[Rick Shabi] Well, good afternoon, everyone.

[Together] Good afternoon.

[Rick Shabi] Good to see all of you. Welcome, to our visitors, I see a few have stayed over from the continuing education classes we had this week, and others who are with us, and certainly, those who are with us on the web, glad to have you with us. And let me commend the teen choir. You know, the teen choir, they did a good job, didn't they? It's wonderful to see young people working together like that and making the beautiful music. It's a testament to your togetherness. I just wanted to say, I hope you all realize what a blessing it is to have the teens in the area here with us. You're a blessing to us, and you're a blessing to each other. So thank you. Thank you very much for the time and effort, that I know you put in that. You are, as all of us are, an important part of this body that we have here in Cincinnati and many around the world can benefit from what you just did.

You know, the last few weeks have been kind of a whirlwind for many of us. We had the General Conference of Elders here in Cincinnati just a couple weeks ago, that was followed right away by the Council of Elders, and then we had the continuing education class here over the last week, and the ABC graduation just a week ago. Tomorrow, after a while, it just seems like everything kind of moves together really quickly, but it's been a very productive several weeks, I think. And I think we've all learned a lot about a lot of us during that time, as whenever you get elders together and people together, we learn about God's Word, we learn about who we are, we learn about where we're going, and we spend a lot of time talking about where the Church is going. And that's what we are all here for is where is the Church going, and where are we in that, and the part that we play? Because we all have an important part in that role that God has called us to.

You know, in the last year, we have with the conferences internationally as well as the pastoral conferences here in the United States, our theme has been "Speaking the Same Thing." And as we've gone around, Steve Myers and Darris McNeely and our wives and me, to those places, boy, we've learned that's a challenge. You know, we all believe the same thing, but sometimes things can be just a little bit different here and a little different there, not there's any doctrinal differences or things like that, but the challenge is speaking the same thing exactly the way God would have us speak it. And it doesn't seem like even a week or a couple weeks go by that we don't learn something else that we just maybe need to hone in to make sure we understand what the Bible says, and that all of us are speaking it and understanding it the same way.

This year's theme is "Advancing the Mission." And as we talk about advancing the mission and moving the Church forward, because when we look at the world we know where it is headed, when you look at all the things that I repeat so many times that I don't need to repeat, again, you see where the world is headed. We know where Revelation 13 is, and we can see those things moving in that direction. the Church needs to move ahead in completing the mission that Christ has set for us. That includes preaching the gospel, that includes caring for the disciples, that includes working with everyone as God leads us through His Spirit to get us all ready for what He wants and what He has in mind for us in the future. And one of those challenges along the way, that we all have to be part of and mindful of, is the unity that we must have, the oneness that we must have as His church, that we are one with each other, and that we are one with God the Father and one with Jesus Christ. And that is a challenge as well.

You know, there is no secret that in Ephesians 4 when Paul said, "Endeavor for that unity," it takes work, and speaking the same thing takes work. Tomorrow and the next week, we are down in Mexico, and we are going to be working or meeting with the Latin American pastors. I don't know when the last time that happened, but we are going to be speaking about the same thing down there, to make sure everyone is there, and that we move the Church forward not just in the United States but with everyone's efforts all over the world. If you will, turn with me over to Ephesians 4. You know, as we talk about the challenges that lie ahead of us, and we look at where we are and where we are going and where God wants us to go, one thing keeps coming back, and that is what we speak, how we say things. What do we do when we speak things? Because that has a lot of meaning for us.

In Ephesians 4, you know, the early part there of chapter 4 talks about, in verse 2 or verse 3, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit. In verse 13 it talks about working with each other, letting God mold us till we come to the unity of the faith. And down in verse 15, Paul, under God's inspiration.

Ephesians 4:15 Says, "Speaking the truth in love, that we may grow up in all things into Him, who is the head, Christ."

Speaking the truth in love. And I know we have talked about that word speaking, and what it means and it can mean, and really, what Paul is talking about is they are living the truth. But as I look at that word speaking and how often our words and what we say come up in life, now, that is a very good indication of where we are, because Christ says, "Out of the abundance of our heart, the mouth speaks."

So when we speak the truth, how do we talk about God, how do we talk about the way of life that He has called us to, how do we speak of each other, how are we doing? Because that indicates what's in our heart. Are we growing in that unity? Are we growing in that oneness? Are we together, and do we have in our minds and our focus what God has in mind for us? Because that's what we've been called to, to do His will, to follow what He wants us to do, and to become what He wants us to become whatever that means in our lives, that we are willing to do it because we believe in Him trust in Him. And we want to be there with Christ when He returns to earth and establishes His kingdom.

So Paul talks about speaking the truth in love, and that's agape. Speaking the truth in love, agape. Of course, agape, we're reminded, it's not just the things that we feel, but it's the things that we choose to do because we know the truth, and we choose to do what God will, which is often contrary to what our internal human nature wants, but we choose to do what God wants. It speaks to self-control, mastering ourselves, and yielding ourselves to God so His Holy Spirit leads us. As you go forth in Ephesians 4, you see Paul talking about speaking the truth in love, putting away all these doctrines, and things that can confuse things because the job is and the mission is, as God leads us, speaking one truth. And then he talks about the things that we need to put off in our lives. We talked about those as we were through the Days of Unleavened Bread. And when you come down to verse 29, he comes back to this issue of speech, again, what we say.

Ephesians 4:29-31 Says, "Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth," watch what you say. "Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers. And don't grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by which you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice."

All those things to be put away. They're all going to come our way. We're all human. We all have that in our nature. There are things that happen that we don't think are fair, just like you heard in the sermonette. But it is part of our job to put those away, and remember who we are, don't let them come between us and what God is doing. Don't let them grieve the Holy Spirit by what we do, but use that Holy Spirit, and exercise the agape by showing the love to God and your commitment to Him, by choosing to do what He wants you to do.

We turn back to 1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians 1, where the theme for last year, which is a continuing theme for this year of "Speaking the Same Thing," and which will be the same for next year, and for the rest of the time until Christ returns, as well "Advancing the Mission," and they just kind of build on one another. In 1 Corinthians 1:10, we read what Paul says to the Corinthian church, which was a troubled church, living in a society much like ours, where they had a lot of things going on in life. And they were coming together as one, a growing church, with the same commission from God, that you and I have, and that's to become one.

1 Corinthians 1:10 "I plead with you," verse 10, "brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment."

So speaking the same thing, which can be a challenge. We all work on it. We all believe the same thing. We're all led by the Holy Spirit. We're all baptized into the same Holy is the name of the Father Son and the Holy Spirit. We have the same Bible. We believe the same things. I hope we all have the same goal and vision of where God is leading us. Speak the same thing because if we stop speaking the same thing, divisions can occur. Divisions can occur. And as you read through Corinthians, you see that that's one of the things that happened in the Corinthian church. Paul spent a lot of time talking to them about that, and it's one thing we need to be on guard for. Because Satan would do anything, absolutely anything, to disrupt the unity in God's church. He would do anything, and use any tactic, he can possibly come up with, to turn people against each other, create little groups that have disagreements with one another, and then allow human nature to just run with it and create a situation that is untenable.

We always have to be mind that Satan is aware, and he is very aware. And we know his tactics. We've seen it happen in the Church before, among people who are no longer with us. And all of a sudden, you know, these divisions occur over things that should have been put away, that should have been resolved. Because we are all of the same mind and the same spirit, and all have to be aware of who we are and our tendency sometimes to just revert to our human nature and let that get in the way of what God is doing with us. So speaking the same thing. The control we have over our words, what we do and what we say to each other, well, that's something that's really hard to do. That's hard to do.

Let's go back to Proverbs 6. But it's something that God expects us to do. And we all know that we have those issues. Every single one of us, our words, sometimes later in night, when we think about what we said, we wish if we could just retract that, and I wish I wouldn't have said it that way, or I wish that wouldn't have come out of my mouth that way, and we need to repent, and we need to, you know, go back to each other and talk about those words, if they may have offended anyone. But in Proverbs 6, God lists here in verses 16 to 19, seven things that He hates. And it strikes me when I read these because if God says He hates these things, I sure want to be sure that I am making sure that I'm cognizant of it, that I'm remembering it, that I'm beware of it, that I have these tendencies just like every human has these tendencies.

Proverbs 6:16 "These 6 things the Lord hates. Yes, seven are an abomination to Him," they are abominable to Him. An abomination to Him. "A proud look."

We all are susceptible to pride, right? One of the things, we do and we know, is we must become humble. Jesus Christ taught us. He was humble. If anyone, who ever lived on earth, had a right to have a proud look, it would have been Jesus Christ yet He was humble. And as we go through, we learn we must be humble. None of us have any of the talents that... That God gives us everything, literally, everything. None of us have the right to think we are something, other than being very grateful and yielded to God, for what He does and what He gives us. And He's given us all something, that's why we're in the body, and that's why we're here together because all things work together as He accomplishes His mission. So a proud look, we have to kind of...if we find ourselves thinking, "Wow, I'm something," or, "Wow, this," or, "Wow, that," boy, we might want to take a step back, and think, "Boy, that's the wrong attitude. That's the natural me. That's the carnal me. But that's not the spirit-led person we are to be." We might want to be aware of that.

Second one is what we say, "A lying tongue." Something that's just there, that people will just say. You know, we look at the world around us today, and one thing it is marked by is lies, right? If you hear people just saying the opposite things of each other, that, boy, you have to kind of search, well, somewhere in the middle must be the truth. Or is there any truth? Where is the truth anymore? I always say, when I think of that, "Where is the truth of this matter?" I think about what Pilate said to Christ, "Well, where is truth?" Because he looked at Christ and said, "Boy, what He does and how He acts, there I don't find any fault in Him." And yet these people are just accusing Him and railing Him, and they want Him to be dead. Where is truth? You and I know where the truth is, and we need to seek that. We know where the truth is, from God but also in matters.

Proverbs 6:17-18 "A lying tongue. Hands that shed innocent blood." Just out for innocent blood. I'll just leave it the way God said it. "A heart that devises wicked plans."

Wow, there are some that are there. You know, maybe it relates back to something, you know, you heard in the sermonette. I'm angry about something, I would like to do this and that and whatever, and as you've worked out in the world, you've probably seen that happen among some employees. Things just happen like that.

Proverbs 6:18-19 "A heart that devises wicked plans. Feet that are swift in running to evil. A false witness who speaks lies." A false witness. You know, the ninth commandment is, "Thou shalt not bear false witness against your neighbor." God addresses that in the commandments that we are to live by. And, "One who sows discord among brethren."

One who, by what he does, what he says, may be causing division, trying to pit people or concepts or whatever against each other. God says He hates that. And the thing is, we may all have been guilty of this at some time in our lives. We have to be aware of the things that can become us if we allow ourselves to slip into some kind of attitude in response to something that may have happened to us, or something that occurred in our lives, or as we allow Satan to take our attitudes and directions that they should never go in.

Proverbs talks about this in many places, I won't turn to all of them, but let's just look at a few more in Proverbs that talks about this concept of what we say, and how our words can create problems, and how our words can fall right into what Satan would have in His church or among friends or at workplaces or in school places or in any group at all. 16:28, well, let's look at verse 27.

Proverbs 16:27-28 "An ungodly man digs up evil, and it is on his lips like a burning fire," can't wait to say this, just want to ignite that. "A perverse man sows strife," creates tension. "And a whisperer separates the best of friends."

You know, I look at that word whisperer, and if you look at the works of the flesh in Galatians 5:19, you see that there are several of them there that talk about the things that come out of our mouths. It talks about whisperers, it talks about backbiters, and there are people, who'd say all things in different ways.

Whisperers can be ones, you know, if you talk about gossiper, right? I might whisper something in your ear that you would hear, and then you might whisper it in someone else's ear or you might pass it around to someone else, and all of a sudden it becomes an issue. But it starts like a little, a little fire, just a little whisper behind the scenes. Others are just very blatant in what they say, and that causes problems. But both are things that God hates. Both of those are things that you and I need to be aware of because we might do those very same things and probably have done those very same things. But as we are led by God's Spirit and as we work toward becoming the ones that Jesus Christ wants us to become, the reason God gives us His Spirit and called us into His church, His body, we have to overcome those things. We have to catch ourselves and remember that can't be me, that's something that had to be buried, and I can't let it rise again.

Proverbs 18:21 "Death and life are in the power of the tongue."

And it really is. Our words can be edifying, they can be life-giving like Jesus Christ's were, or they can kill. They can kill relationships. They can kill the Spirit in us if we let them go unbridled. They can lead to many things. "Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit." What's the fruit that we want to sow? What's the fruit that we want to reap? Peace? Togetherness? Oneness? Unity, led by God? All the all the fruits of His Holy Spirit? Or the fruits of giving into our own nature? One more, Proverbs 26. In a very simple verse, God gives what the answer to that is. When there is strife, when there is things that are causing any kind of confusion, you go back and you see what is the root. And the root is often in us and our attitudes and what we're doing.

Proverbs 26:20 "Where there is no wood," verse 20 says, "the fire goes out." When it's just gone, we put the fire out. "Where there is no wood, the fire goes out. And when there is no talebearer, strife ceases."

That's my responsibility in my life. That's your responsibility in your life. That's all our responsibility in life, to become people that aren't strife but are looking to see how we become the one that Jesus Christ would have us be, with each other and Him. Well, let's go over to the New Testament. Because Peter and the apostles, they're the writers in the New Testament, have the same thing to see because this is a human problem. This isn't something that's unique to one or two of us. This is something that every single one of us have failed in our lives. You know, if we talk about the things that how we control our tongue or what we do, it's a universal problem. None of us, none of us are perfect at it. None. We all have a ways to go, and what we say and how we say it, and I include myself in that as well.

Here in 1 Peter 2:1... Now, let me begin a little... Let me get in 1 Peter 1:22 because Peter, as he addresses this situation in the Church, then he talks about this same thing.

1 Peter 1:22 He says, "Since you have purified your souls..." 1 Peter 1:22, "Since you have purified your souls..." That's what we're all here for, right? To become pure, to become blameless, to grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ, to become more and more like Him with each passing day, month, year, decade, etc. "Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love," that's agape, that second love.

Agape. Choose to do what's right because agape love is not just about feeling what we naturally do, agape is what we choose to do. Even when it's against our nature, to choose to do what's right, and to use God's Holy Spirit, first one being agape, ninth one being self-control. Boy, that's something of the self-control that God gives us, that helps us, and gives us the strength to do what He wants us to do, to handle it the way He wants it handled, and to seek that way in Him. "Since you have purified your souls in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart."

Then let's drop down to Chapter 2:1. As he says all these.

1 Peter 2:1 He says, "Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking."

All these things that can trip us up. All these things could come back into our lives without us even thinking about it. We have to be aware. We have to remember these things. We have to remember who we are, who cartily we are. That when we see those things coming up in our way of life or what we're doing or what we're saying or how we're behaving, like, no, that's the old self, that's not the new self, that's not the new creation that God called, and that I committed to putting to get to bed those things in thy life, and allowing His Spirit to develop in me the fruits that He wants us to have. There's that speaking again. Back a book in James 1, something again that I have to look at. All of us need to kind of remember James 1:26, under God's inspiration, God tells us about how important the words that come out of our mouth are.

James 1:26 "If anyone among you thinks he is religious..." Well, probably everyone here thinks we're religious, right? We believe in God. We're here for a reason. Everyone on the web is here listening to this for a reason. "If anyone among you thinks he is religious and doesn't bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one's religion is useless."

Well, those are words that I take personally. When I mess up, and those words that I utter are there, and in the middle of the night, I think, and I think, "What did I say? How did I say it? How did it come across?" It's like, God would look at me and say, "My religion is useless."

James 1:27 "Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this, visit orphans and widows in their trouble and to keep oneself unspotted from the world."

What's one of the spots on the world today? There has been division in this country that we have never seen before. Never before do we see political parties...just railing against each other, just bitter, hatred, anything bad they can say about each other, bringing this up, bringing that up. We live in that environment. It just is continually put into our minds. But we can't let it sink into us, we have to be different. As I've said, as we go further and further in this world and what's going on in it, we can't allow it to seep in. We have to become more and more apart from the world and more and more like Christ. There has to be a distinction between the people of God and the people of the world. It's a hard thing to do. We have to struggle. We have to be mindful of it. We have to be in control of it by using God's Holy Spirit. Because if we don't use God's Holy Spirit, if we just go by and allow ourselves to do whatever we want, we'll become like the world.

We can't be those people. That's not what God called us to. That's not what I'm here for. I hope that's not what you're here for. And I have to watch what I say. We all need to watch what we're doing and how we're doing, and remember what God called us to, but also be aware of what we might do and allow ourselves to happen. James 4. Chapter 4 begins with wars and fights where they all come from. When we go down to verse 11, well, verse 7 as you scroll down through Chapter 4.

James 4:7 It says, "Submit to God," do things His way. "Resist the devil," that means saying no to self. No, that's what I really want to do. I really want to do that. I really want to say that, but I know I shouldn't. And asking God, "Give me the strength to not do that." "Resist the devil, and he will flee from you."

James 4:11 "Don't speak evil of one another. He who speaks evil of a brother and judges his brother, speaks evil of the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer but a judge."

Now, with our words, God takes them seriously. You know, Christ said that "we'll give an account for every idle word that we speak." Every idle word that we speak, we'll give an account for, that's how important it is to Him what we speak, and how we learn to deal with that aspect of our lives, that every single one of us have to work on and beware of and to remember. So I want to go through James 3 and remind us of what God says about this little member in our body that can create so many problems if we let it. Because God is quite explicit in this chapter, He's very much telling us, "This is the thing that you have to get control of." If we can get control of our tongues, and in this chapter, you'll see He says, "No man can do it without God's Holy Spirit, it is impossible," only with His Holy Spirit, we can. So in James 3, let's just look what He says. He begins by talking really, to me, to the ministers, to any of us, that might see ourselves as teachers.

James 3:1 "My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment."

Well, God will hold us all account of what we speak, every word, but He says if you're teaching people too, you better know what you're saying, you better be setting the example, you better be doing the things that God says.

James 3:2 He says, "For we all stumble in many things. If anyone doesn't stumble in word, he's a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body."

None of us are perfect men. None of us are perfect women. We have a ways to go in that, individually and collectively, as we become the body and the temple that Christ is building, that He will return to, which goal is to become blameless, to become like Him.

He never stumbled in words. He never put His own spin on it. He says that "the words I speak, they're from the Father." He never stumbled in word. But Satan was still there, and the receivers of those words, it did cause division. They didn't want to hear. They didn't want to hear what He had to say, and that's a problem. We have to watch what we say, and make sure our words are pure but also what we're hearing. What are we doing with that? What are we doing with what we're hearing as well? Verse 3. In the next few verses here, He gives us some really very insightful examples of how important this little member in our mouths is.

James 3:3 "Indeed, we put bits in horses' mouths that they may obey us, and we turn their whole body."

The horse is a very powerful creature. You know, if we run into a wild horses, they could stumble all over us, not one of us is a match for a horse and the power that it has. It's one of the more powerful animals that God has created and given mankind. It's a very useful animal and has been down through the ages, and yet when mankind puts that little bridle in that horse's mouth, he becomes yielded to man. Just by controlling that little mouth, and he can steer him this way and that way, and there's a lesson for us in that. Because that horse, those wild stallions you see, God compares that to the meekness that you and I must develop.

There's just the Greek word praus, p-r-a-u-s, and what it means is strength in control of the master, meekness. Strength in control of the master. The horse is still the same powerful being, it is very useful being, but when it's under control of the master, then it is a beautiful useful being. When it's running wild and it doesn't have that bit in its mouth, when it doesn't understand who it is and what it is, it becomes almost useless. But it becomes very useful when it's under the control of its master. So that little tongue, that little thing in our mouths that we all wrestle with and that we all fail in controlling, when it's under the control of God it's very useful. It builds. It edifies. It unifies. But when it's not under control, it can have just the opposite effect. It's your and my job to yield to God, and let that Holy Spirit keep that bit in our mouths. And remember, be aware of the dangers of allowing that bit to go out, but remember who we are, that that bit stays in there, and we allow God to control, and we remember how powerful our words are.

James 3:4 He talks about ships, "Look at the ships although they are so large and driven by fierce winds, they're turned by a very small rudder wherever the pilot desires."

Majestic ships, so much bigger than all of us or any one of us, and yet just that little rudder, controlled by the pilot, can send that ship in whatever direction they wanted to go, just with the little rudder. So we are mighty beings, we can have wonderful effects on each other, we can have devastating effects on other, we can make our presence very well known, we can create all sorts of winds and storms and whatever that we would want to, if we allow ourselves to do it, and if they're good... Well, storms are rarely good, right? Storms are rarely good, but if it's for good, that's great, to be able to spread those words, but if it's a storm we're looking to create, who's in control? God? Are we letting Him be the pilot of where we go and what we say? Or are we yielding to our own nature and letting it control? Because we know our own human nature is evil, right? Romans 8:7, "The carnal mind is enmity against God," isn't subject to the law of God, neither, indeed, can be without God's Holy Spirit. So we can be like ships, we can have effects, we can do these things, but we better remember, we better be reminded, I better be aware, God is the pilot, through His Holy Spirit in us as we yield to it.

James 3:5 "Even so that tongue, it's a little member, but it boasts great things."

There's that pride, that comes into all of our lives. It just says whatever it wants to say. You know, there's a song, "How Great Thou Art," but sometimes we sing, "How great I am," right? "How great I am," and have to catch ourselves and think, no, how great thou art, God. How great you are that you have tamed someone like me? How much we love you for the mercy that you've shown on us, to bring us out of what would have been a horrible and a miserable life if we were left to our own devices? And how good, and how pleasant, and how purposeful, and meaningful life is today, because you have taken us, from us, and made us who you wanted us to be? We should never ever forget the great blessing God has given all of our lives by calling us and giving us the life we have now. Because whatever we were, whoever we were, I guarantee you, your life was not going to be as good as it is now. Don't forget it, we owe everything to Him.

So "the tongue is a little member it boasts great things," boy, and when it does that, "See how great the forest, a little fire kindles." Just one little thing. You've seen these fires, these wildfires in Texas and out on the West Coast, and often it's just one little mishap. Someone started a little campfire and didn't put it out, and all of a sudden you got hundreds and thousands of acres being burned. One little spark and it just grows and grows and grows, that's what the tongue can do, it can set the world on fire. We don't want to set the world on fire except for fire for God, fire for His truth, fire for preaching His gospel, fire for the zeal that it means to be living His way of life, and using God's Spirit to have that zeal, that others see that zeal for God's way of life. We don't want to set a forest fire that destroys, that burns down things. We want to be on fire to build things, to build the unity, to build the oneness that God wants, to build the temple, the spiritual temple, that He is building. And sometimes the jobs we have in those temples may not be exactly what we want, but God knows every person is here and every person has a part in the building of that temple. He chooses, not me, not you, God chooses. This is His church.

Jesus Christ is the head of the Church. He is alive and well. And He knows exactly what He wants done. And He knows exactly what I need. He knows exactly when I need to be humbled. He knows exactly when I need to shut up, or ask, or go back and recount something that I've said that had been out of place, and, you know, we have to be aware of that, and what we say and the effect that we have on one another, as I said.

James 3:6 "The tongue is a fire." Now, this is a verse. You know, that when we're speaking and when we're doing things and we're... You know, some of the things that God says are an abomination to Him, that we can fall so easily prey to, in this speaking or in the hearing and passing on things. "And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity." Wow, how much should we be aware of that? "The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body."

Everything else we might be in control, but if we don't control that tongue, wow, the whole thing is messed up. It's interesting about that word, defiles. If you look it up in the concordance, it says it can be translated spot, that it's a spot on the whole body. And, interestingly, in 2 Peter, when it talks about spots in our feasts, it's the same, right word. It's a spot, defiles the body. "The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature."And those last few words, "And is set on fire by hell." When we let Satan get a hold of us, when we forget who we are, when we don't use the Holy Spirit and stop and think what are we doing, what are we saying, how could I have said that, and we don't repent and go back and undo those things, it's set on fire by hell. We're aware of Satan's devices, Paul tells us that, right? In 2 Corinthians, I think it's chapter 2.

We're aware of Satan's devices. He will use words. He will use whatever he can to separate us from God, to separate us from one another because he hates the unity that you and I are to be working toward, and striving toward, and being aware of. And we can all fall pray to it so easy. And probably, we all have to some extent done some of these things. But we have to be aware of what those devices are, we have to be reminded of what those devices are. And if we see that in ourselves, repent before God, turn to Him, get a hold of that tongue, put a bridle in it, put a rudder on it, that rudder being God's Holy Spirit, yielding to Him and reminding ourselves who it is. Because when we repent before Him, He will provide the power, He will provide the forgiveness when we are sincere in what we're saying and what we're coming before Him in.

James 3:7 "For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and creature of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by mankind. But no man can tame the tongue."

Not one of us, only with God's Holy Spirit, only with His Spirit can we tame the tongue, and it is a lifelong effort. And I'll tell you, in our lives, we will not perfectly overcome it, but one day, when Christ returns, we will have that tongue under control. When God sees we are committed to working on it and we are not allowing it to do whatever it does, that creates the problems that it does, the strife, the confusion, the division, the separating, as it says in Proverbs, of very friends, of pitting one against the other or boasting about self and not yielding to God and trusting that He is the one working in all of us for our own good, knowing exactly what we need, exactly what we need, because He loves us and He's getting us ready for what we will do in His kingdom. And we all need different things. He knows we don't even know, but as we go through different phrase phases of our life, we learn, oh, there's a reason this is what God wants me to learn so that's what I will do. Yield to Him, allow Him to guide, direct, seek His will, do His will, and just march forward with Him, in yielding Him, letting Him be the pilot, letting Him be the bridle in our minds.

James 3:8 "No man can tame the tongue. It's an unruly evil," and look at the words God uses, "Full of deadly poison."

Set on fire by hell. Full of deadly poison. And then He talks about the hypocrisy in our words because our words shouldn't reveal any hypocrisy. Remember Christ said, "Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks." We should be speaking the same thing. Our words should be continually glorifying God and allowing Him to work with us. But He says, in verse 9.

James 3:9 "With our tongues, we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men." Father, you are great, this one's not so great, don't really care for that. "With it, we bless our God and Father, and with it, we curse men, who have been made in the similitude of God."

He created us all. He loves us all. He's working with us all. He wants us all to be in His kingdom. We have to learn to do things His way.

James 3:10 "Out of the same mouth," verse 10, "proceed blessing and cursing." And James says, "My brethren, these things ought not to be so."

It's hypocritical if you're blessing and cursing out of the same tongue. Strive for that unity. And strive to be speaking the words God would have us.

James 3:11-12 "Does a spring send forth fresh water and bitter from the same opening? Can a fig tree, my brethren, bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Thus, no spring yields both salt water and fresh."

And if your margin is like mine, it says, probably the proper translation of that is, "Neither can a salty spring produce fresh water." It has to come from a pure heart to produce fresh water. A salty spring cannot produce fresh water. Our hearts, that's what needs to turn to God, that's where we need to be. That's what we need to ask God to put it in our hearts, not just in our words and not just in our memory, that we can repeat it back, but what we do and how we say no to self, yes to God, deny self, as Christ said, and choose to do, because we love Him and we know that that's what's best for us and what He wants. When we agape Him, we choose to do what He wants us to do.

James 3:13 "Who is wise and understanding among you?" Now, He's going into wisdom. He's asking, you know, you and me. He's asking me, "Who is wise and understanding among you?" Do you get what I am saying? "Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in," the there's that word praus, "meekness of wisdom."

That strength under the control of the master, that weakness is... God gives us the strength. We have to be under His direction, yielded to Him. And then in verse 14, He mentions two other things that often go along with this problem with the tongue.

James 3:14-15 "If you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, don't boast and lie against the truth," put those away, not supposed to be any of us, those are the works of the flesh, those aren't the fruits of the Spirit. "This wisdom doesn't descend from above, but it's earthly, sensual," and look at that word God says that type of wisdom it's, "demonic."

Really when we mess up our words, when we say things that are the opposite of what God would have us say or the attitudes we display, that's demonic. We need to remember, we need to beware, and when we do these things, we need to recognize what we've done.

James 3:16-18 "Where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there." And isn't that the definition of Satan, confusion and every evil thing is there, chaos, upset, discord, strife, you name it. "But the wisdom that's from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. Now, the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace."

Well, that's James 3, let's go back to the Psalms for just a minute because David mentions these as well. Oh, sorry, Proverbs.

Proverbs 10:19 "In the multitude of words, sin is not lacking. But he who restrains his lips is wise."

Where does wisdom come from? God, His Holy Spirit. He says if any of you lack it, ask it, ask for it, he'll give it. I don't know about you, but I ask that often. What is it that you want me to do? How do you see things? What do you want done here? How do I handle this situation? What do we do with it? Because I know God has all the answers, I know Jesus Christ perfectly knows how to handle every situation that comes up. And we all have situations in our life inside and outside of the Church that we deal with, we can ask Him, and we should ask Him, "Teach us how to be wise. Teach us how to deal with these things. Teach us when we see this strife among us, how do we deal with it, what do we do."

Proverbs 11:18 "The wicked man does deceptive work, but he who sows righteousness will have a sure reward."

I know that everyone here wants to sow righteousness. That's the seeds we sow, but we have to be mindful of that. We have to keep it in our minds. Well, what do we do? What do we do if we hear something or say something...I don't know, say something, boy, ask God, ask God, "Are my words edifying? Are they valuable? Are they beneficial? Are they promoting the unity and the oneness that you want?" And then listen to Him, listen to Him. He'll let you know whether your words are what He wants you to do. Then if they're not, acknowledge it and turn from that way. Well, what about when we hear things that we don't know because we live in a world of rumors, right? We live in a world of rumors. Out in the world, we hear this, we hear that. Remember when I worked out in the things, there's always rumors going around and whatever, and then they just have a life of their own.

You know that. I mean, all of a sudden, a rumor, a little thing that started out very little, has become a big thing, and when you get down to the core of it and the basis of it, it was something that could have been done quickly. There's things that we need to do as God's people to handle those things when we hear them. Of course, Matthew 18:15 comes to mind. If you hear something, ask about it. If someone says something to you, talk to them about it. I will say I'm not so sure how good as a church we are at applying Matthew 18:15. We need to be better at that. God knows the way. Sometimes what He says in the Bible are hard for us to do. It's like, "I don't want to do that," but His way works, and we have to do that. So if you hear something, talk about it. You know, I would say and I often say if you hear something that you don't know about what's going on in the Church, pick up the phone and ask. Don't just believe everything. Pick up the phone and ask. Send an email. There's no better way to dispel a rumor or whatever is going on than to just simply ask.

Sometimes people don't want to hear the answer, right? Sometimes that happens. They kind of want to just believe what they have to believe. But Proverbs tells us the first time you hear something it seems right, but you need to get the rest of the story because often there's another part of it that will illuminate what the light is and what the truth is. We need to do that. There's a way to dispel this and to help each other become who God wants us to become. Let's look at Ephesians 5. We were in Ephesians 4 where it talks about the unity, about God working with us, building the Church, becoming like Jesus Christ. He talks about putting away all this speaking against us, and in Ephesians 5, He continues in that vein. If you, again, scroll down through Chapter 5 and verse 4.

Ephesians 5:4-6 You see it says, "Neither foolishness or filthiness nor foolish talking nor coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks." Put those away from you. Verse 6, "Let no one deceive you or seduce..." the concordances say might be a better thing there, "Let no one seduce you with empty words."

Who's the best seductor of all? Jesus or not...wow, okay, Satan, okay? Jesus Christ is the opposite. He was even able to seduce Eve to sin against God. Weigh that for a while. He was able to seduce Eve, so he can certainly seduce us if we're not paying attention.

Ephesians 5:6-11 "Let no one seduce or deceive you with empty words, for because of these things, the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience." Verse 7, "Don't be partakers with them. For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light, for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth. Find out, learn what is acceptable to God." That's what we are here for, learn what is acceptable to God and do it. Make yourself do it. Choose to do it. Use the Holy Spirit to do what is acceptable to God. And verse 11, "And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness."

All those words that lead to something other than what God's will is, don't have any fellowship with those unfruitful works of darkness but rather expose them. Why do we expose them? Because we don't like the people that are doing those things. Because we want to get them in trouble. No, it's because we love them, because we love them, and we want them to be in the kingdom, and sometimes...and is all our responsibilities to watch out for one another. If we see something going on that isn't right and we know it's not right, if we love that person, we will bring it to their attention, "You're not doing what God would have you do. If you continue in this vein, you won't be in His kingdom." If we love them, we will make sure that the works in the Church are what God wants us to be. If we love each other, we will do what God says.

It can be painful. People might be upset, but if they're really thinking about it, when they calm down, they'll realize, "You loved me." You know, I talk about 1 Corinthians 5 every once in a while. In 1 Corinthians 5, the Corinthian church, you remember the man who was in a inappropriate sexual relationship, and the people there in the Corinthian church just tolerated it, just tolerated it. They thought they were loving the person, being very merciful with him and just tolerating it, but Paul said, "No, if you really love him, let him be apart from the Church for a while, because if you love him, when he sees that he is apart, he'll realize, 'What have I done? What have I given up?'" And that man, it worked exactly the way God would have it work. I don't want to be apart. I want to be part of the Church. I want to walk the way God walks. I want to be with Him. I want to do the things that He wants me to do.

And sometimes we need to be shaken up, like, 'What are you doing? Do you get that what you're doing is not of God?" so that we realize, "What have I done? What have I done?" And then we choose God, and then it's beautiful. As you read in 2 Corinthians 7, it's a beautiful thing, the repentance of that man. The congregation was thrilled seeing that. They saw God's work and God's will at hand. So we pray for each other, and we do things God's way, but we're aware of the devices of Satan, and we work with each other to make sure the Church continues to grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ becoming the body that He wants us to become, because He expects us individually and collectively to become the pure body that He wants us to become. And as we follow Him and as we work with each other and as we love one another for the right reason, and we all want all the family that God calls into His church to be there when Jesus Christ returns.

So let's keep these words in mind. There's some tough words in there. I take them seriously. I hope you take them seriously. I hope we keep them in mind, because increasingly as we move toward the return of Jesus Christ, these things will happen more and more if we let Satan have the foothold that he wants. Let's together resist Satan. Let's together choose God. Let's together choose unity and the love for God and the love for each other.