Amen. So keep your place there in James chapter 3. We're gonna get to James 3 in
just a moment, but James chapter 3 is talking about our speech and our tongue
and the things that we say and how serious that can be. So we're gonna talk
about speech this morning, all right, and just just a little introduction
before we get into the sermon. You know a lot is made today about the
freedom of speech and that we can we're able to speak whatever we want in this
country and you know we have we don't have freedom of speech by the way I'll
explain that to you at the end of the sermon but a lot is made about having
how important it is to have freedom of speech but turn to Isaiah chapter
59 you're gonna keep your place in James chapter 3 I'm gonna actually you
you turn to Leviticus chapter 24 and I'm gonna read for you Isaiah chapter
59. A lot of Americans today are just like freedom of speech and you know
they're really it for the First Amendment and and all that but let me
just show you before we get started this morning that freedom of speech
first of all is not really biblical all right you know in the Bible there
are rules against saying certain things in even the Levitical law and
I'll read one of those for you in Leviticus chapter 24 look at verse 16
and then I'm gonna read for you Isaiah chapter 59 as well Leviticus chapter 24
look at verse number 16 the Bible says and he that blasphemeth the name of the
Lord he shall surely be put to death and all the congregation shall
surely stone him as well as the stranger as he that is born in the
land when he blasphemed the name of the Lord so what is that blaspheme the
name of the Lord mean that that means like speaking that means things that
your speech against the Lord so that was in the in the in the civil law of the
Old Testament that was a capital offense just speaking badly against the
Lord so there clearly wasn't freedom of speech just in anything in the Old
Testament Isaiah chapter 59 I'll just read for you in verse 13 the Bible says
you know God is upset and he's going to judge for this reason it says in
transgressing and lying against the Lord and departing away from our God
speaking oppression and revolt conceiving and uttering from the heart
words of falsehood and judgment is turned away backwards and justice
standeth far off so here these people are speaking against the Lord
they're saying lies they're they're just saying things they're uttering
things the Bible says and you know this is something that God is upset
about and he's upset that there's been no judgment here it says yea truth
and he that departed from evil maketh himself a prey and the Lord saw it and
it displeased him that there was no judgment so here we're talking about
just people speaking evil things speaking lies speaking against the Lord
and the Lord is upset that nothing's being done about it all right so all
that to say this all right all that to say this freedom of speech is not
something that is biblical all right now in a non-christian society don't get me
wrong in a non-christian society which is the one we are living in now I am
glad that we have the freedom to speak what we can speak today mainly
the Word of God mainly the gospel in a pragmatic way I'm glad that it exists
today all right but the point is when God's running the show when Jesus
Christ is ruling and reigning for a thousand years we're just not gonna
have like this freedom of speech to just say whatever we want just to speak
lies blaspheme the Lord those things will be cracked down upon look I'm glad
we have it today all right but I'm gonna show you how even the First
Amendment today even the First Amendment where the the First Amendment says
you know Congress shall make no law establishing yeah you know a religion
or the free exercise thereof of religion this is where we get our freedom of
speech our freedom of religion our freedom of the press you know this is
where we get this that Congress shall make no law meaning the
government shall not make a law against these things but I'm going to
show you you know the work around that Satan has found when it comes to
freedom of our even our religion and able to you know our ability to speak
the truth of the Bible today all right so all that to say this go back to
James chapter 3 go back to James chapter 3 the things that we say are
very important in our lives I mean there's a little kid saying they go
sticks and stones will break my bones but words will never hurt me that's
just a lie that we tell little kids so they feel better about themselves
that is not true at all I mean James chapter 3 is talking about the tongue
is a fire it's saying the tongue is a deadly poison it is saying that the
things that we say the things that you say can be severely damaging to
people I mean think about think about just things that the Bible is against
like false accusations I mean can't can't someone speaking of false
accusation against someone look that can ruin someone's life that can cause
people to lose their job even go to jail you know it be just because of a
false thing that someone says you think about things that are going on on
social media and things that this is why we don't have comments on our on our
channel we don't allow comments because there's just all these this
nastiness and all this stuff going on and I don't want to give you know
trolls and all these people that would just speak fire you know I don't
want to give them a platform it's it's that simple all right I mean people
have been trolled online to the point where you know it's got no point where
people have committed suicide over things like this tell me that that words
don't matter tell me that speech doesn't matter look like I said many
times before the Bible is true whether we you believe it or not words matter
words are deadly poison you know the right words or the wrong words are
deadly poison all right so words matter and they can seriously hurt
people look at James chapter 3 in verse number 6 the Bible says a tongue
is a fire a world of iniquity meaning it's saying so much trouble can come
from the words that we say it's a world of iniquity meaning a world of
sin like just the things that you say can just open up all kinds of sin so is
the tongue among our members that it defileth the whole body what does that
mean it means here's what this means it means what you say can literally ruin
you as a person the things that come out of your mouth can defile you as a
human being someone could look at you and say that is a terrible person
right there because why because the things that you say because the things
that come out of you know this one member not your finger not your arm your
tongue this tiny little member that's maybe you actually be shocked how long
your tongue probably is but anyway I mean just this little member can defile
can ruin you as a human being and set up on fire the course of nature and
it is set on fire of hell that's some pretty strong words right there what the
Bible is saying is what we say matters we should be careful about the words that
come out of our mouth which leads me to the title of the sermon this morning
the title of the sermon is the power of silence the power of not saying
anything so this isn't this isn't even gonna be a sermon about what you say
this is gonna be a sermon trying to convince you to say less in situations
the power of silence look I'm gonna show you how silence is extremely powerful
this morning I'm gonna give you four points and then I'm gonna show you how
silence and just the fact that things aren't being said is literally changing
our culture and it's changing our society and it's gonna change your kids
if you let it the power of silence why should we say nothing let's look at
four reasons that you personally or four situations where you personally should
say less or say nothing and how that could be extremely powerful in your
life so I'll give you four reasons where you should say less or say
nothing and then we'll look at the overall cultural effects in America
today on on silence all right the first reason is this go to Proverbs
chapter 17 why should I say nothing or what is what is one area where I should
not say anything look at what Proverbs chapter 17 in verse number 9 says look
silence is powerful and silence is powerful in this area look at Proverbs
chapter 17 this is the first point this morning on the power of silence
Proverbs chapter 17 verse number 9 the Bible says he that covereth a
transgression seeketh love now this isn't this isn't talking about this is
talking about transgression a sin this isn't talking about covering up
something that's secretive and that's damaging to people this is talking
about something that has already been taken care of this is probably this
talking about something there where there was a conflict somebody did
someone wrong and it's already been done it's already been dealt with in a
biblical way it says he that covereth a transgression seeketh love and we see
how you say how do you know pastor that they're talking about that this has
already been dealt with because look at the second part of the proverb it
says but he that what repeated the matter separated very friends what this
is talking about is somebody that would just constantly bring up past sins
somebody that would constantly bring up transgression say two friends to two guys
or buddies or whatever and anytime you know the the alpha buddy wants to get
the beta buddy to do something he just like oh remember that time you did
me wrong there he just keeps bringing up this something from the past
constantly just to try to you know get his buddy to do something for him or
make his buddy feel bad or whatever okay this is a terrible thing for a marriage
right here this is a terrible thing for a marriage you know when the Bible
says you know to not let to let not the Sun go down on your wrath meaning
when you have a argument or a disagreement in a marriage whether it
be husband or wife or whoever did wrong you know you should get that
right get that taken care of right away and then that's it that's over
that's this isn't something where you know the wife brings up to the
husband you know two years down the road go remember that time you know
jerkface redid this or whatever I mean that is wrong okay that is wrong
to keep bringing up transgressions from the past so even when maybe there's a
new argument between spouses or between friends or whatever and you're
tempted to bring up how something else happened but you know and and you want
to bring up the stuff they've done wrong in the past the Bible says don't
do that the Bible says you should be silent there you know have discretion
have discretion you don't have to you know bring up everything that you know
about people all right this is just talking about having discretion
discretion all right maybe a friend here's another example of this maybe a
friend told you something in secret or in private just saying you know a
friend was confiding in you and maybe a friend told you that you know you
know they're having problems with debt or they've got a bunch of credit cards
and they're worried about it or something and then and then you get in
a group of people and you're talking with a group of people and that the
subject of debt comes up and you're like yeah bill has a lot of debt he
told me yesterday this is what the Bible is saying not to do it's like
hey be silent just because you know things doesn't mean you have to you
know bring up everything you need to think about how your words will make
other people feel this isn't talking about covering up you know wicked
things that nobody knows about this just talking about having discretion and
and being a polite person is what this is talking about all right I mean
you don't have to you know bring up every little thing that pops into your
head about somebody you know somebody you don't think somebody their clothes
look right or whatever you're just like hey you know you should take care
of that or you should get a better shirt or whatever I mean some people
literally just like if it comes in their brain they literally just say it
and they offend everybody constantly all right so that's what Proverbs 17 is
saying it's just you need to think about how your words are going to
affect or be received by other people and if you're not sure say
nothing you're not sure hey should I say this at this time would he take
this the wrong way would she take this the wrong way should I bring this up
say nothing default to saying nothing the power of silence all right so the
first one is just have some discretion turn to James chapter 1 turn
to James chapter 1 the first one is just have some discretion not
everything that you think needs to be said all right you think about how
your words are going to be received and and taken by other people if you're
like I don't know how they would take it well just flip yourself in the
situation and think about how you would feel in that situation that's a really
quick mental exercise to do how would I feel if I was him and somebody said
that in this group of people or whatever all right go to James chapter
Jap James chapter 1 look at verse number 19 the second one is this when
should you say less or say nothing the second one is this when you're
upset or when you are angry or when you are in a in a emotional state that
is outside of normal all right look at James chapter 1 look at verse number 19
the Bible says this it says wherefore my beloved brethren let every man be
swift to hear slow to speak and slow to wrath for the wrath of man worketh
not the righteousness of God this is a really interesting verse here because
we see there's kind of a double slow here and there's one Swift so there's
something you should be very fast to do and you should just be always quick and
always willing to listen is what the Bible is saying but it says be slow to
speak and slow to wrath the reason there's two is it's kind of like a
double safety valve here it's kind of like you know if one valve fails
the other valve will catch it so you're supposed to be slow to wrath
meaning what you're not supposed to just be this person it just like just gets
angry just like I mean we all know those types of people any one thing goes
wrong and you just snap and you just go crazy and and they just get go from
zero to angry just like that we all know those types of people and you
should never be that person you should be someone where it takes you
know it takes a long time or you you know it takes it doesn't say never get
angry okay there's plenty of things that should make you angry but you should
be slow to anger but let's say that one fails and you do get angry and you do
get to wrath maybe quickly or quicker than you should have the Bible
then says be slow to speak there's your next safety valve right there it
says you should not just you should not be I mean the person that is the
worst is somebody that is quick to wrath and quick to speak meaning what
do they do they just get angry right away and they just blurt out whatever
comes to them when they're angry that is a person who is going to just have a
terrible time and people are going to have a terrible view of that person
because when you're angry you are gonna say what you're gonna say
things that are not righteous is what the very next verse says it says
the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God meaning you're
gonna say things that you will regret later I mean we all have done this
we've all gotten angry and in an argument with whoever and said things
that we later regretted because we were angry and we weren't following this verse
we got angry and then we said things that we were quick to speak when we
got angry look even if you are slow to wrath and you get to wrath you
should still be slow to speak you should still think about look that wrath
comes that wrath comes look there is a righteous anger say you are
righteously angry you should still be slow to speak somebody does you wrong
you get into some kind of confrontation or argument something you
should say the the bare minimum in that case wait till you are not angry
come back and address the situation that's how you should handle those
things otherwise somebody sins against me somebody does me wrong and then I go
and I'm quick to wrath and maybe I just maybe I am righteously angry over
what has happened but then I'm quick to speak and I say a bunch of things
now I'm at fault as well now I'm a transgressor in the situation it's
better to say only what is necessary and address it later address it later on
there will be times of anger in your life especially in this society that we're
living in all right somebody that never gets angry and never is upset over
anything is you know that's not good all right that is not good all right
look at Proverbs chapter 25 you say but somebody did me wrong and I just
want to I just want to get them I just want to I want to get them back you
know when I want to tell them what I really think about them at that moment
I just want to blurt it all out and just tell them what I've been thinking
about him for a year look what the Bible says in Proverbs 25 and they
deserve it it's these times of anger when that happens look at Proverbs
chapter 25 look at verse number 21 you really want to get somebody back
who's done you wrong you really want to you know do the best you possibly
can look what the Bible says here the Bible gives you you know a way to do
this look at Proverbs chapter 25 but it takes some self-control look at Proverbs
chapter 25 look at verse 21 it says if thine enemy be hungry let him starve
yeah says no if thine enemy hungry give him bread to eat and if he be
thirsty give him water to drink this is somebody who's personally against you
all right this is somebody who's your enemy we're not talking about enemies
of God here we're talking about somebody that you know you're in a
conflict with somebody that's against you personally says hey give them
water give them you know it why look at verse 22 and this works by the way
for thou shall heat coals of fire on his head and the Lord shall reward
these so there's a double benefit for you right there it says the Lord
will be happy for you if you don't just get in the flesh and just attack
them back and go after them with you know what you do and also what you say
it says you're just gonna you're gonna drive them nuts is what's gonna
happen somebody that's against you you know what that you know what that
saying it's saying that somebody that's against you just trying to provoke you
into conflict they want you to get down in the mud with them they want you
down in the dirt with them it's their goal but if you're just like oh
you know you're just friendly to them you just you know what can I do for
you and what can I do to make things better for you you're gonna drive them
crazy and the Lord will reward thee it's a double benefit for you right
there so look don't speak out quickly in wrath when you're in an emotional
state that is not normal where you're you know extremely sad or extremely mad
or just something crazy is going on in your life you know wait don't say
anything the worst thing you can do is just speak the first thing that
comes into your mind so that's the second reason to be silent right there
turn to Proverbs chapter 25 look at verse number 23 you're already in
verse 22 look one verse over here's another reason to be silent voicing
disapproval you say what voicing disapproval yes you can voice
disapproval through silence look at verse 23 of Proverbs 25 the Bible
says the north wind driveth away rain so doth an angry countenance a
backbiting tongue the Bible is saying here is that if you don't approve of
what somebody is saying somebody is in a you're in a situation where you're
with a person or you're in a group of people and somebody says something
inappropriate they're backbiting somebody it says just the look on your
face is enough this is a this is one that that goes with worldly situations
that many times men will find themselves in at work out in the world
you know you find yourself in a situation where you're you're in a
meeting you're talking to a bunch of people you know at your job or
wherever it is and a bunch of people start talking about something
inappropriate and guess what silence works just being silent and just
leaving the situation speaks volumes in those types of situations you know a
lot of people are just like they're all upset people get in situations
and people start talking about whether it be their weekend ends or just you know
drinking it's always drinking people start talking about just inappropriate
things that they're into and people will think that oh I need to say
something clever here is that you don't have to say anything you don't
have to say anything clever you don't have to say something smart the
smartest thing is to be quiet and exit the situation and that speaks volumes to
people the best thing in many situations like that is to simply say
nothing what if somebody addresses you with something that is totally
inappropriate what if somebody comes up to you and just says what do you
think about this and they show you something completely inappropriate first
of all like whenever somebody like brings their phone and like try it's just
say I don't like people showing me stuff on their phones before they even
get to me I mean not in church that's different but I'm just saying
like out in the world I don't want to see it I don't want to see it but
what if somebody addresses you specifically weren't like they're
literally telling you something or asking you something you know I have
this saying that I'll say in situations like that I'll just say nothing I
could say would be appropriate right now and then I'll just exit the
situation that way I don't have to say really anything but they know that I do
not believe that it's appropriate and guess what you do these things you
express silence in these situations you express you know that you're just
you express with with the countenance on your face with the silence and then
exiting the situation people will stop doing these things around you they may
think you're boring or they may think you know you're you're a prude or
whatever it is great that's my view wonderful love it but you know you
don't have to go out and just start lecturing people out in the world like
these are worldly people people you work with are worldly people if they're
gonna they're gonna be world you know just I try not to get into personal
conversations in worldly situations but every now and then you find yourself
in one where it goes sideways or whatever I say nothing and I exit and it
speaks volumes it speaks volumes so that's the third one if you don't know
what to say something's inappropriate you can express your disapproval through
the countenance in your face without saying a word turn to judges chapter
11 here's a big one here's another one you should be silent on this is a
big one and this will affect you this will affect what people think of you
this will affect your reputation this will affect your name turn to judges
chapter 11 judge chapter 11 of course is one of the most messed up stories
in the Bible all that messed up all the really messed up stuffs and judges
but judges chapter 11 is the story of Jephthah Jephthah was a judge and he
went to war and he made this promise he made this vow that if God would
give him this victory he would sacrifice the first thing that he saw
when he went home look at verse number 30 of judges chapter 11 the Bible says
in Jephthah vowed a vow unto the Lord and said if thou shalt withhold
without if thou shalt without fail deliver the children of Ammon into
mine hands then it shall be that whatsoever cometh forth of the doors of
my house to meet me when I return in peace from the children of Ammon shall
surely be the Lord's and I will offer it up for a burnt offering so Jephthah
passed over unto the children of Ammon to fight against them and the Lord
delivered them into his hands so he promises to the God that I'm gonna go
he's about to go into this great battle and he promises to God I mean
whenever we're going into tough situations in our life I'm sure that
we I'm sure that we pray and say God if you get me out of this I'll do
this and I mean this isn't an abnormal thing that he did here I mean he
promises to just give God in a sacrifice whatever comes out of his house
I don't know what he thought was gonna come out of his house his dog or his
cat or something I don't know but in verse number 34 the Bible says this it
says Jephthah came to Mitzvah into his house and behold his daughter came
out to meet him with timbrels and with dances and she was his only child
beside her he had neither son nor daughter and it came to pass when he
saw her that he rent his clothes and said alas my daughter thou has brought me
very low and thou art one of them that troubled me for I have opened my mouth
unto the Lord and I cannot go back so the first thing that comes out of his
house is his only child his only daughter and here he's saying now I
have to sacrifice my daughter unto the Lord look at verse number 37 and she
said unto her father let this thing be done for me let me alone two
months that I may go up and down upon the mountains and bewail my
virginity I and my fellows she's like let me just go hang out with my
friends because if you're going to sacrifice me to the Lord I'm never
going to get married I'm never going to have a relationship with a man I'm never
going to have all these things let me go and mourn that situation and he
said go and send her away for two months and she went with her
companions or friends and bewailed her virginity upon the mountains and it
came to pass at the end of two months a lot of people think what
happened and she returned unto her father who did with her according to
his vow which he had vowed he actually did it this guy actually went and he
sacrificed his daughter to the Lord and she knew no man and it was a
custom in Israel that the daughters of Israel went yearly to lament the
daughter of Jetha the Gileadite four days in a year it was such a
remarkable thing that happened not remarkable it was such a
well-known thing that happened that they literally mourned her every
single year because her daughter killed her her dad killed her
because of his vow now obviously you say that's a messed up story
obviously you have to look at these stories just a side note you have to
look at these stories and judges in the Old Testament you have to
realize it actually says at the end of judges that there was no
king in Israel and every man did that was was right in his own
eyes so you got a bunch of people doing wrong things in the
Bible this isn't what God wanted to happen okay God did not
want Jetha to sacrifice his daughter so to make a vow that is
against a commandment of God is obviously wrong he should have
not have followed through with this he should have you know
confessed his fault to the Lord he should have confessed to
God that he made a foolish vow and he should have moved on
with his life this is why you know in Matthew 5 and other
places in the New Testament it says just let your yay be yay
and your nay be nay nay don't be making all these crazy vows
vowing unto heaven vowing unto all these things like just do what you say
and say what you're going to do simply okay
but the point of trying to make is this you need to be careful
another place to be silent in your life is with your vows
it would have been better if Jetha said nothing if Jetha
asked God to deliver him and didn't make some crazy
vow like this because you have to understand
that to vow and then to not follow through that's an extreme case
but for a man to vow turn to psalm chapter 15
turn to psalm chapter 15 for a man to vow and then not follow through
I mean one or two times where you promise this happens
very quickly where you are somebody that promises hey I'll help you with that
or hey I'll be there and then you don't
you will quickly be known as someone who your word just doesn't mean anything
this is very important to understand look at psalm chapter 15
and verse number four psalm chapter 15 and verse number four in whose eyes a
vile person is condemned but he honoreth them that fear the Lord
he that sweareth to his own hurt and changeth
not notice the last part of that psalm right there you know a lot of people
will promise things either to a friend
or to family or whatever and they say hey oh I can do that or
I'll give you that or whatever it is they'll promise things
and then a couple weeks down the road maybe situations change
or maybe it's just simply it's getting closer and they're realizing
what they promised and they just don't want to do it
anymore they don't want to help you out
with that construction project or whatever it is because
you know that was just kind of something that they said back then or maybe
as in psalm chapter 15 verse 4 says maybe their situation changed
and maybe they just don't have the money anymore to help you
maybe they had a few extra bucks a couple months ago
but now when it comes to actually helping someone you know do that
remodeling job helping someone build that fence or
whatever it is maybe you just don't have that time
you don't have that money but psalm 15 is saying
even to your own hurt you should do it
he's saying even to your own hurt that is what God
wants so it doesn't matter if it hurts you
it doesn't matter if it's not the best thing for you at that time
it's better that you follow through on things and you're like well man
i have a really hard time following through on things well guess what you
should say less you should vow
less because when someone's talking about trouble they're in
or whatever things that they need it's very possible to just say nothing
it's very possible just to offer condolences or just
whatever but people just want to be like i'll do that or i'll be there
or i'll come to that or whatever it is
it's better to say nothing than to say something and
not follow through on it because pretty soon
you will be i mean i'm talking one or two times and you'll just be one of
those people it's like oh yeah that guy just says stuff
people will take your words and like they won't even take you seriously
it's a big deal it's a big deal that is just oh something came up and yeah
something always comes up so you have to understand that vowing
less saying less is an option it's a better option to say
nothing than to not follow through on things
that you've said all right so look i'm trying to get you to
understand this morning that what you don't say is very
powerful what you don't say can be used to your benefit
in many different cases what is and let me i'm going to explain something to
you this morning even in our country today what is
not said is much more powerful than what is actually said you say
pastor what are you talking about i'm talking about
the media i'm talking about propaganda i'm talking about you know these
these media companies that try to you know communicate to people
they use the power of what you don't see
to make it look like see what they're doing is
you know you see this media you see this information
out there and you see that there's this minority fringe opinion out there
but it's really not the minority fringe opinion you say nobody's really saying
this stuff in this fringe over here but many people are saying it's just
being silenced they're trying to make it look like
it's a fringe thing did you know that did you know that
six companies six companies own almost every single media outlet
that you could even think of right now i'm not talking about uh i'm not
talking about just like news channels i'm talking about news channels i'm
talking about tv shows i'm talking about movie studios i'm
talking about internet service providers i'm talking about
what six companies own hundreds of these media outlets
i'll name you the six companies national amusements is number one
they own cbs paramount studios many others
disney is a huge media conglomerate you like
like the disney channel on tv and then disney movies no no no
they own things like abc they own things like
first of all disney is probably the most woke most
perverted most pro-lgbt that you can even think of all this list they own
abc they own the history channel you ever
wonder why like during easter christmas there's
all these attacks on the bible coming from what the history channel
they're owned by disney espn you ever wonder why like all these sports
stuff are constantly like they're the tip of the spear
with all the pride celebrations and all this kind of stuff
why because they're owned by disney time warner number three comcast
number four they own cbs nbc news corp this is the fox news
national geographic there may be a little less woke than
the others but they're still i mean you saw what happened to people that are
you know against you know the war and all these types of things
and then sony is the is the sixth one these six companies you
you take these six companies and then you take google
and you take meta which is the facebook company
and you basically have all all the media
all the information that is flowing into the homes
of probably ninety nine percent of americans today now here's the thing
there's all kinds of independent media out there it's just people are too lazy
people are too lazy to go outside of this box
to look at it so what you end up with is
you know twitter facebook youtube all these things they fall under this
umbrella maybe twitter is not as bad as it used to be but people are too
lazy to actually go and follow independent media themselves
and what they're getting is this narrative
put to them where they they hear this silence in all these areas
because they're making it appear that nobody is talking
about these things so they're like oh there's silence and guess what people
want to kind of be with the majority people are sheep people want to be
with the majority anybody that is speaking against the
lgbt community and their agenda against you know their agenda to
you know abuse children and and and just attack
children today anybody that's talking about that stuff will be silenced
you're like oh nobody's really saying anything about it but they'll be
silenced anybody that talks about you know the
the vaccines and the dangers of all the vaccines
they'll be silenced anybody that's out there
and is speaking you know the truth about
this you know russian war that's going on in the ukrainian war that's
going on and it's against the narrative that the u.s media is pushing
they're you know they're basically speaking against the military industrial
industrial complex anybody that does that is going to be silenced
from these six corporations so they all may seem a little different but
what they're doing is they're literally changing the culture
of our country by what through silencing
certain things through making it appear that there's no
voice in these certain areas look this change in our culture
it's changed in our elections it's changed in our entire country
watching it happen why through the power of what is
not said or what is appearing to be not said because people will
watch this and they've been brainwashed by
hollywood for 70 years they've been brainwashed by tv shows
for the last 40 years and they're being brainwashed by all these things
they're like oh this is just where things are going and they're like
many people probably don't even know what's happening
they don't even know that they're changing
by what is not said by just truth that is being held back
from people look by what is not said is extremely powerful
folks not only for us personally but for our country
especially turn to colossians chapter four
but this is the opposite of the bible the things that are not being allowed
to be said today is literally the opposite of the bible
it's the blasphemy that's allowed it's the perversion
that's allowed it's all the you know the anti-god stuff that's allowed and
the god stuff is silenced see it's it's an inversion
of what god had in the bible only those anti-god perspectives
are allowed today i mean this shows you who's behind it all
it shows you who's behind the six companies and
meta and and google and all these things i mean it's satan it's the god
of this world but see this is what's interesting
congress hasn't passed the law congress passed no law
we've enslaved ourselves we've enslaved ourselves
by only by just being being these people that just get our information
from these sources we've literally enslaved ourselves and
satan found a workaround it's like you know what i'll control
these few sources i will what i'll i will conglomerate all these different
sources into just a few different denominations
sound familiar this is the same reason we're going to always have independent
churches the churches should be independent
because denominations satan can just attack one
corporation which is exactly what all of them are by the way
it's interesting it's interesting congress passing the law yet here we are today
here we are today go back to colossians are you in colossians chapter four
let's go back to the benefits let's go back to the benefits
of let's talk about the benefits of saying less the benefits of silence for
you personally look at colossians chapter four
the first one is this so i hope i've convinced you so far this morning that
silence is powerful you know what what is perceived silence
is powerful in our nation and what is what is perceived from you as silence
you know is very powerful as a matter of fact there's situations
you know i'm not really talking about the the good you know but where you
shouldn't be silent but if somebody's being attacked or
somebody's being those are situations where it doesn't matter out in the
world somebody's being saying something they're
backbiting they're doing whatever and they're saying
maybe they're insulting somebody those are situations where i will not be silent
i will break my silence okay but in a lot of situations silence
is beneficial look at colossians chapter four look at verse number six
it says what it says let your speech be all the way with grace
seasoned with salt that you may know how you ought to answer
every man again that's the responsibility that you have with the
speech that you say so your speech is
always supposed to be with grace so if you're in a situation
where you don't know where you don't know if what you're going to say is
graceful say nothing don't say anything at all
i don't know what to say silence is is the best option
in that case so the first point is this
if you do practice silence in these four areas that i told you this morning
you will be likable someone you will not be someone
that people dislike not that your goal in life should be
you know to have everyone like you but your brothers and sisters in christ
it would be nice if they liked you so you know to be
silent in situations of discretion in situations
like we talked about you know be someone that always speaks with grace
and people will like you turn to proverbs 17 here's a real big
benefit right here people will actually think you're smarter than you
are you're like i'm not that smart no problem
no problem turn to proverbs 17 no problem
people can think you're smart even if you're not smart
look at proverbs 17 look at verse 28 you're like i don't know i'm a fool
i don't know anything about anything and i'm always making mistakes and well
here's this is for you look at proverbs 17
and verse 28 proverbs 17 verse number 28
the second benefit to being silent more often is that people will think you are
smarter than you actually are look at proverbs 17 28 the bible says
even a fool he's using an extreme case here right
even a fool when he holdeth his peace is counted wise
and he that shutteth his lips is esteemed
a man of understanding
you're in a group of people and people are talking about a bunch of
stuff you don't know about and you're like
man they're talking about a i've been in this situation like a million times in
my life you're talking about you're in a group full of really smart people
and they're all talking about all these technical topics and and maybe
you're not an expert on these topics and you know what you do you shut up
and you listen you just be quiet you be quiet in
proverbs 29 verse number 11 it says you know the opposite of this in
proverbs 29 11 says a fool uttereth all his mind
but a wise man keepeth it until afterwards so it's saying the opposite
of this you're in a group of people and they're all talking and you're not an
expert on it the worst thing you could do
is just start to pretend like you're the expert start to pretend like
you know you know everything about it it's like because everyone's just
going to look at you and be like this guy's a moron this guy doesn't
know what he's talking about they're going to know right away
so just be silent is all you have to do you don't have to think of
anything smart to say you'll see that all the time
people are trying to think of the smart thing to say
it's like say nothing that's the smart thing to say in that case
but it says a fool uttereth everything that comes to his mind
this is why you see kids they talk a lot
kids need to be taught this kids need to be taught this i tell my
kids all the time and i've told my even my older kids when they were
younger hey when you sit down when you sit
down in a group of of older men you know kids that are
that seven eight nine years old whatever i think it's good by the way
when the group of men sit around at the late night at the church and a
group of men sit around and they talk about things i think it's
good that the young men sit down i think it's good that the kids sit
down and listen to the things that the the christian mature men are
talking about that's good that's a good thing but they should do
what they should they should listen you have to teach
your kids that because you know your kids will sit down in
those situations when they're 10 and the men will be talking about
politics or whatever it is out in the world and all this and the kids
would be like oh yeah well you know i had a you know draw i drew that
picture you know they're gonna start talking about things like hey you should
you can go play that's fine but if you're gonna sit down in this group
of people you should listen i remember after like thanksgiving dinners and
christmas dinners and things like that
um in my house when i was growing up the men my uncles and my grandpa and
my dad would always sit around for hours after the
after the dinner was over and they would just sit there and talk about all
these things and i'm just a little kid i'm just like what are they talking
about it remember the first time that i actually had the desire to sit down
and listen and i just got to and i got to sit with them
and i just you know but i didn't say anything i just sat there and i just
listened and that's that's a good thing for
young men to sit down and listen but they should they should listen
they should not just sit there and kids will just by by nature if they're
not taught to listen they'll just utter everything in their
mind right they just have a thought come in their mind
and they just utter everything right but that's the nature of children right
they need to learn to be mature but you have an adult
that does that type of thing the bible calls that person a fool
all right so we want to make sure our kids don't turn into that adult that
just something comes into their head and they just utter it no matter what
all right so look the takeaway this morning
is that silence is powerful silence is powerful you do not
have to be the one saying smart things all the time
there are times in your life you don't have to come up with the
the the coolest quip or the the best response to people
and all this just move past that in your life just be quiet
just be silent i mean silence is the answer
to 99 of conversational difficulties that you have i don't know how to
react i don't know how to this just be
silent because it's much better to be silent
than to say something that is wrong and walk away from conversations
or walk away from somebody or walk away from an argument and be like i shouldn't
have said that because you can't put that back in once
you've said it once you've let the iniquity out now
you're into matthew 18 and conflict resolution and taking care
of all these things which with your brothers and sisters in christ should be
completely possible to hey i'm sorry i said that the other
day i'm sorry i said that you know i didn't like your shirt
and that you know whatever you know i'm sorry i was angry and all this but
it's what there is ways to heal those situations but it's better
to not get in them in the first place so that's the power
of silence in your life let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer