? They're basically
hearing how great of a guy this is, and they're like, man, I've got to see this with my own eyes,
if he's really as great as you're saying he is. Because she's basically made him look so great,
they're like, wow, I've got to see, this is like the perfect guy. And honestly, that ought to be
what we want. When people think about our spouses, I want people to think, man, you are lucky. You
are blessed, Brother Stuckey, to be married to Miss Kristann Stuckey. I would like my wife,
the same thing, where people would say, wow, you're blessed to be married to Brother Matthew
Stuckey. We should want people to love our spouse. Obviously, as a friend, but really respect them
and think, man, they're a great person. And see, that's what we see in Song of Solomon. She
compliments, and as a result, people think, wow, her husband's really great. Do you really want
people to think about your spouse? Man, you really got a loser. You got the short end of the straw
there with who you're married to. That's not what I want people to think about, you know,
me and my wife. I want people to think, wow, you guys are lucky, you found a great spouse,
God really blessed you. And I believe that, too. But I don't want people to criticize my spouse
and think down on them. You say, well, how are they going to criticize your spouse? Well, if you
just subtly criticized other people, guess what? That's going to get around to everybody else. That
so-and-so is criticizing his spouse. Word always gets around. Gossip finds a way of just sprouting
wings and just going from person to person. That's just the way it is. And that's why it's
so important for us to control our tongues so this doesn't even start. Turn to Ephesians chapter 4.
Ephesians 4. And so when it comes to our marriage, realize that big marriage problems, they start
with something kind of small. Just these small little comments, small little criticism, and they
end up becoming really big. It's only one little match. It's only one little cigarette. And
eventually that just burns down everything. It starts with something small. That's always the
way things work. And that's why we need to realize that we need to cut stuff off at the beginning
and not allow it to become something big. But also with church. Look at Ephesians 4. In verse 29,
the Bible reads, Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good
to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. And grieve not the Holy
Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. See, one big way you could grieve
the Holy Spirit of God is by not controlling your tongue. Now when it's saying grieve not the Holy
Spirit of God, it's not saying that you're going to lose your salvation, obviously. We know once
you're saved, you're always saved. The Bible teaches that. But you know the power of the
Spirit upon you can depart if you're not living right. And the Bible says you can grieve the Holy
Spirit of God. And in verse 31, Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking
be put away from you with all malice. And be kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one
another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. But you know, it's pretty hard
to forgive someone if you constantly criticize them a little bit or they constantly criticize
you. See, if this keeps going back and forth, you're never going to forgive them. Now Ephesians
4, the context is really about the church body. You know, these oneness heretics like to pull out
a verse earlier in the chapter, and they don't even understand the context. But if you go to
verse 16, it talks about from whom the whole body fitly joined together. It's talking about the
church body, compacted by that which every joint supply. It's basically saying every person has
value. And this book was written to the church of Ephesus. So obviously these sins of the tongue,
these apply to a church. And the Bible says, Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth,
but that which is good to the use of edifying. When it comes to a church, we need to make sure
we're not criticizing and gossiping and complaining about other people at this church.
You think about Moses and Korah in the Bible. That became a massive wildfire and started with just
subtle criticism with the tongue. These sorts of major problems, they start off with something
small. Now when it comes to you as an individual, let's say you're a husband in this room, okay?
And let's say, for example, you have criticisms about various people at the church. Let's say
you criticize this church a little bit. Because honestly, all of us have different opinions,
and no church is ever, no church is perfect, obviously. We're all sinners. Nobody's perfect.
And let's say, for example, you think, Man, I wish the services were a little bit shorter,
or I wish they were a little bit longer. I wish we didn't meet at church in the afternoon. I
wish it was still in the evening, or this or that. Small little criticisms that you have. Well,
here's the thing. When you go home and voice those criticisms as a husband to your wife or your kids,
you know what you're teaching your wife and kids? You're teaching your wife not to respect authority.
Is that not right? You're teaching your kids not to respect authority. So guess what's going to
happen at home if you teach them not to respect authority? Guess who they're going to stop
respecting? They're going to stop respecting you, Mr. Husband. Because you're criticizing
authority all the time to them. Guess what? They won't respect authority much either. And as the
authority of the home, you're shooting yourself in the leg. I mean, that's a foolish thing to do
to criticize your church as the husband to other people. And this goes on. It goes on all the time
at churches. You know, there's always problems. This sins of the tongue thing, it's a very pertinent
message, because this is something that you always deal with at churches. And, you know, honestly,
people will put their smile on when they come to church, and then they leave, and they have to make
that small little comment about something. Oh, I didn't really agree about that. And yeah, that's
one reason why you ought to go to a great church, because if you go to a church that has a lot of
problems, it's really hard not to want to voice those complaints. Because there's a lot of issues
with most IFB churches. You know, you don't even know if the pastor's saved. I mean, that's a
pretty big issue, isn't it? And so you need to make sure as husbands you don't go home and teach
your wife and teach your kids not to respect authority by constantly criticizing the authority.
If you really have a complaint that really bugs you, you need to take that to God. And same thing
with wives. If you go home and you criticize authority, you're going to be that continual
drop in water that the Bible talks about to your husband, and you're teaching your kids not to
respect authority. So now they're not going to respect your spouse, and they're not going to
respect you, and you are the authority over those kids. Is that what you want to do? By going home
and criticizing the church, you're teaching your kids and your wife to not respect authority.
Or if you were to complain to a fellow church member about another church member or about the
pastor, look, you need to take great precaution when you see people criticizing the authority.
You say, why? Because in the Bible there are bad people that do that. Is that what we see
oftentimes with Moses and Korah? When people criticize the authority, oftentimes they're bad.
And here's how reprobates do it, okay? They make this small little comment and they just kind of
walk away from it. And then all of a sudden there's this wildfire. Everyone comes back and they're
like, man, how did this start? They do it intentionally. They're smart about it. They know what
they're doing. Their goal is to be a deceiver. So they're good at it. They have experience at
being a deceiver. So basically what they'll do is they'll just drop this small little cigarette on
the ground. They'll walk away and get other people complaining. And then they just kind of sit back
and watch, and they're the last person you suspect. That's what they do. You see that in the Bible.
You see that in real life. I've seen it happen in churches. That is their strategy. So if you
have somebody who wants to criticize the pastor to you, realize they might have a goal of getting
you to spread that around so you're the bad person. Even though they started it, they can
just put their hands off and say, well, I have nothing to do with this. You know, I love the pastor,
right? That's their goal. That's their motive. That's what they want to do. They want to trick
you into doing that. So beware when someone wants to always criticize the church or criticize the
pastor to you. You know, I was going soul winning in Sacramento maybe two years ago, and I knocked
on this door, and, you know, I asked the person if they went to church, and they said no. And they
said they had a different religion. I said, oh, okay, what's your religion? And they told me they
were Zoroastrianism. Okay, now they had to work to pronounce this. I was like, I was like, Zoro what?
They said Zoroastrianism. They said it's the oldest religion in the world. And so usually,
I just kind of go into the Gospel presentation, and I ended up giving the Gospel. She didn't get
saved. But I've never heard of that, so I was like, well, let me write that down. Because I was like,
I got to research this to figure out what in the world are you talking about. But apparently,
the religion of the ancient Persian Empire was Zoroastrianism. They followed a guy named
Zoroaster. I'm sure people online will comment and say, well, that's not how you pronounce it. Yeah,
I get that. You know, it's a long name that starts with a Z. I don't know how to form that syllable
very well. It's a new word. But they told me they followed Zoroastrianism. And it's kind of a
religion that's dying. It's in Iran because the Muslims just are taking over everything in the
world. And they're basically just washing away all religions. And Zoroastrianism is a dying
religion. But one of the big things about the religion is, I mean, the big thing is to get a
fire going and for it to last like thousands of years. They just constantly stoke that fire
so it keeps going. They keep it contained. And it's really bizarre. They'll go really close to
the fire, and it helps cleanse away the evil, they say. It's like a mix of, I don't know,
Pentecostal with something. It's really weird. And basically they just get really close to that
fire, and they say, well, cleanse away the evil. But you know, here's the thing. I don't follow
Zoroastrianism. And a little flame is a little bit of a dangerous thing. And we as Christians,
we got to realize we can't just say I'm going to stay close to that fire and just assume nothing's
going to happen. We as Christians, we ought to be smart and realize the Bible says the tongue is as
a fire. And it's a very dangerous thing to play with fire. And we as Christians, we need to
realize what's inside of our mouth is a weapon. That's what you see in James 3. And it can cause
real destruction. I know we always said this as kids. Sticks and stones may break my bones,
but words will never hurt me. I'll be honest. Just hit me with a rock in the head, you know.
I'd rather you just hit me with a rock in the head than you say something that's going to cause a
wound like the Bible talks about. I mean, we ought to try to have that reaction when people have
harsh words to us. But the truth is our words do really hurt people. And the Bible says they can
be wounds. And see, you know, you recover from getting hit with a rock. But you know, when
somebody makes a strong statement, that's something that sticks inside of you that might even come up
every once in a while where you think it's long forgotten. Say, man, I just made this comment like
two years ago. Yeah, but you caused a wound. And we're going to see that later on in the Bible.
You caused a wound that might spring up from time to time. Turn to Isaiah 9. Isaiah 9.
I'll be honest. I'm not really an expert on fire, so I had to consult an expert in the fire field,
a firefighter in Akron, Ohio, you know, for help for this sermon. Help me out with this next point.
And he said basically there's like, you know, three things that a fire needs in order to survive
and thrive. It says they need oxygen, fuel, and heat. See, the second point is when it comes to
a small fire, it needs outside sources to spread, okay? Without the outside sources, the fire is not
going to spread. It needs outside sources. The Bible says oxygen, fuel, and heat. And the Bible
actually mentions this in Isaiah 9.19. It mentions one of these. It says in verse 19,
through the wrath of the Lord of hosts is the land darkened, and the people shall be as the
fuel of the fire. No man shall spare his brother. See, the Bible says the people are the fuel of the
fire. And this is not directly what it's talking about with the tongue. But, you know, honestly,
we as people, we are the fuel that keeps fires going when it comes to the sins of the tongue.
Somebody makes this small little comment of gossip, and then other people just spread that.
We are that fuel that keeps that going. And it just keeps going, gets bigger, and gets bigger,
and it gets bigger until it's a big issue. That's the truth. Turn to Numbers 11.
And so there's a couple things I want to look at when it comes to this needing outside sources
to spread. Let us say you have a complaint. You have something that just really bugs you.
You feel like you've got to just let it out. You just can't contain it. You're really
frustrated about something. Maybe it's about church. Maybe it's about your spouse.
Well, while you're turning to Numbers 11, this is what the Bible says in Psalms 55 verse 22.
Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee. He shall never suffer the righteous
to be moved. See, when you have something that you just must utter out of your mouth,
you need to do that privately to God and never to man. You need to do that to God.
Cast your burden upon him. Tell him, hey, I can't take this. I need help.
And you see Moses doing that in Numbers 11. Numbers 11 verse 11,
And Moses said unto the Lord, Wherefore hast thou afflicted thy servant? And
wherefore have I not found favor in thy side, that thou layest the burden of all this people
upon me? So he's basically criticizing God. Verse 12, Have I conceived all this people?
Have I begotten them, that thou shouldst say unto me, Carry them in thy bosom,
as a nursing father beareth a sucking child, unto the land which thou swearest unto their fathers.
When should I have flesh to give unto all those people? For they weep unto me, saying,
Give us flesh that we may eat. I am not able to bear all those people alone, because it is too
heavy for me. And if thou dealest with me, kill me, I pray thee, out of hand, if I have found
favor in thy sight, and let me not see my wretchedness. Now we look at this and we realize,
you know, Moses has a bad attitude here. He has the wrong attitude. He has the wrong spirit.
But I want us to understand that we all have breaking points, okay? And I believe,
at least with myself, I would have reached my breaking point earlier than Moses did
in this story. We're seeing, you know, the end result of this, but realize Moses was about the
most righteous man who ever lived. And if he had a breaking point, I think all of us have breaking
points as well. But one great thing he does here is he does not complain to Aaron. He doesn't
complain to Miriam. So you look at him and you say, yeah, you know, he had the wrong attitude,
and that's true. But what I want to really highlight is the fact he didn't complain to
man about it. Because that would have been a much bigger problem. He took that burden to the Lord.
And what he said, he should have had a better attitude. We know that. We see that. But obviously
all of us probably would have had, we would have all, I would have just said, killed them all a
long time ago. All the stuff that he dealt with, I wouldn't have been willing to take that. Moses
was able to handle that, but he reached a breaking point. And we all have certain things that, for
whatever reason, we reach our breaking point. Maybe we have the wrong attitude. Maybe we're
in a bad mood one day. But we reach a breaking point. And if you feel like I must utter this,
utter it to the Lord in private. In the morning, go to him in prayer and just bear out your burdens
to God. And notice what God's reaction is. God is not really that angry with Moses. Look at what it
says in verse 16. And the Lord said unto Moses, Gather unto me seventy men of the elders of Israel,
whom thou knowest to be the elders of the people, and officers over them, and bring them on to the
tabernacle of the congregation, that they may stand there with thee. And I will come down and
talk with thee there. And I will take of the Spirit which is upon thee and will put it upon
them. And they shall bear the burden of the people with thee, that thou bear it not thyself alone.
And so basically he pours out his complaints. And what God actually says, I'm going to help you out.
I'm going to help you bear those burdens. And so realize that if we have something that we cannot
deal with, if you criticize somebody or say something to another man, that's just going
to constantly keep burning. And it's going to keep bugging you because you're going to keep
hearing about it. But if you give it to God, God can help you relieve those burdens. So if you got
something you say, I must say something about this, well say that to God in privacy. But don't
just add fuel to the fire and keep it going. Just take it to God, and God might just destroy that
fire and help you out with whatever you're dealing with. We all have a breaking point,
and instead of going to man, we need to go to God with problems that we have.
Turn to Leviticus chapter 19. Leviticus 19. And so that's if you have a gripe, you have a complaint,
you have something that's really bugging you, you're mad about something, whether it's with
your spouse or a church member or something like that, or whether it's on your job. Go to God with
that in private. But let's say for example you receive a complaint, or you receive gossip,
you receive one of these sins of the tongue. It comes right to your ear. You have three options
You have three options with what you want to do. One is that you can spread the fire,
pour gasoline on it. Two is you can try to put out the fire. Or three is that you can just kind
of watch it and just see what happens, right? If a small little fire started in my house,
I'd have three options. One, I could pour gasoline on it if I was crazy, you know. Or I could try to
put it out, which if it's really small, that's a smart thing. Or I could just kind of watch it.
You know, if you watch it, it might go out on its own. I mean most fires will end up going out on
their own. I could just watch and say, well, I hope it doesn't burn down my house. Now what
would be the smart thing to do? Try to put out the fire while it's a little fire. Obviously if
it reaches the point where it's huge, you know, you call, you know, brother Jeff and say, hey,
you gotta fix this problem in my house, right? But when it's small, you try to put that out.
And so realize that if you hear gossip, let's say, in Leviticus 19, when you hear gossip,
the tendency is to want to spread that gossip to other people. Well first off, you need to verify
that what you're hearing is actually the truth, because oftentimes it's 75% true, which makes it
100% false. They give you a shred of truth to deceive you, but it's really completely false,
and you're just spreading around the lie, okay? But even still, I mean, is it something you need
to spread? I remember that when I was at a church one time, somebody came to me and just kind of
casually mentioned that, oh, so-and-so cheated on his wife, you know. It was like 15 years in the
past. It's like, I don't want to know that. Why are you telling me that they committed adultery
on their spouse? Well, everybody knows that. It's like, well, maybe everybody knows that because
of you telling everybody. When it's been 15 years, like, why are you telling me that, you know?
The Bible says in Leviticus 19, verse 16, thou shalt not go up and down as a tale-bearer among
thy people. Neither shalt thou stand against the blood of thy neighbor. I am the Lord. The Bible
says, thou shalt not go up and down as a tale-bearer. What does that mean? It means
you're going from house to house and just spreading gossip. You're just spreading a tale.
Now, in the past it was a real issue because there's verses in the Bible that specifically
talk about it. But you know why it's a much bigger issue now? It's not that hard to go up and down.
I mean, you can go to like 50 houses at one time in just a matter of seconds. I mean, I could write
a comment on Facebook right now that would end up being a wildfire, like, immediately if I wanted to,
right? All of us could do that, just spreading gossip. It's so easy to do now. And you see it
in the secular world where somebody who's famous, an athlete or whatever, they say something stupid
and then six years later it gets brought up. And it's just like, well, you should have
been careful not to just spread your beliefs or spread whatever it is on social media for
everybody to see. It's very easy in today's world to go from house to house. And so when it says,
thou shalt not go up and down as a tale-bearer, in today's world we need to be especially careful
because we can easily just go on Facebook, go on YouTube, and send out a text message,
and tons of people hear it, and it's immediately a wildfire. We can spread fires so much quicker
when it comes to the sins of the tongue in today's world than we could back then. And so
this is something we need to be able to pay attention to. So when you get gossip, look,
you need to try to get rid of that gossip. You need to try to basically just rebuke that person,
say, I don't want to hear that. Go tell somebody else, I don't want to hear that. Or one thing you
can do, let's say somebody criticizes, you know, brother Charles, and then you can just say, well,
let's go to brother Charles and see if that's true. If they're going to criticize him, well,
let's go to him and let's work it out. And then, you know what, oftentimes they'll say, well,
that's all right. If they want to spread the gossip, you say, well, let's go to that person
and get it worked out. It's like, oh, well, that's okay. You know, that's okay, you know,
don't worry about it. Because a lot of people, they just like to spread fires. And they're not
necessarily reprobates. They're not necessarily bad people. But a lot of people, I guess they
don't have much entertainment in their lives. And it's just like, they just feel like spreading
gossip is just entertaining and fun to them, whether it's true or not. And it's like, so if
somebody comes and wants to criticize someone, just tell them, hey, well, let's go to that person
to figure it out. Let's just go and get this settled. And usually they're just going to stop
talking to you about that. They probably will never come to you ever again. That's a good way
to deal with a problem. Turn to Proverbs chapter 26. Proverbs 26. Honestly, it ticks me off when
people gossip or complain to me. I don't like hearing about it. Anyway, at church, sometimes
people do that and it's like, hey, I don't want to hear you complain about that person. Go tell
somebody else. I'm not interested in hearing it. The Bible says in Proverbs chapter 26,
let's say for example, though, let's say you hear a complaint and you happen to agree with
this complaint. So let's say for example, somebody criticizes your pastor and let's say whatever it
is, you agree with that person about that. It's not something where you disagree. It's not gossip,
but you hear a complaint. You hear it's a sin of the tongue and you happen to agree with what
they're saying. Maybe you think, well, I think the sermons ought to be a little bit shorter.
Or I think the sermons ought to be a little bit longer. Or I think, you know, the services ought
to be a little bit earlier or later. I mean, people complain about this stuff all the time.
And let's say you agree with that person. Well, look at what it says in Proverbs 26
verse 20 and 21. It says, where no wood is, there the fire goeth out. So where there is no
tailbearer, the strife ceaseth. As coals are to burning coals and wood to fire, so is a contentious
man to cannot strife. You still have three options when that fire comes to you. You can seek to
spread it, seek to put it out, or just kind of watch it go. Now here's the thing. If there's
something that personally bugs you, the Bible says where there no wood is, there the fire goeth out.
If something really bugs you, the best thing you can do is try to put out that flame.
Because every time you hear it, it's going to keep bugging you and you're going to keep being
annoyed. So if there's something you agree with, even more so you should seek to put out that fire,
because every time you hear it, it's going to bug you. But, you know, the amazing thing is that when
there's things that bug you and then you don't hear about them for months and years, look, they
don't bug you anymore. In fact, man, that doesn't even bug me anymore. The reason why it bugs us
is because we constantly stoke that fire. We constantly make that small little complaint.
We constantly tell that story and it constantly bothers us. Just forget about it and then you
won't even realize. You're going to be like, man, I don't even remember why I hate brother so-and-so.
I guess I like him now. Right? It's going to bug you when you keep putting more wood on the fire.
If you would just not keep bringing it up, it wouldn't bug you anymore. So if somebody
complains to you about something you agree with, you ought to seek to put that out because every
time somebody comes to complain about that, it's going to bug you. But if you wouldn't hear about
it, it would end up just not bugging you anymore. Eventually, it would go away. Turn to Proverbs
chapter 25. Proverbs 25. I mean, honestly, you're doing yourself a massive disservice
when you keep a fire going, when it comes to the sins of the tongue, because it's going to always
bug you. I mean, you're always going to be complaining. You're always going to be in a
bad mood. You're doing yourself a disservice when you keep that fire going. But let's say,
for example, you have something that a complaint somebody comes to you with and you don't agree
with it. What's the tendency people have to do? They just kind of do nothing. They just kind of
watch the fire. They don't try to put it out. They just kind of watch it. Well, what does it say in
Proverbs 25 verse 23? It says, the north wind driveth away rain. So doth an angry countenance
of back biting tongue. The Bible says an angry countenance, an angry reaction to someone who
comes to you with gossip or complaining is going to drive it away. They're not going to come back
to you with that gossip anymore. And you'll have to ask your pastor, my advice is this,
that somebody comes to you complaining, just get mad about it. Now, I'm not saying start World War
III, but just say, I don't want to hear that. And they're not going to come to you anymore.
And if it ends up being a big fight, you can say, well, Brother Stuckey gave me that advice.
But if somebody comes, they want to complain, you ought to say, I don't want to hear that.
I don't want to hear complaints. I don't want to hear gossip. Let's work it out with them.
I just don't want to hear it. Spread it around. I don't want to hear about that gossiping.
That's what we ought to do. The Bible says an angry countenance
drives away a back biting tongue. Turn to Psalms 83. Psalms 83.
So what happens when you have a fire in your house? My parents just, I think like five,
six years ago, they had a big fire in their house. And by the time my dad saw it, it was,
you know, he had to call a firefighter because when it gets big, you can't contain it anymore.
You can't control it. You see a small little fire in your house. At the beginning,
you can try to put that out. Eventually, it reaches the point where you got to call somebody
to fix that problem because it's really dangerous. And what you have to understand in this third
point is that if this little fire that starts with the scent of the tongue grows, it gets to
the point where it's completely out of control. It's huge. And you're going to need someone to
help you put out that fire. In Psalms 83 verse 14, the Bible says,
as the fire burneth the wood and as the flame seteth the mountains on fire.
See, a fire can get out of control to the point where you cannot contain it.
You cannot put it out on your own. Turn to Proverbs chapter 6. Proverbs 6.
And in Proverbs chapter 6 verse 27, the Bible reads,
Can a man take fire in his bosom and his clothes not be burned?
Can one go upon hot coals and his feet not be burned?
See, if you play with fire, you're going to end up getting burned.
And we have these small little fires that are constantly being brought up,
or we have a problem with the sins of the tongue, and we always have these fires we see,
and we're stoking those fires. Realize eventually it's going to get out of control.
Eventually it's going to burn down the house. Eventually it's going to become a wildfire,
a big issue, and you're going to deeply regret it.
That's why we need to not play with fire when it comes to the sins of our tongue,
but keep this under control. Turn to Isaiah chapter 29. Isaiah 29.
It was less than a year ago we had a huge fire in California,
and people could smell the flames from driving from long distances.
You know, just everyone was asking about it, church and everything.
They couldn't put it out though. I mean, it lasted for a long time,
because once a fire gets out of control, it's pretty much impossible to put out.
You really need experts. You need a lot of water. You need people to know what they're doing.
It isn't something for us to play around with if we're not experts with it.
I mean, it becomes a big thing. It's going to be hard to control.
It says in Isaiah 29 verse 6, Thou shalt be visited of the Lord of hosts with thunder,
and with earthquake, and great noise, and with storm, and tempest,
and the flame of devouring fire. Devouring fire.
Turn to Judges 15. Judges 15.
You think about the story of Joshua and Ai. They started a big fire. They tricked them,
and by the time they see that their whole city is burning down, they're just like, oh man.
You know, it's too late. They just kind of fled.
Because once it gets out of control, you can forget about trying to contain it or putting it out.
You better just flee for your own life. It says in Judges 15 verse 4,
And Samson went and caught three hundred foxes, and took firebrands, and turned tail to tail,
and put a firebrand in the midst between two tails.
And when he had set the brands on fire, he let them go into the standing corn of the Philistines,
and burn up both the shocks and also the standing corn with the vineyards and olives.
So Samson's going back and forth with the Philistines,
and he ends up basically just burning everything down.
And what I want you to understand when it comes to an application, what we're talking about,
because it starts off small. He starts that fire, but eventually he knew that they were
going to just go everywhere and just burn down the entire thing.
Realize this, that you criticize your spouse to your parents. Your family might never forgive
your spouse. It started off with a small little complaint, but they might never forgive them.
You criticize your spouse all the time. You say, well, it's just a small little flame.
You might be creating wounds that are going to take a really, really long time to heal.
You criticize the other church members. You make complaints. They might just decide,
well, I don't like brother so-and-so. I don't want to talk to brother so-and-so,
because they're always complaining. They're always causing problems.
And you might just stop complaining. It might take years for that they're going to forgive you.
And I want you to see in Judges 15, what is the reaction to the Philistines?
See, Samson decides, I'm going to play with fire. I'm going to burn down what they got,
and look at the reaction. Verse 6,
Then the Philistines said, Who hath done this? And they answered Samson, the son-in-law of the
Tim Knight, because he had taken his wife and given her to his companion.
And the Philistines came up and burnt her and her father with fire.
Now, did Samson think that was going to happen? Probably not.
But that's what happens when you play with fire. You start a fire. It's going to come back around
you, and it's going to get much worse. It's just common sense. If you attack them,
they're going to attack you back. Now, I wish I could call our government
to figure this out when it comes to just attacking every country in the world,
how they start fires, and then I can't believe they came back and attacked us.
It's like, are you an idiot? I mean, it's just like common sense would tell you,
you attack a little snake, it's going to come back and try to bite you to protect itself, right?
Common sense. But this leads to the fourth point,
because the fourth point is that it's going to cause long-term impact.
Turn to 2 Samuel 6. 2 Samuel 6.
And so the first point we had is this, that when it comes to these massive wildfires,
when it comes to sins of the tongue, it starts small and seemingly insignificant.
Number two is this, that it needs outside sources to spread.
Number three is this, it ends up becoming very hard to contain and hard to control.
And number four, we see that there's a long-term impact.
See, Samson, because of the fact he was playing with fire,
there is a permanent impact that took place. His wife was burnt and her father with fire.
I mean, they're dead. They're gone as a result of this.
That's what happened. There was a long-term impact by the choices that he made.
And the same thing with us when we play with these sins of the tongue.
In 2 Samuel 6, verse 23,
Therefore Michael, the daughter of Saul, had no child unto the day of her death.
If you know this story, David and Michael are arguing back and forth.
Now, I personally think this fight probably started earlier for the fact that, you know,
his wife wasn't all that spiritual, you can see from the Bible,
but you also see that David's married to multiple women.
I think most women are probably going to be upset if you're married to other women.
Maybe Mormons would say, I don't agree with this point. I don't know.
This is probably where it started from.
And then they kind of go back and forth.
And the reason why it says she had no child unto the day of her death
is because they were never really married anymore,
in the sense of how husbands and wives are supposed to be married.
And this war of words started these sins of the tongue,
and it reached the point where they're basically permanently separated
through the rest of the Bible.
There's no indication. I mean, it says,
unto the day of her death she had no children.
Now, I know in the Bible it says that she watched certain children,
you know, for some other woman,
but it wasn't her children that she had actually begotten herself,
because she was never really married in the traditional sense
with David anymore after that.
You know, it was gone. It was permanent.
Turn to Proverbs 18. Proverbs 18.
And so here's the thing.
It's very easy for us to just criticize or to say something foolish.
And it comes out so easily, but you have to realize,
man, that's a long-term damage
that just came out of your mouth as a result of that.
It's so easy just to start that small little fire,
but realize it can cause long-term damage.
It can cause a permanent damage.
The Bible says in Proverbs 18, verse 6 through 8,
a fool's lips enter into contention,
and his mouth calleth for strokes.
A fool's mouth is his destruction,
and his lips are the snare of his soul.
See, a fool's mouth is his destruction.
When you have a problem controlling your tongue,
this is your own destruction.
You are destroying your life.
When you choose to always just criticize or say something rude,
when you cannot control your tongue,
you're doing yourself a disservice.
You're destroying your own life.
Verse 8.
The words of a tale bearer are as wounds,
and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly.
The Bible says the words of a tale bearer are as wounds.
See, why does it say as wounds?
Because when somebody says something that really hurts you,
why does it say wounds,
and why does it say innermost parts of the belly?
Honestly, it ends up hurting,
like in your stomach when somebody says something really, really harsh,
and it causes a wound because of the fact it might never fully heal,
or it might take a really long time,
which means one year later when something similar happens,
you remember that,
and it just brings it back fresh into your mind again.
That's why it says wound.
That's why it says the innermost parts of the belly,
because something that's really strong,
it hits you hard.
It's not something that just bounces off you.
That causes some real damage that you might not forget about,
or it might take a long time.
It says the same thing in Proverbs 26, verse 22,
the exact same verse.
You don't have to turn there,
but it's the exact same verse as in Proverbs 18,
where it says the words of a tale bearer are as wounds,
and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly.
You know, when there's verses that are word for word exactly the same
that appear multiple times in the Bible,
it's because it's an important verse.
When it says there is a way which seemeth right into the man,
but the end thereof are the ways of death,
everyone kind of memorizes that as Proverbs 14, 12,
because that's the first time it appears.
That's not the only time it appears,
because of the fact it's a really important verse.
And so it says these words are as wounds.
It's a really important verse,
so God says I'm going to bring it up again in the book of Proverbs.
And realize the book of Proverbs is the book of wisdom.
If you want to be wise and not be a fool,
you'll take heed to this and say I'm going to control my tongue,
because it's going to be my own destruction, the Bible says.
It's not going to be a good thing.
It's a small little comment I made.
It ends up having a permanent reaction.
And honestly, when I was writing this sermon,
and I wrote this a little while back,
but I just kind of paid attention to just various conversations.
And I could tell even with my own self,
it's just very easy to just let something come out of your mouth
without even thinking about it.
That's a little bit rude.
And you hear people in conversations all the time,
it's like, man, we need to cut that out of our lives.
It's going to destroy ourselves.
It's going to destroy our lives.
Why do people die from guns on these accidental deaths?
It's because people don't really respect how powerful a gun is,
and they're foolish.
They don't pay attention to how powerful it is.
Well, it's the same thing with the tongue.
We don't really realize how powerful our tongue is.
It seems so small to make one little comment.
But if you look at what the Bible says, this is a big issue.
It's something that can destroy your life.
Go back to Proverbs 18, if you turned away from there.
I want to show you this, though,
because in Proverbs 18, verse 8, it talks about
the words of a tail-bearer being as wounds.
But I want you to notice verse number 4.
So the Bible says in Proverbs 18, verse 4,
I want you to notice that your tongue is not necessarily always bad.
It doesn't have to be bad.
See, everything you say is not necessarily going to be a bad thing.
When we go soul-winning, what do we do?
We use our tongue, we use our mouth to speak words
whereby people can be saved if they believe on Jesus Christ, right?
Our tongue does not necessarily have to be bad.
It can be a good thing.
This leads to point number 5.
And turn to Jeremiah 20.
And point number 5 is this.
Our tongue can be a good fire.
You see, in James chapter 3, it's talking about the destruction caused by the tongue
and how powerful it is.
And it says it's a world of iniquity.
I mean, it goes on and on about how, you know, cursing man and everything,
it's such a terrible thing.
But you have to understand, the analogy of being a tongue being a fire,
that is still true in a good way as well.
In James 3, it's highlighting in a bad way the tongue is as a fire.
But the same thing in a good way our tongue is as a fire.
See, for example, you know, you just start going soul-winning.
It seems like it's something small.
It ends up spreading to more people.
It gets out of control.
There's like 80 people going soul-winning each week
and ends up having a permanent impact, doesn't it?
See, a tongue can be a fire in a good way.
Now, in James 3, it's highlighting the fact that it's in a bad way.
And we can make this decision what we want to do.
Our tongue we can use for good.
And it can be a good fire that spreads and becomes something big.
Or it can be something that ends up being destructive.
Like with this church, you know, this church is about a year old, a little bit more.
Right now, it's a good-sized congregation.
But it's still kind of small.
You know, it's in the early stages of church.
You say, well, it's just small.
It's no big deal.
But when the Word of God keeps getting preached boldly every single week at this church,
and you keep coming soul-winning, it can spread and get out of control.
And the devil's not going to be able to do anything about it.
I mean, sure, he can protest this church sometime.
But it's not going to stop the fact there's people going soul-winning every week
and getting people saved in West Virginia.
See, our tongue can be a fire that's used in a good way instead of a bad way.
It's our choice.
In Jeremiah 20, verse 7, notice what the Bible says.
Jeremiah 20, verse 7, notice what the Bible says.
Oh, Lord, Thou hast deceived me, and I was deceived.
Thou art stronger than I, and hast prevailed.
I am in derision daily.
Everyone mocketh me.
Jeremiah here has a bad attitude.
For since I spake, I cried out.
I cried violence and spoil, because the Word of the Lord was made her approach unto me.
And a derision daily.
Then I said, I will not make mention of him.
He's basically saying, I'm going to throw in the towel.
Look, I believe everybody reaches breaking points
at certain stages in their life where they feel like throwing in the towel.
I've had times where I felt like quitting soul winning.
But you reach a point.
It's like, man, if I quit soul winning and serve in the Lord,
what am I going to do with my life?
You know what I mean?
There's not a better alternative.
I mean, the other side is terrible.
I mean, what a foolish mistake to make to just throw in the towel.
Because if you quit, you're going to have a miserable life.
Especially when you know the way of righteousness
and you choose not to do it, it's going to make you miserable.
And notice what he says.
I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name.
But his word was in my heart as a burning fire,
shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.
He says, I just couldn't contain the fire inside of me.
I knew the truth.
I just had to speak it boldly.
And see, this small little fire can become huge in a great way
and have a long term impact.
Look at Ezekiel chapter 20, Ezekiel chapter 20.
When it comes to our personal lives,
maybe there's someone that you don't get along with that well at church.
You know, the church is pretty small now,
but as the church grows, it is inevitable that certain people will not get along very well.
And you say, I want to repair that relationship.
The way you repair it is you start using your mouth as a good fire instead of a bad fire.
You start being kind to that person.
You start being nice to that person.
You start asking about themselves.
Say, hey, I want to pray for you.
Is there anything you need?
And you know what's going to be the reaction?
You're probably going to end up being good friends with that person.
But you got two sides.
You got David and you got Michael and neither side wants to reconcile.
They both want to just have this war of words.
It's like Samson and the Philistines.
And eventually everything gets burned down.
Is that what you want to do?
Or do you want to use your tongue as a good fire and reconcile things?
It's your choice if you want to be miserable your whole life
and just be a grump that nobody likes.
Or you can choose to use your tongue in a good way.
In Ezekiel chapter 20 verse 45,
Moreover, the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
Son of man, set thy face toward the south
and drop thy word toward the south
and prophesy against the force of the south field
and say to the force of the south, hear the word of the Lord.
Thus saith the Lord God, behold, I will kindle a fire in thee
and it shall devour every green tree in thee and every dry tree.
The flaming flame shall not be quenched
and all faces from the south to the north shall be burned therein.
See, we're seeing a fire in a good way.
And all flesh shall see that I the Lord have kindled it.
It shall not be quenched.
When it comes to the word of God being preached in a great church.
You know, YouTube could shut down this church and every church in our movement.
It wouldn't stop the soul winning marathon that's going on throughout the entire world.
It wouldn't stop.
Because you know what, 30 years ago,
20 years ago, before the internet was a big thing,
before it was even around at all,
guess what?
Churches were still able to thrive.
When it came to the word of God being started,
a small little fire starts and it's just going to spread.
You can still get people to come to church in today's world.
You don't have to rely fully on the internet.
Churches can grow without the internet.
We use it to our advantage.
It's a great tool in today's world.
But when the internet shuts us all down,
or makes it almost impossible to spread the message,
it's not going to stop it.
Because this small little fire,
it's God that's kindling it.
And if we're out there preaching boldly,
God's going to help you out.
And it's going to grow and it's going to grow
and there's going to be more churches started in this area.
God's going to make kindle it and it's not going to be stopped.
It does not matter what the devil does
if we just go out there and fight against the devil
and go out door to door faithfully each week.
God's kindling the fire.
He just needs us to be willing to go out and spread that message
and throw out that fire in a good way.
Go out soul winning every single week.
Knock those doors.
But also in our personal lives.
We need to make sure we have good things coming out of our mouths.
You see, I wonder what would happen in this room
if we would get a hold of this message, myself included,
and today we would be really conscious
about the things that we say that come out of our mouth
and say, you know what,
I'm not going to be rude to my spouse anymore.
I'm not going to be rude to my kids.
I'm not going to be rude to my fellow church members.
And we just pray each morning, you know,
God, please help me out.
I want to start being, you know, a better person.
I want to start being a more kind person.
Please help me not say things that would be hurtful to my spouse.
Please help me not say things that would be hurtful to other church members.
Turn to Exodus 22, Exodus chapter 22.
Last place we'll look.
I wonder what would happen
if we would be nice to our fellow church members
and try to get along.
I wonder what would happen if we'd only use our tongues
as weapons out soul winning
rather than causing destruction.
I believe this church is going to grow.
I believe that.
I believe this church is going to grow
and more people are going to get saved.
I believe the next time I come visit here
that these maps over here
are going to be colored even more in orange.
I believe that.
And I don't think the devil can stop it
because if you're boldly preaching the Word of God
and you've got several men and several families
at the church that are out preaching the Word of God
and getting people saved,
I don't think the devil can stop that.
That's what we see.
And what does it say in Exodus 22 verse 6?
Exodus 22 verse 6.
If fire break out in catching thorns
so that the sacks of corn or the standing corn
or the field be consumed therewith,
he that kindled the fire shall surely make restitution.
So saying here that if you start a fire,
if you kindle a fire and ends up burning something down,
you're responsible for that.
Isn't that what the Bible says?
And so here's the thing.
If we in our personal lives,
obviously this is talking about a literal fire,
but if we in our personal lives with our tongues
have kindled a lot of fires and burned down a lot of things,
we need to make restitution.
That's what the Bible teaches.
You know, if you with your tongue have caused problems,
whether it's your marriage,
whether it's friends or fellow church members,
it's time for us all to say, you know what?
I want to write the things that are wrong.
I want to fix the problems.
I need to make restitution.
It's our choice.
We have two choices today.
We can use our tongue that's used as a weapon
out of soul winning and says good words,
acceptable words before the Lord,
or we can just choose to do the easy thing.
The easy thing is just when you're in a bad mood,
just tell people.
When you don't like someone, just tell them.
That's pretty easy to do.
Just let it fly out of your mouth.
Just have that loaded weapon,
not pay attention to accidentally pull the trigger
10 times a day.
That's the easy thing to do.
The tough thing,
because the Bible says the tongue can no man tame.
When the Bible says the tongue can no man tame,
you know, it's showing us it's pretty difficult.
It's not easy.
I'm not saying you're going to walk out of here and say,
man, I got the problem fixed.
It's going to take a lot of work.
I believe it's worth the work because you see from the Bible
how this small little fire can become a wildfire.
We need to make restitution today.
Let's close in a word of prayer.
Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us
to be in your house this morning.
And I ask you to just continue to bless this church.
God, help us through the rest of the day.
Just bless the time of fellowship
and the preaching of your word in the afternoon.
Help us have a great time out soul
when you help us get people saved.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.