Sunday Service

Is this on? Good morning, Mount Pleasant Christian Center. I hope everyone is doing well. You know, sometimes you just come in and you, my brothers and sisters, you just bless me so much, through words of encouragement, to prayer, to even sometimes something tangible. This last week, something happened this morning even before I even got out of my vehicle, and it hit me to a few other things in the last week.

A few days ago, Brother Ray made a trip out and got some fresh pit corn, came and shared some with me, and passed it on to many of you here in the body. Last Sunday, Brother Carlos, he had worked and he had grown like four different types of peppers, and he was just eager to share them with what he had grown. I hadn't even got out of my vehicle. Brother Dean harvested from his garden. Man, I saw cucumbers, all these other things in there in this bag that he got. And even then, I wasn't able to pull out, 'cause Sister Nelly had pulled up with some oranges from her tree. Delicious oranges. And as I was, you know, I joked with Eric, I go, "Man, I, I got lunch." But as I was walking in, I just started thinking about it. You know, I have trees, and I know the work you have to do to put in to get some to produce from those trees. And it's representative of the time, of the watering, of the care, of the picking of those things. And you put that time and effort in, there's this tangible result. And when they gave it to me, I was so happy. And you know what? Each of them were so happy to share it.

You know, it's like that with our life with Christ, right? We have to grow in the Lord. It's a process. Sometimes we're watered on. Sometimes we have to get weeded, right? But we grow, and then there's fruit. But what's the purpose of this fruit? It's to share. It feeds us, but it's also to share. Someone out there needs it. Someone out there needs to know about the Lord. Amen. And how great they're going to feel when they hear about that. And for us, when we share it, we are growing. We're doing what we're supposed to do, and we have a joy because we have a closeness to God. You know, sometimes God just gives us these things just in a moment. And that's what it was this morning for me. And I had to share it with you guys. And I can share it with you 'cause you're my family. You know, when we come up here together, it's not just four walls. For more years than I can count, this has been my home. When the hardest things that have hit me in my life, I come home to my God, my family. And so I want you to know, whenever you have something that's you're going through, remember this is home.

And if you need to step in these doors and say, "Oh man, all this stuff is going on, but you know what? I'm home right now." And that's what we're here for. But you know what? Thank God. My God is with me wherever I go. And right here, right now, though, this is going to be a time we're here. I plead with each and every one of you. Don't just be something you're trying to check off a list for today. Maybe you're here because you're invited. Maybe you're here because you had to, right? For one reason or another, right? But you're here right now. And I guarantee you, if you truly say, "I'm going to open my heart. I'm going to open my mind right now and just hear what God has for me," I guarantee you. I guarantee you God is going to do something with you this morning. Amen. Okay, let's pray.

Heavenly Father God, I thank you, Lord, for this day. I thank you for this moment in time that we are here together as a family right now. And dear God, we give it to you. You are here. We are ready to come into your presence right now, Lord, and say, "God, have your way with us in everything that takes place today, Lord. Let it be pleasing to you." And we commit it right now in your mighty name. And all of God's people said, "Amen." Amen. With us today. Hallelujah. Your word is a lamp unto my feet. Your way is the only way for me. It's a narrow road that leads to life, but I want to be on it. Amen. It's a narrow road and the mercy's wide. 'Cause you're good in your promise. I'll take you at your word. If you said it, I'll believe it. I've seen how good it was. If you start it, you'll complete it. I'll take you at your word. You spoke and the chaos fell in my head. Oh, I know 'cause I've seen it in my life. It's a narrow road that leads to life, but I want to be on it. Hallelujah. It's a narrow road and the tide is high, but you couldn't. I'll take you at your word. You said it. I believe. I've seen how good it was. You started. You're complete. I'll take you at your word. If you said it, I believe it. I see how good it works. You started your complete. I'll take you at your word. You're good to your promise, Jesus. You promise 'cause you said your love will never give up. And you said your grace is always enough. You said your heart will never forget or forsake me. Hallelujah. And you said I'm saved and you call me yours. You said my future's full of your hope and you'll never fail. And I know that you'll never fail me. Close. And you said your love will never give up. You said your grace is always enough. You said your heart will never forget or forsake me. And you said I'm saved and you call me yours. You said my future's full of your hope. You never fail. So I know that you'll never fail me. I'll take you at your word. If you said it, I believe it. I've seen how good it was. You started your complete. I'll take you at your word. You said it. I believe. I see how good it was. You started your promise. You got your. Take you. Give him a shout of praise. Hallelujah. Thank you, Jesus. Amen. Hallelujah. Anybody excited to praise the Lord this morning? Amen. Hallelujah. Praise God. God is good. Amen.

I want to read you a scripture this morning. How many of you need a reminder every once in a while? Amen. I know I need reminders. Ask my wife. Is my wife here yet? Oops. I didn't mean to point out that she wasn't here. Oh, there she is. I didn't see her. She wasn't sitting where she usually sits. She's. Everyone loves my wife. Sorry. I'm sorry, babe. You're awesome. It's uh I need reminders how awesome she is. That's what I need reminders of. So, I I just want to uh thank this church for continuing to be an encouragement to me and my family. I want to thank every one of you for what you've done in my life and what you've been able to to speak into my life. And I just want to speak over you today uh that every one of you has something to say. Amen. Do you believe that today? That every one of you has something to say. Even if it is with your actions, even if it is not with words, even if it is just with uh an act of service, um, you know, a a favor for someone. Um, letting someone your car, whatever it is, uh we can be what that person needs. And it just takes us being willing to step out and step into what God has called us to do. Amen. We're going to sing a song about redemption. Amen. Anybody been redeemed in here?

Romans 8:8, starting with verse one, it says, "Therefore, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Because through Christ Jesus, the law of the spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do, because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his son in the likeness of sinful fle sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us who do not live according to the flesh but live according to the spirit. And that is us. Amen. There is no more condemnation for those that are in Christ Jesus. There is no reason for us to live in our past. There is no reason for us to look back at all. All there is is a moment for us, a time, a place now for us to look at where we are and forward. Amen. So, let's do that today as we sing this song. Hallelujah. And I know who I am 'cause I know who you are. The cross of salvation was only the start. Now I am chosen, free and forgiving. And I have a future and it's worth living. And I wasn't made to be tended in a grave. I was called by name. Born and raised back to life. I was made. So why would I make amend my shame in a fountain of is running my way? I know I am yours and I was made for more. I know who I am. I know who you are. The cross of salvation was only now I am chosen. I have a future. It's worth my my way. I know I am your single. You call out my name. I sing out your praise. You my go. You call out my name. I'll sing out your name. You I'm not going. I was in pain to be tended a grave. I was called by name. Born and raised back to life again. I was made for more. Why would I be my shame with the I'm sorry my baby. I would sh I know I am I Holly, you call my name. I see your face. I'm not going to your name my face. I wasn't made to be tending a grave. I was called by name. Born and raised back to life. I was made for more. So why would I make a bed in my shame when a mountain of grace is running my way? I know I am yours. I was made for more. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.

There is one on the throne. Jesus. Oh, he is worthy of praise and honor, glory. There is one on the Jesus. He's home. He is worthy of praise and be glory. Worthy is the lamb who was slain and seated on the throne. There's no one like the Lord. Elders, creatures found in the place to whom they live alone. There's no one like the Lord. There is one on the throne. Jesus is. He's worthy of praise and honor, worthy, worthy. He is the lamb who was slain and seated on the throne. There's no one like the Lord. Elders, creatures bow. You've been praising him in him alone. There's no one like you. Worthy is who was seated on the ground. There's no one like the praise that it is alone. There's no one. There's no one. There's no one like I. We crown you king of glory. We crown you king of glory. We crown you. We crown you. We crown you. You are worthy. We crown you. You are worthy. We crown you. You are worthy. We crown you. We crown you king of glory. We crown you king of glory. We crown you king. We crown you. We crown you king. We crown you. You are worthy. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. There's no way I know. There's no way I know. We proud you. We proud you. We proud you. You are. We proud you. You are. We proud you. You are. We are. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Yeah. Heat. You have no rival. You have no reward now and forever. Yours is the king. Yours is the glory. Yours is the Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Yeah. Heat. I see. There's no one like the Lord. Elders, creatures bell, give a praise to him. There's no one like the Lord. Worthy is the lamb who was slain and sitting on the throne. There's no one like the Lord. Elders, creatures bound. Give it praise him alone. There so I know. Jesus like there's no one like. There's no one like you, Lord. There's no one like you. There's no one like the Lord. Amen.

This is a true, the truest of statements. There's no one like him. No one ever created, no one who will be created, no one who ever existed or will exist is like the Lord. He is Lord of all. Amen. All powerful, all knowing, ever present, and has his eye on you. And his heart is for you. He loves you with an ultimate love that you can never do anything to earn, and that you could never do anything to get him to stop loving you. Amen. He is worthy. He's worthy. Rulers, creatures, as the song says, they all bow before the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. One day, whether you believe in God or not, on that day, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. You'll either be driven to your knees with the realization that you were wrong all your life and God is real, and the things you read in the Bible were true, or we will willingly fall to our knees with our hands lifted and our hearts raised, welcoming the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. Amen. But every knee will bow and every tongue will confess. And regardless of what you're experiencing right now in your life, be it good or bad or somewhere in between, that fact remains. And the decision that we make on that fact will determine, will determine the rest of our lives and will determine our eternity. Amen. So right now, in the presence of God, as we close out this time of worship through singing and songs and corporate worship, we exit this time and into worshiping God by sitting at his feet. Let's let's get our hearts in the right place and our minds in the right place today. Nothing that you're going through, nothing that is happening in your lives should deter you from drawing close to Jesus today. Nothing should cause you to deviate from his presence today. So before we get into God's word, I want us to get our hearts and our heads right in Jesus name. Amen.

You may have have had a week from hell, and that that's okay. You you've come to the right place. Praise God. You're here this morning 'cause you're in a place surrounded by your brothers and sisters, and you're in the presence of God where you can worship Him. You can let go of those things and grab a hold of Him again. Or maybe you say, "Pastor Matt, it's some of the people in this room that got me all anxious and hurt and broken." Well, don't focus on them today. Focus on Jesus. Focus on His presence. Focus on worshiping Him, and He'll take care of those issues. Come on, somebody. Are you here? Are you hearing me today? Nobody should have that power over your life. Not even you. You give that power to the Lord. So right now, let's get our heads and our hearts in the right place. Amen.

Father, in the name of Jesus, I don't know what kind of week my brothers and sisters are coming out of. I know mine. I know the ups. I know the downs. I know the highs. I know the lows. But I'm not going to let anything that took place Monday through Saturday to determine my praise, my worship, my attention, and my decision to not only receive the gospel, receive the message, but to be Your expression of that message, to be the living, breathing gospel of Jesus Christ. So, whatever issues I dragged in today, thank you for allowing me to do that, God, by the way. But whatever issues, whatever struggles, whatever baggage I dragged in today, right now, it's my time to let it go in Your presence, to free my heart and my mind from all of that stuff and to focus on You. That today, as we lifted up praise to Your holy name, that God, You would give us the strength to let those things go right here and right now. We drop them because we were not designed to carry that baggage around wherever we go. These arms, these spiritual arms, were created to hold on to You, to wrap around You. So, Father, right now in Jesus name, get our hearts and our heads right. We ask You in the name of Jesus to give us the strength to let go and allow You to do what only You can do. Father, we give our minds, we give our hearts, we give our bodies, all of us, we belong to You. And in these next moments, Father, I pray that You speak clearly to us. I know You will. But that we will receive clearly. We will hear clearly and we will clearly respond to You. Thank You, Jesus. Come on, somebody just thank Him right now with your own lips. Thank You, Jesus. God, we thank You. Come on, tell them You love Him. We love You, Lord. We love You, Jesus. Our heart is for You. Our hearts burn for You, Jesus. We need Your presence, oh God. We need Your presence. We need Your Holy Spirit. We need Your power over our lives, oh God. You deserve the glory. You deserve the praise. You deserve it all, Lord Jesus. And as we lift up that praise to You, may Your strength and Your power fall upon us, God. Give us the ability to walk this walk of faith, to keep in step with the spirit, to keep our eyes on the prize. You You are the prize. And God, You'll never steer us in a direction that we're not supposed to go. You will keep us on the path because You are, Your word is a lamp unto my feet and a light into my path. Help us today to hide Your word in our hearts as the Bible says, that we might not sin against You. Oh, we thank You. We thank You. We thank You. We thank You. And we give You all the praise, all the glory, all the honor, and the worship. And it's in the mighty, wonderful, and fully capable name of Jesus Christ that we pray these things. And all of God's people said, "Amen." Amen. And amen.

Come on, let's give Him praise this morning. Hallelujah, Jesus. Yes, God. Hallelujah. We worship You, God. We worship You, Jesus. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Thank You, Jesus. Yes, Lord. Glory to Your name, oh God. Glory to Your name. Amen.

And now, before you sit down today, shake a couple hands, hug a neck, tell somebody how great it is to see them in the house of the Lord this morning. Amen. Come on, let's have a little bit of fellowship. Bible tells in Hebrews not to forsake the fellowship of the brethren as some do, or some are have have become in the habit of doing. We are family. We are the body of Christ, and we need each other. Amen. Hallelujah.

Maybe you came into church today and you, you know, it's your first time in a Pentecostal church, and you're thinking, "These people are weird." I'm here to confirm that. Yes, we are. We're fools for Christ. We're a peculiar people, a chosen generation. Amen. You say, "Oh, these people, they're very expressive." Well, let me tell you what. If you knew my life and what Jesus saved me from, you'd be as expressive as I am to know what Jesus did for me. I know my testimony. I know some of y'all's testimony. You got a reason to be excited. You got a reason to be expressive. Amen. Amen. It's It's all right to tell Jesus you love Him. It's all right to sing praises to His name. Amen. All I know is I can I can see scripture all throughout scripture. There's people who are singing praises to God. Man, you think about Jericho. Some of us have had some Jericho of our own. And no matter what we tried to do, we couldn't knock those walls down. Nothing could, because they're impenetrable, as the word described Jericho as impenetrable. And then Jesus told them to worship. Jesus told them to shout praise. And they did that. And what happened to those walls? They came tumbling down. Amen. So sometimes it's all right for us to get excited, to get loud, to shout for joy. Amen. The Bible talks, the Psalms are chocked full of commandments to shout to the Lord with our praise. Amen. So hopefully, more time you spend with us, you'll get weird with us in Jesus name. Amen. Look at your neighbor. Say, "You're a weirdo." Neighbor, look back. Say, "I receive that in Jesus name." Hallelujah. Amen.

Well, it's good good to be back in the house of the Lord. Amen. Praise God. God is so good. I want to remind you uh that our young adults uh every week, almost every Sunday, they are out there uh selling coffee drinks, iced coffees. So, some of you have have uh, you know, partaken in the fruits of of their labor, and you are blessed. You are pleased. If you haven't yet, make sure that you go out there. Uh, what you purchase goes to support the ministry of Mount Pleasant Christian Center. And so they're working hard. They come out early. They prepare those coffees and they get those all served up and uh for your enjoyment. So again, whatever you purchase, that goes to uh furthering the ministry of Mount Pleasant Christian Center. Can we give it up for our young adults? Amen. Come on, let's give them some some love. Bible says to give honor where honor is due. They're doing great work, and we are we are definitely blessed.

All right. We've been talking about grace over the last couple of months and and specifically about growing in grace. So, not to to to draw this kind of recap out, but but the title of this series is called Growing in Grace. And there again, that's a two-fold meaning. We're growing in grace, in God's grace, in that bubble of His protection, in an environment that that produces what we need to grow in that grace, but then we also are growing in grace as far as what grace is. Grace is kind of like a superpower for us. God expressed His grace to us, right? Gave us the gift, the free gift of salvation, and all we had to do was ask for it. We didn't have to do anything for it. We didn't have to work for it. But now, because we're saved, we work because we're saved. We don't work for salvation, but now that we're saved, we work because we're saved. Amen. And we grow as long as we're keeping in step with the Lord. We're following His ways, living with Him, serving beside Him. As long as we're doing that, we're growing in the strength and the power of the grace that we are allowed now to give. We have freely received His grace, and now we can freely give His grace. Does that make sense? Amen. So that's what we've been talking about. And several weeks ago, we started talking about responsibility in the context of growth. Growth is a necessary uh thing for us. We need to grow. I know that some of us who have babies, we we say this sometimes, "I wish my babies can stay babies forever." But do you really? Do you really? You love the cuteness. You love the little things that they say. You love the way they climb up on your lap and hug you and call you mommy, call you daddy, and they rely on you for everything. But I bet you you don't want to change dirty diapers for the rest of your life. Oh, you do? Okay, you're here. Amen. Wave at me if you're here. Praise the Lord. Some of you are here. Praise the Lord. We don't want to do that. You don't want to have to spoon feed your babies for the rest of your life. Could you imagine? You're 80 years old. You should be helping to spoon feed your great great grandbabies, not your first babies. You want your children, in a certain sense, to stay small and cuddly, but then there's that part of you that wants them to grow and become who they were designed to be, right? Who they have the potential to be. You want them to become better versions of you. That should be the heart of every parent, mother, and father, that your children become better than you, and you work hard to do that. That can only happen if they grow. So, growth is a, it's an imperative, especially in the Christian life. We are not supposed to camp out on our salvation and stay there. We're supposed to move from our our salvation. Salvation happens so that we can become disciples. And as disciples, we grow >> closer to God. We grow more like Him. We grow in all the things that Christ is and all that He's called us to be. Amen. So responsibility is a big part of that. Growth takes place for a reason. We grow so that we can become who God designed us to be. And a big part of that has to do with responsibility. Responsibility grows us. When you become in charge of some things, whether it's big, small, or somewhere in between, that is causing you to step outside of your safety zone. How many you guys like to sit in your comfort zones and and not have to do stuff, right? Yeah, we love that. We love that. It's great. But if we do that, we stagnate. We become a dead sea in and of ourselves, right? You know why the Dead Sea is called the Dead Sea? Because it doesn't have any outflow, right? It just fills and it and then it sits and it's it you can you can actually kind of cast yourself out into the Dead Sea and you will just float because there's so much like stuff in there. There's so much stuff inside the Dead Sea that you just, you don't sink, you just float. It has no outflow. In order for us to have health and growth, we need to flow out as things are flowing into our life. Amen. Does that make sense? That's how we and growth is a big part of that. So when we receive responsibility, when we accept responsibility and we attack that responsibility, right? It grows us. It forces us to grow. Now, we're free moral agents. We have a choice on how to live our lives, to go His way or to go our own way. We have a choice to to accept that responsibility or deny it. It really is your choice. But your choice comes with consequences. Ever heard that as a kid? Your parents tells you, "Oh, now you got to suffer the consequences." Hey, you got a choice. Whatever choice you make, there's going to be some consequences. If you make the right decision, guess what? You're going to be blessed. If you make the wrong one, then there's going to be some retribution. Consequences are a natural thing that takes place when you have been given the gift of choice. So God grants us this responsibility because it truly is a gift. Growing in the Lord is a gift. So we are blessed to receive that gift, but it's our choice to receive that gift and to put it into practice, right? To take responsibility and run with it. So we have that choice. Now sometimes the responsibility we try to stay away from it or we run away from it because we look at it as a as a negative. Sometimes responsibility can feel like a negative. We we we talked about this last week. When that responsibility is big, when it's difficult, when it seems bigger than you or or outside of of of your your um your wheelhouse, right? Outside of your abilities. We look at that as a negative. It's something that it's going to be too hard. I'm going to fail in it. God's going to be disappointed. God wouldn't have given you that responsibility if He didn't know that with His help, you could see it through. I got no amens on that. That was crazy. God wouldn't have given you that responsibility if He did not foresee, if He did not know that with His help, you could see that responsibility through. Do you believe that? I'm living proof. I should not be here behind this pulpit. My my upcoming as a pastor is unconventional, but by God's grace and His calling. And the one thing that I did was just go along with it. I don't see how you're going to do that. I don't know why you chose me. I told you last week, I still go, "God, are you sure?" Like me, you see me. I'm a knucklehead. My dad's favorite thing he used to call us was turkey lips and meathead, right? I carried on that tradition, right? Right? So, I I call my kids those names, right? In a loving way. Okay, calm down. But meathead, I'm a I'm the biggest meathead you would know. And I'm like, God, are you are you sure? But God said, again, I live by this. God doesn't call the qualified. He qualifies the called. What does that mean? He's not calling you because you have everything it takes to do what He wants you to do. No, He loves calling people who do not have what they need. So that in the process of them doing by faith, answering the call, He gifts you the things that you need in order to fulfill that calling. God wouldn't have granted you, gifted you that responsibility if He did not know, not just believe, but know that you could see it through with His help. So the responsibility may seem big. The call may seem bigger than life. Good. You can't do it by yourself. Good. It's scary big. Good. That means it's God, and you're going to need God in order to see it through. Somebody say hallelujah. Come on.

So, sometimes these responsibilities can look like negatives. And we a couple weeks ago we started talking about these these negatives. The first thing we looked at was that we've been given the responsibility of changing the way we walk. God does not come down, scoop you up, put you in a different direction, and then push you along the way that you need to go. He comes down, He radically saves you and changes your life, and then He says, "Now go walk." One of the the favorite things that Jesus said after He He forgave somebody or healed somebody, He said, "Go and what? Sin no more." That's changing your walk. Repentance is turning 180 degrees away from what was and walking in the opposite direction. That's repentance. God calls us to live a life of repentance. Discipleship is a life of repentance. You don't just repent once. It's daily repentance. And we're called to change our direction. And we determine those steps that we take one in front of the other. We can all of a sudden decide to stop or even turn back to our own way and go back. We have that choice. So your responsibility is when God reveals the way to you for you to start walking in the way. And and He showed it. We just talked about it. I just mentioned that in in our our our prayer this morning, that scripture from the Psalms that He's a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. But even though the way is lit, you still have to make the choice to go in that direction. Amen. And so we must change the way we walk. And that means we don't walk like the world walks. We looked at three things. There needs to be a real difference in your life. Number one, you need to make sure the way that you're walking is you're walking for Jesus. You're walking in His direction. And it needs to be evident in your life. It needs to be tangible. It needs to be quantifiable, traced back to Jesus. You're walking in this new way, not because an apple fell from your from the tree, hit you in the head, and you're like, "Oh, I think I'll go this way now." No. Jesus came and saved your life. I'm walking this way because Jesus changed my direction. That needs to be evident. Amen. So, we don't live like we used to. Take what we used to do and live the opposite. We live for the world. We live for self. Now, we leave for we live for Jesus by serving others. Amen. We don't walk the way we used to. Everything needs to change. And walk, it's not just a physical walk. It's a spiritual walk. It's how you live your life. You change everything that you do. Your speech, your actions, even your thoughts. Those have to change. Then we talked about how the world walks. How do we how do how are we supposed to know which which way the world walks so we don't walk that way? Well, they're walking in the futility of their minds. They're locked unswervingly and unwaveringly in their own beliefs. They walk with darkened hearts, blind eyes, and they're drowning in sin. So you see that way, go the opposite way. Amen. Walk in the light as He is in the light. Walk with Jesus. Keep in step with the spirit. Amen. And then last week we talked about controlling your anger. You know, this is one sermon with four points. And God was like, God stopped me the first time on that first point. I couldn't go any further. And then last Sunday, I thought I was going to preach the rest of it, and He had me stay the whole time on anger. Some of y'all must be some angry people. Hey, I'm part of the team. I deal with anger. Again, I told you last week, I've had a short fuse all my life. And praise God, since I've given my heart to Him, He's made it bigger. You probably didn't you probably didn't see me move my fingers, huh? But I tell you what, I'm a work in progress. How many of you are like me? You're a work in progress. God is working on you every day. Sometimes you hit hit a home run. Sometimes the ball hits you in the face, right? Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, sometimes you you you I mean you make a mark, and the other time life makes a mark on you. But we're striving towards that, right? We're striving towards it. And anger is one of those things that we must be careful with because anger is a very selfish thing. It's all about you. Amen. It's all about you. Now, of course, granted, as we said last week, you know, other people have a part in that. Maybe somebody said something to you or did something to you. They damaged your property or hurt one of your children or talked bad about your spouse, and that made you angry. That's not a sin. In fact, God gets angry, right? We see that He's very expressive in His his emotions. We are like Him in that. The only difference is God can control His emotions, and we tend to allow our emotions to control us. Somebody say amen.

All right. I'm not alone. Praise God. So anger in and of itself is not the bad thing. It's what we do in anger because of that anger that could be considered sin. Right? We need to be careful with that. So anger sometimes can seem like it's it's a it's a monster and it's bigger than us. And you say things like, "I just couldn't control my anger. All I saw was red and I just couldn't stop myself." Yeah, you could have. Trust me, I know somebody who deals with anger. Yeah, you didn't have to say what you said, but you did 'cause you were angry and you let yourself go because it felt good in that moment. And then the other moments after that didn't feel so good. Especially when the Holy Spirit puts a squeeze on your heart of conviction. Oh, nobody can convict like the Holy Spirit. Oh, my wife can call me out and tell me something. I'm like, soon as the Holy Spirit does, right? I'm also if I'm ever wrong and I ever say something to you that's wrong and I don't think it was wrong, don't come at me. Come to God and tell Him, "Hey, you need to talk to your son." I tell you what, God will deal with my heart, and I will come to you after God gave me a spanking, and I will come and apologize to you. Right now, now that doesn't mean that she can't tell me when I've hurt her feelings. Absolutely. But if there's any pushback, if there's any pushback, take it to my pops. He will definitely let me know. Amen. How many of you had an argument with somebody? You hurt somebody's feelings. You you thought you you were justified. You had the right. You said this to me, blah blah blah. And then you walked away feeling good after you unleashed, and the Holy Spirit went, and you're like, "Oh, why?" And then you had to eat those words, and you had to humble yourself and go back to your spouse or your brother or sister or your friend or whoever that person was and go apologize. Last week I was driving my daughter to school, dropping her off at Mount Pleasant High School. We're in the driveway right now. Now, if you know, if you've had kids in in Mount Pleasant or you went to Mount Pleasant, you know that that driveway consists of two lanes that go in the same direction. It's got one out inlet and one outlet. One of those inlets is also an outlet. So, let's confuse it even more. This year, without any notice, they decided to change that completely. And now the two lanes that used to go this way, one goes this way, and the other goes that way. Still one inlet, one outlet on that side, and then you got an inlet outlet on the other. What? Big old beautiful gate in the back. Nobody can go through. Looks like you're driving into a casita. What's that? What's that? That that that movie Pixar movie that came out? Encanto. Looks like you're going to Encanto land, but you can't go through that gate of splendor and wonder. So, you can only go in the front. So, I'm doing what I normally do, and I'm dropping my daughter off at the place that she likes to get dropped off. And this car pulls out of one of the parking spaces and starts coming the opposite way. I'm, "Hey, what are you doing?" And he goes, and I go, "No, you you." And he goes like this. I go, "You you move. This is this is one way, man." You know, and I'm looking at him going like this. And as he's going, "Oh my God, Dad, please don't do that." 'Cause she knows sometimes I can get a little. And so I pull around the guy, and I roll the window down. I was just going to say, "Hey man, this is like one way, bro." And maybe I said it a little bit louder than I was supposed to. He goes, "It's not one way. It's two ways. It's two ways." I go, "No, really. It's one way. Look at the arrows." And he drove back, and I looked at the arrows, and the arrow was going that way. Exactly. Somebody made that sound. That was you, Carlos. I went, I hate being wrong. I spent the rest of the week looking for that guy's car so I can go to him and say, "Man, I'm so sorry. You were right." I've had too many instances where I got a little hot, and I was I thought I knew what I was talking about, only to find out that I'm dumb. Anybody ever had that happen to you? God has squeezed my heart after those times, and He has told me, I want you to go to that person and make it right. I look for that guy all week. So, I'm doing my part. I'm a work in progress. I'm still looking for him, folks. So, if you see him, let them know, right? Because even pastors, even pastors deal with that kind of stuff. Even holy men and holy women and righteous people deal with those things. Now, again, don't get it don't get it twisted. I wasn't like, you know, getting all crazy with them. I was just like, "Hey, man, you're going the wrong way." No, I'm not. Yes, you are. Oh, no you're not. Whoops. You know, so pray for me. Pray that I have have the meeting that I need because I want to go and and tell him, "Hey, buddy. I'm sorry. You were absolutely right. My bad." And chances are he'll be like, "Yeah, yeah, no problem, man. It it it happens, and we're all good, and my conscience is clear, and I did the right thing." That's what we need to do when we get angry. And maybe you're like some of the people who deal with anger on a daily basis. We talked about this last week, and I'm going to, you know, camp out on this. You deal with that anger all the time for whatever reason. It could be the smallest little thing that hits you, and you're like, "Ah, hulking out, right?" We can't live like that, especially as changed, transformed men and women of God. And it's our responsibility to tell the Hulk that he can't come out and play. Hulk does not get to smash today, right? Bruce Banner gets to run the show from now on, not the Incredible Hulk. Somebody say amen.

So that's how we deal with that anger. We have that power, just like we have the power right over over, you know, our walk, the way that we walk, we have power over our negative emotions. Galatians 5 tells us the fruit of the spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, all the way down, last one, self-control. If the Holy Spirit is in you, if you've given your heart to Christ and opened your heart, your life to Him, then the Spirit of God lives within you, you have the power to control yourself. Amen. So, let's do that. Praise the Lord.

All right, that moves us to today. Number three, the third responsibility that can seem like a a negative one because it's difficult. And this one has to do with your tongue. Yeah, some of you like, "Yeah, I think I got to go." This one's not for me. Yes, it is. It's for me, too. All right. When you're a hothead, the biggest instrument that you use is usually your words. Come on, somebody. And if you're real good with your words, even when you're wrong, you can convince everybody that you are right. Amen. So, we need to, as this says, cancel out corrupt communication. We need the responsibility that He's given us. We need to operate in that responsibility. And that responsibility is to cancel out uh corrupt communication. Folks, I want you to know that people are going to judge you throughout your life. Not just, you know, in your your life BC, before Christ, but they're going to judge you once you give your heart to Jesus. Trust me, soon as you make a decision for Christ, they're going to be people in your life. They're going to be watching and waiting for you to mess up so they can call you out. Oh, Christian. Oh, disciple of the Lord over here getting all angry. Yeah, look, I gave my heart to Christ. It doesn't mean that He came down with His magic God stick and whacked me, and I'm all of a sudden holy and righteous, right? I'm a work in progress. I'm striving towards holiness and righteousness. It's a daily choice. It doesn't mean I'm perfect. How many perfect Christians do we have in here? Praise God. They're all going somewhere else. Thank you, Jesus. Right? That's what they always say about perfection, right? Don't ever try to find the perfect church. If you find it, do not walk through the door because you will mess it up with your imperfection, right? Because there is nobody who is here that is perfect. Only one is perfect, and His name is Jesus. Now, that perfect being lives within us, and He is perfecting us through His power, through His perfection. But you are a work in progress, right? And so one of the things that we need to focus on controlling, it's a big responsibility, is what we do with our words, how we speak, what we are speaking out. And again, people are going to judge you. They're going to judge everything about you, but they're definitely going to judge your words. Regardless of what you think, people are going to judge you. It's a fact of life, one that we need to get used to as soon as we can so that we can continue moving onward and upward. Don't get hung up on the fact that people are judging you. Don't let it become a stumbling block. It is a fact of life, especially when you start following Jesus. One of the most frequent areas that you'll be judged by others on is by what you say, because your words are important. What you say is important. Some of you have been speaking death over your own lives for years. And you wonder why you're not succeeding or growing or becoming who God calls you to be. Because every time God shows you the way or gives you what you need, you speak death over your life. What is speaking death? That means

Speaking contrary to what God is doing. God says, "I give given you the power to do this, that, and the other, to be this." And you go, "Oh, I'm not really good at that." And you just constantly speak death over your life. You speak against what God is calling out in your life.

Some of us have have have had a past of speaking death over other people, right? We have a tendency to call out other people because of our insecurities. We project on them and we speak death over people. Some of you have had death spoken over you by others. Whether it's by a parent, an older sibling, right? Uh, somebody close, a close family friend, a teacher, something like that, a boss, a manager speaking death over you.

Words matter. There are words that speak death and there are words that speak life. How do I know that words are powerful? Because that's how God created all things. The Bible says that he spoke it into existence. And then the scripture says that he made us in his likeness and in his image. So the words that we speak carry weight. Amen. We are his sons and daughters and the words that he speaks matter. So the words that we speak matter as well. And if we're constantly speaking death, that's the antithesis of growth. It's shrinking and decaying and words of life grow and build. Amen. That makes sense, right?

So, we got to watch what we say. Your words are important. So, be careful what you say. Chances are you won't remember all the things that you say, but I tell you what, there's somebody out there who does. And they're listening and they're taking note. Oh, okay. Trust me, I'm a pastor. I know a little bit about what that means. I come up here and speak. My job is to preach the gospel, to be an equipper of the saints. And one of the biggest ways I do that is is exactly by what I'm doing right now. And so, I speak words out into existence. And people grab on to those words and make decisions based on that words. And now in this beautiful day of technology that we live in, people are recording that. People are writing it down on their phone. We got cameras pointed at me. It's on YouTube. It can go on Facebook. Now everything I say is out there in the world for anybody to grab a hold of.

"Oh, preacher man. Oh, preaching about anger last Sunday. And then I saw you in traffic the other day getting mad at that dude who cut you off, right? Oh, it's always fun, too, especially when your family calls you out on it. Don't act like you don't know. Oh, I saw you at the altar dealing with that anger that Pastor Matt was talking about, and then you yelled at me when we got home because our room wasn't clean. Praise the Lord, dude. Do not invoke the wrath of mom and dad. They just spent some righteous time in the presence of the Lord. They got righteous indignation. Yeah, but the Bible says you're not supposed to exasperate your children to anger. Yeah, you're not. The Bible also says don't spare the rod and spoil the child. Don't make dad go get that lightsaber. Right."

So, we we we got to be careful. We've got to be careful with our words. But mark my words, there is somebody out there listening and taking note and they're waiting. There's some people again that hang on those words and those words bring life and they're wonderful, right? And then there's other times where people are just waiting for you to make that mistake to call you out. So, that's that's a sobering thought. It's one that keeps me kind of on my toes, minding my P's and Q's, right? Making sure that if I'm preaching something, I'm living that something. I ain't got no business preaching something that I'm not living. Amen. That goes not just for me. That goes for you because we're all ministers in this room.

You're Wait, what? Yes. If you've given your heart to Jesus and you've said yes to this new life, you have become a minister of the gospel. You may not do it full-time behind a pulpit like I am. Your pulpit may be your desk at school, your cubicle in the office. Wherever you go, that is your pulpit. And your life needs to be that sermon just as much as your words are. And those two things need to match. And I'm telling you today, I'm not perfect. I fall short hugely all the time. And that keeps me before the presence of the Lord. But I'm here to tell you that it's not just me that needs to walk that path. It's all of us because somebody is watching. And we're supposed to be the light of Christ. We're supposed to be the flavor of God. And if we're acting in a way that's contrary to that, guess what? We're not doing what God called us to do. So, we need to mind our P's and Q's. And again, that doesn't just go for the pastor. That goes for everyone.

And again, we're in this digital age, right? Our speech is is is carried through our our words. But it's not just the words that we speak out right here. It's carried on the words that we type in our social media, in the posts that we make ourselves, the videos that we make ourselves, the TikToks that we make ourselves, the things that we repost on Facebook and Instagram. Your words matter. Your posts matter. Are you hearing me today? So, be careful what you post.

"You know what I did? I I made a a just a a thing. I don't post anymore. I don't do that. All the stuff you see on the Mount Pleasant Christian Center Facebook page, all somebody else is doing that. I put that in somebody else's hands. I still have social media. I still try to keep up and whatnot, but I don't post anything anymore. Not because I'm afraid I might say something dumb, but yeah, that's a possibility. But I got I got more things to do with my time than craft posts every day. Especially when I can put something out there and it's happened. Put something out there for my heart and soul thinking that it's going to bless somebody and then somebody fires back in the comments section and and acted as if I just murdered their mom. I'm like, I what did I say? That was something from the Lord, man. I could post a scripture and somebody will get offended. I ain't got time for that. I ain't got time for that. But I know a lot of people who are out there and and I see the posts that come through, a lot of what I see on social media is is is passive aggressive posts. Oh, people love to post passive aggressive comebacks. And you read that thing and you're going, "Oh yeah, that's actually pretty good. Who they writing that for? Ooh, who they hoping sees this? Ouch." Right? We need to be careful what we post.

So, here is something that you can do before you click post. Pray. Pray. Ask the Lord, "Should I post this?" How many times have you ever fired back at somebody? You've had this long text. You can hear the little clicks on your phone. Phone smoking because they can't even take as fast as you're you're typing out. And you're about to send this because this is the thing that's really going to put the nail in the coffin of what they're doing and they're going to and God says, "Delete that." And you're like, "What? Did you see how much I put into this? Delete it." Have you ever done that? I remember one time I I did that and I was about to delete it and and and I was about to just kind of select all and God's all, "No, just hold the delete button down so you can see all your words disappear." And I was like, "Oh, that's long, right?" And I watched all those words go away. Thank God I did that. Thank God I did that. Folks, pray before you speak and pray before you post. And those passive aggressive responses on Facebook and Instagram, all they're doing is amusing other people like me just looking at. Oh, that's okay. Whoa. Don't do it. Social media is not the place for you to take your grievances. Take them to the Lord. See, that's another reason why this thing is trying to take place of God's presence. This is not going to do anything. Your passive aggressive post is not going to do anything. You didn't stick it to anybody. I'm just here to tell you, trust me, take it before the Lord because he's somebody who can do something about it. Amen.

We got to control that. We got to watch ourselves in that because that is communication that can be corrupted. What you post can never be taken back. You ever heard about the analogy of the toothpaste? It says the the teacher told his students, he gave everybody a little thing of toothpaste and he told them, "Squeeze it all out on this paper towel. Everybody squeezed out the the toothpaste." He goes, "Everybody got it." They're like, "Yeah, we did it." They're all racing and seeing it. I got the most out. I rolled it up and, you know, did all the tricks to get all the toothpaste. And he goes, "All right, second part of this test." And I'm just trust me, nobody's ever nobody's ever did this one. They're like, "Oh, we got this. We got What are we going to do? We going to like make a sculpture or something?" Nope. Now put the toothpaste back in the tube. The kids are all, "What?" And do you see kids going trying to shove it back in there? Your finger. You can't do it. It's not possible. And you have to get all the toothpaste back in the tube, guys. Well, Mr. So and So, Mrs. So and So, that's impossible. Aha. Exactly. Once it's out there, you can never get it back because just like I said, people will record my sermons or or or they're listening to it online. It's out there forever. Even if you delete that post or delete that video, somebody may have screenshotted that stuff. And do you think they're going to let you think they're going to let you slide when they get mad at you? Come on, somebody. I know you hear me. When the toothpaste is out of the tube, it's impossible to get it back in. It's out there. It's a good lesson for kids. It's a good lesson for adults. Amen. We've got to control our corrupt communication.

I want you to open up your Bibles to the book of James. So, the book of James, chapter 3. We're going to look at verses 1-2. I love the book of James. That is a great book. So again, James chapter 3, oops, starting with verse one, we're going to read through 12. I love the title, taming the tongue. Isn't that awesome? Taming the tongue. The tongue is the strongest muscle in your body and it's very difficult to control it. Let's start verse one. "Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers." Ow. Right? Because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. We all stumble in many ways. Anyone who is never at fault in what they say is perfect, able to keep their whole body in check. Verse three, "When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. 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. Verse 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. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body."

Let's stop there for a minute. What did you did you read what it said? The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. That's above your fists that can punch people and hurt people. Your your feet that can kick others. Even your head, you can headbutt somebody in in anger and and and and in frustration or in just malice. But it doesn't mention any of those parts of the body. It says that your tongue is an evil muscle. Basically, a world of evil evil among the parts of the body. Why? Why would it say that if not for the fact that your words are powerful? Amen. Your words can harm.

Anybody ever heard that saying, "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me." Right? I know you you know I know you are, but what am I? Right? I'm a loner, daddy. A rebel. You know, we grew up watching Peewee Herman say that, you know, I know you are, but what am I? Whatever you say to me, I'm rubber your glue. Whatever you say to me bounces off me and sticks to you. Folks, it's not real. Words carry weight. And words hurt. They can hurt. They may not cause physical damage, but they cause mental and emotional damage, which can cause the hearer, the receiver of those words to do damage to themselves. Many, a school child has committed suicide because of words that were expressed to them from fellow classmates, from teachers, from parents, or from bullies online. It's a sad fact. Many people have been driven to self harm because of words. They clearly didn't do any physical damage, but they did mental and emotional damage which caused them to hurt themselves. Amen. And that's a sad fact.

So when he says the tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body, he means that a tongue left unchecked, uncontrolled can set a forest fire. It says, it goes on, it corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one's life on fire and is itself set on fire by hell. You thought he couldn't get any worse. He couldn't go any farther. He did. It could set the course for the rest of your life by words that you speak.

How many of you have ever said something and you knew it was wrong, but because of your pride, you wouldn't do the work to take it back or to fix it? Come on, you can raise your hands. I think we've all done that one time. You get stubborn and you do not apologize. Instead, you justify in your mind why it's okay for you to have said that. Well, it may have hurt them, but I think I have a legitimate reason to because of what they did to me and how they said this. You don't have a reason. Not if you're a follower of Christ. I know revenge feels good. I know retribution sometimes can be a momentary relief for us. But if you're following Christ and your heart is for Christ, you cannot outrun the conviction that follows because then you're hurt. And then you let yourself go. And now on top of your hurt, you got to go apologize to the person who hurt you. What? It seems ridiculous. We're called to live to a higher standard, folks. I think we're getting stuck on this point today. We're probably going to make we're going to have to preach part four next week. This is the longest sermon ever, right? But I think I think it's because we need it. And folks, just as much as I'm preaching to you, I'm preaching to myself, folks.

He says that it sets the course of the whole body. When we leave that tongue unchecked, we don't practice that self-control and control or or cancel out that corrupt speech, it can run rampant and set the course because of our pride. We said something. We made a a declaration, a decree, and because of our pride, even though we know it's wrong and the Holy Spirit's checked us, I just can't find it within myself to go back on it. So, you just keep moving forward and it sets the course for the rest of your life.

Verse seven, "All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles, and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue." That's a statement. It is a restless evil full of deadly poison. Verse 9, "With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father and with it we curse human beings who have been made in God's likeness." Oh my gosh. Think about that. Next time somebody cuts you off, you're just about to tell so and so where he can go and what he can do. It better be like you can go to Jesus and get blessed, brother. Because that person who cut you off, doesn't matter if they're on the path. It doesn't matter if they're there's a they're a Christian. There's no there's no prerequisite in this scripture. They've been made in in the likeness of God. And here we are freely cursing that person and feeling we're justified because they put my family in danger because they cut me off. Okay, that might be so. But dude, calm down. And again, I'm preaching to myself, folks.

I remember I used to I used to sometimes watch my dad kind of lose it behind the wheel. And I go, "Man, driving sounds like fun. I want to I want to drive. I can't wait till I drive." And know I'm there in traffic, steaming, shooting out my ears, out my nose. Everybody's a villain around me in their cars. Everybody's trying to get, you know, they're before me. Anybody in here ever get get behind the slow person? Right. Oh, every single day they always find me. I don't know what's right. Or or it doesn't matter what line you get in at Costco or or or wherever you go, it turns out to be the slow line. It's four people less than the big line over there. And you go, "Oh, yeah. I'm going to get there now." And the person's like, "Oh, I didn't find the meat. Where was it? Can you show?" And then they're calling somebody and all those four people go and five and six people go and you're waiting there. Oh my gosh. It feels like a curse. Did I do something? Lord, I'm sorry. Please. Right? There's so many things that can make you angry in a day. And how you respond to those things speaks volumes. Amen.

So again, let me read verse nine again. "With the tongue, we praise our Lord and Father, and with with it we curse human beings who have been made in God's likeness and his image." So think, seriously, I said it jokingly before, but I'm not joking. Think about that. at the next time somebody cuts you off in traffic. Think about that sometime when the person in front of you at Costco is taking forever and you just want to tell so and so about such and such. Hold that down. Think, pray, "Oh, God, help me. Lord, you know me. I'm I'm I'm angry right now. I'm I'm furious right now. I'm impatient right now." Humble yourself and allow the Holy Spirit to speak to your heart to calm you down. Somebody say, "Amen."

Verse 10. "Out of the same mouth comes praises and cursing. Listen, my brothers and sisters, this should not be. Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives or a grape vine bear figs figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water." That's heavy. James just it that part right there chapter 3:es 1-12 are a spanking for us all. They are a whooping for us all, folks. A good one. Remember, if God chastises you, it's because he loves you. We're being perfected by that fire, right? We're being perfected by that. He's taking the time to point out those things that we're doing wrong and then giving us the strength to course correct. We need to be careful and let James be a guide for that. Let James remind you how evil your tongue can be if it is not purposefully given to Christ for him to help you control. Amen.

And lastly this morning, let's talk about corrupt communication for a minute. Let's talk about what it what it looks like when we're talking about corrupt communication. What is that? Corrupt communication is talking in a way that is unbecoming of a follower of Christ. It has not just to do with the words that we choose to use. Because there's some words that we use that we shouldn't use. Hello. All right. We're going to be like we're going to be that way. All right, I could preach the next point. That's fine. Just kidding. We know that we choose to use words. I can go I can go deep on this one because as a Christian, when you've been saved for a long time, you sometimes learn little close words. You're laughing so you know exactly what I'm talking about, right? Christian F-word. Yeah. Uh-huh. It's not Christian. Let me tell you, we call it the Christian F-word, but it's not. We use close words. Don't do that. We should not do that. And trust me, I've done it myself. The matter you get, the closer you are to using those Christian close words. You know, we got to be careful with the words that we use. Corrupt communication is talking in a way that is unbecoming of the follow. So again, it first first portion of that is the words that you choose to use. So it does mean that we've got to be careful with the words that we use. There's sometimes I've used a word and a older brother in Christ will go and look at me. I go, "Oh, sorry. Forgive me, Lord." I remember coming up as a young man that would happen. It helped me to clean up my speech a lot, right? It helped me when I was unsaved. Oh boy. Let me tell you, I had a mouth. I had a foul mouth. And sometimes the things that we carried in the past sometimes tend to carry over if we don't let God into that part of our hearts. We kind of kept them from that door. We hid that door. Oh, there's nothing in there. You don't want to go in there. Right? And Jesus like, "Oh, no, no. I need to go in there." Right? Again, it's a process. So, there's things that carried over. There's there are things in in a in a in a Christian's life that sometimes take a little bit longer than other things. Certain things I was able to give up like that, not a problem. others. It kind of just dragged with me and I found myself at the altar Sunday in and Sunday out. Back up here. God, help me. Lord, I'm I get myself in trouble because of this, that, and the other. A lot of times had to do with the things that I said.

But it's not just the words that you speak. It's how you say certain things, too. You've heard me talk a lot about this in my sermons. Tact is important. Two people could be saying the same thing, but the way that they say it is different. One of those people attracts people, the other one repels people. Amen. It's how we say things. It's our attitude behind our words. Our communication be could be just as corrupt because of how we say things or the intent behind our words just as much as the words that we choose to use.

If somebody cuts you off in traffic and in your mind you went and out here you said, "God bless you." Guess what? You're not asking for God to bless them. You're asking for you get what I'm saying, right? Please don't make me explain that. You know, the voice in your head sometimes does not match the words that you choose to use. Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. Come on, somebody. Are you here? Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.

I used to Some of you heard me talk about this that I get drive-through anxiety with my family. Anybody? Anybody ever Any dads out there get drive-through anxiety? Any dads out there? You are the driver of the family. But when you go to McDonald's and you pull in the drive-thru, you just scoot back like this and go, "Go ahead, honey. Do your thing." Anybody? My wife knows exactly what everybody wants up until the person in the window says, "Hi, welcome to McDonald's. Can I help you?" And then it all goes and I go, "So I I make her write him down." Hannah's our our note our notetaker. So, everybody will tell Hannah what they want. They'll put it in my notes on my phone. I get up to the drive-thru and I do it. And then after we're done, I go, "See, how easy was that?" You were perfect until they said, "Welcome to McDonald's. Can I take your order?" And then you just went, "Well, so I really I would just scoop back and just go, "Go ahead, do do whatever you're gonna do. What are you gonna get?" I'm not even hungry anymore, man. I'm nervous. My anxiety level is through the roof. I want to send them an apology and a box of candies, right? And so then I'm going to be in so much trouble. Okay, anyways, let's just I'm I'm already going. Let's go. Right. So then my wife once she gets there, then she's focused on what she wants, right? And then she's given that order, but she's giving like boom boom boom boom boom boom boom. And I look over and go, well, you can be a little bit nicer, right? I mean, you didn't even say thank you after. And she's like, what am I supposed to do? You know, first you get mad at me because I don't know what to order and all this stuff. And then now now I'm focusing on that and I go, well, just, you know, thank you so much. Oh, I appreciate that. Thank you. Right. For some people, it comes natural. For others, it it it doesn't. You're just you're focused. You're driven. So then the next time we get there, she's point on with with all the things that need. She says thank you. But the way she said thank you was like, "You sound like a Karen, hun." She's like, "Oh my gosh." You know, like I can't win with this guy, you know? But could you Yeah. I'm married to the pastor. Could you imagine being on the other side? I mean, being on the other side of that drive-thru thing, right? Getting everybody's orders. And some people are like, "I know what I want. Give me number five extra pickles. I want a diet coke, large fries. Give me a Sunday. Right. Done. Easy. They're in and out. Then you got that. You can hear the kids in the actual thing, the microphone. I want a Big Mac. I want the No, you had a Big Mac last time. He got the I want the chicken nuggets. And you're like, oh my gosh. And then you have somebody who's just they're not thinking. They're And then they don't even thank you after you're done. Look at you don't It's not against the law to not thank somebody after you order at McDonald's. But you know what? That's a testimony right there. It's a testimony right there. Being cordial and kind and forgiving, giving your servers, even your restaurants, some of you got a big pet peeve about servers, being cordial to your servers and giving them a wide margin of error because they're human beings.

Folks, we've got to be careful with not just the words that we speak, but how we say the things that we say. Two people can be saying the same thing, but how they're saying it. One will be received and the other one will not. We've got to be careful. We've got to be careful. Our communication should be Christ centered and constructive. Amen. We know the things that we shouldn't be talking about. We know the words that we shouldn't be saying. And for the most part, most of us know how we should say those things. So, let's put that into practice and be more careful with it because we know that words carry power and they can speak life or they can speak death.

The Bible talks about staying away from meaningless conversation. Look at 2 Timothy 2:16 right there on the screen. It says, "Avoid godless chatter." I like that. Avoid godless chatter because those who indulge in it will become more and more ungodly. The more you use ungodly corrupt communication, the more you get comfortable in it and you use it more and you become loose lipped with it until someday you forget who you're with and where you're at and you're saying something in church and they go, "What did you just say?" Got to be careful. So again, avoid godless chatter because those who indulge in it will become more and more ungodly. Think of it this way. The more and more we participate in useless talk, the more useless we become. That was a kick in the pants for me when I read that. When I was looking up this scripture and kind of diving into its meaning and I read that, I was like, "Bro, that's good." The more we engage oursel in useless chatter, the more useless our communication becomes.

I remember my my daughter Aariah. I'm talking a lot about her today. When she was little, she used to sit in the backseat of our car when I'd be taking her anywhere and she's just talking and talking and talking and talking and talking and talking and I mean, she's not saying anything. She's just talking and talk talk talking. Oh, daddy, do you know this? Yes. Yes, baby. Yes. Uh-huh. And one day I sat there and I go, "Okay, Lord, help me. Help help me number one to not climb out of my brain and crash this car because I'm so like inundated with just words and words and words, right?" I go, "Also, help me how to instruct her how to teach this into a make this into a teaching moment." So, I told her, "Baby, baby, stop talking for a minute. Let me talk to you." Yes, daddy. I'm like, just because you can talk doesn't mean that you should always talk. What? What is What does that mean, daddy? I go, okay, let me explain it to you. Right. You You can talk. Your mouth work works. You You are really good with words. You're a smart little girl. But sometimes we just talk to talk. Did you know that quiet time sometimes is really good time? It is. Yeah. Let's try it. That was the most blissful five minutes home I ever had in my entire life. My dad had the patience of a saint. He can sit there and listen. And his kids know how to talk. He had 10 of them. They all talk. They all talk well. Some of them talk more than others and are better at it than others. All right. I'm one of them. And he would just sit there and just listenick and just go and go and go and go and go some more. Patience of a saint. But I thought maybe I can teach her, right? And you know what the less it stuck. Just because we can talk doesn't mean that we should always talk. Just because we are affected by something that something happened doesn't mean that we have to respond to it in a certain way. Just because we can doesn't mean we should. With great power comes great responsibility, said Uncle Ben to Peter Parker. It's the truth. If your words carry power and you have it, it's a responsibility that you have to use it or not in the right way possible. Right? In the right way. So sometimes it is okay for you not to say anything. You do not always have to fire back when somebody says something. Did you know that you do not always have to respond to somebody that you hear that you feel is wrong and you've got to correct them. Who are you? Especially if they weren't talking to you in the first place. Just because you can doesn't mean you should.

I love how Psalm 19:14, this is one of my favorite verses. Psalm 19:14 says, "May these words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, oh Lord, my rock and my redeemer." Maybe that's something that we should daily pray because we do get in trouble with our actions, but all of us get in trouble with our words. So may the words, may these words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, oh Lord, my rock, my redeemer. Remember, out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. Amen.

Worship team, help me close this morning. Folks, I'm going to ask you just to stand to your feet and just prepare your hearts. There's a reason why God is causing me to just hit one point in this sermon each week because I think we've gotten a little hung up on the these responsibilities that God has given us. We would love it if when we came to the altar and gave our hearts to Jesus, Jesus would have come down with that holy stick and went and instantly we become righteous and holy. From that point forward, we do the right thing. Everywhere we go, people are just like, "Oh, look at that. He's a follower of Christ. He's great. She's awesome." But that's not the case. It doesn't work that way. He comes and cleanses our heart. He heals us and said, "Now go and sin no more. How do we do that? The same way that we control our anger and we change the way our walk, we've got to learn to control ourselves. Amen. The best way to cancel out corrupt communication from your life is to be mindful of what you say, to be humble in God's presence, to think and even pray before you speak. And again, I gave you one of the most powerful things in scripture. That prayer right there, that call from man's heart to God's ears. May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, oh Lord, my rock and my redeemer. Something that we should say. Maybe you need to write that down and put it on your nightstand. Maybe you need to put on your mirror in the bathroom. Get a magnet, stick it to your refrigerator. Maybe you need to put it in all of those places so that we start our day off. If our words carry that much power, then we've got to start our day off with that prayer. May the words of my mouth. May they be pleasing in your sight. Because your words will lead to actions. Amen. So both of those things come into play. But that is the responsibility that we have been given. And if you are keeping in step with the Holy Spirit of God, he has given you the power of self-control. You can control your speech. Amen. If you can take captive your thoughts, you can definitely take captive your words. And let's remind ourselves that what we say matters. The negativity that we spew out, you can't get that toothpaste back in the tube. The positivity that we give can build people's lives and urge them closer to the Lord. Amen.

So maybe you're here today and you say, "Pastor Matt, I I'm one who deals with their words." Maybe you come from a big family like me and I mean, you can talk, right? And you're very aware that sometimes I don't say the right things. And I'm not talking about you're using the wrong words. No, you're using the wrong words. Amen. And maybe it has nothing has little to do with your words. Maybe it has to do with your attitude. Maybe tact is something that feels a little far from you. And if our words carry power, then those things we need to be able to control those things. Maybe you're here today and you can say, "Pastor Matt, that that's me." Amen. I want to give you that opportunity to get that right in the presence of God. Amen. Let's bow our heads.

Father, in the name of Jesus, I thank you that God, you focused us on this portion of scripture today, on this point in this sermon. I had no idea, God, that you were going to do this over these last several weeks, that you were going to cause us to be laser focused on one point and get that until we move on to the next. But I thank you for that. I thank you that it's not my agenda but your agenda that we are after. We want what you want for us, God. And I thank you for that. I thank you for that. And I thank you for spending time on these points, Lord God. Especially today, because there were those who needed to deal with their anger last week. I was one of them. There was ones a couple weeks before that needed to deal with changing the way that they walk, about being proactive about their actions and where they allowed their feet to take them and what they allowed their hands to do. And today, God, I know that there's somebody here or maybe a bunch of somebody's who need your help with the way that they communicate because as representatives of your kingdom, as ambassadors for Christ, what we say matters. And our words, God, our words carry weight. They are powerful. And with that power comes that responsibility. And we will be held accountable for the deeds that we do, but also for the words that we speak. So may my words be few, but may they be true and filled with power. God, maybe there are some who are here today that are dealing with those very things. They've allowed their mouths to get the better of them. They've allowed their words to to cause hurt or to get them in trouble. or maybe they've spoken something out and made that declaration or decree and and the Holy Spirit, you you came and said, "No, that's wrong. You need to course correct, but it's already out. Pride gets in the way and they don't want to change and fear. They may be looked at as weak or wrong." Maybe you're here today and you're dealing with that words are a weakness for you. Your communication needs help from the Lord. I want to ask our prayer partners to come at this time, make yourselves ready for anybody who is dealing with this today. But if that's you and you need to spend some time at the altar, whether praying with our prayer partners or just kneeling here at the altar and just getting a getting a hold of Jesus, getting alone with him, come now. Step out of that seat. Come down to this altar. Let the Holy Spirit deal with you. Let the Lord deal with your heart. And let's get this right in his presence. Amen. Your words are powerful. They carry weight. Life or death can be in our words. Let's make sure that they're the right words spoken in the right way in Jesus name. Come on.

Father, you see these folks are at this altar today, God. Some are getting prayed for. Some are just in your presence hearing from you, receiving from you. God, I pray right now in the name of Jesus that you will pour out your presence, pour out your spirit upon them, God, words are powerful. We are a product of words. Somebody spoke words of life over us that turned us on to Jesus and then you saved us and sanctified us and now you're sending us out. So God, in Jesus name, I pray that you would touch these lives, touch these hearts. Just as they're a product of words of life, may they be givers of words of life as well. May you cancel out today as they make themselves available to you and accountable to you that you will help them to cancel out that corrupt communication, those senseless, godless, aimless chatter, God. And let the words that they speak carry more life from this day forward right here and now as they get their hearts and their mouths right with you, Lord. Oh father in Jesus name have your way. Have your way that we are those who speak life over others in Jesus name. Hallelujah. With with a word you spoke everything into existence Lord God. And with our words being your children we can determine the course of not just our life but somebody else's life as well. Oh God, help us, Lord Jesus. And if your word tells us that it's out of the abundance of our heart that the mouth speaks, then God, help us with our hearts. Heal our hearts. If we're dealing with anger, we're going to speak angry words. If we're dealing with brokenness, we're going to speak broken words that lead to brokenness. But if our heart is filled with love and life, then those are the words that we're going to speak. God transform these hearts in Jesus name. Hallelujah. In Jesus name. Have your way. Oh those hearts that are encased in ice. Lord let the fire of God just melt that heart of ice into a heart of flesh. Those hearts that have been hurt, they experience pain in their life and they become hardened like stone. God, chip that away, chisel that away in Jesus' name and reveal that heart of flesh so that out of the abundance of that heart, a heart filled with the love of God can speak words of love in life in Jesus name. Oh God, have your way. Have your way. Pray through, folks. Let God get a hold of your heart today. Our worship team is going to lead us right now in another song. But if you have to go, we want to release you in Jesus' name. Thank you for being with us here today. We pray that you'll walk with the Lord this week using all that we talked about today. And let your words, they carry power. Let them work for the Lord and let them speak life and love over people. Amen. God bless you today. worship team, would you lead.