The Great Commission
Part 5 – Growing in the Lord
OVERCOMING: Your Mouth
Pastor Bruce A. Shields
House of Faith – www.PS127.org | www.TruthDigest.org
ANNOUNCEMENTS
6:00PM Evening Service at the church –
“Seminary Students will be preaching”
October 12th – Lori Ulman
October 19th – Lynnette Higgins
October 26th – Walker Spriggs
November 2nd – Deacon Kurt Ulman
November 9th – Grace Steadman
WHERE WE ARE AT
† Spending Time with the Lord in Prayer
† Spending Time with the Lord Reading the Word
† Spending Time with the Lord in Fellowship
† Spending Time with the Lord, One on One
† Growing in the Lord : OVERCOMING The Carnal Mind
† Growing in the Lord : OVERCOMING Satan
† Growing in the Lord : OVERCOMING Worldliness
† Growing in the Lord : OVERCOMING Pride
† Growing in the Lord : OVERCOMING Your Mouth
INTRODUCTION
I. Life and Death are in the Tongue
o Proverbs 18:21 – Life and Death are in the Tongue
The tongue has the power of life and death,
and those who love it will eat its fruit.
Everything that is, came to be from the Word which was spoken.
We, created in God’s image, and having the Holy Spirit in us, have the power to speak things as if they were.
If we speak doubt, fear, negativity, we are essentially speaking death into our lives.
If we speak the Word of God, and things which are pure, good and holy, we are speaking life into our lives.
o Proverbs 13:2-3 – Life and Destruction in your words
2 From the fruit of his lips a man enjoys good things,
but the unfaithful have a craving for violence.
3 He who guards his lips guards his life,
but he who speaks rashly will come to ruin.
o Luke 6:45 - What you speak is from your heart
The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.
o James 3:3-6, 9-11- Blessings and Curses from the same mouth??
3 When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. 4 Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. 5 Likewise the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. 6 The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.
9 With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God's likeness. 10 Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be. 11 Can both fresh water and salt[a] water flow from the same spring?
Can pure and tainted water fill the same cup?
II. Do not Speak Evil
o Ephesians 4:29, 31-32 – No Corrupt Speech Only Edifying
29 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.
30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
Our reality is not a perception, but a result of our tongues speaking things into existence.
The seeds in which you sew will bring forth fruit of it’s kind. Just as it were in Genesis, so it is now.
And you will reap whatever fruit that comes from the seed in which you sew.
Are you surrounded in chaos, negativity and death?
Or are you surrounded with hope that never dies, strength to carry on and a will from your Father in heaven that causes you to succeed no matter what the circumstances?
My wife used to be negative, she called it “being realistic”.
But that negativity was really the fruit from the seed called “lack of faith”.
When God grew her faith, she stepped out of that reality, and into the reality that the Holy Spirit gives her no matter what the circumstance, and now she walks in faith and in the Spirit.
o 1 Timothy 6:20-21 - Avoid Profanity & Vain Babbling
20 Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to your care. Turn away from godless chatter and the opposing ideas of what is falsely called knowledge, 21 which some have professed and in so doing have wandered from the faith.
o Proverbs 15:4 – Deceit crushes the spirit
The tongue that brings healing is a tree of life,
but a deceitful tongue crushes the spirit.
o Matthew 12:36 – You are accountable for every idle word
But I tell you that men will have to give account on the Day of Judgment for every careless word they have spoken. 37 For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned."
Life and Death in your words…
What are you speaking in your life?
Motivational speakers all over the world in the past 20+ years have been making a living off teaching simple principles found in the Holy Scriptures.
Positive thinking is simply what the scriptures say when it says to think on things which are holy, pure and righteous.
Speaking positively in your life is what the scriptures have told man to do from day one.
When we sew the seeds of discourse, negativity, hate, anger, sin, anything that is vain or ungodly, we are planting a garden surrounding our feet.
We should be planting seeds of understanding, compassion and love for all, saved and unsaved.
When our garden grows, are we going to be surrounded by lovely fruit of life, or the thorns thistles and poisonous berries of our sin?
We should only speak that which will build and edify others in what they need.
You see, it’s not about us, but others.
We need to stop living selfishly, and start living a selfless life as our Savior did.
III. Speak Good
o Proverbs 16:23-24 – Pleasant words are good for you
23 A wise man's heart guides his mouth,
and his lips promote instruction.
24 Pleasant words are a honeycomb,
sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.
o 1 Chronicles 16:9 – Speak of God’s Wonders
8 Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name;
make known among the nations what he has done.
9 Sing to him, sing praise to him;
tell of all his wonderful acts.
o 1 Peter 1:15 – Be Holy in conversations
But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; 16for it is written: "Be holy, because I am holy."
o Psalm 50:23 – Watch conversation and God will reveal Salvation
CONCLUSION
James 1:26-27 – If a man seems right, but does not control his tongue…
26 If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless. 27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
