What does the Bible say about that little member that dangles underneath our nose? part 2 Greetings friends and family and welcome to J and L Ministries in the Paltalk room and also those watching on the various Christian Networks and also some of the secular sites. Last week, we looked at words spoken being seeds that can sow good fruit or bad fruit. During that message we looked at many verses in the book of James chapter 3 on how our little member (the tongue) can be such a dangerous thing. This week as we continue, I want to look at positive things our tongues say. But we are also going to touch on things that many of the body of Christ is involved in and for most they don't seem to even be aware, or don't care. We read two verses last week that I want to look at again. Proverbs 18:21 KJV Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof. James 3:2 KJV For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body. This week I want to look at the positive words we need to speak and starting from these two verses. I want everyone to think back in this past week and think back to positive words that you may have spoken to a co-worker, fellow student, maybe a family member, someone at church, or maybe a neighbor. Does anyone remember what it means when we speak blessings over someone or say God bless you? Anyone? It doesn’t have to be word for word as I know it's a mouthful. What it means is this: I bless you means I declare over you that God’s full intention that He has for your life would come into fullness. How many want God’s full intention in your spouse’s life? How many want to speak God’s intentions that He's purposed for your children or grandchildren’s lives? It should be one of our greatest desires. When we learn these principles, we can speak to things that are not pleasant, or those things that are against God’s will and then expect and watch things change. Faith and works, Amen? I have nothing to gain by advertising this material, but I have seen it work. Praise God. I also want to comment on how we speak about illnesses, diseases, etc…. You all know by now that my wife, Leanna has been battling with symptoms of diabetes, and stage 3 chronic kidney failure. From day one, I've said, that with proper diet, exercise, and because we serve a God that still heals today, she would be fine. I still believe that. I had one doctor that rolled her big eyes when I said that, yet during Leanna’s next visit and after a letter from her doctor saying that she should be expecting to be on dialysis soon, was amazed at the improvements that had been made and made the comment that she, Leanna, could come off, or reduce some of her medications, very soon. Thank You Jesus. It's been a struggle for Leanna, because first, what she should eat for the sugar issues isn't good for her because of the high potassium levels. Secondly, this is still relatively new to her as she found out all these things a little over three years ago and because of having a new doctor every 6 to 9 months and because she does improve, they remained baffled. Third, and I’m sure that there's much more, but she's had doctors who aren't believers in Christ and believers that we serve a God that still heals today. Leanna's getting better about not saying, "What won’t kill me for one disease will on the other. I can’t eat anything." Now, this isn't pick on Leanna day, but just to bring caution to everyone things we shouldn't say and what we should say. What I want to try to encourage everyone to do when you're going through storms in your life or a family member is to speak differently. We need to be aware of the things that we say. Church, what we need to realize is there's power in our words. We read it last week and again this week. 'Power in our words. Better yet, there is power in the name of Jesus. I think many forget this when they go through storms, and I have my hand raised also, as there are times I jump and act on my own when I might be struggling with an issue. I'm better, but I still at times need to be reminded. I, as I hope all of you are all children of God. I learn from His word. I read and I study what His word says for my life, my family’s lives and for you who come to our house, join in live via Paltalk, phone, or for those who can now watch these messages on U-tube or on the other many sites they are shared. Take the Gospel to the world is what Jesus commanded us to do in Mark 16:15. That's what I try to do each week and also for those that I meet throughout the week. Let’s look at some of the verses discussing Jesus' name and the power in His name. Friends, there's only one Jesus who stands as a mediator between the Father God and humanity. There's only one Jesus who died on the cross and arose victoriously who said, "All power in heaven and in earth now belongs to Me." There are churches one must confess their sins to a priest and go through a bunch of rituals, yet my Bible says "No one comes to the Father but by Me." Actually let's go there. Praise Jesus. John 14:6 KJV Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. That doesn't mean to bow down to some statue. You know what, we're not going there today because that's a sermon in itself and God willing we'll do that soon, as that's been on my heart. There have been messages that I've done where I've asked you to write scriptures down and post them in places that you'll see them and have asked you to speak them out. I hope you've been doing that. When you and I use the name of Jesus in faith, it means knowing WHO it is that stands behind that name, knowing the wealth and the power that's invested in the name of Jesus. Amen? This is one of the greatest weapons that you have in your arsenal to use against the enemy. Let’s turn to Philippians 2:9-11. Philippians 2:9-11 KJV Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: (10) That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; (11) And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Praise God!! Halleluiah! Friends, the enemy's going to try to throw you off the path that God has chosen for you and he'll use everything he can. Satan doesn't play fair. There have been many times that I knew that I knew that I was supposed to ask someone if I could pray with them. It's one thing to pray for someone in your own prayer closet. What I mean is in a place where you're alone, or with your spouse or a close friend, but to pray with someone that you barely know? That takes leaning on God’s strength. That's getting bold! That's defeating the fear that Satan tries to shower you with. Don’t allow Satan to make you think. "But brother Jim, I tried this before, it just doesn’t work for me." This isn't a trick, this is the Word of God. You've got to plant the Word inside your heart and mind and not move off of it, no matter what you see or hear. The enemy comes to steal, kill and destroy, but Christ came to give us life and life more abundantly. Praise Jesus! And the Savior of the word calls you His friend. Church, for this reason I asked you to memorize verses. God tells us in His word, that every word is true and every man (that denies it) is a liar. God's trying to work some miracles out in your life and Satan's trying to block it. Satan's trying to destroy it and convince you that following Jesus is a waste of time. Don't believe the father of lies. You can be victorious by using the name of Jesus and having faith and confidence in His name and His Word, because Jesus is the Word, Who became flesh. You can trust God’s Word. Praise the King of Kings. Listen up church. Get these words in your heart. Praise God. 1 John 4:1-6 KJV Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. (2) Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: (3) And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world. (4) Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world. (5) They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them. (6) We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error. Did we get this church? Halleluiah! It's very important that we go to the Word of God, the Bible, for ALL our priorities in life. And all of our understanding about who Jesus is, what the Gospel is, how a person becomes reconciled with God, The Bible tells how a person gets to heaven, how we should live as Christians, what the Church is. The Bible teaches us how the Church should function. Organized church, did you catch this? Who should lead in the body of Christ, what our calling is in society on this earth. Here's a big one. What should our message be to the World? If I was to ask everyone who is Jesus to you? What has God called you to do? You don’t have to answer out loud, for those listening live. What's your relationship with God? Is He someone you think about just on Sundays? Maybe again on a week night if you go to a Bible study? Can you talk about your faith with your friends? Family members? Do you have conversations with God on a daily basis? Do you know what your gifts are? I'm not trying to attack anyone, but these are things that we should know. We find these things as we spend time in His Word, in prayer and when we're in obedience. He has a perfect plan for each of us. The first night, I should say in the wee hours of the morning, I came home after bringing Leanna to the ER, I spent an hour crying out to God on the drive home after hearing one symptom after another that the doctors discussed could be wrong with my wife. We went because of a sore on her ankle. In that prayer, I asked God, "Why all this, Lord? I know that You blessed us with this part of J and L Ministries. Why these symptoms? I can’t do this on my own. You blessed me with her and because of her, I have a purpose now. Because of her and what You've done through the both of us, why take her away?" I was hurting and when I was almost home, I realized what was going on. We had gotten to a higher place with God. We were studying things that I guarantee the enemy didn’t want us to learn about. In many ways we were coming to a higher level with God. Then 4 days later, my dad passed away. The same day I brought Leanna home from the hospital. Again I went through stuff, and again I had many hours of traveling picking up family from the airport and bringing them two hours north to my parents home and then a two hour ride back to my home. Because of that alone time and in prayer, I wrote a salvation message to read at my dad’s funeral in front of those who were professing atheists. Praise God. I know I've gone totally off what I thought I was supposed to teach on today, but there must be something that someone needed to hear. If that was you, I'd like to hear after this service. If you're watching this or reading this and it spoke to your heart, please drop me a message. Back to words being seed. If everyone can please turn to Matthew 12:32. Whatever's in your heart will eventually come out of your mouth. Matthew 12:32-37 LEB And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him. But whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him either in this age or in the coming one! (33) "Either make the tree good and its fruit is good, or make the tree bad and its fruit is bad, for the tree is known by its fruit. (34) Offspring of vipers! How are you able to say good things when you are evil? For from the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. (35) The good person from his good treasury brings out good things, and the evil person from his evil treasury brings out evil things. (36) But I tell you that every worthless word that they speak, people will give an account for it on the day of judgment! (37) For by your words you will be vindicated, and by your words you will be condemned." Good things as well as bad things come into being why? Because of the words we speak. I know we looked at this last week but let’s turn to Matthew 15:10-20. I want us to see what Jesus says in this parable. Matthew 15:10-20 KJV And he called the multitude, and said unto them, Hear, and understand: (11) Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man. (12) Then came his disciples, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the Pharisees were offended, after they heard this saying? (13) But he answered and said, Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up. (14) Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch. (15) Then answered Peter and said unto him, Declare unto us this parable. (16) And Jesus said, Are ye also yet without understanding? (17) Do not ye yet understand, that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the draught? (18) But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man. (19) For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: (20) These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man. These words from Jesus are to the bad or evil treasure in our hearts that comes out as negative and perverse speech. We've seen in other studies that all through the entire Bible we're given very explicit and detailed instructions about speaking right words. We're to be witnesses to the world. If we're cursing others, and I don’t mean just swearing, but saying hateful things that down others, is that being a good witness? When Christians are bad mouthing others, slandering other people, and here comes the boom, boom, involved in gossip, what will the unbeliever think about your faith in God? Are they going to be learning the ways of God? I think not. If that's the way that God sets you and me free, by living just the way the world does, why bother? Let's turn to a verse we've looked at before. Proverbs 4: 20-24. Proverbs 4:18-27 KJV But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day. (19) The way of the wicked is as darkness: they know not at what they stumble. (20) My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings. (21) Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart. (22) For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh. (23) Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life. (24) Put away from thee a froward mouth, and perverse lips put far from thee. (25) Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee. (26) Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established. (27) Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: remove thy foot from evil. Powerful words here. Friends, I think the message God's trying to get across to us today is this. We need to be careful with our words. I remember a saying that my mom used to say to my brother, sister and me, and I am sure most of you have heard it too, "If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say it." Amen? Do we want to say things that are going to harm people and then come back to harm us? Think about that for a moment. Remember there's power in our words. We can curse or bless with what we say. Amen? Romans 12:2 tells us to be not conformed to this world but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may PROVE what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Once you prove God’s word to be true to yourself, the gates of hell will not be able to prevail against it. You'll know that you know that it's the truth and no one will be able to steal it from you if you continually guard your heart. Proverbs 21:23 KJV Whoso keepeth his mouth and his tongue keepeth his soul from troubles. 1 John 5:18 KJV We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not. With these two verses, should we not want to live our lives for God the best we can? When we totally surrender to Jesus, we can. So now, let's touch on a topic that's been brought up by a couple of friends. I just mentioned it a few minutes ago. Because of time's sake, we can't get into a whole sermon about it, but let's look at gossip and slandering others. What does the bible say about it? "Brother Jim, is it really that big a deal?? Let's see what God thinks. Psalm 119:11 AMP Your word I have treasured and stored in my heart, That I may not sin against You. So let's first look at the definition of gossip. Search Results 1. gos·sip ˈɡäsəp/ noun noun: gossip 1. 1. casual or unconstrained conversation or reports about other people, typically involving details that are not confirmed as being true. : information about the behavior and personal lives of other people : information about the lives of famous people : a person who often talks about the private details of other people's lives Now let's look at some verses to see if it is okay according to God's word to gossip: Now for those who try to look up gossip in the KJV, you're not going to find it, and because there are those who've been following this ministry for a while who won't believe anything but, I'll stick to the KJ. Before I end this message, I'll show you enough verses that you'll know that gossip is definitely not pleasing to God. Proverbs 6:16-19 KJV These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: (17) A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, (18) An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, (19) A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren. That passage alone should seal the deal, but I'll share some more. Proverbs 16:28 KJV A froward man soweth strife: and a whisperer separateth chief friends. Proverbs 17:4 KJV A wicked doer giveth heed to false lips; and a liar giveth ear to a naughty tongue. Proverbs 20:19 KJV He that goeth about as a talebearer revealeth secrets: therefore meddle not with him that flattereth with his lips. "Okay brother Jim, I don't think I want to look at the book of proverbs anymore." Okay my friend, let's look in 2 of my favorite books. Colossians 3:8-10 KJV But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. (9) Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; (10) And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him: James 4:11 KJV Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge. You see friends, our words are so very powerful. We need to bridle our tongues. Words of encouragement need to be used. Yes, there are times we need to be bold and correct others, but use Godly wisdom. We looked last week at our tongue being able to start a forest fire. I shared a testimony on that, but what I also failed to mention is I see it happening right now within the body. 1 Timothy 5:13 KJV And withal they learn to be idle, wandering about from house to house; and not only idle, but tattlers also and busybodies, speaking things which they ought not. Friends, let us be the light of the world. Don't be part of the world, but let the world see that we're different. You and I can be different because of Jesus living inside of us. Thank you brothers and sisters in Christ for being here on Paltalk, and for those who have watched or read on the many sites that I and others have shared them on. We love you and we hope that each of you have a great week in the Lord.
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