Michael's Blog

Taming the Tongue and Avoiding Evil

Well unfortunately we forgot to record last night, but here are my rough notes on the taming of  the tongue from last night.  These are not complete, but here is a summary before you look at the notes.  The tongue has power of life and death.  It can lift people up, but we most often cause damage with out tongue.  Gossip, slander, back-biting, harsh words, pain, and all sorts of evil.  We must learn to stop using our tongues for evil and start using them to praise God and build people up.  Our churches are falling apart today as a result of bad relationships cause by using our tongues for evil.

The greatest thing we could learn to do with out tongue is healing broken relationships and praising God.   Matthew 18:15 “If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over.”

=====Here are my notes=====

Sharpness of the tongue…

Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.  Really?

Think to some of the events of recent past.

2 students in the past 2 years have made national headlines with suicides attributed to bullying of students via web and text.

I am sorry, I think the most powerful weapon on the face of the planet is the tongue because it can cause death and destruction without laying a hand on a physical weapon or a person!

Think about it… When was the last time someone said negative about you (whether it was true or not)…  Here is the problem.  The tongue hurts, but it hurts even worse when it is said about you and not to you.  Would you rather someone say something negative about you to others or tell you to your face?

We are going to talk about several things tonight, but lets first review one verse.

Proverbs 18:21

The tongue has the power of life and death

The tongue has the power to correct people and bring them back into proper fellowship with you and others.  It has the power to uplift people.  It has the power to bring joy.

The tongue also has the power to complete obliterate someone even to the point of death.  When you talk negatively about someone’s appears or features, talk about wrong they have done to you (but to other people), rip them apart behind their back, etc, you can lead them into reclusion, depression, and possibly even lead them to suicide.

Well you are all very familiar with ways your speech can be helpful.  Let’s examine what the Bible says about harm.

James 3:5

Taming the Tongue

1Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. 2We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check.

3When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. 4Or 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. 5Likewise 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. 6The 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.

7All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and creatures of the sea are being tamed and have been tamed by man, 8but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.

9With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God’s likeness. 10Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be. 11Can both fresh water and salt ◙ water flow from the same spring? 12My brothers, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.

Ok, so let’s examine the tongue in great detail:

Psalm 34:13 (New International Version)

13 keep your tongue from evil
and your lips from speaking lies.

Ephesians 4:29 (New International Version)

29Do 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.

Proverbs 12:18 (New International Version)

18 Reckless words pierce like a sword,
but the tongue of the wise brings healing.

James 1:26 (New International Version)

26If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless.

1 Peter 2:1-3

1Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. 2Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, 3now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.

So from this what do you consider evil talk?

Slander – Defamation – Tearing down a good name

Gossip

Talking back at authorities

Hate speech

Tearing down someone

What will God do if … ?

Ok, yesterday was bad…. Really bad … Emotionally, spiritually, etc… It is funny how badly satan is trying to run me down.  He is using all sorts of things to do it and yet in the midst of it all, God keeps showing himself to be faithful.  Yesterday, Satan attacked my hot button… What people think about me.  This has been my week point my entire life.  This particular button can cause me to melt into a pile of gelatinous goop and cause me to curl into a corner crying and rocking like some mental patient.  Well yesterday, I was inches from the corner and regressing back into my shell of protection as a result of circumstances where my character and self worth were attacked.   Thankfully I was allowed to get away for a couple of hours with my wonderful wife to think, talk, and be brainless.  My wife encouraged me beyond anything you can imagine.  I whined, griped, complained, and came within a very small step of being in tears.  Then she reminded me of all we have come through over the past few months and reminded me that Satan is just going to ramp up the attacks as a result of this prayer ministry that we are launching.  She is right, YET AGAIN!  Thank you Mary for being not just an awesome wife, by my partner in the ministry.  I could not do it without you!

When I returned, my mom gave me this…

Instead of asking, “What will I do if…

ask…

What will God do if …?

I the maker of heaven and earth, will:

-perfect everything that concern you (psalm 138:8)

-work all thing togerher for your good. (romans 8:28)

-contend with those who contend with you. (Isaiah 49:25)

-fight this battle for you. (2 Chron 20:15)

-equip you with divine powers. (2 Cor 10:4)

-delight to show you mercy (2 Micah 7:18)

-meet all your needs according to my glorious riches in Christ Jesus. (Phil 4:19)

-give you grace that is perfectly sufficient. (2 Cor 12:9)

-be your power in weakness. (2 Cor 12:9)

-do immeasurably more than all you could ask or imagine, according to the power that is at work within you. (Eph 3:20)

He will have no fear of bad news, his heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord, His heart is secure, he will have no fear; in the end, he will look in triumph on his foes.  (Psalm 1127-8)

I am strengthened by the power of God’s word today and by the power of His spirit and ready to fight the good fight and finish the race!

Word or Deed

It seems that as a minister, one of the problems in our churches & youth groups, most prevalent/yet most glossed over in the church is gossip/group talk.   We often will have conflicts arise in the church (and this is all churches) and people will gather in small groups to talk it out in hopes of making themselves feel better, but the problem is that this talking it out only amounts to gossip, because the person with whom the conflict exists is not even present in the discussion.  Most often this person is oblivious that there is even a problem, because everyone puts on their Christian faces in front of this person.

From Col 3  … “¹⁵Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. ¹⁶Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. ¹⁷And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”

As you can see in this passage, God did not intend for so much drama to exist in His body, the church.  He intended peace to exist in the body.  When we gripe, fuss, gossip, and such; we are introducing cancer into the body.  We are causing sickness to settle on the masses.  The Bible says that our job in the church is to teach each other, admonish each other, and worship together.  Nowhere does it says to tear down one another.  When we have conflict with each other, it gives us instruction on this as well.

The biggest problem though is that we wear a mask of unity.  We pretend all is well when we are around people that we have a problem with and then as they leave, we stab them in the back with our words to others who may have the same problem with a person.  What does that accomplish?

Two things need to be done in order to handle conflict (1) we need to be reconcliled to God… 2 Cor 5:18-21 “¹⁸All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: ¹⁹that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. ²⁰We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. ²¹God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”  (2) We need to be reconciled to the the person we have a problem with, not the congregation or friends at large.  Too often we air our grievances under the pretense of “VENTING”.  The problem is our grievances continue going around with those we vented too and a posse of sorts gathers in opposition to the party who we have a problem with and they have not been given a chance to correct their ways, share their side, or reconcile.  How sad, Christ continually forgives us we yet we are too good to forgive our brother/sister in Christ even just a few times.   The Biblical model for handling your problem with your borhter or sister in Christ is found in Matt 18, “15 “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother.”   How much better for 2 people to work out their problems and to bury them than to bring a whole group into a problem and kill the community of the church!

Is it any wonder that the church has not experienced revival in this generation?  We are so busy building alliances like a bad episode of survivor that we are killing the whole purpose of the church.  A body of believers united for worship and to reach the world for Christ.   Well that is my 2 cents for today!

Great information on conflict resolution can be found at http://www.christianitytoday.com/holidays/labor/features/conflict.html

How to Witness

If you do not see video, you can find it at http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/6030258

This was a little bit of a strange message for me, more of a teaching lesson than an actual message, but sometimes we get so caught up in telling people to go and witness that we fail to ever train them how to do it.  That was the purpose of the message this past Wednesday.

The online version of this HERE’S HOPE tract can be found at http://www.thegoodnews.org/CD/heres_hope/heres_hope.html

The Temple Veil and Salvation

My notes, as always!

======================

The veil and your salvation!

Let’s let that video sink in for a moment…

The implications…

The challenges…

The lasting effect today

Everything in the temple was designed to point to the coming hope…

Even the veil

The veil was meant to appear impenetrable to man, but to God it was a whole other thing.  God is holy and sinful man can not stand before a holy God with sin in his life, so the veil existed, created by man, but only able to be torn by God…

When you look at the Holy of Holies, God’s resting place in OT times, you see what we were kept from.  The mercy seat of God.  The place where he rested on top of the ark of the covenant.  The place where only a high priest could enter at a set time each year to offer a sacrifice on behalf of sinful man.  A place where even the priest was a little fearful to even enter…

This little bit of information is disputed by some, but it is said that the priest would go through his ritual of purification, don his priestly attire meant for the sacrifice int he holy of holies, but before entering, the other priests would tie a rope around his ankle to pull him out in case he died upon entering the presence of the Lord.  Even if this did not take place, the face the the rumor exists, shows the great divide that sin caused between man and God.

All of that would change on the cross…

Mark 15:33-41

33At the sixth hour darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour. 34And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?”—which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” ◙

35When some of those standing near heard this, they said, “Listen, he’s calling Elijah.”

36One man ran, filled a sponge with wine vinegar, put it on a stick, and offered it to Jesus to drink. “Now leave him alone. Let’s see if Elijah comes to take him down,” he said.

37With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last.

38The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. 39And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, heard his cry and ◙ saw how he died, he said, “Surely this man was the Son ◙ of God!”

40Some women were watching from a distance. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome. 41In Galilee these women had followed him and cared for his needs. Many other women who had come up with him to Jerusalem were also there.

THE CRUCIFIXION CHANGED THE DYNAMIC OF THE EARTH TO THE POINT WHERE DARKNESS FELL AND THE EARTH SHOOK AND THE VEIL TORE!

Why?  What happened?  Suddenly a pathway to heaven was opened that had been sealed for thousands of years.  Suddenly sinful man could be redeemed in one life instance and have communication and communion with God.  Life as we know it changed.

Isaiah 53:1-10 (THE MESSAGE)

1Who believes what we’ve heard and seen?

Who would have thought God’s saving power would look like this?

2The servant grew up before God—a scrawny seedling,

a scrubby plant in a parched field.

There was nothing attractive about him,

nothing to cause us to take a second look.

3He was looked down on and passed over,

a man who suffered, who knew pain firsthand.

One look at him and people turned away.

We looked down on him, thought he was scum.

4But the fact is, it was our pains he carried—

our disfigurements, all the things wrong with us.

We thought he brought it on himself,

that God was punishing him for his own failures.

5But it was our sins that did that to him,

that ripped and tore and crushed him—our sins!

He took the punishment, and that made us whole.

Through his bruises we get healed.

6We’re all like sheep who’ve wandered off and gotten lost.

We’ve all done our own thing, gone our own way.

And God has piled all our sins, everything we’ve done wrong,

on him, on him.

7He was beaten, he was tortured,

but he didn’t say a word.

Like a lamb taken to be slaughtered

and like a sheep being sheared,

he took it all in silence.

8Justice miscarried, and he was led off—

and did anyone really know what was happening?

He died without a thought for his own welfare,

beaten bloody for the sins of my people.

9They buried him with the wicked,

threw him in a grave with a rich man,

Even though he’d never hurt a soul

or said one word that wasn’t true.

10Still, it’s what God had in mind all along,

to crush him with pain.

The plan was that he give himself as an offering for sin

so that he’d see life come from it—life, life, and more life.

And God’s plan will deeply prosper through him.

It was God’s will that the veil between God and man be torn and that took place on the cross.  When Christ died on the cross, he was in misery, not just form the crucifixion, but because he had to take upon the sins of man carry those, he had to bear betrayal of his friends, and God the father had to turn his face from Christ for a brief time as those sins piled upon him and he carried them form the grave.  Christ knew this, but it does not make it easier.

Well then what happened?

Was that the end?  No, he rose again!  That was easter morning, but what then?  What takes place beyond that?

2 Cor 5:14-21 (THE MESSAGE)

Our firm decision is to work from this focused center: One man died for everyone. That puts everyone in the same boat.

15He included everyone in his death so that everyone could also be included in his life, a resurrection life, a far better life than people ever lived on their own.

16Because of this decision we don’t evaluate people by what they have or how they look. We looked at the Messiah that way once and got it all wrong, as you know. We certainly don’t look at him that way anymore. 17Now we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life burgeons! Look at it! 18All this comes from the God who settled the relationship between us and him, and then called us to settle our relationships with each other. 19God put the world square with himself through the Messiah, giving the world a fresh start by offering forgiveness of sins. God has given us the task of telling everyone what he is doing. 20We’re Christ’s representatives. God uses us to persuade men and women to drop their differences and enter into God’s work of making things right between them. We’re speaking for Christ himself now: Become friends with God; he’s already a friend with you.

21How? you say. In Christ. God put the wrong on him who never did anything wrong, so we could be put right with God.

21 (NIV) – God made him who had no sin to be sin  for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

He became sin who knew no sin, that we might become his rigteousness?  What does this mean.  As he hung on the cross, people mocking him, friends leaving him, he carried the weight of the sin of the world on his shoulder and took it, willingly to His death.  He gave us a chance, accept that sacrifice and be free.  Free!  Really, really, free!  WOW