Sunday Morning Worship Service

grab your Bible. We're going to the book of Proverbs. Towards the end of the book, the spirit of the Lord is here. Amen. Amen. Proverbs 26. We're going to look at a few verses here this morning. Thankful for a great week. Anybody grateful for some warm weather the last few days? Anybody grateful for that? No. Okay. Well, it might snow this week if you're not grateful. All right. No, I'm kidding. I'm, as pastor says, I'm in management. I'm not in uh sales here. Or I'm in sales. I'm not in management. Proverbs 26. As you can hear, cold weather, warm weather has struck this bald head of mine and got the sniffles and all the things that come along with it. But I do feel like the Lord's given me a word for you and I'm going to try my best to deliver it today. Proverbs 26 beginning at verse number 18. As a mad man who casteth firebrands, arrows, and death, so is the man that deceiveth his neighbor and saith, am I not in sport, or am I not joking? Where no wood is, the fire goes out. So where there is no tailbearer, the strife seth ceaseth. As coals are to burning coals and wood to fire, so is a contentious man to kindle strife. The words of a tailbearer. Where the ESV says, the whisperer are as wounds, and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly. Burning lips on a wicked heart are like a potshirt covered with silver dross. And he that hateth dissembleth with his lips, and layeth up deceit within him. When he speaketh fair, believe him not. For there are seven abominations in his heart. Verse 26. Whose hatred is covered by deceit, his wickedness shall be showed before the whole congregation. Who so digth a pit shall fall therein, and he that rollleth a stone, it will return upon him. Verse 28. A lying tongue hateth those that are afflicted by it, and a flattering mouth workketh ruin. Anybody see any patterns in these few verses? Anybody see any patterns? We're going to look at those patterns tonight or this morning. I want to preach words that wound and words that war. Wounds that wound and words that war. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you. It's a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path. Lord, I pray that you'd help me, your servant, your messenger today to deliver this word of God. And I pray that you'd touch my voice and my uh my nasal passages and all the things that I can speak your word clearly today. But Lord, more importantly, I need your anointing. And I pray that your word would go forth today as seed that finds good ground that it brings change and transformation and change and confirmation into your into your image in Jesus' name we pray. And everyone said amen. >> Everyone say amen. >> Amen. >> Amen. Amen. Words that wound and words that war. Communication, dialogue, talk, conversation, calling, texting, emailing, posting, chats. We humans are wordish people, aren't we? All the day long, we're surrounded, saturated with words. Every day, we're we're talking. We're communicating in some way, shape, or form. Think about it. The moment you bring a child into your home, you've had them, your mother's given birth, what do we do? We long for them to do a couple of things. We want them to talk. Then we want them to walk. I remember when they handed me Eastston for the first time in the hospital room. Immediately in her little ear, I started saying, "Da, da da da da." I have videos of her coupooing, crying, laughing. One of my greatest joys is the clip of her first word and that was dada. She said it all the time, all day long. No matter where she was or who she was with, she said, "Dada." That was delight to me. I remember Ashley and I went to one of the ultrasounds and the nurse looked at us and said almost like a prophet, she said, "This little girl is going to be a talker." And she was right. data was just the first and billions of words have been spoken in the last few moments and more than most people in a lifetime. She talks that's all right. If I were to take a poll right now in this room and ask what people regret most in their life, I'd be willing to bet that the majority of answers would point to something said, words spoken in anger, in haste, in justest, or in pain. Most of us in this room haven't stolen, murdered, been arrested, or even received a traffic citation. But I suspect nearly everyone everyone in this room has said something that they regret. At the same time, the deepest wounds many of us carry aren't from physical blows, but from words others have hurled at us, or perhaps from the silence, the the absence of words when we most needed encouragement and affirmation and love. But words are wonderful and troubling things, aren't they? They are essential for connecting with one another, for expressing who we are and what we feel. From the very beginning of the Bible in Genesis, we find that God is speaking and God said, and everything that God said came to life. Then it was a beguiling serpent who uses words to deceive Eve and she in turn tempts Adam with her words and paradise unravels because of words. At the Tower of Babel, humanity unites in defiance of God through their shared language and their shared purpose. So God comes down and confuses their speech and scatters them. On Mount Si, God delivers the 10 words or the ten commandments etched on the tablets of stone. David, the shepherd king, the warrior poet poet pours out psalms of praise, worship, and raw lament. The prophets of the Old Testament would say, "Thus saith the Lord." Covenants, promises, prophecies, all of them are woven from words, sentences, paragraphs, and pages. The story of God's redemptive work is preserved for us in the Holy Scripture, a book of words. And when John opens his gospel, he declares that Jesus Christ himself is the word made flesh. He is the very expression of God's heart and his mind. And even at the close of scripture, John is written and is writing what he sees. And the Lord tells him to write these things down and preserve them. No one is to add to them or take away from them. But here's the hard truth. The problem in our life isn't first the tongue. It's the well it draws from. Word issues are really heart issues. And those heart issues spill over into our marriages, our friendships, our churches, and even our nation. It's a fountain. If the fountain of our heart is bitter, every stream that flows from it will flow with bitterness. And perhaps no other book in the Bible possesses and presses upon the mouth and words quite like the book of Proverbs. It returns to speech again and again, exposing exposing both its ruin and its reward. If wisdom is the theme of Proverbs, then wisdom is not measured by years or stored facts of information. It's not even about being old and having gray hair. Wisdom shows itself in behavior. It shows itself in the way we speak. The writer says, "The tongue of the wise commends knowledge." And this is be this goes beyond simply polish and eloquence. It's a call for discernment when to say it and how to say it. A right word can be made wrong with the wrong spirit. You can be right and say it the wrong way. The writer says, "A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver." Ecclesiastes tells us the preacher sought to find acceptable words. Not just accurate words, but acceptable ones. Words that land with the right weight and tone. You can strike the truth with a hammer and miss the wisdom of it. Tone matters and spirit matters. Bishop Mcool has taught us and he's often warned, "You and I must live in the tone zone." Wisdom does not only guard the content of our speech. It governs the cadence, the posture, and the heart behind it. But I was reading Proverbs a few days ago, and I got to the end of the of the book, chapter 26, and I like to notice patterns. I like to notice themes. And I began to take my notebook and write a few things down. And I really feel like the Lord has given me something today. And I'm going to take my time just just a few moments. I know I don't have the voice to preach, but it's let me walk through some things that I've seen here from chapter 26. Y'all all right? Verse 18 says, "As a mad man," someone say, "A mad man who casteth firebrands, arrows, and death, so is the man that deceiveth his neighbor and saith, am I not in sport." Let me read you the New King James version of that. Like a mad man who throws firebrands, arrows, and death is the man who deceives his neighbor and says, "I was only joking." Madman, that's what he calls him, a madman. It describes someone who acts wildly out of control, almost like one who fiends madness and rages uncontrollably. Uh, some link this word that's used here in the Hebrew of one being startled into a frenzy or rapid fury. So, this isn't just necessarily being quirky. It's reckless, unpredictable danger. Someone who has lost all restraint and all cool. And so Solomon is using this imagery to get this point across that it is building in momentum. It is escalating. Fire brands, arrows in death. Fire brands were flaming torches or burning arrows hurled to set fields, homes and cities ablaze. It was causing uncontainable destruction, spreading chaos. Arrows were precise, piercing weapons aimed to wound or kill from a distance. And he says, "Death is the aim. Death is the outcome that the mad man wants." And so he piles up these metaphors to get to this truth, to get us to understand something that there is something if we're not careful with our words. There are those among us who can be like a mad man with what they say. So is the man who says to his neighbor, who deceives his neighbor and says, "I'm just joking. I'm just joking." The problem isn't innocent humor. It's deception masquerading as a joke. Words weaponized to wound, then dismissed with a shrug. This person loads a full quiver of sharp cutting remarks. They aim carefully. A humiliating jab, a sly insult covered with a compliment, a betrayal wrapped up in sar in sarcasm, but it lands hard. Then they step back and say, "I'm just kidding. Don't be so sensitive. I didn't mean anything by it." More times than not, people who do that, who are on the receiving end of such jabs, get more offended than the people that they've offended with their own words. You know what that's called? It's called being insecure. But that's for a different sermon. Here's the issue. They never apologize. They never apologize. They say, "Well, I'm just joking. It's just my sarcasm. It's my sarcasm font." Don't you know? They retreat into laughter. But Solomon insists that this is no harmless prank. Words can do damage. Words can burn. They can pierce. They can kill trust in relationships and reputations. And just slapping, just joking on the wound doesn't heal it. It only adds insult to injury. >> Let me say this. I know it's not a leadership setting, but let me just be uh teaching about leadership. If you constantly joke, if you constantly joke in leadership settings and team settings, if you are constantly joking and when it comes time for you to be serious, nobody's going to take you serious. That's right. >> So true. >> Because they don't know if you're joking. >> And so all that I'm fine. I love humor. I'm I I grew up a 90s kid. I sarcasm is my love language. I get that. But let me tell you, there's sometimes you're going to have to speak clearly and not try to hurt somebody. >> Just joking. Just joking. How about this one? Verse 20. Where no wood is, the fire goeth out. Yeah. >> So where there is no tail bearer, the strife ceases. >> The Hebrew word for wood here is straightforward. It means fuel. It's the stuff that keeps a fire alive. Fire can't sustain itself forever. It needs something to feed it. Remove the fuel or the wood and the flames die down naturally. And he says this, look at what he says. He says, "So where there is no whisperer or tailbearer, >> strife ceases, >> conflict doesn't just happen. It survives because someone keeps supplying the fuel." Just joking. Words that are fuel continuing to add to the conflict. Leaders, listen to me. In every conflict, you have two buckets. John Maxwell talks about this. You either have a bucket of water or a bucket of gasoline. And you can come into a conflict and you can throw water on it and put it out or you can put gasoline on it and cause it to spread. I grew up in a home with two wood stoves. Y'all remember wood stoves in your house? Oh, good Lord have mercy. I am hot naturatured because of that. You can't There's no temperature gauge on that. It's just blazing hot. I remember having to go outside and get wood for the fire and bring it in. And dad, we'd open it up. It was a black, you know, black uh stove and you'd open it up and man, the smoke would come out and hit you real right in the face. And you know, you'd put it in there and then if it had gone down, maybe you get a lighter and and a piece of paper and you throw it in there, try to get to go back. There's a lot of people who do that in their relationships. They just constantly bring wood to the fire. They won't let it go. No wood, no fire. Yet, some people never stop bringing the wood. They won't let things die. They keep stories alive. They revisit old wounds, add fresh details to settle manners matters. They stir up conversations that should stay buried. They don't stumble into fires. They feed them. I'm going to give you a modern quote here from the dark night. Alfred told Bruce Bruce Wayne, "Some men just want to watch the world burn." There are some people who just want to watch the world burn. They don't want peace. They love drama. And if you are addicted to drama, drama will find you everywhere you go. If every relationship is it y'all right? If every relationship that you get into has drama, it might not be the other person. You might need to take inventory and say, "Who's causing all the drama?" I don't know. Is it uh you? Oh, no. Now, let me just stop right here, too. Let me meet pastor for a second. In a sermon like this, what we can start doing is this. Get them. Get them. Let me tell you who I'm talking to today. Me. You know who you need to point to today while I'm preaching is yourself. Because all of us have words that wound and words that war. And if we're not careful, we'll be some of these pictures that Solomon gives us in Proverbs. So don't be point. I wish they would hear it. How about you hear it? >> Y'all. All right. Just joking. I'm not joking. They continue it. They continue. They love they they they enjoy the heat of gossip, the glow of backbiting, the thrill of tension. They'll say this, "I'm just being honest." Or, "People need to know." No, they don't. And you're not being honest. You're being cruel. Take away the fuel, fire goes out. Look at verse 21. As coals are to burning coals and wood to fire, so is a contentious man to kindle strife. The word contentious in the Hebrew means quarreling, heated contention that fractures relationships and destroys peace. Now, this is not just simply having a disagreement or a debate. It's a pattern. It's a lifestyle of living in constant conflict, always ready to blow up. The contentious person doesn't need much to work with, just a spark of tension, a lingering ember, and they pour on the fuel to make it blaze. They are ready to explode at any given moment. They are a ticking time bob, time bomb, and they will unleash a fury of words. They'll do it, and then they'll walk out and forget they even said it. And we're left bleeding. I know this is not Sunday morning type of material, but I think it's going to help somebody today. Always being combative. You know, if you're if you would stop being so combative in your marriage, you stop having less arguments. But you don't know what he said. Well, what did you say? It doesn't matter. Just joking, right? If they're a hammer, everything looks like a nail. They don't calm situations down. They charge into them. They never They never bring peace. They always bring the heat. Oh, what do they say? Let Where they at? I'll tell them. Where are they at? Oh, they're online. Let me post some passive aggressive nonsense on here. And nobody will know what I'm talking about, but they'll know what I'm talking about. They'll just see that I'm mad. An off-hand comment becomes a full-blown issue. A settled matter gets dragged back up and stirring again. They insert themselves where no one asked just to keep the pot boiling. Give them a spark and they'll build a bonfire. Because some people don't just want to end up in conflict. They kindle it. They feed it. And they just want to watch the world burn. Verse 22. The words of a tail bearer or a whisperer are as wounds and they go down to the innermost parts of the belly. The tail bearer or the whisperer in Hebrew describes someone who speaks in low quiet tones. Shut the door. Talk to you for a second. It's murmuring speech. Subtle, indirect, off in disguise. Do you know what I heard? Did you hear what happened at the school this week? Proverbs 16:28 says use the same words as a whisperer separates close friends. You want know why you don't have close friends? Because you're always telling everybody's secrets. And if you're telling everybody else's secrets, chances are they know you'll tell their secrets. Division. That's what that's what the outcome is. Do you know do you do you know do you know I do you know what I've seen them do this week. It's delicious morsel of information that I can tell you about. Oh, you're going to love it. Shut the door. Let me just tell you. Let me text it to you later. Careful what you text. People can screenshot that. All right. And where' I go with this? This is not harmless talk. It's quiet destruction. They aren't loud like the contentious. They're careful. They don't confront. They circulate. Can you believe what they did? They move from person to person, always out of sight of the source. They cloak it in concern. I just think you should know. Or if you need someone to talk to, just just tell me. I can pray about it. But they aren't trying to help. They're trying to spread. They don't want to verify. They want to amplify. They don't ask, "Is it true?" They ask, "Who else can I tell?" That's the whisperer. Y'all okay? They're like, "Long John Silvers, where you at today?" Proverbs 26:23. Let me read you the CSB. Smooth lips with an evil heart are like glaze on an earthn vessel. Burning lips, smooth lips, describes fervent, polished, passionate speech, warm, persuasive, appealing, almost magnetic. It draws you in. But Solomon pairs it and says they have an evil heart like glaze overlaid on an earthn vessel. In the ancient world, a plain, cheap clay pot, common, fragile, ordinary, could be coated with a thin, shiny glaze to make it look more expensive than it really is. But on the inside, it was hollow, breakable, and worthless. That's the smooth talker. Exactly. Their words shine bright. Sincere sounding compliments, kind affirmation, convincing reassurances. They know how to say the right thing in the right tone at the right moment. To gain favor, to open doors, to get what they want. They sound warm to your face, but their heart stays hidden, covered by their glossy layer. They'll say this, listen to me. You know, you should be the one singing that song. You know, you should be preaching. You should be preaching that conference. How about this? Or or they're or they're fishing for compliments. They'll do this. I could never do as good as you could. Do you really think I'm better than soand so? They give out compliments in order to tear someone else down. They'll agree enthusiastically in the room, then undermine you the moment you're gone. They'll speak sweetly to you directly, then shift tone behind your back. It's not honesty, it's coding. It's a glaze. It's surface polish over an inner corruption. Y'all okay. How about this one? The hater. The hater whose hatred is covered by deceit. His wickedness shall be showed before the whole congregation. I want to come for you today. You all right? We know we should not hate. We know we shouldn't hate each other. We shouldn't hate anybody. If you heard me teach on First John, John covers that. But there are some haters among us. They hate new folks coming to church. They hate new teachers in the school. They hate new songs during praise and worship. They hate change. Their favorite drink is haterade, licorice flavored. They won't say they hate anyone. They'll just speak graciously with hate on their lips. They won't say anything outright. They know better than that. They'll say, "I'm just concerned." It's not concern. It's control. They'll say, "I'm praying about it." But it's not prayer. It's criticism. They'll say, "That's not how we used to do it. And what they really mean is this. I just hate it. They'd rather complain and criticize instead of being a part of the solution. There are some who are problem creators and not problem solvers. They smile in the hallway then question motives in in private. They'll compliment in public and critique and complain in small circles. They'll welcome YOU TO YOUR FACE. WELCOME. and then warn others about you behind your back. They circulate. They don't confront. They imply. They don't build up. They erode. They'll say something like this. I just don't feel right about them. They'll highlight every flaw and ignore every fruit. I'm g say that again. You didn't get it. They'll highlight every person's flaw while ignoring their fruit. They'll resist anything new, not because it's wrong, but because it's different. They hide hate behind tone. They hide it behind timing. And they hide it behind spiritual language. We shouldn't be given to change, you know, right? The doctrine. But the method can change. I'm just joking. How about this one? My voice is going quick, so I better get in quick. Verse 27, the manipulator. Who so digth a pit shall fall therein, and he that rolleth a stone, it will return upon him. The manipulator doesn't come at you head on. They work angles. They set traps. They dig pits and then step back who falls in. They love to play. Gotcha. You said this, but you really meant that. And this is what I told everybody. So tell me what' you say? Gotcha. They'll say, "Don't take this the wrong way." But they'll say it the wrong way anyway. Right? They don't lie outright. No, no, no. They shape the truth. They leave details out. They want to add tone. They want to guide the narrative. That's the manipulator. They scheme. They calculate. And the proverb says this, "The pit they dig will become their own." Manipulation may work for a moment, but it will never win in the end. Verse 28. How about I'm going to give you two in a row to save time. The liar and the flatterer. A lying tongue hateth those that are afflicted by it. And a flattering mouth workketh ruin. A lying tongue points to falsehood. It's not just simply con confusion and careless words. It's crafted deception. And Solomon exposes the motive. A lying tongue hateth those that are afflicted by it. So they're not harmless. They mean to do harm. Scripture te teaches that lying is serious. Jesus said the devil is an untruth and the father of untruths. That's not what he said. He said he's a liar. >> We Well, I'm I'm gonna move on. The haters will start getting me if I say the next thing I want to say, but I won't say it. It's not untruth. It's a lie. All liars will have their portion in the lake of fire. A flattering mouth works ruin. He says, "Flattery sounds like truth, but it's praised with an agenda. They manage the reality of their words. They distort the truth and they try to flatter you with it. A flattering mouth rs ruin." I'm trying to help our relationships today. trying to help your pract the the practical life of living for Jesus. We talk about speaking in tonesues. We believe in in speaking with tongues, but I also believe that the spirit has been given to us so we can bridle our tongue. If you can speak in tonesues here on Sunday and then you can go around into the into the lobby on Monday and and gossip, you need to check what Holy Ghost you got. >> You don't have to help me with that. That's the truth. Anyway, you can have your hair long all the way down to your ankles and you can have a lying tongue as well. >> Glory. Go ahead, Ashley and the team here. Trying to help you to not ruin your relationships and ruin your life because words that wound and words that war can be remedied. You can remedy how you speak. This is just how I was raised, right? This is how we talk. Well, change it. This is how this is how my dad spoke to me and this is how I'm going to speak to Hey, how about you change it? This is how mom spoke to dad and this is how I'm going to talk to my husband. How about you change it? >> You can change. You can change. There is a remedy to words that war and words that wound. Look at Jesus. He endured sinful speech of those around him and he answered it with righteous speech. He was lied on, mocked and falsely accused. That scripture says he was reviled and he did not revile in turn on the cross with nails in his hands and insults in his ears. He said, "Father, forgive them." That's not natural. That's supernatural. That's redemption in work in us. Peter also said that there is no guile found in Christ's mouth. If our words reveal our heart, then listen to Christ's words. They reveal a perfect heart. And the same Christ doesn't only simply forgive sinful speech, he transforms the heart that produces it. was trying to think of some answers to this and I thought of Philippians 4:8 this week. Paul says, "Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable," he says this, "think on these things. If you will think on these things, you will speak on those things." If you stop putting garbage into your brain and garbage into your heart, watching angry housewives of Orange County or something, watching Donahghue and Springer and all these people fighting and fussing. If you'd stop putting that garbage into your brain, I just age myself by 40 years. If we if we would if we would start putting some some positive things into our brain, we'd start saying some things with positivity. if we'd stop dwelling on the past. If we' stop dwelling on the negative, but that's not how we used to do it. And I How about you say, "Hey, I'm glad we're not doing it that way any longer." I'm I'm thankful for a new day. I'm thankful. Come on, somebody. I'm trying to help you. You can change. You can change. All you have If you can think ON THESE THINGS, YOU'LL SPEAK on these things. Stand to your feet. Jesus said, "Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks." It's the soil of your heart that is producing a harvest of your speech. If you're saying it, it's coming from somewhere. Don't just need our speech changed. We need our heart changed. So where where don't don't point. Don't look around. Where do you fall in this? Somewhere somebody falls into this. All of us are guilty of saying things we shouldn't say, having the wrong tone, spouting off. I was hungry. I was tired. That happens, right? But it should not become a pattern and a habit. I didn't mean it. After a while, you can say that. You can say, "I didn't mean it." But if you say that over and over and over again, I'm going to start thinking you meant it. Now, we've heard of emotional intelligence and social intelligence. You know, we need a revival of spiritual intelligence. We need I'm I'm for emotional intelligence and we we need we need some training in emotional and social intelligence. The Bible is full of practical advice on how to live your life. If you would just open it up and read it. If you would open up and re Today is March 1st. Okay. Is there 31 days in March? 31 days in March. I never know. 31 days in March. There's 31 chapters of Proverbs. If you will read one chapter of Proverbs every day, you'll read through the entire book in a month. And if you'll do that repeatedly, if you'll do that over and over again, I I I I just I have a guarantee I'd like to give you, it'll change your life. It'll change your relationships if you start thinking, you know, Lord, and pray this, Lord, give me wisdom. Help me to live wisely. Help me to live spiritually. Show me today. Show me how I can live and apply this to my my marriage needs it. My my children need it. My job needs it. If you'll if you'll apply the wisdom of the Proverbs, I'm telling you, it'll change your life. I guarantee it. Start today. Chapter one. Chapter one take you three, five minutes the most to read it. Brother Nate, I'm not good at reading. Listen to it. There are free versions of the Bible that you can listen to it. Just listen to it. Just listen to it. Need to be learn how to be quick to listen. and slow to wrath. Hey, before before you jump to conclusions and embarrass yourself and ruin your reputation, how about you do this? Maybe walk out of the room, before you say something that you regret, stop and think, how can I respond to this spiritually with wisdom? Brother Nate, that's that's too practical. Good Bible's practical. Be quick to listen. Be quick. I want to hear what they got. I I want to hear what they Oh, there's a problem. There's an issue. Let me tell me about it and maybe we can solve it together instead of me raging, word vomiting, [groaning] storming off, and we're left bleeding with your the arrows of your words. You just walk out and act like nothing happened. We're all over here bleeding to death from your words cuz you blew up. When others bring wood, refuse to carry it. When others whisper, refuse to receive it. I listen, that's this is a this would be a great answer for some of y'all. Not my problem. Hey, did you hear? Not my problem. Not my issue. I don't need to know about it. Oh, give me give me give me the tea. Spill the tea. We have We have too many people who spread the tea and not enough people who will clean it up. And then when you spread it, somebody else has got to clean it up anyway. Come on out and help me for a second. Just give me the How about Hey, listen. I wasn't there. I don't know the situation. I don't need to know. Talk to somebody who needs to know, but not me. It's not my Did you hear? I I don't need to hear. But I think you need to know just exactly where they've been. Not my problem. Brother N. That seems so cold. No, it'll keep you out of a lot of trouble. How about this? When others stir up conflict, settle it. Walk into rooms with water, not gasoline. Look at this. This this verse came to my mind this week. Jesus said, "Blessed are the peace makers." Do you catch that? Makers. Some situations need us to make some peace. We have we we should be a peacekeeper. Yes. But some of us need to learn how to be peacemakers. Learn how when you walk into a room, it shouldn't be, "Oh, here it comes. Here comes all the gossip. What do you got for me today? No, you when you walk into your room, they say, "Oh, be quiet. Be quiet. Be quiet. Oh, here comes the peacemaker. Oh, we don't want to talk like that around them. Here comes the peacemaker." If you'll stop listening to the tailbears and the whisperers and responding with with contention, if you'll stop bringing wood to the fire, guess what you'll find? You'll find your life less dramatic. Some of us need to repent of our addiction to drama. All right, Long John Silvers, here we come. Let this be your prayer today. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. I love this one. Psalm 14:13. SET A WATCH, O LORD, before my mouth. Keep the door of my lips, God. Help me to guard my mouth. Help me, God, not to open my MOUTH AND BLAB GOSSIP AND BLAB NEGATIVITY. LORD, GUARD MY MOUTH. But you know where it begins? Create in me a clean heart, oh God. God, I pray that you would remove this addiction to gossip and drama in my heart that I don't need it. God, I'd have more peace in my relationships, in my marriage, with my kids. Hey, I'm going to say something and I'm going to turn this over to pastor. Moms and dads. Stay out of your kids' drama. >> Well, I didn't have any drama when I was in high school, so I'm going to have some drama with my You live through the drama of your kids. And you know what? And let me just say this, too. Is this all right? Don't believe everything your kid says about somebody else. They're kids. They're teenagers. They're not fully developed, but they're really smart and mature FOR THEIR AGE. THEY'RE 12. They're 13. Did you hear what they said? Don't you know what you're doing? You're cultivating drama in your kids that they're going to become just as addicted to it as you are to dopamine hit if you would. You know what I love? I'm not sure my mom's here. You know what I loved about my mom? I love about my mom. My mother never believed me. Never. My mom didn't believe anything I ever said in my entire life. Still to this day, I don't think she believes me. And that helped me. You know why? I'd say something. She goes, "I don't believe that. It's probably Did you cause it? Did you do that? I don't believe somebody else would do that. That sounds like something you would do." INSTEAD OF YOU ALWAYS BLAMING SOMEBODY ELSE, WANT YOU LOOK AT YOUR KIDS SAY, "I don't believe that." Y'all, all right. They're 13. They're in a text thread. Don't believe all the nonsense. I know we're not running the aisles today, but I'm trying to save somebody today. I'm trying to help somebody today. If you'll learn to say, "Lord, get a hold of my heart and get a hold of my lips, YOU'LL HAVE MORE PEACE. YOU COME ON, I WANT SOMEBODY TO lead their seat today." You're not admitting any guilt. You're not ad relationships. I want to have a better trajectory in my life. And it begins with my heart and my words. Lord, let me have words that heal. Let me have words that heal and wound. Oh God, let me be positive. Let me be a peace maker. Let me be a peace creator. Let me create some peace. Come on, would you lift up your hearts? Let begin to sing. Maybe we need to repent today and say, "Lord, forgive me. Forgive me the things in my heart. Forgive me, oh God, of my heart. >> The things that are in my heart, oh God. Oh yes, Jesus, wash my heart. Cleanse me from my iniquity." Come on. It's not just lust. It's not just jealousy. But come on, it's words that you say. Forgive me of things that I've said. Forgive me. Let my speech and the meditation in my heart be acceptable in your sight. Oh God, my rock and my redeemer. Set a guard over my mouth. Let me be quick to listen and slow to speak. Oh God. >> Oh, help me, God, to cultivate peace. Help me to cultivate peace in my life. Peace in my relationships. Peace on the job. Peace in the church. Peace on my team. Peace in the classroom. Come on. Peace. Peace. Peace.