Words Flow From The Heart

James, chapter three, beginning in verse three.

And we find these words. We can make a large horse go wherever we want by means of a small bit in its mouth. And a small rudder makes a huge ship turn wherever the pilot chooses to go, even though the winds are strong. In the same way, the tongue is a small thing that makes grand speeches. But a tiny spark can set a great forest on fire.

And among all the parts of the body, the tongue is a flame of fire. It's a whole world of wickedness, corrupting your entire body. It can set your whole life on fire, for it is set on fire by hell itself. People can tame all kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and fish. But no one can tame the tongue.

It is a restless. It is restless and evil, full of deadly poison. You ready for the Word this morning, Church? Come on, let's make some declarations together. Everybody across the room.

Those watching online, together. You ready? Go. I will hide this word in my heart that I might not sin against God. This word is life to my body and health to my bones.

I will be a doer of the Word and not a hearer. Only that he who has begun a good work in me will complete it. In Jesus name, Amen. You can be seated. I am really excited about this brand new series that we're beginning today that we've entitled Firestarter.

Firestarter. So for the month of June, we're going to be talking about a very small thing that can make a huge difference for the good or for the bad. We're going to be talking about the tongue all through the month of June. There are some small things that can have a real significant role or function. Life.

For example, the pituitary gland is known as the master gland. It's very tiny inside of our body, but it releases several hormones that regulate bodily functions, including growth, metabolism, reproduction, and response to stress. Hinges are small things. You've probably heard the expression before. Large doors swing on small hinges inside of the brain.

Buried deep in the center of the brain is this little bitty gland called the pineal gland. And that gland releases melatonin that helps regulate our sleep. A processing chip, a microchip. It's usually the size of about an inch and a half on each side. But that little tiny computer chip is found in smartphones and cars and airplanes and trains and computers and appliances and pacemakers and insulin pumps and many other medical devices and other things that we use every single day.

Very, very tiny, but very important. In 1826, there was an English, English chemist by the name of John Walker, and he discovered that a little wooden stick that was coated in certain chemicals. When rubbed across the hearth of his fireplace, it would burst into flames. And John Walker in 1826, invented something that really revolutionized the use of fire in society. It's a very small thing, just a match.

But he invented that. And it changed a lot in terms of the ways that we live life now. The book of James, and we just read that in James, chapter three. But James compares this little tiny member of our body called the tongue. He compares it to like a match, small but deadly small, but it can ignite an entire forest fire.

And he says that the tongue is like this fire on the inside of us. And I want to talk to you this morning about the fire within. We're going to be talking about the tongue in different ways throughout the month. But today I want to talk about the deadly fire that's contained on the inside of us that can cause a lot of damage. And really, very simply, there's three things about the tongue that I felt from the Lord that I was to share with you today.

Three things. Just three things. And I know any good sermon has three things. And a poem and an illustration, and then a closing prayer. I have no poem today.

I do have some illustrations. And I got three things that I want to share with you today. Just worked out that way. Three things that the Lord laid on my heart for you. They're in your notes.

And the first one is this. That controlling the tongue begins with consecrating the heart. Come on, somebody. Controlling your tongue begins by consecrating your heart. Luke chapter 6, verse 45 says, A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart.

Well, watch this. What you say flows from what is in your heart. What you say flows from what is within your heart. Listen to me. A pure well produces pure water.

We cannot expect good things to come out of our mouths if we're constantly putting bad things into our heart. Proverbs 4:23 says this above all else, Guard your what, church? Guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. So as important as it is that we control our tongues, I believe it's equally or more important that we consecrate our hearts. According to Proverbs 4:23, we're to guard our hearts because everything flows out of that.

You say, well, how do I consecrate my heart? I'm so glad you asked. There's three things I believe that are important in terms of consecrating our heart. The first one is this, that you monitor what goes in. Monitor what goes in.

There's a computer term. I'm sure many of you have heard it before. It's gigo. Gigo. It stands for garbage in, garbage out.

And in the computer world, they say this. The quality of the output or the results is directly related to the quality of the input or the data. If you provide flawed or inaccurate data to a system, the results you get back will also be flawed or inaccurate. Now, how does that translate to you and I in terms of the condition of our heart? Well, very simply, it's this.

Whatever we allow in will come out of our spirit.

So we have to filter entertainment and we have to refuse to watch or to listen to content that is vile or rooted in materialism or sexuality or. Or that opposes the word of God.

We have to monitor what goes into our hearts. And I'll just say just blame it on whoever you want to blame it on.

Attribute it to technology, whatever you want to call it.

But I believe we're living in a time where believers have tolerated things in their homes or in their lives that are in direct contradiction to the word of God. Like, I'm trying to.

I'm trying to not get on too many soapboxes this morning. Listen, for some reason, we. We've just. Now, we think it's okay to just use vile language and for Christians to cuss, and that's not okay. Paul says, let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth except that which is glorifying to the Lord that which is beneficial to other people.

But yet we've just. We've just somehow, somewhere along the line, because of the influence of media or because we've not monitored what goes into our hearts, we just think it's okay to drop the F bomb every time we're in conversation with somebody. And I tell you what, I don't think it's okay for believers to talk that way.

Yeah, I mean, you can turn on Netflix and just about any show, and every 10 seconds, they'll be dropping the F bomb. Like the stuff that comes into our homes now, the stuff that's available to you through your phone is not pleasing to the Lord. Some of the content that we listen to with the music nowadays that so many people think, well, that's not affecting me. I'm strong enough in the Lord. I've served God for long enough.

It's not really going to affect me. Man, you got to be smarter than that.

Seriously. Like we have to monitor what goes in. We have to filter the things that go through the eye gate or through the ear gate because it's deposited into your heart and those are the things that are going to come out. Because out of the abundance, out of the content of the heart, the mouth speaks. Are y' all hearing me today?

I know some of you are like, yeah, you're an old guy and you know, you're just old fashioned and no, I'm just committed to the word of God. These are just Christianity 101, basic fundamental principles of living the Christian life. I believe according to the words that I read from the Bible, we can justify however we want. But I don't think it's pleasing to the Lord to watch some of the things that we watch or listen to some of the things that we listen to or to talk the way that we talk. I'm just telling you that because I love you.

You got a pastor who loves you. You got a pastor who's always going to preach the word of God to you. We monitor what goes in. Number two, we've got to be quick to forgive. Quick to forgive.

Why is that so important? Because the enemy is always looking to sow tares into the soil of our heart through bitterness and unforgiveness. And those things take root in our spirit and it will come out in the way that we talk. So we have to be quick to forgive. Number three, we have to consume God's word if we want to consecrate the heart.

Now that's what we're talking about. We're talking about consecrating the heart monitor. What goes in. Be quick to forgive and then consume the word of God. It will transform and purify your heart.

In Matthew chapter 15, Jesus is addressing a religious group of people. And we find this in verse 6 where Jesus is talking. He says this, and so you cancel the word of God for the sake of your own tradition. You hypocrites. Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you.

For he wrote, these people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship is a farce. For they teach man made ideas as commands from God. And then Jesus called to the crowds to come in here. In other words, Jesus.

I can just picture Jesus going, hey, hey, hey. Come in close, come in close. Like a coach at a timeout in a basketball game. Come in close. Because what I'm about to say is so important and you can't miss this.

So Jesus calls him in close and he says this. Listen and try to understand. It's not what goes into your mouth that defiles you. You're defiled by the words that come out of your mouth. In.

In other words, Jesus was saying it's not about some religious form or ceremony of adhering to eating certain foods or not eating certain foods. Jesus was saying that's not what produces purity. Jesus is saying it's about the condition of your heart. And that's why, if we want to control our tongues, we start by consecrating our heart. Psalm 119, verse 11.

I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. Consume the word of God, consecrate your heart. Here's the second thing I felt like God wanted me to share with you as we launch into this series called Fire Starter. Second thing is this. The tongue can hurt or heal.

The user determines the outcome. The tongue can hurt or heal you and I, as the user, determine the outcome. Now, there's dual potential in the tongue, just like there is in many other things. For example, nuclear power can be very beneficial, but in the wrong hands, it can become a deadly and destructive weapon. Guns can be used for protection.

They can also be used for destruction. Certain drugs can relieve pain in the body, but if they're not governed, they can lead to a deadly addiction. Dynamite can blast through a rock, so a road can be formed through the mountains. But dynamite can also be used to rob a bank. Proverbs, chapter 18, verse 21.

What you say can mean life or death. Those who speak with care will be rewarded with our words and with our tongue. We can encourage somebody or we can discourage them. We can bless somebody or we can curse them. We'll get into more of this as the month goes along.

We can build somebody up or we can tear them down. We can compliment them, or we can insult them, we can comfort them, or we can add pain to them. We decide how our tongue will be used. It's up to us, because there's dual potential in the tongue. Life and death, Proverbs 18 says are both contained in the power of the tongue.

James, and we'll look at this later on, talks about how blessings and curses should not flow out of the same spring or out of the same mouth like we worship God, like we've done here today. And I love when we gather on Sundays and worship the Lord. But then what's going to happen when we walk out of here? Because unfortunately, there are some of us and I'm throwing myself right into the mix There are some of us that we worship God, and then a couple of hours later, we're just letting somebody have it. Like, we're just speaking curses.

We're speaking death over them. And James says, it shouldn't be that way. We decide what's gonna be the use of our tongues. Will our tongues heal or will our tongues hurt? The late Billy Graham said this.

Guard your tongue and use it for good instead of evil. How many marriages or friendships have been destroyed because of criticism that spiraled out of control? How many relationships have broken down because of a word spoken thoughtlessly or in anger? A harsh word can't be taken back. No apology can fully repair its damage.

So years ago, and some of you have probably seen this before, years ago, I was having a little family devotion with my. With my family and my sons Clay and Cole, who are on staff now, they were much, much younger. And so I wanted to illustrate to them the power of their words. So I gave them a tube of toothpaste, and I said, I want you guys to draw a picture. And so they drew a picture.

I'm actually not drawing a picture. You'll see what I'm doing in a moment. Because if I were to try to draw a picture, all of you would probably spend the remainder of the service trying to figure out what it was.

But I'll show you this masterpiece in just a moment.

I love what Billy Graham said. Like, oftentimes we release words and then the damage is done.

And you can't. Even with an apology, you can't fully heal the damage of our words, the fire, the poison that comes out of us.

It's easy to say things.

It's much harder to heal the damage that's caused by what we say.

So I had my sons do this. Gave them some cardboard or something. I hope you're going to be able to read this. It was a little tougher than I thought, So I had them draw a picture.

I can't remember what they drew. I didn't draw a picture. I just wrote this.

Can y' all read that?

I hate you. I don't mean that about you. I hate you. They drew a picture, and then I said, oh, great, great, great. Now here's what I need you to do.

I need you to put all of the toothpaste back in the tube because we're gonna do something else. And, you know, they're looking at me. I don't know how old they were. Six, seven, eight, nine years old, and they're kind of looking at the toothpaste. And they're looking at the tube and you know, they made an effort, they, they start trying to scoop the toothpaste into the tube.

But how many of you know it's impossible?

I know many of you have probably done this, you've probably seen this, you've probably done it with your kids. But I just wanted to remind you that it's so easy for us to put things out there and oftentimes we do it very carelessly and we don't think about the power, the venom or the deadly evil that's contained within our tongues and we throw it out there and then once it's out, you can't get it back. Like those words that you say when you tell somebody, I hate you or you're never going to amount to anything or you always, whatever it is and you spew poison with your words and once it's there, the damage is done, then you can't get it back at that point. And that's what Billy Graham was talking about in his quote when he said a harsh word can't be taken back. No apology can fully repair its damage.

I had a third grade teacher. It's weird how you can remember certain things throughout life. I'm 62 years old now, but I had a third grade teacher, white haired teacher who wore glasses and her name was Mrs. York.

And I remember Mrs. York saying this over and over and all these years later it stuck with me. She would say, put your brain in gear before you put your mouth in motion.

She would say that maybe every day, I don't know, but it stuck with me. And so often our tongues just run crazy with us and we're saying things that really are doing great damage without giving much thought to it. So the second thing is that the tongue can hurt or heal and the user determines the outcome. Here's the third thing. The principle of sowing and reaping applies to our words.

We're often aware of the damage our words have done to other people. But here's the thing. Many people are not aware of the toxins that, that are released into their own soul by their venomous words. Let me remind you again, James said in verse six, it's a whole world of wickedness talking about the tongue corrupting your entire body. It can set your whole life on fire.

The principle of sowing and reaping does not just apply to finances, it also applies to our actions. It applies to our words. Publius, who was a Greek sage, said, I have often regretted my speech, never my silence. Galatians chapter 6, verse 7 and 8. The apostle Paul says, you will always harvest what you plant.

Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit. That doesn't just apply to finances. We often use those verses as it relates to sowing with our finances. But let me tell you something.

If you sow hatred with your words, you're gonna reap that in your own life. If you sow insult with your words, you're gonna reap that in your own life. If you're constantly sowing sarcasm or criticism with your words, you're gonna reap that in your life. But the same is true about the blessings that you sow. If you're sowing compliments, if you're sowing encouragement, if you're sowing joy, you're going to reap those things in your own life.

Here's another story out of Second Kings, chapter 20. Pardon me, chapter 2, verse 23 and 24. It says this. From there, Elisha went up to Bethel. And on the way, some of you have heard this story.

It really hits home with me. Some boys came out of the city and made fun of Elisha. And they said to him, go up too, you bald head.

Go up too, you bald head. Twice they said it, verse 24. And Elisha turned around, looked at them. He put a curse on them in the name of the lord. And then two mother bears came out of the woods and tore 42 of the boys to pieces.

Let me just say this. If you're careless with your words, you will reap calamity in your own life. If you're careless with your words, you'll reap calamity in your own life. We have to think before we speak, because let me tell you, the principle of sowing and reaping applies to the things that we say from our mouths. And not only are we spewing poison and lighting fires everywhere with the words that we speak, but we're also lighting a fire on the inside of us that's deadly.

That's not good.

Some of you know our story from years and years ago. But early on in ministry, Melanie and I were very hurt by church leaders. And there were some things that took place that we really didn't deserve. We weren't perfect in all that we did. There were some things that happened that we really didn't bring it upon ourselves.

We were very misunderstood. It was a very painful season for us. Back in 1999.

But the Lord really spoke to Melanie and me, and the Lord really challenged us as it related to our words.

We had a right to share our side of the story. But one of the things I've learned in life is that there are times that we need to just surrender our rights. We need to give up our right. And so many times today, it's like people hold on to their rights and say, well, I have a right to say this. I have a right to speak my mind.

I have a right to go after so and so I have a right to correct them about whatever. Yeah, you do. You could justify it, and you probably have good reason, so you have a right to do this. But there are times that we just have to give up our rights and say, lord, I'm leaving this one up to you. And that was the case for us.

1999. The Lord really strongly rebuked us and said, you have to be so careful with your words. You have to be so careful about the things that you say. And we were very misunderstood, and there were people that wanted to know what went on. We just had to be so careful because the Lord specifically said, I want you to honor the man of God, and I want you to honor his bride, the church.

So we tried to be so, so careful. We weren't perfect in that, but we tried to be so careful with our words. And it was hard, it was tough. But I really believe that a part of the reason five years later, that God allowed us to come back into this area where we had been so wounded and so hurt five years later, in 2004, to start the Refuge. I believe a part of the reason that God allowed us to do this is because we were careful with our words.

We honored him with our words. Now, I just want to remind you how important it is as we kick this series off, that first of all, controlling your tongue starts with you consecrating your heart.

Secondly, that your tongue can heal or hurt, but that the outcome is up to us. It's up to us. And thirdly, the principle of sowing and reaping, that applies to the things that we say.