Every Idle Word - Pastor Brad DeLong

One of our five core values is the pursuit of spiritual growth. Everyone say growth. Both of those, I believe, our mission in that spiritual growth are accomplished primarily through hearing and receiving and obeying the word of God, which we're going to turn to this morning. And as we do, we're going to turn to Matthew 12:31. I'll just give you a heads up and convey what I would call the heavy and the sobering nature of today's focus. You're going to find that this is a universal subject. It affects everyone in this room today who is able to communicate in any way through your voice, through sign language, even through your devices and electronic communication. It's a a specific topic that I've felt drawn to and compelled to address, I believe, by the spirit of God. And it comes straight from the mouth of Jesus himself. The context is he's addressing some pretty careless words and characterizations that the Pharisees laid upon him. A few scriptures before this text, they called the God who's in this room right now a ruler of demons. Jesus didn't take too kindly to that. Now, that seems to be a harsh term and a harsh insult, but Jesus uses it to address their hearts and our hearts and their words and our words, their character and ours.

Verse 31 records the response of Jesus when he says, "Therefore, I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the spirit will not be forgiven men. Anyone who speaks a word against the son of man, it will be forgiven him. But whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him either in this age or in the age to come. Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or else make the tree bad and its fruit bad. For a tree is known by its fruit. And he has some choice words for them. He says, "You brood of vipers." Says, "How can you being evil speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks." He wraps it up by saying, "A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things. An evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things. But I say to you that for every idle word, every idol word that men speak, they'll give an account of it in the day of judgment. For by your words you'll be justified, and by your words you'll be condemned." When we read a passage like that, we ought to feel the weight of the word of God. And I believe you feel that weight like I do. I feel the wonderful presence of God, but an accompanying weight.

We know that Jesus was responding to some half-hazard and misguided Pharisees. But the principle applies to us all today and ought to be the cause for some introspection and some prayer. I believe starting right now. Before I preach from a simple title, which is just every idol word, I wonder if you would bow your heads with me and ask for God's help through his word to challenge and change and strengthen us. Would you lift your hands with me and your voices and let's ask for God's help? Lord, we come to you again as we do every day, needing your help, needing your word, which we know is profitable in so many ways. It's profitable even for correction and instruction and righteousness, Lord, and reproof. And we need all of the above today. We're asking that the word of truth would settle in our hearts and minds and it wouldn't be chased out or taken out by anything. No distraction, no uh no busyiness, no shallowess, nothing Lord would take away from or detract from your word which we know is able to save our souls and help us. We need your word and invite it today in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. You may be seated. Thank you for your standing and time of worship. Now Jesus may have been speaking directly to some Pharisees around him, but his words hold tremendous weight and magnitude for all of us today, especially as he addresses this principle to all of humankind and humanity beyond just the Pharisees.

It's it's a lesson and a premise that we should all take very seriously and and one that I personally tried my best to internalize even from a young age and well before I really had had grasped these solemn words of Jesus in Matthew 12. In fact, I had to learn the hard way even around 7 years old that our words, good or bad, that our words matter to God. They matter to others. They affect those around us. They affect our own souls very greatly. And of all the places and all the times to learn a lesson like that, I learned this lesson for the first time that I could remember on an elementary field uh trip or school trip to the Cahokia Mounds just across the river from here. Anyone ever been to Cahokia Mounds? Anybody? They are a sight to behold. For those who haven't been there, there about 70 earthn mounds built by Native Americans centuries ago. Uh in the largest mound, which stands about 100 ft tall, is actually where I learned one of my first lessons in the consequences of of idle or careless words. Words that I spoke and thought were in obscurity. You see, we were staying on top of that that mound that day. It was in a windy environment and I decided that I was going to poke fun at a close friend of mine.

A friend who happened to be standing at the opposite end of that large mound. A friend that my seven-year-old brain didn't think would hear what I had to say about him in that moment when I was trying to be funny and I was trying to garner a laugh or two. And I can vividly remember joking with three classmates standing nearby in a semicircle. As the final words left my mouth, I remember looking up dozens of yards away to see my friend look up at me with a bewildered look on his face. I had no idea that the wind and the open air allowed my voice to carry all the way to where he was standing and he heard every word. I don't even remember what I said, but I remember it wasn't good. to his credit, especially as a seven-year-old. He came to me later in the day. He came face to face with me. Here's another sermon for another day. But if you hear someone talking things that they shouldn't, just go to them, talk to them, have a conversation. He looked me in the eyes and he said, "I heard what you said about me." He gave me the chance to apologize. and and he's one of my best friends on the planet. 26 years later, after he forgave me for my folly and and my loose tongue and my unkindness, I regained a friend that day, a man who is as Christian and apostolic as they come, a man who is serving on the mission field.

But I also gained a valuable lesson, one that I have needed to internalize every day since that our words matter. Our words hold weight. Our our words are effectual one way or the other. They're going to have an effect. Our words reveal the condition of our hearts. Our words are heard by our heavenly father. Even every idol word. Let me just be brutally honest with you as I try to be always. When I began to ponder this word, this passage that the Lord laid on my heart, I had a a somewhat subconscious thought come to mind that that called into question this premise. Is it really every idol word? Some of us speak 10,000 words a day or more. I'm one of them. Every idol word. Even in my study, I looked at this judiciously and and openly. I thought maybe Jesus is just referencing the words of the Pharisees, the ones that he was directly responding to in this passage. And maybe maybe he's just talking only about their blasphemy or their words in particular. It may be that it's not necessarily prescriptive for all of us and for the rest of us. Truth is that the more I read and the more scriptures that came to light, the heavier I felt and the more conviction poured into my heart and my spirit.

And today I must share with you what it says and helped to rightly divide the word of truth because at face value he is responding to the Pharisees that they had said something careless, something halfhazard, something just off the cuff. It seemed like just a slip of the tongue. But but he also wasn't just talking to them or even to the disciples around him or or just to their day and time, but instead these words and this principle applies to us today as well. And that word idol in this case, the word Jesus uses to describe their characterization of him, it doesn't even necessarily mean evil words or malicious words or even critical words. We've used some of its definitions, some of its synonyms already. It actually points to words that are just inactive. They're they're they're careless. They're they're empty words. They're without thought. They're indifferent words. They're they're useless. Again, they're they're halfhazard. One source noted, "An idol word is a non-working word. It's it's an inoperative word. It doesn't have any legitimate work or reason. It doesn't have an office or no business. It's morally useless. It's unprofitable. It's a word you say, but you think nothing of." Jesus reminds us those words matter.

It didn't just matter that day and among the Pharisees. But Jesus seems to use this as a teaching point to remind all of us that a good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, but an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things. But I say to you, that's a phrase that they would use in that day to to get everyone's attention. I must tell you, I say to you that for every idle word that men, anthropos, humanity, men in general may speak, they will give an account of it in the day of judgment, for by your words you'll be justified, and by your words you'll be condemned. Why? Because your words reveal what's in your heart. Even the idol and thoughtless ones. Sometimes the ones you don't even think about that just come out of your mouth reveal what's in your heart more than all the others that you process. and that you filtered, right? The ones that just come to the the tongue. The slip of the tongue often reveals what's in your heart even more. And your heart determines the issues in the course of your life. And in the course of your life, determines your destiny. So we hear from Jesus that that are words, even the careless ones, the ones spoken from the hip and spouted out, the no the ones that no one else may hear, the ones spoken under your breath, the ones you may not have given a second thought about, they all matter to him.

and they greatly matter to us as a result, not because he's out to get us. He's not trying to trap us in our words. He's he's not trying to disqualify us or cause us to to stumble, but he says this in Luke 6 and43. It tells why. For a good tree doesn't bear bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. For every tree is known by its own fruit. For men do not gather figs from thorns. They don't gather grapes from a bramble bush. If they want to get something, some kind of particular fruit, they're going to know where to get it. I pray that I am not the person that someone wants to come to and they get a particular kind of fruit that is not pleasing to God. Jesus says, "A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good, and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of his heart, the mouth speaks." Jesus is after our hearts. The the conditions of which are revealed by our words. Words that matter to him. Words that hold weight in our lives and in the context around us, even the idol ones, which may be the ones that either acquit us or condemn us in the end. And and here in lies just another sobering and thoughtprovoking aspect to all of them.

Our words, all of them, our words will be added to the scales of God's righteous judgment someday. Your words, my words, he says, for by your words you'll be justified or by your words you'll be condemned. And again, the more I studied this, the more conviction and the more weight, the seriousness I felt. One commentator summarized this passage, he he paraphrased what he thought that that exchange between the Pharisees and Jesus would look like. That that the Pharisees could have said, "Well, Jesus, it was nothing. We we meant no evil by it. It was just a supposition. If it if it's not true, then just let it go. Why why would you make so much of these words and bear down with such severity on it?" And he he paraphrases Jesus reply that he would imagine that he would say it was not nothing and at the great day it will not be treated as nothing. Words as the index of the heart, however idle they may seem, they will be taken account of whether good or bad in estimating character in the day of judgment. Your words are a barometer that God will use for your character. The message would also paraphrase but in a studious manner when it says a good person produces good deeds and words season after season.

This is in Matthew 12. An evil person is a blight on the orchard. Jesus says let me tell you a truth or something. Every one of these careless words is going to come back to haunt you. There will be a time of reckoning. Words are powerful. Take them seriously. Words can be your salvation. Words can also be your damnation. Jesus would later tell the same Pharisees who who anyone who would listen, "Beware of the leavenven of the Pharisees, it's hypocrisy. For there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, nor hidden that will not be made known." He talks about her words. Therefore, whatever you've spoken in the dark, it's going to be heard in the light. What you've spoken in the ear and inner rooms will be proclaimed on the housetop, which is where they would go to broadcast the news. It it'd be like proclaiming it over the pull pit today. And one look at scripture shows us again and again that the words, our words, the the products of our hearts and our most unruly members, our tongues, they hold such eternal weight and significance. Words will be used to to condemn or commend us. Words will be revealed that many of us, including me, never wanted to see the light of day. Words matter.

And I believe the whole council of scripture, which I'll do my best to convey to you today, it bears this out. It seems like over half the proverbs talk about our words if you take note. Proverbs 4, keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it come the issues of life. Put away from you a deceitful mouth. Put perverse lips far from you. Let your eyes look straight ahead and your eyelids look right before you. Ponder, consider the path of your feet. Let all your ways be established. Don't turn to the right. Don't turn to the left. Remove your heart from evil. Proverbs 10:18, "Whoever hides hatred has lying lips. Whoever spreads slander is a fool. In the multitude of words, sin is not lacking." In other words, the more words you speak, the more likely you are to sin. That's a lesson for me. Says, "He who restrains his lips is why. The tongue of the righteous is choice silver. The heart of the wicked is worth little. The lips of the righteous feed many, but fools die for lack of wisdom. Proverbs 11, the hypocrite with his mouth destroys his neighbor. But through knowledge the righteous will be delivered. Proverbs 12, lying lips are an abomination to the Lord. There's not many things listed in the Bible that are an abomination, but lying lips make the cut.

But those who deal truthfully, they're his delight. And in Proverbs 13, a man shall eat well by the fruit of his mouth, but the soul of the unfaithful feeds on violence. He who guards his mouth preserves his very life, but he who opens wide his lips shall have destruction. Proverbs 15, a soft answer turns away wrath. A harsh word stirs up anger. The tongue of the wise uses knowledge rightly, but the mouth of fools pours forth foolishness. The eyes of the Lord are in every place, keeping watch over the evil and the good. A wholesome tree, or wholesome tongue, rather, is a tree of life, but perverseness in it breaks the here. If I could just summarize the words of someone who is widely considered the wisest man to ever grace the earth, I would echo Solomon and just say we've got to watch our mouth. We have to be mindful of every word. We have to have a healthy heart that produces healthy fruit and healthy words. And I don't say this with any known conceit or from any vaulted position or any perfected pedestal. that instead I stay it from a a position of humility and one that knows how precarious my own words and heart can be in truth. I don't know all the reasons why I felt the Lord lay this so suddenly and heavenly on my heart.

I I don't have specific examples or or conversations or interactions in mind and I haven't come with a loaded agenda or in a reactive way. I just have to convey the seriousness of the word and every the weight of every idle word we speak, every conversation, every post, every text, every gif or gif or however you say it, every photo we send, every share and like and comment, every sign and message and video and email remind us that every word is known by him and every word matters to our heavenly father. In doing so, reminding us of this truth will come as no shock to many of you that I have in my mind an example for my own fatherhood. I try to be careful with these, but it's the way that the Lord communicates to me. It's an example I feel like conveys the tone and the tenor of this word of the Lord today. Not one that's come to condemn anybody, one that's here to help. As you might expect, there are times as a dad that I step in and I have to correct and help my two oldest kids with their speech and with their words and with their communication because when anger mounts and emotions take over, words just start flying. And that's not just for six-year-olds and four-year-olds. It's my role as a dad and a disciplemaker.

There are times when I have to intervene even before the conversation starts to take a slide into as much depravity as a six-year-old and four-year-old, two precious kiddos could get into. But usually compels me as a dad. I'll speak up and say, "Hey, hey, we don't talk like that. We don't use those words. Hey, watch what you say. Don't be mean. Don't be ugly." Or maybe, "Hey, you just need to stop talking right now. You need to change your heart before you say anything else. Check your heart. If I could use just a simple illustration from the Dong household, I would tell you I feel the same tone from a loving father, our heavenly father to us this morning telling us, including this pastor who likes to talk a lot, guard your lips. Put perverse or even careless and half-hazard talk far from you. Our words may seem harmless in a vacuum. They they may not seem to affect others all that much. Maybe we've gotten this far without severe repercussions. But there will be a day when those words are added to that scale. Before that time, we're reminded even on this earth from Proverbs 18 that death and life are in the power of the tongue. And those who love it or those who love to talk will eat its fruit someday.

The words of your mouth where they're going to bear some kind of fruit. And that fruit may be as weighty as life and death itself. Proverbs 10 says, "The mouth of the righteous is a well of life, but violence covers the mouth of the w the wicked rather." James says in James 3, "For we all stumble in many things. If anyone doesn't stumble in word, he's a perfect man. Any perfect people here?" No, me either. So, we're all going to stumble here. See, we put bits in horses mouths that they would obey us and we turn their whole body with him. Look also at ships. They're they're large and they're driven by fierce winds, but they're turned by a very small rudder wherever the pilot desires. He's talking about the tongue. Even so, just like these, the tongue is a little member, but it boasts great things. See how great a forest, a little fire kindles, and the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set among our members that the tongue can defile the whole body. You want to know why it's so critical that we talk about this? That unruly member in our mouths can defile the whole body and sets on fire the course of nature. And he says it's set on fire by hell. For every kind of beast and bird and reptile and creature of the sea is tamed.

It's been tamed by mankind. But no man can tame the tongue. It's an unruly evil full of deadly poison. He says with it we bless our God and father. And I thank God for that. and with it we curse men who've been made in the image or the simultude of God. Out of the same mouth come blessing and cursing. He says, "My brothers, these things ought not to be so. Does a spring send forth fresh water and bitter from the same opening? Can a fig tree, my brethren bear olives or a grape vine bear frigs?" No spring, no tongue yield salt and fresh. You can't have it both ways is what he's saying. Tongue can speak blessings that bring life. They can also set fire and cause destruction in the same. So James says in chapter one, therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness. Could I just posit to you today that maybe the overflow of anything in our hearts comes here first? The overflow of wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word which is able to save your souls. But be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he's like a man who looks at himself in the mirror on a Sunday morning. But then he walks away and forgets what kind of man he is.

He he's not a a hear a doer of the word. He just hears it. But he says, "He who looks into the law of liberty and continues in it and is not a forgetful hearer, but someone that does the work, this one will be blessed in what he does. If anyone among you thinks he's religious and does not bridle his tongue, but deceives his own heart, this one's religion is useless. That's pretty straightforward. You start to get a picture of how seriously the Lord and his inspired authors view the words of our mouth and tongue. And you realize why David would say this in Psalm 139, "Lord, you've searched me and you've known me. You know my sitting down. you know, my rising up. You understand my thought? A far off. It may be that maybe maybe none of us are just going around saying everything that we want to say. Maybe maybe we're not uh uh having the overflow of wickedness. It may be that we are pristine today, but that the Lord knows some thoughts that could translate into words. He says, "You comprehend my path in my lying down. You're acquainted with all my ways, for there is not a word on my tongue. But behold, oh Lord, you know it all together. Another translation says, "You know what I'm going to say even before I say it, Lord." Again, I don't believe that he knows these things and and that God test them in an effort to condemn us in an effort to doom us in judgment.

Paul says that the Lord tests his words. I don't think God was trying to get Paul. I'm I finally got him now. I got him and snared and tra I don't think that our father is listening just so he can condemn us. We know that there's no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, to those who walk in the spirit and not after the flesh. But that's why it's so critical that we walk in the spirit. And so by the spirit, words that edify and build up and strengthen rather than words that tear down. Ephesians 4:25, therefore put away lying. Let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we're members of one another. Be angry and don't sin. Don't let the sun go down your wrath. It's possible to be angry and not spout off. It's possible. Don't give place to the devil. Let him who steal steal no longer, but let him labor and work with his hands that he may have something to give someone who has a need. Let no corrupt word, no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice, and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another even as God in Christ forgave you.

Just a moment. I'm going to talk about that grace you can impart, the life you can give with your words and your voice. But I also need to park here long enough to note the gravity of what we're talking about and particularly the power of the tongue referenced in verse 30. If you look at the verses around it, the immediate context in this verse, verse 29 and verse 31, Paul talks about evil speaking and corrupt speech against brothers and sisters specifically. And then in verse 30, we're told, "Don't grieve the spirit of God." One author noted that all sin grieves God. And the sin of offending a brother or sister by false word or act especially grieves it. He said, 'The spirit claims to find expression or the spirit claims to find a voice in the utterances of Christians and the misuse of the organ of speech is a wrong done to and felt by the spirit who claims to control it. It's no coincidence that the spirit takes over our tongue as the initial evidence that we receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. If you never received God's spirit, you can receive it today and you'll have the initial evidence of speaking with other tongues just like they did in the book of Acts and just like happens today.

But we see that the spirit seeks to maintain control over the tongue because what we say matters to God. And God wants to help us with our words. We also see that our sin has the power to grieve God. And our speech, especially when it's directed at his bride and his church, has the power to grieve the almighty God and only omission. There's power in your tongue, power of life and death, and perhaps even the power of your own life and death. For by your words, you'll be justified. By your words, you'll be condemned. And again, looking at the whole council of scripture and the weight of our words, you can see why men like David prayed, "Set a guard, oh Lord, over my mouth. Keep watch over the door of my lips. Don't Don't incline my heart to any evil thing to practice wicked works with men who work iniquity. To let me eat of their delicacies, this tongue, this unruly member, this world of iniquity, and when I'm walking in the flesh and in a carnal way, it has the power to cause such great destruction and calamity. It can set on fire things I never meant to set on fire. It can tear down things I wanted to remain intact. It can destroy relationships I always intended to keep. It has great and often unmmerited or unintended rather power and potential.

Even those idol and careless words that seem to slip so often because with it we bless our God and father. And with it we have the propensity to curse men who are made in his image. out of the same mouth, blessing and cursing. And I know I spent a great deal of time talking about the latter and the propensity for our words to cause harm and destruction. But that verse and many others remind us that with God's help and spirit, the inverse is also the case. There's a a preaching approach that compels us preachers that when appropriate, try to leave your church family with hope. And today I'm thankful I've got cause for that. We've walked through some difficult subjects and scriptures, but I'm thankful there's also cause for encouragement as well. I said it earlier. I I I must convey to you the words of Jesus and the the unintended consequences of our words. Scripture has a higher volume of warnings and there seem to be encouragements about our words. But I'm also thankful to tell you that there's cause for encouragement today as well. Because the power of death is in the tongue, but also there's the power of life. The same proverb we read earlier as a warning gives us great encouragement.

He says, "The mouth of the righteous is a well of life." And just like we talked about a few weeks ago when we heard about the gift of gab, you have the power of life in the same member of your body that can cause death. The same voice and tongue you can use to curse others. Yes, but you can also bless them. You can grieve God's spirit with what you say, but you can also impart grace to your hearers. You can condemn yourself by your own voice, but you can also invite commendation in the same right. And you can induce death in a relationship or life by the tongue, but by the power of the spirit of God. You can also induce life when you speak words of faith and peace and blessing and edification. And the same wise man who warned us about the destructive nature of the tongue. He encourages us of its potential when he says this in Proverbs 12, anxiety in the heart of man causes depression, but a good word makes it glad. Anyone ever got a good word that just lifted you up and made you glad? Anybody? Proverbs 16. Pleasant words are like a honeycomb. Sweetness to the soul and health to the bones. Proverbs 25, a word fitly spoken is like apples of gold and settings of silver. Like an earring of gold and an ornament of fine gold is a wise rebuer to an obedient ear.

Proverbs 13, he who guards his mouth preserves his life. Soft answer turns away wrath. The tongue of the wise uses knowledge rightly. A wholesome tongue is a tree of light. Those who deal truthfully are gods to light. you have within you and within the good treasure of a good heart. Words that can bring life by the power of the spirit of God and his truth. We had a message in tongues several months ago and I remember the interpretation was the Lord said, "I've given you words of life. You can say into this mountain, be thou removed and be thou cast into the sea and and it will be done for you. You have the power and the potential to build up the church and edify the body of Christ. your voice when it's anointed and spurred by the spirit it can make all the difference in the world. This is what Hebrews says. Therefore, by him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God. That is the fruit of our lips is that sacri giving thanks to his name. But don't forget to do good and to share. For with such sacrifices, God is well pleased. You do not have to continually grieve the spirit of God. You do not have to tear others down around you. You do not have to be continually dismayed and disappointed because you can't seem to get a hold of your own tongue.

You don't have to continually trip over your words and hope for a better filter. Yes, you do have the power to grieve God, but you also have the power in your words and your voice to please him. You can please God with every word. Uh the psalmist says, "I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually be on my lips." You think that pleases God and I'm going to bless him and I'm going to bless others at all times. His praise will be in my mouth. My soul shall make its boast in the Lord. The humble will hear of it and be glad. My words can do something. They can produce something. So magnify the Lord with me and let us exalt his name together. Let's use our voice to speak words of life. If I'm going to use it in one way or the other, I pray and hope that I am speaking words of life. Let the fruit of my lips and the words of my mouth including every idle and thoughtless and even those amoral or indifferent words, let it impart grace to the hearers can bring bring glory to God's name. Put another way is David's prayer that we're going to pray in just a moment this morning. David says, "Who can understand his errors? Who can understand? I I've gone over this over and over this week, and I've tried to think back to every single word I've spoken." And I know there's some that I can't remember.

And David says, "Who who can know?" Some of you are probably thinking, "Okay, what' I say yesterday and what I say that?" You're probably doing what I've been doing. He says, "Cleanse me from secret faults. Keep back your servant from presumptuous sins. Let them not have dominion over me. Then then I'll be blameless and I'll be innocent of great transgression. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, oh Lord, my strength and my redeemer. It is not impossible, church. It is not impossible. I just felt to help someone here this morning. You can please God with your words. I know what James says and I believe he'd say the same. It is the most unruly memory. So he cautions us, but you can please God with every word and you can please God with your text. We can put corrupt speech away from us. We can put a filter over our lips. We can please God with every idle word and even the ones concealed in darkness. We can be commended rather than condemned has produced good fruit from the good treasure of a good heart. Our words and thoughts can be found acceptable. this morning as we come to a close and musicians come. We're going to pray to that end in just a moment.

Before we do, I will tell on myself at least one more time. I've got an unruly member like everybody else. I do take some encouragement from James. Okay. Well, no man, that doesn't give me any excuse, though. No excuse. That lesson that I learned at six or seven years old, I wish I could say it was the only lesson that the Lord and others gave me about the power and the impact and the weight of our words. Instead, I recall pretty vividly another hard lesson I learned a few years after that as a a teenager along those lines. Let me encourage some young men and young women. If you find yourself struggling with what you're saying, God can help you. God can help you. At that time though, I was the living embodiment of that scripture that says bad company corrupts good character. Just brass tax here. Anyone, you don't have to necessarily raise your hands high, but anyone ever found that when you get around that particular group, it's not their fault. I have to watch over my own. But get around that group and I start saying things I didn't mean to say and I walk away thinking what what did I do? Or maybe I get around this other group and I realize, man, I I have some pretty wholesome speech when I'm around them.

It's like the Bible knows what it's talking about. In this case, I don't know if I may even been considered that bad company. At that time as a teenager, my lack of character and spiritual immaturity came to the surface through my words. You want to know the fruit? It's more than just words. But listen to the words. The fruit wasn't good. Thankfully, and I say this somewhat tongue and cheek, thankfully my dad heard about those words, the result of my heart at the time. And that resulted in a reckoning. My words landed me face to face with my dad. And he had a few words for me that day. I will never forget that lesson, that confrontation. It was not easy. It drew some hard boundaries for me. said, "Son, I better never hear you say things like this again." That was the confrontation that I needed to change my heart and my words. Change that has taken every moment from that day to this one and will take every moment from this one to when I see Jesus today. I am so thankful for that confrontation, one that will prepare me for that day. The day when the words of Bradley Keith Delong are called into account and let's settle this. What are you saying? Every idle word. I will take the conviction and the correction on this day to prepare me for that one.

I want to change on this day and I need to change before I ever get to that day. I want to be confronted today. Want someone to look me in the eyes and say, "Don't ever talk like that again today before I ever see him on that. I'm not trying to mess with your emotions. I'm just trying to prepare you." Because when your words are added to that scale, I want him to look at you and say, "Well done. You honored me with your lips and you built up the body and you loved others and even when no one else was listening. You honored me. In all honesty, this message has confronted me all week. And I plan to pray the prayers of David in just a moment when I give this altar call. I'm believing for others to join me. And when you come, you can use your own words or you can just quote with sincerity the words of David. He says, "Have mercy on me, oh God, according to your loving kindness." I feel that loving kindness here today. According to the multitude of your tender mercies, just blot out my transgressions. If you just remove and strike those words from the record, I'd appreciate it. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity. Cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions. says, "Lord, I've said some things that don't honor you.

My sin is always before me." He's not putting it before us. But he does want to cleanse us. Against you, and you only have I sinned. I've done this evil in your sight. And you may be found just when you speak. And blameless when you judge. Behold, I I was brought forth in iniquity and and in sin. My mother conceived me. But you desire truth in the inward parts. In the hidden part, you'll make known to me wisdom. We can't just say, "I was born with with this propensity to sin, so I'll never sin." God desires truth. He says, "Purge me with hissip and I'll be clean. Wash me and I I'll be whiter than snow. Make me hear joy and gladness that that the bones you've broken may rejoice. Hide your face from my sins. Would you blot out those words my iniquities? Create in me a clean heart and renew a right and steadfast spirit within me. Let my heart produce words that are pleasing to you. Don't cast me away from your presence. Uh I pray that you wouldn't take your spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation. Uphold me by your generous spirit. Some of you can start praying these words right now. Psalm 141, set a guard, oh God, over my lips and over my mouth. Keep watch over the door to my lips.

Psalm 19, let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight. I wonder if you want the power of your voice to bring life and you want to join me in those prayers. Would you just stand to your feet right now? And I'm wondering if you wouldn't mind just to go and find a place I hope in the front of this building. Would you go and find a place of prayer to seek the Lord? And would you make your way forward right now and begin to pray along those lines that David prayed? Oh God, if I've made mistakes, if I messed up, if if my words have cut others down, I pray that you would forgive me and create in me a clean heart and renew a right spirit within me, Lord. And I pray that you would set a guard over my mouth. That you would help me, Lord, to have a good heart and a healthy heart that I would be healthy and growing and full of love. And that my words would produce it with me and within me, Lord. That my words would be the evidence of good fruit in Jesus name. They're going to sing in just a moment. Whatever they feel led to do. And I'm going to join you in prayer today. Would you just find a place call on the name of the Lord this Jesus Lord when it's all about you.

It's all about you, Jesus. I'm coming back to the heart of worship. And it's all about you. It's all about you, Jesus. I'm sorry, Lord, for the thing I made. When it's all about you, it's all about you, Jesus. I'm coming back to the heart of worship. And it's all about you. It's all about you, Jesus. I'm sorry, Lord, for the thing I've made it. When it's all about you. It's all about you, Jesus. When the music fades and all is stripped away and I simply come, longing just of worth that will bless your heart. I'll bring you more than a song. For a song in itself is not what you have required. You search much deeper within through the way things appear. You're looking into my heart. I'm coming back to the heart of worship. And it's all about you. It's all about you, Jesus. I'm sorry, Lord, for the thing I've made it. When it's all about you, it's all about you, Jesus. I'm coming back to the heart of worship. And it's all about you. It's all about you, Jesus. I'm sorry, Lord, for the thing I made it. When it's all about you, it's all about you, Jesus. When the music fades and all is drift away and I simply come, longing just to brea something that's of worth that will bless your heart.

heart. I'll bring you more than a song. For a song in itself, it's not what you have required. You search much deeper within through the way things appear. You're looking into my heart. I'm coming back to the heart of worship. And it's all about you. It's all about you, Jesus. I'm sorry, Lord, for the thing I made it. When it's all about you, it's all about you, Jesus. I'm coming back to the heart of worship. And it's all about you. It's all about you, Jesus. I'm sorry, Lord, for the thing I made it when it's all about you. It's all about you, Jesus. I'm coming back to the heart of worship. And it's all about you. It's all about you, Jesus. I'm sorry, Lord, for the thing I made it. When it's all about you, it's all about you, Jesus. King of endless word. No one could express how much you deserve. The one weak and pour. All I have is yours. Every single way. I'll bring you more than a song. For a song in itself is not what you have required. You search much deeper within through the way things appear. You're looking. Stand together. Lift up your hands and sing this. Oh Jesus. I'm coming back to the heart of worship. And it's all I want to. It's all about you, Jesus. I'm sorry, Lord, for the thing I made it.

When it's all about you. Oh, it's about pleasing you about you, Jesus. I'm coming back to the heart of worship. And it's all about you. It's all about you. Jesus, I'm sorry, Lord, for the thing I made it when it's all about you. It's all about you, Jesus. I feel the love of God in this room right now reminding someone that he's come to help you. He is in no way here to condemn you. I wonder if you just receive that love of God and his help and grace. If you just lift your hands right now and seek after him, I believe that that love and God's strength and help is going to come alongside you. Lord, I'm so thankful that you truly love us, oh God. H that you're not seeking to trap us, Lord. That you're not a vindictive father, Jesus, but but you do love us, Lord. And you want us to be like you. And you want us to be ready and holy and without spot or blemish. We thank you Jesus for that love that we feel here today. So wonderful Lord. So helpful. Thank you Jesus. Thank you Jesus. Remind us that God's conviction is a good thing. It just pulls us back to him. I'm thankful for one another, for brothers and sisters. Just a moment. I want to celebrate. It's a special occurrence here at APC.

But I want to before we do that, if you just link up with someone nearby you that Ephesians 4 says you can impart grace to your hearers. Would you just either pray for them or would you speak a word of encouragement over them? If you feel to pray for that person nearby, why don't you take a moment and just impart grace into someone's life? We may not do this enough, but we're going to do it today and take advantage of it this morning. Jesus name. Jesus name.