"Power of the Tongue" RESCUE RADIO with Marjorie Cole

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Music.

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Rescue Radio, because there's a war for your soul.

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Yes, Father God, thank you, Jesus, that you have already won that war and defeated our enemy.

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We thank you, Lord, for giving us courage and strength, for teaching and talking

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to us through your Spirit.

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Bearing witness with our spirit that your will be done, your kingdom come,

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on earth, in and through us, as it's being done and declared in heaven,

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that we would understand that we are your instruments, your vessels,

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your ambassadors on this earth to bring forth your will and your purpose, Lord. God.

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And so I pray that we'd all yield ourselves completely to your will and your

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purpose and speak as you would call us to speak and stand as you call us to stand.

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I thank you, Jesus, for doing the will of the Father, obeying,

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even though it meant death for you, that you obeyed and you took the cross and

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you stood in our place and you took the death penalty for us.

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Thank you for purchasing our salvation.

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I pray that many, many more would receive and realize the wonderful power of

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this gift, that they would not be locked and blocked in all the foolishness

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of this world and the narratives of Satan,

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that you bring them out of death into light and truth, Father God.

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And I thank you, Jesus, that no weapon formed against us will prosper.

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We pray for divine protection, divine journey, mercies, healing in our bodies

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with our children, our grandchildren,

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all that pertains to us, those who work for us, pray for us,

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and love us, that your will be done in and through all of us today that we'd

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be rewarded with the blessings of peace and rest and joy and wisdom and revelation in Jesus' name. Amen.

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Amen. Well, we're talking about the tongue today. The tongue. Yeah. Yeah.

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Someone said years ago, there's nothing more open by mistake than the mouth.

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How about that? Well, that's something— The tongue, James said,

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it's a little member, but it can do a lot of damage. It's just like a little

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spark can set a whole forest on fire. Yes, exactly.

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And so, our text here for today is Proverbs 18, 21. Death and life are in the

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power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.

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That's pretty powerful. Well, people don't realize how powerful that is,

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though, because they just flip through it, read through it. Oh,

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yeah, death and life and the power of the tongue.

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But literally, when God says something, God means it.

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And when he says something, there's power to it, and there's implications and

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ramifications that come out of it.

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So if there's death and life in your tongue, that means the words that are coming

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out of our tongue can bring life and healing and hope.

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Or they can bring death, destruction, and even disease. So it's very important

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that we know what the tongue is, is managing the tongue, like James says,

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taking control of that tongue.

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Here's an Old Testament example. It seems very, very harsh, but it gives us

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an indication of the power of death and life from the tongue.

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Proverbs 18, 26 through 29. And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron and saying,

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how long shall I bear with this evil congregation who complain against me?

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I have heard the complaints which the children of Israel make against me.

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Say to them, as I live, says the Lord, just as you have spoken in my hearing, so will I do to you.

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The carcasses of you who have complained against me shall fall in this wilderness.

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All of you who were numbered according to the entire number from 20 years old and above.

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Oh, yeah. And so— Isn't complaining an easy thing to do?

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I mean, we take our circumstances. is we summarize them and spit it through our mouth.

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We process it in our mind or our heart, and then we spit it out of our mouth.

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And this complaining only creates words for the enemy to grab hold of and bring to pass.

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So that's why God doesn't like murmuring and complaining, because when we do

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that, it gives the enemy the opportunity to bring to pass the things we're complaining

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and murmuring about. It's interesting that all the murmur, think of all the

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murmuring that you hear, maybe in the workplace.

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Negativity. In your family, negatively complaining, oh, this isn't right,

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this isn't right, and everything like that.

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It doesn't mean that we don't confront evil and so forth, but a lot of people

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just complain about, you know, aches and pains and the government and the church.

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And the more you do that, the more you complain about those aches and pains,

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the more you endorse them.

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You reinforce them. Reinforce and read, yeah, exactly.

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Reinforce. Well, you know, the Bible also talks about the flattering tongue

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in Psalm 5, verse 9, but I'm going to read 8 to go to 9. Verse 8, 5, 8.

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Lead me, O Lord, in your righteousness because of my enemies.

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Make your way straight before my face, for there is no faithfulness in their

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mouth, in the enemy's mouth.

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Their inward part is destruction. Their throat is an open tomb.

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They flatter with their tongue.

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Pronounce them guilty, O God, and let them fall by their own counsel.

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Cast them out in the multitude of their transgressions, for they have rebelled

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against you. You know, this flattering tongue, that's a lot of what Jezebel uses.

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She really uses that flattery well to get people seduced into buying into her

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agenda, her character, believing lies, just because they want to hear good things about themselves.

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They want to hear, and there are good things we should be speaking over ourselves

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and to one another, but not in flattery.

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Flattery is divisive, deceptive. It's divination.

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It's using something that appears to be good, that appears to be good to bring

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forth something that's bad. That's what flattery does.

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It's drawing you, hooking you into an agreement, or it will end up,

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you know, destroying you because of, why do we receive flattery?

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Because we're insecure.

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Because we don't know who we are, and we want everybody else to tell us who

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we are, and when they tell us what we want to hear, then we're flattered.

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Yeah, well, there's a difference between flattery and giving someone a genuine

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compliment, appreciating them, and so forth.

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Flattering is deceitful, it's lying, it's manipulative, all of that.

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And then there's another part where,

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And in Psalm 12, verse 2, it says, it's kind of the same kind of thing you're

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talking about, flattery.

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They speak idly, everyone with his neighbor, with flattering lips and a double heart they speak.

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May the Lord cut off all flattering lips and the tongue that speaks proud things,

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who have said, with our tongue we will prevail. This is Psalm 12, now verse 4.

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With our tongue we will prevail. Our lips are our own.

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Who is Lord over us? Now, I'm just going to say blab off whatever I want to say.

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And it talks about pride. How many people just, you know, boast about things,

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their accomplishments and so forth.

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If you're talking about your accomplishments, you need to be giving glory to God.

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Because if it wasn't for the breath in your mouth from the living God,

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you wouldn't be able to do anything. And, you know, we're not here just to build

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up ourselves and make ourselves look good because we're so insecure.

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Well, what did Jesus say when you do what he asked you to do?

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Just say, it's my duty to do it. I am an unprofitable servant.

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I have done that, which is my duty to do. Let God then bless and brag on us.

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In Psalm 109, verse 1 and 2, he says, Do not keep silent, O God,

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of my praise, for the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful have

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opened against me. They have spoken against me with a lying tongue.

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They have surrounded me with words of hatred and fought against me without a

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cause. In return for my love, they are accusers.

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But I give myself to prayer. So this tongue is a tongue of the wicked, the enemy.

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It can be a person, it can be an internal voice that's in your head or your heart.

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The mouth of the wicked is deceitful. Satan is deceitful. He's trying to get

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us to believe lies about ourselves and one another.

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He uses our mouth to open our mouth against others. and then he uses those words

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that he pushes through our mouth.

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Into the atmosphere, he uses those to grab those onto those and use them to

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hurt other people. They have spoken against me with a lying tongue.

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And how do you defend yourself from lying? Actually, the accusing of the enemy,

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whether it's through a person or a thought.

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The accuser is about just everywhere, everywhere to try to bring to division and discouragement.

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The lying tongue. How do you protect and defend yourself? He says,

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I'm surrounded by hateful words.

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They fought against me without a cause. How do you defend yourself when you're

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innocent and those around you? Like, this is, again, witchcraft. It's the accusing.

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That's a big hallmark of witchcraft is accusation, false accusation.

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False accusation. And so remember, when you're attacked with a witch or witchcraft

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or the words of witchcraft or surrounded with those who have words of hatred

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against you, forgive them. That's the key, key, key.

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Absolutely release them from your judgment. Say, Father, I release them from

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my judgment for the things, the hateful things, the lying words,

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the treachery, the plot, the plan, the trap that they've set for me. I forgive them.

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I release them from my judgment, and I'm going to let you be the judge.

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So, I'm going to come into your court bringing my complaint,

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what they're doing to me, but I'm going to let you be the judge because I'm not going to judge them.

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So, forgiveness means I'm not going to judge them. I'll let you judge them.

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And so, this is the only way we can get deliverance and healing from these kinds of things.

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Yeah, in Psalm 120, verses 1 through 3.

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In my distress I cried to the Lord, and he heard me, Deliver my soul, O Lord, from lying lips.

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And from a deceitful tongue, what shall be given to you or what shall be done

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to you, you false tongue?

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So he's praying for the psalmist here is asking him to say, I need deliverance

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because this is distressing me.

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This is really bothering me that I'm involved with lying and deceitfulness,

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you know, telling, so we call it half-truths.

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We're not just talking about, you know, cursing, coarse cursing. Some people.

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Are profane. You know, just plain profane in their speech, and it's just like,

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please, just, but we'll find out later why that is.

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And it's in Proverbs chapter 17, verse 20, interesting enough.

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He's, well, it's verse 19 in the read-down.

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He who loves transgression loves strife, and he who exalts his gate seeks destruction.

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That means he's praising himself. Verse 20, he who has a deceitful heart finds

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no good, and he who has a perverse tongue falls into evil.

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Perversion means to twist or a crooked, they're telling half-chews or they're

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switching things around and making it look like something it's not.

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He who begets a scoffer does it to his own sorrow, and the father of a fool has no joy.

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But a merry heart does good like a medicine. And what does a merry heart do?

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It speaks joy and peace and promotes vision.

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But a perverse heart, a perverse tongue, what the heart is full of,

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again, the mouth speaks.

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So if you're hearing things like this coming out of your mouth,

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bitterness, contempt, jealousy, wishing evil upon people, that's in your heart.

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And so your mouth is going to speak what your heart is full of.

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And the tongue is the instrument that is being used to shape those words.

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In Psalm 10-7, it talks about a wicked person.

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Wicked in his pride, persecutes the poor, boasts of his heart's desire, so forth.

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And God isn't even, he's not even thinking about God at all.

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But one of the characteristics of this wicked person, according to Psalm 10,

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7, his mouth is full of cursing and deceit and oppression. Wow.

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To oppress others, yeah. Under his tongue is trouble and iniquity. It's like, really?

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I mean. Yeah, there's no mincing of words there, is there? No mincing of words there.

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Well, in Proverbs 17, 4, this is a very interesting verse that most people,

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I'm sure, don't read it the way I see it.

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But anyway, Proverbs 17, 4 says, An evildoer gives heed to false lips.

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A liar listens eagerly to a spiteful tongue.

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So what he is saying there is, an evildoer gives heed to false lips.

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In other words, and a liar listens to a liar.

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So when lies are being spoken and you're listening to those lies,

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you're also believing those lies.

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A liar listens eagerly to a spiteful tongue. So an evildoer gives heed to false lips.

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So when people are talking lies and you're listening to and agreeing with those

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lies, then you are also a liar.

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You're a liar receiving the lies and endorsing those lies eagerly,

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the words of a spiteful tongue. So again, liars listen to liars.

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Isn't that crazy and scary that they actually do that?

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But in Proverbs 29 20 let

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me just get this here problem Proverbs 29 20 it says do you see a man hasty

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in his words there is more hope for a fool than for him so some people are just

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so hasty they just spout off they really haven't thought anything through they just.

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Blab it out, you know, hastily don't think it through.

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They don't think about the effect that these words will have on somebody else. Right.

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Devastating words. You know, that's true. When we're angry, when we get angry,

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we blurt all things against our children and things that we may,

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you know, in that moment of rage or whatever, we're blind, feary, blind rage.

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We don't even remember what we said, but the child is stabbed in their heart forever.

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I have so many clients who, You know, going back to three, four,

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five, six years old, mom said something over them, and mom just in a wisp of

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anger and fury blurted out something and is stuck like an arrow in the child's

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heart for 20, 30, 40 years.

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Yeah, we've seen that over and over and over and over again.

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A lot of people that have been involved, they've gotten into,

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you know, addictions of various kinds and so forth, and their life has been shambles.

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A lot of it goes back to, you know, your parents, their dad,

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if they had a dad around, they said, you're worthless, you're just a piece of crap, whatever you are.

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I mean, that's been done so much.

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Hurtful things like that, that just, you never amount to anything.

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You're so stupid. Why did you do that?

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Why don't you like your brother? Why don't you, you know. All those kinds of

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things. Or you're fat. I mean, all these. If you're listening.

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Words. and then you're talking like that, just stop it now.

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And repent and apologize to them and take back those words. You can actually,

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Take back these bad, negative, horrible, cursing words, even though you said them 40 years ago.

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They're still floating out there in the frequencies and vibrations in the universe.

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You can say to the Lord, forgive me for speaking so ill and hateful over my child.

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I ask you to remove, dissolve those words of the blood of Jesus.

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And talk, if you could still talk to your kids, whether they're adults. Yeah, Jesus.

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Please ask forgiveness for what you said. We know that the truth of your heart

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was that you loved your child, but the truth is also that Satan was trying to

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get you to use your mouth, because he has to use our mouths,

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our words, because his words don't count.

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He's got to get them from our head, from our mouth. In Psalm 10,

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verse 7, he says, The mouth is full of cursing and deceit and oppression.

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Under his tongue is trouble and iniquity. This is what we're,

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the oppression, the deceit, the

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deception that is released when our tongue speaks cursing, cursing of me.

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Cursing against God, cursing against someone else, bringing a curse is the opposite of a blessing.

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So when you're blessing someone, you know, I bless you.

00:16:39.123 --> 00:16:42.903
I pray that God will bless and restore your losses or, you know,

00:16:43.023 --> 00:16:46.423
receive you or bring you back to health or whatever it is. You're blessing.

00:16:46.563 --> 00:16:52.343
But in this country, we do not really bless very much. We don't bless people.

00:16:52.423 --> 00:16:54.763
We don't bless our children like they do in some nations.

00:16:55.583 --> 00:16:59.023
We reprimand them. We lecture them.

00:16:59.163 --> 00:17:04.203
We discourage them because we're afraid if we don't legalistically apply the

00:17:04.203 --> 00:17:05.743
lecture, they'll do the wrong thing.

00:17:05.863 --> 00:17:10.643
We don't realize in their heart is also the desire to be good and be loved and do the right thing.

00:17:10.903 --> 00:17:18.263
So we curse them inadvertently, but that stands. They're full of cursing and deceit and oppression.

00:17:18.663 --> 00:17:22.223
A lot of times we lie to one another to deceit. We lie to protect ourselves,

00:17:22.463 --> 00:17:23.543
to keep ourselves out of trouble.

00:17:23.863 --> 00:17:26.883
We lie by saying things like, I don't know, when you do know.

00:17:27.483 --> 00:17:31.963
And we think lying is just saying a thing that's not true.

00:17:32.523 --> 00:17:38.583
Lying can also be holding back, keeping someone from understanding the truth

00:17:38.583 --> 00:17:43.223
by holding back the information that would give them a correct understanding of what's happening.

00:17:43.423 --> 00:17:46.163
So lying can be both speaking out and holding back.

00:17:46.603 --> 00:17:50.403
So the tongue can hold back things that need to be spoken or can speak things

00:17:50.403 --> 00:17:51.743
that need to be kept quiet.

00:17:51.903 --> 00:17:55.443
Right, exactly. It's not only what we say, but what we don't say.

00:17:55.443 --> 00:18:00.503
Let's transition here from death to life and the power of the tongue.

00:18:00.643 --> 00:18:04.823
There's death and life. We're talking about these things that bring death,

00:18:04.923 --> 00:18:10.843
that bring hurt, that bring destruction to people through our mouth, through our tongues.

00:18:11.063 --> 00:18:16.083
In Proverbs 12, beginning with verse 17 through verse 19, it says,

00:18:16.163 --> 00:18:23.063
He who speaks truth declares righteousness, but a false witness deceit.

00:18:23.761 --> 00:18:29.701
There is one who speaks like the piercings of a sword, but the tongue of the wise promotes health.

00:18:29.881 --> 00:18:37.861
The truthful lip shall be established forever, but a lying tongue is but for

00:18:37.861 --> 00:18:40.321
a moment. Now, it's interesting.

00:18:41.241 --> 00:18:45.081
If you speak the truth, you're declaring righteousness, falsehood.

00:18:45.161 --> 00:18:50.101
It's contrasting someone who brings truth and someone who brings deceit.

00:18:50.201 --> 00:18:53.261
But there are some that speak like the piercings of a sword.

00:18:53.261 --> 00:18:55.941
There's some people that— They're giving wisdom. They're giving counsel.

00:18:56.781 --> 00:19:02.201
Yeah, there's—well, there's people, yeah. There's two ways you can look at the sword thing.

00:19:02.481 --> 00:19:07.061
The sword is the Word of God, right? But what they're talking about here,

00:19:07.141 --> 00:19:09.581
there's people that speak cutting remarks.

00:19:09.721 --> 00:19:14.361
They're just cut, cut, cut, criticize, criticize. They have a critical spirit.

00:19:14.861 --> 00:19:19.941
They just scold. They cut. They're just— Tearing down everything.

00:19:19.941 --> 00:19:24.781
They're just tearing down. And basically, the poison of asps,

00:19:25.001 --> 00:19:29.261
it says in one place, the poisons of snakes is in their tongue, in their mouth.

00:19:29.461 --> 00:19:34.701
So they're quick to— Find fault. Find fault.

00:19:35.061 --> 00:19:39.181
Judge others. Criticize, everything like that. Yeah, judging others,

00:19:39.221 --> 00:19:40.601
and that comes through a lot.

00:19:40.601 --> 00:19:45.141
I've been around people that, you know, speak— Life or death.

00:19:45.141 --> 00:19:51.681
That death, because, you know, some people that, you know, the Bible says that

00:19:51.681 --> 00:19:54.061
there's meekness connected with wisdom.

00:19:54.821 --> 00:20:00.161
And some people have arrogance connected with wisdom or what they think is wisdom

00:20:00.161 --> 00:20:01.721
or their knowledge. Orally wisdom.

00:20:01.981 --> 00:20:05.261
And some people, you're around some people where you don't— They think they know it all.

00:20:05.361 --> 00:20:09.121
They think they know it all. Yeah. And what happens is there are people that

00:20:09.121 --> 00:20:13.701
maybe are—I've worked with people that, you know, when I was just learning computer,

00:20:13.701 --> 00:20:20.321
I still don't know much about computers, but there was this one IT person that I worked with years ago.

00:20:20.541 --> 00:20:24.721
If you didn't know something, she just made you feel so stupid.

00:20:25.321 --> 00:20:31.761
How come you don't know that? And then there was another guy that had the same basically IT position.

00:20:32.953 --> 00:20:39.173
And the company, and he was so gracious. He was just like, okay, here's how you do this.

00:20:39.233 --> 00:20:43.993
And he made you, he didn't feel like, make you feel like you were just stupid and ignorant.

00:20:44.293 --> 00:20:52.193
And so he had meekness. He had lots of knowledge, knew way, way, way more than I did.

00:20:52.353 --> 00:20:59.253
But he spoke with meekness of wisdom, not arrogance of knowledge to make you

00:20:59.253 --> 00:21:02.473
feel like you're stupid because they don't know, you don't know what they know.

00:21:02.473 --> 00:21:05.113
Well, the wise person is a good teacher, too.

00:21:05.253 --> 00:21:08.673
They can speak the truth of what they know and understand with the gentleness

00:21:08.673 --> 00:21:09.833
that makes the learner learn.

00:21:10.153 --> 00:21:15.553
In Isaiah 50, chapter 50, verse 4. This is really good. This is interesting.

00:21:15.833 --> 00:21:19.213
It says, The Lord God has given me the tongue of the learned,

00:21:19.213 --> 00:21:23.773
that I should know how to speak a word in season to him who is weary.

00:21:23.953 --> 00:21:28.633
He wakens me morning by morning. He wakens my ear to hear as the learned.

00:21:28.633 --> 00:21:34.173
The Lord has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious, nor did I turn away.

00:21:34.473 --> 00:21:40.433
So he is saying here, now this is an interesting verse in that it connects the

00:21:40.433 --> 00:21:44.053
idea of God's Spirit bearing witness with our spirit.

00:21:44.153 --> 00:21:47.273
You know, we have the soul software where we think, feel, and try to figure things out.

00:21:47.453 --> 00:21:52.593
But we also have been given the spirit software where God has programmed our

00:21:52.593 --> 00:21:53.893
spirit to know the truth,

00:21:54.133 --> 00:21:59.913
to love the truth, to love him, to recognize what is true, and to desire the

00:21:59.913 --> 00:22:04.733
goodness of God and desires to be good ourselves, to walk in the goodness of

00:22:04.733 --> 00:22:06.773
God's image created in us.

00:22:06.873 --> 00:22:11.013
But here he says, the Lord has given him the tongue of the Lord. So here's what happens.

00:22:11.373 --> 00:22:17.533
When the Spirit of God speaks to our spirit, we don't know what he's saying.

00:22:18.217 --> 00:22:22.237
Until we hear it come out of our mouth. So the tongue of the Lord.

00:22:22.357 --> 00:22:27.157
So my spirit is actually teaching, I mean, his spirit is teaching my spirit

00:22:27.157 --> 00:22:31.477
and brings that information into my tongue, into my mouth.

00:22:31.617 --> 00:22:36.957
Then my ears hear it and I learn it. So I'm learning through my own tongue.

00:22:37.117 --> 00:22:41.137
I'm learning how to speak the word of wisdom and season to him who's worried.

00:22:41.317 --> 00:22:46.757
But I'm learning it as I learn it, as the Lord speaks it from his spirit to my spirit.

00:22:46.937 --> 00:22:51.737
It comes out of my mouth and I hear it, then I say, oh, oh, that's what it is.

00:22:52.377 --> 00:22:55.217
You know, sometimes I say, you know, you hear yourself say something like,

00:22:55.437 --> 00:22:57.977
there's so much chaos around here. This is chaos.

00:22:58.137 --> 00:23:02.377
And you don't really recognize it as chaos until you hear yourself say, oh, it's chaos.

00:23:02.557 --> 00:23:05.557
Oh, oh, the spirit of chaos is here. Got it. Okay.

00:23:05.757 --> 00:23:10.557
So you see, the thing is, again, ask the Lord, how else would God speak to us

00:23:10.557 --> 00:23:14.477
if he doesn't speak to us through our spirit and then give it to us so we can

00:23:14.477 --> 00:23:18.637
hear it and understands this faith comes by hearing, hearing by the word of God.

00:23:18.797 --> 00:23:24.997
So when you read the word of God and hear it out loud, it's actually teaching you yourself.

00:23:25.237 --> 00:23:28.437
I mean, you're speaking it as if you know it, but it's also teaching you so

00:23:28.437 --> 00:23:32.417
that it gives us the tongue of the learned. God has opened my ear to hear.

00:23:32.797 --> 00:23:36.817
And I was not rebellious. This is the key. We don't say, oh,

00:23:36.917 --> 00:23:41.197
that's just me, or oh, everybody knows that, or oh, that's no big deal.

00:23:41.357 --> 00:23:45.357
We say, no, no, this is the spirit of God giving me something to say here,

00:23:45.497 --> 00:23:46.597
and I'm learning it myself.

00:23:47.117 --> 00:23:50.977
That's kind of amazing to me. That's Isaiah 50, verse 4.

00:23:51.577 --> 00:23:57.517
And Proverbs 13, verse 3, he who guards his mouth preserves his life.

00:23:57.657 --> 00:24:01.037
Whoa, that's pretty important. Yeah. You want to stay alive?

00:24:01.557 --> 00:24:05.957
Guard your mouth. Yeah, keep it. Set a watch over my mouth, he says. Yeah.

00:24:06.477 --> 00:24:09.617
But he who opens wide his lips shall have destruction.

00:24:09.977 --> 00:24:15.157
So, listen, if you guard your mouth. Set a watch over it, it says,

00:24:15.297 --> 00:24:17.417
yeah. Yeah, set a watch over my mouth.

00:24:18.477 --> 00:24:22.157
The psalmist says there, too, set a watch over my mouth.

00:24:22.497 --> 00:24:26.557
And another thing, too, with that is. Well, this is the same thing as Proverbs

00:24:26.557 --> 00:24:31.897
21, 23 says, whoever guards his mouth and tongue keeps his soul from troubles. Right.

00:24:32.217 --> 00:24:37.137
A proud and a haughty man, a scoffer, is his name, who acts with arrogant pride.

00:24:37.717 --> 00:24:40.557
So you're guarding, you're setting a watch means that, that means that,

00:24:40.857 --> 00:24:43.657
okay, I'm not going to say everything.

00:24:44.549 --> 00:24:49.789
That just comes into my mind. I'm going to select the words I'm going to bring to this conversation.

00:24:49.869 --> 00:24:53.069
So that's what guarding your heart and guarding your mouth is.

00:24:53.229 --> 00:24:56.449
Right. I'm not going to blurt it all out because it's maybe not time to say this.

00:24:56.589 --> 00:25:00.749
So you have to be very wise and say, well, I know this. I see this.

00:25:00.869 --> 00:25:03.329
I totally read this situation.

00:25:03.569 --> 00:25:08.149
But now is not the time to say that because now is the time to either build

00:25:08.149 --> 00:25:13.609
a relationship with that person or develop a trust relationship rather than

00:25:13.609 --> 00:25:15.429
tearing them down with all the stuff you know.

00:25:15.529 --> 00:25:18.269
The Bible says speaking the truth in love that they may grow up.

00:25:18.349 --> 00:25:21.589
So sometimes we have to set a guard over our mouths and not say everything right

00:25:21.589 --> 00:25:24.429
away because we're still in the building process.

00:25:25.209 --> 00:25:28.609
They're not ready to receive what we have to say, and so therefore it would

00:25:28.609 --> 00:25:31.129
be pointless and destructive to say it at the wrong time.

00:25:31.669 --> 00:25:38.949
So it talks about in Proverbs 25, verse 15, Proverbs 15, by forbearance a ruler

00:25:38.949 --> 00:25:42.549
is persuaded and a gentle tongue breaks a bone.

00:25:42.729 --> 00:25:49.949
How can a gentle tongue break a bone? Proverbs 15, 25, 15.

00:25:50.369 --> 00:25:58.169
Well, I believe a gentle tongue is so we're always ready to be defensive and lecture and harsh.

00:25:58.489 --> 00:26:03.709
And so we're just receiving, you know, anger is being mixed with the truth.

00:26:03.709 --> 00:26:09.309
So when anger is mixed with the truth and you have this harsh word that you're

00:26:09.309 --> 00:26:12.569
speaking over someone, it can break their bones.

00:26:12.749 --> 00:26:17.709
But the tongue of the wise and the gentle, I think, brings healing to the bones.

00:26:19.389 --> 00:26:25.109
But it also breaks the bone in that it breaks the resistance to the words.

00:26:25.329 --> 00:26:30.729
For example, a soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.

00:26:30.729 --> 00:26:35.469
So the tongue of the wise uses knowledge rightly, but the mouth of the fool pours out foolishness.

00:26:35.569 --> 00:26:39.509
So a soft answer, you know, they're expecting you to come down on them,

00:26:39.649 --> 00:26:43.309
lecture them, berate them, you know, correct them.

00:26:43.449 --> 00:26:47.169
But your soft answer will turn away their wrath because they're going to be defensive.

00:26:47.329 --> 00:26:51.469
They're going to want to defend themselves and make you look like a fool for correcting them.

00:26:51.629 --> 00:26:56.669
But a harsh word stirs up anger. So, when you speak harsh words over your children,

00:26:57.149 --> 00:27:00.749
you know, it stirs up their anger and it breaks a bone.

00:27:00.909 --> 00:27:04.809
Actually, I think in 1530, it says of that same proverb, hold on,

00:27:05.109 --> 00:27:06.949
I think it's 1530, it says,

00:27:07.946 --> 00:27:14.566
Yeah. It says, the light of the eye rejoices the heart. A good report makes the bones healthy.

00:27:14.666 --> 00:27:18.866
So a good report makes the bones healthy. So a bad report breaks the bones and

00:27:18.866 --> 00:27:21.666
the marrow is in the bones. So it's going after the life of the child.

00:27:22.086 --> 00:27:25.506
When you break their bones with criticism and bitterness and anger,

00:27:25.666 --> 00:27:29.946
it is you speaking to them out of your own fear. that if you don't correct them

00:27:29.946 --> 00:27:32.586
and be harsh, that they're going to do something bad and wrong.

00:27:32.706 --> 00:27:35.586
It's like you saying, I don't trust you. I don't have faith in you.

00:27:35.746 --> 00:27:39.006
I don't have faith in God's goodness to bring you through this.

00:27:39.146 --> 00:27:41.166
I have to be the one to correct you.

00:27:41.666 --> 00:27:47.366
And then the mouth of the foolishness. This is so sad because so many people

00:27:47.366 --> 00:27:52.266
are so desperately dumb and foolish, and yet they think they know something

00:27:52.266 --> 00:27:54.666
about something, so they think they know something about everything.

00:27:54.966 --> 00:28:01.626
And so they pour out foolishness, And this gets even more enhanced or increases

00:28:01.626 --> 00:28:05.546
even more when people are under the influence of mind-altering,

00:28:05.686 --> 00:28:06.806
mood-altering chemicals.

00:28:07.106 --> 00:28:10.886
And so foolishness just pours out of their tongues. And we have to realize that

00:28:10.886 --> 00:28:14.586
that also, we have to give account, Jesus said, of every idle word.

00:28:14.786 --> 00:28:17.986
And so those words, unless you ask God to forgive you for them,

00:28:18.246 --> 00:28:21.206
they're still hanging out there and they need to be dealt with.

00:28:21.326 --> 00:28:24.686
There's foolishness poured out against us every day, you know,

00:28:24.786 --> 00:28:26.586
on the internet. Well, we don't want to be the ones pouring it out,

00:28:26.586 --> 00:28:30.086
though. On the internet, on the TV, that sort of thing coming against us.

00:28:30.226 --> 00:28:32.386
But we're talking about us here today.

00:28:32.606 --> 00:28:37.366
And it says, Proverbs 15, 4, a wholesome tongue is a tree of life.

00:28:37.746 --> 00:28:40.866
The perverseness in it breaks the spirit.

00:28:41.126 --> 00:28:45.026
So we talked about two, I mean. Breaks the spirit. Breaks the spirit.

00:28:45.226 --> 00:28:46.766
So what breaks the spirit?

00:28:48.506 --> 00:28:53.726
Perverseness. Right. Perverseness in the tongue, that where it's twisted and

00:28:53.726 --> 00:28:59.206
perverse, it breaks the spirit. It breaks the spirit of the people that we talk to. How does that work?

00:28:59.526 --> 00:29:02.166
Well, I would say, you know, what we were talking about earlier,

00:29:02.166 --> 00:29:06.466
if you curse your kids, for example, you curse your, you know,

00:29:06.526 --> 00:29:12.706
some people too, I know, here's another thing that's really bad is that people.

00:29:13.032 --> 00:29:18.032
When husbands gossip about their wives to other guys.

00:29:18.852 --> 00:29:22.172
And vice versa. Or wives gossip about their wives. You're betraying a trust.

00:29:22.172 --> 00:29:28.992
They go to their friend on the phone or on Facebook or whatever.

00:29:30.132 --> 00:29:34.172
And say, oh, yeah, you know, Harry's really being a jerk today.

00:29:34.372 --> 00:29:37.752
Right. You're not blessing. See, when you speak these things, they come to pass.

00:29:38.052 --> 00:29:43.292
When you speak these words, they come to pass. And if you don't want them to

00:29:43.292 --> 00:29:47.552
come to pass, then don't give life to them by speaking them out of your tongue.

00:29:47.892 --> 00:29:52.492
Because that's what happens. There's death and life again in the power of the

00:29:52.492 --> 00:29:53.892
tongue. Notice he says death first.

00:29:54.832 --> 00:29:58.412
Here's one thing I've endeavored to do. What?

00:29:58.592 --> 00:30:02.972
And it talks about, in Proverbs 15, 4 again, a wholesome tongue is a tree of

00:30:02.972 --> 00:30:10.472
life. If you do, like, reverse gossip, usually gossip is about something that's

00:30:10.472 --> 00:30:12.112
bad about somebody or something.

00:30:12.572 --> 00:30:17.052
I like to say nice things about people behind their backs. That's good.

00:30:17.252 --> 00:30:22.852
So I'm not flattering. I will just say it's something I know that's a great character.

00:30:23.092 --> 00:30:30.292
I'll build them up. I'll speak life and good things about them to somebody else.

00:30:30.292 --> 00:30:35.392
Right, and that's putting positive things in the atmosphere for them,

00:30:35.472 --> 00:30:38.232
but at the same time, say those nice things to them, too.

00:30:38.392 --> 00:30:41.712
Oh, of course. I know you do, but many times behind the back,

00:30:41.892 --> 00:30:44.452
it's all secrets and whispers and, you know,

00:30:44.692 --> 00:30:49.432
deceptive things, and people are being plotted against, spoken against,

00:30:49.512 --> 00:30:52.632
and they don't know how and where and why things are going so bad in their life,

00:30:52.632 --> 00:30:54.952
because others are speaking evil. And it's a form of witchcraft.

00:30:55.152 --> 00:31:00.252
Yeah. It's a form of cursing. Yeah. So when you speak about people behind their

00:31:00.252 --> 00:31:02.432
backs, you're actually practicing witchcraft against them.

00:31:02.792 --> 00:31:06.652
And if they don't know it, but if you do know something's going wrong and somebody's

00:31:06.652 --> 00:31:08.412
probably talking about you behind your back, which...

00:31:08.729 --> 00:31:12.669
Is the way the devil divides so many things. Then ask God to forgive that person.

00:31:12.749 --> 00:31:14.429
You may not know who they are, but God does.

00:31:14.509 --> 00:31:18.389
So we forgive them and ask those words to fall to the ground and bring forth

00:31:18.389 --> 00:31:19.789
nothing covered with the blood of Jesus.

00:31:20.189 --> 00:31:23.369
The English word gossip is interesting. It's gossip.

00:31:25.469 --> 00:31:30.989
Sounds like a snake, doesn't it? Yeah, gossip. Ephesians 4, verse 15 is also

00:31:30.989 --> 00:31:36.329
a very powerful prescription for teaching people to grow up.

00:31:36.329 --> 00:31:42.029
He says, I'm starting with verse 14, Ephesians 4, 14, And we should no longer

00:31:42.029 --> 00:31:45.369
be children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine

00:31:45.369 --> 00:31:50.929
by the trickery of men and the cunning craftiness by which they lie in wait to deceive.

00:31:51.329 --> 00:31:57.789
But speaking the truth in love may grow up in all things unto him who is the head, which is Christ.

00:31:58.089 --> 00:32:04.869
So, okay, so no longer be tossed to and fro, carried about with every wind of gossip and doctrine.

00:32:04.869 --> 00:32:07.169
You know, there's so much doctrine out there, the trickery of men,

00:32:07.289 --> 00:32:08.269
the treachery of the demons.

00:32:09.609 --> 00:32:13.029
Doctrines of demons, whatever, who they lie in wait to deceive,

00:32:13.149 --> 00:32:20.189
discourage, mislead people with lies that, you know, and that's so much what Satan does.

00:32:20.269 --> 00:32:24.309
He misleads, misperceives, misunderstands, divides to conquer,

00:32:24.469 --> 00:32:27.949
sets us up in opposition to each other, brings wars and contentions,

00:32:28.049 --> 00:32:30.509
and nobody's growing up. Everybody's just trying to survive.

00:32:30.829 --> 00:32:34.769
The whole point of this whole thing down here, is to grow up in God and to be

00:32:34.769 --> 00:32:39.649
more like Jesus and to promote that same growth and development and spiritual

00:32:39.649 --> 00:32:41.789
strength and reality in others.

00:32:42.029 --> 00:32:44.729
And so here he says, speaking the truth in love.

00:32:45.429 --> 00:32:48.989
That's the combination, speaking the truth to others, our children,

00:32:49.849 --> 00:32:55.129
co-workers, classmates, speaking the truth in love that they may grow up in

00:32:55.129 --> 00:32:59.809
all things into him who is so growing up, but knows us, speaking the truth in love.

00:32:59.929 --> 00:33:03.849
There's a combination, truth plus love. You can't just speak the truth without

00:33:03.849 --> 00:33:07.989
the love because that becomes lecture and discouragement.

00:33:08.269 --> 00:33:11.709
And if you just speak love and know truth, you're just giving licentiousness

00:33:11.709 --> 00:33:13.029
and permission for them to do whatever.

00:33:13.229 --> 00:33:16.189
So it has to be a combination of both. And so many times, however,

00:33:16.349 --> 00:33:18.429
we speak the truth in anger.

00:33:20.787 --> 00:33:26.587
We love them with compliance or complacency, and we don't really,

00:33:27.087 --> 00:33:32.807
you know, and here's part of that problem is when we're speaking the truth in

00:33:32.807 --> 00:33:37.027
love, we're speaking to the being, and we must also then address the behavior.

00:33:37.027 --> 00:33:40.847
Especially people who have married together their being with their behavior,

00:33:40.867 --> 00:33:43.767
like so many people have, I am a, and then fill in the blank.

00:33:43.947 --> 00:33:46.927
And if you don't like what that is, and that's scripturally destructive,

00:33:47.167 --> 00:33:50.427
and they're going to, that's going to not be okay with God to practice that

00:33:50.427 --> 00:33:53.387
kind of behavior, and you give their, call their attention to it,

00:33:53.667 --> 00:33:55.947
then they're taking it personally, and they're getting offended,

00:33:56.007 --> 00:33:58.127
and they're saying, you don't love me.

00:33:58.407 --> 00:34:02.807
But so when you and I separate a being, a human being with the soul,

00:34:02.967 --> 00:34:06.767
body, soul, and spirit, that's going to give an answer to God on Judgment Day,

00:34:06.867 --> 00:34:11.367
that soul, when you separate that precious one, their soul and their destiny,

00:34:11.567 --> 00:34:13.227
eternally destined for whatever.

00:34:14.107 --> 00:34:19.787
You separate that from their behavior and you're calling them to take a look

00:34:19.787 --> 00:34:22.107
at it, that's really what love is.

00:34:22.187 --> 00:34:26.507
But so many times we get confused because we're accused of judging and not loving

00:34:26.507 --> 00:34:31.107
and not forgiving and all these things, and then no one grows up.

00:34:31.467 --> 00:34:35.587
So growing up in God is a combination of speaking the truth in love.

00:34:35.887 --> 00:34:39.107
You love them through that relationship. And then once you get that road of

00:34:39.107 --> 00:34:42.307
relationship, love and built, then you can come across it and say,

00:34:42.367 --> 00:34:44.367
and here's the truth. Here's what I really want to tell you.

00:34:44.527 --> 00:34:47.647
You know, I love you. And this is why I have to tell you this.

00:34:47.687 --> 00:34:49.027
It's not because of your behavior.

00:34:49.347 --> 00:34:54.707
I can see what you've been deceived by the devil. We can blame the devil. He's done it all anyway.

00:34:54.947 --> 00:34:58.867
And so it's not you, but I want you to know that there's a treacherous thing

00:34:58.867 --> 00:34:59.907
going against your life.

00:35:00.267 --> 00:35:03.847
And I want you to know that Jesus Christ has come to set you free.

00:35:04.007 --> 00:35:06.167
So that's what speaking the truth in love is all about.

00:35:06.347 --> 00:35:12.907
So it's not only what we say, but it's how we say it. It's our tone.

00:35:13.870 --> 00:35:20.950
Speaking the truth and love. Well, some people just speak with such harsh, harsh, evil tones.

00:35:21.330 --> 00:35:25.130
But it's like how you say it and the tone of how you say it.

00:35:25.610 --> 00:35:29.470
All of us know that. And a lot of times in texting, now, it's hard to get the

00:35:29.470 --> 00:35:31.030
tone, and so you don't know.

00:35:31.730 --> 00:35:36.150
It's kind of a masked way of being. But we want to look at Matthew 12.

00:35:36.710 --> 00:35:39.550
This is really the bottom line here.

00:35:40.330 --> 00:35:45.350
Matthew chapter 12, and we want to look at beginning with verse 33.

00:35:46.150 --> 00:35:51.510
Either makes a tree good and its fruit good, or else makes a tree bad and its fruit bad.

00:35:51.950 --> 00:35:56.030
For a tree is known by its fruit. Then he said, brood of vipers,

00:35:56.070 --> 00:35:58.150
he's saying family of snakes.

00:35:59.470 --> 00:36:04.470
How can you, being evil, speak good things?

00:36:04.630 --> 00:36:09.090
For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.

00:36:09.730 --> 00:36:13.850
A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things,

00:36:13.910 --> 00:36:17.890
and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil things.

00:36:18.070 --> 00:36:24.110
He says, but I say to you that for every idle or empty careless word that men

00:36:24.110 --> 00:36:27.250
may speak, they will give account of it on the day of judgment.

00:36:27.250 --> 00:36:33.370
For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.

00:36:33.590 --> 00:36:39.430
This is pretty serious. But basically what happens is that your words are the

00:36:39.430 --> 00:36:43.170
showcase of what's in your heart.

00:36:43.690 --> 00:36:46.570
So you have to look when you...

00:36:47.150 --> 00:36:51.070
What the heart is full of, again, the most big thing. We discern with people

00:36:51.070 --> 00:36:56.090
what's really in their heart is what they'll talk about.

00:36:56.250 --> 00:37:01.230
Even sometimes people that are passionate about fishing or basketball or baseball

00:37:01.230 --> 00:37:05.210
or something. And when you talk to them about it, you bring up the subject,

00:37:05.230 --> 00:37:07.230
and all of a sudden, boom, boom, this is this.

00:37:07.510 --> 00:37:09.930
They're on it. They're on it. They're going on and on.

00:37:10.830 --> 00:37:14.210
So what's in their heart comes out of the mouth. But a lot of times,

00:37:14.310 --> 00:37:17.810
and we've got to wrap up with this, but a lot of times people don't go to the

00:37:17.810 --> 00:37:18.950
deeper parts of what's in their

00:37:18.950 --> 00:37:21.970
heart because they're afraid they will be rejected or not understood.

00:37:22.850 --> 00:37:28.690
So let us not be afraid. You cultivate your praise of God. I will bless the Lord at all times.

00:37:28.770 --> 00:37:32.610
His praise shall continually be in my mouth. Yes. My soul will make its boast of the Lord.

00:37:32.750 --> 00:37:35.030
The humble shall hear of it and be glad.

00:37:35.630 --> 00:37:38.310
O magnify the Lord with me and let us exalt His name together." So,

00:37:38.850 --> 00:37:42.970
one of the ways we can use our tongue to make a lot of spiritual progress is

00:37:42.970 --> 00:37:46.870
to praise the Lord and be thankful, rejoice, and in everything give thanks.

00:37:47.030 --> 00:37:49.890
So, we're not murmuring, we're thanking, we're praising God,

00:37:50.050 --> 00:37:53.750
we're looking to God to fix the things that we cannot fix, and we're trusting

00:37:53.750 --> 00:37:56.550
God in that expression to make it right.

00:37:57.324 --> 00:38:01.864
The first part of Psalm 51.10 says, Create in me a clean heart.

00:38:02.044 --> 00:38:06.844
Oh, God. Oh, God. And if your heart is full, Psalm 119.11, he says,

00:38:06.964 --> 00:38:12.064
Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee. Amen.

00:38:12.504 --> 00:38:15.304
Well, Father God, we thank you for the power of words. We thank you for the

00:38:15.304 --> 00:38:18.784
power of your word to teach us the power of words and to teach us even through

00:38:18.784 --> 00:38:21.224
our own mouths what your Spirit would say to us.

00:38:21.524 --> 00:38:26.964
Lord God, and help us to yield our tongues to praise and blessing and life instead

00:38:26.964 --> 00:38:30.084
of yielding it to the enemy for death and destruction and lies.

00:38:30.264 --> 00:38:34.104
Father, I just pray that you give us courage to take control of our tongues

00:38:34.104 --> 00:38:37.884
and shut them up instead of watch over our mouths if we need to,

00:38:38.264 --> 00:38:43.024
and give you the praise and let you have the time you need to do the work without

00:38:43.024 --> 00:38:48.804
cutting it off by cursing or judging or coming into a place of despair and unbelief.

00:38:48.944 --> 00:38:52.824
Father, we thank you for this beautiful group of people that listen to us.

00:38:52.824 --> 00:38:58.604
We pray divine blessings upon them, and that you'd cause us to grow up, speak to our hearts.

00:38:58.724 --> 00:39:03.284
May our hearts be filled with praise and joy and rejoicing, Father, in Jesus' name. Amen.

00:39:03.964 --> 00:39:07.284
Amen. Hey, what are we going to talk about? Well, Life Recovery,

00:39:07.364 --> 00:39:08.964
go to the website, check it out.

00:39:09.044 --> 00:39:13.164
We've got all kinds of options and opportunities and teachings.

00:39:13.784 --> 00:39:19.104
I think the one I'm going to talk about today is, why can't I concentrate?

00:39:19.104 --> 00:39:22.324
It has to do with the mind, the heart, the mouth.

00:39:22.544 --> 00:39:29.784
And why can't I concentrate? God, help us to be set free to walk in Jesus and walk in His power. Amen.

00:39:31.164 --> 00:39:33.924
Available at liferecovery.com. Amen.

00:39:34.320 --> 00:40:04.069
Music.