Episode Transcript
Speaker 1 00:00:05 Good morning, church. Good morning. You're all looking handsome and beautiful this morning. I never spoke with this one before, so I feel a bit freer, so that's good. Um, yeah, maybe do you wanna just close your eyes? Yeah. Yeah. Father God, we just, um, commit this time to you right now, king Jesus. And I pray Holy Spirit, you'll anoint my words that you'll cha challenge not only me, but your people this morning. We all want to grow in you, king Jesus. So I pray you'll be in our midst this morning as we dive into your word. Amen. Amen. Well, um, it's great when you preach 'cause you get feedback at the end, usually good or bad, or somebody comes out with a real good point, the unthought of. Um, but over the last couple of times I've preached, particularly you've said Phil, I like it when you're real and I like it when you tell your stories.
Speaker 1 00:00:55 Yes. Um, which is generally how I tend to preach being a yorkshireman down in Devon. And you always point out my York, do you know when, when I saw myself up on the screen, I now hear what you hear <laugh> and I I have got this dull morbid leads Yorkshire accent and I can't say Trigo mills properly. So, um, but you, but you do give me kind feedback. Thank you. So, and Esther, she's a great teacher of the word, isn't she? Yeah. And, and you, you all see you're a good team together. So she, she really dives in the scriptures. She never googles anything. It's all from her time with God. But I like to get quite practical as well, just for me in my basic understanding. So I hope it encourages us all this morning. Um, but I've decided, I was, um, thinking about a couple of weeks ago, I thought, what can I bring for the next few weeks?
Speaker 1 00:01:38 And um, it's up. Yeah. It's there behind us. So you're way ahead of my church. You can see this. So it's gonna be called a Manage Your Life series. Manage Your Life series. So we're gonna look at manage your mouth, manage your heart, manage your mind, manage your money, and manage your marriage. And if you're not married, it's okay. 'cause you might be married one day or you can stand in sympathy those that are no good <laugh>. Um, but we're just gonna get into some real good stuff together. Um, some basic stuff that we all walk through every day and then apply some scripture to that. Maybe a couple of stories from me. Usually that embarrass me. Um, is that okay? Yeah. Just to sort of try and grow us all together. Who wants to grow? Yeah. Yeah. So sometimes you can hear a sermon cart and 20 years later think, do you remember, I remember hearing that 20 years ago and I still need to hear it today.
Speaker 1 00:02:31 And do you know what that can be All of us can't it? So come on, we're gonna grow this morning. We're gonna dive into this series in lots of ways though. Manage your heart, manage your mouth, manage your mind, manage your marriage. I won't keep saying it, don't worry. But they all actually overlap in lots of ways. There's lots of wisdom we can glean out of each of them that overlap together. Like I'll dive into it more later on. But do you remember that famous passage out of the heart? The mouth speaks. Yeah. So they're straight away. We've got the heart and the mouth in unison, haven't we? So we're gonna get into that this morning. Funny story. Just been a start though. Uh, can you get us a drink, Reuben? My mouth's going a bit dry. Just a water or a juice. Um, Esther's mum and dad, remember Esther's mum and dad, remember Esther's dad coming out to preach?
Speaker 1 00:03:13 Yes. I married into a great family. So they led a big church up north, a big Assemblies of God church. And you got to quite quickly realize, you know, I tell mother-in-law jokes, she's actually really nice. She's a lovely mother-in-law, but she, do you know what? She's really discerning. She's a godly woman. She keeps quiet and she sees things to the point as a son-in-law. You're like, oh, I hope she can't read my mind today. Or, but do you know what I mean? She, she's, she's a powerful godly lady and I respect her. She's a great woman. And she was sat in our garden a couple of weeks ago when they came down to look after the dogs when we were on holiday. We had a couple of days with her at the end and she said, what you preaching on next, Phil? I said it.
Speaker 1 00:03:49 It's funny she say that. And I told her what this is. I said, I'm starting with managing mouth, right? Do you know what she said? Well, that's the right one for you to preach, <laugh>. I hope you can manage your mouth. Thanks Anne. So, um, I can assure your church this morning. I have not got all the, all the wisdom here, all the answers. In fact, even this morning, me and my second son had a bit of a tay tar because he slept in half an hour. And I'm like, I've got to get to church James. And words were spoken. So listen, this applies to all of us, doesn't it? But we're gonna dig into this morning. So please don't look at me as having all the answers, but I'm hoping we can enjoy this together and we can all grow together. Uh, yeah. You with me? Yeah. Yeah. Right. So the scripture this morning, if you wanna turn in your words, in your Bible, sorry to read the words along with me is James three. If not, we should have that up behind me. Um, has anybody look at N I V? Does that look like the N I V? Because I don't wanna read mine and behind me thinking that's not what it says up there. Let's have a look at mine.
Speaker 1 00:05:01 Ruben likes to challenge us sometimes and throw a different version in <laugh>. Well, I'm just gonna read mine. Let's hope it's in check. Okay, are we ready? Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. We all stumble in many ways. Anyone who is never at fault in what they say is perfect, able to keep their whole body in check. When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them a bayers, we can turn the whole animal or take ships for an example. Although they are so large and are driven by the strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants it to go. Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great Bos consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark.
Speaker 1 00:06:05 The tongue is also a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, set the whole course of one's life on fire, and it itself set on fire by hell. All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles, and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by mankind. But no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With the tone we praise our Lord and Father. And with it we curse human beings who have been made in God's likeness out of the same mouth, come praise and cursing my brothers and sisters. This should not be, can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring my brothers and sisters can a fig tree, bear olives or a grapevine? Bear figs. Neither can salt produce fresh water. We're gonna leave it there.
Speaker 1 00:07:10 Just close that one down. God don't wanna steal my thunder. Um, so yeah, the second half of James three is very interesting. It's very lovely and it's a great encouragement to us as Christians. Um, but we're gonna come to that at the end. It doesn't actually say that they're aligned in the scriptures, but you know, it's no accident sometimes as you read through your Bible. The very next passage after that is good that we'll get to at the end. But let's first deal with what he's got to say. Interestingly, the first couple of verses is talking to me or anybody that stands on a platform and preaches. It says to the leaders, there's a higher calling. It's a sobriety that we should take on as leaders. And I do. And anybody that speak speaks or teaches, you know, there's a calling that's higher, like a live above reproach calling.
Speaker 1 00:07:59 Um, I don't wanna go too much into that this morning 'cause I want to talk for all of us. Yeah, but I do wanna say this. As I was studying this, I really felt you share this. Did you see in the second verse he talked about stumble? Yeah. Did you see that? He said, though we may stumble, that's instantly after talking about leaders. So I wanna say it for Christian leadership. Whatever church you are in, if you make this your home great, please stay. It's an encouragement to us. Say all that God's gonna do in you and Abbot. But if you move on, this applies to all of us, that if a leader commits a serious sexual sin, if a leader commits a serious financial, IM impropriety, he should step down. Most assemblies of Gordon, most big organizations would say for a period of usually about a minimum five years.
Speaker 1 00:08:47 Why? Because there's a higher calling. There's, there's grace for somebody to step back up. There's grace for somebody's life. There's grace for all of us. But there's a season to say that was wrong. I can't just do that and then preach from the platform. Next Sunday. There's a sobriety before him. Yeah, you with me on that? But then it talks straight away about a stumble. Now I think there's many stumbles that Christian leaders can stumble across. Like you can stumble as you walking along. A stumble could be a, um, you've not picked me for the band this week. <laugh>. That's a little stumble. A stumble could be a you picked the wrong songs. A stumble could be a leader, said something. Let's just raise the stumble slightly. That's not very nice. A they're all human leaders. Yeah. A stumble can be maybe an insensitive comment.
Speaker 1 00:09:33 Something like that. Are you with me now? I want us as a church to be a church that cheers our leaders on and a church that when we stumble, if I stumble, will you tell me in grace will you tell Esther in grace? Will you tell Reuben in grace that when we stumble there's this picking us up again in the scriptures, isn't there? Yeah. So there's a difference between a fall and a stumble. You've got that right? We'll come off leaders 'cause it's too hard. We, we'll move on to all of us <laugh>, but we all stumble, don't we? Does anyone ever had a stumble? Oh yes. Anyone ever said that? Anything outta here that you think, hmm, wish I hadn't said that right? Well let's get into that. 'cause that's the main bit. So James says two things, don't he? He talks about, well three actually include a fire.
Speaker 1 00:10:15 But the two things he starts with is, is the bit on a horse. I was gonna, I tried to get one this morning, but I didn't know any farmers. I only know them up north. But you know, like that metal bit that goes at the back of the horse's mouth. So it barbaric rail, you think of it, apparently it doesn't hurt the horse, but with the straps, you can literally pull the horse wherever you want it to go, can't you? So you've got this big strong animal by the bit in its mouth. Is is what you laughing at? <laugh> rain rains. We put a note on the tape, Gordon for picking on me again. Um, the rains.
Speaker 1 00:10:54 I'm gonna take you to a lead united match, right? Bring you some northern culture and we miss words out. We get words wrong, but you'll have a great time. So, so the bit in the mouth turns this huge animal. Yeah, huge animal, okay? This is his illustration. And then the rudder on a ship, like a huge ship, like a big cruise ship. If you look at the actual size of the rubber rudder compared to the actual huge ship, it's tiny, but it turns the whole ship. So it's a great illustration that James is saying here, James, you know, he is the half brother of Jesus and he grew up in Jesus' house, isn't he? So this is a, this is a great guy. This is a great man on Jesus's team. And he's saying here, that's a problem. Look what a ship does with a little rudder.
Speaker 1 00:11:36 Look what a bit in a horse's mouth does. And then he refers it to all of our tongues, to my tongue and to your tongues. A couple couple of famous tongues in history trying to set the scene for you. How powerful the tongue is as this little member of a, of our body. Yeah, Hitler not nice to bring up on a preacher on a Sunday morning, but 6 million Jews tragically died from one man's tongue, didn't they? I know there was men on his team. I know there was things around that. Concentration camps. No, but it started with that one man's tongue. One man's tongue. Let's bring it really current. What about Puting? It's Ukraine war going into a land that wasn't his. All these Ukrainians that are fighting for the home slaughtered from one man's tongue. Remember President Truman, whatever you think of this, it was from his tongue that a bomb was dropped in Hiroshima and Nagasaki and a hundred thousand people died within a matter of weeks. Some instantly, some within a few days with the radiation. Frightening that, isn't it? Those three men, the power they had in one tongue, okay? Biblical example Joseph, who remembers Joseph, he's great ain't he? If you, if you got Joseph so loved the Lord, it's so good to see his life develop over time. And for all of us that have, sometimes we get over the years, we get, we really get God speaking to us and God giving us where we're gonna be. And we want to be there now don't we? Has anyone ever had that? I want
Speaker 4 00:12:59 To be there now. God not going through
Speaker 1 00:13:02 Some stuff. You've got me to learn and teach and growing. I want to be there now. And Joseph was that man, but he matured and he grew and God took him to where he was called to be, didn't he? But what did he say in the early years to his brother? I've had a dream lads. This is to his brothers. I've had a great dream. Guess what? You are all bow down to me. Get in. Great that yeah brothers go in and have a little nater. Next thing's history for him, isn't it? He's sold into slavery. In fact, he's nearly killed. So his path of life went on a different track, didn't it? Through his mouth, through his words. Yes, God is kind. Yes, Joseph loved the Lord. Yes, we know the end of the story, but we point is here is how powerful that can be.
Speaker 1 00:13:46 And there's timings in the timings. Maybe, maybe if jus if would've said what he said to his brothers in a time of seven years of famine when they're on the knees and they actually came to see him as second in command of the whole of Egypt. They might have thought, wow, yeah, we will bow down to you. 'cause there was context for it. You with me? But the timing in what he said it not good and got him in a lot of trouble. Timing, church timing. When we say things, anyone ever had that email that you wanna send? Joseph said some stuff a bit early. Anyone had the email that you thought, right?
Speaker 1 00:14:24 Anyone never stopped and paused and actually read that email before you even send it. Just firing it out there. Anyone ever done this? Which I've learned over time is the best thing to do is sleep on it. Anyone ever slept on it? Do two things, right? If you've got a conflict situation going on, you're thinking, hmm, we all get them. I understand you right? But we've got God living inside us. Aren't with the Holy Spirit. Pray about it first and foremost and then sleep on it to the practical side. And then read that text or read that email. Not as if it was you reading it as if it was the person receiving it. The person you're in conflict with. Might be another Christian who loves the Lord. Like you might, might not be. But those texts and those emails can always be got back out there.
Speaker 1 00:15:12 They can always be found. I know you can press that deletes and if you're quick, it comes up red before the other person sees it, can't you on WhatsApp? But my point here is it's there, it's written down, sleep on it, reread it and say God. And do you know what? As he helps you, you will rewrite that email. Or maybe you'll even pick up the phone and deal with the same situation. Kinder more loving and you'll see God work the situation around. Yeah, don't fight fire with fire is what I'm saying. I think that's what James tried to tell us here. Think of some more biblical examples. I love this one. Samson, what a loner, right? Big strong fella, probably a lead fan. Um, big strong guy. And this amazing, amazing supernatural gift that God had given him. But what did he tell him?
Speaker 1 00:16:02 Do not tell anyone the secret of your strength. Don't open that stupid gob of yours and tell anyone the gift that I've given you. It's, it's for me and you to use for my glory. Yeah. And Delilah not blaming a woman, don't shout at me. Um, Delilah eventually gets it out of him, eventually gets it out of him. His hair's cut tragic. What a train wreck of a life. But you know, in his final hour, we know what he did. Do you remember? He pushed the walls down and um, God moved in that situation. But it was actually in a real suicide for Samson situation where his glory was seen. He didn't get to see and walk with the goodness of God through his life, really because of what he did. And what I love about this is when I was studying it, I thought, I, I just thought, I'm sure he is in the Hebrews 11 Hall of Fame.
Speaker 1 00:16:49 Do you know what he is? So for all that he did wrong, for all that he sp spouted out and and failed massively with his tongue, God, by his kindness and grace. 'cause he came good at the end. You know, our, our life's a a bridge into it. You start at the edge of the bridge and you finish there as you cross the river. And all the way through that, walking over that river, along that bridge is a journey, isn't it? And God's with us along that journey. And as we mature and grow along the way and learn to keep that a bit more quiet, you know, as we get to that final destination and then we meet him. Do you know what I mean? But at Samson's final destination is in the Hebrews Hall of fame as a great man of God. But he messed up, didn't he?
Speaker 1 00:17:27 Um, Ananias remember Ananias? Yeah. And Peter said to him, how much you sell the field for Ananias in his Yorkshire accent in Egypt. And he said, um, said a price. And he said, are you sure that's what you sold the price? Oh yes, I'm sure holding that cheating, lying, deceiving thing in his heart that he thought he'd never get found out about. And what happened? This must have been brutal to be around and watched church fell down and died instantly through his lying throughout of his mouth. Along comes his wife, two hours later, hello. Ah, and Anna NICE's wife, what did Anais sell the land for? And she knew she lied as well, didn't she? Instantly fell down dead in the presence of God. Wow. Wow. So our words have powerful actions, don't they? Our words have powerful consequences. How much consequences have come from Hitler and, and Puting?
Speaker 1 00:18:25 You know, our words have powerful consequences. I wanna say this morning. They have a big impact, don't they? Who loves? David, you write the Psalms, godly man made some ripe mess ups, didn't he? Not only did he mess up with bath, she, but he had had her husband slaughtered out on the field to try and cover it up. He's been there, done it all in terms of sin ante and being a plonker. But he used to dance in front of the Lord with his harp. He was a godly man. He, he, he walked through history with God, as we've said this morning, walking through history. David walked his journey even though he messed up as a God-loving, God honoring man, didn't he? Yeah. This is what David says in Psalm 141 verse three. This is a man talking to God himself as he pens the psalms, A godly man, a man who loves to worship him for hours and end on his knees.
Speaker 1 00:19:13 This is back then. And he said, set a guard. Oh Lord, over my mouth. Set a guard, oh Lord, over my mouth. Keep watch over the door of my lips. Wow. That's King David. That's the Godly man. That was David. So I would say it needs me to do the same and dare I say it for all of us, church. Do you know what I mean? What a great prayer, you know, as you involve the Holy Spirit in your daily walk with him, that you say before I say something, nudge me, Lord, speak to me. Keep keep, keep that short until I'm supposed to speak. Yeah. Before I bring that word, you speak to me. Holy Spirit.
Speaker 1 00:19:54 Um, just on that note, um, I didn't know whether to say this, but I'm gonna do. But um, you know, when people say God said this, and God said that, just wanted to challenge us this morning. I, I'm not saying I know, I know this inside out, I'm not saying I have all the answers, but over my 25 years of walking with the Lord, I would say probably on, on those two hands I can clearly say quite a, a big, a big conversation that had to be had. I really felt the Holy Spirit had nudged me. I really felt it's, and do you know, often it starts in the stomach if it might be different for all of us. I'm not saying, well, Phil said it starts in the stomach. I'm not. Look, God can speak to all of us in his own way. The Holy Spirit, as we pray and say, Lord, set a God over my mouth, that sometimes if something's to be said to another believer or to a friend, just let me encourage you to just pause, take it away.
Speaker 1 00:20:43 And if you really, really feel that God has said you to go and say something to someone, do you know what? I go back off and say to God, can you really confirm that for me? Can you confirm that? And he always does. If it's a God thing, it's something that God really wants to edify in another person or a situation that needs dealing with something along those two. But I don't say I have it daily. Maybe some Christians do, but often when you hear this, God said, well, God told me that that's a fake preacher. God told me that. That's so and so. Really it's quite a powerful statement to say God said. So when we do say that, let's make sure we know that I, I'd rather I'd rather go the other way and keep so humble that you say, Lord, I'm not sure I can bring that.
Speaker 1 00:21:24 But often when it has happened to me, it's come back time and time again. Sometimes that can be over the processes of a few weeks, maybe a couple of months. But I keep getting that confirmation right deep within my gut that actually God wants to say something here. Esther's mum, godly lady, discerning. And we had a situation up in the church, I think I did tell you this, but up north. And she, she shared with Es who told me, she said she really felt to go up to this lady in the church saying, stop it right now. You've got an adult spirit. God sees what you're doing. Let me pray this through with you. What a thing to say to somebody. But she felt as clear as eggs, it was from God and she didn't say it. A month later, this couple had an affair.
Speaker 1 00:22:03 This, this lady that sat, they had an affair and it was tragic, a tragic end to the marriage. So in that case, she was actually right. But what a thing to say to somebody, church, the point here is we need to really dig deep, don't we? We need to really dig deep, walk close with the Holy Spirit. And if we're gonna open our mouth and say God said, make sure he has. Yeah. And make sure when you deal with it, you deal with it with grace, with love. Like that stumble we said at the start. Yeah, let's encourage somebody, let's walk with him. What does the Bible say? Go to one one of your elders together. Do you know what I mean? Don't slaughter them in the streets if there's something going on it sat in love, sat in kindness. Are you with me? <inaudible>.
Speaker 1 00:22:43 So this can be in marriage, this can be in family relationships. They should be the best. Shouldn't the family relationships. Well me and my son had a bit of a humdinger this morning 'cause he couldn't get outta bed in time 'cause he is on his jolly computer till one in the morning. But you know, they, our family relationships and marriages should be the strongest. Shouldn't that we should talk to each other lovingly and often we don't. They say that you, you shout at those that you love, don't they? What a rubbish expression. Why would you wanna do that? Why would you wanna shout at those that you love? Shouldn't you wanna embrace 'em and be kind? And Esther said something to me the other week. So I'm gonna give a couple of, uh, examples from our marriage and um, she called me a silly little man and um, <laugh>, she said I was being selfish.
Speaker 1 00:23:26 She said, you selfish, silly little man. And, and we don't often argue and we don't often have problems. And so what she'd said she was right. Okay, <laugh>. But I, I went away and I had to go and get some dog food in Newton Abbot. It's quite recent list. And I sat in Costa and you know, I prayed for her. I, I prayed for Esther and I said, Lord, that's not like her to say that 'cause it isn't. And um, I just felt the Holy Spirit just gently revealed to me she was a bit stressed and going through a few things, um, with the kids being off school and a few of the little bits. So I went back and I said that, I said, I'm sorry es will you forgive me? And I said, also I prayed and I told her that. And she just burst into tears.
Speaker 1 00:24:03 Gimme a big hug, said I do feel like that. And it was lovely. Do you know what I mean? But what a different reaction to you. Selfish, silly, a little man. Well you could talk <laugh>. You did that last week. You know, what about what you did last week? You know that record of wrongs, it's about a mile long. Um, so she didn't do that. So I guess that paints me in a good light church, that story. 'cause I went away and prayed and thought about it, <laugh>. So I'm gonna tell you, I'm gonna tell you one that doesn't paint me in a good light. Um, I I I can't remember if I've told you this as a church. If I have, just let me waffle on those that have heard it. I'm sure those that knew haven't. Or if I told it in a men's group one time, I think I might have told it.
Speaker 1 00:24:41 But did I tell you the story of when I went to France and I shouted at a lorry driver? No, I think I did it in the men's thing, right? Right. So this is 10 years ago. This is before I was a church leader. So remember that that grace and that stumble thing we spoke about, were you gonna need some? But we had a twin axle caravan, right? That was about 27 foot long. It was the biggest one you could get. I quite liked big boys toys. I had this big Audi Q seven tow in it feeling like king of the road. Do you know what I mean? So I'd been driving up, we'd stayed in a place called Fuse on the South coast near San Rafael. I'd driven 11 hours towing this jolly caravan. Reuben was about, it's 10 years ago. So Reuben was probably seven.
Speaker 1 00:25:23 James five, Heidi, three, anyone that Matt, remember this time when you go on holidays with your kids, it's not much of a holiday. You're just in a different place. But they're still no, well sorry though. The Matian family is so righteous. <laugh> <laugh>. No, but you know what I mean. You go on holiday, they're either banging the head needing a nappy change and it's not really a holiday. You come back just as stressed as you went away. So, um, it'd been a typical family holiday with some youngsters, but I'd driven 11 hours with this caravan behind me, flapping around behind. And I was getting tired and we were about two hours south of um, call, we're on the Dover call ferry and the road closed for roadworks. And they took us off through this other town. Yeah. And um, I did it, but there was all these french lu cones, you know, the traffic cones, it's flipping millions of them.
Speaker 1 00:26:11 I'm like, I know we're supposed to go down there, but like every two yards is these cones. So to get along with this long train that I am snaking around was really hard. So I was going really slow to make sure different, didn't hit the, the cones. And there was a French lorry behind, right behind my caravan. And he keeps tooting me and tooting me and tooting me. Now men, have you ever had that where the anger's just starting to rise a little bit and the temperature's just coming up a bit? Well I was, you know, that thing I was doing earlier on when somebody was clapping, I was sort around here somewhere and um, red mist I think they call it. And I stopped. I stopped the car and Esther went, don't you dare <laugh>. And I started to open the door and she went, don't you dare the kids are watching.
Speaker 1 00:26:51 And Ruben says, go on dad. <laugh>, go and tell him. So I have an England rugby shirt on, actually <laugh>, I probably looked right thug. And um, I went round to this 'cause I'd been looking in the mirror for about a minute when he was, 'cause we were going through this little French little village and it was hard work. I thought, well he's not that big. Um, a quite fancy little roll around on the ground with him. Um, I looked in the mirror thought, yeah, he's having it. So I went round and as I got near, I'm like, get out of that lorry, right? And I shouted at him and he didn't get out and he locked the door. He locked himself in. So I punched the door and that was kind of the end of it. It was about a ten second Tata. And he was like, no, no, no, no one.
Speaker 1 00:27:34 He wasn't German. He said, no, no, no. And um, I go, and then the sort of reality started to hit as I walked past the long caravan back to the car. Hmm. Now we've got a problem. Now we've gotta face Esther <laugh>. Uh, does anybody remember the TVs? Because I grew up in the early seventies. You ever remember when you got a telly and I used to call it picture no sound. So you'd see the picture on the screen. Remember you used to have to, mom and dad had this old tell in the early seventies, you dial it round. Anyone over 50 remember this, you'd dial it round. So you got a station, it was a bit crackly and it just sort of settle on the stage. Great. I've got b BBC one, but you couldn't hear it. So you got a picture but no sound.
Speaker 1 00:28:10 Well, let's just say I had with Esther, she was there, but I had a picture no sound all the way back to Warrington <laugh> from, from south of Cali. So, um, that's my embarrassing story. But our words, don't, they, our words are powerful. And just, just before we, um, move on, um, there's a great passage here. Um, and it's in Matthew 15 verse 18, right? And it says, but those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart. And they defile a man. Yeah. What did I do with that French lorry driver didn't start out my mouth did it, it started in my heart. I wanted to go around and give him what's for, didn't I, which was stupid and immature. But it started in here, didn't it? It started in here, not in here. So, um, can we put the rest of, um, James three up?
Speaker 1 00:29:11 Um, just in closing this I just, here we go. I'll read it from here with you. I do not think this is an accident church. After talking about taming our tongues, talking about the rudder on the ship, talking about the bit in the horse, talking about how powerful our tongue is in comparison to the right rest of the body. It can spark a fire. It talks all these things about the tongue. It doesn't actually mention much in the passage about what good to do with our tongue. All it says is the one thing towards the end that says you can praise God with your tongue. Tongue as well as curse people. That's the only positive thing. It says, I read it about four times. I thought, what? Well, what, what you telling us, James? What you telling us to, we know how bad the tongue is, but what you telling us it's good to do?
Speaker 1 00:29:51 What can we do with our tongue? And he says, praise God with it. That's the only thing. Well, this is straight afterwards. This is just the next chapter, sorry, the next few verses before the chapter ends. And I think it's in there for a reason. Should we read it? Who is wise an understanding among you? Let them show it by thy good life, by deeds done in humility, that comes from wisdom. But if you have a bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. For such wisdom does not come from heaven. But is earthly unspiritual demonic? Wow, that's our heart's. Church is talking about crikey, for where you have envy and selfish ambition. There you find disorder and every evil practice. But it's a great, but, but the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all, pure peace, loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit.
Speaker 1 00:30:53 Impartial and sincere peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness. Isn't that just beautiful? So that's what James is saying for us. That's what he wants the Christian to be. And, and and in that place, how many think our mouths will be a bit different? Just just one or two on that list. You know what I mean of peace, submissive, sincere in sincerity. Beautiful thing. If you're truly sincere when you're telling somebody a thing, remember I said if God spoke to you to go and talk to somebody, do it with sincerity. You can see it in somebody's eyes, can't you? You know when somebody comes at you like that? Oh, thinking, oh, before they've even spoke, you know, it's not gonna be good if you come with sincerity, come with a pure heart. It said a submissive heart, a kind heart. I'm gonna embarrass Matt Matian now, and I don't mean to do, but me and Matt have been on a great journey this last few months and we went out for a, a drink this week. Sorry Matt, but I have grown a real love this guy. Don't you think he may did amazing in worship this morning? Yeah. Come on's. Give him a round of applause.
Speaker 1 00:31:57 Now, I, I'm not embarrassing Matt, but I, I, you know, we, we we've got James out. It's good to honor sometimes some of you in the congregation and I'll try and get around all of you where you need honoring. But, um, you know, Matt works in the military, so he's used to submission and it, he's so lovely with me. And when we've had chats and when we were between Lawson and Matt leading worship, I thought Matt's got a young family, we don't wanna burn him out. And Lawson kindly came up to the ranks and said, yeah, I'll take over. We had a meeting, didn't we? Lawson? And this man was so kind and submissive and beautiful with me as a leader. It was the nicest thing ever. We went out on Thursday night and had a meal and it's just that submissive kind. Heart is, is a beautiful thing.
Speaker 1 00:32:38 And Matt, Matt, you do it really well. I I do. I honor you. You're, you're a special friend now. And um, we can all do that. We can all do that. We can also feel whatever. I'm with you. I'm standing right by you. Do you know how much means in leadership, but it can be in all our lives, can't it? And if somebody's sincere with you and pure and standing by you and cheering you on, that comes out there though, doesn't it? I know it starts in the heart. What we say is powerful in verse 14 here, doesn't it? It says, for if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition, it's in where it says in your heart, as I said in Matthew 1518, those things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart. And they're what defile a man. This hear about the heart again, it's reminders about the heart.
Speaker 1 00:33:23 It comes from the heart. We're gonna look at that later on. But you cannot talk about the mouth without the heart. It's what comes out of the heart that defiles a man. So when I got outta that car shouting at that French driver, it's my heart. It's my heart, it's my heart. Stuff we do comes from the heart. Um, have you ever had a it with your animal, by the way, another quick funny one to finish. My dog Ben is, is about this big. Has anyone seen Ben the dog? Olivia's looked after him, aren't you, Olivia, right? He's a lovely dog. But you know when somebody just thinks, nah, I'm gonna do my own thing. That is Ben. So he chases after sheep, he chases after cows. Imagine the size of a cow. They weigh about 900 kilos. No fear, Ben. He goes flying through the fields chasing after him.
Speaker 1 00:34:06 But there's this point when he looks at me and I say, Ben, there's, there is one on Instagram actually can follow in the call. I've forgotten the guy's. Remember they kept shouting at that dog. Benson, Benson Benson, yeah. Down in the park in London. And um, that, that is with the Diaz. It's just like me with Ben. And he stops, right? And he turns around and he looks at me. I said, Ben, do not chase those cows. And he just thinks, I know I'm gonna get told off dad, but that's too much fun. See ya <laugh>. And off he goes. Do you know what I mean? And, um, it's that point, isn't it? It's that point with our mouths, <laugh> like Ben the dog where you feel the Holy Spirit starting to say it in your heart, in your heart and in your mind, right? Not to say something right When the Holy Spirit speaks to us. And you've got that little moment where you're like, do I don't I want to tell this person what's what? Come on, come on, let's be pure. Let's be sincere. Let's be all that God wants us to be and we need to be led by the Holy Spirit Church. That's our response. The Holy Spirit can speak to us and speak through us. He really can. So Matt, do you wanna come up?
Speaker 1 00:35:12 Um, we're gonna sing a song now, but before we do, I thought it'd be great if you could all stand. Do you know Psalm 103? Yeah, Psalm 103. I thought out of our mouths he says, we can praise the Lord. I thought it'd be good just in closing to actually read this psalm out together with gusto, with passion church. But you know, we wanna praise the Lord. Don't we want to use our mouths for his glory? Yeah, we've looked at the areas of our life, we've looked at what the mouth can do, but he says beautifully in the middle of it all. He said, you can praise the Lord with your lips. So we're gonna, we're gonna read this out together and uh, and then Matt's gonna leave it in a time of worship. Are we ready? Church? Come on. Praise the Lord my soul.
Speaker 1 00:35:53 Oh my in most being Praise His holy name. Praise the Lord my soul. And forget not all his benefits. Who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pits and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your mouth is renewed like the eagles. The Lord works, righteousness and justice for all the oppressed. Keep going. He made known his ways to Moses, his deeds to the people of Israel. The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. He will not always accuse nor will he harbor his anger forever. He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him. As for the east is from the west.
Speaker 1 00:36:59 So far he has removed our transgressions from us as a father has compassion on his children. So the Lord has compassion on those who fear him. For he knows how we are formed. He remembers that we are dust. The life of mortals is like grass. They flourish like a flower of the field. The wind blows over it and it is gone and its place. It remembers no more, but from everlasting to everlasting. The Lord's love is with those who fear him. Come on and his righteousness with their children's children, with those who keep his covenant and remember to obey his precepts. The Lord has established his throne in heaven and his kingdom rules overall praise the Lord, you his angels, you mighty ones who do his bidding, who obey his word. Praise the Lord all his heavenly hosts you, his servants who do his will. Praise the Lord. All his works everywhere in his dominion. Praise the Lord. Oh my soul. Thank you church.
