James chapter 3 is
where we are at as we're making our way through this
amazing New Testament book. And this week, as we begin,
I want to ask a question. This can be interactive. You can put your
answer in the chat. My question for you is, out of
all the muscles in your body, what do you think is the
strongest muscle of them all? Go ahead and chat your answer,
or if you're at a watch party, tell somebody what you
think the strongest part-- I mean, is it biceps? Or are we thinking
it's the calf muscle? What do you think out of all? Is it triceps? Some guys are like,
no, it's my traps. I've got traps for days, right? They called traps the
new abs because if you're wearing a T-shirt, you
can't see your abs, but I can see your traps
if you've got them. What do you think? What do you think? What do you think? What do you think? What do you think? What do you think? What do you think? James is going to tell us that
the strongest muscle you need to be concerned about
in your entire body is, in fact, the one
you keep in your mouth, and that is your tongue. Wow. Your tongue. James says-- and the message
I'm going to give to you now I'm calling "The Muscle
That Can Move Mountains"-- Oh. --"The Muscle That
Can Move Mountains." Your biceps can't do
that, but your tongue can, in fact, move mountains. James says in
chapter 3, verse 3, "A bit in the mouth of a horse
controls the whole horse." Incredible. Think about that image, a
bit in the mouth of a horse moves the whole horse. "A small rudder on a
huge ship in the hands of a skilled captain
sets a course in the face of the
strongest winds. A word out of your mouth
may seem of no account, but it can accomplish
nearly anything-- or destroy it. It only takes a spark, remember,
to set off a forest fire. A careless or wrongly placed
word out of your mouth can do that. By our speech, we can ruin the
world, turn harmony to chaos, throw mud on a reputation, send
the whole world up in smoke, and go up in smoke
with it, smoke right from the pit of hell. This is scary." You can't tame a tiger. "You can tame a tiger," rather. I can't. I can't tame a tiger. [LAUGHTER] It's like, you can tame a
tiger, I guess, theoretically and technically, "but
you can't tame a tongue-- it's never been done. The tongue runs wild,
a wanton killer. With our tongues, we
bless God our Father. With the same tongues, we
curse the very men and women He made in His image. Curses and blessings
out of the same mouth. My friends, this can't go on. A spring doesn't gush
fresh water one day and brackish the next, does it? Apple trees don't bear
strawberries, do they? Raspberries, their bushes
don't bear apples, do they? You're not going to dip
into a polluted mud hole and get a cup of clear,
cool water, are you?" And, Father, we pray that from
this intense, intentionally shocking few
paragraphs that James writes, to help us to
continue to live out what he said lights up heaven. That's watching our words. That's caring for the widow. That's letting our faith
that we profess leak out into everyday, ordinary
acts of beauty. We pray that in this
time together, You would continue to do what You've
been doing day in and day out as we've been making our way
through these beautiful verses written by Your brother. We pray You would just cause
us to come alive and shine. God, I pray for those
who are just discouraged, to just sense You giving
them their spirit back. Thank you that when we feel
just like we can't go on, You are able to give
us new strength. And so I pray You
would do that now. I pray You'd open our eyes. I pray for salvation. I pray for people to just hear
a very specific word from You. And we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Amen. And when we talk about this, the
strongest muscle in our body, we technically can't be
talking about the tongue on a pure physiological sense
because the tongue is not one muscle. It's actually-- this is crazy-- eight. Your tongue-- aah--
is eight muscles-- eight muscles. Four of them are in
the back, and they anchor to your jaw
and your throat, and they anchor to your-- you
know, to everything back there. And then this is the
kind of a creepy part. The other four are intertwined
into a matrix of muscles that are actually more similar
to an octopus's tentacles or to an elephant's
nose than any other bone in your-- any other
muscle in your body because the muscles
of your tongue actually aren't
adhered to a bone, unlike any other muscle
that connects to your bone so it can leverage against that
and move and create strength, so of a fulcrum, as
it were, a lever. Your tongue muscles,
these four that are anchored in the
back, and then these four that go out into
the front, they're able to do everything they're
able to do because they're not connected to anything rigidly. And that's why you can make all
the shapes that you can make. Some people can make a
taco out of their tongue. Some people can't. Some people can
touch their nose. Can you do that? Put it in the chat. Say I can, if you can
touch the tip of your-- I am a long way away. Do you see that? This is as far as I can go. Nuh-nuh, nope. That's all I got. It's like my tongue is not
giving a lot of distance. But the tongue muscles
are incredible, and it takes those
8 muscles that form your tongue and the
help of 64 other muscles to produce human speech. In all, every single
time you talk, that is the cooperation
of 72 different muscles that forms human speech. And so these individual muscles,
none of them are very big. None of them you really
even know the names to. But these muscles, in fact,
that form the tongue do have the strongest
impact on your life, more so than any other muscle. And even on a
medical sense, it's true that every time you
and I go to the doctor, what do they ask you to do? Stick out your tongue. Why do they want
to get in there? Here's what they know
that you need to know. When something's gone
wrong in your body, it can be seen on the
surface of the tongue. When things aren't going
right with the tongue, it speaks of something not
going right inside your body. And the same is
true on every level. Proverbs 18, verse
21 says "The tongue has the power of life and
death, and those who love it will eat its fruit." What is the author
of Proverbs saying? He's saying that there
can be great life or there can be
great death going on. What's in your body
that's alive or dead, what's inside of you
that's doing well or not doing well will be
made evident by what's going on through your tongue-- life or death, great
power to create, great power to destroy us. That's one of the first
of our takeaway truths is that there's a great
potency to your tongue. I want you-- James wants
you to understand this, that your tongue is potent. Have you ever been offered
something to eat or drink, and you didn't realize how
strong it was going to be? It's like, oh my God. And if I remember the first
time, I'll never forget it. Someone's like, you have a cold? Oh, you've got to drink
this apple cider vinegar. I'm like, man, I'll do anything. I like apples, and so it's,
like, get a little-- man, that stuff is potent, right? Yes. My kids, if I open
the lid up, they start running from
the other room. They can't stand the smell
of apple cider vinegar. I remember one tour, we were
preaching around the country, and I kept losing my voice. And so I was doing anything. I was desperate. I was gargling apple
cider vinegar on the bus. And every time, they
would just clear out, just diving into their bunks
just to get away from the smell because that stuff is potent. Listen, your tongue is potent. It's powerful, and
that's why he uses all these illustrations
of a little stuff that makes a big difference. Man, that massive ship,
and if you've been around, if you've been down
to San Diego and then seen some of the
vessels from the Navy, and the aircraft carriers, these
massive things, guess what? A relatively small rudder
is what steers them. Massive ship-- tiny little
rudder is able to turn that big-- a giant horse, a massive
horse, but you think about just that little bit-- that little bit that's
able to control and move the horse's movement. He's saying your tongue
is the exact same way. Now, how this works is because
of the strongest muscle in your body. All right, and I want
to give you the answer. I made everybody
take a guess at it. The actual strongest
muscle in your body by way of just
brute-force impact is your quads and your glutes. Wow. The quadriceps and the
glutes, pound for pound, there's your greatest
strength in the entire body. But when you think about
effort and endurance, the strongest muscle in
your body is your heart, and that's because your heart
doesn't ever get a break. I mean, it's only
resting in between beats, which, if your heart rate
is like 60 to 80 or 100, that's not a very good rest. It's like, give me-- ah, OK. Oh, OK, back to duty, right? It's, like,
instantly back at it. And so 24/7 your
entire life, your heart has continued beating. So I would say in that
sense, the strongest muscle in your body is
actually your heart. And your heart is made
manifest every time you talk. And that's what Jesus said. Jesus said in
Matthew 12 verse 34, "For out of the abundance of
the heart, the mouth speaks." So this takes away the,
well, I have good intentions, or, you don't know my
heart, because we actually do know your heart. Your heart is on display
every single time you open up your mouth. So the strongest muscle in your
body is, in fact, your heart. And your heart is made
visible through the contents of the words that come out
of you, the text messages that you send, the emails,
the jokes that you tell. The words that you
speak, good or evil, are coming out of your
mouth, showing off the contents of your heart. And so what that
means to you and to me is, every single time we
talk, we have a choice. Every single time we send a
message, we send an email, we have the option to either
build or to tear down, to create something or
to destroy something. And what that also
means then is if you want to change the direction of
your life, all you need to do is change the declaration
of your mouth. If you want to change your
world, and many of you do. You're like, I want
to grow closer to God. I want this to change. I want this to change. If you want to
change your world, you just need to
change your words. Right on. And that is what
James is saying. It's your rudder. It's the thing steering you. It's the bit in
the horse's mouth. If you can get in
control of your words, you can become the master
of your entire life. There's a potency to your words. And then, secondly, I
want you to understand, there's a responsibility
to being able to speak. There's a heaviness. It is a responsibility to talk. Now, that's true of what
I'm doing right now. And, in fact, if you back up to
the beginning of the chapter, James says exactly that. He says, hey, don't be
in a hurry, or don't be-- many of you presuming
to become teachers, "my brothers, because you
know that we who teach will be judged more strictly." Now, this, again,
seems heavy, but we know from the whole entire
teaching on the New Testament, it's also an honor to teach. It's also a joy to teach. It's a privilege to teach. And that's why Paul
said, man, if you desire to be a pastor one day,
if you desire to teach, you're desiring a good thing. And let me just say this to you. I hope and pray that
many, many, many, many more of those watching,
who sense that call and are hesitant about it, well,
just don't-- understand, it's a privilege to preach. I just want you to
understand, more people need to preach God's word, and
then start new churches, and open up, you know, Bible
studies on their high school campuses and get friends
together for groups. You should teach, but
every time you do, you should know there's
a heaviness to it. There should never
be a flippancy to it. It should never be a
thing you just roll into. And I would-- I hope you understand-- I agonize over the
messages that I preach. I'm praying about it. I'm stressing about
it, in a good way. This is a heavy thing. I'm going to stand accountable
to God for the words that I speak. I don't want to misrepresent
what God's word is saying. I take that so seriously, and
that's what causes me to study. And if I'm worried about
something being, you know, off-grid or not,
I'm texting friends and calling friends who have
been in ministry longer than I have because I care
about it enough to know that what I'm
doing is authentic, because it's a responsibility. Now, that's true in that
sense, the strict sense, like he's saying,
of being a pastor. Guess what, though? It's also true of any measure
of influence you have. Now, obviously, being in front
of a camera with a microphone on, I understand that. But do you understand that? Or do you perhaps, because you
don't have a show on YouTube, or you don't have a
pulpit, so to speak, do you not understand that you
also have a responsibility? Because every single
one of us has influence. Every single one of us have
people who are listening to us, and that also is a
tremendous responsibility. And just like I
wouldn't just roll up here not having studied,
and be like, I don't know. Let's just see what
we're going to do today. I see that's heavy. You should also see it's heavy
that the kids in your home are listening to how you
speak, to how you talk to their father, how you
talk about your boss, how you talk about elected
officials, and police cars. And even just, I think
something so small as, like, that you would have your kids
lie about their age to get a $3 discount on a kid's-- it's like, is that what
your integrity is worth, the $3 for those chicken strips? Pay full price for
the chicken strips, and let your kids see you
speaking out that authority matters and doing the
right thing matters. Let me tell you. It's a responsibility
to have influence. I read a long time
ago that sociologists say that even the most
introverted person serving in the prison, he's like,
the last thing I would ever want to do is have influence. The last thing I
would ever want to do is stand up in front
of people and talk. No-- no, thank you. Even the most
introverted person will influence as many as 10,000
people in their lifetime. Wow. And you just think
about, every day, we talk-- every day that
we show up to work, every day at the meeting
for the kids' school thing, where you get to be told about
the mask thing for this thing, and every time you're talking
to people, every time you-- your things don't go your
way, and you have a chance to lose your temper, or to be
a witness, you just never know. You just have no idea about
the impact you can make. A while back, we were
trying to practice for preaching in this
series, and we went camping. And, you know, we
had been out, and I was going to tear down
the camp, but I could not find the thing that would
help me take down the jacks off the little camper. I could not find the thing
that would-- so, man, now we're stranded. We're stuck here. And so I was like, I'm going
to go try and find one. And I walked up to
someone, and I said, hey, is there any way you
have this tool I need? And he goes, I'm so glad
I get to return the favor. And I go, like, excuse me? I mean, I'm like, I
asked the wrong person. I'm going to bounce out
of-- he goes, no, I'm so glad I get to return the
favor because, you might not remember this, but
a couple of years ago, you were on vacation. And you stopped on
the side of the road and asked a woman who was
stranded if she needed any help with her vehicle. That was my wife. And so I'm so thankful. And, look, I was like,
[IMITATES EXPLOSION] like, I-- A, I did not remember that,
and, B, how beautiful is that? I had no idea that I was
doing that for someone who then would be able to help
me out in a difficult moment. That's awesome. But I just think we just
never have any idea when we're going to speak, and we choose to
bless instead of to tear down, what that's going to do to
those who are listening. Who is listening to you
that you're not considering? It is a responsibility to speak. You have a microphone. And we should all
take that to heart. I think, especially
when it comes to words, it's easy to kind
of get into that, like, flippant, where we
don't really realize it. Or here's what-- I think
it's easy for me to do. "I didn't really mean that. I was just joking around. I was just-- like, I was just-- it was just a joke." But Proverbs actually
says, "People who shrug off deliberate deception,
saying, 'I didn't mean it, I was only joking,' are worse
than careless campers who walk away from smoldering campfires." And so maybe in those moments
where we're-- you're getting sort of unguarded moments
where the things just slip out, maybe it's more
important than ever-- not that we won't do that. I think we're all going to
have those times where it's going to come out, but I
think where we get better at calling ourselves out on it. "Hey, you know what? Shouldn't have said that. That wasn't cool." Or a follow-up email, and
if you're going to do it in an email, in that meeting,
I should have said it-- CC in everybody who was
in the meeting, too, not just that one person. I think it's so easy to make
a big public thing, and then a private apology. I think your apology should
be as private-- as public as the thing that you did. But I think when we get good
at calling ourselves out, like, hey, I don't
know why I said that, but I shouldn't have done it. It was just in the moment I
said it, it made me look good, but you know what? It was dumb, and I'm so sorry. It never should have happened. I think when we're good
at doing that, we're dousing those fires. We're putting out those
little sparks that can lead to that
big smoldering thing because you better
be sure, they're going to remember that you
called yourself out on that and took that. And so what do we do? We remember this. Humility is the cure because
pride is always the problem. So far as the things that we
say, that, where we spout off, or we're just arrogant,
or any of those things that we end up
apologizing for, it's always to kind of make us
feel better about ourselves, or kind of to top it. I think it's so easy
in this culture to-- just always trying to
be kind of one-upping in the things that we hear
and the things that we say and tearing people down. Oh, that sounds good,
but did you know I went-- like, I said, gee,
oh, you went here. Oh, did you go to this
table in the back? Did they seat you here? You're like, no,
actually, I didn't. Oh. Well, that's nice that you got
to go to the restaurant also. Those little things, like
the need to say everything you know in a given
moment that just leaves other people with
not a great taste of you in their mouth. So I think it's so important
that we take seriously responsibility to
guard our words. And what's our goal? Our goal is reliability. Reliability-- what
does that mean? That means that people
can come to expect refreshment and nourishment
every time you open your mouth. That's what he said. He said, you should be like
a spring that's constantly flowing out good water, or
a strawberry tree that's always got strawberries on it. He said, it shouldn't be that
one time you open your mouth, and it's cutting people
down, and the next time you open your mouth, it's
super encouragement. Now, this again brings
back the hypocrisy theme that James has been weaving
throughout the book, where you're basically, like,
showing up at church. You're like, amazing
God, I love You so much. Like, worship done--
all right, now I'm back to yelling at the kids,
and now back to being mean, and now back to
being judgmental. He's like, that kind of
a religion is worthless. It needs to be to the
essence of who you are. I mean, think about it. What if every fifth time
you went to the fridge to get a LaCroix, one
of them was poisonous? It would cure you of your
LaCroix habit so quick. He's saying, that's what
it's like when people come to you one day, and
it's encouragement, but the next time,
they're getting cut down. We want there to be a
reliability, where people count on us that when we
open up our mouths, we're speaking life out,
because a brick can either build a hospital, or it can
shatter a plate glass window. And our words, when we
understand the weight of them, when we understand
the power of them, when you understand that you can
create atmosphere out of them, it will cause you to
sober up and to be more intentional about how you talk. I mean, you just think
about how big of problems come from little sparks. And right now in
our country, we're seeing these massive fires. And we're praying for
God to keep people safe, and we're praying for
these fires to be put out. But you think about what a
tiny little cigarette thrown from a window caused that, what
a tiny firework can cause that, a neglected campfire that
you didn't pour water on intentionally at the end. And I even think about
how big things in history eventually can be traced back
to small words spoken, something as horrific as the
Holocaust, but that all came from one tongue. That all sprang forth from
the tongue of Adolf Hitler. And what did he do? He chose to with his mouth
say Jews were not people. And that little thing-- then eventually over
time, it wasn't murder. And they did not think of
it-- the Nazis did not think, as they followed orders,
they were committing murder because if Jews weren't people-- they were animals,
they were rats-- then to kill them was not murder. So they felt good. They slept good about it
because the words were changed. The label was changed. And I think, honestly, in our
day, we've seen the same thing. 60 million-plus abortions,
but we can go back to, it's not a human. It's a fetus. Language matters. Words matter. Literally, not
speaking life then, then now we're not
worried about that because it's not
murder if you're not talking about a human being. So I'm just showing
you how important and how powerful
these words are, and the people in your life
matter too much for you to be unreliable,
speaking life one day, speaking death the next day. They came, and they were
expecting a peach one day, but it was a thistle. They were hoping for
water, but it was brackish, and it was tainted,
and it was polluted, and there was death upstream. Now, we need to guard our heart. Our heart flows the words out. Humility in our heart
will cause there to be words that are pure
coming out of your mouth. So it's not-- listen-- and
the solution to all this, because even now in this
message, I'm like-- some of you are like, OK, we're breaking
the swear jar back out. We're getting that
swear jar out. Honey, I knew that
was a good idea. Listen, there's
a huge difference between cussing and cursing. This isn't an
anti-cussing sermon because you can
refrain from cussing, but still be cursing,
still be cutting down, still be putting
people in their place, still be with your
words, the way you frame things, the
body language, the tone, the innuendo. You can not have a
four-letter word fly out of your mouth for a
whole month, but still be making people feel small,
making people feel unimportant, and even just refraining from
giving the encouragement you should. The Bible says, "To him
who knows to do good, but doesn't do it,
to him it is sin." So the sin of your
words could just be the words you don't say. It could just be
forgetting and neglecting, or outright not
choosing to take, out of pride, the opportunity
to honor someone who got a promotion that
maybe you wanted, or recognition that maybe
you felt you deserved. But in that moment, the most
life-giving thing you could do would be to say,
fantastic, great job, and look for an
opportunity to sing their praises to the
company in an authentic way or around other people. Let there just be a
reliability about you. I think sometimes the
reason we use our words to cut people down is because
we feel small on the inside, and so we think if we can
shrink everybody else down, we'll feel better. But you will never rise cutting
other people down to size. The way to be a big
person is to always use your words to bless, to always
use your words to build. It's so important. So the actions from the sermon
is in everybody-- everybody get a bar of soap. And I'm old school, man. I had parents that
actually had me putting one of these in my mouth. Put it in the chat if you got
abused by your parents also, right? And I'm joking. It's not true. Man, I remember how
horrible it was. No, no. The-- [LAUGHTER] No! No! No! [LAUGHTER] [SQUEALS] (MUFFLED) You'll only
hear me a little. Uh-oh. How awful, ugh. And we're sitting there
like Ralphie, or-- [LAUGHTER] --you know, in Christmas
Story, under there with our-- because we-- but that's not the message. The message is spend
more time with Jesus. The message-- ugh,
that's so bad. [LAUGHTER] The water's not going to help. It's going to make it like
a car wash in my mouth. [LAUGHTER] This is so much worse than
I remembered it being. OK, but the action isn't
just to put a muzzle or reform our mouth. It's actually to let God's-- the presence to cause there
to be humility in our hearts. Amen. The more time-- again, we're
back to time on our knees. The more time we're
spending alone with Jesus, the more time we're
alone with Him, the more He increases
in our minds. The more Jesus is
glorious in our hearts, the more we're going
to walk away from that with a great sense of humility. Amen. And if pride's the
problem, humility is the solution,
so time with Jesus, practicing the presence
of God, and then remembering every single
person you encounter was made in God's image. That's what he said. "How dare you?" he said. He said, bless God, but then
curse people made in His image. Amen. Behind me is an image
of a place in Utah, in Zion, called Angels Landing. And I love to think about
that, Angels Landing. Like, our words should
be as such toward this, almost the impact
of angels landing as we speak, almost
like God's with us, a recognition of the weight
and the majesty of God in the people that
we interact with. And our job is to help release
the angel on the inside. Every single person
has this angelic, this glorious
version of themselves they were created to be. And it's our job to use our
words like an archaeologist would use the brushes
and the shovels to scrape away the things
that would unearth the beauty, to unearth what is
tucked away in the dirt. And sometimes you-- with
some people, you got to-- I get it. I grant you, you
got to look harder to see past the dirt
than other situations. But if we are going to, with our
words, be reliable, dependent, that God could depend on
us to help other people, then what do we need to do? We need to agree with
God when we speak, not agree with the devil. The devil's a thief,
and the devil's a liar, and I have soap in my mouth. The devil wants to
tear down always, and the devil always wants
to put himself above God. But if we're going
to agree with God, then we're always
seeking to bring life, and life more abundantly. And so what's going to
make the difference? What's going to make the
difference is if our words are spoken with faith-- faith. Amen. Jesus in Matthew chapter 17 had
been with some of His disciples who He hadn't been
with in a little bit. And when He came
back to see them, they said, Jesus,
we had this ministry problem we couldn't solve. There was this child. There was this situation. We kept praying. We kept trying. It didn't work. It was awful. You weren't with us. This is-- our pets'
heads are falling off. Jesus, we need Your help. Right? Jesus, You left us unsupervised. What was the deal? They said, Jesus,
why didn't it work? And here's what He said. This is in Matthew 17. "So Jesus said to them, 'Because
of your unbelief, assuredly, I say to you, if you have
faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain,
"Move from here to there," and it will move, and nothing
will be impossible for you.'" Where there is
faith in our heart, our tongue becomes the muscle
that can move mountains. And I love that because
we have dynamite today, and we have earth-moving
vehicles today. There's cranes today. There's things that
can move mountains. Like, in our day,
that's not undone. In Jesus's day, that was
the most impossible thing you could conjure up. Moving mountains, that--
no one can move a mountain. It just can't be done. So an appropriate way
to think about this would be to say, if
there's faith in your heart as you speak, impossible
things can be done. And my hope is to be
the kind of person where, if you spend time with
me, if you listen to me, if we had the opportunity-- if you
follow me on social media, that you're going to walk
away from those interactions where I speak, and you're
going to think that maybe, just maybe, the impossible
things in your life can be done. Wow. That's great. And that's my hope. That's my prayer for all of us. What could happen, Fresh Life,
if we were the sort of people-- I know it's a divided
time, and I know 2020, there's only 96
days left in '20. But let's not be that way. Let's not-- only 96 days-- we
just got to survive this year. Oh, we just got to put our
heads in the sand like ostriches and just get through this. It's awful out there. What if instead we were speaking
life and speaking faith? What if instead we are
posting encouragement? What if right now we all took
this link that we're watching and sent it out to someone? What if you're watching this
throughout the week at Church On Demand, you send
this out to someone and say, hey, check
this message out. This could encourage you. What could happen if
we were speaking life? What if we were using our words
like a gift every time we talk? If we'd do that, then here's
what I believe will happen. Impossible things will be done. And it's not just important
for you to take this seriously when it comes to other people. It's not just tearing
other people's lives down with your words
that's a problem. You can also tear your own
life down with your words if you use them irresponsibly. Are you reliable at
talking to your own self? And I think we all kind
of know, like I should, if I don't have anything nice
to say, not say anything at all. And so when we're talking
to other people sometimes, we're on good behavior. You know, I don't
want to be that guy. I want to be encouraging. But how about when
it comes to you? How do you speak to you? Ephesians 4 says,
"Watch the way you talk. Let nothing foul or dirty
come out of your mouth. Say only what helps,
each word a gift." How are you at giving
gifts to yourself when it comes to your words? Or do you always
berate yourself? I know it's really easy for
me to be hard on myself, and I'm not doing good enough,
and I could be doing better. And how are you still
messing with this? Or how are you're still
struggling with this? Like, why aren't
you doing better? Why aren't you doing more? Why did you do that again? But instead, choosing to use
my words as an encouraging tool on my own self-- hey, come on, trust in God. You've got this. You just-- today is another day. It's an amazing
thing what happens when you begin
speaking those words, and to even just
start with gratitude and being thankful and choosing
to thank God for things. And when you begin to
do that, what happens is it actually begins to
change the way you feel. Scientists have discovered that
when a person speaks positively or speaks in a way
that's appreciating, or really specifically, when
you begin to be thankful, you find in your body dopamine
and serotonin levels increase, which are the same things
found in antidepressants. So what's amazing about
that is if you begin to use your words
in a careful way, you might discover that
mountains on the inside of you begin to move, that things you
struggled with for a long time, that you feel like,
I could never get past this-- it's impossible. The muscle that
can move mountains is a heart filled with love for
Jesus, expressed to humility, working its way out
through a tongue that's using its ability to
talk, all those 72 muscles, to give gifts instead of to
tear down and speak poison. I love that. That's good. Now, it's all and well to
say, like, yeah, all right, so we're all going to speak
well, and that's fantastic. But the last point
is a reality check. James in no uncertain
terms tells us that we have an inability to do
the thing that our tongues are supposed to do. Inability, meaning
we're unable, meaning, like, I should be
more encouraging. I shouldn't tear people down. I should find people
doing things right. I should thank my wife
for all the things she's done, instead of
focusing on the one thing maybe she forgot to. I should do that. I should do that. I should guard the way I talk. It seems easy-- just not
say the stupid thing that comes to my mind. I think of it and be like, no. Like, that's the plan, right? [LAUGHTER] Inability. Verse 2, what did he say? "We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at
fault in what he says, he's a perfect man, able to
keep his whole body in check." Don't you love that? And he goes, that'd
be great if we could be perfect in how we talk. That's not going to happen. [LAUGHTER] Right? Take it from the guy who
made fun of Jesus, right? Hey, Jesus, You should
totally go to Jerusalem. They'll love your
tricks there, right? If we could stop ourselves
from saying the wrong thing, we'd be perfect. But none of us are
going to be perfect. So what are we to do? Because he's-- now you're
like, James, I'm mad at you. You spent, like, 10 verses
telling me to do this thing, and then you're like, just
so you know, it's impossible. Have a great week. Bye. Right? It's like, James? [CHUCKLES] Jaime,
what's the deal, man? Don't leave me hanging. Here's the thing. He wants you to know
it is impossible, and he wants you to
know that you don't have to do it on your own. Amen. You have help. You've got friends
in high places. And that's why, almost
tongue in cheek, he says that, at
its worst, verse 6, "the tongue is a fire,"
and on its worst day, our tongues are set
on fire by hell. But that's the secret. That's the key. That's the clue. If the problem is, any time
we talk, if what is being said is powered by hell,
then the solution is like firefighters know. It's anti-- it doesn't make
sense when you think about it, but one of the most powerful
things that firefighting crews do is start fires. They call them controlled burns. So what do they do? They fight fire with fire. So if the problem is a lot
of us burn stuff down-- it's verbal arson
with the way that we speak because our tongues
are set on fire by hell-- then the solution is
getting some tongues that are set on fire by heaven. Come on! And that's exactly-- [APPLAUSE] --what James has
in mind, and that's exactly what Acts says
happened, "Then, what looked like flames
or tongues of fire appeared and settled
on each of them, and everyone present was
filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking
in other languages as the Holy Spirit gave
them this ability." Speaking in a
language you've never heard before-- impossible. What did I say? The tongue can move
mountains, the muscle that can move mountains. Where there is faith,
nothing impossible can remain impossible
in the face of what God wants to be done. So here they were
speaking and understanding languages they didn't know. Why? Because they were on
fire from on high. They had tongues set
on fire by heaven, and that is what's
possible for you, too. Words create atmosphere. And so I want to speak
into your living room. I want to speak
into your kitchen. I want to speak to you as you
ride that ride on your Peloton, and you've got
this in one earbud, and you've got Jess King in
the other earbud telling you you've got this, and
you're going to have a-- I just want to encourage you. God loves you. He sees you. He made you in His image. He has incredible plans for you. I'm telling you, your greatest
days aren't behind you. There are greater things
yet still to be done. God wants to work in your life. It's not impossible. You tried before, and you
didn't work, but it's going to-- it's going to be
different this time. I just encourage you to
trust God for the power that He wants to give you. You're not alone in this fight. The greatest mistake
we can ever make is to try and do God's work
without God's strength, and God has given
the Holy Spirit to be the helper to reanimate
you, to give you new power. And every time
you feel weak, you can ask Him, God, I need
another filling right now. I need You to fill
me from on high. God, I feel like
saying the wrong thing. God, I feel like
doing the wrong thing. I need Your strength. I need Your power. When you run out of
strength, ask Him. He'll give you new power. Created in the image of God-- that phrase is used
in this passage. Created in the image of God. When you speak to other people,
including yourself, remember, you're speaking to someone
created in the image of God. And what were we created
in the image of God to do? I believe each of us were
created in His image to create. Created by a creative God in
order that we might create. And one of the ways that we're
meant to create, in addition to work and all the
other things that we do, is, I believe, to create
atmosphere through the words that we speak, to create-- for just as God
made us by saying, let there be light, let
there be division of light from darkness, all the things
He spoke into creation, and then he breathed
His spirit into us. And so here we are with that
same potential in our tongue. Every time we talk, it
can be life or death, so make the right decision. For out of the words
that you speak, you will either discover a life
you love or one you loathe. It's entirely up to you. So, Father, we thank You for
making us, for loving us, for calling us, for saving
us, and for right now calling us to something
better, for calling us to use this gift of
speech, this power of speech to do something great with it. Forgive us for the
ways that we've used our tongues to tear down
people, to tear down ourselves, to speak death, to
speak discouragement, to speak pessimism,
to speak cynicism. The way that we've
spoken has had a deflating impact on people. But I think You're-- right now,
You're calling us to rise up and to use our tongues to build. If, as we're praying,
if you would say, man, I'm receiving this message. I really needed to hear it,
not so I can put a bar of soap in my mouth, but so I
could use this tongue to encourage people. If that's you I'm
describing, could you just raise up a hand right now? Just right there. Or maybe in the chat,
just type, I'm in. I'm in. I'm in. I'm in. I'm in. I'm in. I'm in. God, You see us. You see us making
this declaration, choosing to shift how we speak. I pray our hearts will
be full of Your word, and I pray we would take
action on this immediately-- we'd find a way to
encourage someone today. And as a result of us
speaking into their lives, they would walk away feeling
like, I can move mountains. I could see God do this
thing, because of that just well-timed encouragement. I pray that people
getting a text or an email from every single one
of us would almost feel like, I'm dry
and dehydrated, but someone just gave
me some fresh water. So help your fresh life flow
through us to other people. And if you're watching
this message right now, and you've never
said yes to Jesus, the action item
isn't, all right, go talk better this week. It's give your heart to God. If out of the abundance of
the heart, the mouth speaks, then let Jesus come
into your heart, and then watch Him
begin to change how you speak with your lips. But it starts with
you inviting Him in. The Bible says that
we've all a great need, and that need comes from sin,
and sin separates us from God. But that's why God
sent His Son Jesus to die on the cross
for you and for me. And as He hung there, He
paid the bill for our sin. And after He died, He
rose from the dead, and now He stands
as King forever. But He knocks on the
door of your heart, and if you let Him come into
your life, He will save you. He will make you new. There's nothing you've done so
bad that He can't forgive it, and there's not
one of us so good that we don't need
to be forgiven. But I believe that if you
trust in Jesus and confess that with your mouth,
believe it in your heart, you will be saved. It's the best decision I
ever made in my entire life, not starting a church
or preaching the Bible or writing books. It's giving my heart to Jesus. I want that for you. It's a gift you can
receive right now, and I believe that
maybe, just maybe, that's why God brought
you to this moment. Pray this prayer with me. Pray it with us. Dear God-- Dear God-- --I know I'm a sinner. I know I'm a sinner. I can't fix myself. I can't fix myself. I can't even forgive myself. I can't even forgive myself. But I ask You to forgive me. But I ask You to forgive me. I ask You to send Your
Spirit to come into my heart. I ask You to send Your
Spirit to come into my heart. Make me new. Make me new. Help me to live for You. Help me to live for you. In Jesus' name I pray. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Come on. We're so excited,
every single one of you making that decision. [APPLAUSE, CHEERS]
