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So there in Colossians chapter 4, the Bible reads in verse 1, Masters, give unto your servants that which is equal and just, knowing that ye also have a master in heaven. Continue in prayer, and watch the same at thanksgiving, with all praying for us, that God would open to us a door of utterance to speak the mystery of Christ, for which also I am in bonds, that I may make it manifest, as I ought to speak. Walk in wisdom towards them that are without, redeeming the time. Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how, yet to answer every man. The part of that passage that I want to focus in on there where it says, Let your speech, in verse 6, let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt. The title of the sermon this morning is Season Your Speech. You see Paul here is telling these people that there's a manner in which they are to speak. The way they say things and what they say are important. And that we ought to take heed, that's the point of the sermon, we have to take heed to the things that we say. The things that come out of our mouth, or the things that we express today. We have to take heed to those things. And that we ought to make sure that they are always with grace, and seasoned with salt. You see, we have to take heed because what we say, that always affects people, for the better or for the worse. The things that come out of our mouth, the things that people hear, come out of our mouth, those things will affect the hearers of the things that we say. And that's why it matters. That's why we ought to season our speech. Because it affects those around us, for the better or for the worse. The context of our scripture here, it would be, we ought to have our speech seasoned with grace and salt, because of the fact that, as he says there, that we ought to know how we ought to answer every man. Notice it says, it doesn't say that you may know what you ought to answer every man. So it's not just a matter of knowing the right answer. It says how you ought to answer every man. It's the manner in which you go about answering another man. It's not being able to disprove everybody, or correct everybody, or make sure everybody understands what's right and wrong. But it's also just in the manner of the way in which you do it. It's to be done with grace, it's to be done with salt. You see, our speech, according to the scripture here also, plays a part in the redeeming of the time. It says there that we are to walk in wisdom toward them that are without redeeming the time. So we're supposed to redeem the time that we have here on the earth, as we walk towards them that are without, meaning those that are without the church, those that are unsaved, we're going to walk toward them with the gospel, and redeem the time that we have here, and we're supposed to do that with our speech being seasoned with grace and with salt. So you see here it says that they are to season their speech with salt, and I get this idea when I read this passage about how our speech should have certain ingredients in it. There's certain ingredients that should make the consistency of our conversation. And it says here that those ingredients that should be part of that seasoning are grace and salt. And if you think about it, if you were to sit down and eat a dish of food, and it would have to have a proper balance of seasonings. If there was too much of one thing or not enough of another, you might not enjoy that dish as much as you would. And I don't know of a greater seasoning than salt. I mean that is the seasoning, table salt, right? Everyone's probably got one right there in their kitchen counter. You can get it anywhere you go. It is the seasoning of seasonings, if I could say that. But if you think about what an improper balance of salt would have resulted in your own meal, right? Think if you had sat down with something that was maybe a little bland and there wasn't enough salt in it. I mean if you sit down and you eat something that's a little bland, I mean the right amount of salt can bring that dish back to life and make it enjoyable. You don't have to struggle through it, right? So I'm just kidding here. But I'm just trying to say here that we have to think about it like that because salt is a very important ingredient that we need to have be a part of our speech. And if we don't have enough of it, our speech won't be what it's supposed to be. And also you think about it on the flip side too, if we have too much salt. Like if you sat down to eat that dish and it was just overloaded with salt where you had to push it away. And once you get to that point, there's really no coming back. Once too much salt has been added, that dish is done. You know, you've got to go get a second helping or go hit the drive-thru or something like that, right? But you have to think about this in terms of, let's say, preaching because it's talking about speech here. I mean think about an improper balance in a preacher. A man who gets up and it's always grace. Every sermon is just grace and graciousness and how, what a graceful speech and just always just grace, grace, grace, grace, but there's no salt. There's no, there's no seasoning to it. And we're going to talk about salt towards the end of it and what specifically that would look like in a person's speech. But on the other spectrum too, on the other end of it, if a preacher got up and there was no graciousness about him, he wasn't a gracious person. He didn't preach things that helped you in your own personal life or were an encouragement to you or things that motivated you, but it was always just salt. Always those things which agitated, all those things which were sometimes hard to receive. Just hard sermon, hard sermon, hard sermon, you would get worn out on it. So Paul's showing here, showing us here that our speech is to have grace and salt. And if you think about it, you know, grace kind of, it seems to kind of be the base ingredient of our speech. It's kind of like that base ingredient. It's that filler. It's the main consistency of that speech. It's what satisfies and nourishes us. It's those edifying words. And salt, it says, is a seasoning. It says, you know, let your speech be seasoned with salt. Meaning, don't let it be the main course of your speech. So as we've seen, too much salt is not good. And we are to just be seasoned with it. Now, before we get into these seasonings and what they would look like in our speech, go ahead and turn to Ephesians chapter 5. We need to also understand, I think I'm going to deal with some seasonings that should not be part of our speech. Because I think a lot of people, you know, they've been reaching for the spice rack in their conversation and they've been pulling off some spices that just ought not be there. There's some seasonings in some people's speech that need to be removed from the spiritual spice rack and thrown in the dumpster. Because it should have no part of our, you know, of our conversation. You know, they've been there too long. Have you ever seen that spice rack that's got the spices on it that have like a layer of dust on the caps, you know, but they're always a part of that person's conversation. And sometimes you need to deal with that, you need to deal with it, you need to take an inventory of that spice rack of your speech and say, is this seasoning still good? Is it stale? Is it inappropriate? Is it something that should not be a part of my speech? Now in Ephesians chapter 5, beginning of verse 1, the Bible reads, Be ye therefore followers of God as dear children, and walk in love as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour, but fornication and uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not once be named among you, as becometh the saints. Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient, but rather giving of thanks. So there in verse 4 we see there's some things that Paul deals with that pertain particularly to our speech. It's dealing with those things, that filthiness, the foolish talking and the jesting. I believe these are things that are speaking specifically about our speech. You know in verse 3 it kind of talks about the fornication and the covetousness and the uncleanness. Those are things that we would do. Those are things that we would act out physically in our body or we would feel in our hearts. But in verse 4 the filthiness, the foolish talking, the jesting, those are things that would come out of our mouth. Those are things that would be part of our conversation. Those are things that are part of our speech. And those are spices, those are seasonings that should not make up our speech. Those are things that we should not, those are ingredients that should not make up our conversation. The first one there is filthiness. I think this is pretty self-explanatory. You know filthiness would be like saying or talking about crude and vile things. It would be like that locker room talk. It would be like the way that guys talk sometimes on the job site. The vile conversations. And believe me this takes place. I've worked in construction, I've worked as a laborer in excavation with a lot of rougher guys, you know rednecks, roughnecks, whatever you want to call them. And believe me the conversation there can descend pretty quickly into some pretty filthy things. To some pretty vile and disgusting things and it's hard as a Christian to be around that kind of conversation and it will even affect us and if we're not careful we can even let it affect us to the point where we also are taking part in it. Which is difficult. And it should not be part of our conversation, filthiness, talking or saying about crude and vile things. And I really don't feel like that's something I have to go on and on about. The Bible says if you're there in Ephesians 5, look at verse 11, and have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness but rather reprove them for it is a shame to even speak of those things which are done of them in secret. So it's a shame the Bible says here to even speak of some things that some people do. And some people want to openly talk about what others do. They want to talk about what evil and wicked and vile people will do in secret. And we shouldn't be talking about those things openly. Now I'll move on here to the next one where it says in Ephesians 5 verse 4, neither filthiness nor foolish talking. So the next ingredient, the next spice that should not be a part of our, the seasoning of our speech would be foolish talking. Now what would this be? Well I think this is what we can equate to like juvenile humor. Just kind of, you know, what's the word potty talk? Just kind of just, you know, talking about maybe just gross things or telling gross jokes. Maybe not necessarily discussing vile and wicked things but just kind of inappropriate, you know, things that just don't matter. I think also foolish talking would probably more be correctly described as displaying a lack of wisdom or understanding. I mean it's foolish talking. What is a fool? A fool is a person who lacks wisdom. So I think even talking about things that we don't understand. Trying to talk about a subject that we don't know very little about. Trying to talk as an expert about something that we don't know much about at all. Maybe we just watched some YouTube videos or heard somebody else say something. We haven't done any reading, we haven't done any study, we haven't, you know, it isn't something that we've experienced. We're not speaking from a place of wisdom and experience and understanding. We're just talking about something from outside, outside of experience. We're talking foolishly, we're talking as somebody who doesn't understand the subject at hand. And I really don't want to spend a lot of time on that either because I really want to get into the next one on the list there. It says, filthiness, foolish talking, nor jesting. Nor jesting. Now what is jesting? I know in the preaching class a few weeks ago, you know, some of the guys after the class touched on this. They sat down and kind of scattered around and we wanted to get to the bottom. What is jesting? What does it mean? Now a lot of people at first glance, they'll say, well that just means joking. That means like telling jokes, being silly, you know, but I don't believe that's what it is. I don't believe that's what it is at all. And they'll say, well, you know, you think about jesting, the court jester, you know, what was the jester in the, you know, the days of old, you know, and the kings and the knights and the round table and all that and the medieval times. Well he was the guy that came in and, you know, juggled and fell around and told jokes and abused everybody. I don't think that's what this is referring to. In fact, I think if you look it up, it specifically means like a vulgar witticism. So it's not just, you know, the juvenile potty talk. It's somebody who's actually, you know, talking about something vile. I mean, if you look about it in the context of the verse, filthiness, foolish talking, right? Nor jesting. So there's the person who just says filthy and vile things. There's the person who just makes stupid dumb jokes maybe about gross things. But then there's the person who jests. And this is probably the person who's maybe, the best way to put it would be somebody who's, you know, they're a little bit more witty in the way they talk about these things. They're not just saying gross things just for the sake of saying them. But they're saying them in a way that's witty or humorous or would get a laugh or rise out of it. And really, we can see a lot of examples of this. I mean, think about all the popular comedians. Think about all the people that get up in front of thousands and thousands of people that have their, you know, HBO comedy specials, their Showtime comedy specials, their half hour, you know, comedy shows that say the most vulgar and disgusting things. But they do it in a way that gets a rise out of people, that gets a laugh out of somebody. That in a humorous or witty way. I mean, we think, me and my wife, we're trying to brainstorm on some of these people. You think of guys like Chris Rock, whoever, who's ever, ever listened to that guy. I don't recommend these people. I'm just using them as examples because it's, let's face it, you know, probably preaching to people that have been in the world to some degree and have heard a guy like Chris Rock or Eddie Murphy. That might be a little, that was big when I was growing up, you know, as a kid. There was the, and I remember when you'd come on HBO, it was like, you got to leave your own kid. You know, I wasn't allowed to hear Eddie Murphy's humor as a child. And then I heard it later as an adult and it was vile. It was disgusting. And Chris Rock was no better. And we could go on and on and talk about the other ones. I mean, there's just, name the comedian and the chances are that they speak in a jesting way or a very vulgar way, but in a witty way, in a way that is humorous. You know, you think of guys like, what was the other one, Jerry Seinfeld. I mean, it was like every other episode was about the bedroom. Every other episode was about, you know, fornication or something like that, but he was very witty. He was a, he was, he was able to jest. He was one who had, as it says there, jesting, you know, it wasn't just, it wasn't just filthiness. It wasn't just foolish talking, but it was jesting. It was like a more, if I could say it's sophisticated, quote unquote, a sophisticated way of being filthy or foolish. So those are some things that should not be part of our conversation as we see there in Ephesians chapter five. And you know, for the most part, that's probably not something a lot of people are struggling with, is this idea of being, of having a vile or filthy tongue, or maybe, you know, maybe foolish talking is something that we might have to struggle with a little bit, or being a, you know, jesting in that manner, of being a vulgar and witty person, you know, using it. And it's not sarcasm, by the way. That was another thing I wanted to clarify. I don't believe that jesting is talking about sarcasm, because some people are very sarcastic by nature. Like, they can't even help it. It's just the way they are. I mean, I believe we could curb that, and it could lead to something that's maybe inappropriate. But sarcasm, I mean, we even see it in the prophets. You think of Elijah, you know, mocking the prophets of Baal in a very sarcastic manner. Even God himself at times, I believe, is sarcastic. So sarcasm, I believe, does not fall under jesting. Jesting is just being a very vulgar person, but doing it in a very witty or intelligent way. That sounds counterintuitive, but I guess it's possible. Now the one I do want to talk about is being froward, and I want to park it here for a little while, because I believe this is an ingredient that a lot of Christians have. That we even see amongst God's people, that they are very froward in their speech. Now what does it mean to be froward? Before we get into the meaning of it, let me just tell you about why it's so important. Because the problem, I'll read it to you from Proverbs chapter 8. The Bible says, the fear of the Lord is to hate evil, pride and arrogance in the evil way, and the froward mouth do I hate. So the last thing we definitely don't want to have is a froward mouth, because that's something that the Bible says God hates. That's a good verse. He used to show people that God is a God who has opinions about things, that he's a God who hates things, that God knows what hate is. But the point of that verse I want us to take away from it is that God hates the froward mouth. Now you've got to better understand what it means to be froward. What does it mean to have a froward mouth? Well in Proverbs 16, the Bible says an ungodly man, if you would turn to Proverbs chapter 6. As you turn to Proverbs chapter 6, I'll read to you from Proverbs chapter 16 and we'll get an understanding of what it means to have a froward mouth. The Bible says in Proverbs 16, an ungodly man diggeth up evil, and in his lips there is a burning fire, a froward man soweth strife, and a whisperer separated, chief friend. So he's saying that a froward man is one who sows strife. So a froward mouth is somebody who's very obstinate, it's somebody who's very contrary, it's somebody who's very difficult in their speech. They're argumentative. They want to argue for the sake of arguing. They want to stir up strife with their mouth. They want to cause contentions with their mouth, the things that they say. Proverbs chapter 6, you're there, look at verse 12. A naughty person, a wicked man, walketh with a froward mouth. He winketh with his eyes, he speaketh with his feet, he teacheth with his fingers. Frowardness is in his heart, he diviseth mischief continually, he soweth discord. And how does he do it? With his mouth. So we see that forwardness is being mischievous, it's sowing discord, it's causing strife. As it says in Proverbs 16, a whisperer separated chief friends. Someone with a froward mouth would be somebody who goes around talking about other people behind their back, trying to pit people against each other, just so that they can enjoy the drama that ensues, just so they can enjoy the strife and the discord. They like to separate chief friends. A froward mouth is somebody who is loud and opinionated. I believe that's how we could describe it in modern terms, if you want to just kind of wrap it all up, we would say that someone with a froward mouth is someone who is very loud and opinionated. Now there's nothing wrong with having strong opinions. There's nothing wrong with being a quote unquote opinionated person, but being loud about it, I believe that's when you can become very froward with your opinions. We might not go around talking and trying to sow discord and cause mischief and separate chief friends, but sometimes I think people with their opinions become so loud and so froward with their opinions and pushing it upon other people, and making sure everybody else knows what I think about a subject, that they can begin to develop a froward mouth. So we see that a loud and opinionated person is somebody that is froward. Making sure everyone knows your thoughts on any matter. Any time something comes up, you have to make sure that they understand. And really this is something that we have to be careful about, and if you would turn over to 1 Timothy chapter 5. First Timothy chapter 5, because we're living in a day when what we say or what we express, what we put out there on social media, it's very easy to do that. It's very easy to just express your opinion today about whatever the subject. It's very easy today to be heard by many, many, many people through the means of social media. So we have to be careful and season our speech, not just in the things that we say in our daily face-to-face conversations with people, but I believe this would even spill over or overlap into the way we conduct ourselves on social media. And I'm not against social media. I believe it's a great tool. I believe that we're living in a day where we can reach out for the means of social media and reach thousands and thousands and even millions of people through social media. It's a very useful tool. You know, Pastor Anderson likens it under the modern printing press, and I would agree with that. I think it's a very powerful tool that can be used for good or bad. But because we have this tool at our fingertips, we have to be even more careful about our conversation. We have to be careful about how we season our speech and make sure that forwardness is not a part of our speech. You see, social media lends itself to this type of behavior, to being very forward, to being very opinionated. And specifically, you know, it's one thing, you know, and I don't think it's right for anyone. I don't think it's right for anybody to be that way. You know, and we have to be careful because I believe there's a fine line between somebody being very opinionated or express something, you know, that would be considered forward or somebody who's issuing a genuine and sincere word of warning. I believe there's a difference there. And somebody's putting something out there in social media, you know, in hopes of helping spare others. Like, hey, you know, speaking to a certain issue, they would say, hey, look out for this. Here, you need to understand this, this, and this about this subject or this topic or this issue. You know, putting that out there, you know, and using, you know, a biblical example or life example, speaking from a place of wisdom and understanding, not speaking foolishly. But there's also people who go out there in social media and express their opinion just so that other people can hear their opinion and whether they like it or not. And it's not right for anybody, man or woman. But let me say this, being loud and opinionated is very unbecoming of a godly woman. And that's what we see a lot of on social media is women going out there and being very loud and opinionated. They wouldn't be that way in church, they wouldn't be about like that on their circle of friends. But we can see them on social media sometimes going out there and saying things in a very loud and opinionated way. And men are just as guilty of that too. But to me it just seems like it's even more unbecoming of a woman. I mean, it's one thing for a man to be very, you know, stubborn or prideful and being very loud and opinionated about the things that he says. And I'm not saying it's right. But to me it just seems more like that wouldn't strike a chord with us as much. It wouldn't be something that seems as out of place as if a woman were to go out and exhibit attributes that are often associated with a man. The Bible says in 1 Timothy 5, beginning in verse 9, Let not a widow be taken of the number under threescore years old, having been the wife of one man, well reported of for good works, if she had brought up children, if she had lodged strangers, if she had washed the saints' feet, if she had relieved the afflicted, if she had diligently followed every good work, but the younger widows refused, when they had begun to wax wanton against Christ they will marry, having damnation, because they have cast off their first faith. And withal they learned to be idle, wandering about from house to house, and not idle only, but tattlers also, and busybodies, speaking things which they ought not. So he's giving a warning here about the younger women, the younger widows, that will wax wanton against Christ, and he says that they learned to be idle, that they learned to wander about from house to house. And boy is that easy to do today, I mean you can wander into somebody's house, you know, multitudes of people, very simply by just putting a post on Facebook, by just putting up that video on Instagram, by just putting yourself out there just tweeting or whatever. Putting yourself out there on social media, you can get into it, you can wander about from house to house digitally today. And it says that they're tattlers and busybodies, and that they speak things which they ought not. And that's something that we see women do today. And men, you know, we could apply this to both, we really could, but as I said, I think it's something that, you know, is just even more unbecoming of a godly woman. To speak things which she ought not. You know, being loud and stubborn, to be very opinionated, to put your opinion out there about everything, especially as a woman, it, you know, it associates you with the type of woman that the Bible looks, speaks very poorly of. The Bible says in Proverbs chapter 7, And behold, there men have a woman with the attire of harlot and saddle of heart, for she is loud and stubborn. Her feet abide not in her house. She's always wandering about from house to house, getting in other people's business, expressing her opinion on whatever so-and-so said, or whatever so-and-so is doing, or what they think about this, or what they think about that. They're loud. And often they can't be corrected about it. They can't be told, hey, you know what, I disagree with you. They're stubborn. You see, we live in a day where, you know, everybody's entitled to their opinion. I'm not saying being opinionated or having an opinion is a bad thing. You're allowed to think for yourself. You're allowed to form an opinion. You're entitled to your opinion, as the expression goes. But that does not entitle you to the, just the, I don't want to say the ability, but doesn't entitle you to just express that opinion to anybody and everybody whom you feel should hear what you have to say about something. That's a very forward attitude, to think everyone has to know what I think about something. And often it's just an opinion. It's just something, the way you think, it's not a biblical concept, it's not something that is coming from scripture, it's not there to help edify somebody. It's just somebody getting on social media and just blowing off their mouth about something. And it's forwardness. It's being loud. It's being stubborn. It's opinionated. Turn over to 1 Peter chapter 3, 1 Peter chapter 3. Well, I mean, we see that being loud and stubborn and opinionated is associated with a very, with, you know, an adulterous, a whorish woman. You know, that's not something a godly woman should want to have a part of her personality or her makeup, being loud and stubborn. In 1 Peter 3, it shows us, you know, what a godly woman looks like. 1 Peter chapter 3 verse 1. Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands, that if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of their wives. So when he's saying the conversation, the way you live, the way you conduct yourself, that's what's going to win your husband to the Lord. When he sees how you've learned to walk in the Lord. Why they behold your chaste conversation. So we've got these women that have unsaved husbands and you say, you know what, subject to your own husbands, if they don't obey the word. You could even apply this to men, or maybe they're saved, but they don't want to live for God. They don't want to raise the kids in a godly manner. Or they don't want to go to church, they don't want to do the things of God, they don't want to live for God. As it says here, if any obey not the word, that they be without the word be won by the conversation. We see, so it's a woman's demeanor, it's her conversation, it's a godly woman's conversation that's going to win her husband over the Lord, whether it's to salvation, or maybe endeavoring to live for God. Verse 2, while they behold your chaste conversation, now what does chaste mean? Means it's reserved, means it's kept secret, means it's held close, it means it's something that is very personal, it's something that's kept close to them, it's chaste, it's discreet. Their chaste conversation coupled with fear. Who's adorning, let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting of hair and wearing of gold or of putting on apparel, but let it be the hidden man of the heart in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, completely opposite of the woman in Proverbs chapter 7, loud and stubborn, we see a woman who is meek and quiet. So we have to ask ourselves, as the women should be asking themselves, which one are you going to emulate more? Through the way you express yourself, through the way you season your speech. Even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is the sight of God of great price. So notice again, it's the hidden man, it's the one that cannot be seen. That should be what seasons our speech. Notice also it's the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit. You know an ornament, you think about like the Christmas tree, you put ornaments on it and it's something, what do you do with an ornament? Well if you're a cat, you break it, right? But if you're, you know, as a human being, we just admire them from across the room, you know, you decorate the tree, turn off the lights, everyone sits down with hot cocoa, the songs are on and you just have a moment, right, and you enjoy the sight of that tree being decorated and you have memories around it. So we see an ornament is something that is seen. It's something that is looked upon fondly. It's not necessarily something that is heard, right? And that's the ornament of a meek or a gentle and submissive spirit. It's the ornament of a quiet spirit that a godly woman should have. Now it's not somebody who is, you know, being very loud and opinionated. That is the complete opposite of an ornament of meek and quiet spirit. We shouldn't have an ornament of a loud and stubborn spirit or being loud and opinionated. Now what are some, like a specific example of this that I think that just drives me up the wall? Is when I see, really anybody, but especially when a woman goes out of her way to get on social media and correct a preacher. Or to say, or try to explain away what a preacher has preached. When she goes to a man of God, she would never do this in person. She would never go up to the pastor. I mean some might, some might be so bold as to walk up to a preacher after having just gotten done preaching a sermon and say, well I really appreciate the sermon, but this, this and that. You know, and that kind of thing does happen. When I remember a preacher getting up and talking about how a woman, whenever he started to get on something she didn't like, she would reach up and she would turn down her hearing aid and look right at him. Or when it got to be too long, she'd pull out her keys and start jangling and looking at the preacher. That's a very bold thing to do. That's a very opinionated, that's very loud and stubborn. That's not meek, that's not quiet, that's not gentle. But I see women that would never do that kind of thing probably ever in an actual setting, but they'll go on social media and they have no problem doing it. They have no problem going on social media and correcting a preacher, whether it's your pastor or not. And they go out there and they try to correct something that a preacher has said. You know, and this is just something that we can all apply to ourselves today. You know, I know I'm kind of picking on the women a little bit here, but really the overall lesson that we can learn from this is that just because you have an opinion doesn't mean you need to express it. You know, you can look over a matter. Even if the preacher is wrong, let's say he did commit some kind of error or misspoke. You know, if it's big enough error, if it's a huge doctrinal problem, you're not going to be the only one who notices it. We don't need Mrs. So-and-so going out there and pointing it out to the world about where some preacher has gone into heresy. Nine times out of ten, you know, it's dealt with by men. You know, it's dealt with by other pastors, it's dealt with by other preachers. You know, it becomes very obvious. But that's the thing, we can get very nitpicky. I don't like what he said about that. And I used to hear preachers talk about this kind of thing, about, you know, correcting a preacher or, you know, how they're going to upset some people by what they say. They say, you know, I'm going to say this and you're going to get upset. You know, they would say that kind of thing from the pulpit. I remember not understanding what they meant. Like, is it really that bad? Is it really that bad that you could say something and that people would get that upset or they would take issue with something that you said that quickly? And I'll never forget, one of the first times I ever preached a Faithful Word sermon, I actually preached a sermon, you know, that had a little bit of a bite. There were some things that I got on and everyone seemed to generally enjoy it. But, I mean, five minutes after the sermon's done, I got a guy coming up to me, well, I didn't appreciate what you had to say about television. Another guy, I don't appreciate what you had to say about mobile phones. I mean, people were that bold to just come up and I mean, it's like, that's the last time you want to, I mean, the guy just got done ripping face and you want to walk up to a preacher and start correcting on it? Don't be surprised if he starts ripping your face again because it's not your place to go out and express your opinion or your disapproval or what you don't like about a sermon. You know, because, and here's the thing, this is something I've heard and I think applies to this kind of a situation where people are, get all up in a huff and a puff about, you know, some certain that got preached. The preacher says something and they don't like it. You know, there's an old saying that I heard a preacher say, it's this, if you throw a rock into a pack of dogs, the one that yelps is the one you hit. You know, a lot of times when we hear the preaching of the word of God and it comes close to home and we don't like it and we start, rah, rah, rah, or we got to go on social media, well, I don't think you should clarify, blah, blah, blah, you know, because it's always, you're the one that's yelping. You're the one that's got hit. You're the one that, you know, that sermon fell in your lap. But you know, that's the takeaway from all this, from this part of the scripture is that just because you have an opinion or just because something rubs you the wrong way doesn't mean you have to go out on social media and let everybody know about it. You know, it will pass. The sermon will, you know, go far down the playlist of the YouTube channel and people won't listen to it, you know. So don't worry about it so much. The Bible says in Proverbs 29, a fool uttereth all his mind. They just go out and they just express their opinion, their disapproval. What they didn't like, why that's wrong, why this needs to be clarified. A fool uttereth all his mind but a wise man keepeth it in until afterwards. You see, man and woman, you don't need to go and chime in on every dispute on Facebook. And here's the thing, people need to understand this, being an opinionated person makes you a very unpleasant person to talk to. A lot of people, there's people that I know are opinionated, they're the last people I ask their opinion about anything. I mean, I'm courteous, I'm kind, I smile, I say hello, I ask them how they're doing but I really don't want to know what they think about anything, genuinely, because they're unpleasant to speak to. Because being opinionated is to be conceitedly assertive or dogmatic in one's opinions. Asking somebody what they think and they're just like, well this is the way it is. You don't even ask them what they think, they just come to you and tell you, hey look, this is the way it is. This is what I think. This is how it should be done. They're conceitedly assertive, they're pushing their opinion on somebody else and they're dogmatic because they can't change, they can't see it from another person's point of view. They can't understand a different opinion. And it's funny because the people whose opinion I respect the most, they're the ones who never express it. The people whose opinions I would like to hear the most about, they're the ones you have to go ask. The person's opinion who has an opinion that matters is the person who's not expressing that opinion every chance they get. I think of men in our church that what they think matters to me and if I want to know what their opinion is I have to go ask them what it is because they're not just blathering into everybody. They're not on Facebook or social media or anything or going around just letting everybody know what they think about something. They're not a fool. They're not uttering all their mind. Bible says in Proverbs 20, counsel in the heart of man is like deep water but a man of understanding will draw no. People who have counsel, people whose opinions and knowledge and wisdom. The Bible says that that man is like deep water. It's down in there. You think about deep water, you're thinking like a well. If you want to find deep water underground you have to drill for it. It says a man of understanding will draw it out. You think of the well that they would dig with the bucket they would drop down. It takes effort. You have to go to that person and draw that wisdom out of them. Draw that counsel up and pull the cord and get that bucket of wisdom to the surface. As it says, a man of understanding will draw it out. That's the kind of man whose opinion matters. It's down in there. You have to go to him. You have to ask him to draw it out of him. But opinion people, they're not like a well. They're not like somebody, you know, you have to drop the bucket down. They're like a squirt gun. They're the complete opposite. They'll get you from across the room. Oh, you look thirsty. Right? That's what they're like. That's what an opinion person is like. They're just spraying everybody with their opinion. You don't have to draw it out. You have to dodge it. You have to put on a raincoat and you have to bring a towel around because they just want to spray you with their opinion. You see, that's not a seasoning that should be a part of our speech. Being opinionated. Being loud. Being stubborn. Being forward, as the Bible would call it. That's not something that should be a part of our speech. So we've talked about what should not be a part of our speech, but what is it that should be a part of our speech? Well, as it says there in verse, what was it, excuse me, verse 5 or 6, let your speech be always with grace seasoned with salt. So he says that your speech is to have grace and salt. These are the things that should make up our conversation, our speech. Now what does it mean to have grace in your speech? Well, I believe this would be us not being quick to react. We're not easily provoked. People say things or do things that we're not just quick to just, you know, blow off our top and blow off our mouth and just, you know, it's the opposite of being forward. James 1 says this, Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak. And then it says slow to wrath. Not using your mouth as, you know, a way to just beat people down or express your anger or disapproval, even though you might feel that, even though you might feel very strongly about something, very opinionated about something, you're not going to assert it in a very conceited way and you're not going to be going out there with your tongue and being forward. To be gracious is to be slow to speak, slow to wrath. You know, it's not provoking or stirring up strife, it's not provoking others. Basically grace is the complete opposite of everything we've talked about this morning. You know, the Bible says in Ephesians chapter 4, are you still in Ephesians? You're still there, just look at Ephesians 4. What is grace? You know, it's part of the seasoning of our speech. Ephesians 4 verse 21-29, let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying. This would be someone who is very gracious, they're not letting corrupt communication, they're not filling people's minds and ears with filthy and foolish talking, with jesting. They're not forward to their conversation, they're not proceeding out of their mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying. They're edifying people with their mouth. They're saying good things, they're encouraging them with their mouth. They're helping them. They're giving advice when it's asked. There's nothing wrong with that. I know I kind of got on the women a little bit, but you know, some women, I know my wife was on this Facebook group that's solely for women, and women are asking for advice. They're asking for help, and there's nothing wrong with giving it when it's asked for. And when you're speaking from a place of wisdom and understanding, when you're not just speaking foolishly, but you're somebody who knows the subject, or knows the issue, and you've been asked your opinion, then that's fine. I think it's good. That would be gracious. That would be seasoning your speech with grace, to go out there and to edify and minister grace under the ears, as it says there in Ephesians 4-29. It goes on in verse 31, Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice. So we shouldn't have evil speaking. We shouldn't have corrupt communication, but if we're going to be gracious, we're going to minister grace under the ears. We're going to say things that are edifying. We're going to be tender-hearted. We're going to forgive, even as God, for Christ's sake, has forgiven you. The Bible says in Proverbs 26, Where no wood is, the fire goeth out. So where there is no tail-bearer, the strife cease it. You take out the loud person, you take out the stubborn person, you take out the opinionated person, you take these seasonings out of your conversation, the foolish talking, the jesting, the vile talk, the filthiness, then you have a conversation, then you have a dish that's palatable. It's something that people want to enjoy. When you're a person, people want to hear what you have to say. They might even come to you and ask your opinion. Every once in a blue moon, it happens to me. Somebody comes to me and asks, hey, what do you think about this? And whenever somebody does that, I mean, I know I'm doing it in a puffed up manner, but I think I am instantly endeared to that person because I think, wow, that person actually has some level of respect for what I think. They have some level of, obviously, I've given them the impression that I am somebody to some degree that has an opinion that matters a little bit. I don't go to that person, and you see things all the time in people's lives, and you don't go to that person and have to correct everything that they're doing wrong. That would be a very opinionated thing to do, or they're doing something you don't like and you have to let them know. That's being forward. But when we remove that, when we take that wood away, that fire goes out. So where there is no tail bear, destroy, cease it. When you stop being the person that's going to sow to score, there isn't going to be to score. It seems pretty elementary, but it's a lesson that we have to understand. It goes on and says in verse 21, as coals are to burning coals and wood is to fire, so is a contentious man to kindle strife. The words of a tail bear are as wounds that go down into the innermost parts of the belly. We talked earlier about that person, the whisperer, who separated the chief friends. They'll say, did you know, so and so, they'll go around, they'll talk, two people are friends and they'll say something to this person about that person. Well this person said this and that person said that. And it says that the words of a tail bear are as wounds. It's like you might as well just walk up to them with a knife and just started cutting them. And just started slashing them. And it says that they go down into the innermost parts of the belly. You know when you hear something that somebody else has said about you to someone else, and it's amazing that people do this because it's so easy to connect the dots. It's not hard to tell when you know somebody's been talking to you about somebody to somebody else. You know it separates chief friends. That person starts treating you different. Their conversation changes. They speak to you in a different manner. And it's like, well the only reason you could have known any of that is if this person told you. Or if that person, you know, and it's so easy to connect the dots on this kind of thing if you're alert to it. You know, you don't want to fall into the trap of having like a radar. Who's talking about me? But you know sometimes certain circumstances and situations come up where it's not hard to see what's taking place. That somebody's a tail bear. That somebody's, you know, sowing discord and strife that they're separating chief friends. And it says that those things, they go down into the innermost parts of the belly. The Bible says that a brother is harder to be one than a city. You know I'm kind of paraphrasing when it's one of the other Proverbs. If you have a brother who's offended by the things we say and do, it's harder to win that person back over to your side. Because those things that happen, they go down into the innermost parts of the belly. Now should it be that way? No. But the Bible's telling us that's the way it is. So we need to make sure that if we're going to be gracious, you know, really being gracious is a lot of just eliminating the things that we shouldn't be having in our conversation. We shouldn't be quick to react. We shouldn't be easily provoked. We shouldn't be provoking others. We shouldn't be foolish in our conversation. The Bible says in Ecclesiastes, the words of a wise man's mouth are gracious. A man who has wisdom, a man who has experience and knowledge and understanding of things that he says and the way he says them are very gracious. You know sometimes you can say something very hard for a person to receive in a manner that makes it more easily entreated. You can say something that's difficult or hard for a person to accept. If you do it graciously, you do it with wisdom, you know, it's more likely to be entreated. It says the lips of a fool will swallow him up himself. A fool also is full of words, it says there in Ecclesiastes chapter 10. So we see that wisdom and graciousness are kin. You know, it says a wise man's mouth are gracious. The words of a wise man's mouth are gracious. So if you're going to be gracious, you're going to speak with wisdom. If being gracious or having grace in your speech is going to be a part of your conversation, it means you're going to have wisdom, which means you're going to have understanding and experience and knowledge. By contrast, this verse here in Ecclesiastes 10 says that a fool speaks much, as it says there in verse 14, a fool is full of words, excuse me, which would mean this, that a wise man speaks graciously, but he also speaks less. You know, it's kind of like that saying, doing more with less. You know, if you have wisdom, you don't have to say a lot. You can say a very few things. I can tell you specific examples from my own life, where somebody whose opinion mattered to me, you know, often they would speak to a subject and only a sentence or two, and it would hit, and it would hit home, and it would be something that I carried with me and dealt with. You know, there's that old saying, you know, so we see that wisdom, to be wisdom or have graciousness is to be wise in your speech, it's to not speak much. A fool is one who's full of words. There's that old saying, you know, talk is cheap. Talk is cheap. But people can say a lot of things. People can just say whatever they want, and they can, and just use a lot of words. But the Bible says that a fool is full of words. I want to just read a couple of, you know, I think that sometimes I like to go out and look for these quotes. I mean, obviously the Bible is the ultimate authority, it's the ultimate source of wisdom and understanding. But I believe we can look at things that other people have said, and we can see a biblical principle. Probably in all likelihood they learned it from the Bible, or their culture was influenced by biblical principles, and these proverbs come up. There's a German proverb that I like, it's called silence is a fence around wisdom. Silence is a fence around wisdom. Remind me, it speaks to that concept that a wise man is not full of words. You know, he's somebody who's very wise, he's that deep well, you know, he's got that earth between him and that body of water, that body of wisdom. Silence is a fence around wisdom. The person genuinely, you know, who is silent, who has wisdom, isn't the person who's expressing it all the time. Isn't out there just trying to share it with everybody, because talk is cheap. Another Japanese proverb, I like this one, the silent man is best to listen to. I like that one, at least my kids will like that one, I'm just kidding. Three hour car ride, where's the silent kid? Bible says in Ecclesiastes chapter 9, the words of wise men are heard and quiet more than the cry of him that ruleth among fools. The words of wise men are heard and quiet. You see, a wise man knows, a person who's gracious in their speech, who has wisdom, knows that it's only effective to speak to somebody when they're listening, when it's quiet, when they're not distracted, when there isn't a bunch of noise, where it's silent. The words of wise men are heard and quiet. And remember how God spoke to Elijah when he went back to the mount? You know, there was the fire, there was the earthquake, there was the wind, but how did God speak eventually? When he had Elijah's, he had his attention. Bible says he spoke in a still and small voice. He spoke quietly. And he was told what he needed to do, because he had his attention. When you have someone's attention, when there's quiet, then you can speak graciously, you can speak with wisdom. But the point I'm trying to make here is that a person who has wisdom and is gracious in their speech, they're not loud, they're not going out and, you know, crying among fools as it says there. Like a fool. Now turn to Luke chapter 4, so we'll wrap up grace real quick and we'll talk, you know, we'll run out of time quickly, but we'll talk about, you know, graciousness and then of course we have to talk about salt yet. That's the other part. The seasoning of our speech is salt. So we see to be gracious is to not be foolish in our conversation but be wise and to speak wisdom and to speak things that are edifying and to speak in turn, to not go out of our way, to be opinionated. It's not provoking others or stirring up strife. It's not being quick to react, not easily provoked, not, you know, not answering back. You know, we can think about that with our employers, you know, people that have to answer to their employer. Often an employer, sometimes they'll come to you and say, hey, this, this, and this. And sometimes they're the ones that are misunderstanding, sometimes they're the ones that have forgotten something or they're the ones that have, you know, forgotten how something went down and they're trying to recall it and they recall it incorrectly because that doesn't give you the right to just, you know, answer back, not prolonging as it says. You know, even then you just suffer the wrong. You know, just say, hey, you know what, he's the boss. I'm just going to let him think that, you know, and you move forward and try and do a better job. So we see that that's what it is to be gracious but also to understand that gracious speech is the example that Jesus said. You're there in Luke 4, look at verse 16, and He came to Nazareth where He had been brought up and as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up for it to read. And there was delivered on Him the book of the prophet of Zias and when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me because He hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. And He closed the book and gave it to Him again to the minister and sat down. And all the eyes of them that were in the synagogue were fastened on Him. And He began to say unto them, and He began to say unto them, this day is the scripture fulfilled in your ears. And all bear Him witness and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth. And they said, is not this Joseph's son? So we see when Jesus preached, when He read this passage in Isaiah, in the book, then it was said of Him that His words were very gracious. So those are the things that that gracious speech is something that, you know, we could look to Jesus. Anything that Jesus said, that's an example of how we ought to be. And yes there were times when Jesus was angry and there was a time when Jesus rebuked. But it was a very specific group of people that rebuked and it was at a very specific time. So we could look to Christ as we read the scriptures, we could look at Jesus. If we want to know what it means to have gracious words, to have gracious speech, Jesus is the ultimate example. And if we had more time we could develop that point but we need to move on to salt because I think this is something that's very important. To understand what it means, what it says there, to let your speech be always with grace seasoned with salt. So what is the salt? What does that look like in our speech? Well salt is the part of our speech that gives a very distinct flavor. I mean you think about salt as a seasoning, it has a very distinct flavor. It doesn't taste like sugar, it doesn't taste like pepper, you know it's a very distinct flavor. And that's what we need to have. You know the things that we say need to have a very distinct flavor. We need to be different in our conversation. Now think about some of the attributes that salt has. Well salt is a great preservative, you know, and if the things that we say, if we're preaching God's word, we're going to be saying things, we're going to be saying the wise things of God's word. We're going to be seeing the things, we're going to have understanding from God's word. So we see that wisdom and understanding is something that will preserve us. Like salt is a preservative. So the things that we say would help others to preserve themselves. That should be part of our speech and what is it that's going to be a part of our conversation helps others preserve themselves. The Bible says in Proverbs, Street my son, forget not my law, but let thine heart keep my commandments. For length of days and long life and peace shall they add unto thee. So we see that it's God's law, it's His commandments that will preserve, that will add length of days, that will add long life and peace. That's the preservative, that's the salt that should be in our speech. The law, the commandments. You see, preaching the commandments of God, it gives others an opportunity to prolong their days. When a preacher gets up and says, you know, drinking, rips on being a drunk, rips on drinking alcohol, and he's trying to get people to stop drinking, what he's trying to do is preserve their lives, preserve their liver. He's speaking with salt, he's giving that salt of God's word, that's part of his speech. That's just one example. And you can think about, he can preach about child rearing, he can preach about your marriage, he can preach about things you ought not be doing. You know, you name the subject, but it's a salty speech. And that's what's lacking in a lot of pulpits today, is men that will get up and preach with some salt in their speech. They want to preach just all the love and the commandment, you know, the love and the graciousness and just the feel good and everything like that, they won't preach the whole word of God. Because the word of God has some salt in it, it has a very distinct flavor, and it needs to be a part of our speech. You think about it, salt, you know, it agitates, if you ever get a cut on your finger and you put some salt on it, it's going to burn. It's kind of like, you know, if you work with your hands a lot, sometimes you'll get that little cut and you won't even know it's there until you grab a can of brake cleaner. You know, until you get it into some kind of, you know, like lemon juice or something if you're a woman, you know, if she's making lemonade or something and she's got a paper cut earlier. You won't even know that wound is there until something agitates it. That's kind of like what salt will do. When we preach the word of God, people are coming in, they don't even know about how wounded they are in their lives, the sin that's just devastating their lives, they're just ignorant of it until they hear the preaching of the word of God, until somebody puts some salt on the wound and agitates that cut and they go, oh, you know, I'm cut, this is what's wrong with my life. And then they can go about repairing it, they can go about putting the bandaid on it, putting the, you know, putting the, what's the salt they put on it, the, you know what I'm talking about. Neosporin, thank you. You're committed to speak this once. Anyway, you know, they go about putting it on there and they can, and they can start to heal, you know, but it takes somebody to pour some salt on the wound to make them feel it. Ecclesiastes chapter 12 says, the words of the wise are as goats. You know, a man's going to get out to speak with wisdom, he's going to have some salt in his speech. It's going to be like a goat. And a goat is to, you know, it's to provoke somebody, it's to, it's to stimulate a reaction. It's like somebody poking at it, you know, you know, like the Lord said to Saul when he, when he, when he fell on the road in Damascus, he said, it's difficult for them to kick against the pricks. They used to prick that mule, you know, they would goat it to get it to move along and then mule would kick at it. He wouldn't want to move forward, he would just react, you know, they're like, no, you need to keep going. That's what a wise person will do. That's what a salty speech will do, provoke, it will goad, it will point out where we need to fix, what we need to fix. Turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 2, 2 Corinthians chapter 2. You see, a lot of people, a lot of preachers today, they don't want to have salt in their speech because they know that salt will agitate a wound and it will offend people. Because we're living in a wounded world, I mean, we're living in a people that are walking around with open swords of sin all over their body, all over their life. And if you walk into God's house and a man of God gets up and preaches a salty message, he knows that he's just getting poured salt on a wound and he'll be offended. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians chapter 2 verse 14, now thanks be unto God which always causeth us to triumph in Christ and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place. So how does he make manifest his savour of his knowledge? It's his knowledge, it's his word that we're expressing. How is it that he makes his knowledge known? By us, by our speech, by our salt. For we are unto God, verse 15, a sweet savour. And when we're pouring that salt on that wound, when we're trying to preserve a person with the salt of the commandments of the word of God, that person might not receive it. They might be offended. They might scream ouch and run out. But it says there in verse 15, we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ in them that are saved and in them that perish. To the one we are a savour of death unto death and to the other a savour of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things? For we as not as many which corrupt the word of God, but as of sincerity but as of God and the sight of God speak we in Christ. So he's saying here that the things that we say, whether they're a savour of life unto life or death unto death, the things that we speak in Christ, our speech, our conversation are done, are in the sight of God, the things that we say are to him a sweet savour. Whether they're going to be something that offends somebody, whether it's going to be something that is a savour of death unto death or life unto life, the things that we speak in Christ, those things are a savour unto God. And we're doing it by his knowledge. It's not our opinion, it's the word of God that we're preaching. You see our savour unto God and the world is a result of our speech. So we need to have salt in our speech, we need to have speech that preserves, we need to have speech that agitates even when there might be a negative reaction. But we have to have speech that has a purpose. This is probably the most important aspect of it. I'll read for you in Matthew 5 here, it says, Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you, and shall say, O men, or people against you falsely, for my sake rejoice and be exceeding glad. For great is your reward in heaven, for so persecute they the prophets which were before you. Ye are the salt of the earth, but if the salt hath lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? That it sends forth good for nothing, but to be cast out and trodden under foot of men. Then he goes on and says, Ye are the light of the world, a city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. Guide them to men to light a candle, and put it under a bush about a candlestick, and give light unto all that are in the house. So let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. So he's comparing us unto salt and light. So we see that our seasoning, the seasoning of our speech has a purpose. There's a very specific reason. It's not just because it's cheap or readily available. Salt is there to be in our speech because it has a very specific purpose. That purpose is the same as our light. It's that others would see our good works and glorify our Father which is in heaven. That others would hear the things that we say, that they would hear the salt in our speech. They would hear the salt of the Gospel and be saved. I mean think about it, the Gospel has some salt in it. I mean if you're doing it right, you're leaping off the bat, you're saying you're a sinner on your way to hell. That you're a sinner and that hell is real. That's a salty message. That's a message that will agitate. That's a message that the world will not always want to receive. That's a dish they want to push back and say, it's too salty. But that's the purpose of the seasoning of our speech, to have salt in our speech, is that we would speak those things that might agitate but that would get people saved. But notice that that seasoning, it comes at a price. Because of the preceding verses where it says, Yea, the salt of the earth, but if the salt hath lost its savor, wherewith shall it be salted? The preceding verse says, Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you, falsely for my sake. He's saying, look, if you're going to be salty, if you're going to have some salt in your speech, you're going to offend some people. They're going to revile you. And that's why we see a lot of preachers today and Christians who don't want to be salt in their speech. And that's why we specifically have to be commanded here in Colossians to have salt in our speech. That's why you had to say, let your conversation be always with grace, seasoned with salt. So what's the conclusion here? That we should be contentious, we should be contentious about our conversation and season our speech. We should consider the things that are coming out of our mouth. We should think about how our conversation is. Whether it's a person to person or even online, the rules apply. And we should season our speech with grace and wisdom and we should season our speech with salt and truth. And our conversation shouldn't be tainted with these other spices that shouldn't be there. We shouldn't be afraid to say things when appropriate that might be a little salty. That's not just a pass to just be very opinionated and just blast our opinion upon everybody. Let's season our speech with grace, let's season it with wisdom, and let's salt it with some truth. And let's pray. Heavenly Father, again, thank you for the Bible, thank you for the preaching of it. Lord, I pray you help us as we go out this week to consider our conversation, to consider our speech, Lord. And that we would find that right balance of salt and grace in our lives and the things that we say and do. Or for a purpose that others would hear and be provoked to emulation and to love and to good works and that they would be moved, Lord, even to salvation as we go out and preach the gospel and preach with salt in our presentation, that we would be bold and that we would move others. Lord, they would help us to not be those that are forward or opinionated or loud and stubborn in our conversation, but Lord, that we would be those that would have wisdom and knowledge, Lord, that we would just, again, have salt in our speech. Lord, I pray that you would just bless us as we go our ways and bring us again back next week. In Jesus' name, Amen.