2025 NHPBC Women's Conference - Session 2

Well, welcome again.

Some new faces this morning, so I'm happy to see you and so glad you could all join us.

Thank you again for giving up your Saturday to come.

Um Delicious.

Can I just ask?

And you know, this has nothing to do with spiritual things.

What flavor of bagel was the pink red one?

Who who did that?

Does anybody know?

Huh?

I think it's red velvet, red mel bagel.

With the nuts in it?

All right.

Well, it was good, whatever it was, red velvet.

I love it.

Uh don't even get me started as a southerner on red velvet craze because it all started down south.

When I moved here 33 years ago, you didn't even know what a red velvet cake was.

I promise you.

My cousin had to mail me uh the cake mix when it came out from the south.

She would mail me a red velvet box of cake mix.

And now you say, I thought it had always been around, but it hasn't, see?

Yeah, yeah.

All right.

It was delicious.

Thank you.

Um, last night we laid the foundation or the groundwork as we looked at what God says in his word about our hearts, the difference in the heart of stone and the heart of flesh.

And Royal did a great job of summarizing that lesson for those who weren't here, and hopefully you can uh listen to that or catch up on that at some point.

But today, our two lessons are more practical in nature, and we're gonna focus on two areas of our lives that will look different when God grants us a new heart through Jesus Christ his Son.

It's our tongues and our hospitality.

So those two areas we're gonna concentrate on today.

And let me pray for us one more time.

Father, thank you for these dear ladies, for this wonderful church.

Thank you for this just beautiful, warm place to meet.

Uh, we have so much to be grateful for.

Lord, help us never to take that for granted.

Thank you for the abundant uh breakfast we enjoyed.

And now, as we partake in the food of your word, may Lord you bless us and teach us and change us.

In Jesus' name, amen.

So follow along on that wonderful, those handouts, that beautiful booklet, if that's helpful to you.

And Roman numeral one on that handout, why the tongue?

Why in the world a session on the tongue?

Why throw this in when the conference is about our hearts, right?

Well, if you ask that, then you just answered your own question because the tongue is all about the heart.

So let's dig in.

Letter A.

If you control the tongue, you control your body.

Control the tongue, control the body.

James 3, 2 says, For we all stumble in many ways.

If anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man able also to bridle his whole body.

That's how important the tongue is.

If you can control your tongue, you control your whole body and you are perfect.

But we all know that that is not fully happening this side of heaven, but that's how important the tongue is.

And in case you're still not convinced that we need to be talking about the tongue in a conference that's entitled The Extreme Heart Makeover, not the extreme tongue makeover, although that would be a good one.

Just look at the first phrase in the title of today's lesson.

Out of the abundance of the heart.

Letter B, the tongue is clearly a matter of the heart.

Out of the abundance of the heart, that comes from Matthew 12, 34, where Jesus is telling the Pharisees that a tree is known by its fruit.

And he says, You brood of vipers, how can you speak good things when you're evil?

For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.

So the tongue is clearly a matter of the heart.

You see, the problem is the root.

In the springtime, you're going to have those dandelions and the other weeds that come up in your garden or in your yard.

And you know that unless you get them down deep at the root, they're going to keep coming back.

The tongue reflects what is in your heart, just like those roots, those weeds reflect what is at their root.

Have you ever said or heard someone say, Oh, I didn't mean it.

My kids would do this.

I've done it.

I didn't mean that.

I really didn't mean that.

You would say something cutting or demeaning.

I didn't mean that.

Well, according to Jesus, what you said is what you meant.

And I want to show us a little hope this works and I don't get water all over your lovely church here, but so just watch.

I hope you can see.

I couldn't get it any higher.

So here we go.

Remember, out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.

Whatever is inside you, inside your body, inside your heart, is going to come out.

It's not chocolate milk, it's not lemonade, it's not iced coffee, I wish it was.

But it's not.

It's water.

And water was in this, water's in that, and water is spilling out into this.

Picture your heart, picture your tongue as your mouth is overflowing with whatever is in your heart.

What's underneath or inside is going to come out.

Now, this illustration, that illustration's great.

This next thing I'm going to say breaks down because nobody wears dresses or slips anymore.

However, do you remember the day when you would see a lady and or you yourself have had a dress on and you've had a slip on and just it constantly is coming out, or your, you know, the static electricity is keeping it up and your slip is showing?

Some of the younger people are like, I don't even know what a slip is.

But I, yeah.

But I think it's a it is a good illustration because what you would say to that lady is, excuse me, ma'am, your slip is showing.

You know, to go up and whisper to her, your slip's showing, and she would tug it down and fix her dress.

Ladies, that's how it is with our tongues.

We could say to each other, excuse me, ma'am, but your heart is showing.

Now, I'm not saying that all bad is coming out.

What I am saying, more importantly, what Jesus is saying is whatever is in there is coming out.

Out of the abundance of your heart, your mouth is speaking.

So that can be a good thing if there are peaceful, helpful, loving, encouraging words coming out of our mouths.

On the other hand, it can be very embarrassing, like that slip that is showing under our hymn line.

And just as we talked about last night, our hearts are so deceived and so wicked and depraved.

No one is good, no one is righteous, no one understands, no one seeks after God.

And after those verses in Romans 3 comes this next set.

After we see that, Romans 3, 13 and 14, after we've read about no one is good, no one is righteous, no one understands, their throat is an open grave, they use their tongues to deceive, the venom of asps is under their lips, their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.

Of all the ways we vent our inner wickedness, the tongue receives priority attention.

Isn't that interesting?

After those verses 10 through 12, no one's good, no one's righteous, no one seeks after God, and then immediately goes into our tongues.

So what do we do about this?

Well, we could stop talking.

That would solve part of the problem.

Probably one of my favorite or at least most convicting verses is Proverbs 17, 28.

Even a fool who keeps silent is considered wise.

When he closes his lips, he's deemed intelligent.

But he's he proves himself a fool when he opens his mouth.

But if he could just keep his mouth closed, if we, she could just keep her mouth closed, she wouldn't prove herself to be such a fool.

But we can't keep quiet forever.

And after all, this is not the real problem.

This is.

So even if you cut this off and you stop talking, you've still got the root problem.

So that's what we're addressing today.

We have to deal with it at the root.

A new heart, a changed heart, is not only what we need for doing good and kind things, it is what we need for saying good and kind things as well.

Roman numeral two, our speech is related to our hearts.

So I want us to see, we're gonna try to dig a little bit deep here.

We won't cover everything, way too much that we could cover.

We're just gonna take some specific areas of how our speech is related to our hearts.

These are some specific sinful speech patterns that we're going to address.

Letter A, an ungrateful and an unbelieving heart leads to what type of speech pattern?

Grumbling and complaining.

If we are not thankful people, if we are constantly ungrateful and we do not believe God, we will grumble and complain.

The classic example of murmuring and complaining in the Old Testament is the Israelites in the wilderness being led by Moses to the promised land.

They complained about everything.

Numbers 14, 2, and 3.

Do we have that, Matthias?

I can't remember.

No.

Okay, so that's a long passage, and I did want you to turn to that.

Can you open your Bibles and turn to Numbers 14, please?

I want you to see this with your own eyes.

Numbers 14, we'll read verses 2 and 3, and then we'll jump down to verses 27 through 29.

Remember what we're talking about.

We're talking about having an ungrateful or an unbelieving heart, leading us to murmuring and complaining.

Numbers 14, 2 and 3, 27 through 29.

And all the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron.

The whole congregation said to them, Would that we had died in the land of Egypt, or that we would have died in this wilderness?

Why is the Lord bringing us into this land to fall by the sword?

Our wives and our little ones will become a prey.

Would it not have been be better for us to go back to Egypt?

Down to verse 27.

How long shall this wicked congregation grumble against me?

God says, I've heard the grumblings of the people of Israel, which they grumble against me.

Say to them, as I live, declares the Lord, what you have said in my hearing I will do to you.

Your dead body shall fall in this wilderness, and of all your number listed in the census, from twenty years old and upward, who have grumbled against me.

God says, Enough, you ungrateful people.

That's it.

I deliver you from slavery in Egypt, I bring you through the Red Sea.

You have seen my mighty hand in all of this.

And you do this.

You're not trusting me, you're not finding contentment in me.

The psalmist speaks about the children of Israel in Psalm 106, 24 through 26.

Then they despised the pleasant land, having no faith in his promise.

They murmured in their tents and did not obey the voice of the Lord.

Therefore he raised his hand and swore to them that he would make them fall in the wilderness.

I want you to look at that again, leave that up there if you don't mind.

They did not believe in his word.

They did not believe him, an unbelieving heart did not believe him.

Then they complained, then they did not obey, and then he punished them.

And it's so easy to say, wow, those ungrateful children of Israel.

If I had had all of that happen to me, I would have been thankful.

Even when I was hungry in the wilderness, he provided manna and he gave us water from the rock.

I would have never complained.

Yes, you would, and so would I, because we do it all the time.

The kind, gracious, merciful hand of God, constantly bestowing on us good, even when we're going through hard times and bad circumstances, remembering what he has brought us out of, our sin, an eternity in hell, and we don't believe him.

His promises have proven true always and will always prove true.

His faithfulness has been with us always and will always be.

Yet we still grumble and complain.

And you say, Well, I'm not really grumbling and complaining against God.

I mean, they were obviously grumbling and complaining against God.

I just, I'm just upset when the traffic stops me and I can't get home to my family in time to cook dinner.

That's all.

I just, you know, I got a little bit irritated because it rained out our family picnic for the graduation party.

It's, I'm not, you know, what you're saying is in your heart, ladies.

God, you don't know what's best.

I am upset about this.

I am angry.

I am unbelieving, that I don't trust you, that you know what's best.

And from the little to the big, we then begin to complain and murmur.

But instead, ladies, we must heed the commands of Scripture.

Philippians 2.14, do all things without complaining.

And we must develop a heart of gratitude.

Ephesians 5.20, giving thanks always for all things.

1 Thessalonians 5.18, in everything give thanks.

All, always, all things, everything.

Pretty much, I do not see a time that complaining and not being content and failing to be thankful is acceptable.

It's kind of one of those things where you just can't squeeze that in, like the Romans 10 passage.

I don't see any any wiggle room for us being good people at all in the no not one one.

I don't see any room right here, any wiggle room where you can say, Yeah, but in this situation, no, in all things, always, everything, have a heart of gratitude.

But why?

Why should we not complain or grumble when things aren't going quite our way?

But instead we should give thanks.

Well, first and foremost, because of the gospel, I've already mentioned this.

If you ever saw yourselves for who you really are, remember last night, the hard heart of stone, and what we really deserve, then we would stop grumbling and complaining.

And second, whether our picnic got rained out or we have a flat tower or we have bigger problems like serious financial woes or cancer diagnosis, we must remember and rest in the sovereignty of God.

These things are not out of God's control.

They are allowed in our lives by a loving, wise, sovereign God who is working all things for his glory and our good, Romans 8.28.

And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

I love that my husband uses the phrase, if we could get into, if you would get into your Romans 8.28 helicopter, and you would just get above that, and you would look down, you would see.

I was flying uh in the other day from Atlanta to LaGuardia, and it was, you know, just uh, you know, you're just I'm I'm a little nervous flyer, but I do okay.

But we're making this complete circle, and I'm like, where is he taking us?

I know we're passing the Statue of Liberty.

I know that we're going up Manhattan, I see Central Park, and you're supposed to just go and down at LaGuardia.

But instead, he takes this very long circuitous route.

I'm like, where are we going?

And I see an airport out the left to the left of me, out the window, and I'm like, where's that's LaGuardia?

Where did he go?

And it hit me.

I was looking at JFK, but it was like I could have thrown a stone, thrown, thrown a stone at it, not realizing when I was up in the air like that.

Wow, Anna, now you got the whole picture.

LaGuardia and JFK aren't that far apart.

It seems like it when you're driving like little ants and the traffic is bad, right?

But it's not that far apart.

I could have reached down and just touched LaGuardia and touched JFK.

I want you to do that with your lives.

I want you to get up in that Romans 8.28 helicopter so you can see how all the pieces fit and see where it's really laid out and see a little bit of the picture of what God is doing.

Because when we get the blinders on and we sit just stuck in our circumstances, yeah, it looks bad.

But ladies, God is sovereign.

He's got it all in control, he's got the big picture, and he's completed the puzzle, and you don't need to worry, and you don't need to complain.

You need to have a heart that is grateful, that trusts your sovereign loving God.

Another way that our speech is related to our hearts, a proud heart leads to boasting and selfish speech.

A proud heart leads to boasting and selfish speech.

Pride in our hearts can come in many forms.

One of them is definitely our speech.

We can brag on ourselves, we our kids, our abilities or their abilities and their talents and accomplishments.

Maybe, maybe you even boast sometimes about your walk with the Lord.

But listen to what Proverbs 27, 1 and 2 says.

Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring.

Let another praise you and not your own mouth, a stranger and not your own lips.

Now, please don't misunderstand me.

It is not wrong to share something if it is bringing glory to God.

We should encourage people and say, Great job.

I heard you got a new, you know, a promotion, or I heard you pass that test.

You should go in, you know, to your small group or your Bible study or your prayer group, and you should be the first one to say, praise God, you know, I uh God healed me or I got this job or whatever.

That's okay.

That's not being proud.

It's acknowledging where those gifts came from, which is from God.

Every good and perfect gift comes from Him.

Don't ever do it to build yourself up or to give yourself a pat on the back.

Let another praise you and not yourself.

And you know what's interesting?

Pride doesn't always come out as boasting.

It can can take another form of very selfish speech and show the true nature of your heart.

Your proud heart can disguise itself in self-deprecating speech.

Oh, woe is me.

I'm so bad at that.

And you say, Well, I'm not building myself up.

No, you're always feeling sorry for yourself and you're letting it be known.

Or you're pointing out how bad you are at something.

And that is very selfish speech, and it comes from a heart of pride as well.

It's saying, even though things are not going my way, I'm still going to draw attention to myself because it's all about me.

It's all about me.

That's coming from a proud heart.

Letter C a wicked heart leads to gossip and slander.

Now let's define our terms.

Gossip is idle talk or chatter, going about from one to another, tailbearing, whispering, often done in private, behind one's back, in secret.

The very word, you know, the gossip.

You can just hear the whisper, the gossip, sip.

You can hear the whispering going on.

Slander, on the other hand, is open, intentional sharing of damaging information.

Proverbs 11 9 says, with his mouth the godless man would destroy his neighbor, but by knowledge the righteous are delivered up.

Proverbs 16, 27 and 28.

A worthless man plots evil, and his speech is like a scorching fire.

A dishonest man spreads strife, and a whisperer separates close friends.

There's so many more verses from Proverbs and beyond that point out the fact that, you know, gossip comes between friends, and it's just not worth it, ladies.

Your friendships are going to be harmed whether you are the one gossiped about or you're the one doing the gossiping.

Aren't you just a little bit suspicious when you leave the room or you're not present at a gathering where a certain person may be who is just as apt to gossip about you because you've been a party to them gossiping about others?

And you think, hmm, I do this sometimes if I've heard somebody gossiping about others and I do not attend something, and I'm just like, hmm, you know, you gotta wonder sometime, wonder what they're saying about me, because I've heard them say stuff about other people.

Gossip damages friendships, no matter what end you are on.

Proverbs 26, 20 through 21.

For lack of wood, the fire goes out.

And where there is no whisperer, quarreling ceases.

As charcoal to hot embers and wood to fire, so is a quarrelsome man for kindling strife.

Did anybody up here ever watch the Andy Griffith show or you watch reruns of the Andy Griffith show?

Do you know what I'm even talking about?

Andy Griffith?

And who was his deputy?

Barney Fife.

Yeah, the best.

Yeah, you just gotta love Barney.

And you know what Barney would say?

He'd say a lot of funny things, but he would say, just nip it in the bud, Ange.

Nip it in the bud.

Do it, gotta do a little bud nipping.

That's what he would talk about.

You remember that?

What is bud nipping?

When you're when you're trimming your flowers and you get the bud before the flower blooms, that's to nip something in the bud.

You're stopping the thing before it even starts.

You're dealing with the problem while it is small before it can grow into something serious.

Look, let the fire go out, and may we never be a party to starting it or keeping it going.

For lack of wood, the fire goes out.

We all know that.

That's an obvious thing.

Try a campfire, you you want it, you want it to get it out.

Don't throw any more wood on it.

For lack of wood, the fire goes out.

Where there's no whisperer, you got no gossips around, quarreling will cease.

You know the phrase guilty by association.

Well, the Bible says we're guilty by listening.

Even if we're not the one spewing it out of our mouths, we're just as guilty by being a party to it.

Proverbs 17, 4.

An evildoer listens to wicked lips, and a liar gives ear to a mischievous tongue.

I mean, that is scary, ladies.

An evil they call in, if you just listen to somebody spewing that out of their mouths, God says you are an evildoer.

And a liar gives ear, listens to a mischievous tongue.

But hey, don't worry, you're also guilty by association as well.

Proverbs 20, 19 says, Whoever goes about slandering reveals secret, therefore do not associate with a simple babbler.

Ladies, this is so scary and so serious.

Let's heed the warnings of scripture.

Stay away, be a good, trustworthy, faithful friend, and confidant.

Letter D, an angry heart leads to harsh words.

Now, most of our angry or frustrated tones or responses, they are not righteous indignation.

So don't say to me, but you know, there is a righteous anger in the Bible.

Yes, I do know that.

Jesus did that perfectly.

And sometimes we do have righteous anger, but 99.99999% of the time, our anger is associated with things not going our way.

They are selfish responses to extreme disappointment or things not going as we had planned.

It's when my schedule doesn't work out because somebody put a kink in it.

It's my dinner not getting done in time because I was cleaning up another mess or I was dealing with a lengthy phone call.

You know what I mean.

You can fill in the many blanks that are there.

But get to the root of the problem, which is your angry heart, not that you were stuck in traffic.

Proverbs 15, 1 says, A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.

James 1, 19 through 20 says, Know this, my beloved brothers, let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger, for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.

Oh ladies, please know that you don't have to be the one that throws the things or punches walls or gets very demonstrative with your actions, or even the one who screams and yells to prove that you have a heart of anger.

Yeah, those are all signs of a heart of anger.

But let me just say that your cutting or demeaning words, although spoken in a very normal tone, with a seemingly calm demeanor, also reveal your angry heart.

So don't say, yeah, but it's my husband who punches walls.

Your mouth will show.

Your tongue will show if you have an angry heart as well.

Excuse me, ma'am, but your heart is showing.

Letter E, a careless, lazy heart leads to idle chatter.

Oh my, this is another convicting verse.

Proverbs 10-19 says, When words are many, transgression is not lacking.

But whoever restrains his lips is prudent.

Proverbs 29-20.

Do you see a man who's hasty in his words?

There is more hope for a fool than for him.

Ladies, in Christian love, sometimes you just need to be quiet.

Keep talking.

Keep talking.

And there's just going to be some sin there.

We just often talk too much.

We spew forth too many words.

And in a multitude of words, sin is not lacking.

For those of you in here who are married, if your husbands were to come in one by one and parade across this, and we were to hear his complaints, which we would try to limit, and I'm sure he wouldn't have many.

I'm sure he would not.

But one of them probably would not be that you do not talk enough.

Okay?

Did you hear that?

That would probably not be one of his complaints.

It's not what you don't say, it's what you do say.

So we must guard against all these sinful attitudes of our hearts to avoid all of these sinful patterns of speech.

Now, perhaps one of these, and again, there are so many others, we just don't have time for that, but we wanted to concentrate on those today.

Perhaps one of these has particularly struck a chord with you.

You may not have even realized that your sinful speech pattern in a certain area is showing the true colors of your heart condition.

So what are we to do?

Roman numeral three.

What do we do?

We A look to the gospel.

If you're not born again, you must be saved.

Without a new heart, there will be no lasting permanent changes.

You may be able to reform your mouth for a little while, but it will get the best of you.

It's difficult when you are a Christian to control your tongue.

I can guarantee you that if you do not know Jesus, if you do not possess the Spirit of God, this cannot be a long-lasting thing.

It just won't.

And number two, if you know Christ, if you've been given a new heart, through the power of the Holy Spirit, the power of the gospel that is in you, you can speak in a way that glorifies God and bears fruit indicative of one of his children.

Remember, disciples are different.

Christians look different than the world.

And this is one way that the world is going to see a difference in us, our mouth, because we have transformed hearts.

Now, here's how we live this out according to the gospel.

Look at the example of Christ.

1 Peter 2, 21 through 24.

For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his footsteps.

He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth.

When he was reviled, he did not revile in return.

When he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued in trusting himself to him who judges justly.

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.

By his wounds you have been healed.

Christ is our perfect example in this.

He could have done a lot of things.

He could have evaporated them.

He could have defended himself.

He could have said a lot of things.

But he did not open his mouth.

B, transform our thoughts.

Philippians 4.8.

This will help us in fighting this battle.

Transform our thoughts.

Philippians 4.8.

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there's anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

Wow.

I mean, again, not a lot of wiggle room.

How many commendable things can be listed there to show us these are the things that we're supposed to be concentrating on in our minds.

And they're all good things.

So when other things creep into that mind, heart.

That is connected, you've got to get rid of that.

And you've got to think admirable, godly, biblical thoughts.

Romans 12, 2.

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Transforming your mind, your thoughts are is going to help you because your thoughts are your heart.

And our wicked speech and actions come from it.

And we must renew our minds so that our words reflect grace, kindness, purity, and love.

And how do we transform our minds?

Through the word.

I am more and more convinced of this as the years go on.

I'm afraid that we have an evangelical culture in America.

I don't mean this church at all.

I'm so thankful for this church.

I think we have an evangelical culture in America that doesn't think biblically and is not trained to think biblically.

Our worldview is not biblical, and we do not think correct biblical thoughts when sin and issues arrive in our arise in our lives.

But again, I'm thankful for New Hyde Park Baptist Church.

I know that you do make God's word a priority here and you hold it in very high regard.

I know the churches that are represented here do that as well.

We must know and obey the word if we are to transform our actions, our thoughts, and our speech.

Letter C, study how to answer.

Proverbs 15, 28 says, the heart of the righteous ponders how to answer, but the mouth of the wicked pours out evil things.

If you're like me, ladies, you just it's just like the first thing that comes to your mind, out it comes when you're responding to somebody.

No, pick your words.

Go back to the James thing.

Remember, be slow to speak.

Let's think, let's think, let's think.

Pick your words, ladies, weigh them, remembering that sometimes it's not better, it's better not to say anything.

Letter D.

Practice kind, gracious speech.

Colossians 4, 6.

Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer each person.

Everything else in life we practice.

Our kids gotta practice the cello.

Our kids gotta go to sports practice.

We've got to practice so we're gonna pass that test.

We're gonna practice knowing the books of the Bible.

Whatever it is, we're practicing stuff all the time.

Practice kind, gracious speech.

Like intentionally practice it.

You say my family will absolutely think that I've gone crazy.

I think your family will like it.

I think they will.

Try it.

Be like the Proverbs 31 woman, Proverbs 31.26.

She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.

Just as that Proverbs 31 woman has that kindness on her tongue, we should be marked by wisdom and kindness coming out of our mouths.

Letter E, guard your tongue.

Proverbs 21, 23.

Whoever keeps his mouth and his tongue keeps himself out of trouble.

Well, I mean, that again, it goes back to control your tongue, control your body.

Your actions will be controlled by a proper response from your tongue, which comes from a proper uh uh response of your heart.

Psalm 141.3, and I sometimes pray this verse if I'm heading to something where I know I'm speaking a lot, and I need to pray this more regularly.

Psalm 141.3, set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth.

Keep watch over the door of my lips.

Now, I literally, when I read this word or say it over again in my head, picture the guards dressed like the ones at Buckingham Palace.

I just see those guards.

That's how I've and one of them right here.

They're each standing right here with their tall hats and their whatever they have in their hand.

They're just standing there, guarding my lips.

So as we close, I hope that you've seen that our tongues are directly related to our hearts.

Ladies, are you afraid if you open your mouth, your heart will show?

Because it will.

One way or another, it will.

But if we've been transformed by the gospel, if we are united with Christ and we have the Holy Spirit living in us, our hearts have been made new.

And as a result of those hearts of flesh, our speech can be made new.

May we be women who are like the Proverbs 31 woman who have wisdom and kindness rolling out of our hearts.

Remember this, out of our hearts and off our tongues when we open our mouths.

Let me pray for us.

Father, thank you for new hearts for those ladies in here who have new hearts.

And Lord, as you have convicted me, even as I have said these words out of my mouth, off my tongue, God, they have convicted me.

And I pray that others in here are convicted by your spirit, and that we will indeed examine our hearts to see areas that need change so that our speech patterns will change.

So, Lord, help us to tame our tongues, for we know that out of the abundance of our hearts, our mouths do speak.

Lord, save women in here that don't know you.

May they have the transformation of heart that is needed for eternal life and for forgiveness and for peace with you.

So, God, grant us these things today.

I pray in Jesus' name, amen.