["Pomp and Circumstance"]
One hundred and twenty-four.
One hundred twenty-four.
Sing it out on the first.
King of my life, I crown thee now.
Thine shall the glory be.
Lest I forget thy thorn-crown bow.
Lead me to Calvary.
Lest I forget Gethsemane.
Lest I forget thy nagony.
Lest I forget thy love for me.
Lead me to Calvary.
Show me the tomb where thou wast laid.
Tenderly morn and wept.
Angels in robes of light arrayed.
Guardeth thee while thou slept.
Lest I forget Gethsemane.
Lest I forget thy nagony.
Lest I forget thy love for me.
Lead me to Calvary.
When, through the gloom,
Come with a gift to thee.
Show to me now the empty tomb.
Lead me to Calvary.
Lest I forget Gethsemane.
Lest I forget thy nagony.
Lest I forget thy love for me.
Lead me to Calvary.
Alright, on the last.
May I be willing, Lord, to bear
daily my cross for thee.
Even thy cup of grief to share.
Thou hast borne all for me.
Lest I forget Gethsemane.
Lest I forget thy nagony.
Lest I forget thy love for me.
Lead me to Calvary.
Alright, good singing.
Brother Paul, can you open this up in a word of prayer?
Amen. Alright, go ahead and turn to 489.
489, glory to his name.
489.
Sing it out on the first.
Down at the cross where my Savior died.
Downward cleansing from sin I cried.
There to my heart was the blood of light.
Glory to his name.
There to my heart was the blood of light.
Glory to his name.
I am so wondrously saved from sin.
Jesus so sweetly abides within.
There at the cross where he took me in.
Glory to his name.
There to my heart was the blood of light.
Glory to his name.
On the third.
O precious fountain that saves from sin.
I am so glad I have entered in.
There Jesus saves me and keeps me clean.
Glory to his name.
There to my heart was the blood of light.
Glory to his name.
On the last.
Come to this fountain so rich and sweet.
Cast thy poor soul at the Savior's feet.
Plunge in today and be made complete.
Glory to his name.
There to my heart was the blood of light.
Glory to his name.
All right, now we will have the announcements.
Good evening, everybody. Welcome to Bible Believers Baptist Church.
Let's take our bulletins and go through some quick announcements.
If you don't have a bulletin, do we have any more bulletins left for the fall?
If you need a bulletin, would you just lift your hand up?
Brother Paul will bring you a bulletin.
On the front cover, we have our verse of the week.
It's Hebrews chapter one, verses one and two.
It says, God, who at sundry times and in diverse manners spake
and time passed unto the fathers by the prophets,
hath in these last days spoken unto us by his son,
whom he hath appointed heir of all things,
by whom also he made the world.
Great scripture there.
And on our inside page there, we have just a real short message from me.
And if you have any spiritual questions you'd like to have answered afterwards
or if you just need to talk to me,
I'd like to make a little bit of time after the service for you to come talk to me.
If you have any questions or maybe you've been saved
and you need to be scripturally baptized
or maybe you're not sure you're saved and you want to know how to get to heaven,
then please see one of us before you leave the service today
and we can take the Bible and show you what the Bible says it takes to go to heaven.
We have our service times also as Sunday morning at 1030 a.m.
for our preaching service.
And then we have a 3.30 p.m. service on Sunday afternoon.
We have soul winning in between the services
and then Wednesday our service is at 6 p.m.
but we have a new soul winning time and that's going to be 4 p.m.
We went out today.
We had a couple teams go out today and we went soul winning.
So that was good.
It was fun.
And we didn't have any salvations out there
but we definitely got to talk to a lot of dogs
and got to talk to a few people.
So anyway, but we'll start building that soul winning time
and hopefully we'll get more people showing up for that.
And then we are a family integrated church.
That means children and infants are welcome during the church services.
If you need to go to the mother baby room,
you're more than welcome to if you need to take your child out of the service.
Children 3 and under are allowed in there.
No unintended children in the area of the building.
Please no food in the assembly area
and reserve the back rows for families with young children.
Rockers are for pregnant, nursing mothers and elders only.
And please help us to keep the building the way we found it.
Cleaning up after yourselves and your family if necessary.
Please silence your cell phone if you would at this time please.
I think I need to.
And then if you need any assistance getting to your vehicle,
the ushers are available to help you with that.
Please don't hesitate to ask.
And as soon as we get a website, we'll be able to do some online donations
but we don't have a website yet.
So things we have to work on.
But we've had 71 salvations so far.
Bible Believers Baptist Church this year.
And the tithes and offerings are there.
The attendance, we have 14 I think in attendance tonight.
And this coming Sunday we have Brother Rick preaching.
And then Brother Larson preaching the 17th.
And the 24th is Brother Sean Conlon.
He'll be coming up from Vancouver to preach for you upcoming events.
We have the Fire Breathing Baptist Fellowship at Steadfast Baptist Church.
That's in Texas of course.
And then November 8th through 12th is the Faithful Word Baptist Church missions conference.
And I was telling Josh earlier when we were out soloing
that I'm going to be preaching at that conference
and I'm going to be preaching about this particular church
and just the great things that have happened here in the last few years.
So I'll be preaching at that conference.
There's also going to be in between these times here.
I think it's October 21st.
It'll be Friday and Saturday.
We're going to do a big soloing marathon here.
So we're going to set up base camp here.
We'll have people come in maybe for Friday.
Do some soloing on Friday and then an all day soloing on Saturday.
So we'll try to get some good spots.
And there'll be people coming up from Vancouver, Washington I'm sure.
And anybody's obviously welcome to come.
We'll try to feed you some food or something like that.
Have a good time.
Alright.
That's all I have for announcements.
Let's go ahead and sing another song.
And then we'll receive the offering after that.
Alright. Go ahead and open your hymnals to page 195.
195. It's Look and Live.
195. Sing it out on the first.
I've a message from the Lord. Hallelujah.
The message unto you I'll give.
Tis recorded in His Word. Hallelujah.
It is only that you look and live.
Look and live, my brother, live.
Look to Jesus now and live.
Tis recorded in His Word. Hallelujah.
It is only that you look and live.
I've a message for the Lord. Hallelujah.
A message, oh my friend, for you.
Tis a message from above. Hallelujah.
And I know it's true.
Look and live, my brother, live.
Look to Jesus now and live.
Tis recorded in His Word. Hallelujah.
It is only that you look and live.
On the third, life is offered unto you. Hallelujah.
Eternal life thy soul shall have.
If you'll only look to Him. Hallelujah.
Look to Jesus who alone can save.
Look and live, my brother, live.
Look to Jesus now and live.
Tis recorded in His Word. Hallelujah.
It is only that you look and live.
On the last, I will tell you how I came. Hallelujah.
To Jesus when He made me whole.
Twas believing on His name. Hallelujah.
Trusted and He saved my soul.
Look and live, my brother, live.
Look to Jesus now and live.
Look to Jesus in His Word. Hallelujah.
It is only that you look and live.
All right, good singing. We will now be taking the offering.
Brother Paul, will you bless the offering?
My Father, with the offering of your Lord,
bless the preaching again here in the Father.
Thank you for your love, grace, and mercy.
In Jesus' first name I pray. Amen.
Amen.
All right, if you would open your Bibles up to James chapter 3.
It will be in James chapter number 3.
If you don't have a Bible, you can raise your hand,
and one of the ushers will bring you a Bible.
James chapter 3.
James chapter 3, the Bible reads,
My brethren, be not many masters,
knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation.
For in many things we offend all.
If any man defend not in word, the same is a perfect man,
and able also to bridle the whole body.
Behold, we put bits in the horses' mouths,
that they may obey us, and we turn about their whole body.
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 listeneth.
Even so the tongue is a little member,
and boasteth great things.
Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth.
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 beasts, 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.
Therewith bless we God, even the Father,
and therewith curse we men,
which are made after the similitude of God.
Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessings and cursings.
My brethren, these things ought not so to be.
Do the fountains send forth at the same place
sweet water and bitter?
Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries?
Either a vine, figs?
So can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh.
Who is a wise man, and endued with knowledge among you?
Let him show out of a good conversation his works
with meekness of wisdom.
But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts,
glory not, and lie not against the truth,
this wisdom descendeth not from above,
but is earthly, sensual, devilish.
For where envying and strife is, there is confusion,
and every evil work.
But the wisdom that is from above is first pure,
then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated,
full of mercy and good work and good fruits
without partiality and without hypocrisy.
And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace
of them that make peace.
Brother Josh, we pray for us.
Oh, God, we thank you so much for this day.
Thank you for everybody who's here right now, so much.
Please fill us all in the Holy Spirit.
We feel passionate in the Holy Spirit.
Let us secure the Word of God and the Word of the Lord.
In the name of Jesus Christ.
Amen.
It's great to be back.
I've been gone for quite like basically all of last month.
I think I was in some foreign country
or some other state besides my own
for pretty much the whole month.
So it's good to be back in Washington.
It's good to be back at Bible Believers Baptist Church.
And the last time we met, I preached about faith and works
and basically how there's the fallacy of people saying
that if you don't have the works,
then you're not really saved and things like that.
And the book of James is a book of wisdom in the New Testament
for Christians.
And it really this chapter is basically fully focused
on the fact that we need to be able to tame our tongues
as Christians and that we should tame our tongues as Christians.
And let's just start off right there in verse number one
where the Bible reads,
My brethren, be not many masters,
knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation.
So and what is that talking about?
Well, the more that we are masters over,
the more we're going to talk.
And the more we talk, the more we're going to offend people.
Look what it says in verse two.
For in many things we offend all.
If any man offend not in word the same as a perfect man
and able also to bridle the whole body.
This verse right here is the key to the rest of this chapter,
in my opinion.
Let me read it one more time.
It says, For in many things we offend all.
If any man offend not in word the same as a perfect man
and able also to bridle the whole body.
So now obviously the Bible says we can be perfect as believers
and not perfect as in sinless or anything like that
but that we could be the complete package
like a fully developed Christian.
But the Bible also says later on down in the passage
that the tongue can no man tame.
So these kind of seem to contradict one another
where it seems to be saying that if we don't offend in word
then we could be that perfect man
but then it says the tongue can no man tame.
So we're never going to be able to fully tame our tongue.
I believe that that's true but the reason why it's saying
brother be not many masters knowing that we shall receive
the greater condemnation is because the more we are over
the more that we talk the more we're going to offend people.
And we don't want to just be ready to just take on
all these different responsibilities
because in our responsibilities you're going to find
that you're offending people by speaking.
And this really hits home with pastors I think
especially more than anything because as a pastor
you talk a lot. You get up and you preach sermons a lot.
You speak with people in council a lot.
You just talk to people in general a lot
and everybody's judging the things that you say.
Everybody's you know I mean you just have a lot of room
to say things that might offend somebody.
And the word of God offends people.
So sometimes just us saying what the word of God says
offends people but then our own human heart comes into play
with some of the things that we say.
And so we have a tendency as pastors to offend people
because we're constantly preaching
and you know a lot of things that we preach
you know we should be preaching the Bible
but sometimes you know we can go off and say our opinion
about what the Bible says and then those things
could offend people.
You know and so the focus of this chapter though
is to help us to learn to tame our mouths
and to realize that our tongues offend people
and that they can do a lot of damage.
And what kind of damage can our tongues do?
Well it can damage our testimony in Christ.
It can damage our relationships with God's people.
It can damage our family relationships.
It can damage our marriages.
It can damage our relationship with our children.
You know with a lost temper and a loose mouth
you can do a lot of damage.
And all of us have the tendency to lose control and get mad.
You know some people are really,
you know they're very temperate people
where you know not a lot upsets them
but there's going to be a time when everybody gets upset.
Everybody loses their temper.
Everybody loses their cool
and says something that they shouldn't say.
You know but it could be just things
that you have a tendency to do
that maybe it's stuff from your past
and you have a tendency to be a gossip or a tale bearer.
And those types of things can cause a lot of damage.
Our tongues can cause a lot of damage in our lives
and this is what James is trying to help us to get a handle on
is that we got to learn to control
what comes out of our mouth
at least you know to the best of our abilities.
And he uses some examples here
and I think that James is really good about using examples
like in the last chapter when it says you know
that faith without works is dead
it helps us to understand that yes it's still faith
but it's a dead faith if someone's not doing work.
So and I used the picture of a dead body
how that person was still a person
but you know they're dead
but it doesn't mean that that's not still that person.
So anyway so James uses some examples here
that we can really understand easily.
Verse number three the Bible says
Behold we put bits in the horse's mouth
that they may obey us
and we turn about their whole body.
So we use bits in the horse's mouth.
I'm not like an exact expert on horses
so I did kind of have to look this up.
I was thinking about like you put treats in their mouth or something
but that's not what it's talking about.
I was thinking here's a little bit for it.
It's like a metal piece or just like a little bar that goes in their mouth
and then you use that to steer them back and forth.
So horses are really big animals
and you know I'm scared of them actually.
I've always gotten bucked off of them.
I got bit by a horse when I was a kid.
I just am not a big fan.
So the only horse I'm going to like
is the one I get in the millennial reign
and that horse's name is going to be Snowball.
But anyway I've already named him.
He just doesn't know it yet but anyhow.
But horses are big animals
and you know they can be scary when you're trying to break a horse.
Have you ever seen someone try to break a horse before?
It's not exactly an easy task.
So but it gets to the point where you can break them
and then you control them with this little mechanism
that just turns their head to the right or to the left
or pulls it back or whatever.
And so he's using this example that something really small
can control the whole body of a big animal.
And isn't that what he said at the first
that we you know we have these
a perfect man is able to bridle the whole body if you know
and so the whole body is a big thing right?
And the tongue is just a small piece of your body
and the tongue can really just determine a lot of things in your life.
It can determine whether people think you're a fool or not.
It can determine whether or not
you know people think you're a kind person or a mean person.
It can determine whether you know you're going to heaven or hell.
Obviously I mean I'll get to that here in a little bit but
when it comes to horses here
you know they're big animals this little mechanism is used to control them.
Here's the second example he uses, ships.
Look at verse 4 it says, 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.
So what is this talking about?
Well here's another term that you might not know very well
but the helm is actually kind of the steering wheel of the boat.
It's the thing that the captains use to turn the boat
and that's attached to a mechanism in the back
that goes this way or that way turns it left or right
and so it's a small mechanism that is able to control this giant ship.
And so what's he using this example for?
Well the helm is you know like the steering wheel
and the ship you know obviously would represent our body
and the helm is the steering wheel like I said
and it steers that whole ship.
So he's using another example of how something small
can change the direction of something really big.
Now look at verse 5, the Bible says,
Even so the tongue is a little member and boasteth great things.
Behold how great a matter a little fire kindleth.
So now he's comparing, he's talking about how our tongues are small
but they say great things, they boast great things.
And you know you've probably seen the football players that
you know they score a touchdown and they act like they just saved the world or something.
Or like you know they're like oh yeah I'm the greatest ever
and you know just all this stuff and it's just like dude you made a tackle.
You scored a touchdown. You kicked a field goal.
It's like you know it's happened a lot.
People have done it a lot.
And obviously there's some people that play sports
that can do some pretty some pretty cool things
but it's not worth boasting like that.
And don't people boast and say that they're good enough to go to heaven?
That's a big boast isn't it?
Well that little thing, and I like to call it the little red devil behind the pearly white gates
because your teeth are like the white gates you know.
And the tongue's red.
Anyway, but that tongue is this little member that can boast great things
and it says behold how great a matter a little fire kindleth.
And so now it's talking about how it's like a little fire
but then what happens with little fires, usually they can get really big.
So it's talking about here how a tongue can be like a fire
and the fact that it just says one little thing
and it starts a big forest fire, right?
It starts a huge fire that's out of control.
And that's true like if you lie about something.
You know one little lie that you tell can really just put,
make it to where you're always having to cover up for that lie
and then that lie can cause like great things to happen,
great big problems to happen because you lied about something
or you lied about somebody.
And people lie about people all the time.
And our tongue is something that we need to really be able to tame as Christians.
We ought not to be like the world where we just say whatever we want,
say whatever comes into our mind,
and have no regard for what we're actually doing when we speak those words
because people say like sticks and stones can break my bones
but words will never hurt me.
But that's actually not true, is it?
Because words can hurt people.
Words can get people to commit suicide.
People do it all the time.
Or there's these bullies that are in school
that they'll just pester somebody
and antagonize them to the point where they just kill themselves.
Why do they do that?
Because words don't hurt.
You know what are they saying?
Well you're a fatty or you're this or you're that or you're ugly.
And kids are really cruel.
Kids can really be very cruel
and when they start picking on someone at school
and then they try to make everybody hate that person.
And that's the kind of stuff that worldly people do
but when Christians do it it's disgusting.
When Christians do it it's wrong.
When Christians do it it's wicked and it's wrong when other people do it too.
But I mean in school I hated bullies.
I really did.
I was kind of the anti-bully.
And when I get in fights it's because somebody was being a bully.
I wasn't the bully.
I think well you're big past Trump so you probably were the bully.
No I wasn't.
But people always want to fight Goliath.
I'll tell you that.
People always want to take a piece of me.
And no matter where I was
people would always try to start stuff with me.
And so I just kind of had this mentality where I'm not going to be the bully
but I will smash the bully in his mouth to get him to stop.
Right?
So I liked to pick on bullies that were bullying other people.
And I really hated to watch somebody just tear someone's life apart with their tongue.
And it's really you know you get people to feel
people you know respond in different ways
but like it's just sickening to me to watch somebody just sit there
and make someone feel like they're they're just low as dirt
just because they don't have the same kind of shoes that all the other kids have
or they don't have the same kind of clothes that the other kids have
or they don't have the same kind of looks that the other kids had.
And I just that really just always bothered me.
And I was I was a person that would like to stick up
for people that were doing that kind of stuff.
And I'm not saying I never picked on anybody.
I'm just saying that it wasn't my personality to be the person that goes after those types of people.
And I really think that those types of people
the only way to stop a bully is to smack him in the mouth.
It really is.
To shut them up.
Because they'll just continue to do it until you do.
So like my advice to young men and I'm not saying that I think violence is always the answer
but if someone's being violent to you
you kind of have to stop them from doing that at a certain point.
I remember Remy was in school and we moved from a small town
and he just wasn't really fitting in at the new school because he was the new kid.
You know people like to pick on the new kids.
You know it's just like even at the new at a new job
people like to pick on the new person at the new job.
But he was just getting bullied and we tried to go through the proper channels.
We tried to like make sure that we were doing right.
Because we were the Christians you know.
And Remy was turning the other cheek and he was doing the things that he was supposed to do
and the things I was asking him to do.
I always told him if you're the one that starts the fight
if you're the one that's picking the fight you're going to be in trouble.
But if you defend yourself you won't be in trouble.
But he wasn't defending himself.
And he was turning the other cheek.
A girl actually stabbed him in the leg with a pencil.
Like stabbed him in the leg with it.
And then yeah.
So like what are you supposed to do in that situation?
Knock that girl out or something?
You can't do that.
So it's kind of like girls can be really bad bullies too.
Really bad.
So she actually she poured water.
I think he had a broken something.
And that same girl poured water down his castor and ruined his castor.
We had to take him to the doctor.
Have it redone.
And I went to the vice principal and I was just like you're going to have to stop this.
I thought you guys had a no bullying policy.
And you know they were like oh yeah yeah but they never did anything.
And then one time this kid was picking on him and Remy was the next in line to get a drink of water.
And this kid just walked up and pushed him out of the way.
This kid that had been picking on him.
And Remy just lost it.
And next thing you know Remy's on top of him pulverizing him.
And I'd gone to the principal and the vice principal multiple times about it.
And they never did anything but then all of a sudden now he's in trouble because he defended himself.
And the vice principal called me and he's like yeah what are you going to do about this Remy suspended for three days or whatever.
And I was like I'm going to take him out for a really nice dinner.
I'm going to take him out for a really nice dinner and I'm probably going to take him to Dairy Queen and get him some ice cream afterwards.
And he was like what.
I was like yeah.
I was like if you guys aren't going to uphold your no bullying policy and you're just going to let people continuously bully him and do nothing about it.
And then he sticks up for himself.
Well hopefully that kid learned his lesson and will never try to mess with him again like that.
I said I'm cool.
I was like he's not in trouble at all.
And you know I said all that to say this but sometimes you have to just meet that bully with equal force.
You know like this sermon is like taking a nosedive here right now.
I'm like you're teaching to not turn the other cheek faster.
I'm just saying there comes a point when you have to say enough is enough.
And you know you have to just let people steamroll you all the time or they'll just continue to do it all the time.
So anyway.
So your big mouth can get you in trouble especially when it comes to getting into someone else's strife when it doesn't concern you.
I like to say it's like people that they like to write their mouth likes to write checks that they can't cash.
You know and there's a lot of people out in the world that are just like they're just big talkers.
But like when it comes time to actually backing up their talk they're usually just keyboard warriors is what they really are.
And they like to there's just some people just like to get into things that are none of their business.
And the mouth it takes the mouth to do that or at least the fingers to type what your mouth wanted to say.
Let's look at Proverbs chapter 26 verse 17 real quick.
Proverbs chapter 26 verse 17 the Bible says,
He that passeth by and meddleth with strife belonging not to him is like one that taketh the dog by the ears.
So how do you meddle with strife belonging not to you.
Well you get involved in other people's business that isn't yours.
And you know what happens.
But what is the Bible saying here.
It's like you took a dog by ears because what's going to happen if you take a dog by the ears.
They're going to bite you.
And you know maybe they might cry or if they're a little dog or whatever.
We had this little dog that was like following me acting all tough but it was like this big.
It was like a miniature Doberman or something.
And like when we turn and walk then it would come up on us and try to do something.
But then I just kind of walked like that and just backed him off or whatever.
But what happens if you're going to grab a pitbull's ears.
What do you think is going to happen then.
So and again like we're talking about the tongue and how your tongue can get you into trouble.
You know how I can get you in trouble.
Getting into business that's not yours.
So keep your nose out of other people's business and don't just get all mixed up in somebody else's strife.
You know one of the things you'd never want to do is take sides in a husband wife dispute.
You know family members do this kind of stuff all the time.
Friends in high school or your friends outside of your normal life.
When you're like you know first of all you shouldn't tell your problems to your friends when you're married.
You shouldn't tell your problems your marital problems to other people.
Because they're always going to take your side because you're their best friend.
Right. And they're going to give you bad advice.
So you don't want to do that.
But you don't want to get involved in a husband wife fight because they're going to make up and then they're going to hate you.
That's what's going to happen.
So don't get involved in strife that doesn't belong to you.
Look at Proverbs 26 verse 18 it says.
And these are just some really good things to help you in different situations with your tongue.
It says as a madman casteth fire brands arrows and death.
So is the man that deceiveth his neighbor and sayeth am not I in sport.
This is like someone that's passive aggressive.
This is someone that hates their neighbor in reality they're deceiving them.
And then when you call them on that they go oh just kidding.
You ever run into people like that.
Oh just I'm just joking.
And sometimes you've got to call that out too.
When it's like no you're not joking.
You know I know what passive aggressive is.
And sometimes if you just call people out on their crap then they'll stop doing it.
But again this guy's obviously doing something with his mouth.
And then he's saying I'm just joking.
So a lot of people do that kind of stuff.
And sometimes they have to be put in check.
But look over it says in verse 20.
Where no wood is the fire goeth out.
So where there is no tailbearer the strife ceases.
So basically you know you're adding wood to it.
Remember in James it's saying that a little you know how much fire a little you know the tongue kills that little fire.
Well there has to be some something for it to catch on fire with in the first place.
And wood is a good conductor to burn things right.
So it says where there is no wood the fire goeth out.
So where there is no tailbearer the strife ceaseth.
So tailbearers the Bible is teaching here.
What is a tailbearer?
A tailbearer is somebody you know they would say the word gossip is not in the Bible.
OK.
But tailbearer is.
And a tailbearer whether it's true or whether it's not true.
They're passing along stories to other people that they shouldn't be doing.
And what's it cause?
It causes strife.
That's why it says when there's no tailbearer the strife ceaseth.
So what does that tell you about a tailbearer?
You know in Deuteronomy I think it says you know don't go up and down amongst thy people as a tailbearer.
You know because a tailbearer is someone that's just spreading things spreading rumors.
And really what happens in the game where you're you know you play like telephone right.
Have you ever played telephone before.
And then you tell something in someone's ear and by the time the circle gets around it's something completely different right.
But that's what it's like in tailbearing.
You know you'll hear something well did you hear what so-and-so did.
And then like when you ask that person about what really it is and then none of those details are even close to true.
So you know number one don't be a tailbearer as a Christian.
But number two don't you know receive things that tailbearers are telling you.
Because you know everybody likes to get the little scuttlebutt from time to time.
It's just how we are.
We're just we're sinful and we want to know what's going on.
But like in reality it's just not right to receive things that tailbearers say.
Because usually the tailbearers telling a tale about somebody else.
And they're so they're bearing the tale.
They're carrying that tale that story from one person to another.
That's what it really means right.
Says the words of a tailbearers wounds and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly.
So I guess words don't hurt though right.
That's what people say words don't hurt right.
But the Bible says that the words of a tailbearer are as wounds.
What are wounds?
Things that hurt.
So yes words do hurt.
And it says they go down to the innermost parts of the belly.
When you're telling stories about somebody.
Hey even if it's true and it's none of your business to be doing.
Then it's not good.
It's hurtful.
You're hurting someone else's reputation.
You're hurting someone else's feelings.
You're hurting people that you shouldn't be wanting to hurt.
Especially when it comes to your brothers and sisters in Christ.
Look what it says in verse 23.
Burning lips in a wicked heart are like a potsherd covered with dross or silver dross.
He that hateth dissembleth with his lips.
So this is another form of you know just disassembling.
It's the opposite of assembling people and bringing people together.
You're dissembling people and making people go split apart.
And that's what happens when someone's a hateful person.
A hater.
And they layeth up deceit within him.
When he speaketh fair, believeth not him not for there are seven abominations in his heart.
Sometimes you can't really get a good right story from somebody when they're just a wicked person.
Like we've had some wicked people that have left here recently.
And they're just doing everything they can to try to destroy this church.
They're going to people's jobs.
They're going to people you know sending them private messages and all kinds of weird stuff.
To get people to hate this church.
There's people going around saying that this church is a cult.
You know why are they doing that?
Because they want to dissemble this church with their lips.
Because they're wicked.
Because there's no other reason why you would say that.
Because what are we doing this cult like here?
Just please tell me that.
Like you know is there Kool-Aid served after the service where we're requiring you to drink it to kill yourself or something?
Like that's just ridiculous.
We're a cult?
Because we preach what the Bible says?
How's that culty?
I just don't get it.
As a matter of fact if you have a chance to listen to Pastor Mendez's sermon that he preached in England.
I keep telling people this because you know people are going to accuse you of being a cult.
When you're in a Bible believing Baptist church.
You know when your life starts to change.
And things start to get better in your life.
Instead of your parents or your family members saying.
Oh yeah it's so great that you've changed your life around.
And that you're you know living right.
And you're not doing drugs.
And you're not drinking.
And you're not carousing and fornicating all this stuff.
That's just so great.
You know they're like you're in a cult.
It's like wait a minute I thought you wanted me to stop drinking.
I thought you wanted me to stop doing drugs.
I thought you wanted me to get married and make my life right.
I thought you wanted me to have children.
I thought you wanted me to stop being some kind of liberal Democrat or something.
I thought you want you know I thought you wanted me to change.
But then when they see what change is they're like you're in a cult.
It's like how are we in a cult?
Because we're growing in Christ.
Because we want to to be in a church where they're actually telling you things that are true.
Instead of just lying to you about everything.
Lying to you about salvation.
Lying to you about when the rapture is going to happen.
Lying to you about who God's chosen people are.
Lying to you about eternal security and saying that you can walk away from it.
And yet people just love to have their ears tickled and lie to them about things that just are absolutely phony and bogus.
You know I'm never going to accept an accusation from a church that rolls around on the ground and talks in tongues and barks like a dog and lets people lead them around with a leash.
I'm never going to say oh yeah well since the assembly of God's church said that then yeah I guess we are a cult.
No you're a cult you tongue talking weirdo.
There's nobody in here flapping around on the ground and acting all weird.
It's the Bible being thundered for from the pulp but that's what's happening here.
And if some other Baptist church you're more cult like than we are.
You're the one that's like oh we can't be around them because they think that the rapture happens after the tribulation.
Yeah because that's what the Bible says.
So now we can't be in your little club.
Who's more cult like?
We're not saying we don't want to hang around with you because you believe in a pre-trib rapture.
Who's the one that's more cult like?
It's the ones that you're separating from us because we don't believe it's God's chosen people is Israel anymore.
No we are Israel.
And that's what we teach.
That's what the Bible teaches.
That those that are saved, the people that are in Christ are the children of Abraham by faith.
That's what the Bible actually says.
It's not a bunch of people going like this against the wall someplace three five thousand seven thousand miles away from here or something.
It's probably more than that.
Anyway I'm just a spitball in numbers here.
But you know what I'm saying it's like they're God's chosen people when they spit on the ground three times and say that Christ is accursed.
I thought that they're oh yeah look at their look at their yahamakas.
Look at their you know look at all their wizard outfits.
Look at all their little the little twirly things that come down the sides of their hair.
Oh yeah that's God's chosen people.
Jesus said not to dress like a weirdo.
He said not to dress like a wizard.
He said not to dress in long clothes or turn your call around backwards.
Where's this cosplay coming from?
It's people looking holy on the outside and they're not holy on the inside.
That's what the Pharisees were like and they were their mouth is full of poison and dead man's bones.
Anyway I don't know how I got off on all that but it just you know there's people coming against our church and I still hear rumors about it.
And it's like some people left.
You know why they leave?
Because they believe.
They're so simple that they believe everything that they hear.
You know some of these pastors that are around here that have been told by these losers that don't come here.
And one of them is a child molester by the way.
And you're going to take the word of a child molester a first degree child molester over a Bible believing Baptist pastor.
You're not even going to come to me and ask me personally or come and see for yourself what this church is like.
Instead of just you know just believing every bozo that comes to your church and tells you something bad about us.
What have we done? Please tell me what have we done that's so weird?
I'd like to know.
But most of these guys are cowards.
They'll private message me or DM me sometimes or tag me in some kind of a Facebook post.
And it's like this guy he says he's a minister tagged me in a Facebook post with all these faggots in there.
And then I'm supposed to just oh maybe I'm not loving enough.
No you're a freak buddy. You're a minister of death.
You're a minister of Satan.
You're a minister of faggotry.
And you know what I'm a minister of God.
I'm going to preach the truth no matter what is you know no matter what anybody says.
I don't care.
I'd rather get the pure unadulterated unfettered unfiltered truth than to listen to a bunch of lies by some guy saying that queers can be saved.
Sorry they can't be.
They can't be saved.
They're reprobates that's what the Bible says.
And people just like to cherry pick what they think that the Bible says.
Oh you know I do believe that but not this.
Why because you have a fag cousin is that why?
Because your sister's a queer.
Because your grandma's a queer.
Whatever it is like why does that affect you and your station in life.
Sorry that they messed up their chance to be something normal.
But nobody thinks they're normal.
I was watching this comedian last night brother Ramon said.
Has anybody else seen that where he's like you know I don't I really don't like gay people.
He's like it's not for the reason you think.
It's because they're disgusting.
I was just like oh dang.
That's true.
It is disgusting.
It's why they're attributed to being dogs.
I don't know how this turned into you know a dog sermon but there's a cat out there.
Anyway so let me move on here I'm sorry.
But so where I was at is that he that hated to assemble with their lips.
People can use their tongue to do really wicked and evil things.
And when they speak fair they're like oh brother I'm so holy.
That church is a cult.
You should just really do your due diligence.
Do your due diligence and find out what we really believe.
You're like well I just saw what you believe because you went on this rant about faggots or whatever.
It's like so what.
You like them.
What's wrong with you.
If you're a man and you like fags then I think you're probably a fag.
That's the truth about it.
If you're just like oh I love little homos then you're a little homo yourself.
Because no man thinks that it's normal.
They all think it's sick.
And women are just like oh I just don't really know they're so funny.
Yeah but they're not funny when they're molesting kids.
They're not funny when they're doing disgusting acts that you know we shouldn't even talk about from behind the pulpit.
That's not when they're funny is it.
Yeah they're funny.
They're the life of the party but they're also miserable and want to kill themselves all the time because they know how disgusting they are.
Anyway okay I'm really done this time.
So anyway look at verse 26 where we're at in Proverbs chapter 26.
It says whose hatred is covered by deceit.
His wickedness shall be showed before the whole congregation.
And that's Jerry the molester right there.
You know he's opposing me as becoming pastor of this church.
And his name is Jerry Lester and he literally is a molester.
Look it up go to the Yakima sheriffs and look up his name.
What's his last what's his full last name.
Berryman.
Jerry Lester Berryman.
Creeping in unawares.
And then by God's grace you know one of these haters actually said hey you got a pervert in that church.
It's like oh really don't come back.
Our policy is they're not allowed to come back.
If we would have known then they would have been gone a long time ago.
And if he ever shows his face around this church he needs to have the police called on him immediately.
It says that he's highly to reoffend.
I don't care how old he is.
He's an old pervert.
You know he's going to burn in hell and there's a reason why he was coming against me and I was just like what is this guy's problem.
I was just thinking like what did I ever do to this guy to make him so mad at me.
He knows what I'm going to preach like this.
That's what he didn't like.
He knew that we didn't like homos and we don't like child molesters.
How can someone that's a child molester like a person that calls out child molesters all the time.
They're not going to like that.
So that's why he's sitting there you know not right now.
But he's sitting there during you know the you know when people when brother Messer called me to be the pastor of the church.
And he's sitting there with his arms folded looking at me with a stupid look on his face like this.
You know how he always had his lip kind of hanging out and just talking.
Anyway I'm picking on his physical features now.
But the guy's a loser.
And I just I do want to say thank you to that enemy that told us about that so that we could get him out of here.
But like you're trying to hold that against us.
Every church in this in this county probably has some pervert that the pastor knows is a pervert in their church.
I would guarantee it.
I've been to Baptist churches where they are the perverts.
They're letting a pervert lead the songs.
They're letting a pervert wear purple shirts and lavender and pink ties and stuff to lead songs in their church service and they know he's a pervert.
God busted for looking up seven year old boys on you know by a federal officer.
You're looking up seven year old boys.
You're sick.
That person should never be able to step foot in a church ever again.
And how did this guy go incognito?
Because they like to whitewash these criminals records and bury it so you can't look it up.
But you know what? He got found out.
And guess what? We're still here.
Guess what? I'm still the pastor of this church and he's gone.
Hopefully hiding for the rest of his miserable life before he dies and goes to hell.
So it says a lying tongue hateth those that are afflicted by it and a flattering mouth worketh ruin.
The tongue is what I'm talking about tonight.
And a tongue can do a lot of damage.
It can do a lot of affliction.
And yeah sometimes when I'm going on rants like this it offends people's wittle feelings or whatever.
But you know what? Just man up.
Or woman up if you're a woman.
Just take it.
It's like it's true. You know it's true.
I mean if I need to help you with your overly loving faggotry then I'll talk to you after the service about it.
Look back at James chapter 3 verse number 6 the Bible says,
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 is set on fire of hell.
Now obviously this is not being hyper literal here.
This is talking about you know that obviously the tongue has hell.
It's not like literally set on fire.
This is imagery to help you like see that you know when you're using your tongue in a wicked way.
This is what wicked people do.
The verses I just read to you those are about wicked people using their tongue to do evil.
Look at Matthew chapter 15 verse 17, Matthew chapter 15 verse 17.
The Bible says,
Do not ye yet understand that whatsoever entereth into the mouth goeth into the belly,
and is cast out into the draught.
But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart, and they defile the man.
So see it's not what we eat that defiles us.
It's the things that come out of our heart.
And so if we have a clean heart, and we're putting clean things into our mind, into our ears,
then these are the things that when we say things and when we speak,
when we're in the spirit we're going to come out with things that are good to be said right.
But when we come out with wicked things,
maybe you just need to cut a little of the Hollywood out.
Maybe you need to cut a little of the worldly music out that you're listening to.
Maybe you need to cut out the worldly scholars and teachers that you're following.
And then you need to just get some Bible inside your heart.
And then maybe your mouth is going to speak things that are godly things to say.
It says,
By the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornication, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.
These are the things which defile a man, but to eat of unwashed hands defileth not a man.
See it's always the Pharisees that are accusing Jesus and his disciples that they ate something without washing their hands first.
But in reality, they're the most evil scumbags that ever walked the face of the earth.
They literally sold Jesus for 30 pieces of silver and had him crucified.
And they're talking about, oh, you didn't wash that grape before you ate it.
There's no Bible verse that says you have to do that.
I mean, advising to do that, that's a good thing.
I mean, you know, people pick things with their hands.
You know, I get it. Wash your hands.
But it's not what makes you defile.
What makes you defile is the things that come out of your heart.
The things that come out of your mind.
Look at Matthew chapter 12 verse 34.
Matthew chapter 12 verse 34.
See in James 3, 6, it said that the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity.
So is the tongue among our members that it defileth the whole body.
The tongue defileth because the things that go to the tongue come out.
And that's the thoughts that you have in your heart.
And that's what's in your heart.
So when you're saying things that are really wicked, you know,
or these people that are really evil, like, I don't believe in God and I never will.
I mean, we constantly go to people's doors and they're just like,
no, I don't know if I'm saved or not.
Well, do you want to know? No, I'm busy right now.
I think Brother Josh was telling me a story today kind of just set into my mind.
And I want to remember it correctly, but that basically, yeah,
CJ was at a door or something and this guy was working on something.
And then he's like, has cancer. You can tell he has cancer.
He's talking, you know, he's like, I got a year to live or something.
Am I right so far?
And then CJ is like pleading with the guy to get saved and to listen to the gospel.
And he's like, are you sure you don't want it?
Did you give him a verse or something?
Give him a verse.
And I think he gave him another chance because, you know, someone's about to die or close to death.
Like, I feel like it's a soul winner's job to push a little harder sometimes.
If someone's an old lady and they say they're not saved, like Josh ran into that door today,
and then they just reject the gospel, it's just like, I don't get it.
If you know you're going to die and you don't know whether you're going to go to heaven or not,
I don't understand that.
But see how the tongue can bring life, but sometimes those people say what's in their hearts back.
And he said, no, to CJ, he's like, no, I got to work on this thing because I got to make money or something like that.
He's like, so what came out of his heart?
Well, what came out of his heart is that he cares more about money than making money
and working on whatever he was working on that he does about his eternal soul.
And CJ was like, it's only going to take it like 10 minutes.
It won't take 10 minutes out of their life to hear something that's going to change their life forever.
It's going to change their eternal destiny forever.
So the tongue can be used to do great things and it can also be used to condemn yourself
at the final time that God sends somebody to your door.
It's sad. Look at Matthew chapter 12 verse 34, the Bible says,
O generation of vipers, how can ye being evil speak good things?
For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.
So you see how whatever's abundantly in your heart, if you have a bunch of wickedness in there,
that's what Jesus is saying, how can ye being evil speak good things?
A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth good things
and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things.
But I say unto you that every idle word that men shall speak,
they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.
They're not going to be able to get out of it when it comes to judgment day.
God's going to hold them accountable for every idle word that they said.
So in that situation where CJ's trying to give that guy the gospel,
you know what God's going to play back for him?
I'm not sure if it's on a jumbotron, I don't think it is,
but he probably has a record of what people say
and he can probably even have it sound out exactly what was said and the tone that it was said through
so that there's no excuse.
Hey buddy, I sent you this soul winner and he said, hey, are you sure?
Are you sure you don't have like 10 more minutes?
It's not like he just gave up quickly and he's like, no, I got to get this work done.
And basically he's going to die and be thrown into hell because he didn't want to listen for 10 minutes
because in the abundance of his heart was what?
Money.
In the abundance of his heart was what?
Money.
Isn't that what he said?
We've got to make this money.
That's what's in his heart.
And so it says a good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things.
An evil man out of the treasure bringeth forth evil things.
But I say unto you that every idle word that men shall speak they shall give an account thereof in the day of judgment.
For by thy words thou shalt be justified and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.
So life and death is in the power of the tongue because by thy words thou shalt be justified.
How do you mouth words?
From your tongue.
When you call upon Jesus and ask him to save you, when you believe in him and trust in him and you call upon him,
that's how you're justified, right?
It's not how good of life you lived, how good of works you did, how many old ladies you walked across the street with groceries.
What's it going to come down to, folks?
It's going to come down to the words that you spoke.
Did you pray and ask Christ to save you?
Well, if you are, you're going to be justified by those words.
But guess what it says?
And by thy words thou shalt be condemned.
Sorry, I got to work.
And like the lady that Josh was talking to, she was just like, all she had to do is say yes.
He even gave her a couple chances.
She was like, no, it's okay.
It's like, is it really okay that you're going to die and go to hell?
You don't know whether you're going to heaven or not?
It's real easy to know?
No, I'm good.
By their words, they're going to be condemned.
It's sad, but it's true.
The power of life is in the tongue.
The power of death is also in the tongue.
James 3.7, it says,
For every kind of beast and of birds and of serpents and of the things of the sea is tamed,
and hath been tamed by mankind, but the tongue can no man tame.
It is an unruly evil full of deadly poison.
You're like, well, you're reading that all dramatic, Pastor Thompson.
You know why?
Because it's true.
And we've got to have some, we've got to put a bridle on our tongue.
We've got to put, you know, we've got to put a governor,
we've got to put like a helm that we can steer or something in our tongue.
We've got to get a hold of our tongue and control it and not let our tongue control us.
We can do and say great things with our mouths.
We can preach the gospel.
We can say fit words in a time of need.
We can comfort someone with our words at a time where someone needs comfort.
We can sing unto our God.
We can praise Him.
We can get people saved by having them call upon the name of the Lord.
We can get saved by calling upon the name of the Lord in faith.
But with that same mouth that we have, we can destroy, hurt, curse,
and ruin everything we've worked for as a Christian
and cause people to not be saved because of something that came out of our mouth that never should have.
And I'm not talking about cuss words.
No, but that can steer people the wrong way.
And, you know, I don't really think it's necessarily a thing, okay?
But, you know, if you're just walking into church and you're like MF and Mother this and beep, beep, beep, beep,
and everything you say is just like something that's what the world deems as a cuss word,
that's how you talk in front of everybody you work with.
That's how you talk in front of your family.
That's how you talk, you know, it's funny.
They can say all those words at work.
They can use the F-bomb.
They can talk about the filthiest things in the world.
But if a Christian says something, ooh, I thought you were a Christian.
That's what they're going to say.
That's exactly what they're going to say.
You're like, well, I am.
Well, I just don't think that's a bad word or whatever, you know.
But it doesn't matter what you think.
Sometimes in order to not be a stumbling block, you have to talk right.
You have to talk the way, you know, you're not going to be able to explain that to an unbeliever.
They can be total hypocrites, but you can't.
The deck is stacked against us, folks.
But as Christians, we ought to consider these things because we can hurt our testimony.
We can do something sinful with our mouth and then someone's, just like Peter,
like he's denying Christ and saying he doesn't know him,
and then like he's cursing at the very end and saying blankety blank blank, I don't know him or whatever.
And then, you know, Jesus looks at him.
But like Peter denied in front of all these unbelievers, he denied with his tongue, with his lips, that he knew Jesus.
And so it was a bad testimony.
Look at James 3 9.
It says, therewith bless we God, even the Father, and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God,
out of the same mouth proceedeth blessings and cursings.
My brethren, these things ought not so to be.
And what's the point that James is making here?
He's making the point, he's making the point that if we're saved and godly Christians,
then evil cursing shouldn't be coming out of the same mouth that blessings are coming out of.
I'm going to read a couple of verses.
You can just track it as you want or write it down, but Ephesians 4 29 says,
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.
So, good things.
Proverbs 21 verse 23 says, Whoso keepeth his mouth and his tongue keepeth his soul from troubles.
What does that mean, keep it?
It means keep it under control.
Proverbs 18 21 says, Death and lie from the power of the tongue, and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.
1 Peter chapter 3 verse 10 says, For he that will love life and see good days,
let him refrain his tongue from evil and his lips, that they speak no guile.
James chapter 1 verse 26 says, If any man among you seem to be religious and bridleth not his tongue,
but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain.
Leviticus 19 verse 16 says, Thou shalt not go up and down as a tail-bearer among thy people,
neither shalt thou stand against the blood of thy neighbor, I am the Lord.
So, we're not supposed to use our tongue in ways that would harm other people, hurt other people,
and obviously, you know, some of that's subjective, okay?
I'm not worried about hurting the Sodomites' feelings at all.
But I don't go out of my way to just pick fights with them out in public or something.
Now, I understand that sometimes there might be a situation that calls for, you know, confronting them.
But I don't, you know, the Bible says that we should live with all of them peaceably,
and I'm not saying that we should be at peace with Sodomites,
but we also shouldn't necessarily try to just start fights with them for no reason.
You know, just they're going to die and go to hell, and there's just, that's all there is to it.
So, look back at James 3.11.
So, he also talks about this fountain.
He says, Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter?
So, and what's the answer to that?
No.
What's it talking about a fountain?
Well, I would think it's talking about probably like a spring.
You know, springs that come out of the ground.
They don't have bitter water.
They have good water that comes out of it.
It's either going to be one or the other.
And so, that's why, you know, James is using this as an example
because out of our mouth should flow good things, right?
Not sewer, not sewer water.
Does the fountain of blood drawn from Immanuel's veins have any negative effects on human beings?
I mean, that fountain of blood, you know, that's kind of gross to think about,
but it was a fountain of blood.
He bled himself dry for us, and nothing bad comes from that.
Everything that he did was for our good.
And so, look at verse 12. It says,
Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear all the berries, either of vine figs?
So can no fountain both yield salt and fresh water.
So again, it's some kind of spring.
The springs in the ocean, they don't come up with salt water.
They come up with fresh water.
So that's what it's talking about, springs basically.
But it's also talking about the different kinds of things God's made.
We know what we can expect to come forth from it.
If you plant a fig tree, figs are supposed to grow on that fig tree at some point, right?
If you plant grapes, you plant like vines of grapes, you're expecting grapes to come out.
If God saves a person and changes their whole life,
and he expects us to produce what he's put into us.
But that's the problem is that we have the flesh, and sometimes the flesh is able to take control of us.
But the point is that everything brings forth after its own kind.
And what kind are we? We're the Christian kind.
So what you see is what you get in nature,
but what you see is not always what you get when it comes to Christians.
So this is the warning. I mean, he takes a whole chapter to kind of break this down for us.
Why do you think it's a whole chapter? Because it's important. That's why.
So James is making these comparisons to show us that as Christians it's unnatural for us to use our tongue in a manner opposite of what we are.
And we need to get our wisdom from above.
When we're going to get wisdom to speak forth these things.
My brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we will receive the greater condemnation.
Well, if you want to be some kind of teacher or preacher or something like that, you better be getting your wisdom from God.
If you're going to be a preacher at a door, if you're going to be, you know, whatever it is that you're trying to do in God's service,
get that wisdom from him, get that wisdom from the book that he left for us.
And we need to try to tame that little red devil behind the pearly white gates in our mouth, right?
Look at verse 13.
Who's a wise man and a dude with knowledge among you? Let him show out of a good conversation his works with meekness and wisdom.
But if you have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not and lie not against the truth,
this wisdom descendeth not from above, is earthly, sensual, devilish.
So the wisdom that you get from this world is never going to lead you to say the right things.
You know what's going to get you to say the right things? The wisdom from above.
The wisdom that only God can give us. The wisdom that only the Bible will teach us.
Look at verse 16.
For where envying and strife is, there is confusion in every evil work,
but the wisdom that is from above is first pure and peaceable, gentle and easy to be entreated,
full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy.
So that wisdom that we get should make us pure. It says first pure, then peaceable.
Not like when someone comes up and asks you a question like,
Do you know people like that? Have you met people like that in your life?
It's just like you can't even go and talk to them. You have to like walk on eggshells.
Hey boss, I was just like, OK, OK, OK.
You know, some people are just like that.
But when you get your wisdom from above, that's not how you're going to be.
You're going to be peaceable. You're going to be gentle, easy to be entreated.
That means someone can come and talk to you without you ripping their head off their shoulders.
Full of mercy. Hey, if someone screws up, hey, I'm late. I'm sorry I'm late.
Hey, have some mercy on that person, you know, because you've been late before, I'm sure.
And good fruits without partiality.
That means without being a respecter of persons with people and without hypocrisy.
So, of course, we know hypocrisy is when you say one thing and then you do another.
So let's look at James 3.18 says,
And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace.
So really, the whole thing boiled down for us is that the fruit of righteousness,
that fruit of what we are, we are righteous because of Christ, not because of how good we are,
is sown in peace by them that make peace.
So the true people that use their mouth right are going to use it to make peace.
They're not going to use it to make war.
They're not going to use it to be envious of what other people have
and try to rip down churches and try to rip down friendships
and try to rip down pastors and try to rip down relationships that you have.
You're not going to do those things.
You know, the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace.
You know what Jesus said in Matthew 5-9?
He said, Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.
It's one of the most famous verses in the New Testament.
Blessed are the peacemakers.
You know what? That's what we should be using our mouth to.
Have people make peace with God.
You know, as ambassadors in Christ, we are supposed to go and have people meet with God
and be like, hey, God wants to be reconciled with you.
Hey, let me help you with that.
And that's what our job is, to make peace with people
and not only just to make peace with people but have people have peace with God
because they're estranged from God.
They're under God's wrath right now.
And it's our job with our tongue and our mouth to be that peacemaker that people need.
And yeah, not everybody's going to accept it.
I gave some examples tonight of people that don't accept that.
But that's not our problem.
Our job is to try to be the one that makes the peace.
And if they don't want to receive it, then they're going to be responsible
for what they said out of their own mouth to us one day.
And I don't look forward to that day with some of these people.
I don't look forward, I'm not like waiting for the judgment to go,
haha, all these people are going to go and burn in hell, you know.
That's not what we're about.
Now obviously there's some people that I am glad are going to hell.
But for the most part, no.
There's just some really evil people out there.
I mean, who doesn't think that Hitler deserves to go to hell?
You know, there's going to be a lot of people standing in line on that one
and just wanting to see what's going to happen to him,
what part of hell is he going to get thrown into.
It's true. Don't say it's not.
But there's probably worse people in Hitler.
I mean, there's some people in the Bible that are pretty evil.
So the things that we say can really do a lot of damage,
we've got to be careful and we've got to walk in the Spirit
and we've got to get our wisdom from above
and not get our wisdom from the world
because that wisdom is earthly, sensual, and devilish.
And sensual means it's feeling.
Sensual is a feeling, isn't it?
And it's like, oh, it feels good.
So this is what I'm going to say.
This makes me feel good.
But feeling good isn't always good.
You're like, well, it does feel good, though.
It's not always good, though, to feel good.
To get your wisdom from that, the Bible is saying is not the right thing.
So the things that we repeat, the cruel things we say,
the things that kids say to other kids is cruel.
And as parents we can do a lot of damage to our kids
by saying things that we really don't mean at the time,
like saying, hey, stupid, or things like that.
We can say things in anger to our children that we wish we hadn't said.
And obviously I've probably said it before, especially to my boys.
But sometimes they do do stupid things, or they have.
But they still love me, and I'm glad that they do.
And when you screw up, here's the thing.
When you do something with your mouth that you shouldn't do,
then you know what it's okay to do?
To ask for forgiveness, to say you're sorry.
Saying you're sorry goes a long ways.
And when you're dad, you want to be this indestructible force
that nothing, no feelings, feelings just bounce off you
and all this other stuff, and you want to be tough.
And we should be like that to a certain extent,
but not so much to the point where our kids think we're some kind of a robot,
some kind of AI or something, some kind of person that doesn't feel.
Because obviously we don't feel like women feel.
They cry over everything, and sometimes they cry,
and they don't even know why they're crying.
But sometimes we're guilty of being too insensitive.
And so we can say things to our wives, or vice versa,
wives can say things to their husbands that can really cause
a lot of bitterness and strife, and those things can carry on
in a marriage and in a relationship for a long time.
And so we ought to be careful what we say to our spouses.
We ought to be cautious about what we say to our brothers and sisters
in Christ that might offend them.
It's like because you don't think that they're raising the kids
the way you should, then you're going to tell them what they should be doing.
Man, remember what I said about getting into strife that doesn't belong to you?
Well, you shouldn't have vaccinated them,
maybe they wouldn't have.
It's just like they probably know that, dummy.
You don't have to say that.
It's none of your business.
Shut up.
Be a peacemaker, not a striper, right?
And no man can tame the tongue, but here's the thing.
We ought to try our best to do it and be the best Christian
with our mouths and with our tongues that we can be.
Let's pray.
Lord, thank you so much for the scriptures tonight.
Thank you so much for the wisdom that comes out of the book of James
or that you put on the heart of James to write down, Lord.
It's inspired by the Holy Spirit.
I pray that you'd help us to use our tongues in a wise way
and, Lord, that you'd help us to get our wisdom from you, Lord,
instead of getting our wisdom and the things that we say from the world
and from sensual feelings and just from the devil himself.
Lord, I pray that you'd just help us.
As Christians, the way that we're supposed to walk in, Lord,
that's the true way.
It's the way that you put before us and that we would read your word
and pray to you, Lord, every day.
And, Lord, help us to just be better tomorrow than we were today.
In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
All right, for our final song, we'll turn to 378.
Change it up a little bit.
378, stand up for Jesus.
378, singing out on the first.
Stand up, stand up for Jesus, ye soldiers of the cross.
Lift high his royal banner, it must not suffer loss.
From victory unto victory, his army shall he see.
Till every foe is vanquished and Christ is Lord indeed.
Stand up, stand up for Jesus, the trumpet call obey.
For to the mighty conflict in this his glorious day,
Ye that are men now serve him against unnumbered foes.
Let courage rise with danger and strength to crank up foes.
Stand up, stand up for Jesus, stand in his strength alone.
The arm of flesh will fail you, ye dare not trust your own.
Put on the gospel armor, each piece put on with prayer.
Fair duty calls o'er danger, be never wanting there on the last.
Stand up, stand up for Jesus, the strife will not be long.
This day the noise of battle, the next the victor's song.
To him that overcometh, a crown of life shall be.
He with the King of glory shall reign eternally.
Good singing. Brother Rick, will you close us in a word of prayer?
Dear Lord, thank you so much. We can be here tonight to hear that gracing.
Thank you.